Middle School Homeschooling Archives

Boston Museum of Science | Field Trip | Homeschooling

October 12, 2010 By Laura 3 Comments

One of our first field trips of this new homeschool year, was to the Boston Museum of Science!

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{JM, O & S} are at that age now, where I knew they would really benefit from going, on an educational level. {A}, of course, has been an appropriate age for some time, and she found many areas of interest that she enjoyed learning more about.

We left home early in the morning. I have to add, that I had decided I was not going to lug my big camera equipment around…because that was one of the reasons why we got {A} the Canon point and shoot for her birthday, right? But I have to tell you…it was hard! I felt like I was leaving one of my children behind! I was walking to the car in the drive-way as we left, asking myself…can I really do this? I made myself leave it home, and I worked on learning how to work this little thing better. And I’m still working on it. I’m an all manual girl for sure.

Anyway, we were there until late afternoon. This museum really is a place where you could spend at least2, maybe even 3 days at, to really enjoy it to the fullest, and not miss anything. Thankfully, we live close enough that we’ll be going again soon. The planetarium here at the Boston Science Museum, is currently under construction until early 2011. So we’ll be returning to see that when it re-opens. Especially because the little ones are studying Astronomy this year. But we certainly filled our day taking in all we could, enjoyed every moment expanding our knowledge on a variety of subjects, and having fun while we learned!

This very large scale grasshopper model displayed the internal parts of the insect, and their function. It was interesting to see the muscles of their legs, which are quite powerful in relation to their size. They can jump up to 20 times the length of their own body.

A real highlight of our trip, was this educational exhibit on electricity. The scientist was extremely knowledgeable and held our attention for sure. His ‘science lab’ was intriguing, as he explained a variety of facts.

We were often advised to protect our ears for certain demonstrations where the electrical currents were very loud. The kids were getting a little upset with me, because I kept uncovering my ears in order to take photos. But I got a shot with an electrical current like I wanted! Cool, huh?

These 2 guys were sure they were stronger than a AA batteries. But this demonstration proved them wrong. They were sorry they volunteered their manhood strengths, because the magnetic force that was created here, won in the end.

I was talking to my cousin’s middle school boy this past weekend (smart little fella), who took a field trip here when he was in 5th grade. He mentioned one of the highlights for his class was the electricity demonstration here too. They saw a couple different demos than we did this day.

The kids very all excited for this space exhibit, since they are currently learning all about astronomy. So this area in the following photos was very educational for them, and really brought to life so much of what they have been studying.

Inside the spaceship capsule, watching an educational video about the space shuttle.

This contraption was something else. There was so much it did. Engineering at it’s best. It was so much fun to watch it work.

As we looked at it, and watched the intricate and clever functions of it all, I thought to myself, “I can see {JM} building something like this, someday.”

No sooner did I think that, did he ask me to take his photo in front of it. He was grinning from ear to ear, and I could see his wheels turning. I think he was inspired.

I loved this wall.
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But this was the highlight of the trip, for ME, at the Boston Museum of Science! When I ever came around the corner, and saw this…..my heart was all a-flutter!….

boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-17 An old school house! I know they around here and there..like at Sturbridge Village, my cousin reminded me. I haven’t been there since I was very little, and I don’t remember anything there. (That’s another planned trip for us!). But I was very excited to be able to see this one, and GO IN!!

I was smitten, with every nook, cranny, and detail.

And I couldn’t resist playing teacher!

Thankfully I even had willing students, to play along and amuse me!! Their clothing was all wrong, but I didn’t care.

So was mine. But I was having fun. Michael was taking photos of my antics, left and right. I was glad I had on one on his shirt for this shot….so no one could see my mom jeans. ; )

Just kidding.

boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-24 {O}, pretending to write.
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-25 Check out the desk. Michael reminded me that we have an old school desk his parents gave him, when they moved from this area some years ago. I forgot about that!! I’m going to find it, and maybe bring it upstairs and put it in our school room. : )
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-26 THERE’S the pencil sharpener I remember.
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-28 I didn’t easily leave the school house area! As we stepped out and I looked at it from a little ways, I started to have crazy thoughts. Out loud. Like…”You know Michael, I bet you could build me one of these fairly easily.” And to my surprise, he didn’t even chuckle. He asked me where we would put it. Huh. Oh…..I guess I’ll find a spot then!
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-29 I loved this display. It slowly turned.

