I may have mentioned that Tigger took a science class this term. Loosely based on the Grade 9 curriculum, it was 8 sessions of microscopy with a group of 8 kids. She loved it.
We have a microscope that my mom picked up somewhere (free or cheap) and she checked it out. Although not as good as the ones she used in her class, it is useable. But she didn’t get it out much, saving science for her class.
So, inspired by Theresa’s centres, I decided to set up a biology lab where she could just go in and do some work without having to get everything out and put it away afterwards.
It is in my laundry room. That photo is taken from the doorway, the washer (a front loader) and dryer are on the opposite wall (with a sink between them). There are clothes lines strung above the counter you see […]
Original post by jove
A few thoughts and things going on…
1. We’re having a Geography week here (the girls and I). We’re learning about Brazil this time (M’s choice) by investigating the country and its geography and culture online, reading a couple of books of traditional stories from Brazil, and looking at books and watching an Imax video about the Amazon rainforest (those are for tomorrow, actually). They’ll add maps, flags, pics of the money and other things particular to Brazil to their notebooks.
2. Madeline and I have almost finished reading The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat. This week we’ve been investigating Mobious strips, tangrams, magic squares, number patterns, and triangle numbers. When asked if she wants to order the sequel to this book, M answered *gasp* “Yes!!!”.
3. Ben has been moving right along with his MathUSee PreAlgebra book - he’s on lesson 12 already and seems to be doing just fine with […]
Original post by Christine
I’m having one of those days when nothing feels right. It’s a bit overcast here and quite chilly (well, more so than it has been yet this fall) and I’m just in a grumpy mood. I’d much prefer to go into a comfy corner and just read all afternoon than interact with the other people in my house. And instead of recognizing that and figuring out some postive way to work around it or change it or something, I’ve just been snappish and peevish all day so far. Ugh.
We’re supposed to have park day this afternoon, but I’m really not in the mood to chase Sam around the playground in this chilly weather. Not many others seem to be going from our group. So I think we’ll just stay home. But I need to figure something out so that I don’t end up doing the crazy mommy thing all afternoon. […]
Original post by Christine
This morning I had to pick my bil up from surgery (He’s ok). And the whole way there I kept being awed by the spectacular color of the Fall foliage this year. This is the best year I’ve seen in many. And my bil and I marveled all the way home.
Then, when I got home, someone had sent me this video featuring Sir Ken Robinson speaking about creativity being killed in the public school system. And the two events, plus my creative nature, converged, and pointed towards a day of artistic pursuits.
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While I was picking up my bil, GB was home with my dh dutifully working on his online German course. So that by the time I got home he was ready for a break. While he was outside on the swing set, I got all my art materials out. And when he came in we […]
Original post by Robin
Like most little people, my children have enjoyed screen-time entertainment. Interestingly, though, as they became teens, most of them only watch limited TV; to those particular programs they enjoy, like Mythbusters, or a periodic special movie.
But no child has benefited from TV to an obvious level as I have seen with William. No matter how many times he watches a movie or show, within minutes, or even before it is finished, he will be pretending some aspect of what he saw and was impressed by. For instance, he happened across Reading Rainbow the other day that had a momentary focus on hockey, and what did I see outside within minutes? This:
He is the one on the right, and the clothes is the first place he almost always starts. He has on pajama bottoms, which always allow for the “tight fit” of any type of representation needing that, with a sporting […]
Original post by applestars
I will admit that I had never heard of Mexican sugar skulls until my friend called and asked if GB and I wanted to come over and make some.
It sounded intriguing, so we went.
What a blast!
This is what About.com has to say about our activity:
November first begins the Dia de los Muertos (also known as “Day of the Dead”) festivities with All Saints Day in which the deceased children are honored and remembered. November second All Souls Day is for the remembrance of the adult dead. Dia de los Muertos combines these days to celebrate the the deceased and enjoy their memories. Dia de los Muertos is not at all scary, spooky or somber.
