Category Archives: science

definitely awake!

Posted on March 9, 2009 by | 12 comments

we have had a busy and productive day here chez haricot. i had today off work – yippee!! and having worked the weekend, decided to use it well – ie stay at home. really i should have gone into town and done some fairly urgent banking stuff, but don’t know where the forms are :roll:

SO we thought we would start with a bit of normals. SB keen to show me she had moved onto the next piano piece [i am trying to play this v cool - cf violin!] and she has played it v nicely. BB was a tad jealous, so brought me her maffs to do – so we did that, and SB went onto Junior English Book 1 [we are doing this in tiny bites so on 1.5! but we are at least considering things]. I suggested that for the galore park, that although i am unbothered by her spelling elsewhere, she might want to use the dictionary to spell things for this [cue wails as couldn't find circus]. bb and i did jigsaws and then a marble run and sb did some maths – see we have been productive! then we had lunch :lol:

both girls wanted to do some science, but ‘on their own’ and bb chose to investigate magnets and sb an eino burglar alarm that she has done before. after this they fancied craft. BB chose air drying clay and initially made more fossils. SB looked at a Middle Ages Activity Book (Crafty History)
and chose to play 3 mens merrels. we decided it was a fun game, so she has made a board and counters out of air drying clay too. then they have both spent ages sticking jewels into air drying clay as middle ages treasures!!

Now BB is watching magic school bus and SB is at ballet. plan to make some scones when chris comes back with cheese. actually chris been gone a while – might have forgotten and gone into hayloft. hayloft currently has a dead animal aroma [something of a concern] so he is investigating!

edited to complete! we made cheese scones – yummy – as planning to visit science museum wed unless things go pear shaped! BB did a short nice recorder practice and then a v long hideous one, so banned to the stairs!! SB grumpilly did 5 mins recorder practice, and then decided to make up music for me to copy, and then made up some more etc etc so did about 40 mins in the end!! i love the fact she is so unthinkingly confident about making it up, and also often modal rather than modern tonal. much reading – she is working through the roald dahl books she happily got for her birthday.

BB was particularly spectacularly ‘not tired’ at tea tonight and after screaming and shrieking in the pantry for about 10 minutes while we all pretended she didn’t exist, came back and let me feed her before falling asleep at the table – so not tired! tho she woke up and pretended she had been pretending and was again not tired, so we got the whole rigmarole 2ce!

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young anatomists club

Posted on March 4, 2009 by | 4 comments

this is a brief blog [probably!] as i have loads of work related stuff i need to do every evening at the moment. :cry:

but today we had lovely latinetc. SB says the latin was lovely but she wants to do a lot more [i think katy does so much that she is v lucky as it is!] so i suggested that we do a bit in between. not sure that was so well appreciated! she loved the bells with gina [sorry that we hadn't practiced the hand stuff, it only seems 2 seconds since the last one!] and had fun with the anatomy t shirts. i had got felt and body part templates. the littlies had theirs cut out apart from A and K, and it was clear that cutting out took way too long [and BB having a total tantrum melt at the beginning was not entirely helpful for my patience levels!] luckilly, my teaching assistant helped cut out, and we got all the bits stuck on – i think we need to sew them a bit if they want to last though. we also looked at the bones, which were bendy – i left that to my teaching assistant though too [aargh :blush: because i was trying to be quick as their were time constraints, i forgot to go back outside at the end and bin the bones - really sorry]. they would prob be even better if left another fortnight. the t-shirts looked cool though. merry did a lovely fimo dinodoor craft, and BB was ecstatic!

returned to here with Merry and girls, and fran and I practiced her piece, [stress on sight reading accompanying part!] but it went well, we ran through it lots of times, and fran got happier with it each time, so we vidded it for her to refer to in practice. hopefully she will smile more! the other kids played together, BB and J seem to finally be noticing each other in a play possible manner, and SB and M seem to be far more pally recently. we moved onto playing with watercolours, trying to see how they worked and doing brushwork. sort of from Watercolour (Klutz), but a lot from merry, who actually knew how to use them [i cannot believe how little i know about art!!]

evening wobble about sick relatives and work stresses [in the awful mode] and so bailed out of going for an extremely expensive meal in a very very nice restaurant that i have already paid for :roll: at my silliness.

