A Glorious Mess

What good would a homeschool blog be if it didn't just show it like it is?  This is how my dining room was left today as we dashed off to a softball game.

A disaster? Nah. Even though a bowl of lemon juice was catapulted to the floor; even though a few things caught fire; even though hot wax ended up pooled on the dinette, this mess was just evidence of an afternoon of fantastically fun learning, exploring, and growing.

We recently read about George Washington's terrific network of spies during the Revolutionary War. (Of course, both sides of the war had spies, but Washington, America's First Spymaster, did it smarter and better.) 

Invisible Ink 

We used lemon juice for the ink and heat to bring it out. During the Revolutionary War the British used the more common organic inks (lemon, lime, milk, vinegar) which weaken paper fibers and darken faster than the rest of the paper when heated. They also used some sympathetic inks, chemicals that disappear and require another reactant chemical to make the ink visible again. These methods had even then been around for centuries. Washington had his own unique formula created, calling it, "medicine," and he was sneakier in sending messages, writing with invisible ink in between the lines of an ordinary letter, or writing inside harmless pamphlets or books.

Nothing to see here...

...until...

...voila!

Using the iron was a slow process which didn't heat the paper well.  I decided to switch to an open flame to see if it would speed things up.  Gee Howdy, did it! It was REALLY COOL to watch the ink appear rapidly over the flame.  

P3 created this, calling it, "The many expressions of General Howe."

P2 was a little sassy at first, but he got into it.

Cipher Wheels

We also made our own cipher wheels for coding and decoding messages. It was trickier than everyone thought it would be. The kids discovered measurement would help. They wrote all sorts of messages and gave them to me and to each other to decipher. Some attempts were more successful than others. It took a lot of thinking and attention to detail.

Sealing Wax

Not necessarily a part of espionage, but definitely a part of sending communique, the practice of sealing letters with stamped wax is just cool. I was sure I had a stick of real sealing wax, but it was AWOL so we just used candles. The candle wax wasn't as thick or high quality, but that didn't stop the kids from burning lots of it up.

After returning from the softball game, we cleaned up the house. No reason to come unglued over it--it always stays where we left it and cleans up later as well as sooner.  Days like this are some of my favorite with their freedom to explore and experiment. I'm reminded of the famous words of one of my favorite (albeit fictional) teachers, Ms. Frizzle:  "Take chances! Make mistakes! Get messy!"

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