Day 1 - Second Half

We have had SUCH fun! After lunch, since we couldn't go to the library with a sick Cam, Cody started reading out of an old encyclopedia about Coal. He has taken all kinds of notes and written *more* things he wants to learn from the info he got out of it on coal! We have decided we want to visit a coal mine and get some coal to try some experiments with. Did you know that coal floats? that is how they sort it out from rocks! (purty cool dude!)

Then he read his Fablehaven book for about an hour. I went down and was cleaning the kitchen when he came down with one of his Activity Books. We did a science experiment!

Meet Cody the Penny Washer!! LOL
We took vinegar and salt and mixed them until it was clear...

Then we added dirty pennies to the water... (Caleb LOVED this!)

After a few minutes he took half of them out and rinsed them with water. The other half he laid on a paper towel without rinsing. The ones that were rinsed stayed pretty and clean. The ones not rinsed started to darken and turn blue-ish green as the air made *another* chemical reaction. It was really cool!

I was most impressed that the older the penny... the shinier it could become! Makes ya wonder if newer pennies are not all copper!

The shiniest of all was this 1960 penny!

Next time we are going to try dimes and nickles and see what happens! (we emptied out our solution before he thought of it... and his momma needs to get more vinegar! LOL)

Now he is playing legos with Caleb and creating his own layers of coal with them so he can teach his Dad when he gets home! *GRIN* Most of the ideas of today came from HIM! I have done litle but support him and ask questions... he loves being able to teach me what he has learned!

He came up to me earlier and said he felt like this was "the opportunity of a lifetime"! He wanted to know how long he could be homeschooled because he doesn't want it to end! :)