a homeschooling blog about Simon, a young mathematician and programmer, and his little sister Neva. Visit https://simontiger.com
Yesterday we attended one of the hundreds of Science Days venues open for free all over Belgium. Simon particularly enjoyed chemistry demos, even though he was disappointed that some companies … Continue reading Science Day in Belgium
Simon is seriously enjoying his new Molymod chemistry modeling sets and has been obsessing about which set contains what atoms and bonds. Alcohol (Ethanol): Hurray! We have just built 7,333333333333 … Continue reading Molecules
Simon is baking Dutch traditional “pepernootjes” (“pepper nuts” or spicy cookies) and explains why they get bigger in size after you put them in the oven and what the optimal … Continue reading Why Cookies Get Bigger in the Oven
Want some me sugar in your tea? Simon built this sucrose (table sugar) molecule with the help of Theodore Gray’s Molecules book (although he is pretty sure there is a … Continue reading Sugar and Salt
Simon really wanted to try building a capillary bowl – a version of a perpetual motion machine in which water circulates. Although aware of the fact that perpetual motion was … Continue reading Physics Experiments: Capillary Bowl
Our new MEL Chemistry box arrived, containing tons of color fun! We have already tried two experiments. In the Color changing milk experiment, the soap touches the milk creating a very thin … Continue reading Chemistry Experiments: Colors (surface active agents and pH indicator)
Simon went further on his research about what exactly valence is, and what determines how many other atoms an atom can bond with. “What about Helium? My question is, how … Continue reading The way to own your knowledge
Simon has been down with a serious flu for the past three days and yet, the moment he started feeling just a little more alive he resumed his learning: following … Continue reading Valence and bonds
Our third MEL Science box arrived back in August, when we were on vacation. We have already tried two experiments from the box, both perhaps more suitable for winter. Instant … Continue reading MEL Chemistry Box number 3: Artificial Snow and growing crystals on a Xmas tree
Although vacation is a vague notion in our family, where days are devoted to doing favourite things 365 days a year. For Simon, that means that his days are filled … Continue reading Looking back at the vacation
If you put a cereal flake in a bowl of water you can steer it with a strong magnet. The magnets above aren’t strong enough, but the really powerful ones … Continue reading How much iron is there in your favorite cereal?
Here Simon tried to induce a magnetic field by allowing electric current to go through a conductor that is normally not magnetic (copper wire). The green stick is a magnet … Continue reading Experimenting with electromagnetism
Geeks out of the box 