Spring Mammal Study

For our Mammal Study, as part of the May Newsletter for the Handbook of Nature Study challenges, I let the kids pick a mammal that is native to our area.  I had them research and answer questions about their mammal - where do they live? what do they eat? what kind of a home do they have? who are their predators? and so on.

A picked the Red Fox, an animal we have seen in the wild before, although not in our current city. He chose to look at a few websites to learn more about them. 

 Red Fox - Utah Schools.  Red Fox - Utah Division of Wildlife.

A's notebook page-

N picked the Mule Deer, an animal we have seen in our backyard before.  She used the dictionary and websites too. 

Mule Deer - Utah Schools.  Mule Deer - Utah Division of Wildlife.

 N's notebook page- 

Lego Trebuchet

This past week A participated in his online Lego club meeting.  We signed up for this club at CurrClick when it was free, but now it is a donation based - there are a few options for the CurrClick Online Lego Club.  You can find more info at the blog. 

The build for this month was a Trebuchet. 

 I tried to help him find all the pieces he would need - digging through hundreds of Legos for a specific piece is not easy! I think asking me to help was strategic - I left his room thinking "He could use some more Legos." And he could use some more Technic Legos if he is going to continue to be interested in building machines and such. EBay here we come! 

He didn't have every single piece the instructions said he would need, but that didn't matter. It was fun to watch him make adjustments as he figured out how to make it with the pieces he did have - often dashing to his bedroom for other Legos.  

The finished Trebuchet . . . will it work?

3 - 2 - 1 - Blast Off!

 Well, Endeavor may have needed to delay its launch, but A and N's rockets, CENTAURIAN and GEMINI-N blasted off perfectly this week. 

 We used Alka Seltzer and water in a film canister - I broke up our tablets so we could launch the rockets more than once. 

 Prepping the launch pad.

a ready audience!

Okay - so maybe I had a few complications at first. 

Endeavour’s final mission, STS-134, is scheduled to launch Monday, May 14th, at 8:56 a.m. EDT.  Watch it live on NASA-TV.

Spring Bird Study

 I'm really excited for the new May Newsletter from Handbook of Nature Study.  I *hope* it will help us get back into doing nature study.  The Spring weather already has us spending more time outside and our first nature study for this month is of a new bird visiting our birdfeeder - the Lazuli Bunting.  

Here is a not so great photo:

This bird is not in the Handbook of Nature Study book, so we used our Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America and All About Birds to learn more about the Lazuli Bunting. 

Something interesting that stood out to my kids is that the Lazuli Bunting likes to live in "recent post-fire habitats" - they excitedly starting tell me we were seeing so many of them because of the fire near our city last year - my fire posts 1 and 2.  Maybe . . . and maybe its because I changed the bird seed to a songbird variety :). Whatever the reason we are having fun watching these little blue beauties. 

 I let my kids color in a bird outline from the Notebooking Nook's Nature Study - Birds - this set of notebook pages is free at CurrClick. 

N's picture



A's picture



O's picture - she decided to do another frequent visitor to our yard, the Robin :)

Post edited to add another picture of the Lazuli Bunting:

Science Experiment

We had a fun science experiment this week - making clouds. This was part of our lesson on Uranus and Neptune a few weeks ago - simulating the hot inner core and cold outside of the planets, making them gas giants (the clouds) - but we didn't have a chance to do it then. 

Austin getting ice

 Nyah getting water

 Are we ready? Jar, water, ice, matches, snacks - let's do it!

Here it is:

 We did it about 15 times. I think they liked striking the matches.

 After, watching a video about the Water Cycle at The Happy Scientist (this was so Austin could earn something for scouts and it happened to go along with our experiment)

 Coloring the Water Cycle (or filling in vocabulary).

April 2011 School

Devotional

We are still  reading the New Testament Storied Scriptures but we skipped ahead the week before Easter to read the final week of the Savior's life.  Unfortunately, most of us were sick that week and we ended up not doing our traditional pre-Easter activities that help us focus on the Savior.  We focused on the Value of Work this month, reading from The Book of Virtues, which included one of our family favorites: The Elves and the Shoemaker.

Math

We spent an extra week on Chapter 21, and then flew through chapters 22-25.  I love how we can take as little or as much time as A and N need to understand concepts before we move on.  The Math-U-See newsletter was wonderful this month - Beware of Being Behind. So helpful for me!

Literature

We are nearing the end of Little Pilgrim's Progress: Christiana's Journey.  I am always amazed by the understanding my kids show with this book - SO SMART! We have also been reading from A Child's Treasury of Poems edited by Mark Daniel. 

A and N both finished up their reading for their book clubs and had their final meetings for this semester.  I'm glad its over and we can read other books! We won't be continuing these clubs next year. 

