Blog, She Wrote

Geometry

2012-02-01T05:43:00.000-08:00

We've been enjoying some new geometry concepts over the last couple of weeks. Last week we were focused on JrFLL and preparing for the big Expo which occurred on Saturday. Before that, we were knee deep in line segments, rays and angles. Oh my!

The list of terms which were turned into a notebook page. Illustrations by R11.

Some of the concepts on the list for R11 for geometry this year (some of them I9 will do as well. His 4th grade list is shorter):

metric units
coordinate planes
volume of a cube or rectangular prism
metric and customary unit conversion
protractor and compass- lines and line segments, etc
drawing angles
drawing shapes
congruent angles and porportion
area of triangle, parallelogram
Pi and the Circumference of a circle

J6 is working on measuring length, volume, weight and temperature. He will identify some more shapes as well. These concepts were taken from the Math on the Level Concept Chart. Remember I am preparing my children for Algebra and while some items on the Concept Chart are built upon other skills, some are not. The object is for my students to be ready for Algebra in 8th or 9th grade. E13 started Algebra I in the last quarter of 7th grade because he had mastered the skills necessary for Algebra success. R11 is probably more of a 9th grade Algebra student.

To add to our math journals, I had the kids make a notebook page about the new geometry terms. They did a nice job and they are doing well at remembering all the new words.

They could easily see the size of an angle by using two pencils.

We've also been using some pages from Math Mammoth Geometry I. It was a freebie recently and I grabbed it up. Math Mammoth is great for explaining new concepts and she has plenty of practice for the kids. I like to dabble in math practice sheets by the topic for my kids when I need them.

Measuring angles yesterday....this one is 180 degrees.

The kids are enjoying the unit. We do these new geometry concepts roughly three times a week and we do Life of Fred at least one other day and on the off days we do a math adventure of some sort.

Castle Construction

2012-01-27T17:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted much about it so far, but E13 has been using WinterPromise Quest for the Middle Ages this year. We have finally seen the end of the Roman Empire and have really begun the Middle Ages portion of the curriculum. We've found that we've had to modify some of the projects for various reasons, but we are moving along. Recently, we have been discussing how and why castles were made. So, E13 has been working on a castle model.

This is an Usborne paper castle kit- I'm letting him do it all on his own and if something goes wrong I have a few spare kits. Not sure where I picked some up, but they are in our collection.

The gate house with the drawbridge and portcullis

E13 loves all the reading that goes with this program. We have selections for read alouds as well as sections of various books along the way. It's following Mystery of History Volume 2. We do a lot of reading aloud, along with reading on his own plus written assignments, projects and a timeline. This has been a great study for transitioning from a unit study approach to a more traditional schooling approach. As much as we are enjoying the curriculum, I think most of its value is in the reading schedule with the resources it pulls together. It has inspired me to continue to put together my own materials for even high school courses. I will share some of the other work that E13 has done with WinterPromise. It's been really nice to have that independent study list for him as well as reading and working together on chronological history of the Middle Ages.

Contest Winner!

2012-01-24T19:24:00.000-08:00

The winner of Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners is Shirley!

Please email me within two days using the Contact Me in my right hand sidebar and I'll get that right out to you. If I don't hear from our winner by then, we'll choose another.

Thank you for participating!

Contraptions...

2012-01-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

Is it any wonder my house looks like a major project is going on? Everywhere. All the time. This is what I'm up against...

This run made possible by the purchase of two marble runs from Discount School Supply.

I'm certain that one day too soon my house will be neat as a pin and I'll wonder where all the messes went. For now...just near my feet in another room upstairs from that one is a pile of Snap Circuits and a half built circuit with an instruction booklet open to just the right page.

That table with the doll house light project is still up and full of items waiting for further inspiration...

And the table in front of me is stacked high with the best loved books. Actually, there are stacks of well loved books everywhere.

Maybe I need to be more mindful about having the children put their messes away. But I prefer to think of our home as a print rich environment with just the right equipment to invite questioning and to inspire investigation. Everywhere. All the time.

Review: Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners & a Give Away

2012-01-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

A few months ago Cindy West asked if I would review her new book, Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners. I gratefully accepted the offer to look it over and I'm so glad I did!

Cindy has done a terrific job of lining up resources for homeschooling parents to equip them for working effectively with their gifted kids. The book peaked my curiosity because meeting a gifted learner where he was is the reason we began homeschooling in the first place. It's the reason we began and it's the reason we continue to press on in this endeavor.

There are chapters on just starting out with homeschooling all the way to how to work with individual learners in your home. The chapter on "Teaching All Learners" details out the signs of giftedness for each subject area as well as how to recognize and work with those who struggle in a particular area.

The book covers working with your children's passions and preparing for college. Cindy gives us ideas on how to use technology with a gifted child and for each chapter there are multiple "Real Life Examples" to go with the points she is making. Through out the book, she lists out book and website resources for parents to use for more information specific to a topic of interest within the chapter.

This is an excellent homeschool resource for beginners and seasoned homeschoolers alike and works with children who are exceptional by any definition.

I'm excited to say that Cindy has graciously given me a copy to share with an interested Blog, She Wrote reader. Leave a comment to enter the drawing. Leave two if you are a follower. If you aren't a follower already, feel free to let me know you signed up and leave a second comment. The contest will close Monday, January 23rd at midnight EST. Good luck!

Geometry and Measurement

2012-01-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Still following the path of individualized math learning using Math on the Level (and other resources like Life of Fred), we have begun a unit on Geometry and Measurement. The first day we had some fun with shapes using pattern blocks and tangrams.

The kids could choose a blank pattern or one with the shapes outlined.

R11 tried out some Tangram cards- these are difficult!

Not surprisingly, things turn to free play and elaborate pretend games begin. Do you see the elegant table with chairs all around? R11 and J6 were entertaining kings and queens!

Another good use of trays- there in the background more free shape play for J6- after he completed the pattern page underneath.

This time around we are hitting lines, rays, angles, etc and tomorrow we'll be using a protractor to measure and draw angles. Today I had the kids make a notebook page on some of the math terms we've been reading about and using this week. Stay tuned for the results on that. This set of goals is on R11's list of geometry objectives in my planner.

The Meter

2012-01-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

The boy with the brain that never turns off (aka J6) asked for a multi-meter this Christmas. You may remember it was featured in the doll house light post. He has enjoyed it immensely and for those who are worried, he is strictly forbidden from certain uses that shall remain nameless. He can use it with his Snap Circuits and to test batteries (now that he has learned the proper procedure for that).

This battery is dead...not worth recharging.

We can charge this one- it lives!

All in an effort, by the way, to replace the batteries in his Nerf weapon. These are important things in life.

What sort of engineer will J6 be? Right now he is thinking the triple threat- chemical, electrical, and most definitely mechanical.

Fun Little Book...

2012-01-15T18:39:00.000-08:00

Tsh Oxenreider's book Organized Simplicity is free today for the Kindle (and rumor has it for the Nook as well). Great book with some great ideas for organizing. I've implemented some things but not all of them. I'm about to look over some of it again as we think about hoeing out our basement. I grabbed up the Kindle version even though I own the bound book. I mean...you never know.

If you've never seen Tsh's website, go on over to Simple Mom and check it out. You might also enjoy One Bite at a Time which breaks her ideas down into 52 projects.

Do I have a Kindle? Nope...but I am the proud owner of a Droid Bionic (my birthday present back a few months ago) and I have the sweet Kindle app for it. R11 bought a Kindle this fall with some money she's been saving. She wrote the best persuasive piece on why Dan should let her have it and he declined (as in she was asking for it for Christmas), but he did allow her to buy it herself (and in turn we added to her American Girl doll collection this holiday which is what she she had been saving for since last Christmas). She's had it since just before Thanksgiving and she adores it! It's been fun to have around and very fun to see her enjoy. She's gotten a few gift books and she has loads of free classics on there.

This makes me think it might be fun to do a "What's on My Reading Shelf" post. Stay tuned and in the meantime, grab up that free book!

Bird Habitat on the Homefront

2012-01-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before that we are part of the Connecting Kids through Birds program sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It's an 11 lesson program all about birds using Wiki Pages to get information and share information with other classrooms using the program. The social aspect is somewhat appealing, but not as fun for us as just doing the lessons and learning about the lives of birds. We need to update our Wiki Page with pictures of our habitat and possibly these maps. In order to complete the program, I need to complete five more of the 11 lessons. We are making steady progress.

R11 added some nice detail- including naming all the different plants we have. I love the extra room she gave our deck- if only!

J6 working on his habitat map

I9's map

Not bad for a first grader's map!

I usually leave time for Nature Study on Fridays and I hope to explore another lesson tomorrow. Our topic will be Obstacles to Migration. We're going to play a fun game to illustrate just how hard it is for birds to have a safe and successful migration. I'm also hoping to combine some bird migration maps with Google Earth and do some calculating of percentages of birds who are successful each year.

In case you haven't seen some of the resources supported by the Lab of Ornithology, here are a few to enjoy:

All About Birds

Bird Sleuth- some resources and curriculum for homeschoolers to purchase

What Bird.com

eBird- let's you record bird sitings year round

Birds are pretty easy to observe and track year round. As part of our Bird Habitat study, I think I will encourage the kids to grow some plants next spring which will attract some species of birds. The study we are a part of suggests it and I was reading a lovely magazine today called Birds and Blooms. It gave me some great ideas on where to start and gave me a clue as to why the birds love our Blue Spruce tree in the front yard.

How many of you are birders?

Algebra I Progress

2012-01-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

E13 has been working on Algebra I this year. We started with Saxon Algebra I (a free item on a table at co-op one week) late last school year and started up again in August. Although he was a good sport about doing 30 problems every day (writing out the whole problem) with Saxon, we have switched to using Fred primarily at this point. I was inserting Fred Beginning Algebra lessons in among the Saxon lessons a couple times a week just to change things up for E13 and to provide a different avenue for learning and remembering.

E13 does one or two Fred Companion lessons per day depending on the number of problems assigned.

When is the last time you saw our workboxes? Now the top two shelves no longer have boxes. I couldn't take it anymore- they were just not accommodating for notebooks. The binders lay flat on the top and second shelf and there are boxes for now on the bottom two. They hold projects and things- smaller items. What became of those boxes and their lids? Let's just say I was in charge of Operation Christmas Child at my church and children in 3rd world countries are now enjoying them. Win/win. No guilt...it turns out that workboxes are way to "school at home" for this borderline unschooling girl.

A look at the inside of E13's math journal

The Home Companion breaks the Beginning Algebra text into daily lessons. I highly recommend it if you are using Fred! In the last several lessons, he's been learning how to solve two variable equations with elimination and without.

Another favorite resource for him and R11- I sometimes pull out activities from here. Lots of algebraic reasoning in this book.

Last month, they played an interesting number game and we tested out a few theories at the book's suggestion.

It was the game of Euclid which Dan is still trying to figure out why they think it's a game! The kids thought it was fun. I'm pretty sure that is what counts!

Great news for Fred Beginning Algebra fans! Dr. Stan has just come out with a book on a Zillion Practice Problems for Beginning Algebra. I can't wait to get my copy as we continue on our Algebra journey with Fred!

For the Young Engineer...

2012-01-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

J6 received an Erector Set for Christmas. He's been building away...

This first helicopter was made by looking at the picture...not so much the directions. Who needs those?

Can I just say I love trays? I have these from Discount School Supply.

It took him a day or so to get used to working with the pieces, but he's comfortable with it now and loves to build contraptions- with or without directions. He takes a little time to tinker each day.

Sewing Kit for a Boy

2012-01-08T07:02:00.000-08:00

I9 has been sewing so much lately that for Christmas we outfitted him with his own sewing kit. He thanked us and so did his sister! What does a boy find in a sewing kit?

One of the "musts" is a set of fabric markers. We added thread, pins, needles, and some small scissors.

R11 made him an angry birds pin cushion.

She also made him a needle book.

He LOVED the fabric markers. He used to borrow R's all the time. She is also happy he has his own.