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wonderful friend filled weekend

Posted on March 1, 2009 by | 10 comments

i am getting a bit stressy about something work related, so it was wonderful to have such a busy weekend with negligible time to sleep!! Sat SB went to the young astronomers club for the first time, and really enjoyed it. she did point out that they wouldn’t ever get to see the stars because it was in daytime – amazing bit of sense!! it was based around the royal astronomers i think. chris helped out by being the timer, and read his paper.

bB and i had an adventure, and went into town [by bus having found the bus stop eventually] and then wandered around the ‘dinodoor museum’ which she loved. she partic loved spotting fossils with a passing resemblence to ammonites and belemnites and saying v loudly, ooh we have those! there is an elasmosaurus [well i think that is what it is, might be a pleiseosaur] and she thought it looked like a fab jigsaw and she wanted to be a dinodoor bone person when she grew up. The museum has quite a few books in its hands on bit, and so we read a number i have in my amazon basket! The Birth of the Earth (Cartoon History) The Day of the Dinosaurs (Cartoon History) The Rock Factory: A Story About Rocks and Stones (Science Works) Monster Stones: The Story of a Dinosaur Fossil (Science Works). the last 2 i could read to BB as is, but the first i simplified a bit. we went into the shop, and she spent christmas money on a bag of gems and a bouncy ball with a dinosaur pic in it. these have made her overwhelmingly happy, and she has clutched those gems everywhere. Also a haematite ring present for SB.

BB and I totally failed to find the bus stop leading back out of town, so chris picked us up! we went to diff bits [as i had no map] and when finally did meet up, in a blinding something of fate, there was the bus stop! well, i know now!

we bought a picnic lunch and headed off to the RSPB place. BB was cold, as it was colder there, and we didn’t have enough layers, so wrapped her in a blanket while we ate. The manor borns arrived, ate a bit and we set off. bB declined to wear any extra layers, but ran about happily. we did do BB’s favourite walk, which is the quarry one, and prob my favourite too. it is the longest walk, though we did a ‘shortcut’. We started with a talk with the ‘birdman’ who identified the call of a nuthatch for us, and the shew us 2 treecreepers. we climbed the usual climbing tree and scared the birds from the bird hide and then raced around the quarry. actually, we didn’t race at all, there were that many diversions, looking at things and sitting thinkings that i did wonder if we would get round in the daylight!! but we did, and i really enjoyed it.

moved to the manor for tea and conversation. BB pootled reasonably happily on her own, using michelle mercilessly to get her things that she then abandoned! [though did a good geomag twirler] SB and C played lots of games together, finally settling on Ravensburger Labyrinth Game. it was too cloudy to go to a possible astronomy evening, to the disappointment of the older girls. We cheekily did a masterchef critique of both main course and pudding, but i have to say how lovely it i to have effort lovely expended for us.

today the girls did the birthday cards and that actually took all morning :roll: and so we were late to the party :roll: , :roll: but i won’t expand!! was a lovely birthday party at the deependers, and loads of muddlepuddle/blogring friends and local friends. Pah to home educated children not getting to socialise. its stopping them and getting them to do their maths that can be the problem [as g and I giggled to each other]. lots of party games, party food and 4 fabulous cakes!! SB gave the v lovingly made dolly cloak to L. all cut and sewn by her, so truly a labour of love. we went back to the deependers for a spot of tea and cake [more cake!!] before the children got noticeable enough to be shepherded into the car and home!

PS, sorry for nearly making Katy vomit describing BB’s awful book, and also if you think you may have been caught speeding, you can check here

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Posted in art and crafts, Books, Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, General, history, investigating, Out and About, pre reading, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

party week!

