Monday, November 9, 2015

Taylor and the Gyroscope Plus a Chemistry Lesson


Who says kids are only interested in electronic gadgets?
Enough of staring into phones or tablets, we're moving to 
some hands on experience and a little "hidden" schooling too!


My husband stopped into a nice hobby shop and found a 
gyroscope for Taylor.  She was absolutely thrilled, like having 
a little space station right on the tip of her finger.  She would
wind the string, pull and watch it spin:  on her finger, in its stand,
absolutely sideways and ever going-- although the photo stops
the action.  She had a ball with it.


We also got her a chemistry set that has many different 
experiments that build upon each other.  Pops and Taylor
got to geek out at the dining room table going through
several of the experiments on Saturday and Sunday.
We have our son's old set in the attic so I'll dig into that and 
see what else is still good.  There is a microscope somewhere.

We will build on this kit, upgrading to more advanced kits
as she learns.  We're wondering where you buy chemicals these
days, it used to be the pharmacy carried it when we were kids
but with elevate security maybe you have to order on line now?


She requested her great grandmother's mostaccioli recipe 
for dinner.  You start with a chuck roast that cooks all day in 
the crock pot in tomato sauce and other ingredients until
it breaks down and just falls apart into beefy pulled meat.
You add the cooked noodles and it is almost instantly gone if
there is any sort of crowd.  We had a couple of plates left
over for lunch the next day after everyone had their fill
the night before.  Delicious stuff!


We topped it off with a cookie cake when her mom arrived 
from work.  We ended up the evening sitting by the fire pit,
both Taylor and my daughter spending the night.  Then up for
church on Sunday morning.  


6 comments:

LindaG said...

I would have loved stuff like that, at Taylor's age. Glad she enjoyed them so much!

Manny said...

Love the gyroscope. Taylor is getting big. How old is she now? Looks like a budding scientist or engineer. ;)

Yahoobuckaroo's Blog said...

I loved playing with my chemistry set. I got mine in the 3rd grade. You're right about it being much harder to get the same chemicals these days. In fact, some of them you may not be able to get at all (I heard that on TV recently), but most can probably be ordered online somewhere.

You can cut that cooking time way down by putting the chuck roasts in cooking bags with a couple of slits cut in them and just cooking them in an oven at 350%. I used to make my own BBQ beef to sell at the store when I ran a meat shop in Staunton years ago. The cooking bags will make them incredibly tender to where you can peel the meat apart with your fingers very easily. If you ever want to try BBQ using chuck roasts, see if you can find any Cattleman's BBQ Sauce. Best on the planet! If you're into canning, you can put the BBQ in jars when you're done and store it. It tastes every bit as good as Rinks.

You have a son?

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Taylor just turned 11!

Harry Flashman said...

I had one of those when I was a kid myself. And we had tops, which are sort of gyroscopes. I haven't seen a top in ages.

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

I would like to try that crocker recipe sounds - easy and delicious! My oldest will be getting a chemistry set for Christmas this year. I found a huge brand new set at a yard sale a few years ago when it was closing and the person didn't want to take it back inside. So I talked her down to $10 and have stashed it until he was old enough.