Learning About the Weather

We made two different barometers as we learned about weather this week: a liquid barometer and an aneroid barometer.  Both measured the air pressure well and we were able to tell when the weather was going to change from fair to poor by simply checking our barometers (see changes in photos below). 

We kept them on the porch,

side by side, so we could check

them both at the same time.

Can you see that the liquid

has risen above our starting mark?

Making our barometers was a lot of fun!

The higher the air pressure, the further

the balloon on our aneroid barometer went into 

the pickle jar, causing the pointer (ie. toothpick)

to point UP on our gauge, reading HIGH pressure (ie. fair weather).

A few days later, the balloon swelled greatly,

indicating an imminent weather change.

Sure enough, it got colder and rained!

Want to make your own?  

We found our ideas online at: 

http://www.stuffintheair.com/how-to-make-a-barometer.html

Sacrificing for Lent

We are observing Lent for the first time in our household this year.  We have for years been wishing there was SOMETHING building up to the celebration of Easter other than buying new clothes and planning to have people over for lunch.  Something meaningful.  Something that kept our focus on what was to come.  Something engaging.  Simon decided Lent would be "it" for us, so this year we have all given up something for the many weeks leading up to Easter, remembering each time we feel the sacrifice that Jesus gave up so much MORE for us!  It's been wonderful, so far!

As part of this observance, I am doing a daily activity for Lent with the younger kids.  Nothing fancy, but something I had found online that listed daily activities leading up to Easter with a coloring page (the kind that "counts down" to the day).  We printed these ideas, cut them apart into strips and put them in a container.  The little ones take turns daily choosing our activity.  Today, JSS chose this:  "Sacrifice something nice for someone in the family."  I turned to the kids and said, "Hmmmm...what could WE sacrifice for someone in our family?  What do YOU think?"  They both set their faces to concentration mode.  A few seconds later, COS gave her suggestion--"A squirrel?"

I find this hysterical!  We had spent weeks and weeks and weeks constructing a tabernacle last fall (you can see pics in earlier posts), learning the ins and outs having to do with the sacrifices through a remarkable book titled The Tabernacle: Shadows of the Messiah by David Levy as we made the different articles that constituted the project.  It was an amazing time for us and we plan to get out our tabernacle and the book each year and use both to point us toward the reason for Christ's sacrifice on our behalf.  

What I love, however, is that COS's mind went directly to the blood sacrifices we'd studied MONTHS ago when the idea of sacrificing was mentioned...not giving up something, but KILLING it.

And the fact that she must think squirrels are "nice."  :)

Yeah, I'd say KONOS is a remarkable curriculum!