Posted on February 24, 2009 by | 2 comments

this week does seem a bit busy! there are 3 family birthdays on sequential days, one of which also pancake day, and then a friendly family party at the weekend. we are also having visitors tues and wed – so v sociable. i think i need sociable at the moment. a glass of wine and some opportunity to be not me as it were!!

good news is that the GP has now agreed that i am high risk, and is initially requesting an appt at the geneticists re the various familial breast ca genes, and also, if no joy, would support a request for a bilateral mastectomy – though sounds scarily drastic, so would want to make sure i ponder this rather than knee jerk. A bit weird, because the only thing i think of when i think of a bilat mastectomy is that i couldn’t breastfeed again, and i really enjoyed breastfeeding. :roll: as this is not really likely to be an issue! it was the nice [male] GP rather than the annoying female one that assumes everything is my fault because i am fat!!

hmm, the girls were busy whilst i was at work. SB did some piano and some handwriting, as well as make a fimo present for chris. bB, well, bB’d!! when i got home, BB and chris went out for cycling practice and SB and i looked at her eggsperiment. v weird!! the egg lost its shell and felt quite unnerving. we then looked at a Rainforest Adventure (Code Master) book she has loved in the past, and she really loved it again!! we worked out the code again – i surprised myself by remembering it though :lol:

when BB came back, we decided to see whether our shell-less egg would bounce, unfortunately it went splat!! i think great experiments are remembered by the failures!! anyway, we put the remaining no-shell egg in water and have seen it gradually swell up. so proven that the shell is the waterproof bit.

hmm, I went to gp [see before] Sb and BB cycled off to ballet for SB and park playing for bb and I made SB’s cake. the girls were a bit wild on return, and didn’t manage to settle infront of that salmon documentary. BB ended the day spectacularly with the amazingest tantrum so far of her life wrt to going to bed. she was still tantrumming about being not tired when she fell asleep… horrible. todays sb game was uno.

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my blog post – the weekend

Posted on February 23, 2009 by | 7 comments

yep, i am feeling challenged with title finding! in fact, feeling challenged wrt blogging at the mo. but we have done things, so should do it.

Fri - well, the morning was chris’s – looking at his bright kites [cos thats how i know anything!] SB took ages to do some maths, BB fimo-ed more snowmen [merry, you need to teach her to make something else now!!] and chris tidyed up the room of doom!

chris’s parents came over, and my sister and family on the way back from their family holiday, which was lovely, but we had family news to impart to each other which meant hugs were in order. the kids ran about wildly and then collapsed in front of the tv, we adults drank lots of tea. my sister left, nana and SB played games and me and BB played games. I think we did some french all together, and SB did some piano for nana, i think that was it!!

later that night i consumed too much chocolate. i wish stressful things made me not eat, as i would be really thin rather than really fat.oh, and nana bean went off and did the dcsf consultation!! well done. she did laugh at mine, as i printed it off, and it was a bit ranty!!

Sat - a rude awakening as there was an emergency at work, and although not rostered, it was an all hands affair. so i sobbed all the way home in the car some 3 hours later. i was hoping for a better year this year, but … I will just have to hope for more resilience instead. BB was adorable, and hugged and kissed me loads. SB rolled her eyes, and carried on reading her book [ ? this one Narga the Sea Monster (Beast Quest) i bet the author is laughing all the way to the bank, there’s loads of those books, a bit like those rainbow fairies, and SB and other of her friends love them], hmm!! but, proudly, i did then spend the afternoon being at least moderately cheerful, and def interactive!

yep, we were rang by chris’s mum about going out that evening for an early celebration of her 70th at a local italian, so we had no pressies, and set about making them. BB made a fab fimo butterfly pendant, and SB a princess pendant – also fab and took her ages. they painted cards and then both did a painting of a tropical bird for sketch tuesday. i was most impressed as bB did a humming bird how much she seemed to know about them. SB did ‘one of those with hair’ and hers was rather dramatic, and def exotic. we had nearly run out of green paint, so i have overordered paint from baker ross!!

getting into the car, BB realised she didn’t want to part with the butterfly pendant, and instead gave nana bean the snowman she had made the day before. there i was thinking we could make snowmen our geocache theme!! we took flowers.

so we went to the italian and actually the girls were pretty good for the 2 hours we were there – service a bit slow, and waitress obviously new. but they liked the garlic bread and the pizza and ice cream. it is a shame that sb and bb decided to draw toilets and then proceed to scream that quite loudly :roll: and BB lost it totally at the end over something trivial, so i carried her out, and then she was sweet as pie again!! bless her, but SB fell asleep in the car on the way home, she is so exhausted and has a bit of a hacking cough. hope it clears up soon.