Behind it was a whole room of taxidermied animals! As we explained to {JM, O & S} about what taxidermy is, the process, and when and why it is done, they were wide-eyed!! We couldn’t help but laugh. I remember being about their age, and trying to wrap my brain around it all, when I learned this little fact of life, too. They were so cute.

{A} knew about taxidermy, but she said she found seeing the stuffed animals here very interesting anyway, because it gave her an accurate scale of the size of the animals. For example, we saw a Grizzly Bear and a Black Bear side-by-side, and she was surprised to see how much larger the Black Bear was. She always assumed Grizzly Bears were the larger.

It was a great trip, to a really great museum, for all of us. We look forward to returning there within this school year again, to see the planetarium, and have another day studying the world of science (all of God’s Creation), history, mathematics and social studies.

Have you ever visited the Boston Museum of Science? If so, what part of your visit did you like best?

Thanks for reading along and following some of our home schooling adventures we chronicle here. We’re glad you stopped by.

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How Doing Puzzles Benefits Our Brain

March 21, 2010 By Laura 2 Comments

Puzzles are not only a great deal of fun, challenging, and an enjoyable way to pass time, but putting together puzzles benefits our brains in numerous ways! For people of all ages. The brain can be so fascinating, as we all know, and learning the many ways in which doing puzzles help our brain health, is really cool. I’m going to tell you the many ways as to how, in just a moment.
(And by the way, I should also let you know that this post has a couple of affiliate links.)

Real quick first though, I wanted to show you a very different kind of puzzle, than we had ever done before.

My father had this 540 piece sphere puzzle, and he couldn’t figure it out how to piece it together. So he brought it along when came to visit one weekend, to see if the kids might want to give it a try. It’s a very unique puzzle, in it’s spherical shape, which as you can probably imagine creates new challenges to assemble, as opposed to the more traditional flat table puzzles.

It is a puzzle that is a bit more complicated. At first glance, the pieces look typical of any other puzzle.
However, they are actually plastic pieces, and have a slight curve to them.

But the backsides are where they really differ. They all have a little number on them, from 1-540, which is of course, how many pieces are part of this puzzle. This is where our 7 year old triplets were able to help the most. They grouped the numbered puzzle pieces into their proper hundreds: 100’s, 200’s, 300’s, 400’s and 500’s. And then got them more so in order from there. Great educational help, from the triplets.
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But {A}(12), our oldest, really did most of the puzzle assembly. You would think the numbers on the back of the pieces, really give away quite a bit, as to what pieces go where. But if you think about it, each piece connects to at least 4 others. So number sequence is hardly at play at all times.
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It really is a bit a tricky thing, to connect them just right too, as there is no table or hard surface, to press down on. Out girl found her technique though, and you would, too. In addition to the typical challenges of a puzzle, you don’t have a photo of the puzzle on all sides for this spherical one. Of course, you do have the numbers to help guide you somewhat. Still, it does take some focus and attention.
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It’s a proven fact, that puzzles are good for one’s brain. EHow offers these facts about why puzzles are so good for your brain:

• The brain is a highly complex machine that constantly forms and reinforces connections between its 100 billion cells. Performing mental exercises, such as puzzles, can help form new connections and boost long-term mental performance.
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Making Connections

• Connections between brain cells, and in turn the ability of each neuron to chemically signal the 10,000 or so other cells it connects with, are what form memories.

Strengthening Connections

• Memory retrieval and the ability to process new information is associated with brain health.
Puzzles can help with both of these important brain functions by strengthening the connections between brain cells.

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Giving Your Brain a Work Out

• Just as you exercise to build and maintain muscle mass, you can also strengthen your brain by exercising it.
Engaging in problem solving exercises creates new connections in the brain while strengthening old ones.

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Use It or Lose It, Baby!

• If you don’t give your brain a solid work out, your mental strength starts to deteriorate.
As you age, it is important to keep your brain fit through routine exercises.

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Continued Importance Throughout Life

• According to one study in the Journal of the America Medical Association, elderly people who strengthened their synapses through ten sessions of brain-boosting exercises showed improvement in memory, reasoning skills and mental processing, “well beyond the specific skills the volunteers learned.”

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So we can only assume, that puzzles are a great mental exercise, for our kids! Or anyone, at any age.

