First Day of Homeschool Party

Monday was our first day of school!

Even though we do school all year, I like to make the start of a new school year "official". The last couple years did not lend themselves to anything big, but this year things have been much smoother all around, and I am really excited about how many of our friends have started homeschooling either last year or this year! So I wanted to do something a little more special this year.

Monday afternoon we had a First Day of Homeschool Science Party!

Not all of our homeschooling buddies could make it, but we ended up with 10 "students" ranging in age from 2-15.

The science nerd in me was completely geeked out! And I loved it!

I set up science stations around the house for the kids to check out, build, play with, and eat! I made fact sheets about each one and supplies for them to play with. There were six stations: 

• what makes popcorn pop 
• mad science fizzy drinks (pop rocks in Hawaiian Punch and Sprite)
• a build-your- own- race-car station with celery and carrot rounds
• a cup full of a larger version of the absorbent beads in a diaper
• a basket full of party poppers and how they work
• a station with a bunch of Zak and Grace's crystals, both raw and polished, that they have collected over the years and a brochure I made about how they grow.

The kids meandered from station to station, trying out different things. The Fizzy drinks were a big hit, as were the party poppers, obviously. And I was impressed by how creative the kids were with their cars, adding steering wheels and tail fins. And one did't make a car at all, she chose to travel by llama!

They made fruit kabobs to snack on, and played outside while they munched on pizza rolls and pigs in a blanket. 

Meanwhile, I boiled the water and dissolved sugar to make the syrup for our candy crystal experiment. After each kid chose his or her own color, we hung the sugar coated sticks in each jar with high hopes that they would grow into rock candy over the next week or so.

But I think I might have missed something, or maybe still didn't have enough sugar, because the ones on our window sill are still not growing any crystals after two days. So I think we might have to boil the mix again and add more sugar and see if that gets them growing. It was the first time trying it, so who knows? It was a fun learning experience either way.

So that was our first day! And it sure was a fun one. 

I was thinking that we will have another one soon. Such a great way for the kids to learn through play, and for us Mama's to get to visit a bit too! Plus, I thought of way more ideas than I had time or room to set up. So we will definitely try to do it again soon!

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