Sun: i overslept. so wasted the morning, but did need the recuperation time!! got up and got going, we did some snuggly HE on the sofa, as BB wanted to do maffs, so we did some earlibird 1B – getting towards the end, and then a little bit of her before the code before she got bored and went off to skate around in way to big inline skates. she is pretty good at skating in these inlines. if she had a nearer birthday, and wasn’t going to get a ds, i would be tempted to buy a pair. [hmm, googles!]. SB had another go at a bit of galore park english – i think we are chapter 1 part 4 now, and this was underlying nouns. we had a bit of discussion about whether day was a noun, since it isn’t a person, place or thing, but a time :roll: . SHe also did some music theory.

after lunch SB and i did some baking – well, TBH, SB did it with me being companionable and listening to Handel’s firework music. we then set of the egg in vinegar experiment – btw it still hasn’t finished bubbling, and the shell still hard, so we are leaving it in vinegar overnight. BB went off practicing pedalling with chris, and then had a ride on the back of the tandem [my heart in mouth, its not been used since SB's accident as she won't use it again]. they watched a bit of magic school bus, then chris and BB baked cup cakes, and me and SB started her new piano book!!Sugar and Spice: Rhythms and Tunes for Beginners

SB and BB did a lot of skatering about, and we then read a french book on days of the week [ Les Jours De La Semaine (Max et Mathilde) ], and then listened to the correct pronunciation on the CD! we finally finished with tea and the second part of the cybermen part 2. Oops, SB and I also played a lot of games today, blokus, castle keep and landlock.

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Forensic Fun

Posted on February 22, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Thursday we were going to go to Tots and Nots in the morning, but we had had a rubbish night, with both kids waking up, bed moving etc. and  Stringbean still not quite right and seeming very tired. We also had something on in the afternoon and I thought that it might all get a bit much

So we abandoned that plan. I’d started reading some more of Inside the Beagle with Charles Darwin, which we had started the night before. We spent the next 2+ hours !  reading the book and talking about various bits :-) Butterbean sat and listened a bit, pottered around with Lego, looked at some books of her own etc. Lots interesting discussion about sailing boats, navigation, time, clocks, fossils, variation, species, islands, evolution, scientific evidence (which is why we spent so long). SB can happily read such books, but often prefers you to read them to her.

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By the time we had finished we were hungry so had breakfast :-) and the rest of the morning soon went with SB doing maths (until she got stuck in a sort of Limbo land where nothing much seemed to be happening, perusing a couple more books, while BB did some more fimo-ing and I got dinner ready to put in the oven.

Then a quick lunch and out. We were just in time, which then turned out to be plenty of time, as the time for the session said 1.30, but it was starting a 2, the time before was for setting the stuff up.

The session was about Forensic Science, normally the leader of the session spends all day doing this in school and we had a couple of hours – so it was obviously a bit contracted. Though the younger ones wouldn’t have coped with longer session though.

Basically, we had an introduction to some forensic techniques and did things like make paster casts of prints, took our finger prints (a little bit of chalk dust on the finger tip, push onto Sellotape, stick it to a piece of acetate sheet – look at with a hand lens.

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She showed us a simple DNA extraction from Kiwi fruit. Whizz up the kiwi with a bit of water and salt (to break open cell membranes). Strain the mixture through a cloth, and a bit of detergent to the mix, then carefully pour in a little methylated spirits to make a layer on top. you can see a some white stuff in the methylated spirit that is DNA.

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Then they had to investigate a crime.

There was a sheet of suspects with  a bit of info about them. We had to look at 5 sets of evidence and try to wrok out who did it. Footprint, fingerprint, car paint, DNA, clothes fibre. We didn’t manage to get round them all (spent too long peering at fingerprints). But we did the footprint:

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The car paint left on a wall:

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And the fingerprints:

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By which time it was time to go home, both kids were seeming a bit tired. SB in particular looked a bit pale and washed out when we got back. So they vegged a bit  once we got home before dinner. BB of course slept in the car so didn’t go to sleep til too late.

