Welcome to my blog! This is where I write my thoughts on various issues such as homeschooling, meditation, books I have enjoyed, being a home-maker and so on. If you are interested in a particular topic, then check the section under categories. I hope you will find something here that might interest you. So, sit back and read along.
Here are the photos of the birthday cakes I have made for Arjun. You may want to view, Kabir’s birthday cakes too.
Bucky – Jake the Neverland Pirate Ship Cake for 4th Birthday
Thomas Cake for Arjun’s 3rd Birthday
Backhoe cake for Arjun's 2nd Birthday
Bear Cupcake for Arjun's 1st Birthday
Kabir and I studied about stalactites and stalagmites and then, we found an experiment online where we can grow our own stalactites and stalagmites.
So, we took a wool yarn, folded and twisted it to make it thick and appropriate length. Then we tied magnet on both the ends. We took two empty jars, filled them with warm water and then saturated them with baking soda. Also, we added food coloring. Then we left it alone for two months. It was very fascinating to see the growth at the end of two months. Unfortunately, the photos I had taken at the end of two months were deleted by mistake. However here is one photo that was taken when we set up the experiment and a couple that were taken after a few weeks.
We have been reading “Madeline’s Rescue”, “Go Dog Go”, and “Library Lion”. We enjoyed them!
For “Madeline’s Rescue”, Arjun watched the movie on YouTube. Kabir showed him Paris on the world map. Above all, Kabir helped Arjun make Madeline. I found the template for Madeline online.
Madeline
For “Go Dog Go”, we did the following art and craft. The inspiration for a few of the following art & craft came from this website.
For “Library Lion”, we did the following art and craft. The inspiration for lion melt came from here. This time, Kabir and Arjun figured out how to make paper plate lion on their own.
Kabir had received “Young Scientist Series – Set 10: Seeds, Fruits, and other Plant Parts (Kit 28) – Eggs (Kit 29) – Owls (Kit 30)” for his birthday. We worked with owl pellets in October. This January, we worked with Eggs and Brine Shrimps.
At first, Amit and Kabir worked with eggs.
Then, they created the habitat for brine shrimp.
Kabir has been blowing air 3 times a day for the brine shrimps for about a month. Our brine shrimps hatched from eggs and became adults. As adults, they are so small that I couldn’t take any decent photo. We fed them yeast paste as food twice a week. Now, we have passed on our brine shrimps to his friend to enjoy!
This Monday, we visited the local TV station, WTVA. Here’s the report written by Kabir.
I would like to tell you about my visit to our local TV station.
The first thing we saw was lots of old television things. There was even an old-type audio board. Our guide then told us about the founder of WTVA, Mr. Frank Spain. We also saw a camera Mr. Frank Spain had made from scratch!
Old-time Television Equipments
Then, we saw the commercial lady. The commercial lady makes sure about the advertisements and decides where/when to put each advertisement.
Next, we saw the room where the graphic person, the audio people, and the producer work. The producer makes sure all the correct sounds and correct moving pictures go together.
Producer, Graphic and Audio People work here
Then we entered the News room. There, we first learned that the people speaking on TV, they are actually reading the selected story on a teleprompter. The camera is actually behind the teleprompter, so it doesn’t show the written words, but it shows that the news person is looking into the camera even though he/she is actually looking at the teleprompter.
News Desk
Then, our tour guide showed us the green screen. If anything stands in front of it, then that thing/person will show in whatever is on the television screen. But anything green becomes transparent on the television screen, which is probably why it’s called the green screen.
One boy in the tour had a jacket, the sleeve of which was green, and when he got in front of the green screen, you should have seen him. He looked like a ghost on television!
Lastly, we saw that the people editing their news stories, their offices’ walls were covered with soundproof stuff that was in the shape of egg cartons.
News Editing Closet
Then, we were done.
I really loved this field trip. My favorite part was the green screen.
This Decemeber, we visited Daily Journal, our local newspaper. Here’s the report written by Kabir.
Our tour guide was Mr. Michael King (I’m not sure about the spelling of Mr. Michael). Then our tour began. First we entered the Morgue. There was a newspaper from every day, and some very old newspapers were put into books. Each book contained a month’s newspapers. I wasn’t able to find the day I was born, even though I was sure it was there. Then we went to the Finance Department where the people who took care of all the bills worked. Next, we entered the Circulation Department, where newspapers were transferred to delivery carriers. Mr. Michael gave us a copy of today’s newspapers there. After that, we went to the News, where the people worked who wrote down the stories given to them by journalists and put the pictures photographers gave on their computers. Then, we went to the Classified, and after that the Advertisement. The Classified and the Advertisement departments were where the people would answer phone calls with ads that the people who called wanted to put in the newspaper.
Also, the people had put a new printing press. So, then we looked at the old printing press. Then we went to look at the new printing press, and we compared it with the old one. We also looked at the newspaper rolls, and how different they were from the ready-made newspapers I had in my hand. There was a lot of difference. Then our tour ended. I also asked him some questions.
#1 Q: Do paper-deliverers ride a bike or drive a car?
A: Nowdays, cars. They used to ride bikes in the old times, though.
#2 Q: When did the newspapers for today get printed?
A: At midnight last night.
#3 Q: Is there any time nobody works?
A: No.
#4 Q: What do you do if the news has just been published and suddenly the news changes?
A: We put it in our website, and we put it into the newspapers for the next day.
#5 Q: At what age can I become a paper-deliverer?
A: When you are 18
#6 Q: Who started the Daily Journal?
A: A man named George McLean
#7 Q: Who makes newspaper cartoons?
A: A different company
#8 Q: When I open gifts wrapped with newspaper, why do my hands turn black?
A: Because of the ink
Arjun and I read “The Eye Book”, and “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!” by Dr. Seuss for a week.
For “The Eye Book”, we noted the color of our eyes. As all four of us in the family have brown eyes, Arjun made a conclusion that everyone has brown eyes. So, Kabir took him around in the Tupelo Aquatic Center to show him four people with blue eyes. Now, he thinks our eyes are either brown or blue. I tried to coax him to tell me what does his eye see but his answer was always “nothing”.
For “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!”, we created a Dr. Seuss inspired character and he named him Zazzer Zizzer Zuzz. We tried to think of words rhyming with “Think”. He thought of all the words except “sink”. When I asked him what things can he think of, his answer was “nothing”! Also, we saw a video for this book on YouTube.