Also included in the kit was a $10 gift card to JoAnn Fabrics. I thought he might go for fabric, but he really wanted a pair of fabric scissors. I stopped short of buying them since the kit was hedging on spendy (I opted out of full boxed kits as they are generally girly in theme), but he was really focused on getting himself a pair. I waited for the current JoAnn's flyer to arrive and then we purchased them. We bought the Gingher Feather Weights which are really nice for smaller hands. R11 has the same pair. He's a leftie so we had to be careful they could accommodate him. He also decided to get a tape measure while we were there- opting to spend some of his other Christmas money to be able to get it. Now he thinks he's all set! Stay tuned for more boy sewing adventures!

Stopping By the Woods...

2012-01-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

...on a Snowy Evening. I decided a good way to get back in the groove of school would be to do a short row designed for review weeks. So, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening was a good fit. We've had a bit of snow this week so we got to enjoy some time outside and we even spotted some tracks in the snow.

This illustrated Robert Frost poem is in volume 1 of FIAR.

J6 matched some tracks with their animal using a tracking book E13 made for his brothers last year.

E13 (then 12) made this book using an animal tracks website. He formatted the pictures with their explanations into a square shape and we printed and laminated them. They are bound by a ring. This four inch square shape is perfect for taking into the field.

It's missing a few animals like rabbits, but using this trail guide you can keep track of beetles in the dirt!

Here are some copywork samples. These are from the poem itself. J6 wants to know when I'm going to ditch copywork and let him type on the computer for all his writing. He's funny.

While enjoying this FIAR title, we've also gotten out some old favorites and some new library books.

Stranger in the Woods by Carl R. Sams II & Jean Stoick
First Snow in the Woods by Carl R Sams II & Jean Stoick
In the Snow: Who's Been Here? Lindsay Barrett George
Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft & Richard G. VanGelder
Under the Snow? by Melissa Stewart
North Country Night by San Souci

We've been discussing what the animals are doing in the winter season and a little bit about poems. R11 loves Shel Silverstein so we are not unfamiliar with the genre. We did talk about rhyming which is always a fun topic for young kids.

On to a new book next week!

Model Wright Flyer

2012-01-06T06:04:00.000-08:00

I9 did a Beyond FIAR unit on Neil Armstrong in the fall and ever since then he has been enjoying all things flight. I suppose I should blog about that unit...I'll see what I can gather. It was a lot of exploring and projects with a lot of reading and not a lot in the way of formal lessons and assignments. He did a lot of journal writing as well. For Christmas we purchased a lot of fun flight oriented items such as a model rocket (Dan has been dying to do this with the kids for years now) and this model of the Wright Brothers flyer. I found it at Rainbow Resource and it turned out to be a really great build. The plus is that it actually flies!

Dan and I9 built it together one afternoon over the Christmas break. Dan is pretty picky when it comes to models, but thankfully the model held up to his engineering standards and they had a nice time!

From his sewing kit, I9 used black thread and they put on the wires that make the wing more stable. Pretty authentic, huh?

It's been flown a few times, but still needs some tweaking. We finally have some snow on the ground (we are 13 inches down so far this season) and I'm not sure when we'll fly it again. However, it's still winter break on campus. What do you say Dan?

Wiring for the Doll House

2012-01-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

R11 has been reading some sewing and craft blogs lately. In fact, unless there is a compelling Wii game to play, this is how she spends her screen time. Recently, she decided she wants to make a lamp for her doll house. Dan helped her with supplies. They purchased two LED bulbs and they went to work. She didn't want a store bought switch- she wanted to make her own. Have you seen her latest doll house exploits? She's been adding a ton of things and recently I helped her to clean her creative space and founds a lot more she's made- like snow shovels and cups and plates. Amazing!

This one is a little table which will have a lamp on top.

Another lamp- notice the underside of the shade is foil- so they LED will reflect the light down.

She made the switches with brads and she's had trouble with the circuit. Enter J6's new Christmas mult-meter. They tested the batteries and sure enough...one was bad.

This goes right along with our study of Thomas Edison right now. I'll update when the lamps are in place. Oh yes...did I mention J6 asked for a multi-meter for Christmas? More on this and his constantly moving brain soon.

Look at That Sky!

2012-01-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

J6 has been pretty sick for about four days or so now. He had a high fever and a horrible sore throat along with conjunctivitis- one dr's visit revealed no strep, but the virus lingered on and boy that fever was ugly! He and I were buds for days with plenty of extra snuggles. At one point while we were sitting together on the sofa he was facing the window and exclaimed, "Mommy look at the sky! We HAVE to sketch it!"

He was pretty taken with the clouds and then the line of color just above the trees.

So, I agreed with his delight in the colors (and who wouldn't?) and asked if I should snap a photo so we could remember and make the sketch later when he was up for it. He liked that idea.

We hope to sketch tomorrow, but considering it's 3 degrees out and there's snow on the ground...that wet pavement is a thing of the past!

Anyway, I had to share our nature study inspiration success from the feverish 6yo who thought to sketch the sky.

The Knit Kit

2012-01-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Here they are! The Knit Kits we gave to R's 7 and 8 year old cousins. One of her cousins had requested a craft kit and R11 wanted to make her own. We decided to make one for both of the girls.

A whole box of fun with yarn

R11 did all the labels and illustrations- cute stuff1

The finished apron with the markers and the directions.

Here are the directions for the pom pom maker- she personalized them with the girls' names.

Knitting instructions and size 8 needles

More yarn with a crochet hook. I also included a sheet with online directions for regular crocheting and knitting- I put the links for You Tube videos on there.

Here are some other ideas for yarn fun- including links for finger crocheting and knitting.

Yarn needles, a homemade loom, and directions on how to use the loom to make a bookmark.

We put in a list of the contents and a spool knitter which has its own instructions.

I had to show this close up of the weaving instructions- R11 did a great job on drawing pictures and showing the girls how to do something. She did a lot of work on these.

Stacked and ready for transport- these kits were Maryland bound and have reached their destinations.

The kits were received well although, R11 really wanted to spend some time showing the girls how to use the things inside and that did not work out as well as she would have liked. She wanted to be sure they understood what to do with everything. But the receiver of the doll apron decorated it right up and I'll share the result with you. I hope the girls enjoy the kits as they get to know the contents better. R11 luvs yarn...LUVS it. She was hoping to pass along some yarn joy.

Great job R!

John the Owl

2011-12-31T18:36:00.000-08:00

Just a little update on the "Lola Owls"...I9 finished his before the holiday. Check out this boy's skilz.

Look at I9 go! He just went right for those tight turns on the eyes.

and beak!

Finished side...then he sewed up a backing...

and stuffed him and hand sewed him up- with a tight little whip stitch. How cool is that? His name is John. John the Owl!

R11 was distracted with the gifts she was making, but hopefully we'll see a finished Lola from her as well. I9 received his own sewing kit for Christmas. I'll share what's in it very soon- in case any of you mamas of boys want to try it out!

PS- sorry for the blogging break...we were out of town, then back in town and Dan was doing some laptop maintenance for me including a full back up to our server and the installation of Office 2010 along with the usual updates. So, Happy New Year! I'm back in bloggy business!

Holiday Cheer

2011-12-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

We finished our cards! Most are on their way. Holiday cheer for family and friends. Every year I contemplate my infatuation with hand made cards. They are time consuming and sometimes more expensive than you think they will be. Occasionally they add to the stress of the holiday. But in the end, as I suspend time and sit with my paper crafting, I remember...I do it because I really like making them! Maybe not all the stuff that goes with it, but the actual sitting down and handling paper and doodads? VERY high on my list of fun things to do with my time. Also, now that R11 is a serious crafter, we have fun working together. Last year I used watercolor my kids had done and cut the sheets into smaller elements for the card. It's fun to piece together things the kids have done for our holiday cards. I'd better start thinking about next year...

I thought you might like a peek at this year's design.

Scrap fabric, cardstock in handsome Christmas colors, stamps, ink and tape...lots of tape both single and double sided. R11 helped me out this year- she drew the template for the tree and helped to cut the fabric. She also cut the paper after I measured where to cut.

How fun are these fabrics? My personal favorite is the evergreen with cardinals, but that one in the middle with the gold holly? Mmmm....

I think my favorite part about this card is how the fabric changes the whole card. Plus, I luv the texture of the fabric with the paper. This was an idea from Art Projects for Kids from last year that we made into a whole larger piece of art last year. But I went back to the cards and thought about how to change things up with the fabric. Very satisfying results.

And there you have it...Dan and I just celebrated our 16th anniversary- more on that next time and the week before Christmas is always so busy. Next year I'll start earlier. Sure I will. I say it every year. Now if I could just keep a decent address list. It would go that much faster.

Merry Christmas! Remember, there are 11 more days to celebrate this season!

Doll Apron Design and Gift

2011-12-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

R11 and I are putting together gifts for two of her girl cousins. The request was for American Girl craft kits, but R11 and I put together a pretty good plan to capitalize on the cool parts of the kits while adding more to them. I'll share the full contents of what we are calling The Knit Kits in another post when they are finished, however R11 has been working hard on making one of the elements for the kit. Check out her hard work below.

She started with some sketches for her design- look at those measurements. Swoon- goes her math teacher!

She made the pattern- R11 dislikes using big commercial patterns, but she enjoys making her own. It'll be fun to see if she can manage to design more complicated things as she gets older.

She lined the cotton fabric with interfacing so that it would be stiff like an apron.

She did fabulous work sewing on the bias tape. We've had a very busy project week- homeschooled kid at work!

Molly models what she has so far- looks like a nice pinafore!

Molly has a strap now- R11 went with thick elastic so it would be big enough to fit over the doll's head and still sit up high on her chest.

The original plan called for a pocket and here it is- topped off with bias tape and it has two sides. That is one fine looking doll apron.

The finished apron. Doesn't it look sweet?

We are hopeful the apron will be enjoyed by her cousin. R11 did a great job with design and implementation. Included in the kit will be a set of fabric markers so the giftee can decorate the doll apron if she chooses. It brings me joy to watch R11 create something. She's been a busy girl this week!

Sewing Camp December

2011-12-20T04:59:00.000-08:00

We had Sewing Camp December on the 18th this past Sunday and I had been excited to share our Fab Felt Holiday Craftsy Class by Betz White with the girls. We chose the Poinsettia Brooch project and it was a lot of fun to try. If you've never done a Craftsy class, I highly recommend them. Once you purchase the class it's yours forever to review and try and ask questions. More on these a bit later as a certain holiday is upon us and a certain girl will see more of this on Sunday. ; ) For now, here's the link to the Craftsy home page so you can see the classes they currently offer with prices and instructors. If you click Betz's link above, that will take you to her blog and she offers a link to her Craftsy classes for $10 off. In general the classes are about $30. They have samples of each of the classes and introductions to what you will learn. Once you register, you'll get emails on sales for the classes. I took advantage of a buy one, get one free this holiday season.

The first finished poinsettia- we did not have fusible webbing to attach the printed fabric to the petals first.

But some of the girls tried Tacky Glue and it worked fine- love this color combo and what a great button!

R11's brooch- I love the button in the middle. She forgot her printed fabric, but she was going to give it a go. There is hand sewing involved to make the leaves curved and then you use glue for assembly.

These are the materials we used minus the fusable webbing. I chose to go with the craft glue as well and just a little tip- for VBS I used the Discount School Supply craft glue which is Tacky glue in an old fashioned paste type bottle- with the stick and everything. You know how Tacky glue will gum up a squeeze bottle! The kids at VBS hate it so I use glue dots with them now, but it's perfect for home crafting. FYI- kids these days have issues with liquid glue! Too many neat alternatives for them to bother. What a shame!

My almost finished brooch- once dry I will sew the middle and the button to the flower. I was missing a petal- that's what happens when you start with a partially used template. I was missing a petal and did not know it. More of the green leaves show when you use all six, but it's tricky to get them all around at first.

We watched the video together as we assembled to get started and it was great instruction. If we needed to see a part over we could do that later and one camper did just that. I'm looking forward to using this format again not only for Sewing Camp, but for other times as well. I love that we can access the class anytime and from our home. We can do the project along with the instructor or just watch to get an idea of what to do before beginning again later.

