Friday, October 31, 2014

Week 14 ~ Halloween School

We had a fun week with a Halloween twist to our school time. We did the 3R's and our civil rights lessons (history) each day and then moved on with Halloween activities. Next week, I will be doing a special post about our studies of the Civil Rights Movement.

Science ~ We had fun with making slime and Eggsperiment (removing the shell from a raw egg with vinegar). The kids loved the hands-on science and were very pleased that I pulled off science three times in one week.
Slime is so much fun! We used Elmer's glue, liquid starch and liquid water colors.
This project takes a few days and has steps. The egg on the left was soaked in water and food coloring.
The egg on the right was soaked in corn syrup and food coloring.
Art ~  We carved pumpkins using a template this year.


We learned about Cubism and made portraits. We learned about Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, the two artists who founded the Cubism period of art. Grandma then taught us how to make a portrait, explaining the proportions of the face. We then colored the face in with lots of colors. Lastly, we cut up the pictures and pasted them down in unique ways. The kids really enjoyed this project. I think this has been one of their favorite art projects this year.

Tom Sawyer (12)
Little Red Riding Hood (11)
Mine
Music ~ We did the latest Squilt lesson from Homegrown Learners. It was a Halloween-themed selection. We loved Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

History ~ We watched a documentary, The History of Halloween (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u9mWboWGbA), on Halloween. It is a five part series.

Field Trips ~ We attended our local homeschool Halloween party. The kids loved playing musical chairs. They played it over and over again, even though they were allowed to win only one prize. There were lots of craft tables, organic pizza, and donuts on a string. Some of the costumes were very creative.


Little Red Riding Hood as a witch, me as a 1950's girl, and Tom Sawyer as a steampunk character.
We also went trick or treating. There is one street in our town which closes down to motorized traffic. The people on that street really put on an amazing show. Some of the more memorable things this year were a man in a monkey costume who threw candy out of a tree, a bonfire in someone's yard to warm the Trick or Treaters, and a house that actually growled! It was very cold and rainy this Halloween, but we had a fantastic time. They are predicting snow overnight!!

My husband was the  "Son of Man," a surrealist painting by Rene Magritte.
Little Red Riding Hood decided to be a pirate because it was a warmer outfit than her witch costume.
Blessings, Dawn

5 comments:

  1. Very fun experiments! And love all the costumes. We have a soft spot for steampunk here too. This year it was all My Little Pony though. Enjoy your weekend.

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  2. I love the slime experiment! It's perfect for Halloween! And the street that you go trick-or-treating is awesome! It is a much quieter affair here in the UK. :-)

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  3. I'm trying to picture a monkey man throwing candy, that must have been a lot of fun to see.

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  4. Very cool costumes! Your pumpkins are very artistic - you must be more skilled at carving than us. I'd love to get around to pulling together more science, my kids love it too.

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