Chemistry Lessons about Salt (Warning: No-hands on experiments done)

There were not hands-on experiments done this week in our science study.  Just one of those "hills I decided not to die on" this week.  We discussed the differences between types of salt that is used in the kitchen, in our bodies and in the environment.  For example, table salt has a different chemical formula than the salt used outside on the very snowy roads (that erodes away the road surface).  Narrate about salts from DK page 44-45, Usborne pages 88-91 and Basher page 30 on your Elemental Science Grammar Stage Chemistry blue binder page 51 (Yes, we reusing and adding to our 2nd/3rd grade materials because they are that good).  Read Tiner chapter 14 & answer questions about chapter on lined sheet of paper placed near binder page 51.  Read and answer questions in Elements of Faith on same lined sheet of paper for Na and Cl.  I enjoyed discussing the Elements of Faith topic of salt and light with my kids this week. So many brilliant bonuses of homeschooling my kids.

One other bonus this week was enjoying nature during the longest winter of my life.  Sometimes the mittens get in the way when taking pictures outside, because it is THAT COLD.

Today's Status

Every lamp shade is off kilter. Isn't it time for a grandparent to visit?

The outside of this house is turning from worn brown/orange to blue. Is it time to clean inside for a grandparent visit?

Such trivial things to worry about cleaning and lamp shades when a friend in Omaha is having heart surgery today. I know their family is in that house caring for them and nobody cares about the lamp shades or cleaning or color of the siding.

My sister is interviewing for a job with insurance and other benefits today.  She is more worried about how she appears, her answers to their questions and her performance at the temp job for them than some lamp shade or siding color.

Friends both here and in Kansas are dealing daily with CANCER, and they REALLY don't care about lamp shades or siding color.

So, we pray for the heart surgeon and their teams to do their job.
...We pray for the interview to be the best she has ever done.
...We pray that the friends ENJOY a day with the struggle, because it's a new day.
...We pray that the people we don't even know will find the invitation to our church's Christmas service and come and be blessed by a joy UNDENIABLE with goose bumps for reasons that we certainly understand.

Caught Reading

Black Ships Before Troy, The Librarian Who Measured the Earth, and Highlights Magazine; it's ALL GOOD!

Even the stuffed animals are studying

Somebody helped them get their gear on

Messy morning drive to CBS

G#2 took this picture as we drive past IKEA this morning on our way to community Bible study. About 10 degrees cooler and this would have been an even more stressful drive.  But as it was, two people were practicing their multiplication facts while the other was helping me take this picture. 

And, did you know that it takes 29 cents to send a postcard by USPS? Well, I'll definitely change how we get the Christmas greetings out to our friends in the next month by sending those with proper postage.