Matthew started not feeling great again this afternoon but thankfully we were able to curl up on the couch and do our last bit of schoolwork today with the help of Wikipedia. We read our chapter in Little House in the big woods and then did research on oats, wasps, herbal remedies for fevers, and anaphylactic shock. We studied the scientific naming conventions of the oats and wasps. We learned where oats are grown and how they are processed. We learned how wasps live and what happens when you get stung and how that can lead to anaphylactic shock and what exactly that means. We talked about the different herbal remedies for fevers that people used to use (and many that are still in use) and what we use today.
Nicholas was cute today. His new thing is wanting to sit with me and read his stories to me. It's so interesting to hear his take on them.
I've been reading Christopher's art history book and I'm just beyond thrilled with it. I am learning so much from it that really adds to my understanding and appreciation of ancient art. Today I read about ancient Indian cultures and then went delving into ancient Egyptian and Greek art. I learned why the Egyptians drew people and animals the way they did. It was that they believed in order to preserve someone in the afterlife, you had to show everything of their body that you possibly could. That is why their bodies are in seemingly unnatural positions and why their head is in profile but you see the eye on the head from the position as it it were facing forward. It was all an effort to preserve the soul in the afterlife. The Greeks learned much from the Egyptians but whereas the Egyptians were using their art for a specific purpose with religious tones so their rules were rigid and unchanging, by around 450BC the Greeks were learning that there was so much more they could do and they didn't need to be bound by those rules and they let loose with a will. I had also never realized that so many of the "Greek" statues we see in marble are actually Roman reproductions of Greek pieces and were done cheaply. Many of the originals were done in bronze and used many different materials to color them and bring them from beautiful into something that was worthy of the gods.
Can't wait to continue reading this book and continue learning from it. I think it's a great course and I'm so glad Christopher is taking it.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Moon is Not Made of Green Cheese
I know it's been a few days since I updated but life has been very crazy with other appointments and we had some illness so we kind of kept to the basics and not much else but today everyone was feeling better and working well so we got to do a lot of fun stuff.
The big things are, as usual, from our Prairie Primer. Today we were studying the moon, it's cycles and effects on the tides, as well as many of the legends and myths that surround it. I tried to get the boys to blog about it but Matthew had already done his blog for the day and Jonathan is too wrapped up in his big sleepover in 11 days to care for such trifling matters. LOL At least Matthew will blog about it tomorrow.
We also did some studying on the skin and all it's many layers and the purposes it serves and how it does those. We read about how they made cheese in the 1800s and I will be trying to find the ingredients to make our own cheese later this week. Doesn't look like an easy process but it should be interesting to see if we can recreate it in some small part here. If you know where I can get some Junket, please let me know. I'll skip on the rennet. LOL
I got a chance to work with Nico a bit today as well. Kid LOVES to draw circles but other shapes are just not nearly as interesting to him. LOL But we worked on identifying them and hopefully he'll start realizing there is more to life than just round shapes. He did great with his workbook and had fun with a couple of projects. We had a lovely time reading "The Little Rabbit" which was one of my favorite books growing up. He really enjoyed it as well and insisted on reading it to Matthew afterward. So cute! He's also getting into doing the calendar and days of school with me and reminds me when we do the first one that we need to do the other as well. Gotta stay on top of mommy you know. She forgets stuff all the time. So glad he's figured that out already. LOL
I've started reading "The Story of Art" so I can do all the art discussions with Christopher. I've done most of them and yes, I could get away with not reading the book but if feels like cheating somehow so I'm reading it. So far I've gotten the introduction done (which he didn't have to read) and am just now starting the text but what I loved reading was what the author wants you to come away with is exactly what I want Christopher to take from it. I was hoping by going with a curriculum that tends to think that way, I'd get that but it was nice to have that confirmed. I think we will both enjoy this course. Now if only I could get caught up with his History reading. Unfortunately, I don't think I can get away without reading that one. Maybe it will be really interesting too?!
