No School like Homeschool!!

February 12, 2014-

This week we had a fun experiment to do for  Mikey's science (Zoology- we use Apologia- love this curriculum for science) that involved play-dough.  Well of course I had to make some - much cheaper and way to easy to go by it.

 Here is the recipe I follow,  it comes from :
 http://thefrugalgirls.com/2010/10/homemade-playdough-recipe.html, 

Once you make this you will never purchase it again...




You will need:
Cheap, white flour will do for this because you won't consume it
Cheap,  salt
Cream of Tartar
Vegetable oil
Food Coloring
Water
Lemon extract

1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Water
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tbsp Vegetable oil ( I used Canola)
1/2 cup of salt

Put it all in a pan over medium heat, stirring constantly ----make sure you don't leave the pan but stand there and stir until it thickens into a ball - you can add food coloring right as it starts to thicken and continue to stir until it forms a ball.  Remove from heat and put ball on wax paper or I used aluminum foil to cool.  Store in ziploc bags.

* They suggest peppermint oil/extract...I used this once and forgot and touched my eyes while playing with it...so this time we used lemon and it worked out much better.

Click the link above for detail instructions and pics on how to make it.



_________________________________________________________________________________
Well we are kicking off the year with a bang.  Homeschool schedules have been adjusted and the boys seem to have finally come to an understanding that schoolwork is not negotiable!!!  YAY for them...YAY for me...!

I have to post today about a wonderful 'intro to robotics' project Mikey and I did this past week.  Loads of fun to make and watch and  very good for 8 year old boys who want to prank their 14 year old sisters...BRISTLEBOTS-these little buglike robots made from toothbrush bristles are awesome.

I found the project here at: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Better-Bristlebot/

Here is what ours looked like...loads of fun for all of us!!!

Sorry for the background...my face- Haha!.

We had to play around with them to keep them up on the bristles...but eventually we mounted the battery and motor in a way that it didn't tip.  We even made a lego- lane for it and watched it go!!!

_________________________________________________________________________________