Grant's Country of the Day is:
I was able to finally take "canned papaya" off of my shopping list. I'd been on the search for that one for a couple of weeks. It was part of our history lesson on Africa. One of the activities was to make an African feast. We didn't make the whole feast, just some fried plantains and this papaya fried rice. The kids weren't overly thrilled with it, but I liked it lots.
Last week, Grant, Julia and I did some experiments with chemical reactions with common household items. (Egg whites, salt water, sugar water, vinegar, milk, lemon juice, and baking soda.) We spent a lot of time guessing what will happen when we mix certain things together, mixing them and then recording the results.
The best reactions were, of course, the baking soda and vinegar and baking soda and lemon juice. Honestly, the kids could do this one over and over again.
The kids are learning about atoms and molecules in their Chemistry book, who knew molecules could be so much fun! I guess marsmallows can make anything fun.
We started out making "no rules" molecules. Here is Julia's friend, Mr. Molecule.
Just a couple of pictures to show you our history project for Story of the World's Ancient China lesson. 
They learned alot about the mummification process from their history lesson and even more so from this fun game. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/launch_gms_mummy_maker.shtml
After they removed each other's brains through their noses (so much giddy laughter) and removed all their internal organs (an excellent opportunity to tickle), they "covered" each other with salt and spices. I doubt the Egyptians used parsley, but that's what Grant got out of the spice drawer.
What a waste of toilet paper, but what a lot of fun! Julia thought her hair looked like the wigs that they put on mummies, so she didn't want to cover her face. Grant insisted on being wrapped from head to toe. I did open up the tissue by his nose so that he could breathe.
Julia has some amulets to provide her with safe passage to the afterworld.
Anyone who watches Scooby Doo knows that a mummy isn't a mummy unless it comes back to life and terrorizes the town.
Yesterday we did one of our first activities in the Story of the World. This was to go along with Chapter 1 The First Nomads. It was a relatively easy activity for me to set up, just a brown paper bag and a few paints. Luckily, we had a beautiful day and were able to enjoy some school time outside.
They tried using some "natural" paintbrushes like the early people might have used. Grant mostly used his fingers or a stick.
Julia says, "It's two guys fighting a cougar. There's a volcano and there is a dinosaur bird in the sky. There are fireballs in the sky. There is a guy in the cave running away from the cougar. There is a plant and a dinosaur egg nest on the bottom and my hand print."
Grant's picture is of two guys chasing a mastodon with spears.
Grant and Julia got started right away. Fortunately, we still have a ton of sticks/logs left in the backyard, so they had a lot of building material.
Once the basic construction was done, Julia decided to decorate.
Grant borrowed a sheet to complete the look.
They spent most of the day building it together with just a little bit of arguing.