The most popular “Dia de los Muertos” ofrenda is Sugar Skulls. Sugar skulls are a traditional folk art from Central and Southern Mexico used to celebrate Day of the Dead. Mounds of colorful sugar skulls are […]
Original post by Robin
Election day at the Martinzoo began with voting. I was expecting lines out the door, but much to my surprise, we were in and out in less than ten minutes. Clearly, they were expecting huge lines and so they had a well-oiled machine that flowed beautifully.
Once we reached home we began preparation for this evening’s festivities. My good buddy in Texas, Dana, had some great ideas on her blog that I decided to borrow….LOL!
Here, GB cuts out a pop-up White House complete with little Obama and McCain figures.
Now he’s gluing the White House to the grass/sky sheet.
Isn’t that cool looking? We think McCain looks very dapper and Obama looks very approachable.
This was the command center at the Martinzoo tonight. We have the electoral college map that we colored as states were called. And we have a chart that we filled in with the electoral votes.
It is 10:00 p.m. EST, and […]
Original post by Robin
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a representative at Birdcage Press, asking if I’d be willing to review one of their art games. I looked around their web site and got very excited. See, I’m passionate about art and art appreciation, but I haven’t been very successful in passing that enthusiasm on to my kids. I replied that I would love to try one of their games. A week or so later, I received a box in the mail that contained all six decks of their Close Up Card Game and their Art Shark Game.
The kids and I have been playing these games like crazy! And it isn’t a matter of having to coerce them - they love them as much as I do.
Art Shark is a game of collecting, displaying, and stealing art. Each player opens up a museum, and chooses their galleries: a century (17th […]
Original post by carrie
This was a cool field trip.
I had no idea that there was SO much to do at Mount Vernon. After a two hour trip up I-95, we arrived at 11:30. We stayed until close to 5:00 and suffered the DC traffic on the way home, but it was totally worth it.
One of the absolute highlights of my day, though, was finally getting to meet a woman that I have long admired in the homeschool blogging world, Jennifer, from Toad Haven. Her children, Ethan and Emily, are in the center of this photo with Mr. Washington himself. I’m so happy that she included a visit with us into her busy schedule.
I really loved this wall of stained glass windows.
GB, O-Man, and Wall-E on the lawn in front of Mount Vernon from the land side.
Mount Vernon - Does it bother anyone else that the windows are not symmetrical?
One of the tours we […]
Original post by Robin
We always come back to Science. Our best days are always the Science days. GB loves them.
Today we did two seed dissections. He has been learning about the process of plant reproduction.
This procedure was to show him that the seeds come complete with their own little embryo and plenty of food — all built right in.
First, we soaked the seeds over night to make them easier to split.
This photo clearly shows the seed coat on our lima bean (dicot).
Even without using the stereoscope you could clearly see the embryo, but the stereoscope makes it so much more vivid. Don’t you think? I mean just look at that detail. The embryo is at the top of the photo and all the rest of the bean is the stored food for the embryo.
Vocabulary Definitions:
Seed Coat - Protects the inside of the seed.
Embryo - the beginning of the new plant.
Stored Food - a […]
Original post by Robin
Abbey chose to have me as one of her “special things” as part of her “senior pictures” portfolio. I’m so blessed to have a daughter who is my best friend. I believe it is because of both how I parented her and the relationship I put first and foremost, as well as the beautiful spirit she is inside. I believe my choice to homeschool was one of the reasons my relationship with each of my children is so incredible. The other is my choice to be a respectful and gentle parent as much as I could create. I wasn’t afraid to say sorry, and I consistently shared my own weaknesses with my children as they were learning and growing on their own journeys. It seemed to give them strength and courage.
As much as I did my part, it was also easy to do with my birth children because of the […]
Original post by applestars
One thing that has been a real challenge for us this year so far is figuring out how to get any learning time in with my girls. Ben is much more independent this year, but the girls still need more of my one-on-one time with me (or they enjoy learning more and will do more when I do it this way). But because of where Sam is right now, it’s hard to get much done when he’s around and awake. So these days I try to do all of their learning time with me when Sam is asleep. He usually takes about a 2-3 hour nap each day. The problem is that’s not quite enough time to get several “subjects” of work done. I was just feeling like I was racing around for those few hours, trying frantically to accomplish everything that I’d thought we’d do that day (often over lunchtime) […]
Original post by Christine
For all the wonderful ladies in my homeschool group; this fantastic video made me think of you.