The big things are, as usual, from our Prairie Primer. Today we were studying the moon, it's cycles and effects on the tides, as well as many of the legends and myths that surround it. I tried to get the boys to blog about it but Matthew had already done his blog for the day and Jonathan is too wrapped up in his big sleepover in 11 days to care for such trifling matters. LOL At least Matthew will blog about it tomorrow.
We also did some studying on the skin and all it's many layers and the purposes it serves and how it does those. We read about how they made cheese in the 1800s and I will be trying to find the ingredients to make our own cheese later this week. Doesn't look like an easy process but it should be interesting to see if we can recreate it in some small part here. If you know where I can get some Junket, please let me know. I'll skip on the rennet. LOL
I got a chance to work with Nico a bit today as well. Kid LOVES to draw circles but other shapes are just not nearly as interesting to him. LOL But we worked on identifying them and hopefully he'll start realizing there is more to life than just round shapes. He did great with his workbook and had fun with a couple of projects. We had a lovely time reading "The Little Rabbit" which was one of my favorite books growing up. He really enjoyed it as well and insisted on reading it to Matthew afterward. So cute! He's also getting into doing the calendar and days of school with me and reminds me when we do the first one that we need to do the other as well. Gotta stay on top of mommy you know. She forgets stuff all the time. So glad he's figured that out already. LOL
I've started reading "The Story of Art" so I can do all the art discussions with Christopher. I've done most of them and yes, I could get away with not reading the book but if feels like cheating somehow so I'm reading it. So far I've gotten the introduction done (which he didn't have to read) and am just now starting the text but what I loved reading was what the author wants you to come away with is exactly what I want Christopher to take from it. I was hoping by going with a curriculum that tends to think that way, I'd get that but it was nice to have that confirmed. I think we will both enjoy this course. Now if only I could get caught up with his History reading. Unfortunately, I don't think I can get away without reading that one. Maybe it will be really interesting too?!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
What's osmosis got to do with Little House on the Prairie?
Well, more than you'd think. Today we read about "sugar snow" which was when you'd get a late frost after the maple sap had already started moving so you'd get more sap out of the maple trees. To demonstrate how the sap runs through trees and brings the water up, we first taped 3 straws together to show how it was much harder to suck water up through 3 straws as opposed to 1. Then we cut a potato in half and put it in some water with a shallow hole scooped out. We put food coloring in each half and sugar in one half so tomorrow morning we can observe which one has drawn more water up.
We also tasted log cabin syrup and compared it against real maple syrup. We talked about the ingredients of each and the price difference. It was decided that the real maple syrup was definitely worth it.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Pinch Pots and Cheek cells
Matthew and Jonathan started their new clay class today. It came recommended by Linda and her son Ian takes the more advanced wheel class so of course, they wanted to do it too (and hopefully catch up with Ian quickly). Today they started out with the most basic of things, the pinch pot. I couldn't get many details out of them (this is the disadvantage of boys) except that they had fun and are looking forward to making coil dishes next week. I have to drop them off on the way to Nico's zoo class so I'm unable to stay generally but next week we have a break between sessions for Nico so I'll be heading over with my camera to check it out.
Nico had a fun class learning about Aye-Ayes and even got to pet a 2yr old Alligator named Tabasco. Very cool but sort of creepy at the same time.
Christopher and Ian are studying skin, hair, and teeth this week so the lab involved preparing cheek cells and looking at them under a microscope and drawing what they saw and then labeling the parts of the cell. It took several tries for them to prepare one good slide as they kept not scraping hard enough and kept knocking the slides and making a mess and having to start over. But we finally got a good sample from Linda's cheek and were able to view it at 40X and the boys both got nice drawings of the cell with all it's parts. I was so pleased when Christopher was able to label the whole thing without referring back to anything. Again, I plan to get pictures of them working in lab next week. It's really cool to see them, one at a microscope and the other preparing a slide or doing some research on the computer. Well, when we can get them both to work at the same time. I tend to set Ian off into a giggling fit and Christopher is easily distracted by their cats. Hopefully with a few more weeks together, those will stop and the labs won't take quite so long.