Friday

My parents were coming round, so tried to get a bit done before hand. SB did some maths, and read some bits out of her Encylopedia of Knowledge (or some such) which she had for xmas, and we tried to tidy the playroom. Was supposed to do some music but we had a phone call from H to say her Sis and family were stopping off on the way home from Centre Parcs. About 20 minutes later they appeared :-)

So they arrived and the kids were all off playing. A bit later my Mum and Dad appeared. A little while after lunch H got home as well :-) Once Sis and family had gone on their way, SB played kiddie Monopoly, can’t really remember what else might have happene. Parents stayed for dinner, then off to bed for children

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fossilised daleks

Posted on February 19, 2009 by | 2 comments

what a fab title! today was latinetc, and we should have been on time, but a section of the road we were travelling down was being lifted up, and it was only when we got to the front of a several mile tailback that we found this out. harrumph.

As usuall SB enjoyed the latin – and apparently did know more than one word! and loved the music and bells, and was trying to tell me all about the hand signals – is that the doh a dear stuff? thanks gina for link!] the littlies started with a fimo workshop from Merry, where they made snowmen. BB was most happy, and impressive snowmen turned out by all. we then did science. we have put chicken bones in jars of vinegar and sealed, and in 2 weeks will see what has happened. we discussed the properties of bone, what it might be made out of, and then made wild guesses about what might happen to it in the vinegar. A little segue, and i got out some of our fossils – a lot of belemnites, some gryphea and some ammonites. much impressed by ancientness – though obviously the many stones in the garden they have touched are ancient also!! [could side track into ramble on relativeness of ancientness]. we looked at pictures of what it is imagined they looked like, different ways fossils are made and then we got to work making our own fossils out of air drying clay, real or imagined! when i did the bigger group, pretty much along the same lines, but with more detail J had fossil designers block. I suggested instead he could contemplate what might be fossilised today for the future. so he as done a dalek! rofl!! I had in my head that i would get loads of ammonites, trilobites and a few extras, but i should have known that this group has their imagination always on!!

an interesting aside, is that we always have some free questions and answerings in science, and the biguns surprised me by asking about madeleine mccann, and the evidence her parents killed her. I am of the opinion that they didn’t, and that there is no evidence to say otherwise. we talked about how it focuses minds of parents to keep children safe, and not leaving them completely unsupervised, however ‘free’ it might seem. they then moved onto shannon, it is always an honour to hear a group of children discuss these things with you as an equal. i do wonder whether some of them knowing about the current consultation has perhaps kickstarted some thinking.

some fab playing, some french games for the littlies – bb now doesn’t have a problem with staying glued to me, which is nice! BB found a newt in the garden, which she thought was a toy [like her stretchy lizards!] but C then took charge, and all the children got to hold and have a look before it was released into mud world. BB was quite liberally covered in mudworld…

SB was getting a bit worn though, as she wasn’t at her best [though this has meant lots of bonus cuddles for me, always nice!] but she had a bad night on mon, so i slept with her last night, and she did wake and stir most of the night [so not so good for me! but it did settle her more quickly]. SO for once she asked to go home, and so we did. Some of the group were moving on to a museums thing, and we had considered going, but SB was too fragile really for crowds and tramping about.

Merry and co came back with us, as she had a late pass!! and a bit more fimo-ing was done by the children – another fab snowman by BB. She really has quite an eye for detail, and is keen to get things right. playing around and about. but merry’s girls had loved the music at melrose, and were keen to repeat, so a quick sort out of merrily we row, and off we went! a full house of players. J is obviously another keen glockenspiel player, BB had SB’s violin, she recordered, and Merry, ahh, she brought a viola. it was fab. we will hopefully keep this going, and perhaps this will enthuse and encourage.

BB went to bed without too much wailing [ok, i fib slightly] chris read The Beagle with Charles Darwin (Inside) to SB, and she carried on, having really enjoyed it. we are looking forward to Darwin and Evolution for Kids: With 21 Activities: His Life and Ideas (For Kids Series) and The Evolution Revolution arriving. talking of arrivals, my rspb order arrived with ripped packaging – sigh – so now going to get a replacement. the felt also arrived ready for next latinetc.