Our homeschool journey keeps getting better and better because of the wonderful support of our group.
Thank you!
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Original post by Robin
Today was Homeschoolers Day at the Museum of the Confederacy.
Typically it would take me about 40 minutes from my house to get into the heart of Richmond for any event. We had to be there between 10:00 and 10:30…….. lots of wiggle room if I left at 9:10.
I’ve been in Richmond many times when something big was going on, such as marathons and concerts (The Boss! How big is that?). BUT this was outrageous!
I knew something was up as soon as I turned onto Marshal Street. The crowds lined up on every sidewalk, crossing the street in all inappropriate places, and traffic was congested to the point of folks making their own lanes out of nowhere! But I still had no idea what was going on until I passed the signs: “Obama for Change.”
Barack Obama was in town; the same day as Homeschool Day at the Museum of the Confederacy. […]
Original post by Robin
AS Homeschooling Challenges I have an AS child. We teach at home. We have challenges, just like any other home with AS’ children or just like any home with a child, for that matter~!
We are happy with our set-up. We have fun. *(sometimes)*
When I had a trip planned to the Fire Station today, J. did not want to go. He seen the fire trucks “last time”, he says. He said he has “already been”. Why go again!!?? Did I “make” him go? NO! Is he being a bratty-turd? NO! Why make all parties involved miserable, that is starting to be my philosophy.
Original post by learningaswego
GB didn’t feel so great this morning when he woke up. I think he’s coming down with a cold. Bummers!
And after the last couple of weeks, I didn’t want to begin a traditional week with our usual suspects of curriculum choices. I wanted GB to be engaged in what we were doing.
So I spontaneously decided to do a lapbook study of the current election. It’s coming up pretty soon. And GB has really been fascinated by it all. So I downloaded the above file from Hands of a Child this morning and we got to work.
When we got to the explanation of the electoral college, I felt like GB needed a better explanation. It’s kind of a complicated concept. So I printed off a blank map of the U.S. and we used pennies to represent votes for each state. With this visual aid he was able to see how a […]
Original post by Robin
I am one of the authors over at Life Without School and the blog post I wrote went up and gone before I noticed to make mention of it. This was one of those posts that wrote itself. In my passion for the right-brained, creative learner, I have an adage that says: They love to learn; hate to be taught. I always joke at the beginning of my right-brained workshops that if a parent started with the traditional teaching methods and timeframes most of us were raised on in institutionalized schooling, we probably ran up against a brick wall fairly quickly: resistance!
In the unschooling world, people will claim that resistance means you are doing something poorly. But, after hearing the phrase, “I have a resistant learner” on my creative learner list for the umpteenth time, I took a closer look at the word “resistance” and discovered a communication tool. And […]
Original post by applestars
This experiment was in our local newspaper today. So GB and I decided to give it a try. He is unbelievably picky about food. So I suspected that he would be one of these super-tasters.
A super-taster may be someone who dislikes strong-tasting foods such as vinegar.
For this experiment you will need:
food color
magnifying glass
cotton swab
mirro
clean piece of paper with a 1/4 inch hole
and an adult helper
First put a drop of color on a swab and rub it on the end of your tongue.
Look at your tongue in the mirror - Do you see small pink dots or bumps on it? Those “taste buds” let you taste different foods.
Hold the hole in the paper over your tongue, then use the magnifier to count the number of bumps in the hole. ***Very hard to do if you have a wiggly kid.
Most people have 15-35 bumps.
Fewer than 15 bumps makes you a “non-taster’ and […]
Original post by Robin
Thursday at the Martinzoo is science day. I didn’t think it was going to be a science day today. We were going to go on a field trip to Hollywood Cemetery. Unfortunately, I committed to the cemetery field trip without GB’s input and he didn’t really have any desire to go. I’m not sure of his reasons, and I don’t want to say that he was *nervous* about being in a cemetery, but that could have been part of it. It’s too bad. I’d like to try it again someday because there are a lot of famous people buried there.
