Field Trip Frenzy

It was the rainiest April on record here in central Ohio, and May hasn't started much drier. The troops have been fairly restless, so we've hit a few unexpected field trips lately. Yesterday we went to one of the great Metro Parks surrounding our city. The children got a chance to observe birds from various look out towers and with different equipment. Check out all the fabulous bird and squirrel costumes in the play area:

And Thursday we hit America's #1 zoo. With all this dreary rain, I've been feeling a lot like this guy lately:

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy to Return to History

Finishing Human Anatomy and Physiology means we're back in History mode - a favorite spot for all of us. We're tackling the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance this year - our second time through this period. (We use The Well Trained Mind's four year history cycle, meant to be traveled through three times throughout a student's pre-college career.)

We're currently reading Adam of the Road out loud, Elbow just finished Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Bobo Augustine Came to Kent. Lots of great picture books for the younger set:

When we study in the evenings (or on regular school breaks) we generally have a visitor:

A neighbor friend making her Beowulf page for her history notebook

This little one was on spring break right after Easter and ran over every morning saying, "Can I do home school today?" I'm seriously not that fun a teacher, people. Really.

The girls are also using Institute for Excellence in Writing's Medieval Based Lessons in Writing.

Saturday Science Re-Cap

Yesterday's science group played a huge, life size game of Nutriopoly (a version of Monopoly based on nutrition and food science). The game was made up by one of the group's moms based on our study of chapter five in Human Anatomy, Health and Nutrition.

Elbow learning at the calorie counting station

waiting for someone to roll the dice so they can move on

At the "marketplace" where you can trade essential amino acids

Toddzilla gathering up his essential amino acids at the kitchen
- you needed all nine to win!

This is the first year we've used the Notebooking workbooks put out by Apologia to go with the text. While we don't do all of the activities, we've really enjoyed the mini-books, copywork, and fun projects that supplement our study. Definitely worth checking out...

Dem Bones, Dem Bones

We're working our way through the chapter on bones in our Human Anatomy book and having fun making a plaster, glow-in-the-dark skeleton.

Mixing the plaster.

Letting the bones dry overnight after removing them from the mold

Gluing the bones onto our poster,
after painting them with glow-in-the-dark paint

The final result!

As you can see, there are generally no small boys hovering around our science projects. This is by design. We have always done science and history in the evenings, after the short-attention-span/busy-hand set has gone to bed. In the past, we've hit both subjects most nights - maybe a half hour on each. This year we decided to do history in the spring and summer; science now in the fall and winter. After almost six months of this plan (we did cycle 2 of Ancients this spring and summer, based on The Well Trained Mind), I can say it's been a huge hit in my book. Not only do I feel less pressure to rush through things, we have the opportunity to do more hands on projects.

If all goes according to plan (does it ever?), we'll continue on with science until spring, and then switch over to Medieval/Early Renaissance history.

Saturday Science Recap

Our science group got underway at our place yesterday. We're using Apologia's Human Anatomy and Physiology this year.

Much prep work goes on the days before our group meets, because each child chooses something from the chapter to report on. Toddzilla wanted to work on the endoplasmic reticulum because our book described it as the garbage/delivery man of the cell. We made a garbage truck out of cardboard; then he put his facts inside on crumbled pieces of paper.

Elbow chose Galen, a Roman doctor who treated the gladiators. Bobo worked on DNA and the Human Genome Project.

We're very fortunate to have quite a few parents in the group who are doctors or scientists. The children got a chance to see their own blood cells (if they wanted to be pricked!) under the microscope.

We also added organelles (candy) to our cytoplasm (jello) to review all the parts of the cell.

A Child's Geography

The girls and I are reading A Child's Geography of the Earth by the oh-so-inspiring Ann of Holy Experience.  We're "mailing" postcards home as we travel through the earth's atmosphere and peer down at the continents and oceans below. (Postcard templates come with the book's CD-ROM).

Generally speaking, we save our history read-a-louds and our science studies for evenings when the loud and rambunctious set are asleep.  Toddzilla is on the fence; sometimes he's in, sometimes he's out.  Our little science group finished Land Animals of the Sixth Day early, which is why we now have time for extra geography.

    

Back in the Habit...