Nico had a fun class learning about Aye-Ayes and even got to pet a 2yr old Alligator named Tabasco. Very cool but sort of creepy at the same time.
Christopher and Ian are studying skin, hair, and teeth this week so the lab involved preparing cheek cells and looking at them under a microscope and drawing what they saw and then labeling the parts of the cell. It took several tries for them to prepare one good slide as they kept not scraping hard enough and kept knocking the slides and making a mess and having to start over. But we finally got a good sample from Linda's cheek and were able to view it at 40X and the boys both got nice drawings of the cell with all it's parts. I was so pleased when Christopher was able to label the whole thing without referring back to anything. Again, I plan to get pictures of them working in lab next week. It's really cool to see them, one at a microscope and the other preparing a slide or doing some research on the computer. Well, when we can get them both to work at the same time. I tend to set Ian off into a giggling fit and Christopher is easily distracted by their cats. Hopefully with a few more weeks together, those will stop and the labs won't take quite so long.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Still trying to work things out
Not quite sure where I'm going wrong but we are still having problems getting everyone where they need to be doing what they need to be doing in a timely manner. Thursdays are just plain going to be hard between swim and soccer practice I think and Tuesdays won't be much better once bowling and acting start up in conjunction with soccer practice. Is it bad that I'm already over the whole soccer thing and the first game is this Saturday? *sigh* We'll work around it like we always do but I'll feel much better when I have a real schedule in place. We were gone most of the day yesterday so have decided between that and the short week next week to take a few days off from our Prairie studies to catch up on a few other things. Matthew and Jonathan start their art class tomorrow and I'm still waiting to hear back about Matthew's guitar lessons.
Jonathan is enjoying his new math. He is doing Saxon for the first time and it's a lot of review right now so I'm letting him do every other one for the moment to get him geared up into it. He's doing well with writing the problems out for himself so that is also good. Still having real problems getting him to settle down and work without me standing over him. Makes it very hard to deal with Nico and him at the same time. :(
Nico is really enjoying the whole workbook thing. I've found several different books that have caught his attention, mostly Kumon and Critical Thinking. I was checking out a new Critical Thinking book for him today, Building Thinking Skills Beginning and we had to do 30 pages before he started getting too goofy to work with and even then he didn't want to quit. There were some tough things in there for him to work on so that was good because they really are developing his analytical and listening skills. Listening skills are definitely something that all my children can use work on. LOL
Matthew is actually finally working well independently this year which is great. I'm really hoping it can continue but it's been a huge relief knowing that when I ask him what's been done at the end of the day, there is a good chunk of stuff done and if something isn't done, he usually apologizes and gets right on it. That right there is a HUGE thing for him to have learned!
Finally had time to do our Art History discussion with Christopher today. He's doing well with the material but to make sure he's getting it all, I need to make sure I read his texts as well. So now I get to read The Story of Art and The American Vision in addition to whatever he's reading in English so I can keep up with him. Who knew I'd be taking these classes over again?
This weekend my big tasks with the long weekend are to get our schedule going and make sure I'm caught up on all my reading and discussions with Christopher. I may need to tweak my expectations a bit as well again. We have so many outside activities between acting, soccer, KSW, therapy, swim, science classes, labs, art, zoo class, bowling, and guitar (which yes, I know we haven't added yet but we will) that it's hard to find time for all the cool school stuff I want to do with them too. I have to say, I really shake my head at the people who ask me about socialization. The only day we don't HAVE to leave the house is Sundays. I would LOVE to be home all day keeping my children away from the big bad world so I can do nothing but instruct them but we are definitely much more of a hands-on kind of family so that's not going to happen. I just need to find a little bit of time to work on some of that traditional school stuff too, somewhere between all those other things.
