Geology Rocks (1)

In Amber On The Mountain, Anna comes to live on the Mountain where Amber lives because her father is constructing a new road. We've used this as a springboard into a study of rocks. I ordered a Geology Rocks kit from JCS, and then M took over from there.

Today’s lesson: How to use a nutcracker to break open a geode.

Actually, the tool used is obviously not a nutcracker, but a soil pipe cutter—a tool used in construction to quickly cut clay or cast iron pipe. I became aware of its alternate use through an exhaustive search of geodes on EBAY. Once I got the method down, the boys helped pull down the lever and crack open several geodes. Most oven the geodes were solid (no open crystal cavity), but there were a few beautiful exceptions. My favorite was a nice peppered quartz specimen. We were all very excited about this find, but be careful when handling as the crystals are very sharp.