Happy Pi Day- Homeschool Celebration

Happy Pi Day!

We will be celebrating Pi Day with Co-Op friends.  We are scheduled to complete scavenger hunt, share treat and several Pi themed games.  At 3:14 pm we will sing Happy Birthday to Einstein.

We will post all the fun later.  But here is a peek how we kicked off Pi Day.

The Learning Power of Lego

Via: Online College Advice

Composer of the Month:Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann

We are continuing our study of the Baroque period composers with the most of productive composer of that time Georg Philipp Telemann. We will be listening to his music and completing the activities provided by Classics for Kids.

This Week's Prayer

Father we ask your blessing on our day as mothers, educators, wives and sisters in Christ. Father help us to remember our children as pure potential and not get caught up in their current isses. For Father you have a great plan for them.


In Jesus we pray Amen.

Wordless Wednesday: Handwriting

Good Advice for Starting School

Melissa Morgner at Half Dozen Mama has some good advice about starting school. The statement stayed with me was number 4.
4. Don’t be discouraged by the tears. Yours or theirs. They will cry, most likely. You might, or will at least feel like it. It’s hard for everyone to get back into a routine. Give your children and yourself LOTS of grace.

Wordless Wednesday: Library of Congress

Just the Basics, M’am

Tricia has a great post at Heart of the Matter this morning about ramping up the school year. It speaks to my heart because that is my plan for the year.
Just the Basics, M’am

Homeschool Day Programs: Washington DC and Northern VA

Every year we miss some of the homeschool days because the dates get buried in my email pile and never get put on the calendar. This year I vowed to make at least one of these adventures and incorporate it into our lesson plan for the year. Here are our top three opportunities.

National Aquarium Baltimore Homeschool Days 2011

September 13–15, 2011 In Baltimore MD

Designed for homeschool families/groups (ages 5 and up), each half-day session features a different environmental theme and includes an interactive presentation, a classroom activity and/or a discovery lab. This is an opportunity for parents and students to learn together, so parents, please plan on attending with your student. Please provide the reservationist with your student’s grade level so we can plan accordingly.

Colonial Williamsburg Special Events for Homeschoolers

September 10-25 Colonial Williamsburg

During the year, Colonial Williamsburg designates several weeks as Homeschooler Experiences. In addition to the variety of activities and programming throughout the Historic Area, special programs are scheduled for homeschool participants including a variety of hands-on opportunities. The 2011 Homeschooler Experience dates are September 10-25; 2012 Homeschooler Experience dates are February 11-26 and September 8-23 . Special rates are available during this period for homeschoolers. Groups or individuals are welcome. Sample itineraries are available.

National Building MuseumHomeschool Days

Wednesday, November, 16, 2011

The same programs offered throughout the year for school groups will be offered to individual families during the Museum's upcoming Homeschool Days.

2011-2012 Days (registration will open in fall 2011):
Wednesday, November, 16, 2011
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

We also always have to drop in on there Lego Exhibitions and build room.

They also have great curriculum kits. Re-create the Museum's design education programs in your own classroom with our curriculum kits.

So those are some of the big field trips planned for the school year.

“Not” Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

Thanks to the good folks at Heart of the Matter is hosting a "Not Back-to-School Blog Hop. I so love this time of year. It has become a tradition as well as a necessity in our adventure. Because this Blog Hop always helps me organize my plans and is the skeleton for our required state yearly Notice of Intent (NOI) homeschool documentation.

The theme for this year is character building and simplicity. We did not finish some core programs last year due to hospitalization and family issues. We needed this summer off and I did not want to rush through the material in May. Some of what you see may look like a little like last year.

I will be trying something new this year. I call the concept layering. Instead of starting with all six subjects on the first day of school I am going to start with three basics and add on one additional subject in three weeks. This allows us to slowing expand the day as opposed to just jumping back into the jammed back schedule which leaves me wiped out and the family in chaos.

Here we go....

Bible and Character Development

Positive Action for Christ's program Growing with God. And weekly review with church provided material from Studio 252.

We are considering AWANA, but it may make the schedule to intense and not leave time for play dates and down time.

History

Will continue with Story of The World program Volume I, Ancient Times. We stopped with the Phoenicians and will be picking up with the the Greeks and Rome. Then we will move into The Story of the World Vol. 2 (The Middle Ages) with the accompanying Activity Book and CD. Volume 2 covers world history from the fall of Rome to the rise of the Renaissance (AD 400-1600).

The projects and Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History links were a big hit last year. We will start a Timeline Notebook this year and using the first week for review parts of Volume 1.

Language Arts

Sonlight Language Arts for Grade 3 will include good literature and

“ Includes full schedule, teaching helps, separate parent instructions with full answer and definitions, reader schedule, dictation, spelling, creative expression, and student activity sheets.”

Grammar
We will still use living books from the series “ If you were” to supplement Sonlight grammar.

Spelling
We began http://www.all-about-spelling.com/in late September.

Handwriting

Handwriting without Tears Cursive Writing

Additional resources for literature Beyond Five In a Row and what ever takes our fancy at the library.