Next month we'll be having two Sewing Camp events- one is a snow and sledding party with the opportunity to make pillowcase dresses for girls in third world countries and the other will be a normal project day - the project remains elusive at this moment.

This has been a terrific opportunity to gather R11's friends for an activity they all enjoy. It's a much cheaper option for sewing instruction and her classmates are her friends. The moms are on board and it's been an activity so worth our investment of time.

Sewing Camp November

2011-12-19T05:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've blogged about Sewing Camp, but we've been busy. In November we met on the 19th and we made some Lola Owl Bags. This was a fun project- perfect for young sewing enthusiasts and we even had I9 join us this time. He's been sewing his own angry birds like crazy and we were missing some of the girls so this was a great day for him to join us on camp day.

Broken arm girl is working on sewing a wing- it gets a zig zag stitch over and over to make the decorative stitching around the wings.

Does this make a really fine looking Lola or what? I love her fabric choices!

E is our finished project friend. She goes home and finishes up anything she didn't get done during camp. She sent me this photo of her finished Lola Bag.

I9's color choices- he worked on "guying up" Lola.

R's Lola- she's almost ready to assemble into a bag. My bag will be the opposite- the brown is the owl and the green will be the wings. I try to do most of the projects (but not all) just to get some practice in while working with the campers.

Yesterday we had our December Sewing Camp and some of the girls worked more on Lola and we even added Max, which I'll share with you next. This week we plan to finish up the Lola Bags as part of our Project School week. Hopefully we'll have some finished bags to share soon!

Five in a Row Update

2011-12-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

J6 is my only student left in Five in a Row. R11 and I9 are doing some Beyond Five in a Row this year, but I have just one little rower left and I have to say...he's a very different sort of rower! He's not really into the notebooking/lapbooking although he will do some. He does copywork just fine, but he is more of a doer! This has sort of changed things up in our homeschool this year. Instead of doing the lapbook or a 3 pronged folder for each title, I'm doing a 3 ring binder with sections this year- much like Mrs. Lambert suggests in her manual. I try not to get caught up in how much he produces. He's doing everything he needs to do and we are having a grand time- even if it looks different than it has before! So, rather than showing you a post here and there, I will share some of the things we recorded for several titles.

R11 and J6 took orders for the Moonjelly Cafe night during Night of the Moonjellies. We had a great time serving up some summer fun.

White board moonjellies- he worked on these as I read the book. It's a family favorite!

Isn't it fun when big sisters listen and draw too?

He made a sign for his Moonjelly Cafe.

We use Draw, Write, Now- all of my kids have responded well to this program and it makes an excellent copy work source!

I combine the drawing techniques from the work book with copywork from the FIAR book itself. The handwriting paper I create using StartWrite.

He really liked the book Down, Down the Mountain- this was a first for me because we didn't own the book before and it was not available for borrowing. Book sale to the rescue!

He does enjoy using an atlas. Here is the young Mr. J working on a map of Michigan- yes, I know...who lets their first grader do handwriting on the floor? Me...I guess.

We've watched computer videos, used Google Earth, made stop motion animation videos, and he reads to me all the time- all of these relating to FIAR. I think we'll step it up some after the new year- just to cover some other skills, but all in all it's been a great year so far. My last first grader!

Co-op Fall 2011

2011-12-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

Time for a semi-annual post on what the kids did at Co-op this semester. E13 took soccer and FLL- since those two are not represented in pictures here. He loved the soccer class which provided a great time for group play. He loves soccer and just aged out of the youth program. I am hopeful we'll see this one next fall as well. Outdoor classes are best during the fall. The weather is much better than the second semester which begins in February.

I9 took Land of the Ferris Wheel, Home of the Popcorn which was a class on US States. He adored this class. He also took Bible Drama and performed beautifully on performance night having memorized his various lines.

J6 took One Small Square. J6 is a nature kid and loves to be outdoors. He loved this class and the teacher did a terrific job. They even got to make paper which was a highlight for J6. (see those journals above)

J6's other class was Stories and Cooking. They read stories and cooked/prepared matching snacks at every class. I9 used to take those classes to and they are a great offering for the K-2 set. When the class was over he had a whole recipe book full of the things he helped to make.

R11 took a tissue Paper Flowers class. What is not to love?

This is her arrangement which now adorns the top of my TV (yes, we have a TV which can accommodate things on top...which tells you we do not live in the world of the flat screen.). They made one to several flowers of a type each week. Didn't her flowers turn out superbly?

I helped Dan to teach his FLL robot class and I was a helper in the Hand Quilting class. The girls did a great job making coasters and pillows.

One of R's friends made this great log cabin pillow and it's the same on the other side (many of the girls did the piecing only on one side). She was also able to make the lap quilt there. Keep in mind this was all hand done- the piecing and the quilting. Nice job girls!

R's other class was Flower Pressing. This class was amazing for her. It was great fun to see all the projects she created this semester.

This was a great semester for co-op, as usual. The kids love Monday afternoons and so do I- such a low key program compared to others I've heard of out there. I help to chair the committee which oversees and organize the co-op and after the holiday it will be time to start putting together information and class requests for the spring. How many of you all participate in a co-op?

Christmas Crafting

2011-12-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

We've been busy like bees over the last week or so working on Christmas fun. The kids and I had two days in a row the first week of December devoted to making Christmas crafts as a group. I offered up a chalk drawing the first day at our homeschool group event which was enjoyed by the younger crowd. The next day we participated with our 4H group and I had the kids make the textured tree project we did last year. Some of the projects were very creative. I learned that the events are back to back every year. I think next year we'll do the homeschool group and skip the 4H event. Simplify! Besides, I don't even know what to do with all this stuff!

Clearly, this one wins the prize! It's a lantern made from recycled bottles, doodads, and Christmas lights inside. Batteries make them shine in the bottle and the tuna can on the bottom hides the batteries and switch box. So clever! We have three at our house now.

All of my kids enjoyed the beading!

We have a wreath for the front door.

This was also a hit- wrapping wire and beads around the candles. We have some nice accents around now.

I also have some really fine swags of greens to put up- not sure where! But it was fun to see the kids enjoy the process of putting together some traditional holiday decorations and now we get to use them. We are getting the tree this week- behind on this one this year- we ended up sick after our big lego finish so here we are!

You all might enjoy some posts over at Simple Homeschool- there's an article on a Christmas Bucket List that I think is a terrific reminder on how to stay stress free during this season. Just a couple weeks left really until the big day. Enjoy staying focused on the Advent of our Savior.

Sleeping Bags for Dolls

2011-12-11T05:46:00.000-08:00

Once R11 recovered from the initial incident involving her arm, she began to craft again! Prior to Thanksgiving, she started a making a sleeping bag for her American Girl dolls and it was ready in time to take a guest on the road with us! Usually her projects are one day affairs, but occasionally she goes for a longer one. This one was pretty much made in one afternoon.

Sewing machine operation with her cast went pretty well. Her left arm made a good weight to hold things down. Thankfully, she is right handed and since this picture, she's had the cast taken off. We are down to a brace which she's worn a week and a half now.

It has two layers of felt so it's nice and fluffy. She chose not to fill it with stuffing.

Note the seams across the fabric in the bag- just like the real bags. Dan discussed with her what they are for and how it helps the bag to be a good insulator.

All set and a perfect fit!

Glancing at a recent American Girl catalog, she calculates she saved herself about $25. I love to watch her creativity at work!

Thistle Day!

2011-12-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 4th was the official Thistle Day celebration at our house! Thistle Day was born out of our milkweed study...mainly when E13 thought that maybe thistles were not the most interesting thing to study and this mama yelled, "What are you talking about? Thistle Day is going to be GREAT!" And his siblings started chanting, "Thistle Day! Thistle Day!" I started spreading the news about our forthcoming celebration and Thistle Day was born.

It's a thing.

On my walk I thought sure I'd seen some thistles and all we had to do was go and check them out. Then we could maybe have an artichoke (they're just giant thistles you know) and do some sketches.

Only what I thought was a thistle was really something else... the plot thickened.

Ok...these are actually teasels, but it was fun to discover this when we returned home. We did find Canadian Thistle further down in a field opposite this one, but it's hunting season so we opted to point to it instead!

Still checking off items from Barb's newsletter grid (check out her newsletter at the Handbook of Nature Study blog- I think you need to sign up)

For some reason, unknown to me at the moment, we needed to know something (in a fervent manner) about a NY state flower....

An egg-shaped pin cushion...yup that is definitely what we saw up there in that first picture!

More notebook pages!

We watched the video about the Canada Thistle . In reading about thistles in the Handbook of Nature Study, I learned that these plants are pretty well a nasty to have around. Since then, my children have been on a crusade to tell everyone they know about it. Recently, they discovered some in our church's prayer garden. The prayer garden! Woe to the garden if it is allowed to stay. So, we found the garden caretaker and let her know...starving them out is the best way to get the job done. Whatever you do, DON'T cut them! Bad things will happen and many plants will grow. Wow. If you don't believe me, check out that video link.

At our recent 4H craft day, R11 and I9 made critter ornaments with Teasel. In colonial times it was a very popular ornament for trees.

That afternoon at 4H we met a woman whose masters thesis was on teasels. Did you know there used to be many teasel farms. They were grown and used to felt wool for soldier's uniforms, etc. Whole farms dedicated to egg shaped pin cushion plants. I imagine that critter up there would be a great wool felter.

Thistle Day was a HUGE success! Have you been doing some nature study this season?

4-H Pie Bee

2011-12-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving we joined with our new 4-H group to have a Pie Bee. We all worked to make about 20 pies for a local Loaves and Fishes. We hope their clients enjoyed these pies. I thought about all the different shapes of apples they would get to enjoy!

The absolute highlight of this meeting for J6 was cutting the apples. Hands down.

Mixing ingredients...some of us are one handed adventurers.

Each child got a ball of dough to roll out. The kids had a great time.

Since R11 had a broken arm, she partnered up with I9 and together they made two pies. Sweet stuff!

What happened to the days when cameras took a picture when you pushed the button- the first time?

J6's finished pie!

We've spent the last several years as independent 4-Hers and we are trying out a new club in our own county (previously we participated in the county next door for various reasons). They are very active so that's exciting. Each month they do a meeting with a short business portion and a community service project. Then there are other activities to sign up for throughout the month if you choose to do so. They have a lot going on. We'll see how it goes, but I do have to admit that the independent status fits much better with our lifestyle. I'll keep you posted.

Homeschool Bowling

2011-12-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

At our last session of Thursday bowling yesterday the kids learned about the phenomenon known as Rock-n-Bowl...

We do bowling on a university campus during a PE class for the students. Turns out the instructor promised them a rock-n-bowl for their last day of classes! Here J6 watches his ball slowly move down the lane.

A good time was had by all and I'd say E13 has improved his game this fall. R11 is looking for better bowling times in the future without a broken arm. Scoring is old school at this alley so this counts as math too!

FIRST Lego League Results!

2011-11-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

On November 12th, our FLL Team(s) competed in a qualifying event. They've been working hard all season and even over the summer. I am pleased to announce they won in several categories. The team work win got them the chance to compete in Rochester this weekend. Our sister team (mentored by Dan and another dad) is also going to Rochester. They won the robot game. Other awards LEGO Da Vinci won were the Community Outreach Award for contacting experts and learning from them and the Most Efficient Attachment- which is pictured below. It is a beast of a thing that lowers and grabs the object and takes it back to the base in the corner of the mat. The competition consists of three activities: The robot game, the project, and the team work exercise. Our team displayed Uh-Mazing team work when they worked together to build a car. They had 3 minutes and it was Flaw-Less. They made a decision, divided the task, and got the job done while showing "gracious professionalism"- they complimented one other and spoke positively the entire time. It was a proud moment for parents and coaches alike!

The kids have 2.5 minutes to perform about a dozen "missions" with the robot on the mat which has LEGO models to interact with. The teams program the nxt bricks to perform tasks. Above E13 was working on programming the robot to drive out from base and pick up that truck and take it back to base. Each mission has its own point value in the robot game.