I’m thinking with all of benefits for our brain, I could really stand to join my kids doing a few puzzles, or 1,000, myself. Perhaps the younger kids start enjoying puzzles, the more their brains can benefit from them. I think I’ll be encouraging doing more puzzles for my own kids, as an activity for those rainy days, or an after-dinner wind down before they settle into bed for the night. I already know that they love to do crossword puzzles, and the more structural type. But we need more old fashioned puzzles to put together around here! What a great idea for Christmas present, come to think of it. And putting together puzzles can be a great family-time activity, as well!

**Here are some more ways in which kids doing puzzles benefits their brains:**

• Hand-Eye Coordination • Fine Motor Skills • Gross Motor Skills • Problem Solving
• Shape Recognition • Memory • Setting Small Goals

I haven’t been able to find this fairies design sphere puzzle online yet. But some of you homeschoolers may also love this other Esphera spherical puzzle (540 pieces) that is a world globe, which of course would not only be fun, but a great geography learning as well.

But if you and your family prefer traditional puzzles, they are just as fun, and of course give you all the benefits, too!

All in all, I think the likely perks of doing puzzles now and then, can be great for anyone. If nothing else, it’s a leisure and relaxing activity, that exercises patience and persistence as well. But as we all know now, there is so much more in it for all of us, than that!

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At Long Last, Our First Day of Homeschooling – School Year 2009-2010

September 19, 2009 By Laura 8 Comments

If you’ve been following along with us, you’ll know that this first day of our homeschooling year is one we waited for. (And waited, and waited..). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me put it in a nutshell for you: We ordered all of our curriculum, and the bulk of it never arrived. We waited for weeks. Many calls between shipper and post offices were made. Then a big box finally arrived. a completely EMPTY box. More calls were made. New orders were placed. And we finally received all of the curriculum we needed, weeks after we wanted to begin our homeschooling year. Doesn’t that sound like it was fun? Anyway.

Needless to say, there was a LOT of excitement about beginning our new official school year! Getting this new morning routine going was a bit if a challenge for Michael and I, but the kids were ready long before we were! All we kept hearing from them was, “Are you guys ready for school YET?” lol. (Isn’t that supposed to be OUR line?)

We started the day, like we start all school days, which is with family devotion together. We most always have special intentions and the Lord’s Prayer and a Hail Mary together. We’ve also been through many devotion books already over the years-some better than others. But they all have generally included the day’s Scripture reading, and discussion. We can really get going and chat the time away, with discussion! Recently, I ordered a new Kid’s Devotion quarterly magazine that has not yet started coming. But when it does, if it’s really good, I’ll be sure to blog about it. In addition to our family devotion together, {A} has her own teen daily devotional book that she loves, and of course, uses daily.

But until our new devotion book arrives, we can come up with plenty to do ourselves! For this first day of school, we first talked a little about the year ahead, our plans, and each of us said our own special intention for our school year, to pray for together. Michael/Daddy works for himself, so he was able to join us this first day.

A friend of ours, (Mr. Bill’s daughter, if you are familiar with the stories of him here on our blog), sent us a very thoughtful package for our family. There were some gifts for the kids, a gift card to a really nice restaurant nearby for Michael and I (that I have been waiting to try some day!), and a Mass card for our family. Part of the Mass card had this beautiful, Prayer for the Family. We prayed it together, and Michael led it by reading it for us.

Michael and I had read it before, when we first received it, of course, and we loved it! It just speaks to us. So much so, that we are putting it in a lovely frame, and hanging it on our wall by some pretty ribbon.

In Devotion closing, we then prayed a decade of the rosary together.

The little ones got started in writing their names on labels, and putting them on their books.

Then we all got to the school work!

{A} has always tended to kind of do her schooling all over the place. I guess it depends on where she feels like being, and what noise levels are here or there. But she started off this year in her room (well, one of her rooms. The other is having some work done, before we take this one and re-do it! lol). When she needs helps, or needs us to correct her work, she lets us know through the school day. Aside from that, we review and grade all of her work on our own time.