Math

We went through two different mathematics curriculum last year until we found our solution with Math Mammoth.

We will add if need with lectures from Khan Academy , Math Games and Stuart J. Murphy Math Start for Visual Learners .

Fine Motor Skills/ Life Skills

This is still an area of concentration we will :

• Creative coloring

• Learning Chess (pincer grip)

• Knot So Fast (Think Well Game)

• Free Typing Game

• Montessori Activities and even more and just a little bit more

Geography

This was difficult because I did not want to max out on the states at his age. He loves playing Scrambled States of America and absorps facts fast. He is addicted to How the States Got There Shapes .

So I was going to leave states as just fun time and do one country a month for world geography using Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World . We will listen to music of the country a couple of times of the four weeks and end the month with either dinner out or homemade meal from this country.

Physical Education

We are enrolled in a Homeschool Physical Education co-op class and martial arts. Whew!

Music/Drama/Art

Our primary resource will be Grace Abounding The Core Knowledge Anthology of African-American Literature, Music, and Art (AAALMA).

We are enrolled in a local art co-op class and visiting museum exhibits throughout the year. The National Gallery of Art has a great homeschool program were you can borrow material and get free online tours

Still need to find a music class we can afford but we will be taking part of in free concert/play venues in the area. The search is still on for individual instruction but we do have an at home drum program. As well as alternating sources with a musician month using Classics for Kids and AAALMA.

Science
We are enrolled in a accelerated local co-op class and visiting museum exhibits throughout the year. We still have Real Science 4 Kids Pre-Level Biology to complete but we will take our time. We have a month of things to do just with the microscope.

Remember plan subject to change due to real life events.

Blessings

Pressing Forward

This has been a tough summer. I was literally burned up and out. There have been months of financial struggles, close friends divorces, illness with family members and a chaotic home life. So I finally just stopped the roller coaster that is our fast paced lives and just shut down for a couple of months. Not that a mother can ever completely shut down, but we are operating on the bare basics without outside activities, classes, field trips and entertaining visitors. We needed to bring the laughter and joy back into our home and homeschool.

Most people don't understand how much energy, planning and creativity that is required to mother as well as educate a high energy, curriculum absorbing and strong willed male child. It has been a great challenge and I have loved every minute of it. So much in fact that I think we were overextended and my expectation of myself were to high. We all longed for the last day of school and did not look forward to starting up again.

It has been a season of praying, debating and doubting. There are so many changes happening in our live, community and small homeschool group. A lot of days are spent without friends and that has been my biggest concern. My prayer has always been “Am I doing what is right for him? Can I keep up the pace? Where can we find Godly friends?”

This year for the first time of our almost four year journey we seriously considered public education. At first my prayer was not directed at what was best for our child, I admit that. It was the fear of not measuring up in some way...him being that weird socially awkward kid that gets bullied .....or the kid that never had the school experience or overprotected child who later can not cope. Fear that he would be lonely and would not have friends. FEAR!

It manifested itself physically with sleepless nights, stress headaches and depression. Through it all a fellow homeschooler, my spiritual sistah kept reminding me:

2 Timothy 1:7...
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Every place I went I kept hearing this message in church and on the radio. Faith that is what was missing. Faith!

So I started to pray again. Asking for the faith to follow what God's plan for us. Because God does not want us to live in fear. It brings him no glory or joy. So we started anew with a spirit of faith. We sat down wrote out a pros and cons list and prayed over it. God began to work, not in large flashy ways but on my heart, in still quiet moments. Everyday showing me where I needed to work, labor and rejoice.

So again this year with step out on faith and move forward.

Knowing Faithful Is Our God lyrics

Used Book Sale Gold

This week we attended our local library's used book sale. It was a home educators dream with three gyms full of used books and a free book for every kid attending the event. Last year I did not find this sale until late into day one. This year I grabbed some of the ladies and we where there when the doors opened on a bright sunny morning.

Being a veteran of homeschool conferences and book sales I brought along my trusty bright orange suitcase. I fear it was bulging after just twenty minutes.

Can you guess how many books I shoved into this beauty?

I was very selective because we still have curriculum to buy for next school year but we got most of our wish list.

• 26 Magic Tree House Books
• Usborne Reference Books
• a raw cookbook
• CM book
  

So we got 64 books for $49.00!

Happy Homeschooler!

Virtual Learning for free

Salman Khan talk at TED 2011 (from ted.com)

Mini Unit Study: Space Shuttle Endeavour Math Day2

How fast is the space shuttle Endeavour traveling around the earth?

So we go to Real Time Satellite Tracking at N2YO.com which gives the location of Endeavour in latitude and longitude as well as ~ travel speed. According to this site Endeavour was traveling at 4.62 m/s during Day 2 of it's mission. That means it travels 5 miles in about a second. WOW!

So we have to do a little math to get miles per hour.

Let's start with basics:

60 seconds = 1 minute
60 minute = 1 hour

16 272 m/h

This means that the Endeavour orbits Earth (and sees a sunrise) once every 92 minutes!

We finished the day with a writing prompt titled "What would you bring on the shuttle?"