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and back again

Posted on February 15, 2009 by | 2 comments

sad to leave Melrose, especially as next year it will be closed for refurb, so maybe not the opportunity to go again. our journey there and back have been made much better with the acquisition of a few audio CD’s that we all enjoyed a lot [well, BB was mostly asleep, so it is not tested on her!]. We learnt a lot, they’re not in depth, but enjoyable, with background, yarns and the important stuff!! i would highly recommend!!

go, on!! they’re worth it!! 2 CDs in each etc etc. SB loved the scientists one best, then the inventor one. it is amazing how many were home educated!!

We stopped off at the angel of the north to start with as migraine needed a break. it is rather a fabulous art piece, and SB in particular loved it. we had a long chat about how to commission art.
we then stopped at scotch corner as a lunch break. I often grumble about it being called scotch corner, its not as if it is anywhere near scotland. no doubt there is a reason, and i could probably google it! SB and I missed kirsty and family, whilst chris and bB didn’t.

luckilly :roll: we got to meet later on, so SB didn’t feel left out. as we got near wetherby the car started to wobble alarmingly. chris thought it might be a puncture and kicked the tyre on the hard shoulder, and then we wobbled all the way to wetherby services. having brightkited, we had loads of messages of support and assistance – thanks guys. kirsty rolled in and provided chocolate and moral support, and chris eventually decided a weight thingy was declared missing from a wheel, and the wheel changed and we set off – thankfully wobble free!!

SO we arrived far later than planned to SOTP for feeding, playing, chatting and book swapping. as well as a discussion on evolution resources – listed below. some of which are overtly and some perhaps covertly anti-creationist rather than ignoring it. [i think we all know i favour evolution :wink: ]
the next day lots of play, particularly sweet with J and BB. and SB, C and M put on a show. I was impressed with SB’s modal tune, which she reprised later. As always C sang beautifully, but M also has a voice to be proud of.

Finally we set off home, and got in at 11. unfortunately BB has got her times all wrong, and was then awake! but never mind. we had a fab week, and lovely to visit friends on the there and back again.

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raising the dead

Posted on February 5, 2009 by | 2 comments

well, that was the home ed lesson for today. quite a good one really!

it was a latinetc today, without the puddlegirls though. SO we had combined latin and games were played there, and the littlies did winter french – drawing pictures and then discussing what you could see in french. both language sessions were enjoyed by my respective daughters!

for the science bit today, I had loan of a resuscibaby from c’s badgers. so we did that. the younger group were v attentive to how to do it, and all had 2 goes each at remembering – the most vital bit for them being call for help! i wouldn’t really want to be in the position of them or no-one [but research shows really only 11+ or 13+ have the strength to actually do cpr on an adult], but I think learning about it, and coming back to it every so often is important. The older group were WAY more dramatic. for a minute I thought I was Merry asking them to act out a scene from casualty!! once I had persuaded a toning down of drama, we got on with it, and each of them successfully did cpr at least once, and practiced finding landmarks on each other – though we did A LOT of discussion on how you can’t actually do it for real on someone unless they need it! We did all the safety, calling for help, defibrillators and associated stuff. SO I think that was worth doing, and they did it well – all be it with ‘style’!

the other half of the science session was starting on bones. [thanks again sarah!] and we drew our own hand bones using an xray to model. we named and chatted about the different bones, and how we got our hand mvts. They decided not to label in chalk, so here are websites with the ‘real names’, so they can be labelled at home. Next time we are going to do the bone in vinegar thing, so will need LOTS of vinegar/ jam jars and chicken legs…

of course, a friend currently residing in the states had to go for a bit of one-upmanship, and their hE involved looking at strawberry DNA! luckilly she put out the ‘recipe’

1. Pulverize strawberries down to goo in a blender.
2. Mix 25ml strawberry goo with 50ml of water.
3. Add a pinch of salt.
4. Centrifuge for 60 seconds.
5. Strain out solids.
6. Add 15ml of liquid soap.
7. Centrifuge for 60 seconds.
8. In a test tube, mix 50-50 goo-you-have-made and ice cold isopropyl alcohol.
9. Gently mix (tip it back and forth a few times) and allow to separate. Broken cell bits are at the bottom, DNA is in the cloud at the top.
10. Pipe off a little of the top cloud. Put a drop or two on a glass slide.
11. View under microscope. DNA!

