Surprise!

The girls made this for me.  According to Trincy:"We're little chefs".  It actually tasted good, too; coleslaw, ranch, cheese, butter, and salt and pepper.

Settle down Jar - Epic FAIL

These "settle down jars" have been floating around cyberspace lately.

The concept: overwhelmed kiddo shakes jar and calms as (s)he watches the glitter settle. 

SOUNDS GREAT!

I improvised on the recipe found here (used 2 cups of water and had not enough glue, so used hair gel).

My jar is beautiful.  I even crafted a poem to accompany it and stuck it where the pickle label used to be (not because I was too lazy to scrape off the gunk the removed label had left behind, or anything.)

When I'm feeling overwhelmed

I shake the jar and see

The glitter like my feelings/thoughts

whirling crazily!

I watch and wait for it to fall.

It settles down, and then,

I find that I've calmed down enough

To face the world again!

 

Sadly, the Four-year-old with overwhelming feelings and emotions it was created for doesn't care for it.

Not. at. all.

He LIKES the "shake the jar to show me how you feel inside" part.  He has ZERO interest in watching the glitter settle down. 

Even when he "accidentally" caught the jar in his eye and was looking at it with some curiosity, he only focused on it for 2.3 seconds.

We'll have to wait and see if his sisters do any better with it.



Fraction Fun

J-Bird is baking shortbread cookies and learning the very important difference between one half and one quarter.

Play-dates, chorus, church, sports, co-ops, and AHG - our answer to "the socialization problem"

One of the many objections to (concerns about?) homeschooling is the fear (worry? concern?) that homeschooled children will not be well-socialized.  After all, people think that since the children spend the "schooling hours" at home, within the same four walls as their own family, that they will miss out on the opportunities that public schooled children have to socialize with other people, particularly children in their own peer group.

This kind of makes me giggle, since I remember being chastised as a chatty young public school student with the admonishment "you come to school to learn, not to socialize!"

I am not blind to this concern, nor do I dismiss it out-of-hand. Instead, I look for ways to overcome this objection by being intentional about socializing my children.  

 I consider socialization VERY important, but not just socialization between my children and other children who happen to be the same age as they are!  I take J-Bird with me to my chorus, and she is the youngest member.  I am fairly certain the median age of this group is somewhere around 49.  She "socializes" quite well with these ladies, and I enjoy watching them coo over her. 

I forget sometimes just how little she really still is...

The world itself is a part of our classroom.  When I have banking to do, a package to mail, or the water bill to pay, I am dragging my kids here and there and everywhere and forcing them to talk to people of all ages. 

I belong to several online homeschool support groups which offer park days and outings such as roller-skating and bowling.   Pretty soon, basketball season will be upon us, and the girls will join an "Upwards" league.  In the summer, we give them golf lessons.The kiddos also have church Sunday School with children who are the same ages as they are.

Another way I am intentional about socializing our children is through homeschool co-op.  Our family is enrolled  in  the highly desirable Seeds of Faith Homeschool Co-op.  This is our third year with them.

First day of co-op, 2012

What is a homeschool co-op, you ask?  Basically, it's families pooling knowledge, resources and inclinations to give our children learning experiences not readily available in the home.

Translation: I'll teach your kid a subject you hate if you teach my kid a subject I hate.

Okay, well, not really.  At least, it is not always that, and it is not only that.

Sometimes it is simply giving homeschooled children some of the opportunities not readily available in a homeschool classroom.  Take gym class, for example.  Unless you are the Duggars, you are not going to have a sufficient amount of students in your homeschool to effectively offer games like "sharks and minnows", "spiders and flies", or even baseball.  

Science labs are another area of homeschooling often more efficiently handled through a co-op.  Many parents chipping in make the cost of all that fancy-shmancy lab equipment more affordable.  Plus, your home doesn't have to get all formaldehyde-stinky on frog dissection day.

Not only is our family enrolled in Seeds of Faith, I have also worked with a wonderful team of ladies to start an additional co-op closer to home, called HEARTH.

Because I had nothing else to do in all my spare time...

