Red Pandas

Making a poster is a creative way to show your knowledge and fun time to combine some art with education. A presentation is another way to boost your confidence and show your skills. So we decided to add this tool to our homeschooling box of fun.

In last two days we learned about Red Pandas and their habitat.
Did you know that Red pandas are NOT pandas at all?  Did you know that they climb down the trees mainly to go to the loo? Or that they have a false thumb?

This resource from National Geographic Kids is a great start to learn about these extraordinary animals. People used to call them Firefox or Cat-bears which is not  far from the truth. Although Red pandas are their own family in animal world they have some similarities with pandas, foxes and cats. But putting bears in the same basket will be the same as saying that Koalas are Bears ;-)

Watch this short video to learn more about these Firefoxes:

Making Earth Science

The fun thing with learning science at home is that you have enough time and space to do the experiment in your kitchen. Today we're going to show you how to find North and South with a needle.

All you need is 

1. a needle
2. a container for water
3. a little magnet (we used one from our fridge)
4. a flotation device. At home we use cork but outside a leaf or a stick can work too.

All you need to do is to magnetize the needle with your magnet and let it float on the water. The needle will align with earth's magnetic field and will show you the North and the South. It is easy to find East and West by sun location during the day. That way you can find out which side of the needle point North.

It's elementary my dear watson...

If you are looking for funfact about Magnets for your little ones check out this animation.
For more science stuff check this out.

Check the video below for tutorial
Cheers,
Natalie K

Homeschooling and COVID-19

Homeschooling here we come...

As you know, I love crafts and education. I would homeschooling my kids all the time if they would agree but alas they like going to school. I can understand the social part of it so I'm not fighting it but now that COVID-19 is here it is wise to stay at home. I'm so happy I finally can use our education games and have fun with the kids. The Kitchen Chem experiments are super fun!
I'll try to update here as much as I can.
You can download and print the PDF files (I will add  more files soon), watch our videos and follow our daily math challenge on my Facebook page.

This one is the easiest one for multiplication practice: The Multiplication Chase
Print or make your own cards. If you divide A4 to 5*6 rectangles you will need exactly 4 pages to create 2-10 timetable.
As a start you might want to choose which timetable you want to work on.

How to play?

1. Each day girls are doing the chase for 1:30 min. You set up your time.
2. Each opponent can use PASS as much as they want.
3. The PASS card will go to the opponent for extra cards at the end of the turn, getting them another chance to beat the high score.

We are doing it as daily game for points...at the end of the week the winner get to choose a price :-)
Welcome to our online FunTime.
Natalie K

Weekly TimeTable and Weekly Menu

Today I want to share with you a template for Weekly Menu and Weekly Timetable.
With kids being at home it's easier to get distracted by the screens. The schedule help them and us to stay on track and don't just loose time in front of the TV. It is OK to change times, It is OK not to follow your schedule to the minute and it's OK to do rest days. But it's easier to make those choices when you have a baseline.

Listen to your children and build your weekly menu and schedule with them not for them.