I have gotten out of the habit of recording narrations around here, primarily because my oldest now writes hers on her own.  I'm re-reading A Charlotte Mason Companion though, so I've been convicted that we need to get going again.  I always have them narrate to me over lunch or while we're doing other things, but I haven't taken the time to record anything recently.  So, this morning, I had Elbow narrate Thomas Edison: The Wizard of Menlo Park, which she read a few weeks ago:

Thomas Alva Edison was a famous inventor. He invented the light bulb; he invented the telegraph. He used to live in Menlo Park, but then they moved, so Thomas Edison built a new factory. His office was huge!

When he was little, he went to school. But only for three months. He only went to school for three months because he asked too many questions; the teacher got too angry. So his mother took him out of school and home schooled him. So he was able to ask all his questions and become and good inventor.

When he had built that huge factory, a few years later, there was a fire. Someone in the inventing room had blown something up! But the factory did not burn down.

Early in the morning of October 18, 1931, Thomas Edison died. The reporters did not want to bother Mrs. Edison. Mrs. Edison promised to tell them when Thomas Edison died. She would signal the reporters. The signal would be: when Thomas Edison died, she would turn off the electric light that he made.

The Narrator

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of my girl in messy braids, her TKD uniform, practicing away. That about sums her up: classical, feisty, our "Little Brown Braid."

Note: when I look through my labels on my sidebar, I see the only narrations are from Bobo's pleasure reading a few years ago. I'm not sure why I did that - we don't narrate pleasure books at all anymore and I honestly don't remember that we did it then.  Funny how that happens. We now narrate from the Apologia science books - since they written with the Charlotte Mason method in mind - and from our history books.  

Afternoon Pursuits

Lots going on around here in the early afternoons when lessons are finished...

Elbow, Toddzilla, and even Crockett

are doing lots of running around with guns - Star Wars fashion:

Bobo has taken a new interest in robotics.

She's designing away; she's got a few different models so far.

(Plus, she gets to wear her cool workshop "googles")

The Patriot is just cheering everyone on from the sidelines.

Friday Field Trip

Our little science group headed to Kentucky to see the Newport Aquarium on Friday.  We've been studying aquatic animals this year through Exploring Creation Through Zoology: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day.  It was a great hands on, up close experience: petting sharks (I didn't, all my children did), feeling star fish, handling crabs... We also signed up for the behind the scenes tour, which lead us through the filters and feeding grounds, even the surgery room - everything it takes to run this huge facility with millions of gallons of water. Hubby was along for this trip; he was chief rescuer when Crockett wanted to jump right into the shark tanks during the behind the scenes tour.  

We continue to love the Apologia elementary science books.  They are very in-depth, going far beyond my own very limited science education.  The experiments are fun and not too intimidating.  The author of this series - Jeannie Fulbright - is herself a home schooling mother and they are written with the Charlotte Mason method in mind.  

When the weather was nice, we often took the science book outside after dinner so the little boys could run around while we read.  Quite often I'd soon have an additional student or two - neighborhood kids - clamoring to hear more about sea turtles or primeval reptiles.  They're that good.

Mom Schools

I've now waded through both A Thomas Jefferson Education and the Thomas Jefferson Home Companion. Both contain great information - and lots of it. In many ways, this method of education overlaps with what I've found most helpful in The Well Trained Mind and the teachings of Charlotte Mason. It's not a radically different philosophy, but there are many helpful, insightful pieces worth repeating here. I want to tackle my favorite parts so today I'll start with the idea of the Mom School.

Before reading this book, we found ourselves in a Mom School for the first time this year. (Of course we don't call it that, but after reading DeMille, that's exactly what it is). Every other Friday afternoon we meet to discuss a chapter of Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. The host mom is responsible for that week's discussion: we have the children do reports, we do the experiments from the chapter, we play games relating to the lesson, we go on field trips. It's amazing! Last week's host mom is a science guru herself, and knowing there may not be time for reports, said it was optional. My girls begged to do one. That's how inspiring this group is (I'll get to the "inspire, not require" part of DeMille's book another time).

Because this group has been so successful - and so much fun - I've decided to start a Liberty Girls Club using the same basic idea. (The Home Companion has lots of ideas for this exact club). We'll read a designated American Girl Doll book, talk about the historical time period, do a craft/project that relates to the book, you get the idea. There's something very important about both the parent and the child being invested in learning together.