This is a competition round in Corning, NY. The kids go in pairs to do the timed runs while the other team mates cheer them on! It's a very exciting time for the teams. They get one practice round and three timed runs which determine their final score.

Sunday the kids compete again in Rochester. This is the first year our teams have qualified and they are very excited. The Food Fanatics (the second team) won an award for their thorough research in addition to their robot performance. We are looking forward to the event this weekend. Before we get there we have two more practices this week where the kids will likely practice their timed runs for the robot game. They want to make sure their missions are solid.

For those of you unfamiliar with the FIRST organization (For Inspiration in Research, Science, and Technology) it was founded by Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway) to get kids involved in science and engineering.

"To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."

Dean Kamen, Founder

Mission
Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

The Nesting Cycle

2011-11-28T04:12:00.000-08:00

This year we are part of a pilot program for teachers created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Teachers all over the country are participating and when I learned about it from our local science center I decided to see of homeschoolers could give it a whirl. Sure enough we were accepted and I attended a day long seminar to get to know the curriculum and learn how it is designed to work. It is designed to get kids connected through Wiki pages by sharing what they learn about birds through this curriculum. I have to do 7 of the 11 lessons to complete the program and we'll get some birding goodies for trying it out. We are slowly working on them and this particular day we were learning about the nesting cycle.

We've had an extraordinary fall (after September ended) and we've had some really gorgeous days to enjoy. Such a treat! To do the nesting cycle lesson I thought it would be a terrific idea to take a walk at the Lab of Ornithology and play the game. So, we packed up and hit the trail. At one point we stopped to play the game which is sort of a "Red Light, Green Light" game where there are four birds and various things happen to them each round. By the end, not so many birds are left. It was a great way to learn all the challenges birds face as they return from migration in the spring.

First, we stopped for the kids to fill out a pretest to see what they already knew.

It's exciting to see J6 read things on his own!

I'm a bird and I'm reading the game cards! We had lots of passers by while playing- it was nearly 70 degrees on this early November day!

We have been enjoying this program a lot and I'm hopeful that once the pilot is over, they will share details about the curriculum on their website so that others can participate. Perhaps it will become part of their Teacher section. Either way, it's fun to visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website and use it as a resource.

The Monopoly Bag

2011-11-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

My pal Cindy gifted me with this great bag for my birthday. Our MOPS pal Susan made them this year for our MOPS theme which is MOMSense...with a board game motif. She made lots of these for our MOPS teams. They come in Scrabble and Candyland too. Who can resist?

Makes you just want to play!

Love me a bag with a pocket!

This is a great bag for taking games on the road. We do that a lot around here. My friend Susan has a little sewing business called Sew What Now. Hop on over to make an order or to see what else she has going on.

More Catalog Math...

2011-11-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try and catch you all up on the different things we've been doing in school. It's a busy season with our FIRST LEGO League team having its final preparations for competition and just when we are typically finished with it, our teams won a chance to attend the next level of competition in Rochester! More on that in another post. To get us started on some more catch up, I'll start with some math ideas.

Behold the power of the whiteboard!

I love to use the white board to change things up during math time. Some kids like it a lot and some don't. Makes it easy for me to say- try again!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...pretty sure.

Oh yes...did I mention that R11 broke her arm on Halloween? Co-op recess...she took a fall on the blacktop tripping over a ball. Her cast busy with signatures these days. Another week of the cast and then she'll be wearing a splint for a few weeks.

I9 is working on learning how to do the big multiplication problems. Not bad for a start...

J6 is practicing his two digit addition without carrying. He loves the whiteboard!

R11 checks her own math...sometimes she gets it and sometimes she needs a redo. A little reminder on where the dollar sign goes wouldn't hurt either!

I gave this problem to R11 last week. She had to work on calculating tax for her American Girl doll purchase. Not a fancy notebook page, but I find my it's easy to just put an idea on paper and hand it to my kids. I'm all about getting the job done.

In case you like the white boards, these are from Discount School Supply. They are the Reversible Picture Story Whiteboard which is currently out of stock, but hopefully will reappear. If not there are some other lap sized white boards available. I like these because they do not have a lip/frame around the edge so they are easy to write on. My kids use them a lot for stop motion video too!

Fall Nature Study: Milkweed

2011-11-20T19:47:00.000-08:00

We have been doing plenty of nature study this fall with Barb's More Fall Study from the Handbook of Nature Study blog. I love her notebooking pages and the easy directions she provides.

On my daily walk, I noticed the perfect stretch of road with milkweed growing. I determined to take the kids on an adventure to find it. We picked a late afternoon just before it was time to be at lego robot practice which happened to be during the school dismissal which proved to be equally unwise! We walked amid many buses until things cleared out. We didn't have much time, but it was worth the effort. Do you all make time for nature discoveries?

Fluffy stuff...

The seed pod...

These are along my walking route and just a few days earlier I had broken a stem and seen the white liquid inside...how quickly things moved on because we didn't find any on our walk. Disappointing because I wanted to try and see how rubbery it is.

For autumn in central NY, we've had some extraordinary days...which has been lovely considering how wet September was. Love these sunny pleasant days in November!

J6 has took a One Small Square nature class at co-op this semester and was able to share his expertise on the seeds of the milkweed. See how they are all together in a pine cone shape?

With me holding the pod, he reached right in and grabbed some out.

These little petri dishes are perfect for sticking in your pocket during nature walks and pulling them out to hold a treasure that can be pressed later or observed under our microscope.

Back at home the next day, we worked on our notebook page for our nature journals. I'm keeping one too so we all participate.

I had the kids check off the things we did back in October.

Soon after this lesson was completed, we had Thistle Day at our house. Stay tuned for details on Thistle Day and our Nesting Cycle lessons at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. October and November have been rich with nature study and I'm excited to share our fun with you all.

10 Days of Science with Math: More on Calculating Velocity

2011-11-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

Here is the repost of our Finding Velocity results. This was a great lesson and it spawned two more activities using the LEGO Mindstorms nxt brick. E had to make a marble speed trap using the light sensor and a while later he made a speed trap using the ultrasonic sensor. The update there is that he was successful in measuring the speed of a large ball coming toward the robot- it needed an object bigger than a marble. The important thing to note here is that if you are willing to let your kids explore the answer to a question...there is no limit to the experiences you can have in your homeschool. Just be willing to help facilitate the journey...don't be intimidated by things you don't know and try not to get caught up in having everything "ready" before you launch into something. Sometimes that kills a thing before it even gets started!

Here is the much anticipated result of our marble investigation. I was delinquent in getting pictures to go with my results. I have to have the pictures! If you missed the first post on our most excellent math lesson, then go to there and read about it. It was good science!!

The first thing the kids found was that it was hard to get the marble to repeat a good run enough times to record it for five trials in a row. They tried to get the marble to go around the curve correctly each time to no avail. Finally, they ended up making a new chart to record the partial runs. We could calculate the velocity whether or not the marble went all the way to the end of the track.

The data chart-we recorded the time in seconds using a kitchen timer. Each of them took a turn helping to hold up the part of the track near the curve, timing, and letting the marble go.

Then we measured the length of the track at both the partial and final marks and I marked the yarn with the start and partial distance. That was important later on. E11 used a yard stick to record the full and partial length of the track. Then we had the mathematical task of converting the measurement to inches. Note, scientific work is generally done in cm, but I was working with a yard stick not a meter stick so I just went with English measurements this time.

The final calculation page. E11 and R9 used the formula velocity = distance/time to get their answers. The answer was in inches per second. Their marble was traveling 41 inches per second down the marble track.

Then I thought I'd give E11 the challenge of converting our answer from inches per second to miles per hour. That was fun! Yeah...I'm that kind of mom!

Some things to think about- first the kids wanted to give up on the full track runs, but I made them stick with it. E11 was especially annoyed and declared it was all ruined several times, but I reminded him about how scientists meet up with obstacles all the time. Dan helps to manage a university lab full of users who get frustrated the same way. Months of work will come to a crashing halt when they make a mistake or a tool is dirty and ruins a wafer or a tool is broken and breaks something they've worked hard on for a long time. There is a delay in forward movement. They have to begin again. That's how it is in the real world of science! Besides, E11 is a very bright boy who needs to work on perseverance when something is more difficult than he would like to battle.

Also, before we could do calculations, we had to deal with the raw data. We chose to find the median rather than an average in order to do the velocity calculation.

We had trouble importing the video from E11's camera into Picasa so for now the video of the run will wait. Next time... Aha! E11 just informed me that his camera card was not wiped so perhaps, with my help, we'll load up some video for you. That was part of the challenge that day.

All in all a fantastic activity for math and science. I wonder what we'll do next!
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Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th! I love these ladies and we know you will too.

10 Days of Science with Math: Finding Velocity

2011-11-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

**This is a repost of an activity we did in November of 2009- two years ago now. The title of the original post was "Measuring the Velocity of a Marble or How to Have a Rockin' Math Lesson". This is the perfect example of how to capitalize on the interests of your children as you develop your schooling/lessons.

As I was finishing up on my computer one morning last week, I was reflecting on what type of family math lesson we'd have for the day when I heard the kids in our playroom having a good time building and testing a marble roller coaster. The roller coaster rocks because you can watch the marble the whole time. It rides on top of a track. How is that not fun?

That's when it came to me...so I shouted downstairs...do you want to find out how fast that marble is going?

The reply came quickly and loudly, "YEAH!!!"

So, we gathered at the school table and did some brainstorming. The first thing I asked them is what they thought we might need in order to find out the speed. We quickly determined we did not have any equipment that could just measure speed. E11 remembered from our Explorers unit last spring (He read Carry On Mr. Bowditch) that we just needed to measure the time it took the marble to go a particular distance. Woohoo!

So we talked about how we might measure the distance of the track. They had a lot of really good ideas. R9 suggested that the distance between the rails of the track were the same and we could measure one and then count how many there are and multiply to get the length of the track. Then they thought instead of the individual rectangles, they could measure track spans and add them up. Of course allowances and special measurements would need to be addressed at the curved track pieces.

They came up with using a sewing tape measure which could bend and finally using yarn to mimic the track and then measuring the yarn length which is ultimately what they chose. Very interesting to watch this process. We did discuss later on which would be the most efficient and perhaps the most accurate method, but I let them explore because that's what it's all about.

The start of the track- it began high on the toy shelf and made a drop to a loop-d-loop.

This track ended in the "kitchen oven" where the marbles collected on cookie trays.
There was a problem with the track at the turn. Sometimes it's hard to get the marble to negotiate the turn in the track. In the end, we had to have two ways to write down our time- one for runs of the full track and one for runs only to the curve.
I had the kids take turns writing on the chalkboard the things we'd be measuring or finding out- in the case of the speed of the marble.

In the end they decided to go with using yarn to determine the length of the track.

In the next post, I will share the results and how the kids determined the speed of the marble. We had some good discussions about the realities of being a good scientist.

Stay tuned for the results of our challenge- more math with our science!

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Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th! I love these ladies and we know you will too.

Guest Post: J6 Discusses Engineering

2011-11-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

Hi, I am 6 years old and I love engineering and so I'm going and I'm going to share my projects with you and guest post on my Mommy's blog. My daddy has a great job in Engineering and shows me the insides of big things in the house.

I love to read the science catalogs.

I love Home Science Tools. I want an incubator for eggs for Christmas.

This is me reading Home Science Tools and maybe you get it too - we are getting a lot of catalogs right now. I like to read the product descriptions to my Mommy.

10 Days of Science with Math: Relevant Resources

2011-11-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Today I want to share with you another great resource for math in your science. I discovered Yummy Math sometime during the last school year and it is really good stuff! I like to just see what is up on the home page because it always has seasonal items and current events right there. However, you can always search the site for topics that relate to what you are studying right now.

This is primarily middle school math, but you could modify the activities for younger kids. Lots of pre-algebra skills and beyond. Last year my then 7th grader was graphing lines and conic sections...how can you go wrong with an activity that asks your student to graph the parabola he is going to make as he shovels snow in the driveway? How?

Here are a few fine examples so you can have a guided glimpse!

