I am still working hard to bring my blog up to speed, and that includes sharing some of our science fun from our homeschool days. We are using Apologia science for all the kids this year. My oldest is using the Physical Science, my 6th grader is using the elementary Chemistry and Physics in the Young Explorer series, and my 3rd grader is using the Astronomy book from that same series.

I admit that the experiments have overwhelmed me at times, especially since I have three separate sciences going on at once! Apologia is good about having you use household items, but still, you must have those items on hand. Mitchell’s book has many experiments, and sometimes, I just don’t have what we need, or I can’t find certain things we need, so we do the unthinkable: we skip it. Before you think me a lazy homeschooling mom, let me assure you, that we are still doing quite a few of the experiments in the book. But hey, I’m only one woman.

Leslie enjoyed reading about Mars a few weeks ago and completing a model of the largest volcano in our solar system, Olympus Mons.

First, we lined a cookie sheet with foil and placed rocks around it to resemble the surface of Mars.
Next, we mixed up the dough recipe in the book and molded it around an empty vitamin bottle. It looked like this:

We had to let it dry overnight, then we filled the vitamin bottle with certain amounts of dish washing liquid, baking soda and a bit of red food coloring. Next we – on second thought, just watch the video below! 🙂

She’s done several other experiments (which I hope to share in the future!), but this has been our favorite so far!