Generally speaking, here’s how {A}’s daily classes will go this year:

1) Math 2) Language Arts 3) Writing (program: Writing Strands) 4) Science 5) History & Geography 6) Latin 7) Politics & Government

*Another free day of the week: Art – Drawing & Painting Class

*Fridays-Teaching the little ones a class with me. : )

The the little ones now do most of our (book) schooling in the sun room. We have a ‘school room’ where we used to school all of the time, and where we still store all of our schooling books and supplies. We used to only school in the sun room in warm seasons. But now that we have a wood stove out here, and it’s a 4 season room…….. . It’s just that the light is SO plentiful and beautiful. It’s simply a lovely place to be.

Generally speaking, here’s how the kid’s school days go, after family devotion:

{J, O & S}

1) Phonics and Reading 2) Math 3) Writing (program: Writing Strands) 4) Spelling and Vocabulary

Tues: Catechism, *Wed: Science, *Thur: Social Studies, *Fri: Introductory Sign Language

*These days classes are like bonus classes. They may get moved around, or bumped off on the occasional week because of a field trip or a big agenda day for their teachers. ; )

Art, music and PE are just things things they naturally cover in their life every day, without a real need for specified time for it, at their age right now.

One tradition we have upheld every year so far, for the first day of school, is that I take the kids school pictures. (In the school room.) This is one day, I care what they wear. On other school days, if we’ll be staying home, they can wear what they want. (And they have been known to get creative with that license!) On the rare day, they may even have school in their pajamas! (It’s a home schooling perk!)

Here’s this year’s ‘chosen’ school photos. I got several good shots of each of them, so Michael made the final choice for each of them. These school photos are just for us: for them and us to have as milestone photos of each grade’s school year, and for comparison of year to year growth shots. The teeth situation sure is different from last year!

{A}

{J}

{O}

{S}

Oh, well this photo below reminds me of one more tradition we seem to have . . . . . .

Smelling our new books! Is there anything that smells better, than a brand new book? (Well, maybe home made bread! lol)

Let me tell you how happy we are to be back in the swing of our schooling: We got our books on Thursday. We had our first day of school on Friday, September 18th, and we happily did double lessons in every subject. Today was our second day of school, and it’s SATURDAY!

Wishing you all a lots of learning and fun, this homeschooling year!

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Colored Ice Castles – Homeschooling Science Experiment

January 27, 2009 By Laura 14 Comments

This is how home schooling happens a lot in our family:

Someone gets a cool idea they think would be a fun to try, (in this case, that would be me), and we decide to do it. For fun. So we discuss our plan, start getting stuff together, and as we get to work on the project……….we start to wonder, or predict out loud.

And suddenly it hits me. “Hey! This is a science experiment! Yes….this is going to count for science.”

But ‘the lesson’ was not planned for school. It was just something fun to do. Curiosities arose that we wanted to explore and experiment with. We were just LIVING. Yes . . . . learning often times just happens.

As you can guess by now, that’s exactly what happened with this project. The kids are always watching the outdoors thermometer through the window of our school room. If it’s below freezing, they like to put a bowl of water out, and check it all day to see how long it took to freeze. You know…’just for fun.’ So I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be fun to fill up all kinds of containers, all different shapes and sizes, and then build an ice castle? “ (and continuing to talk to myself in my head….because a lot of conversation happens with myself up there, I said…) “Hey!! We could use food coloring and make them COLORED ICE CASTLES!!!!” Because I am a color freak, I got REAL excited the other day, to tell the kids what we were going to do.

Creating Colored Ice Castles

So we gathered everything we needed, bundled up as best we could, and went out and got to work.

The kids started filling up all of the containers with hose water.
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And took turns choosing colors, and squeezing drops of food coloring in.

When one of them added yellow to the red, the colors intoxicated me…..and I went CrAzY taking photos from then on.

And I love most all of the photos I took.

So now you’re going to have to see them all. : )

Because I have little control, when it comes to these kinds of things, you know. : )

Just look at the beautiful colors floating and swirling!

Oh….it gets better.

Look at that!!! The kids started adding color to different containers at the same time, which resulted in lots of outbursts of excitement at the same time…“Look at this one, Daddy!” “Mama look at these colors together!! Hurry!”
We were getting dizzy. But it was all good!

I was having so much fun taking photos. I just knew they were going to be beautiful.

Here below, {O and J} swap colors.

THIS ONE, ABOVE, IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!

Honestly, I get butterflies.

And by this time, I was (incorrectly) thinking that we were going to have the COOLEST TIE-DYE ICE CASTLES!

Oh Dear….Unexpected Science Experiment Happenings

About now we start to notice that the 2 colors are mixing and changing to one color.