They used a kid’s science kit centrifuge [gulp!], and it didn’t seem to be going all that fast.

and now I am on the hunt for a cheap centrifuge!! This site also interesting! hmmm. It feels all exciting doesn’t it!

hermmm, well where was I before sundry flights of fancy??? Ah yes, after lunch, SB and chloe were keen to do some music, with G, but got started all on their own, and were being so fabbly autonomous with an EE mark :lol: that we left them to it. the were using the colour coded bells, and using felt tips, writing music for them [felt tip corresponding to bell!] we were v impressed!! Unfortunately we were all haring off, so i don’t think they realised quite how impressed we were!

home, SB did some piano practice, and drew some traffic signs for the next harmony arts assignment, and then did some sewing. BB watched some mona the vampire and then did some sewing also. SB had brownies – and we saw her make the promise, and she seems much happier in brownies than she ever did in rainbows, so that seems good. [maybe she is just a happier girl] she had judo, and a new boy is apparently a bit too rough, but the sensei seemed to have it in order. SO there we are!

in the rest of the week, apart from thinking about the future of HE in this country and getting depressed, political and activated, the kids have played – in snow, a lot with sindy/barbie and sylvanians. SB has done some maths and piano and is really loving reading her encyclopaedia of knowledge and coming up with odd facts all over the place. i have worked silly hours – must do something about that! Chris has baked cakes for Melrose.

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waves of fire

Posted on January 30, 2009 by | 16 comments

before i start on wed, i would like to poit out that i finished work at 10pm on tues, so somewhat knackered. i think i am finding work a bit overwhelming in the hours dept at the mo, and it will get worse. ho hum. but i am being resolutely polyanna that i do have a job, and a well paid one – well, i am trying to be anyway as i cerebrally know that is good!! but occasionally it is good to take a second to feel sorry for oneself, and wonder how i got here!

so i dragged myself up on wed early early and the kids so we could go to london, i knew it would be worth it!! we had brekkie of croissants and brioche in the train – such a good idea! a surprise as we saw the manor borns at one of the stations along the way, but they were waiting for another of their party, so we waved and carried on.

we had a plan you see! SB and I were going to an RI lecture on explosive sounds [or something like that] and chris and BB were going to the science museum so she had something fun to do. and then we were going to have a picnic lunch with friends – including the monster teenies – and then spend vouchers in waterstones before going home, SB having her brownie whatsit thingy and judo. well, that was the plan!

SB and i did duly go to the lecture and met up with michelle, c and their friends there. the monsterteenies were rain stopped play though. it was truly fab. being early, we had ringside seats, and the chappie was v enthusiastic, inhaling helium and oh tarnation I have forgotten what the heavy gas was sulphur hexa fluoride anyway we had squeaky and then low darth vade voices, and discussion of asphyxiation and drowning in gases. we all did various not mexican waves as well. the kids all v happy.

the piece de resistance was his home made flame wave machine. when uploaded to youtube, i will put it here. it was well worth the early morning start. we loved it!!

[imagine short video here!]
[flickr video=3239676358]

Afterwards i hired the pda’s and went down to the basement to interact with the museum exhibits. what a fab idea that was. we had to skip out to meet chris and BB, but next time would spend longer in the museum.

We ate at a place called cilantro [ :roll: that too trendy to be called coriander!] and then spent 90 mins in waterstones agonising over books. BB surprisingly rejected the latest Winnie’s Flying Carpet (Winnie the Witch) [which i wanted to read!] and instead had a dinosaur theme! Dinosaurs Love Underpants Dangerous Dinosaurs Jigsaw Book (Horrible Histories Novelty) Jungle (Sounds of the Wild) and SB sorted out a variety of books having melted down over the roald dahl books and not chosen any of them… We saw M and C for about 5 mins, had a wrong book trauma best glossed over and missed train by a minute.

oops, so we missed the beginning of brownies, SB missed her swearing in, and by the time she finished judo she was wiped out. we did read books on the train though!

BUT a fab day!

ooh, forgot to say, that I got this book. We had a bit of discussion round it on the tube, and you could see lots of peerers over!!

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Posted in Books, Butterbean's HE, General, geography, history, literacy, Out and About, pre reading, science, Stringbean's HE