Mini Unit Study: Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch Day 1

We decided to mark of the end of the Space Shuttle program with a mini-unit study on the remaining shuttles flights.

Endeavour May 15, 2011 STS-134
Atlantis mid-July 2011 STS-135

So on May 16th we grabbed some gluten free pancakes, grapes, OJ and Matchbox Shuttle orbital to watch the launch on CNN online. Hubby was so thrilled he stayed around to watch it with us. This was after all the final launch of space shuttle Endeavour STS-134 and there were pancakes on a weekday. No matter how many launches you watch your heart races at 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and GO for lift off! It was thrilling to share it as a family.

It was a special time as we shared our memories of watching our first space shuttle launch back in 1981!

Also if you are old enough your heart stops the minute the solid rocket boosters separate with an explosion of smoke and fire. Challenger STS-51-L we will never forget.Back row (L-R): Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik. Front row (L-R): Michael J. Smith, Francis "Dick" Scobee, Ronald McNair.

“ We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' to 'touch the face of God." President Ronald Regan




Later we pulled out our shuttle and simulated Endeavour's flight path which we were tracking via the internet.
We look forward someday to seeing Endeavour in CA when it is retired later this year. Discovery is bound for the Smithsonian and the National Air and Space Museum at the same time and we will be in the opening day crowds.

More to come...space shuttle math.

The Write Shop Primary Review & Giveaway

The Write Shop Primary Review & Giveaway

Erica at Confessions of a Homeschoolers is giving away another great program.



Looking for some help teaching your children how to write? Write Shop is different. It is a teacher directed program that literally shows your children the “how to” of writing through examples, brainstorming, working together, and editing. No longer are they just trying to come up with something creative out of thin air. I know that seems simple, and it is, but its works!

So hop on over to Confessions of a Homeschooler to enter for the giveaway!

Homeschooling vs Home Education?

Which do you prefer homeschooling or home education?


home·school·ing/ˈhōmˈsko͞oliNG/ Noun: The education of children at home by their parents.


home ed·u·ca·tion Homeschooling or homeschool (also called home education or home learning) is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school

Does it matter?

Using The Microscope

Over the holiday break I finally gave in and switch science programs from Winter Promise to Real Science-4-Kids. Ironhide was not enjoying Winter Promise Shoots, Buzz and Sprouts because the information was presented in a disjointed and confusing manner. The hands on experiments were good but there were also information gaps that were not acceptable to us. I spent a lot of time trying to fill in the gaps and not enjoying science time. So after a short Google search we found Real Science-4-Kids (RS4K).

RS4K may not be our long term science program but it is a nice transition for spring where we tend to be more literature and math intensive. Our major science study for the spring will be our garden and outdoors so we chose the Biology bundle. This program actually gives us the detail we searching for with a nice kid friendly text. We supplement with interesting websites recommended from the Usborne Internet Linked Science Encyclopedia.

This week we will be learning how to use our microscope. Last year we were gifted with a new Celestron Digital Microscope. This is a neat tool because it allows us to connect to the computer and save our pictures to share.

Tools for this Week

-Celestron Digital Microscope

-Brain Pop Video on Microscope

-Looking through a microscope by Linda Bullock

-Lakeshore Learning Prepared Slides

-Laptop computer

Math Lesson: Gluten free baking flour and Legos

Hey Mom, why do you buy all that gluten free flour? Why are you getting so much?

Son, it is cheaper to shop in bulk than to buy big small bags. Let us go to the white board and bring the laptop.

First we found the price of favorite GF bread at the local grocery store and online.

Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
Local Grocery $3.99 for 22oz (3.99/22) = $0.18 per oz (add tax,gas) = $0.25
Amazon $26.80 for 176.oz = (26.60/176) =$0.15 per oz


The Amazon flour is sold as a bulk item, so it may look like we are saving only pennies but factor in driving to the store, local sales taxes and just time spent shopping it can actually add time to our day. Amazon.com is better than local grocery store price per pound and you get free shipping over $25 dollars. Which saves on me driving to Wholefoods to buy Gluten Free items.

Hmmm Mom, does that work with Legos? Let's do the math.....



Okay at the Lego Store's small pick a brick bucket is about $8 you get about 40 pcs. The bigger bucket is $15 dollars and you get squeeze about 90 medium pcs or 200 small pcs in the bucket.

$8/40=$0.20 for the small bulk bucket and you points towards more Legos.
$14.00/90=$0.16 for the Big bulk bucket and you points towards more Legos.


So it's cheaper to buy the big bucket. Can we go to the Lego store?


(Why didn't I see that coming. LOL)

Kitchen Tip:
I also use http://www.mambosprouts.com/ which has organic food coupons.

I use my crockpot using this http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/03/perfect-gluten-free-bread-baked-in.html to make bread. All of her dishes are gluten free and it saves time, but you have to plan.

(All photos are borrowed from the web because my camera is off-line.)

Snowschooling 2011 Day 2

A quiet walk to the library.

A big hill and friends provides hours of fun.

A frozen pond and science observation.