High Maintenance Mom

My family is already a big fan of They Might Be Giants and we were not disappointed by Here Comes Science. It's one we can listen to / watch hundreds of times. First of all, it comes as a DVD/CD set so the kids can watch at home and listen in the car without my husband writing code to grab the sound from the DVD. And most importantly, They Might Be Giants, once again has found a fun way to interest kids in a variety of more technical concepts (chemical elements, paleontology, the circulatory system, evolution, astronomy, and more). B loves the bloodmobile and spent a full night drawing it over and over with the white blood cells dressed in their army hats.

S's favorite song is Electric Car. N also likes the bloodmobile song. We also like Here Come the ABCs [CD/DVD Combo] and Here Come The 123s [CD/DVD Combo] - also now available as DVD / CD combos.

My family chooses only a few organizations that we donate to or become members of because, let's face it, everyone wants our/your money. Our local Audubon society is one membership we happily renew each year. It allows us access to many local farms, sanctuaries and hiking groups normally hidden away.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. For a good and quick overview of the historic adventure, watch the NASA cartoon. You can also view NASA images of the launch, newly restored videos, an interactive view of the landing site and other exciting images and information from the NASA homepage. There are many celebrations this weekend from model rocket launches to landing parties. On Monday, July 20th, we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of landing on the moon.

On Friday our math and science club went to The Tech Museum for a lab on the Physics of Roller Coasters. The kids worked in teams to build a ramp that would launch a marble 50 cm into a cup. They used plastic tinker toys and half of a foam insulator for wires. The second challenge was to make a loop, have the marble complete the loop, and end in the cup. Each team created a slightly different roller coaster and it was fun to see what everyone did. B's team stabilized the foam ramp with a y-shaped brace while N's team taped the cup to the bottom of a long drop so the marble would go right in. All teams learned how the height of the drop before the loop needed to be twice as tall as the loop. The next day I bought foam insulator tubing at a hardware store (OSH) and my kids used our Tinker Toys to make their own roller coasters here. The labs were designed for 2nd-8th grade but my 4 year-old was able to enjoy it and recreate a roller coaster at home. Our 6 year old used several of the other teams' ideas to make his coaster at home. The Tech Museum posts all of their labs on their web site.

Saturday, 3.14, is pi day. Pi (π) is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter (3.14159265358979...). Math enthusiasts and other geeks celebrate Pi Day around the world. Some schools hold contests for memorizing the most digits of pi. In San Francisco people gather at the Exploratorium for the pi parade where everyone marches to and around the Pi Shrine (a small brass plate engraved with pi to a hundred digits) approximately 3.14 times holding one of the digits of pi. Afterwards they eat pie. If you are looking for a fun book about pi, I recommend Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi (A Math Adventure). If you just want to celebrate shapes, my kids loved Shapes in Transportation. And if you haven't had enough math and science celebrations, it's also the 130th birthday of Albert Einstein (14 March 1879).

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the births of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln (both on February 12, 1809); the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species; and the 400th anniversary of the publication of Johannes Kepler’s first two Laws of Planetary Motion. To celebrate, the Year of Science 2009 (YoS09) has been established with the theme, “How We Know What We Know”. Each month celebrates a different theme...

The theme for this year's Earth Science Week is "No Child Left Inside." If you've read Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, or read about it, then you might be looking for more ways to incorporate unstructured time outside. The USGS, one of the Earth Science Week (ESW) sponsors, has a web site with links to outdoor parks and activities around the country. Even if there isn't an activity listed for your area, it doesn't take too much effort to help your child connect with nature. Start with a walk at your child's pace. You may only get to the end of the block but your child will appreciate the time you spend looking at the things that interest them. I find ants much more interesting through my kids' eyes. They, my kids - not the ants, love to watch water run down a drain, look for the biggest acorn, or investigate any type of bug.

Kilauea, the volcano on the main island of Hawaii that has been in a continuous state of eruption since 1983, has been showing new activity in the past year. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), located next to the caldera, monitors the volcanic activity and posts beautiful pictures online. The glow from the current plume is easiest to see at night. Because of the time difference, you can often view the glow for yourself on the Halema`uma`u web cam in the early morning. The Kilauea image here shows the pre-moonrise stars and the intense Halema`uma`u glow on April 27th. If you view the April 2008 Image Archive, you will see an image of the observatory with the plume in the backgound. Watching the eruption is a great way to introduce science to kids...

Apparently today was GIS Day, which is part of Geography Awareness Week. Each year a different region is highlighted. This year the theme is "Asia: Continent of Contrasts". Here are a few links for learning more about GIS.

• National Geographic's My Wonderful World - Get a passport to explore Asia online, also check out the links on the more to explore page.
• Google's educator page - Tour Asia using Google Earth, see videos, and take interactive quizzes.
• gis.com's GIS Day activities.

During pregnancy, moms are accustomed to a variety of screening tests for conditions such as Down syndrome and diabetes. The rationale for these tests is not to make moms anxious about their pregnancy but to identify potential pregnancy problems to allow for timely intervention.

What is kick counting?
Kick counting, a daily systematic record of moms’ perception of their baby’s movement during the third trimester, is a reliable, harmless, simple and effective screening for the baby’s well-being. Kick counting can document changes in the fetal movement pattern and can help moms-to-be alert their healthcare provider of potential problems. A timely evaluation can allow intervention and prevention of potential problems, including stillbirth.