Anyway, we decided to not go and just have a typical school day instead.
We are doing a bit of life science this year, and our current chapter is on plant structure. So after reading the chapter and doing a virtual dissection at the BBC School Science site we went outside find […]
Original post by Robin
This is GB’s special way of studying. Here he is studying his weekly spelling words.
Somehow sitting in a swing, being outside, and being alone helps him to concentrate on what he is reading.
I say, “Whatever works!”
Original post by Robin
I needed this.
I will admit that I thrive on field trips. I actually need them. They elevate MY mood, never mind GB’s mood. So I suppose that if MY mood is elevated it can only mean good things for GB. We went to the Pauwau on Friday, but this trip to Monticello really made me exhilerated. I loved it. The whole trip was fantastic. It’s not too far from our home, about 1 1/2 hours, and the drive is gorgeous.
Monticello is the home of our third President, Thomas Jefferson. The name ‘Monticello’ is translated from Italian to mean, Little Mountain. In 1787 Thomas Jefferson said, “…….all my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at Monticello.” He loved his home more than any other place on Earth and his greatest hobby was “putting up, and pulling down” parts of the house to make them more stylish or functional.
This […]
Original post by Robin
Today our homeschooling group went to the Powhatan Indian Pauwau. I find it so interesting to learn about totally foreign cultures. And this culture is right in our own backyard. Today’s Pauwau was to honor Chief Powhatan, who was the supreme ruler of most of the indigenous tribes in the Chesapeake Bay area from north of the Mattaponi River here in Virginia.
The Pauwau is a way to share the culture of their Native Ancestors as well as bring an appreciation and realization to the citizens of Powhatan County of the sacrifice made by Powhatan’s People. The word “pow-wow” comes from the Algonquin word “pau wau” - A gathering in celebration to renew friendships, to exchange knowledge, and to trade skills.
Powhatan County is only about 40 minutes away from our house. Members from various Indian tribes came from all over to show us some Indian traditions, like brain tanning. GB […]
Original post by Robin
While looking for something else, I discovered the BBC Big Cat pages. The internet sure has changed things though the live webcams and the video streaming of the TV program is not available outside the UK. What a shame.
When Tigger was little, we used to watch Big Cat Diary on Sunday evenings while we had our dinner. It is such an amazing program, following specific lions, cheetahs, and leopards in the Masai Mara. Some of the same presenters are still with the program and as I watched an episode of Big Cat Raw on the website, one of the questions was about a leopard (Shadow) I remembered from that time. (I moved to Canada in January 2003 so that gives you a sense of when.) I notice that they now have a Masai presenter as well as the English ones.
Tigger used to be fascinated by this program right along with […]
Original post by jove
Nope!
Paper lunch bags and glue. Yep, I swear!
This was my part of the “yes” day. I wanted to do a craft.
First we made a pattern from a poplar leaf.
And cut out a bunch of them, enough to have two sides for eight or nine leaves.
We squeezed glue all over one leaf….
………. bent a floral wire and lay it in the glue…….
……..then covered it with another leaf.
Here is the fun part. You paint the entire surface of the leaf with school glue on one side (you’ll do the other side later). Don’t leave any of the brown paper showing because you are going to burn the glue, which won’t catch on fire. But if you leave the bag part exposed, that might catch on fire. So just don’t.
Now holding the leaf by the stem, hold the glue side against the flame. This is probably an activity to be done with a […]
Original post by Robin
As you will recall from my Monday post, GB and I have been having sort of a rough week. His attitude hasn’t been the best. And he’s been holding back on our curriculum. He didn’t complain outwardly about the curriculum, but he’s had no enthusiasm for it; even for the science and history, which he typically loves. And I’ve felt all week like I was saying, ‘No, no, no’ over and over.
I’m probably a pushover, but on the advice of several of my readers, I decided to give GB a break from the curriculum. We can definitely afford it, we’re about two weeks ahead of schedule. So, today was a “Yes” day. He loves to go traipsing through the State Park down the way, and we have a cut-through path right across the street from us. So today we had a nature day for him, and for me, we did […]
Original post by Robin
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