Homeschool Science

Well, with all the craziness this week we haven't gotten much done in the way of Math or English but we hit Science pretty good!

In addition to all the learning we have done about bees and their habitat, life cycle, colonies and honey we also have had the chance to study some physical science.

Jacob got two science kits this week.  Thank you Grandma!  The first is a wind power kit.  He built a windmill which powers a little light.  Today it was windy enough to power the light.  It worked!  Good job Jacob!

His other kit uses water and pumps to power gears.  He did a great job with this one too.

Physical science has never been my favorite thing to teach but these made it really fun and Jacob jumped in and taught it to himself and shared what he learned with his sisters. 

Did you know?

The first windmills were used to grind grain in Iran, then known as Persia.

Windmills were used by American colonists to move water, grind grain and cut wood.

Windmills were a significant source of power in rural America in the 1920’s.

Windmills come in two types, vertical and horizontal.

Vertical windmills look like upside down eggbeaters.

Horizontal windmills look like what you’ve seen on television or in books, i.e., the traditional structure with a wheel of blades perpendicular to the ground and spinning.

Wind power plants are typically owned by private companies, which sell the power to traditional utility companies.

The United States gets roughly 17 billion kilowatts of electricity each year from wind power.

This yearly wind power production is enough to provide all the power needs of the City of Chicago.