10 Days in Asia

So, you might remember that I recently shared our experience with the game 10 Days in Africa. I mentioned that there are other versions of the game- Asia, U.S., and Europe. Well...it got me thinking about the other continents. Would there be an Australia version? South America? When I visited the website I didn't see anything new so I decided to contact Out of the Box Publishing. I asked if there were plans for Australia and South America.

They replied! Here's what I learned...there is no Australia version yet, but a new version called The Americas is due out June, 2010! I'll be watching for that one. It'll include North and South America.

In the meantime, they very graciously sent me 10 Days in Asia to review for you! I am just so excited!

The kids did not waste time cracking open the box. It arrived last week and we've already played a bunch. We've been hauling it to LEGO practice and playing like crazy while we wait. Nothing like hearing your kids discuss the finer points of moving around the continent of Asia.

This game has more modes of transportation for getting around. 10 Days in Africa has a truck and an airplane. Asia here has planes, railroads, and ships and there are two oceans to navigate. Pretty tricky.

To play the game you draw 10 cards and you have to arrange them in the best order possible. There are rules about how you can fly from country to country (they have to be the same color with a matching plane) and how to get to bordering countries. The other thing is that when you draw a card (either from the top of the discard pile or a new card), you can't just move the others around. You can only put a new card where the card you discard goes. So, you have to do a bit of planning and if you don't set up your itinerary carefully in the first place you are going to struggle.

You might guess that we want to collect them all. While they play very similarly, each time you play it's a new game because you never know what you'll be dealt. The age recommendation is 10 and up, but I7 can play with some success and R9 is quite good at it. The game retails for about $25 depending on where you purchase it.

What a fun way to play with geography! My sincere thanks to Out of the Box Publishing for letting me try out a new game.

I don't know about you, but I've been doing a lot of thinking with the Christmas season arriving...you know...about what to get for the kids. Good news! Rainbow Resource carries this series of games. So, if you happen to be in the market for some new homeschool games, don't forget this geography fun!

Velocity of a Marble: Results

Here is the much anticipated result of our marble investigation. I was delinquent in getting pictures to go with my results. I have to have the pictures! If you missed the first post on our most excellent math lesson, then go to there and read about it. It was good science!!

The first thing the kids found was that it was hard to get the marble to repeat a good run enough times to record it for five trials in a row. They tried to get the marble to go around the curve correctly each time to no avail. Finally, they ended up making a new chart to record the partial runs. We could calculate the velocity whether or not the marble went all the way to the end of the track.

The data chart-we recorded the time in seconds using a kitchen timer. Each of them took a turn helping to hold up the part of the track near the curve, timing, and letting the marble go.

Then we measured the length of the track at both the partial and final marks and I marked the yarn with the start and partial distance. That was important later on. E11 used a yard stick to record the full and partial length of the track. Then we had the mathematical task of converting the measurement to inches. Note, scientific work is generally done in cm, but I was working with a yard stick not a meter stick so I just went with English measurements this time.

The final calculation page. E11 and R9 used the formula velocity = distance/time to get their answers. The answer was in inches per second. Their marble was traveling 41 inches per second down the marble track.

Then I thought I'd give E11 the challenge of converting our answer from inches per second to miles per hour. That was fun! Yeah...I'm that kind of mom!

Some things to think about- first the kids wanted to give up on the full track runs, but I made them stick with it. E11 was especially annoyed and declared it was all ruined several times, but I reminded him about how scientists meet up with obstacles all the time. Dan helps to manage a university lab full of users who get frustrated the same way. Months of work will come to a crashing halt when they make a mistake or a tool is dirty and ruins a wafer or a tool is broken and breaks something they've worked hard on for a long time. There is a delay in forward movement. They have to begin again. That's how it is in the real world of science! Besides, E11 is a very bright boy who needs to work on perseverance when something is more difficult than he would like to battle.

Also, before we could do calculations, we had to deal with the raw data. We chose to find the median rather than an average in order to do the velocity calculation.

