Today, in typical FIAR style, we read Roxaboxen again and did a lesson on desert glass. The lesson also introduces other kinds of rocks and gems, so I brought out a bit of excitement that I’ve had tucked away for many months…a crystal mining kit!
Simon has the chart ready so that he can I.D. the crystals (just kidding!).
Elijah starts his geology work.
Working hard!
Simon washes the crystal off once Elijah has it uncovered.
Simon inspects with a magnifying glass.
The complete collection
We also made one of the recipes in the FIAR Volume IV manual….
DESERT GLASS CANDY! What a HIT!
Elijah enjoyed smashing the "glass"
Yes, it’s really edible!
And just in case anyone thinks I’m supermom, let me give you the behind-the-scenes…
Today started off so horrible that I was ready to ditch unit studies forever and sit a huge stack of workbooks in front of my firstborn for the rest of the year.
Then…much crying when the crystal kit was revealed. Simon felt so left out, but we solved that when we gave him the rock-washing job.
Next…the first batch of desert glass candy burned. Uggg….so, we did it all…AGAIN. As a side note…if you decide to make the candy…don’t make two colors. Also, we coated it with powdered sugar so that it wouldn’t be one big sticky pile of glass.
In the end the day was redeemed. We ended up with a happy ending, and I am still very thankful to be homeschooling my kids. 🙂
Thanks for sharing about the ‘real’ side as well. It helps to hear that it happens to the best of us! :o)