This year, my children are taking co-op classes that include: Martial Arts, Gym, Michigan  Facts and History, American Icons, My Amazing Human Body, Astronomy, and more.

First day of co-op, 2012 "silly face" pose

Our family is also a scouting family.  At least, the female 3/5 of us are (z-man isn't old enough, yet). The girls and I are members of American Heritage Girls.  The girls are earning badges this year in the Science and Technology, Heritage, and Family Living frontiers.  Also, as a part of the American Heritage Girls program, the girls and I have each completed well over 10 hours of community service (Z-man comes along when he can).

This is a highly sociable activity.  There are 22 girls in J-Bird and Trincy's age-level unit, and 46 girls altogether in our troop.  

Just try to keep that many 5-18 year-olds from socializing.  I triple-dog-dare you.

J-Bird - ready to March with Troop MI3130 at the Burton Memorial Day Parade.

Trincy - ready to march  with Troop MI3130  at the Burton Memorial Day Parade 

So, that is how our family handles the perceived "problem of socialization" in our homeschool.  I like that there are still educational components to these activities.  I must say that we are adequately busy, but not overly so.  Our co-ops and our AHG Troop each meet only every-other week,  This means we have entire weeks "off" when we can refresh and re-charge for our away-from-home learning adventures.

I'd love to hear how you have been intentional about socialization!

Thank you, God, for the wonderful volunteers who make all of these activities possible!

Worm Fun - Science in Disguise

Because the majority of my kids like worms (as Meatloaf once opined,  two out of three ain't bad), when I came across this post, I decided immediately that a big bowl of gelatin worms would be in my family's future!  I figured this little hands-on project would make stuff they learn on plain old worksheets seem more interesting.


(Who says Pinterest is a waste of time?!) 

Since orange jello was the only flavor I had two boxes of, I modified this a bit and added both red AND green food coloring.  I didn't count the drops, I just did my best to make the jell-o mix look as much like a bunch of blended up worms as I cold.  


Blech.  lol.


My friend had dropped three of her brood off to be watched, as well, so all six kiddos had an ooey-gooey good time helping to make these little critters.


This was, without a doubt, the most fun I have ever had while being completely disgusted! 

We opted for the "Straw pinching" method of "birthing" our worms.

Trincy's tended to come out in pieces, due to her technique.  This is also how real life worms typically end up in her possession.   Irony? You decide.

Close up of the DISGUSTING segment part of our worms! Eeew!

This is what was left in the carton after our worm-making.  I called it "compost".

Worm "castings" (remnants from making worms dumped into a bowl)

My friend's daughter, Bananna, enjoying a worm. Note: This worm is stuck to her bottom lip.  The worms really cannot be slurped like noodles, they come out too flimsy for that.  Perhaps another packet of unflavored jello might have solved this?

                                         

                                Kids and I were completely grossed out, but we had a BLAST!

The Best Learning Doesn't Always Come From Text Books

This week, my daughter asked me, "What does S.O.S. stand for?"  She had plenty of ideas of what it might be.  So did I.  Turns out, we were both wrong!

Also this week, my (same) daughter asked me. "Why do sharks die if turned upside down?"

(??????????????)

My response: "Sharks die if turned upside down?"
Her reaction, "I think so.  Otherwise, why would whales flip them over?"

LOL!  I had no clue about either of these notions, so, we looked it up.


Together.

I adore home-education!

The Rest of The Story (About Ping)

This is the third blog entry in a series about Five In A Row (FIAR) study we did on The Story About Ping.  You can read about the FIAR program and our first adventure with PING here.   I also blogged previously about a  science experiment we did as a part of this FIAR study.

Some of our Ping adventures did not really produce much I considered blog-worthy.  This means one of three things:

1. The activity did not lend itself well to pictures/there were no cool pictures to be had.
2. Nothing especially amusing took place
3. We did not enjoy the activity

The Ping Math day was dreadful.  My oldest had a worksheet on which she figured out (among other things) exactly how many ducks lived on the boat with Ping, but she was having trouble understanding the directions.  Meanwhile, on her own worksheet, Trincy was supposed to color the 42 cousins brown, but she decided to color them orange and color 58 of them, instead.  Her big sister, already annoyed by her own confusing worksheet, was chagrined and dismayed about the excessive amount of orange ducks and was very vocal about it.  Meanwhile, Z-Man and I were trying to count ducks, but a chagrined and vocal environment does not make for easy counting.  Somehow, we all muddled through, and were happy to return to our "normal math".

