Jeweler, you failed.

There's a scene in the movie Help! where John brings Ringo to a jeweler to have the mysterious ring removed from Ringo's finger. Of course, no matter how hard he tries, the ring stays firm. John, then pronounces, entirely deadpan, "Jeweler, you failed." Here's the clip on youtube.

I had never seen Help! until I started dating my husband and of all the famous lines from movies that occasionally run through my brain, I think this is probably the lamest, but nevertheless, whenever I see a failure of some kind, I think it.

When it came to science experiments this week, this jeweler certainly failed.

So far our biology curriculum has been going pretty well. The move set us behind a couple weeks and that disappoints me, but I've decided not to rush to catch up. We'll just forge ahead at a consistent pace (or try to) and see where it takes us. We have done very well making science a hands-on experience with all the models Gabby's made. She built her atom, her gumdrop molecules, and she just finished a terrific model of an animal cell.

Here's the cell. There are holes cut for each organelle and on the back you can read about them.

But experiments have been harder for us. I have craft supplies galore -- great for models -- but what do I have that's good for experiments in freshman biology?

This week Gabby and I attempted 3 experiments. Every one was a failure.

The first was a diffusion lab. This was to conclude our chapter on the cell. We had to fill plastic baggies with a cornstarch solution and place them in an iodine solution. Sounds simple, right? Well, we did exactly what we were supposed to do and it did not do its part.

The bag was supposed to work as a selectively permeable membrane, only allowing the iodine solution in. We would have been able to see that because the iodine would have reacted with starch, turning blue. Nothing happened to our starch solution! It stayed perfectly cloudy white. The iodine solution did change though. It started turning a dark brown or black. We realized that for whatever reason our bag was acting as a selectively permeable membrane -- only letting the starch solution pass! So I guess that one wasn't a total bust. It still illustrated the concept but I wouldn't give us a gold star or anything.

The next one was supposed show how light affects leaves. We colored some leaves with black construction paper and others with different colors of cellophane and placed the plant in a sunny window. Of course, for the next few days we had cloudy weather. The covered leaves looked no different from the rest of the leaves. It may be because of our choice of plant. This time of year, I could only find poinsettias. Alas.

The final lab should have been our simplest. A paper chromatography lab. We followed the instructions EXACTLY. I sent Gabby and William into our yard to collect leaves. We thought it would be fun to collect leaves of all colors: green, red, yellow, purple. We cut them up and put them in cups with acetone (nail polish remover) and let it sit for 24 hours. When we came back to it the acetone was tinted with the colors of the leaves. We dipped strips of coffee filter in and waited for different colored lines to appear. We got nothing! I couldn't believe it. In fact, I was so mad that I found another website, same lab but somewhat different instructions. We're going to do it all over again. We will succeed!

I think a situation like this is why a friend of mine, Susan, says to always test object lessons at home before performing them for the Sunday School class!

Well, I tested at home, but home was the class!

I can only hope for better results in the future. Or better experiments. Or a better biology instructor -- who just happens to come knocking on my door. That's likely, right? Maybe. Tomorrow never knows.


Our 3 failed labs

A Unit for a Little Woman

Gabby reading Little Women

To begin our Language Arts studies for the year, I chose to concentrate on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I have a soft spot for the Transcendentalists, having grown up in the Boston area, swimming in Walden Pond in the summer, and being one of 4 daughters myself. (My placement in my family would make me "Beth" but I have much more of Jo's temper than Beth's meekness and timidity.) I hoped Gabby would enjoy this story of 4 playful, imaginative girls and thought it very likely she would identify with Jo, as I did. (Who doesn't?)

I found a workbook to go along with our reading. It is meant for a fifth grade class using an abridged version of the book. Gabby is in 7th grade and I wanted her to read the real thing. (Why does anyone ever bother with abridgements anyway?) We used the workbook as a jumping off point. I liked the character guide where the student keeps track of descriptive words for the main characters and sketches pictures of them. We also used the writing prompts and some of the discussion questions.

To go along with some of those discussion questions, I found some complimentary activities in Gabby's church workbook. For one, she was supposed to write in her journal about modesty, dating, and the media. I thought this went well with the chapter Meg Goes to Vanity Fair, where Meg is tempted to turn from her values. I encouraged Gabby to write about Meg's experiences and what she thinks of them and apply them to herself in a modern context. See Personal Progress Choice and Accountability 6. I also used an activity where Gabby had to learn about a gospel principle. I thought exploring sacrifice would help her appreciate Jo's sacrifice of cutting her hair. (Gabby also has very long her that she refuses to cut!) Gabby wrote an essay to share with the family. She used the scriptures and online church resources and, of course, the account from Little Women. See Personal Progress Knowledge 4.

I've already shared about our field trips to Orchard House and Fruitlands Museum in an earlier post. They made the story come alive and helped us to get to know the author.

