A trip to Russia

Now, after Brianne's birth, that things are settling down just a bit, we all thought it was time for us to add more of the 'fun' aspect of our school studies.

We are studying world history this year, right now we are learning about the early 1900's--World War I, Russian Revolution, Depression, etc. We took some time to 'visit' Russia.

We spent some time learning about Faberge' eggs-- why and how they came to be. We decided to make some of our own. The kids enjoyed making some decorated eggs to give to their friends.

Glitter glue, stickers, hot glue and beads....having lots of creative fun decorating plastic eggs.

We learned that in many cities of Russia, if we were to really travel there, we could find many fresh hot soft pretzel carts. Soft pretzels are a favorite snack food of the Russian people. (When we lived in Germany and we traveled to Austria we found many such carts there; of course we indulged in some of those wonderful breads from street vendors.)

Mmmmmm, sounds like a great treat for us to make and eat too. Yummm!

Even Ryan, joined in the fun. He would have rather I make the pretzels for him, but I wouldn't do it. For him this became a good cooking lesson.

Brushing the dough with an egg wash, add the salt, then bake.

(Teaching the kids how to cook are some of my favorite lessons--I keep telling the boys that I'm not going to come and cook for them when they are on their mission so they better learn to cook and bake or they'll be hungry. I'm not worried about Connor or Cailin, however, Ryan better hope for a companion that can cook :)

The tundra makes up much of Northern Russia. It was here that Joesph Stalin sent those people whom he didn't like--to Siberia. We spent an afternoon studying about this biome. Brrrrrr it sure is cold there. Today, as I'm writing this blog entry, the weather outside is in the 50's or low 60's. We learned that in Siberia, our weather today would be a heat wave during the summer season. They have 3 months of 'summer' (if you want to call 40's and 50 degree weather summer) and the rest of the year is winter.

We learned how blubber keeps animals warm. We did an experiment that showed us how this worked. We made a plastic bag glove of shortening. We then submerged our hand in ice water protected by the "fat glove" and without the fat glove.

Connor and Cailin had fun timing each other to see how long they could handle the cold with and without the glove.

We also did an experiement to show why much of the ground during the summer months are muddy. It's all because of permafrost. You can dig down in the soil about 12 inches and then you'd hit what would feel like solid rock, but it isn't, it's permanently frozen soil. It keeps the melted snow water from soaking deep into the ground.

Cailin learned that if you just eat the permafrost ((jello) and the ice cream (chocolate=soil and vanilla=snow) can very easily penetrate the permafrost--and it tastes quite good too!!

Delaney was introduce to many of the animals that live in the tundra. She also learned about hibernation and migration. Ahhh, the fun of science and leaning about the world around us.