Sunday, June 9, 2013

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You can contact us through our email address:

stecva@gmail.com

or call 804.822.5635 or 804.822.5680

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2013 HEAV Convention - Day Three

Our last day of the convention began with an attempt to break our new friend David's spaghetti bridge. It held almost 28 pounds before we abandoned the effort and sent it with him to take home!!


We then moved on to search for more insects.  Our quest led to the discovery of a common Virginia amphibian, the Southern two-lined Salamander.


Eurycea cirrigera (Southern Two-lined Salamander)
We also found a patent-leather beetle larvae (shown below).  This beetle, also known as the Jerusalem Beetle, can grow to just over one and a half inches long.  It is found in old decaying wood where it makes tunnels called galleries.  Living in colonies, the adults feed their larvae a mixture of digested wood and poop (yes, really)!

Odontotaenius disjunctus (Patent-leather or Jerusalem Beetle larvae)

Irresistible opportunity to explore for creatures

Once we found a variety of insects, the kids observed them under a magnifier and etched what they saw to make their own unique ink prints.




We wrapped up the day with some cool chemistry - pun intended -action with dry ice.


Observing the phases of matter with dry ice


We had a great time at this year's convention!  Looking forward to June 2014 when we plan to introduce some new activities and maybe a convention-wide contest or two.

Look for more posts coming soon...

Thanks for visiting our site!

Friday, June 7, 2013

HEAV Homeschool Convention 2013





Response to our first year at the HEAV Convention
has been massive!  We have received a lovely welcome from home school families throughout Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and even as far as Ohio!  Kids and parents are learning about insects, slime, spaghetti bridges and us!  We are having lots of fun!  Check out some of the action from Thursday and Friday.