I found this great website for learning about the clothing women wore in the 1860s. It has an interactive version where you can add and remove each layer of clothes (except for the chemise!) It is astounding how many layers women wore!!! We used this as a basis for Gabby's major project: sewing a dress similar to what Louisa May Alcott might have worn. First we chose a pattern. Most period patterns are geared toward adult women so we had to choose a girls costume pattern, since Gabby is still small. Thus, her dress has some differences from a traditional 1860s gown: her bodice is sewn into the skirt, her lacing is purely decorative, and we used a zipper rather than buttons. It is also a bit short (Gabby is thin, but tall!) Next, we chose fabric. Somewhere we had read that the Alcotts preferred linen over cotton -- to avoid passive participation in slavery -- so we purchased all linen fabrics for the dress. That made it a bit pricey and reduced our color selection, but Gabby was happy with what she bought. We chose not to worry about our threads, ribbons or lace being cotton or cotton/poly. Here are some pictures of the sewing process:

cutting it out

some help from Grandma Jo

despite the splint and sling...

finally sewing on her own

All done!

We had a great time sewing the whole thing together, even through the broken elbow. It was a funny sight -- one working the pedal and backtack and the other feeding the fabric into the machine! I'm not a great seamstress, so Gabby had a good deal of help from my mom. By the end, she was able to sew on her own and I think she learned a lot more than she would have in a traditional Home Ec course -- sewing a tote bag or apron. For a culminating event, Gabby trick-or-treated this year as Jo March.

Wild Kratt, Superman, Jo March, Perry the Platypus

Freedom!

Now that we are fairly settled into our new home, we are trying to get back into our old routine. I'm not sure we had ever really developed a true routine, but we had great visions of one, so we are at least now re-assuming our visions.

Today, that meant Gabby got to go to work with Max. Max is a researcher at a hospital in the city. He has his own office where Gabby can study and the atmosphere in the labs he works at is pretty relaxed so it's okay for her to tag along.

They took the train together this morning and around 9:30 they were probably scooting through the city together. This is one of Max's favorite parts of his day, riding his Zootr to his office. He got Gabby a Razor so she could join in the fun. (That is how the broken elbow came to be.)

So now, here I am, with a day free of homeschooling. I plan to do housework, play with Fielding, get caught up with my church responsibilities and who knows what else. Maybe give my parents a call? Bake a little treat for family night tonight? Steal some Halloween candy?

The possibilities feel endless. I think I'll go and see what Hershey's got to offer.

We've moved; we've been overwhelmed

Our home in a freak fall snowstorm.


We are in a new house, a house we love and are so happy to have moved to, but wow -- getting to this point, where I now have a bit of free time to write about it -- that's been tough. I really was not prepared for how difficult it would be to move during the school year.

We put our house up for sale in June. It is a lovely little townhouse, but with only 3 bedrooms (small ones, too) and 4 kids, it was time to go bigger. And since a bad economy is a good time to buy a house, we went for it. At the end of July we got an offer and found our new home at the end of August. We had 14 days between closings. I thought having 2 weeks to move would make the whole process run smoothly and allow time for me to homeschool Gabby and tend the other kids' needs as well.

WRONG! The 2 weeks went by like nothing and we still had boxes everywhere and nowhere to sit (small house -> big house = not enough furniture). The first night we slept here, we didn't have enough time to set up the beds, so our bedroom became a true "bed"room: we had all the mattresses spread across the floor and all slept together.

Throughout this time, I was able to fit in very little schooling. Even Bri ended up missing 4 homework assignments over the course of the month. I don't think I had ever had to sign a missed homework slip for her in the past 5 years! Now, 4 in a month! The poor kid cried over the last 2 of them. She's responsible but still only 10. A 10-year old needs some support in getting homework done. An occasional "did you get your homework done?" goes a long way.

Gabby has been a huge help with the move. We would not be so well unpacked now if not for her. One day we organized the garage. It was stuffed so full, you could hardly walk through it. We moved all the boxes to the rooms where they belonged. It took the whole afternoon and was heavy labor. Gabby didn't complain once.

Doing schoolwork, though -- that's involved some complaining. Everything was too hard or she didn't know what she was supposed to do (5 minutes after me explaining what she was supposed to do). She was an angel to help me and a bear to teach.
But what can I expect? I had no interest in school either with the house in such a state! We are cut from the same cloth, this girl and I.

Well, now we're moved. Unpacked, mostly, a new couch (someplace to sit) and we are making a greater effort at schooling. Gabby should finish a nice paper puzzle of the cell in the next few days and complete our unit on Animal Farm as well. Halloween brought the culmination of her month-long study of Little Women. I'll post about that this week. I'm trying to be a better mom to everyone. I am even checking Bri's homework sheet every night.