Hey guys,

I called grandpa last night. I thanked him for the DVD that he sent out. I suppose you guys will receive yours soon. The DVD has pictures and videos. Kriss and Kim Hoffman are playing baseball and basketball. It has video on it that is from Haylee's baptism. That was a special experience and a nice evening.

Karen is doing better. She told Grandp Karl that she hadn't felt so good in a while. As a last resort the doctors decided to give her medicine by injecting it into her muscles. The medicine is then released over a time period of 4 weeks. Karen wasn't taking her medicine regularly, but this seems to work for her.

He said that when he redoes the roof to his house, he will do it with the tin roof like dad's. School is going great.

Oh, Meagan asked about lesson plans. I don't think my notes would be good for lessons. I will send you some fun demonstrations or things to watch. There is a lot of free educational media out on the internet that is pretty good. If you want to learn something, type the concept in with the word "applet," or "virtual." I think Karl and Meagan's kids would certainly enjoy mixing corn starch and water. Make a lot and cover your table and floor. The liquid is fun to play with. When you squeeze it, it becomes hard, but the minute you let it be, it becomes a liquid again. If you want the details on this, it is because it is a nonnewtonian fluid that is specifically a shear thickening fluid. Paint just happens to be shear thinning fluid because when you apply stress with your paint brush, it actually becomes more liquidy, or less viscous.

Monday Bri and I went to a retirement home and shared a scripture that went along with two science demos. It was fun. Bri really wants to do it again. I wouldn't mind either. It was fun. Some of those elderly ladies really couldn't believe that a balloon wouldn't pop when pushed against a bed of pins. I also dragged my fingers along to make an aluminum rod vibrate and resonate so that it sung one note. Oh, I had fun with the balloon and pins. I popped a balloon and then announced that it didn't work. We needed faith. I had a lady blow on it because she had so much faith. Then I pressed the balloon against a bed of over 300pins (or challenging fiery darts.) Bri made this demo for me before we were married. I love it.

Hey, if any of you guys do play with corn starch and water, you should watch a video on youtube that shows some spanish people running and jumping on 5ft deep pool of this stuff. It is in spanish, but it's the best demonstration of walking on liquid. If you type in corn starch into google or youtube it is one of the first ones to pop up. I have been a bit leary about using youtube, but I have found that it is great for showing science experiments that I cannot do at my school because of the restrictions. If you type in "water balloon in space" you will find videos demonstrating the intermolecular forces of water floating in the space shuttle with no gravity when the astronaut pops the balloon. It is a floating ball of water. You can see astronauts drop a hammer and a feather on the moon. You can watch a hydrogen filled balloon being exploded. If you type in "thermite" you will see a reaction that happens at about 3,000 degrees melting through things. Dry ice and vacuum bell jars are also great things to see.

Just off of the top of my head, look at Teachermedia.org. There are lots of videos. I think that is the location and homeschooling parents can access it. Well, I have got to go. We are trying to put Quickyn to bed.

Love Bill and Good Luck with Science