BUMMER!!

No tie-dye ice castles?? I, personally, might have sulked for a moment or 2 over that development and reality check. But, this is all part of science experiments, and the kids were still excited. They got me excited again, too.

When I saw all of the multi-colors were gone, I thought “Good thing I took photos!!!” lol

They still looked vivid and beautiful, all together.

Now, I did say to the kids at the start, “Let’s try NOT to get food coloring all over our hands. OK?”

Reality check number 2. lol

But you know….I love the colors, even all over my children’s faces and hands. I do!! Even if we’re going out…..going to Mass…where ever. If it doesn’t come off all of the way….OH WELL!! I think it’s evidence of their creativity!

DIRT is another story!!

Watching, Waiting, and Wondering….For Days

So the next couple of days were annoying, temperature wise. It kept being a little warmer than it was supposed to be, and the darn water in the containers would not freeze all of the way!! We knew it needed to be 32 degrees or colder, to freeze. (We’re like Einsteins, huh? Ha haha!) But for how long would it need to be that cold? And how much longer would the BIG containers take, than the small ones? These are the scientific questions we had, and the things we observed and studied over the next few days. We knew…..it was taking a lot longer than we ever wanted it to!!

What’s more….we could see the color really settling to the bottom of the containers.

Why, we wondered?? Which led us to what ‘wondering’ always does. Research!!

The Scientific Explanation

BECAUSE: Cold water does not allow the molecules of the food coloring to break down as easily….or dissolve. So, because it could not really ‘mix’ with the water, being a separate element, it all settled. What’s more, the molecules of the food coloring were so big, that they were not able to freeze all of the way. So the food coloring ended up being pockets of slush, within the frozen water/ice. It was interesting that the 2 elements were able to separate that much in the end, from being 2 colors swirling around each other, when first added to the water.

By this morning, we were done waiting. The big containers STILL did not seem solid all of the way through—-but gosh darn it….WE WERE BUILDING OUR CASTLES TODAY!!

The Results

{S}(on the far right) was excited about the pizza slice container one. He is also very partial to green, because it is ‘his color‘. (As triplets, we had a lot of color coding going on when they were babies.)

TA-DAAAA!!!!!!!

I LOVE this shot of my kids, and their ice creations!!

They had SO much fun doing this!! So did I!! So did their Daddy!!

We built it in the front yard, for the world to see. (You know…the ones who happen to drive down our dead-end street. Ha haha!).

Another lesson learned: We don’t always get what we’re expecting to. But we learn to love what we DO get.

Because it’s ours. Because we made it. Because we created memories together, doing it.
And that makes it all beautiful, to us!

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God’s World News / World News Group – A Newspaper for Your Kids!

January 17, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

(now….)

* See UPDATE Below.

Hi there Everyone!!

We’ve been wanting to share with our readers, a subscription that we have found our children really, really benefit from. It’s put out by * ** God’s World News, and there are various titles, for various reading/age/grade levels to fit the level of any child, Pre-K through young teens! We have received it for a number of years, and it has proved to be a valuable and educational news source throughout. It’s a newspaper for kids!!

* UPDATE/Revision: God’s World News is now: WORLD News Group – The links in this post (for God’s World News), will still bring you to the correct site, under their new titles. From there, there are individual site links to the newspaper for the proper age range for your child(ren): God’s Big World/Pre-Schoolers, worldkids/Elementary age, WORLD TEEN/Teenagers
** IMPORTANT NOTE: Although the titles of the newspapers has changed, the high quality content has not! The intent of the newspaper publications, for age appropriate world news, reported in the light of faith, remains unchanged.

(Is this photo of our boy, reading his newspaper, not a RIOT??! He often does sit just like this….while reading, at Mass, etc. It always cracks us up, but he looked especially like a little man, sitting in his chair with his legs crossed, reading his newspaper. Look at his flickering toes. lol)

Our triplet 6 year olds receive God’s Word News-Early Edition (now World Kids). Our 11 year old receives God’s World News-Top Story (now World Teen).