"Mom Schools greatly enhance children's education...Through group learning, children share their enthusiasm with each other, strengthen desire for knowledge and enjoy mutual inspiration and encouragement. Adults benefit from combined strength, and we all pull each other up."

A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion

Second Grade Science

Science this year was a mixed bag. We began with every intention - even excitement - to tackle Apologia's Botany book. We loved Exploring God's Creation Through Astronomy the year before; we did most of the experiments and faithfully made illustrated notebooks. I'm amazed at what the girls still remember from our studies of the stars and planets. I'm a big fan of these books - not to mention the author's website and general homeschooling helps.

When we began the Botany book, though, we had a no-longer-immobile baby who enjoyed crawling all over our work. We were also preparing to move. We weren't getting to it consistently, so we boxed it up in hopes of starting again in our new home. That never happened.

But we did do a ton of nature notebooking right in our backyard, we've taken plenty of trips to the zoo, spent lots of time at a great hands on science museusm, and had quite a bit of fun with the flower fairies. (Which, by the way, is a great way to learn flower identification).

My plan for Bobo's second grade science is to use the Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers. She can do this independently, reading a selection and then making notes and drawings in her nature notebook. We will come back to the remaining three Apologia elementary books in a year or two.

The younger ones will surely get quite a bit of science through Bobo's reading - she tends to be quite effusive when it comes to her studies. I'm finding that to be one of the great benefits of home education: so much is "caught" by the little ears hanging around the school room.

Why We Home School

I've never sat down to list our reasons for home schooling, and I'm not sure I ever will. When asked, I generally respond with a different reason every time. (Not that I keep changing my opinion; there's more than one reason, n'est pas?).

When I saw my daughter - after finishing her lessons and music - rush out to her "birding station" to work on her nature notebook, I thought of what Dawn wrote the other day about time. That's one of home schooling's greatest side effects: time for children to be children, time for learning new skills and crafts in an unrushed manner, time for afternoons outside, time to build close relationships with siblings and parents.


Unhurried time.* It's a luxury we consider ourselves blessed to have.

*Please note: this does not apply to Sunday mornings, which are about as hurried, hectic, and hair-raising as this mom can handle.

Wordless Wednesday: Butterflies and Blooms

The Hagia Sophia made out of plants!

We had just finished studying Constantinople

so everyone was very excited to see such a great model.

Sleeping Books

Charlotte Mason may have popularized the idea of "living books," but around here we sleep them too! Bobo announced she'd be sleeping like Pippi the other night and quickly donned her new tights and leg warmers. When I went in to check on the girls -- in true Pippi fashion -- her feet were at the head of the bed and her face was buried deep under the covers. Another favorite character altogether emerged in the morning... Living, sleeping, and playing books; it doesn't get much more fun!

Fairies on the Prairie

It's half fairies, half prairies around here since Christmas (with a bit of Pippi Longstocking thrown in for good measure). The girls got prairie outfits for themselves and their dolls from their Grandma. Bobo got all the Cecily Mary Barker Flower Fairy paraphenalia from us, thanks to the treasure trove of ideas found at Serendipity. They listen to the flower fairy CD -dancing and prancing about - then quickly switch gears to be their all time favorite Little House girls.


Nana has been reading the Pippi Longstocking books with the girls and she gave them some great tights and leg warmers to complete the look. You never know who will emerge from the bedroom next - Pippi? Laura Ingalls? The Eyebright fairy?


Much to the dismay of my whole clan, the tree had to come down on Christmas day! Hubby's allergies have never been so bad and the girls were starting to suffer too. We packed it up sadly, not only because it had to go so soon, but because this is our last "prairie" Christmas in North Dakota.

Something tells me that a little bit of prairie will follow us to our new home...

Beck and the Great Berry Battle

Bobo is still plugging away on the Pixie Hollow series. Here is her latest narration:


"Beck is a animal talent fairy. She can understand what animals say and do. But her friend, Twitter, a hummingbird, tells her that there's a berry battle. The hummingbirds think that the chipmunks have taken their nests. And they're using berries for defense. It ends up to be that Grandfather Mole is using the nest as a hat. Beck has settled another battle."

In Other Music News...

