Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Dem Bones, Dem Bones

We're working our way through the chapter on bones in our Human Anatomy book and having fun making a plaster, glow-in-the-dark skeleton.

Mixing the plaster.

Letting the bones dry overnight after removing them from the mold

Gluing the bones onto our poster,
after painting them with glow-in-the-dark paint

The final result!

As you can see, there are generally no small boys hovering around our science projects. This is by design. We have always done science and history in the evenings, after the short-attention-span/busy-hand set has gone to bed. In the past, we've hit both subjects most nights - maybe a half hour on each. This year we decided to do history in the spring and summer; science now in the fall and winter. After almost six months of this plan (we did cycle 2 of Ancients this spring and summer, based on The Well Trained Mind), I can say it's been a huge hit in my book. Not only do I feel less pressure to rush through things, we have the opportunity to do more hands on projects.

If all goes according to plan (does it ever?), we'll continue on with science until spring, and then switch over to Medieval/Early Renaissance history.