Hurricanes
Earthquakes- this one popped up after the funky east coast earthquake from August
Why Does It Stay in Orbit? a look at how the space shuttle stays in orbit in honor of Endeavor's last launch
The Geometry of Flooding

I could go on and on! Seriously, this is an amazing resource for applied math. You won't be disappointed when you go looking for something relevant for math in your science.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have another resource to share, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

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10 Days of Science with Math: Bird Count Data

2011-11-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

Today I'm going to share a source of data with you. Sometimes having math with your science is just a matter of where to look for some data. You don't always have to generate it yourself!

Sites like eBird, Avian Knowledge Network, and The Great Backyard Bird Count all provide data sets on numbers of birds spotted. What can you do with this data?

you can calculate averages and medians
make graphs
make box and whisker plots
compare bird data - see if you can make conclusions based on what you find

It's important to note that the Avian Knowledge Network has large downloads of data, make sure you choose a chunk of data that you can work with easily. Even if you cannot use everything there, you can make your own data list of a manageable number of data sets for your student.

Just a note that eBird is a great way to tally and count birds daily at times other than the GBBC. What a great way to have kids make a data chart and use tally marks! Be sure to log in and give your information to eBird. eBird is just one of the ways you can be a Civilian Scientist with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Tomorrow I'll share another source for data and it will have lots of math concepts included. Stay tuned!

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10 Days of Science with Math: Reaction Time

2011-11-14T06:11:00.000-08:00

Today's science with math idea is a lab exercise on Reaction Time...the time it takes our bodies to react to a stimulus. Perhaps you've done this before or perhaps you've seen similar things at a science center. Our local one has a display, but it's computerized. This one is going to be old school. You'll need a ruler and a data chart.

How It's Done:

Two kids will need to work together at a time or you can be the helper. One person will be dropping the ruler and the other will be catching it. They face each other and the ruler will be held above the participant's hands at about eye level. The participant chooses which hand will do the catching- I suggest starting with the dominant hand. He'll be catching the ruler between his thumb and fore finger when it is released. Remember to hold the ruler so that it is dropping with the lower numbers going first.

The object is to catch the ruler and read out what number was "caught" on the ruler. If the ruler was caught and the number 4 is read on the ruler, then you record the distance on your chart. Prepare a data chart ahead of time by determining the number of trials you will do and you might want to do left and right hands to see if there is a difference.

Now if you are working with a large classroom of kids, then there's plenty of math to go around on this one. With just a few kids in the house, you may have to get creative on finding more numbers or you can just adjust the number of times you try. It's important to discuss what additional trials are for. Why do you want to do the experimental procedure more than once? How many is enough? What would a good scientist do? More than one go at the experiment will tell you if your results are typical or if one or another try was an outlier compared to the rest. In addition, it will tell you if your results are repeatable. When a scientist publishes a study in a journal, one of the highest compliments is whether or not the results can be replicated. In fact, a journal committee will want to know if the experiment was replicated. It greatly diminishes the work of a scientist if others cannot achieve the same results and it calls into question the reliability of the study. So, the number of trials is important. Discuss these things as you choose how to make the data chart.

Of course, there are ways to work with data and study it to see the trends and ultimately see whether or not there are relationships between variables, etc. Today we can look at taking the average reaction time. You can also teach median and mode and do something called box and whisker plots which basically allow you to look at the range of your data and see where most of it is clustered. All of these will introduce statistics to your children.

Source Wikipedia- an example box and whisker plot plotted on a graph

If you have more than one student doing this exercise, you can use the data from all the trials of several kids to do the statistical analysis. That's probably enough data since you are just starting out! Box and whisker plots let you look visually at the 25th and 75th percentile (the top and bottom of the box), while the middle of the box is always the median. The ends of the lines are usually the maximum and minimum values, but you can choose other parameters for them. In the example above, you can see how the plots help to see how data is distributed.

Once you've found these values and you look at your data, discuss with your children what trends you see. Perhaps there is a relationship between age and reaction time? Gender? Handedness?

If you have questions, please leave them in the comments! Stay tuned for another day of science with math tomorrow.

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10 Days of Science with Math: Investigating Lung Capacity

2011-11-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

Starting today, each of my posts will be activity ideas on using math with science. Today is devoted to experimenting with lung capacity. Obviously, this is a great lesson for those of you studying the human body and specifically the respiratory system, but really it's a great lesson on exercise and health as well. Feel free to use this any time not just when it fits in with your curriculum.

For this activity you will need:

a balloon (one for each child participating)
a ruler
a stop watch (for the exercise portion if needed)
data chart for recording information

What to do:

After you have stretched out a balloon and made sure your kids can blow it up easily, have a child take a deep breath and blow as hard as he can into the balloon to blow it up without taking another breath. Make sure the child holds the air in the balloon when he's exhaled completely.
Have another person shape the balloon in to more of a sphere shape and measure the diameter of the balloon and record it in a chart.
Determine how many trials you want to do at this level and do it again until you are finished recording.
Exercise! Beforehand, choose a standard exercise that the children will perform- could be 10 jumping jacks, running in place for a set time, etc.
Have the child take a deep breath and blow into a balloon again.
Measure the diameter of the balloon in a sphere shape. Repeat for the number of trials you've chosen.
Calculate the volume of a sphere.

Once you've calculated the volume of the sphere, you have the lung capacity of your lungs! You can compare the numbers before and after exercise and see how it affects lung capacity. This would be a great opportunity to follow the relationship in a graph. Be sure to ask your student which type of graph would display this information the best.

As with any math you do with science, it's really important to draw conclusions once you've put the data in a form that makes it easy to interpret the results. Do you see a relationship or not? Does this agree with what you expected to happen?

There is another way to do this lab exercise which involves displacing water in a 2 liter bottle that is put under water to fill. You insert a tube into the water and into the bottle and blow into the tube. The air going into the bottle will displace the water. Knowing that completely full there is 2L of water in the bottle, you can cap off the bottle and pour the water that is left into a graduated cylinder. This would give you an accurate volume as well once you subtract the difference. I like to keep things simple when I do experiments because less things can go wrong. That is sort of a rule of thumb I have just because I've had to hold down a large classroom of students with miserably horrible results. Whenever that happens, I find a better, more efficient way of doing the lab. If you want to mess with the liquid volume/air displacement method, just do a Google search on lung capacity activity and you'll find more specific instructions. I found many of them were qualitative observations only, but it's easy enough to get the numbers on this one if you choose. And I hope you'll choose since we want to do math in our science!

I'm sorry this #5 post is late...I hope to have another posted tomorrow sometime. Stay tuned for another fun-filled science with math activity!

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Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th! I love these ladies and we know you will too.

10 Days of Science with Math: Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data Analysis

2011-11-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

Today I want to share the difference between qualitative and quantitative data and how that leads to math in your science!

Qualitative observations relate to or involve the quality or kind of something. In the popcorn experiment I mentioned yesterday, the taste of the popcorn, the relative size of the kernel before it was popped, and what the popped corn looked like in the end are all qualitative observations. We recorded what each person thought of the taste of the corn with a scale we'd made up (for example, "good, ok, bad"), but that is largely a subjective observation based on each person's taste. Likewise, we recorded what the kernel size before popping was using a "small, medium, large" scale. Again, it's an inexact measurement, but it helps to make these observations. We also looked at the relative size of the popped piece of corn. Was the popped corn "small, medium, or large"? We recorded our results in a data chart and it made us ask another question. Does the size of the kernel affect the size of the popped corn? We wanted to know if small kernels yielded small popped corn and vice versa. We made our predictions and then talked about how we could find out.

This is where quantitative analysis comes in. Quantitative Data is measurable and can be calculated for analysis. In our popcorn experiment, we needed to find a way to accurately measure the size of the popped corn without making relative observations. We decided we could measure the volume of the popped corn by filling a pitcher with the popped corn and using the cylinder shape we could calculate the volume of a cylinder. Remember, we'd used the same amount of kernels by weight for each variety. So, the only thing affecting the volume of the popped corn was the variety of corn- not how much corn we used (an important element of our fair test). Calculating the volume of a cylinder...that sounds like math...in our science!

Now if you don't know the formula for the volume of a cylinder, you are not alone. Neither do I have that on my brain all the time, but I know it can be found. The volume of a cylinder equals Pi times the radius squared times the height.

We had the kids measure the diameter of the pitcher and calculate the radius from there. Then once the popped corn was in the pitcher, they measured the height of the popped corn in the cylinder and that gave us h. They didn't do this all alone. We engaged in the activity with them and helped them along with the calculations. This was a few years ago when our oldest was the only one who could do the math once we had all the parts of the formula, but it was a great introduction to how to use math formulas and manipulate numbers.

The resulting calculated volumes of each type of popcorn enabled us to answer our question. Does the size of the seed kernel affect the final volume of the popped corn? But how could we answer this question knowing the volume of each one? Time for more math...this time a graph! Now we had an opportunity to discuss which graph would be the best for helping us to see a relationship. Pie graphs are no good here...how about a line graph? Well, line graphs are best when you have a quantitative value on both axes- numbers to put on each side. In this case, we had one qualitative observation and our calculated volumes. This was a job for the bar graph! On the X axis we could have the names of the popcorn varieties and on the Y axis we'd have a scale to use with our Volume values.

What follows is an interpretation of the graph. We had the observed sizes of the corn and put them on the x axis in relative order from smallest to largest. When the bars were put on the graph, it was easy to see whether or not there was a trend in the data. We were able to clearly see that yes! There was a relationship. It turns out it was a direct relationship and it was in a positive direction. The bigger the seed kernel, the larger the popped volume of the corn. The smaller the seed kernel, the lower the volume of popped corn. That was a satisfying moment indeed.

If you'd like to see pictures and more story of how we did The Great Popcorn Popoff Extravaganza go here. You'll see that we used some basic household items to do the job- like a kitchen scale and some bowls and a pitcher. A post of the results and graphs are here.

In summary, the more you can quantify the results of an experiement, the more credible your conclusions are because you have the numbers to back it up. Numbers and observations make the math in your science! Now that you have some idea of how to get started and what kind of data produces the math, it's time to get some more ideas. Starting tomorrow and for the rest of the blog hop, I'll be sharing specific activities you can do in your homeschool to practice using math in science.

If you have any questions, please ask. I'd be happy to entertain discussion in the comments. Thanks for visiting!

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10 Days of Science with Math: How to Design a Fair Test

2011-11-09T04:08:00.000-08:00

I know some of you are probably asking, "What is a fair test?" A fair test is when you conduct a experiment under fair conditions. To have fair conditions you need to make sure you only change one factor at a time while keeping all other conditions the same. Another way to look at it is to think about your outcome...when you finish the experiment you want to know that the results are based on just one factor (because that is the one you manipulated) not that it could be based on a few or you aren't sure.

The first thing to do when considering an experiment is to make a prediction. Scientists call this a hypothesis and it's easy to have your kids try it out. I like to use "I think ________ because _________." statements. Not only do they make a prediction about the result of the test, but they have to tell you why.

Now it's time to set up the fair test. First, you want a control- this is the item that remains unchanged in your experiment. Then you can choose one variable at a time to change. Variables are the changing factors in an experiment- to be a fair test only one can change each time you do the test. Remember, the factor you change is the one you are looking for in the experiment.

Let's try out an example. A few years ago, my husband bought a whole bunch of gourmet popcorn and as we checked out all the varieties, my kids began to wonder which one would be the best. So, my husband and I (being the science people we are) suggested we find out- with that twinkle in our eye! We talked to the kids about how we'd find out and what would be the criteria for "the best". Taste and the size of the popped corn came to mind. This led to the Great Popcorn Pop Off Extravaganza . In order to keep things fair, the popcorn had to be popped the same way. We measured out the weight of the kernels and the oil to be the same for all varities. These were the factors staying the same. Our changing variable was the type of popcorn since that is what we were testing for- which one of these would be the best. We didn't want the results to be biased by using more oil with one type or using more kernels for another. The best tasting and biggest popcorn had to be the result of the type of popcorn alone. That is a fair test!

In summary, when doing an investigation/experiment:

change one variable
measure another variable
keep all other variables the same

Conducting a fair test is one of the most important ingredients of doing good, scientifically valuable experiments.