We began our study of Handel today. The children listened to the Vox Music Masters CD as they played some strange version of pirates/orphans/50s girls in poodle skirts. This evening, after tucking the boys into bed, the girls and I got started on Handel at the Court of the Kings. I continue to be impressed by the books in this series. They always begin with a great hook -- usually something a little scandalous -- to pique the children's interest.


With Bobo's second year of piano in full swing, Elbow's brand new violin lessons, and our composer studies, I'm feeling like we actually might be a bit musical. I use 'we' loosely. I was the one who went kicking and screaming through 8 years of piano lessons. I sing miserably - though I prefer to be called 'loud' and 'enthusiastic.' But that's only half the story. Their father, mind you, sang in Carnegie Hall. That must qualify for something.

Indepent Reading

When Bobo first learned to read, it took me quite a while to realize books with lots of pictures distracted her and slowed her down. I got all sorts of early readers from the library, the ones with few words on the page and lots of pictures. I thought she'd breeze through them.

She never read these books as well as I knew she could. When we would do her oral reading from McGuffey's Ecletic Reader, she would zip right along. Give her a fun picture book, however, there was no zipping. Not really any moving actually. "Wait, let me look at the pictures..." she'd say, which lasted the whole reading time.

I decided to try the Happy Little Family books for her pleasure reading instead. Like McGuffey, there were few illustrations and the ones present were simple and in black and white. This worked marvelously, as Bobo was less distracted and focused on the words instead of the pictures.

The Pixie Hollow books are a good fit too right now. The pictures are in color, but they're only every few pages...

Bobo's narration of Vidia and the Fairy Crown:

"Vidia is a great book, and a great mystery too. All the fairies in Pixie Hollow blamed Vidia that she stole the crown. But Vidia actually finds the crown and gives it back to Queen Ree. Vidia almost became the villain but turns out to be a good fairy. When Vidia found the crown, she almost stole it. But Prilla knew what was going to happen, so Vidia gave it back. Vidia and the Fairy Crown is an awesome book. It has ten chapters that are all exciting, you hardly even want to stop. Vidia is always on some sort of goose chase but she's also in some kind of mood."

Goodbye, Butterfly!

One of our sweet friends from church brings us caterpillars every year, and a good supply of milkweed. It's been such fun to see these beautiful creatures change before our very eyes -- from bright and creeping caterpillar to chrysalis to magnificent Monarchs.

How strange it is to look one moment and see a caterpillar and the next the chrysalis. We can't quite figure out how long this process takes, because we only check in with our little pets periodically through the day. It definitely takes less than 12 hours though.


When the Monarch is about ready to spring forth into the glorious light, the chrysalis changes color: from a bright green to an almost black. It's an amazing thing not only to watch the new formed butterfly, but the wonder and awe of children seeing one of God's great creations in action.

We skipped ahead in Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day in order to read the scienfitic explanation of this metamorphosis. We bid the beauty goodbye, hoping she'd make it all the way to Mexico. The girls wanted to tag her, like Fred Urquhart did when he made the migration discovery in the first place. Fearing we'd hurt the poor girl, we decided to let her fly free - and tagless - instead. Goodbye, butterfly!

We're Done - It's 9:30 AM

My oldest did Math, Latin, Spelling, McGuffey, Copybook, and made a cover for her Zoology notebook. My second daughter did a page in her math book, a page in her copybook, and practiced letters with me.

I looked up at the clock and it was 9:30 AM. I panicked a little, "What in the world will we do all day?" But it turned out great. We took a nice walk to the grocery store for stamps, leaving $41 poorer. (And getting three inquiring minds, "are they all yours?" To which my oldest asked me later, "Who's else would we be?" She wasn't being snide, she sincerely wondered. I do too sometimes).

We did some impromptu crafts which involved glue, glue, and more glue. This included the two year old --needless to say it went from the craft table to the bathtub. We read from the Golden Children's Bible outside and headed in for lunch.

Having decided yesterday that Tuesday afternoons will be for nature study, we headed out with all the fixins' (nature notebooks, crayons, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day...) We strolled along the Red River until the heat forced us up a huge hill (me pushing the stroller from behind, oldest daughter pulling from in front) in search of the fountain. Feet and faces found their way to the water very quickly.

Off to Bridgeman's for ice cream we went. We did manage to read a little of Flying Creatures while at the park, but not much journaling got done.

A full day despite our early finish!