Microscopes and Plants and MC Lars

This week, a miscroscope arrived in the mail - addressed to Anny!

We had subscribed to the Horrible Science magazines - we already get the Horrible Histories magazines, although that series is almost finished.

One of the special offers with the subscription was a new microscope - one of those models with a viewing screen at the front, in addition to the usual eye hole.

There was major excitement in the house when the microscope arrived. Anny and T spent several hours investigating the slides that came with the micrscope and also making their own slides and observing. A found an old How and Why book about microscopes and we compared the old model in the book to our model.

That same day, I was putting dried kidney beans into the crock pot to cook. I decided to save a few and keep them on a saucer of damp tissue, to observe the growth.

The beans are now staring to sprout. We have talked about plant growth and conditions for growth and photosynthesis. I looked up some information on the growth of seeds and shoots in our Childcraft book The Green Kingdom - and now this book is on display in the kitchen. This makes it handy to reference during our observations.

BTW, this is a pic of the rapper MC Lars. The Homeschool Spring Concert is on next Sunday and J and A are part of a group of teens who are organising the concert - no adult organisers! T will help sell tickets on the day.

T, Anny and I are going to perform MC Lars' rap version of the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. Should be fun, I hope. We have our baseball caps to wear backwards :-) and some props.

J and A are performing in a "rock" band with some other homeschoolers - A is bass guitar and J is the vocals ( and dancer/performer!). They are playing a rendition of Purple Haze ( Jimi Hendrix) and The Anthem ( Good Charlotte).