Mystery Science - Rivers

So I discovered this little website called Mystery Science. It had an offer for a "year free!" and I figured why not. I come across that quite a bit in the online homeschool realm. Sometimes it's something pretty lame that normally you couldn't pay me to use, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised. This time, it was the latter --- turns out, it's legit and actually costs a bunch of cash money per year. So we got a deal! And bonus - it's actually great, and Lulu is LOVING it.

Here is an example of how the lesson and activity go. She did a lesson on Earth's Surface Processes a couple of weeks ago, about rivers - where they start and where they end up. The format is a video with some questions to ponder, and then an activity at the end. She gets super excited about all of it, which is awesome. Also, it's not too long - perfect for someone with, shall we say, an active brain...

So she watched all about where rivers end and start... and they got her cute little noggin working on it... and then we did this activity:

You are probably wondering "ummm what is happening here?" Well let me tell you! Thank you for asking, amazing reader!

1. She crumpled up paper and taped it down onto a guide page from the website.
2. She drew with marker all along the top ridges of her paper mountain.
3. She sprayed it (maybe too enthusiastically, but hey MONSOON!) with water.
4. We watched where the marker went down the mountain...
5. And Lulu made some observations about where water flows.
6. We also looked at a map (guided by the website) of major rivers, and where they start -- voila! Mountains or higher elevations.
(Plus - 7. AND where do they end? Oceans!)

Super simple, but also super fun. She started the unit on rocks today - so I'm excited about some good volcanic fun coming up soon. :)

Here's a link to the website.