October 2012

In October we went on a field trip to AROCHA (http://www.arocha.ca/), to learn about environmental stewardship. We broke off into different groups and since I was with Caleb's group, all of my pictures from that day are of Caleb. We learned about preserving habitats for local animals and plants and we learned about which animals and plants we were helping. We played games, observed and learned about AROCHA projects and even saw some salmon in the creek! 

We started a fun unit study on Explorers. We learned about why the explorers were exploring. We learned knot tying (which came very easily to Rebecca), and we made Captain's Log books by soaking crumpled paper in tea to give it the weathered look.

 Why did they explore? Spices, Gold, Land, Christianity, Adventure!

  Rebecca's Knot Tying

 Rebecca helping Caleb with his knots

Some of the knots were a bit frustrating to learn!

 ..but in the end we all tied at least some of them successfully.

Soaking the paper in tea water

 hanging it to dry

 Putting together the covers for our Captain's Logs

Some science highlights for October were the UV beads from the Big Bucket of Science, using Microscopes, batteries, more super absorbent polymers, and some chemistry.

We coated the UV beads with sunscreen to see how well the sunscreen worked. Here are the beads next to some beads that didn't get the sunscreen. 

"Check out what I can see!"

 view through the lens

 One of the things we were looking at was some of the super absorbent polymer.

 Christine's experiment on breaking Molecules down into Atoms

 Growing plants in the water gel polymer

 These jelly balls started out as tiny little grains. Just add lots of water and voila!

 Christine's experiment comparing different concentrations of vinegar and how they affect antacid tablets.

We had a Taekwondo Testing in October 

Here is Christine demonstrating a self-defense move on her Mom!

 The boys just finished a sparring match

 Rebecca breaking a board with a fore-arm strike

A few other events that wrapped up the month of October were a visit from my second cousin from Holland,   a Newsboy's Concert for Christine and I, the boys building model tanks with Daddy, volleyball in the backyard, Rebecca rollerskating, carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating in our neighbourhood.

Oh, and one last thing, Christine is really enjoying learning Sign Language for her second language this year. Her favourite part is learning how to sign the praise and worship songs we sing in church.