Her birthday fell late so she would be in her second half of preschool now but instead she’s at the beginning of first. We had to go on a search for math games for first graders.  She didn’t always learn this well. My oldest is the easiest kid in the world to home school. She will sit and do work sheets all day long. My little one…. not a chance. It took awhile but we realized we had to take a different approach. No worksheets for this one. We had to be very creative. We found that she LOVES math. She loves to count and makes  games out of anything. She will sit and count her Lincoln logs adding and subtracting as she goes. I love to watch home everything works in her little head.

We like interactive math games too instead of worksheets. She learns more and has fun while she’s solving problems. Sometimes I don’t think she realizes she’s learning. She want to get on the computer and play with the interactive math games. Her favorite are pixies.  She even does her chores before her ‘games’, I like it because she’s really grasping concepts that I think if were taught to her traditionally would be B-O-R-I-N-G!

Her math skills are rapidly getting better and getting her to do her math school work is easy. Reading on the other hand….

Are you pro-games for learning? If you would have asked me 2 years ago I would have laughed hysterically at you but the more I home school I realize I have to approach my girls differently. I’ve loosened up and my older daughter is playing more games too although she mostly has her nose in a book { wonder where she gets that from }

Has it been something in the back of your mind that you’ve thought about for awhile?

What is holding you back? Are you worried about less time with the children? The finances?

I admit it’s a big step and it’s one my friend made. She was a stay at home mom with two kids and what she thought was a fairy tale life until her husband left. She was scared to death! How was she going to take care of herself and her children.

She moved in with her parents, got a job, and went back to school.

She got scholarships and she makes sacrifices but she knows that it will all pay off for her.  You can get your masters in business administration in as little as 21 months. That is less than 2 years. I’m really proud of her. Some times it’s rough but she’s almost finished and she reminds herself how far she has come. She says that she will never have to rely on anyone again to take care of her and her kids.

Being a blogger I want to take some classes in business too. Sure I home school the kids and have  two businesses so I would have to work it in but I know that in the long run it will be worth it for myself and my family.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for denver mba and
was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

If you have ever noticed a bird flying, you will see how it uses its inherent ability to rightly use the aerodynamic forces to fly high in the sky as well as glide through the clouds tirelessly and effortlessly. I use these principles in a myriad of exciting homeschool science experiments, some of which I will share below.

These 4 aerodynamic forces are thrust (the force that makes a bird move forward), drag (the force of resistance which the bird has to minimize), lift (the force that makes the bird rise high) and gravity (the force that pulls the bird down). A slight imbalance in the above- and the flight would not be as graceful.

It is important to note that the force of lift and thrust is generated when the birds flap their wings. They also create a lift while gliding against a current of wind by tilting the front edges of the wings to create a difference in air pressure. Drag is minimized by the aerodynamic shape of the bird’s body. Also, birds have hollow bones, making them lighter and reducing the effects of gravity. I will share some of my favorite homeschool science experiments below to demonstrate how objects rise in the air and why flying objects must be light in weight.

Airplanes and rockets are designed with these principles in mind. One or more of the above mentioned forces are dominant depending on the function of the flying object. Even if you and I had wings, we wouldn’t be able to fly since our bodies are not aerodynamically shaped and we are heavy.

Now that you have learned something about aerodynamics, let’s have fun with a hot air balloon experiment. If you’ve ever been in a hot air balloon, you will notice that the pilot adjusts the burner in order to make the balloon go upwards and downwards. He also uses the winds, caused by a difference in air pressure, to move from place to place. Let’s make our own hot air balloon using a garbage bag.

Hot Air Balloon Experiment: Open up a garbage bag and make the mouth very narrow using duct tape. Make sure to leave a small hole to fill-in hot air. Now run a hair dryer for a few seconds till it blows hot air and then fill the bag with hot air. Now switch off the hair dryer and let go of the bag. The bag begins to rise towards the ceiling, where it stays for some time.

Hot air has less density. This means that there are fewer air particles inside the hot air balloon as compared to the outside atmosphere. Therefore there is less air pressure inside the hot air balloon as compared to the outside air. This makes the balloon rise.

Tissue Parachutes: Take four pieces of thin strings or sewing thread of equal lengths. Tie the threads to the four corners of a tissue paper. Tie the free ends of the four strings to a piece of stick. Prepare many such parachutes with different weights attached. Now drop them one by one from a balcony. Notice how fast each one drops to the ground.

Do you now realize why it is important for birds and airplanes to be light in weight?
The free “Homeschool Parent’s Guide to Teaching Science” is filled with great science experiments and activities. Get your copy by clicking the link below.