For Literature study, we had some discussion about what makes the story "good" and "compelling", including going through the book together to find the use of repetition, colorful language, and other literary techniques.  My oldest was challenged to incorporate these techniques in her own work, and I hope that she will eventually permit me to share the finished pieces here on the blog.

For Social Studies/Geography, we watched some free online videos.  My kids liked the video we found of people eating scorpions in a Chinese Market. Another notable video we watched that day was this one from National Geographic about the tree-planting efforts of the Chinese government.

While we may have done our Five In A Row readings of Ping, I am not ready to leave China behind!  This unit has inspired me to explore China further this homeschool year.  Additionally, I had chosen the "why don't ducks get wet" over an experiment with buoyancy.  I think that we might re-visit Ping one last time in order to do that experiment, mostly because I think it would be FUN!

Our next FIAR book will either be Madeline or Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.  FIAR is flexible enough that I can do either, and wait and decide when I am good and ready to.  I think it will depend on how I am feeling when we start up.  I am leaning toward Mike Mulligan, with it's possibilities for exploring America's history, and bringing us back closer to home before we launch off into the study of a different country.  After all, I am really not done exploring China, yet!

The Story About Ping - Science

This is my second post about our Five In A Row (FIAR) studies relating to The Story About Ping.  You can read the first post (which includes an explanation of the FIAR program) here.

I was inspired by a blog entry I'd seen to do an experiment with the kids about why ducks don't get wet.  After our reading of the story, I started by asking the children if they'd noticed that Ping never looked soggy in our story.

As I spoke, I started gathering my materials (because, of course, I did not have them prepared the night before).  We contrasted Ping, who stayed dry-looking after coming out of the water, to the boy in the story, who'd fallen into the water and was dripping wet.

Still searching for what I needed to run our little experiment, I explained that a duck's body has a special oil, and that the grooming ducks do, called "preening", spreads the oil all throughout the feathers.  This oil helps to keep them dry.

("Look!  I'll show you" cried the enthusiastic Mother, as she continued to rummage through the cupboards. Popping up some moments later with a handful of brown paper bags and a spray bottle, she exclaimed, "Isn't God so creative and awesome?! .)

I then gave each kiddo two brown paper lunch sacks (NO, not the $290 ones!) and told them that these would be our "ducks".

("Oh! These must be the ducks' feet!" Exclaimed an enthusiastic student, and suddenly,  three pairs of brown paper "duck feet" began dancing all over the  counter.)

Dancing duck feet

I broke up the dancing by introducing crayons and instructing that each child select a bag to be "the duck".  The selected bags were then given duck-y faces.

Three interpretations of a duck's face

Next it was time to cover our "ducks" with oil.  I gave them a paper towel dipped in olive oil and told them to start "preening".

"Preening"

 After the ducks were finished preening, we "made it rain" on the ducks and also onto the "control" paper bag.  The children enjoyed watching the water pool and bubble on the surface of the "duck".   The control, meanwhile, simply got wet.

Made this picture extra large so that you could see the "pools" of water on the oiled "duck"

Next, I had J-Bird round up three empty soda bottles while I filled our fancy-tea-party pitcher (kettle?) with water.  I then let each child pour water into a bottle until it was about half-full, then I added each kiddo's choice of food coloring to the water.

The caps were (tightly!) screwed on, and then my seemingly innocent instructions of "Shake it up until it is all mixed in," were gleefully obeyed.

Next, I put some olive oil into each bottle of colored water and replaced the caps.

I thought the olive oil was ugly, but I kept that thought to myself. 

Once again, the children were instructed to "shake it up until it is all mixed in".  The kids shook and shook their bottles.  They would stop occasionally, watch the oil re-surface, and then shake again.