N and I are reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane together - we take turns reading paragraphs.  Its helped me realize she is a much stronger reader than she lets on.  If you ask her, "Can you read this-that?" she will still say she can't - how to get her out of that mentality? 

A is reading The Hobbit and the first book in the Warriors series, Into the Wild. 

Books they listened to this month (unabridged):

Robinson Crusoe

Black Beauty

The Incredible Journey

Pollyana

 History

We read chapters 6-9 in the Story of the World: Ancient Times, making maps and adding figures to our timeline as we went along.  Next month I'll make sure I take pictures of those. The kids have read a variety of library books - fiction and nonfiction - about Egypt.  We watched National Geographic: Secrets of the Pharaohs - this was a lot more graphic than we were prepared for - modern scientists turning a cadaver into a mummy- yikes! We also watched Riddles of the Sphinx: Nova and Building Pharaoh's Ship: Nova. We also watched The Story of India: Spice Routes and Silk Road to go along with the chapter about India.  I love how we can (usually) find documentaries about any subject to watch instantly on Netflix. 

Art

We are reading from Ancient Egypt (we have an older edition) and drawing some of the pictured items - statues, jewelry, symbols, etc.  We are also doing projects from Ralph Masiello's Ancient Egypt Drawing Book.  The Harmony Fine Arts program we are using also has some coloring pages for each week. 

A & N attended one of their art classes this month - we were sick the week of the other one.  They studied Van Gogh's Bedroom and drew/painted pictures of their own bedrooms. 

Music

We continued with Harmony Fine Arts plans on the Orchestra - finishing up our study of keyboard instruments and moving on to woodwind instruments.  We read about several instruments in The Story of the Orchestra, also listening to the corresponding selections on the CD.  Then we learn more through the resources suggested in the HFA plans or find other resources online. 

Science

Finished up Chapter 11 & 12 in Exploring Creation with Astronomy. We watched a couple episodes on the Planets series: Different Worls and Giants.  We also watched Hubble's Amazing Rescue: Nova and The Universe: Outer Planets.   

We watched NASA-TV in anticipation of the Endeavor launch . . . and then the launch was postponed.  Next week!!! 

Nature Study

We still have cold weather.  We had a little snow this morning! We did a couple nature studies this month - spring flower, tree, and bird - but they definitely lacked enthusiasm.  Come on Mother Nature- tomorrow is May!! Let's have some sunshine!

 PreK

I am trying to come up with a more consistent plan, but "consistent" is an oxymoron when used to describe a 3 and 4 year old.  Usually whatever I have planned only takes 2 minutes or is vetoed and other, less desirable activities are chosen - emptying closets of clothes, pulling all the bedding off beds, pulling all the books off shelves, writing all over the walls (although they have started to make pictures instead of random scribbling).  Each day we read together and do an art project or activity. 

Right now we are also trying to have more structured times during the day: table time where they work at the table with us - coloring or printing readiness; blanket time where they sit on their blankets playing quietly with a toy or activity set aside specifically for school time (I have a whole closetful); and play time where they pick toys from our basement playroom and play upstairs where I can see them.  That's the important part these days- keeping them where I can see them.

Beware of Being Behind

From Steve of Math-U-See:

Beware of Being Behind
The most common myth that I am regularly addressing at fairs, on the phone, and in emails, is that someone’s student is behind.


Now if you have an 18 year old that is still counting on his fingers I recommend you consult a learning specialist to determine if there is a problem. But in 20 years will it make a difference whether your student is studying fractions when he is 10 or 12? The primary indicator is a child’s readiness and math background, not his age, or God forbid, his grade level.  Perhaps the root problem is not the student, but an insecure parent? While I am at it, most studies do not support putting children in school at 5 years old. Neither is it in the law given at Sinai, that children must leave home at 18 and enter college. 

All three of our college graduates were 20 when they entered college, and they did fine. In fact I think they did better with a few more years of maturity than they would have done as an 18 year old.

This is not to say children can’t being formal schooling at 5 or enter college at 17, but please trust your instincts and teach and train your children according to what you know about their abilities and readiness.

Math-U-See does not have grade levels because so many older students have to go back and redo these levels. Most of these older students were moved through successive math classes based on their age and not their achievement. There’s never enough time to do it right the first time, but there is always enough time to go back and do it again. 
Please let your children move at their own pace and not some man made standard from one of the worst math nations on the planet, the good old USA.

Protect your children, those precious individuals that God has placed in your care, from state imposed guidelines and raise them and train them in the way they should go.I often diffuse this by asking what the scripture reference is that determines what age a student must be to take Algebra 1 or Geometry or begin studying fractions. Is it in 1st Hezekiah or 2nd Assumptions? There is often a pause, then a light begins to dawn, and the look of consternation from wrongly surmising their child is behind, is replaced with a look of relief when they realize he is right where he needs to be.