Rock Week and the Gem-O-Rama

Rock Week was an absolute blast. There are so many fun things you can do with rocks!

Actually, I must confess that I have never been even remotely interested in rocks, geology, or any type of earth science. Our house is full of rocks (Rocket Boy being a geophysical engineer and all that), and I don't think I've ever asked him what any of them were. Throughout our marriage, as we've driven or hiked past rock formation after rock formation, he's explained all sorts of things about rocks to me, and most of it goes, yes, in one ear and right out the other.

It took homeschool preschool to make me think rocks were interesting. There are all kinds of suggested activities on the homeschool blogs (though I skipped the one about reading from the Book of Revelations about what kind of gemstones the streets of heaven are going to be paved with). It's amazing that all these homeschooling moms are interested in geology, when you consider how many of them think the earth is only 5000 years old or whatever.

Monday was Columbus Day, which meant RB was home from work, so on that day, after the twins and I had looked at the rock books I'd laid out and talked a bit about rocks, I asked him to help identify all the rocks I'd gathered the day before, when we were looking at fall color in the Eastern Sierra. Patiently he did so.

And much to my dismay, they were all igneous. (For those who don't know, there are three main types of rock: sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous.) I certainly had not meant to find only one type. But as RB patiently explained to me, in the Sierra you're mostly going to find igneous rocks. Rocks are all about place. And then that night we went out to the desert and gathered about 30 more and a few of those were different types, so I felt better.

On Tuesday we made rock candy, using two methods. First we melted sugar on the stove, then we poured it onto a baking sheet that was really cold because it had been in the freezer, and then we put it back in the freezer for a few minutes. It froze solid with no crystals (because it cooled so fast). Not sure boos got any of that, but it was tasty, like peanut brittle without the peanuts.

Then we attempted to make regular rock candy, boiling sugar and water and dumping them into a jar to cool slowly.

As of today (4 days later), it still looks pretty much like this. But they say to give it a week, so maybe it'll turn into rock candy like they sell in stores. It is crystallizing, it's just not climbing the skewers. Should have used a string.

On Wednesday, we learned about the Rock Cycle. Most of our (mostly fruitless) efforts can be seen in this photo.

First we crumbled up graham crackers and sugar (sediment), mixed them with butter (fossil fuels) and baked them in the oven for 15 minutes. They were supposed to turn into a hard rock, but they didn't, just crumbled like buttery, sugary graham crackers. (Maybe I should have added water too?) Boos did not mind, and ate them up. Then we took a Snickers Bar (representing a sedimentary rock), cut it in half to look at its layers, and then smashed it to bits to turn it into a metamorphic rock. (You can't see the Snickers Bar in the photo because it's been eaten, but the potato masher in front of Baby B was used to destroy it.) Finally, we lit a candle in the hopes that the wax would run down the sides like lava, creating igneous rock. But I just could not get the wax to run down the sides. Oh well. These science experiments are tricky!

On Thursday we looked at a book about gemstones, examined Mom's paltry collection of (mostly fake) jewels, and then decorated paper crowns with gemstone stickers. Then we read some fairy tails about kings and queens wearing jeweled crowns. Boos enjoyed wearing their crowns and have continued to wear them now and then.

Friday was supposed to be another rock-collecting hike, but Rocket Boy (home for Flex Friday) wasn't feeling well, so he went back to bed, and boos and I had a nice messy time painting some of our rocks. We also watched some videos on Mom's computer -- there are some great rock songs on YouTube, such as "Rocks and Gems and Minerals", "Song of the Rocks", and my favorite, "Rocks Song". Boos have been going around humming these.

Finally, Saturday -- today -- was the Trona Gem-O-Rama! This was our FOURTH year attending this extravaganza -- and it will probably be our last. Every other year, of course, boos did not study rocks the week preceding the Gem-O-Rama, and I wondered whether this week's study would make any difference in how they perceived the event. I think maybe it did.

They were interested in the rocks for sale at the show, and watched the geode cutting with awe. They were thrilled when I found a vendor selling Actual Rock Candy and bought a stick for them to share. They were excited when Dad bought a few more rocks for his collection. And they had a great time on the Blow Hole Field Trip (our fourth time on that too).

For nostalgia, here they are 3 years ago, same event (same buckets, too):

And 2 years ago (don't ask me how they could be wearing the same shirts they are this year -- at least the hats are different):

And here's Baby B last year (yes, I know it's the same shirt, this is blowing my mind, I obviously think of these shirts as their Gem-O-Rama shirts):

Last year, when they were three, Baby A was frightened by the contraption that spews water and rocks for the crowd to pick through, and he wouldn't even participate in the digging. This year he was braver -- of course he's a year older. He dug and dug, collected lots of crystals, and was fascinated by the rock blower. I took a video of the rock blower, but for some reason I can't get it to upload here -- if I figure out why, I'll add it in later.

Anyway, fun week. We didn't work much on letters or math concepts, and we didn't do a single workbook page, but I hope it's obvious that the week was full enough without them!