("It's getting closer!" Exclaimed the enthusiastic J-Bird.  She stopped shaking for a moment, then watched as the olive oil once again rose to the top.  With a sigh, she shook again, this time with more vigor and determination than ever before.) 

Z-Man is shaking it up! 

 Finally, I felt it was appropriate (and probably legally required) that I let them in on the secret: 

("You can stop shaking, now," Mother confessed,  "You will never get them to combine!  Oil and water don't mix!")

I did not have my camera at the ready, because nothing says "I'm about to trick you terribly" like a camera in your face.  

 I had to have the kids re-inact their indignation at my evil withholding of information:

 

 

The Story About Ping - Geography and Dioramas

Thanks to getting a great deal on the first Volume in the series, I am trying the "Five In A Row" (FIAR) curriculum supplement with my kids this year.  The concept of FIAR is pretty neat; basically, you read the same story together five days in a row, and each day you do an activity or project that goes along with a theme from the story.   You would (presumably) cover a minimum of five areas of study throughout the week, all with a unifying theme to make the process memorable and cohesive.

Today was our second day with "The Story About Ping", a tale of the adventures of a yellow ducking who lives in China.

The Story About Ping - Our first Five In A Row book

Today I decided to enhance my read-aloud of the book with some traditional Chinese music.  I selected "River Water", since the title seemed apropos. I allowed it to play softly in the background as I read, and I think it really added to the tone of the story.

Then it was time for the lesson.  One of the great things about FIAR is that you can switch things up; you don't necessarily have to do science every Monday or art every Thursday.  Because I had it ready to go, I decided to cover geography today.

We all found China on the map together, and then my third-grader got a worksheet about China's geography to complete.  The first-grader got a lesson in "North, South, East and West", where the sun rises and sets, and how to locate the compass on a map.  Meanwhile, the preschooler got his hands on some kid scissors and cut himself a "boat" out of a piece of handwriting paper.

This boat originally went the other way. But Junior did not want to show that side, as his sister has written his name on it with pink crayon.  The horror.

This got me thinking about a website I'd stumbled upon while looking up ideas for this Ping unit, where the "Suggested Student Assessment" was to make a diorama of a scene from the book.  I showed my oldest how to make the diorama and explained to her how to make creatures with tabs on the bottom so that they'd "Stand up" inside the scene.

She was immediately excited and enthusiastic.  However, she was NOT excited and enthusiastic to create a diorama of the Yangtze river and Ping the duck.  No, she was excited to create a "savannah" scene.  Being the cool teacher that I am, I decided that since she'd completed her China worksheet, she could make her diorama however she wanted.  Here it is:

Lion, bird, gazelle, and meerkat.  Cute, eh?

Meanwhile, Junior was pressing me to cut out some shapes for his diorama:

According to the Artist: "It's a dinosaur walking around in the ocean. With a dog.  And a triangle."

Sadly, I have no pictures of Little Sister's diorama, which was made up as a dog pound or pet shop, or something.  She was using hers as more of a play-set, though, moving the pieces around instead of gluing them down..  I think she was the least impacted by this craft; much to the delight of her brother, she spent most of the time asking me why we were spending so much time making "diarrheas".

My oldest was very much "in" to this project.  She proceeded to make another couple of dioramas, one of "a library" (not pictured) and this one of "under the sea":

A mermaid and two dolphins

Between cutting shapes out for the kids, I managed to eek out a bit of artistic expression.  If I am honest, I must confess that I just HAD to make one;  it was driving me mildly bonkers that NOT ONE of my kids was paying homage to the original story during this craft session.  So, here ya go:

Interpretation of "fishing birds" scene

My son brought the Ping book to me tonight and asked me to read it.  I'm glad he didn't protest about having to wait until tomorrow to read it again.  That is the one thing I wonder if I will like about this program; I know kids like to hear a story again and again, but I am not sure I can say I enjoy reading anything 'Five in a Row" times.  But, it is keeping them engaged and we are having fun, so we're going to keep it up.  For now.