Now that you've done that fair test and you've collected data, it's time to find out what you can do with it! And that is where the math comes in! Join me tomorrow when I discuss qualitative vs quantitative data- how to collect it and what to do with it.

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10 Days of Science with Math: How Do You Start?

2011-11-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

What better way to work on living math than to apply it to something else your students are working on? Today we are going to talk about how to go about choosing a topic for math in your science and how to implement it once you have something in mind.

First of all, I think it's important to note that science doesn't always come from experiments in a book and experiments don't have to be in recipe form to be good ones. Scientists have to design their own investigations- no one is there to give them the recipe if they are doing their own innovative work. As you lead your students through this process, remind them that scientists have setbacks as well.

So, what is an investigation? It's to observe or study by close examination and systematic inquiry. Start thinking about how you can engage your kids in some discovery without being intimidated by formal processes and planning. So many times I see homeschoolers shy away from science because they often think it has to be formal and all their ducks must be in a row. I want to dispel that myth!

One of the best ways to get started is to follow an interest. Be willing to say yes when your student asks if they can find out more about how something works or if they want to test a prediction they have. Plenty of information to support your search is only a click away and it doesn't cost a thing! Part of being informal is saying yes and going along for the ride and having your kids make their own data collection forms- this helps them to organize information and gives you permission to be spontaneous. Remember, none of this has to be perfect only functional. You'll learn from your mistakes as well.

What if your child isn't really all that inquisitive? That's ok! You can reach out to where their passions lie and try to draw them out that way. It may take kids a while to respond to this if you have always done everything "by the book". Giving them permission, and working through the process together will develop this skill. Be patient! In the meantime, try to work with a topic/subject that they are crazy about and go from there.

Our investigations aren't always an experiment from the start. Sometimes my ideas are sparked by listening to my kids playing (story on this later), sometimes we just need to do some research to answer a burning question. And sometimes I just hand them an experiment book based on a topic they are studying or something they've asked about and see what they can do with it.

Sometimes a whole unit is created based on the interest of a child. Put together ideas that come from what your child is interested in- it fuels their passion and allows you to work in some great science. For instance, after watching Punkin Chunkin last fall, we did lots of work with catapults. Lots of great physics and math come with studying catapults! We do a lot of this so stay tuned for more ideas.

I hope this post gets you thinking about some possibilities in your homeschool. Tomorrow I will talk about qualitative vs quantitative data analysis and how to design a fair test (experiment).

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Homeschool Blog Awards: Voting is Open!

2011-11-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to hop over to the Homeschool Post and see this year's nominees. I'm looking forward to discovering some new blogs!

I'm also privileged to announce that Blog, She Wrote has been nominated in two categories: Best Nitty Gritty Homeschool Blog and Best Homeschooling Methods Blog. Thanks so much to those who nominated this little blog!

10 Days of Science with Math

2011-11-07T03:19:00.000-08:00

Heart of the Matter is hosting another round of their 10 Days Blog Hop that we did last February. This time they let us choose our own topics and I didn't hesitate to announce I'd be doing a series on using math with science. Oh no! Some of you are undoubtedly saying, but I'm not a science person! So, on day one of Science with Math I'm going to help those of you who are worried that this is not a good topic for you. It's ok if you are not a science person, you can do it! Here are a few tips:

•It’s ok to sit down and be a problem solver WITH your kids.

•Be a resource in HOW to find out something you don’t know.

•Model for them good problem solving behavior.

•Reach out to others who can help you move to the next step.

Present Your Kids with a Problem and Some Materials to rise to the Challenge

•Gives ownership to your kids

•Allows you to be the facilitator rather than always running everything (which is a great way to disguise that you don't know everything! Facilitating doesn't mean you have to be the expert on the topic. It means helping your students find the answers.)

•Can be related to their current studies- or not.

Once you realize you can still do great science even if you aren't super confident, it's easy to start using science to apply math. Over the next 10 Days, I'll be sharing some more advice on how to do science easily in your homeschool along with some specific lessons on using math in your science lessons. I hope you'll stop in each day and join me.(please pardon the rough formatting today!)

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Robot Programming & Missions

2011-11-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Our FIRST LEGO League season is in its big push just before competition day. November 12th is the big day and both teams are working hard. Dan coaches the teams with help from another homeschooling dad. We've been busy researching, working on presentations, making tshirt designs and of course programming the robot to participate in the robot game portion of the competition.

E13 has been working on new missions at home today and here's what he's accomplished. He programmed the NXT to perform specific functions on the field mat. Job well done E13!

School Spirit

2011-11-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Found these on sale in September and could not resist!

All the kids have one...they all love them! Good news! I found the link. Click here for this tshirt and more. Warning for those who want adult sized shirts. They are ginormous. Order smaller than you think you want for adult sizes! I ordered two- Warning Parent of Unsocialized Homeschooler and Homeschool Moms Rock and I'm trying to figure out what to do with mine...wearing it as is, is not an option! So, if you have any stellar refashioning tips for me, I'd be glad to hear them.

Falconry Apprenticeship

2011-10-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

E13 is moving right along with his apprenticeship in falconry. We are so excited to see him start down this road. This summer he received his packet and we began getting things checked off. He and Dan took the hunter safety class a few weeks ago and achieved success. They are both card carrying safe hunting ready. In order to have a falconry license, you must also have a small hunting license (since you will be hunting with your bird of prey) and a hunting license requires a hunter safety class. So, we can check that class off!

We've been waiting patiently for our master falconer's hawk to get her flight feathers and then E13 will get to watch him work with his bird and get to know what its like to be around them and care for them. He's also started studying for the falconry exam.

In the meantime, there are some other apprentices ready to trap their hawks and we were invited along! One is waiting on his federal license so he's not quite ready, but another was ready to trap a hawk and had her trapping permit in hand. She had previously worked with a red tail and was working with a kestrel for the past year and it took off on her during the height of migration season. She needed a new bird. We set off on an adventure Monday morning to follow and learn. It was an amazing experience!

There were a lot of red tails soaring above the trees- we got out to take a look. Of course, we were armed with binoculars, though we could use a better pair.

The traps are set with rodents and birds inside because they irritate one another and the movement will attract the attention of a hawk that is perched nearby. If you look closely, you'll see lots of nooses on the top of the cage. When the hawk flies down, it's feet will get caught up in the nooses and that's it!

We followed them around and it was down this farm lane that they were finally able to successfully trap a red tail. The others kept flying away when they'd spot one and jump out to lay down the trap.

The state game farm raises pheasants for hunting- lots and lots of pheasants!

Hawk trapping does require patience. This apprentice falconer held out and tried one more time. She reached success after 3 hours!

We were surprised to see the falconer emerge with the bird being held like a baby. They stay very calm for several hours after being caught.

Once caught, they weighed the bird to see if it was male or female. This one is a male...is he handsome or what? The falconer puts an aba on the bird. This covers the wings and calms the bird down- then the hawk gets a hood. The hood keeps them from seeing lots of movement- especially before it is trained.

A view from outside the arboretum not far from our trapping site. It was such a lovely day I couldn't resist!

Here are a few things we learned while out with the falconers on Monday morning: (we counted over 20 things, but we won't make you read them all)

Hawks can get into it with squirrels. If you look at the feet of a hawk and they are scarred and messy, then the bird is a squirreler and some falconers look for this in a bird.
Squirrels can bite a hawk so hard that they sever tendons, cause infection, and tear muscle in a hawk's feet.
If you accidentally get a turkey vulture in your trap, they will spit vile green yuck on you!
You can only trap juvenile hawks.
Adult hawks are called haggards.
This hawk was hatched in April or May of this year and is now on it's own.

We are looking forward to the next trapping adventure when the apprentice J has his trapping permit. The game farm is a great location to get hawks so my guess is we'll be there again next time. If you'd like to learn more about the sport of falconry, The Modern Apprentice is a great website. E13 has begun studying for his NY state falconry exam and since I'm helping out, it's been very interesting!

Catalog Math

2011-10-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

For another math moment we have some decimal and money practice with a favorite catalog! I assigned the kids various questions like, "How much would it cost to purchase the book with the doll and the accessory kit?" Or, "If you bought, these three sets, and you paid with $40, how much change would you receive?"

The American Girl catalog...of course!

And for the boys...LEGOS! Of course.

This was a great addition to our unit on decimals and money. Who doesn't love wishing for things in a catalog? Thanks Deleise for the great idea!

Sewing Camp October- Boys Allowed!

2011-10-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

Sewing Camp met on a Sunday a few weeks ago for our October date. The girls came over in the afternoon and we even had materials and time for some little brothers to join in on the fun.

R11 is working on her first apple.

J6 has been dying to try the sewing machine. He is standing working the pedal and I'm steering. A grand start to his sewing experience!

J6 has always been a fan of cutting. This was a bit tough, but he did well.

Just look at all this busy!

The girls worked on the skirts they began in August. We are in the home stretch!

Camper E13 made many apples of different styles and she made a garland with hers.

I9 did his own sewing which went very well. He's also been hand sewing up a storm and recently completed a nerf dart pouch and a stuffed cat. His stitches are looking pretty good.

The fall fabric stash...we picked this up at our favorite reuse sewing shop and it's provided a lot of fabric choices for fall sewing fun this season.

Our sewing pal, Mrs. R, had prepared these for her sewing school class and gave us the leftovers.

The finished product for R11.

I9's apples...he did a great job!

J6's apple- isn't that nice?

We put ours on the pencil tree in our dining room.

This was definitely a very successful Sewing Camp Sunday. I think the short project allowed the girls to be very independent and to finish a lot of different designs. I'm working on the planning for Sewing Camp November and I'm giving some different ideas consideration including another short, seasonal item in addition to some other projects.

October Sewing Camp Project

2011-10-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

We've moved sewing camp to Sunday afternoons for the fall and winter. It worked out pretty well a few weeks ago. This time, with the help of a sewing friend, we did a short seasonal project that was really very satisfying. The process is called reverse applique and it was a lot of fun! Here's a peak at the process. I'll share the camp pictures next time.

First you need a pattern, two pieces of fabric (wrong sides together), and two pieces of felt. you can mix and match, but I left mine matching.

You sew it all together right on top of the pattern line and pull away the pattern. That part is pretty cool.

You are left with this and you can begin cutting away around the outside leaving about a quarter inch outside the seam.

Then you cut away the felt on the inside making sure not to clip the fabric underneath- leave the quarter inch beyond the same to make that nice border. I also cut leaves from the scrap felt.

Next, I zig-zagged on the string which is a strip of tshirt- you just cut the strip from a shirt and you stretch it and it rolls like that. Very fine way of reusing old tshirts.

Next up is the leaf- I didn't do veins on this particular one, but in the next post you'll see some creative leaves from our campers.

Another choice of colors- we had plenty of choices that day, you'll see!

Two finished apples!

But then I got to thinking about how cool it would be to make a pumpkin the same way...

We're off to a good start!

Well...it sorta looks like a 1970s Christmas bulb ornament, but I did my best to dress it up with raffia and a cinnamon stick. It was an improvement, but only by a little! Some adjustments would be necessary to make this work well.

Stay tuned for some pictures of Sewing Camp Sunday! I'm already planning for our November Sewing Camp Sunday. Lately the girls have been choosing various projects. I'll share some ideas soon. Sewing Camp has been worth every bit of effort on my part. The girls are having fun and I always have a friend to help and the cost is just for materials- which is almost the best part.

Pumpkin Patch & Cornell Plantations

2011-10-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we went on a field trip to the farm for a hayride and a pumpkin from the patch. On the way to our homeschool co-op in the afternoon, we decided to stop by the Cornell Plantations because we had extra time after eating our lunch. We had such a great time, the kids wanted to stop on the way home after co-op as well. Here's a picture tour of our fun day.

The patch...a view from the hay wagon on our way by. Remember- you are never too old for a hayride!

R11 found some pumpkin blossoms in the patch and politely asked the farmer if she could pick it for her flower pressing class that afternoon. She was allowed to pick it and it is pressing very nicely.

The visitor's center was closed on Columbus Day...or maybe they are always closed on Mondays?

