Today I thought you might like to do a fun experiment. Some of you are wrapping up your school year while others are slowing down and still others like me are still going strong. I hear from a lot of homeschoolers that they do not want learning to end in the summer. So, summer seems like a great time to do all those fun projects that everyone was interested in doing there just was not time to fit them into our busy days. Now is the time for those projects.

I have started an online book club of sorts. We are reading, A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arther Conan Doyle which you can get for free here: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/doyle/arthur_conan/ - this website has all of his works avail for you for free. If you look around the site you can also see all of the works available in MP3 format and also a link to other children's e-books and a really fun site that has other works in MP3 format of old children's radio theater programs. I hope you all enjoy this site. For the book club we read a few chapters a week and then we meet up in a gmail group chat (gmail is free for anyone interested) and we discuss the chapters we read. The goal is for each reader to come up with at least 3 questions to ask as well as several vocabulary words. Each participant will get a turn at choosing the book. Right now the book is for older kids but, we would like to add a younger children's discussion group as well.

Ok, back to the experiment I mentioned above. (I get side tracked so easily) LOL ;) Since we are reading Holmes I thought it would be tons of fun to study DNA. Here are two links for you:

1. http://dnamazing.com/how-do-i-extract-dna-at-home/ - This site is a small book that explains how to extract your own DNA. The directions are very simple.

2. http://geneticsevolution.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_extract_dna_from_fruit_and_vegetables – This website show you how to extract the DNA from fruits and vegetables. How fun right?? ;) I figure that those of you with smaller children would find this a little more fun and easier to understand.

I hope you will do the experiments and tell us about them. I will be posting pictures of our DNA experiments later this week. Over the next couple of weeks we will also be exploring fingerprinting, observation, witness testimonies, and many more. I hope there will be an experiment or topic of interest to you.

We are also embarking a rather large project this week. We are reorganizing the bookcases, all 8 of them. If you have any suggestions on organizing them I would love to hear them. I am trying to decide if I want a school room or a craft room. It seems to me that with our relaxed style of learning might not fit into a school room . I have however always wanted a craft room and we can use it for school crafts and products. Everyone has a desk in their rooms for individual work, we have a couch for reading and watching DVD's, and a kitchen table for group learning. I love that others have school rooms they always look so nice and inviting. (Judy from benmakesten has a lovely school room) When we first moved here I was so excited to have a school room now, I am not so sure. A craft room is looking REAL good. ;)

That's all for today from the boonies. LOL Have a great day!! ❤❤