Our kids benefit from their age-appropriate newspaper-magazines so much, because they ENJOY it so much! They enjoy it so much, because it has SO much to offer! There is a LOT in each edition, and a huge (educational) variety at that. If you homeschool your kids, we highly recommend this subscription! If your kids are enrolled in school, we highly recommend this subscription! : ) This rave review is fueled solely by our family receiving this magazine, and us as parents, consistently seeing what happens with our kids, when they get it into their hands. They get many hours of social studies educational exposure and information from each issue. All in the name of QUIET for us FUN for them! That’s why we had to tell you all about it…..it just seems like it’s something GREAT for any and all kids! Read on.

I don’t know about you, but I want my kids to know what is going on in the world. They should generally be aware of current events, politics, new-breaking stories, scientific findings, history, etc. But in an age appropriate way!
The problem is, television news, as well as newspaper news, are not geared towards communicating to children.

Naturally, it’s not their mission, as it is all meant to inform adults, and rightly so. So it’s simply not conveyed in a way all children would understand, nor necessarily be emotionally ready for.

That’s what we love about this magazine. In it HIGHLY informative about the world’s news, presented in a way to catch and hold kid’s attention, and is easily understood, in kids’ terms and ways they can relate to. It draws them in. In younger level editions, it’s snippets of info they can read and truly comprehend and retain. Older kid’s issues are generally the same topics, but with more detail, longer articles and a more in-depth study overall. Then additional stuff. What I love most, is that the contents is delivered in a Christian/Biblical Worldview style.

But it’s not just serious current events news stories. Each issue is also jam packed with (reading, of course), science, history, geography, weather, funny stories, etc. And all with LOTS of photos. There are games, experiments, activities and puzzles that strengthen skills such as logic, observation, process of elimination, …. the list goes on. AND on!

Beyond the magazine itself, they have a website that has even MORE to supplement each edition. There are parent/teacher resources, bonus pages to enhance or expand on all the kids have learned, and even quizzes and keys you can use. There is LOTS at the web site, that is another educational tool all it’s own.

010_God's-World-News-World-News-Group

When our kids are reading their issues, they are so amused by something, or intrigued with something they learned, that they feel compelled to share it with us, or read it to us. Sometimes, they ask questions, because they want to know more and more. This often launches great discussions to have with your children, that can get as deep as you want, or give you an opportunity to ask them questions, that encourage them to think through concepts, varied opinions, or their own perspectives. It’s a wonderful tool to help jump-start really good discussions, about often very important topics in the world, with your children.

For example: Here, {A} is reading about Fidel Castro-how he came to be a dictator, his ways of dictatorship, and all of the effects it has had on his country.

Here’s another page of Top Story (sorry about the glare. : ):

010_God's-World-News-World-News-Group

Each issue (all editions for all ages) most always has wonderful maps, educational fold-out spreads, and/or pull-out posters, like this one:

I love also, how these arrivals in our mailbox, bring our kids together too! They love to share with each other what they are reading, and have discussions of their own about the topic. They end up laughing together, reading together, learning together, which all means they are simply enjoying more of being ….together!

If you find yourself remotely intrigued, we encourage you to check out the God’s World News web site. Look around!! There are peeks inside these subscriptions, and you are also likely able to get a free copy if you request one, to decide for yourself what you think of them! For us, it’s been just too good of a great thing, NOT to let any parent, or teaching parent, know about this amazing tool. We find it WELL worth the cost of the subscription. We all know that our kids learn the most, when they are enjoying what they are doing, or enjoying HOW they are learning…anything at all! The more ways we can find to give them that, the better. Because when they are having fun learning, they want to learn more and more and more. So we hope you find this newspaper-magazine to be ‘good mail’ in your family.

We’re pretty excited about MANY things we’ve got coming up to share with you on our blog, so come back soon!! In the meantime, if your kids are receiving a subscription, or have a book, or watch a show….that YOU find very valuable, educational, and they really enjoy, please share it with us! We know there is a wealth of info and resources out there, and what better way than to share it with each other, complete with reviews and gold stars!

We hope you are all enjoying this long weekend!

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One of our first field trips of this new homeschool year, was to the Boston Museum of Science!

Making Connections

Strengthening Connections

Giving Your Brain a Work Out

Use It or Lose It, Baby!

Continued Importance Throughout Life

Here are some more ways in which kids doing puzzles benefits their brains:

Creating Colored Ice Castles

Oh Dear….Unexpected Science Experiment Happenings

Watching, Waiting, and Wondering….For Days

The Scientific Explanation

The Results

Amazon Affiliates

**Here are some more ways in which kids doing puzzles benefits their brains:**