I made sure to point out any laurel to J6 who encountered some mountain laurel while rowing Down, Down the Mountain (yup...there's a post coming eventually!)

OK Handbook of Nature Study fans...who do you think Comstock Knoll is named after? The author of our beloved nature study text was the first female faculty member at Cornell.

Thought some folks were enjoying a contemplative atmosphere, my kids were trotting through the gardens- taking it all in, of course.

Some areas had these information bearing books nearby where you could learn about the flowers and their cultural references.

Every garden needs a sundial! What time did I snap this photo?

I reminded R11, just in case. No flower picking for pressing here!

On the way home we visited the arboretum portion of the plantations- my personal favorite.

We witnessed a lot of goose on duck bullying and the kids really enjoyed just staying put and watching for a long while. That was cool. The day was gorgeous- 70 and sunny. Just lovely.

Ah autumn...easily my favorite season of the year. Especially on a day like this one.

We kept hearing a bell being rung in the distance and we couldn't figure out its origin until we toured the rest of the arboretum in the van. We found the bell. And let me say that just after this picture was taken I nearly went deaf. I9 hit it as hard as he could and none of us were prepared for the result! The hammer reminded me of the one in The Magician's Nephew.

A view from the top

I don't know what's taken me so long to visit the plantations, but we will make a regular visit routine for sure. I've heard it is really nice to go weekly in the spring to see everything coming out. I will look forward to that!

Autumn in NY is well underway and we are past the leaf color peak at this point. It's starting to look a lot like November and before long the snow will begin to fly! Last year our first snow was on Halloween. That is a little more than a week away.

In the meantime, we'll choose some seasonal art projects to do and share them when they are finished. Since this was a spontaneous trip that day, we weren't prepared entirely for sketching. So, stay tuned!

Cursive Writing

2011-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

Anyone out there still teaching cursive writing? It seems like there is some controversy over cursive handwriting instruction in public schools. Educators have some definite opinions on the topic. At our house, I think it's important to be able to read cursive and I do teach the kids to write it, but not at a young age. E13 can write in cursive but prefers to use print. R11 luvs anything artsy and frilly and cursive writing is no exception. We started in 4th grade, but it does not receive super high priority. Now in 6th she is using Draw and Write through History as a copywork source for cursive. She really enjoys it and when she really gets the hang of it I bet it will be her primary form of writing.

We have several volumes to match our studies.

This sort of shows a page view from the book.

Here's a close up of her handwriting.

We started out with more instructional practice paper from StartWrite, but now she is using wide ruled loose leaf and I think it's going reasonably well. I have used and reviewed several handwriting programs and I have not been diligent with most of them. Practice makes perfect and all of my children can write. I love to just provide the appropriate paper and we make air letters with our fingers and go for it.

The Glorious Flight

2011-10-14T05:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on blogging our recent FIAR units. I'll be posting them in no particular order- except which ones are ready first. We've been keeping a pretty good routine with a book a week or so. Two weeks ago we rowed The Glorious Flight. J6 enjoyed this one a lot and he and I9 did some airplane things together- I9 is doing the Beyond FIAR unit on Neil Armstrong.

Placing his story disk on France

He read the directions and tried making a plane with a rudder.

Making the final adjustments

He's been doing copy work from the FIAR books. If they are long, then he does one sentence a day right now. Handwriting is the big challenge for him this year. I think he's doing pretty well.

They both enjoyed balsa wood planes- just like Neil Armstrong played with

Using his copywork to type in Cambrai, France. Independent to his core, there is no helping him out!

We peaked at an atlas, but since my world atlas didn't have Cambrai, I asked if he'd like to use Google Earth. He luvvvs Google Earth.

You know what's even cooler? You can actually SEE the White Cliffs of Dover using Google Earth!

J6 is all about going to the street level to see what's going on. That worked out really well in today's lesson too- more on that later. Homeschooling J6 is a delicate balance of keeping him challenged and making sure he jumps through a few of my hoops. He wants to press the edge- all the time! A delightful challenge, but it keeps me very busy.

Annual Homeschool Blog Awards

2011-10-13T05:44:00.000-07:00

Nominations are open!

If you have a few favorites, go on over and nominate!

Unit Study: American Girl

2011-10-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

My new post is up over at Heart of the Matter! It's an American Girl unit study...some of you have been asking for my co-op ideas and here you'll find them. Go & see!

We all probably know one girl in our lives (our own daughters and their friends or another relative) who has an American Girl doll. In our homeschool, we’ve done a lot with the American Girl dolls (from the Pleasant Company). My daughter has quite a collection and she still loves them as much as ever at eleven years old. I’ve taught two separate co-op classes featuring the dolls and we’ve done units at home. Co-op classes and clubs encourage the girls to work together and share the experience. My daughter and I have done these unit studies now and then at home, and have made a lot of fun memories together. We also hosted an American Girl Fashion Party for her 11^th birthday which consisted of the girls designing and making outfits for their dolls. The possibilities are seemingly endless when you are working with a topic that girls love. So, if you are thinking of putting together an American Girl study yourself, I hope you’ll find these ideas and resources helpful.

Read on!

On the Go...

2011-10-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well I'm sure most of us can identify with a busy schedule as we've gotten back to our fall routines. Around here we aim to keep things as low key as possible, but with four children that doesn't always happen. Here's a peek at some things we've been doing while I9 plays out his soccer season (oh and one orthodontist appt was thrown in there). We only have one more practice tomorrow (Wednesday) and Saturday is the final tournament. So, things are winding down for soccer...

My kids had no problem removing the magazines off one of the orthodontist's tables to play a game.

A little Spill and Spell- after a while they had turned the board on its side and were launching the cubes into the cup at the end.

We take art supplies just about everywhere. They were working on fall colors from the HBNS blog.

Somehow artwork on a blanket at a sporting event always draws a big crowd of young spectators...J6 was noting the blue sky around his colorful leaves.

I made sure to provide the fall color palette for reference- this is from the FIAR Fall Nature Study (one of my favorite nature studies of all time)

What else have we been up to this fall? Weekly Co-op, FIRST LEGO League (updates on that coming soon), Sewing Camp, and E13 just finished hunter safety with Dan- another step on the road to his falconry license. The older kids also volunteer at the Salvation Army with Dan to serve a lunch meal on the first Saturday of the month. So, things are busy but thankfully FLL isn't really going to hit high gear until after soccer is finished.

How are things going at your house with a busy routine?

Apples & Pumpkins...Some Art

2011-10-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

This week we tried out the Apple or Pumpkin Tutorial at Hodgepodge. Once again Nana's Tutorial was a grand time. In fact, we've been adding to our collection all week. We have fodder for next summer's 4H Fair, a lovely garland for our school room, some art for Dan's new office (have I mentioned Dan will start a new job?), and a fall birthday gift.

Hands down one of E13's best pieces of art. Ever.

I9 does a nice job.

R11 adding a "painterly effect"- making something look like a painting

Can you see J6's in the middle right? He doesn't like the chalks. Though I do now offer him the chance to scumble with a Kleenex. He likes that much better.

I like to make a workspace with wax paper.

With my laptop, the tutorial was right there beside us and I could point to Nana's directions the whole time.

R11 had a great time making lots of them.

Ever the artist, she spends a lot of time making her drawings just right. And they do look lovely. She really enjoys playing with colors and layers.

Later in the day I sat down and tried a few. I like the painterly effect.

Instead of using a brown, R11 made pumpkin lines by changing the shade of her orange a bit.

As Tricia over at Hodgepodge says, pastels are blessedly messy. That's a wet paper towel there. R11 thought it would be great just to swipe her finger and carry on with the art.

We are looking forward to more tutorials. If you haven't tried out pastels as a medium, make time very soon. It's a great medium and makes artists out of everyone! The garland in our school room window turned out well. I'll try to post a picture soon!

Flower Pressing

2011-10-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

R11 has been taking a flower pressing class at Co-op this semester. She is taking tissue paper flowers and flower pressing this fall. I am always amazed at the creativity of the moms when developing the classes for Co-op. What a gift that they share their expertise with us.

She is excited to have her very own "real" flower press.

Specimen collection

She and some of her brothers have been taking flower walks to pick the blooms.

These small petri dishes are great for collecting on nature walks!

Her flower pressing collection...the guides other than the Golden Guide are new acquisitions at our recent book sale.

Some more projects...

They are even identifying the flowers they pick. Pretty cool.

Another creative project- they use a thin glue solution to decoupage the flowers onto objects.

How about that rock? The rocks were heated in a crockpot and then they drew on them with crayons which melted the wax. Then they glued on the flowers.

I have to say I've enjoyed watching R11 create with all these flowers. It's finally sunny enough out to enjoy being outside- we had an extraordinary amount of rain in September and I'm so glad to see some sunny days!

Leaf Journaling

2011-10-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

We tried out another of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletters last month over at the Handbook of Nature Study blog. We had a fun time with the nature journal idea on leaves. In fact, we used the same leaf- the tulip poplar. We have a huge tulip poplar tree in our front yard. The kids did a little research to find out more about the tree. Interestingly, we learned that it's the tallest hardwood in the northeast. I think we need to check WikiPedia on that, but it did send us searching to see the difference between hardwoods and softwoods.

The kids had some fun doing the leaf rubbings. This tree holds on to its leaves well into November though lots of other trees have turned. Seems like autumn crashed in on us this year...it was still hot and then it just started raining a ton and we missed the transition!

J6 is getting good at recording his weather in a box.

R11 had a good time collecting more leaves and doing the rubbings- Japanese maple, Box Elder, and the Tulip Poplar. I'm pretty sure she pressed some leaves as well. Stay tuned for more on pressing!

Nice, big leaves...isn't that Japanese maple gorgeous? This tree doesn't react well to environmental stressors- it began to look unwell during our dry summer and now we've had gobs of rain.

The October Newsletter is up over at the Handbook of Nature Study Blog and we are featured! So, go check it out and see what fun there is to have with the newsletter as a companion to your Outdoor Hour. The sun is out for the next few days so we hope to hit an apple orchard and enjoy some time outside while we can. Early this week really reminded me that November is on its way!

Review: Through My Eyes

2011-10-04T04:28:00.000-07:00

I was asked a few months ago to review Tim Tebow's book Through My Eyes. I don't do reviews too often these days, but this is one I knew I wanted to do because E13 is a crazy college football fan. And truly, what is a better read for a homeschooled football fanatic than the story of Tim Tebow's life? For my son, the details of the football games and the player's career as a quarterback for the Florida Gators were absolutely enjoyable. As a parent of a young teenage boy, Tim's life and his example are extraordinary. And definitely worth the time to read.

My husband also read the book along with my 13 year old (who was still 12 in July) and asked him to write a review. So, here you are...

Tim Tebow is a well-known homeschooled, Christian football player who wrote this book about his life: Through My Eyes. This book goes through his entire life, from the time he was born in the Philippines to missionary parents, to his first couple games playing for the Denver Broncos. The first part of the book talks about growing up as a kid, between helping around the house, playing sports, and working out. When he was six he developed this mantra "somewhere out there, the other guy's working out, and I'm not. And when we meet on the field, he'll win. So I'm going to work twice as hard, so when we meet, I'll win."

It takes you through his high-school years, playing ball and doing school. The second part of the book is pretty much a page or two analysis of every college game he played in, so I would not recommend this book to non-football fans. To those who like football, like Tim Tebow, or wish to learn something, this is a great book.

One of the things I appreciate most about this book is Tim's work ethic. While he is extremely disciplined (perhaps in a somewhat unhealthy way), he provides a really good example of putting your mind to something and working hard for it. At our house we find ourselves using another of Mr. Tebow's quotes, "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." What a great illustration for kids who like to coast and not work do to their best. Do you know anyone like that at your house? I do!

Kaya- An American Girl Unit

2011-10-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

We've slowly been working through the Portraits of American Girlhood in R11's homeschooling. Last year we did a unit on Felicity and of course I taught some American Girl co-op classes, but this year we decided to start with Kaya and since she is not one of the six original historical dolls, she is not in the Portraits unit study. So, I set out on my own to create something we could use. R11 is pretty familiar with all the time periods of history represented by the dolls, so I decided we needed to do some out-of-the-box thinking to make these units work. After all, NOW is the time while she is 11 even though she isn't learning a lot of new things in terms of history. Given that she has a lot of prior knowledge on most of this, it's time to add another layer to what she already knows. So, this is what we came up with to round our her studies and dig a little deeper.

