Spring HFH Events

A Spring play for the younger set, and a spring Science Fair for all ages. The Leone kids had fun prepping and showing off their stuff.

Andrew (in plaid shirt) is cast as part of the "road crew" in the play, "Nellie's Promise." 

Therese (in red) is cast as Bridget in "Nellie's Promise." 

Kathleen wows us all with her Eddy Currents demonstration.
Get a neodymium magnet, and drop it down a copper tube. The results are extremely cool.

Andrew Turns 8 [and Joe Turns 47]

We celebrated a double birthday in March—both Andrew's and Joe's. It was a busy week, and it made sense to celebrate them both on one day.

Kathleen decided to make a "test tube cake" in honor of Joe's and Andrew's mutual love of science. It came out a little wacky looking, but we sure did have fun with it!

A little excited!? 

Happy birthday, boys!

Andrew got to blow out the candles while Joe watched.

Chia?

There are Chia Pets.

And then there are Kathleen Pets.

Kathleen displays a science project.

Egg Drop Competition

Our kids participated in an egg drop competition with our homeschool group.

Using a molecular model kit, they came up with a plan to construct an exterior skeleton to protect the egg. The egg itself was placed inside a pair of pantyhose and tied inside the structure.

The egg dropping took place at four different heights, with competitors being eliminated in each stage. Our kids made it to the very last stage, but, alas, their egg broke on the final drop.

Our young engineers eagerly await another egg drop competition next year...

The kids watch as a classmate encases his egg.

Kathleen, with her egg in bubble wrap, preparing to place it inside her protective structure.

Anna Marie and Kathleen insert their egg.
The rules said they had to successfully place the egg into the structure within sixty seconds.  

Kathleen, Anna Marie, and William look on,  just after their egg has hit the floor. Did it survive?

Mr. Tejeda drops one of the competitor's eggs.

The Wonders of Physics

Each year, the University of Wisconsin-Madison physics department puts on a great show for families—The Wonders of Physics show. This year, they brought the show to Holy Family Homeschoolers. HFH families enjoyed an entertaining, electric, gravity-defying, and sometimes-loud show.

From left, Therese, Marguerite, Kathleen, friend, and Anna Marie enjoy the show.

A cool centrifugal force demonstration. 

Dry ice!

The kids check out the dry ice experiment.

Elizabeth and Therese enjoy the show.

Bridge Builders

William and Andrew participated this year in our Holy Family Homeschoolers Bridge Building Competition.

Together with Dad, William and Andrew engineered a popsicle-stick bridge in an attempt to win the prize for the strongest bridge.  The competition was stiff and the contestants were many. William and Andrew placed high in the ranks and went home with certificates of achievement and great enthusiasm for next year's competition.

Andrew and William with their bridge, ready for competition.

William & Andrew's bridge in the contraption built to measure the bridge's strength.

Mr. Tejeda watches the applied pressure and waits for the bridge to break.

HFH students watch the competition.

Science at the Kitchen Counter

Science comes naturally in the Leone household, with dear ol' Dad being a beaker-head and all. (That's actually how he referred to himself when we first met.)

Depicted in the following photos are two of our latest science endeavors...

1) Kathleen's two cell model replicas.

The first represents an animal cell.
The second represents a plant cell.
The cells are edible delights, the primary ingredient being the ever-useful Jello brand gelatin.
It did not take long for enthusiastic kids to gobble up said yummies.






2) Assorted bones found in a small pile on our property. (On our rural property, this is not unusual, given the agressive coyote population.)

Joe helped the kids piece together the bones to reconstruct the deceased. Using the internet for assistance in identification, they determined that the unlucky guy was an opossum.

Hey, Look at my Friend, Mom!

On Sunday, William came running into the house with this large "friend." I was a little taken aback at the size. I've never seen such a large caterpillar.


Nature sleuth, Barb, helped us identify it as a Crecopia Moth Caterpillar. This means it will become the largest moth in North America! We have discovered that it likes maple leaves and buckthorn. It should spin a cocoon soon, and then we'll have to wait until spring or summer to see it in its mothly glory.

We learned that it does well in very cold temperatures (more than 30 degrees below zero) and needs the colder temperatures for proper metamorphosis. For that reason, we will be placing our "friend" on the shaded north-facing front porch in the nice little home we've made him. We will await warm weather and the emergence of Mr. Moth.

When I was checking favorite blogs this morning, I stumbled upon a similar post by my friend, Andrea, who lives only about 15 minutes from us. It must be the year of the Crecopia Moth in our area!