We had trouble importing the video from E11's camera into Picasa so for now the video of the run will wait. Next time... Aha! E11 just informed me that his camera card was not wiped so perhaps, with my help, we'll load up some video for you. That was part of the challenge that day.

All in all a fantastic activity for math and science. I wonder what we'll do next!

Mapping the UGRR

Using the features from the Time Travelers History Study on the Civil War, we made the map of the Underground Railroad.

First I had to cut the flaps with a craft knife- that's not something I do everyday.

Then we put the descriptions behind the flaps. Very cool.

Again, just catching up on some real deal homeschool blogging here. This CD is organized very well and the projects are fun.

Pumpkin Math

We have been so crazy busy here with lego practice, co-op, fun fall sunny days that we've been on the go A LOT. However, we've had time to fit in some fun activities here and there. What am I saying? Of course we are ALL about the fun! ALL the time! Right?

One of my oldest friends and a fellow homeschooler and FIAR user, Cherylin (this is where I'd link you to her awesome blog if she had one...hint...hint) sent me a link to Mathwire.com knowing I love pumpkin fun stuff. It took me a while to really peruse their offerings, but when I did I pulled some fantastic math fun. See what you think.

The Pumpkin Jumble game was a big hit. Pattern blocks piled high, we did some jack o' lantern building using a dice roll

The kids had to record on a chart the roll of the die and follow the directions to fill in the face. Once they were able to complete it, they won. In the meantime, we totaled up the tally marks and talked about probability.

We also had some fun with glpyhs (symbols representing data) which was so fun because later on, J4 was able to share what we did with Dan at the dinner table. In a pretty detailed way too.

You could spend a lot of time on there roaming around and they are kind enough to leave previous year's links up. Though Halloween is all done, there are still good pumpkin with no face type activities to enjoy.

Up for a Challenge?

Well one thing about the Homeschooling Blog Awards is that you find some super cool blogs you've never been to before. So, while sizing up the other blogs in the awards election I found Delightful Learning.

She's got a weekly meme that is right up my alley here at our homeschool- Up for a Challenge is a problem solving activity involving some fun household materials.

She's having a bloggy give away of a box-ful of challenge materials through tomorrow night, November 11th. So, hop on over and join in the fun!

Time to Vote!

It's time! It's finally time! The voting begins today over at the Homeschool Blog Awards and I really, really hope you'll take some time to head over and check out all the fabulous blogs that were nominated.

And thanks to you all, Blog, She Wrote has been nominated in three categories! At the risk of being obnoxious, I'll save you some time on hunting through and just tell you Blog, She Wrote is nominated in:

• Best Homeschooling Mom
• Best Super Homeschooler
• Best Homeschooling Methods (for Unit Studies)

The competition is stiff ladies. Those are some really fine blogs nominated in the same categories!

I'm honored to have been nominated and it's just fun to see how much people enjoy Blog, She Wrote.

Thanks for reading!

Now...go and vote!

Safe House Lanterns

We are using the Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers History Series Civil War to guide us on our rabbit trail of learning about The Civil War in the US. We used the Explorers study from the same series last spring during our World Exploration unit so I knew I wanted to give this one a try. Plus, I was able to see the the finished product at the LEAH Homeschool Convention in Rochester in June. Amy Pak does a lot of fun work and if you order through the Schoolhouse Store, then it's free shipping. She's only a day of mail away from me! Bonus.

We prepared a couple days ahead of time by filling the cans with water and freezing them. On lantern day we gathered the materials- a template and rubber bands, a towel, a hammer, and a nail...oh and the cans!

All the kids had a try by themselves and did really well.

Even J4 took a turn with the hammer. I helped hold since I couldn't find the light duty hammer.

All done! As soon as we get some new tea lights, we'll light them up.

All of the kids' pretend play right now is Underground Railroad related. They are building safe houses and compartments like crazy. And every time I turn around someone is hiding and running somewhere with a sack on his/her back.