Worth Everything

Our theme for this school year (2025-26) was "Worth Everything." We talked about the worth of souls and how each individual is unique and beloved by Heavenly Father. I printed out new "Bon Mot" books for the kids (a record of their cute sayings and funny stories…I've been keeping these since they were little and many of them already have a handwritten version, but I printed them out in nicer books and added a few pictures) and talked about how each one of them adds different priceless qualities to our family. And I used the symbol of pearls to remind them of the Bible story of the man and his "pearl of great price."

The girls got single-pearl necklaces and the boys got little pearl tie pins to remind them of our theme.

We had an "afternoon tea" sort of menu, as we did last year. Chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches, quiche, scones with clotted cream and lemon curd, lemon tarts, "lemonies" (like brownies), and flourless chocolate cake bites.

Volcanoes and types of lava

Surely every child loves to learn about volcanoes! The rice crispie volcano models are always a hit.

Stratovolcano inside

Viscosity of lava—the amount of gases each type will dissolve determines that lava's characteristics.

Frosting island chain?? Or cornstarch and water demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaKMlAawumE

Viscosity levels of lava: blowing bubbles, sliding down a slope (milk vs corn syrup)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwR64Zqov3k eruptions

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0DQ23G8NS/ref=atv_sr_fle_c_Tn74RA_14_1_14?sr=1-14&pageTypeIdSource=ASIN&pageTypeId=B0DQ25V2H7&qid=1752458813444 documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNGUdObDoLk volcanoes 101

Iceland volcano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95wvk34Pi2Q 

Underwater volcano https://www.mombrite.com/underwater-volcano-experiment/

Mt. Vesuvius: https://www.howitworksdaily.com/pompeii-how-are-casts-of-the-dead-created/

Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Floods, Tsunamis

Links:

Some of our previous activities: https://nielsonschool.blogspot.com/2013/12/tornadoes-hurricanes-convection.html

Make a levee in dirt https://levees.sec.usace.army.mil/levee-basics/how-levees-work/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yNoy4H2Z-o flood risk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBivwxBgdPQ why rivers move

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ZLyzByj98 hydraulic flume—structures in rivers

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yNoy4H2Z-o coastal defenses and flood risk

Convection currents in a tub

Turbulence as the currents mix

Cold and hot water separating into layers

We got out the tornado bottles, of course.

"Underwater volcano" erupting

Natural Disasters Unit plan; Plate tectonics; Earthquakes

 

Our second "Summer School" unit was Natural Disasters, another perennial favorite topic among especially little boys (though my little girls have never complained about it either!). (Posts from the Old Days)

First was earthquakes, with this demonstration of plate tectonics on a molten cocoa earth (you just heat water with a layer of cocoa powder on top and then watch the convection currents break it up and move it around).

More plate tectonics and types of faults

Wow, some great buckling here

Testing different building heights and compositions for stability

Towers and liquefaction

Building earthquake-resistant structures (or trying to!!)

Clementine made gnomes, of course

Starting small :)

A little more daring

Ziggy was excited to try this earthquaking this tall tower I made (he anticipated what was coming)

Another gnome?? Does she do nothing but make gnomes? (Gnope.)

Some more avant-garde designs

Rockets

Of course we made film canister rockets as part of learning about fireworks! They're so fun. Some resources:

Rocket launching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD8HxvI4Xms

••Parts of a rocket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8-MHP4lVOc

••How rockets work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI-HeXhsUIg

Rocket science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ5mobRcXAU

Fuels, explosives, propellants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEhH7735gSs 

••https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjYdEW_HLQ chemistry of rocket launch

Make film canister rockets  https://stemium.com/science-fair-project-alka-seltzer-rocket/ diagram

Also of course, we repeated our ever-popular "building demolition" demonstration where we use strings (not explosives!) to tear down a block creation. It makes me nostalgic to remember how much the big boys loved doing this when they were little. (And this group reminds me so much them, including little Daisy!):

Demolition and other uses of explosives resources are here:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a14479213/heres-how-much-explosive-power-is-hiding-in-your-airbag/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcajZHc6Yk slow-motion airbag

Mine blasting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXfYkw6B-kw

Building demolition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gISv99-aqfM

Demolition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRJz0PePXZ8

Skyscraper demolition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-H7E-KQgHQ