Fashion Design- she has been designing a beaded dress for Kaya and has hit some bumps in the road in getting it completed. This has been a good exercise in diligence and problem solving.

Cooking & Cuisine- she studied what sorts of things Kaya's people would have eaten and has prepared a menu based on this information. We hope to get that cooked up by week's end (our family schedule is busy this week so this may be tricky)

Climate & Habitat- what is it like in that area of the US? how does it compare to where we live? How did their environment influence their lifestyle?

Comparisons- of other known historical figures and the doll's character. For example, R has been working on comparing Kaya with Sacajewea who was also a member of the same Nez Perce tribe.

Blogging- as part of her schooling, R11 is stepping her blogging over at Miss Bliss. This is an informal way of sharing her creativity and projects with others. This is great practice for keyboarding skills and will be a fabulous portfolio of her work in the years to come. It's also a good way to practice writing. We've been discussing how this format will be a friendly one for a creative girl who wants to showcase her work and possibly sell it in the future. It's time to make friends with it! (even though formats and interfaces can change this is good practice at the general form)

Stop Motion- R11 has made some really fun videos in the past and she has been working on developing some for her American Girl dolls. She made a video from a script she wrote for the dolls and is now trying to work with the sound. It's all about how the other dolls surprise Kaya with the fact that R11 is making her a new dress. Very cute with the movements and script, but sound is an issue.

Now this is all unit study work which she works on with me- mostly as a check point/advisory type role and on her own. In addition to unit study time, she is doing WriteShop Junior Level F (we are beta testing again), math, nature/art/music (CM type study that rotates), and Latin (twice a week).

We've been doing a lot of good work though it may appear unconventional. If you are going to try it out, I'd recommend regular check-in times and frequent conferencing about the student's work. Part of the deal with this custom design for R is that she has to really make an effort and we need to see that she is learning new skills and stretching herself. If not, then she knows the natural consequence is to go back to more traditional schooling on the same topic or a different one all together.

Rocket Launch

2011-10-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

We've been having fun with the Mythbusters Water Kit at J6's request and our most exciting quest has been the "water rocket" which is a rocket powered by good ol' vinegar and baking soda. A lot of it. Pretty clever mechanism for launching which requires precise assembly before shaking and dashing away. We built it on the Saturday that the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee were passing over (which caused absolutely devastating flooding about an hour south of us). J6 had been dying to make it and he understood that even though we had plenty of time to make it, the weather was just not going to allow us to launch it. Dan surprised him by telling him to run and get his rain coat and crocs on- of course we had to launch it just once. Delighted, he ran to get ready and the rest of us joined in. Below is the video of the rocket launching in the steady rain...with my voice over which did get a bit loud as that rocket really took off!

Dan keeps the fun at our house throwing out spontaneous activity every now and then.

On a lovely Sunday afternoon we headed to the school yard for unencumbered launching- I have video of that too but all kinds of blogging rules were breached- names and faces making cameo appearances all over the place despite my best effort at making a blog video!

The two pieces to the rocket puzzle

The tube was filled with varying amounts of baking soda depending on how much power you want to give the rocket.

Vinegar gets added to the rocket body.

You have to turn the rocket on its side and carefully insert the tube without allowing the vinegar to mix in with the baking powder. There is a stopper for the end which works well, but you have to be quick!

Always an adventure at our house! Seems like I've been slacking a bit on the blogging recently. We've certainly been doing plenty to blog about. So, this is one of those "catch up" posts.

Math Fun- First Grade Style

2011-09-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

We do math first thing at our house and J6 has been enjoying the Funtastic Frogs. I'd like you there, but word on the street is that they no longer make The Frogs. This is tragic. But if you have them use them! If not, then any counter will do- beans, legos, cubes, bugs, or whatever cute object you own!

(Cell phone picture)- this is a page from his Frog math book. He has a lot of basic math skills so it's been tough to see where we really need to start to give him a challenge.

This is one I created from some story math problems at Homeschool Share. I just put the problems in a word document, put spaces between them, and add the boxes for him to write his answers. These are problems from Down, Down the Mountain. As we read the problems, we highlighted the number words.

Many times he does not use a counter, but it's great fun all the same. We do a lot of math orally as well. He has a few activities he really enjoys and a lot of the time I leave down math activities for him to explore on his own. Stay tuned for more math news...

An Open Letter to Homeschoolers...

2011-09-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

My new post is up over at Heart of the Matter! An Open Letter to Homeschoolers is meant to encourage all of us new and old who need a reminder of what homeschooling's all about.

I want to share some tips I’ve learned along the way so that hopefully you can learn from them too.

1) Remember, slow and steady wins this race- your kids don’t have to know everything today or even this year so refrain from turning on the fire hose of information. A corollary to this is don’t worry about keeping up with what public and private schools are doing- it’s a recipe for discontentment at best and disaster at the worst.

2) Start simple and establish a routine- a framework is great and allows you to get back on track if you derail (sick fussy babies are super derailers), but don’t be a slave to your routine. Your homeschool will begin to lack joy.

3) Let go of traditional school conventions- some of them may be fine and work well for you, but so often I see parents trying to replicate the experience they know and understand well. We all come to the homeschooling table with a similar background in education. It’s okay to let those fall away and find the niche that you and your children will fill. For more on this topic you might want to read Leaving Behind Conventions.

4) Be consistent- whatever routine and program of study you choose, do it consistently. While we can leave behind the traditional school model, we still have the responsibility to educate our children.

Read more...

Sunflower Garden Math

2011-09-22T06:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we headed out to the sunflower garden to record the height of our sunflowers in addition to the diameter of the flower heads. I had the kids make a data chart based on the information we wanted to collect and we headed outdoors.

The final result- they have all bloomed at this point.

The Soraya variety

The Mammoth Grey Stripes win the tall prize. These are the ones with the sunflower seeds we eat.

The Moulan Rouge did not fare well in all the rain we've had from hurricanes and tropical storms. I guess the roots were not deep enough to support the plant in the poor weather and with the saturated ground.

Measuring the diameter of the flower- seed head and petals

Our tallest plant is 8 feet tall.

We lost one Moulan Rouge plant within the very first week to...something. We replanted the following week with what we thought was the Autumn Variety. Surprise! It was really the Pro-Cut Lemon.

This was a great math activity for J6- just writing numbers and recording data. The older kids will be doing some conversions from inches to feet. We use the portable drawing boards from Discount School Supply.

Honeybee visitors! How exciting! Go bees go!

More height measurments

Rll's data and some petals from the ground- she is taking a Flower Pressing class at Co-op this semester. More on this later.

Our sunflower garden was a 4-H project. In fact, we are members of the Heritage Garden Club and last spring we went to a "training" on growing our seeds. The seeds were given to us as part of the group and we even won a copy of the Sunflower Book. Any day now, the 4-H educators will be coming out to measure our sunflowers. We didn't plant any giants this year (because we planted so late and did imagine with its growing season that it would be tall enough before the first frost), but the growing season wasn't super kind this year and word on the street is that a lot of other families had trouble with critters and their gardens did not do too well. So, I guess we have a shot at the tallest plant.

This was a very successful and enjoyable garden to grow! We are already planning next year's sunflower garden. I'd like to see which varieties the birds really enjoy. We are part of a pilot program with our local science center and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Part of our job is to add and element to our habitat that will help the birds.

Math Planning- How Do I Do It?

2011-09-20T05:01:00.000-07:00

I know some of you are interested in how we plan out our math lessons using Math on the Level. Or perhaps you aren't using any curriculum and want to use various resources to do math. Or perhaps you are just looking for something extra for your math curriculum or you want to tweak it a little. What does that look like? How do I do it? Let me see if I can explain.

First of all, Math on the Level gives you a list of concepts that students should know in roughly four basic areas of math before they can do Algebra. The author gives some information on what is chronological or what concepts are built on others, but she leaves other things for teaching any time. You don't have to have a program like Math on the Level to do this sort of teaching. What you need is a concept list and some benchmarks- if you have a math program, the publisher has already laid out a scope and sequence for that grade. Or you can try the What My ___ Grader Needs to Know series and check out what that program says is appropriate for each grade level- another bench mark source.

Since I've been using MOTL for a few years now, I was able to come up with a list for what my 6th grader should be working on based on what she has left before Algebra. I simply listed many of those things out but not all of them because she still has 1-3 years left depending on when she begins Algebra I (8th or 9th grade). I did the same thing with my 1st and 4th graders. Sometimes it's easy. You know your child needs to master long division or multiplication tables and that will be a major focus for the year.

A portion of R11's target concepts for the year

I9's list- they are color coded so I can see easily the various breakdowns of "units". So, decimals and money or operations or fractions, etc. That is how MOTL separates them out.

I keep a list of our math resources- books, websites, and games or activities close by in my planner.

In general, I like to teach new concepts about twice a week- sometimes three. Right now I have it so that I do the same unit with the three younger kids. That way I can work with them all at the same time covering the new concepts easily with each student at his/her level. I like activities that illustrate a concept and have some problem solving component to them to challenge my older kids. Most of my activities I can modify for the different skill sets.

I choose from the list of concepts from the same topic- For example, this year I've started with Money and Decimals. I won't exhaust every concept right now, but we'll spend about three weeks on this adding new concepts to the review list. Then it will be time to switch gears and go with a focus on Operations or Geometry and Measurement or even Fractions. I plan to cycle through these areas of focus throughout the year, each time getting closer to the end of the list of concepts I need to teach for the year.

Where do I get the activities? I start with my MOTL manual which has a lot of ideas for activities to go with each concept. There are also math adventure and math resource manuals which provide a lot of ideas on lessons, games, etc that can be used with any concept. I also use the math resources I have collected over the years. Some of them are books written to the kids and some are more teacher friendly, but they all have really clever ideas on how to incorporate math skills into activities of all sorts.

We do a combination of hands on activities and exploration along with things like Life of Fred, games, and computer practice. Sometimes I pull extra problems if a student needs more work on a topic. I use the white board to break things up. So, if someone needs to practice multiple digit multiplication, he can do problems on the white board. I also practice timed math skills- something that I am not all that worried about but my children to experience when taking standardized test and this year is a testing year for three of my kids. In NY we test every other year starting at 4th and until 8th. After that, they must be tested every year. Otherwise, we I turn in a narrative assessment at the year's end.

I hope this explains some of how we do math here in our homeschool. I'll be sharing activities, ideas, and resources along the way.

Sunflowers

2011-09-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Our garden continues to grow and blossom! This was taken probably almost two weeks ago and I'll have to update you again because those two tall plants in the back have gotten much taller and now have blooms.

At this point, all of our varieties are out. The moulan rouge (left flowers) experienced some damage from the flood inducing rains last week. The plant has fallen over quite a bit just from the ground being so wet. But those are still gorgeous flowers!

I can hardly believe how quickly the weather has turned here in central NY. It's been cool during the day and downright cold at night! I'll update you on the full garden this week, but first a math planning post is up next.

GIANTmicrobes: A Review

2011-09-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

I was asked a while ago now if I would like to review some products for GIANTmicrobes. When I looked at their products, I had to say yes! They have all kinds of plush, personified renditions of microscopic critters. And they're pretty cute!

A Petri Dish of Yeast Cells

Pizza Dough- a lesson in yeast

The FLL kids are discussing food safety for their project- we try to avoid this guy known as E. Coli.


Any guesses? The hollow middle gives him away- red blood cell!

Founded in 2002, our mission here at Giantmicrobes Inc. is to produce unique and interesting gifts for children and adults alike.Whether your interest is educational, medical, or just plain old entertainment, we're your number one source for all things microbial.

Seriously, how much fun is microbiology with these guys? GIANTmicrobes has sets of plush dolls too which are theme oriented- a love box is full of all the love kind of diseases. Very amusing teaching tool. And how many households can boast E. Coli dolls? My personal favorite is the petri dish option.