Basketball Solar System

Today at the park we did a science experiment or lesson. I found this great article on the internet about astronomical distances and time that shows the size and distances of the solar system if our sun was the size of a basketball. We brought a basket ball (sun) four seeds (Mercury, Mars, Pluto and the our moon) two peas (Venus and Earth) a golf ball (Jupiter) ping pong ball (Saturn) and two small bouncy balls (Neptune and Uranus.) Thirty eight feet from our basketball sun I had Aden place our Mercury seed. Next Luke placed the Venus pea sixty seven feet, and on until we had to stop since Jupiter would have interrupted a football game in progress. I at least showed them the sizes of the rest of the planets and let them know that Pluto seed would be three thousand more feet from our basketball sun. Also that the closest star from our basketball solar system would be from here to New York.

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies

We spent about an hour doing sit down school time this morning. An hour seems so short, but we got a lot done. They practiced their spelling. Luke has the planets so I taught them the "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies (or pizzas)" you know, for the planets in order from the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Okay okay, so technically Pluto got demoted. I briefly mentioned that to them. Maybe we will look it up for part of school tomorrow. Isabel then drew and wrote about "Super Isabel's" weaknesses. Since Luke had already done that part for his superhero, he drew and described some setting ideas. We also read Martin Luther King Jr: The Life of a Civil Rights Leader by Gary Jeffrey illustrated by Chris Forsey. What's great about this MLK book is that it is in comic book format, word bubbles and all!

Alright, so the reason why we only spent one hour doing sit down school was because it was a beautiful day outside. After school we got ourselves some Costco hot dogs and headed for the park. They (we) played for a couple hours there and then I let them ride their scooters in the front yard when we got home. When they came inside they played Webkinz while I rested and read my book for a half hour. They are now doing their Math.