One crazy week

This week has been one crazy week, I mean crazier then normal.  Do we do normal?  First off I started potty training Elizabeth.  I was going to wait until school got out and potty train both girls at the same time (It was either a stoke of brilliance or a sign I'm clearly losing my mind) but for some reason Thursday we jumped right in.  It didn't go so well and I was ready to go back to putting it off, but I told myself to give it a week and the second day was great.  The best part is that even though I had decided not to try both girls, Abigail wanted to do it on their own.  Today Elizabeth refuses to even try, and I have hurt my neck so I'm fine with that, not that I would force it anyway.  Potty training is as much a milestone as walking or reading and you can't push it.  She'll get it.
In other news, because potty training really isn't the most exciting thing in our life right now, thank goodness, we had a rock star week in school.
Saturday we bought some dry ice to play with, only to discover it had disappeared overnight in the freezer, so Monday we all ventured out to get some more and figure out the mystery of the disappearing dry ice.  We brought it home and did a few experiments, what happens to ice in water, what happens to dry ice, what happens to regular ice on the hot sidewalk, what about dry ice, can you tell the difference?  Then they boys, being boys, had to test whether or not dry ice really hurts if you touch it, and what would happen if they put it on the grass and other plants.  We learned tons! (seriously, one of the best parts of homeschooling is getting to learn what they learn)  We learned that dry ice makes the water bubble, regular ice melts into a puddle on the sidewalk, but dry ice leaves no trace. The reason for that is because dry ice is super concentrated and frozen carbon dioxide, the stuff we breath out.  As a gas it evaporates where as regular ice is frozen water and melts.  That is also why the water bubbles, because the evaporating gas is released and the bubble of carbon dioxide floats to the top. We also figured out why the dry ice in our freezer disappeared, it's because dry ice has a melting temperature of -109 degrees Fahrenheit and regular ice melts at  32 degrees.  That's a huge difference!  The kids had so much fun adding soap to the water and watching the dry ice make so many bubbles filled it smoky gas.  I'd say that fun little experiment was a success.  The biggest lesson I learned though didn't have anything to do with dry ice, it had to do with control.  I want to control all their experiments, crafts, and all of that, but it's when I let go and let them explore that the magic happens and they really learn.  It's been a lesson I've been trying to learn for a long time, but I'm getting it.

We got to go on two field trip this week.  The first was to finish off our middle ages unit and study of Gothic architecture.  I won't bore you with all the details, but a few pictures will brighten your day.  Isn't the Madeline cathedral gorgeous?  We accidentally went to the Salt Lake city building and we were all confused to see Romanesque architecture when we were told it was Gothic, then we figured out we were in the wrong place and went to the cathedral.  It was a good comparison.  On the way home we talked more about different types of architecture and pointed out the buildings that we  could identify.  The Salk Lake Temple looks very Gothic, but it is actually a mixture of Gothic form and Romanesque arches.  Fascinating!  Who knew you could tell so much about a building by it's arches?  I feel a joke coming on. By the way, Sugar is pronounced Su-jair with a soft j.  Glen though that was fun, Sugar was the man who first requested a building to be built in what came to be known as Gothic, this video was great for the kids. http://www.teachertube.com/video/romanesque-vs-gothic-architecture-103781  I thought they would find it boring, but they loved it.
Friday we went to a fire station for Elizabeth.  She was in heaven, that girl loves fire trucks more then either of the boys ever did! She had such a huge grin on her face when she was allowed to sit in the truck and pretend to drive, and her jaw dropped when the firefighters told her that there are pink firetrucks, just like hers.  I love to find the passions and dreams of my children and encourage them to follow their dreams.  Zoology, art, fire trucks, engineering.  These little kids have big dreams!