We love being able to really study what interests us. That is one of the blessings of being able to homeschool. Today we have been studying about the respiratory system. That goes well with our last study about the circulatory system.
For this one we didn’t find any Moody videos just on this topic, but we enjoyed watching Wonders of God’s Creation: Human Life and remembering how amazing the human machine really is. We also didn’t find any amazing 3-D models online this time, but we did get to do a couple of really fun experiments.
For the first one, we lit a candle and then put it under a jar and waited to see what would happen. The kids thought that it was going to explode in their face. It didn’t. The candle just burned out. We did that over and over, because everybody needed a turn to blow out the match. Then Zippy breathed into the jar several times before capping the burning candle. This time, the flame went out instantly. Next we took our jar outside, to make sure it was full of oxygen again then we repeated the first experiment until the flame started to diminish on the candle, at which point we removed the jar. The flame returned to it’s full size immediately. We repeated that one several times as well. The moral is that fire needs oxygen–just like us.
Candle burning.
Candle burned-out.
The second experiment that we did was to see how the lungs expand when the chest cavity expands. You can see this apparatus that we have to demonstrate this. If you press on the bottom of the apparatus all of the air in the balloons is forced out through the straw. If you put a little tape on the rubber that is on the bottom of the jar so that you can pull slightly, you will fill the balloons with a little air.
Left: By doing nothing the balloons are filled with a little air. Right: By pressing on the bottom, the air is forced out of the balloons.
And then we have one more of our health songs from the Janice’s Attic Songs for Kids CD. Only problem is that G’tums was jumping all over, so this is just part of it.
Can anyone doubt that learning is taking place when even the toddler is excited? Look at the joy on all those faces–no boredom here!
Thanks for sharing the good emotion as well as the facts! The picture of the 3 around the jar would speak more than all I will put in words in my new book on Ultimate Education–Learning from the Bible and Nature.
Don't forget that God brea..ea ea….thed into Adam completing his sculpture project of making a man out of clay!
Mrs. D