Jonathan is enjoying his new math. He is doing Saxon for the first time and it's a lot of review right now so I'm letting him do every other one for the moment to get him geared up into it. He's doing well with writing the problems out for himself so that is also good. Still having real problems getting him to settle down and work without me standing over him. Makes it very hard to deal with Nico and him at the same time. :(
Nico is really enjoying the whole workbook thing. I've found several different books that have caught his attention, mostly Kumon and Critical Thinking. I was checking out a new Critical Thinking book for him today, Building Thinking Skills Beginning and we had to do 30 pages before he started getting too goofy to work with and even then he didn't want to quit. There were some tough things in there for him to work on so that was good because they really are developing his analytical and listening skills. Listening skills are definitely something that all my children can use work on. LOL
Matthew is actually finally working well independently this year which is great. I'm really hoping it can continue but it's been a huge relief knowing that when I ask him what's been done at the end of the day, there is a good chunk of stuff done and if something isn't done, he usually apologizes and gets right on it. That right there is a HUGE thing for him to have learned!
Finally had time to do our Art History discussion with Christopher today. He's doing well with the material but to make sure he's getting it all, I need to make sure I read his texts as well. So now I get to read The Story of Art and The American Vision in addition to whatever he's reading in English so I can keep up with him. Who knew I'd be taking these classes over again?
This weekend my big tasks with the long weekend are to get our schedule going and make sure I'm caught up on all my reading and discussions with Christopher. I may need to tweak my expectations a bit as well again. We have so many outside activities between acting, soccer, KSW, therapy, swim, science classes, labs, art, zoo class, bowling, and guitar (which yes, I know we haven't added yet but we will) that it's hard to find time for all the cool school stuff I want to do with them too. I have to say, I really shake my head at the people who ask me about socialization. The only day we don't HAVE to leave the house is Sundays. I would LOVE to be home all day keeping my children away from the big bad world so I can do nothing but instruct them but we are definitely much more of a hands-on kind of family so that's not going to happen. I just need to find a little bit of time to work on some of that traditional school stuff too, somewhere between all those other things.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Shedules? What are those?
Still don't have one and so many things are cropping up to keep us from getting into any kind of groove but we are just going with the flow and doing the best we can. Today we were actually home for most of the day so it was good and things got done. Jonathan and I worked on the first two lessons of his new math book. It's really basic review right now so I didn't feel bad about letting him do every other problem while he learns the new system. The big thing is going to be getting him to write out his own problems instead of me doing it all for him. I'm hoping to start off having him write as many as he can and then I'll take over and just gradually having him take over until he's doing them all. I just have no idea how far to push him with his writing but I know if I have him overdo it, he's a mess and all work will be over for the day. I need to talk to his OT about how much is a reasonable expectation.
We had fun with our Prairie lesson today. Got to pull out the science book and talk about how breathing works with the exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide. It was sad tho as Pa keeps talking about all these stories his dad told him of his youth and when I asked the boys for stories about their grandparents, they couldn't really think of any. That will definitely be high on my list of priorities, to have them go and ask their grandparents about their memories of when they were young. Maybe have them ask their great-grandparents too.
Nicholas was hilarious today. Didn't want to work with me at all. Finally he chilled out and settled down. He glued ribbon onto his apple to study the letter A. He spent the whole time insisting I sing "The A says..." and he would yell "Ahhhhh". LOL Then we read The Blue Boat which he enjoyed once I got his interest. He was mad it wasn't Yellow Ball still. Thankfully once I started reading aloud while ignoring him, he decided it wasn't so bad after all. After that, he did some coloring in one of his Kumon books. I misread the directions and told him on the second pages to draw a line while hitting all the shapes on the page. So he did that. Then after 5 pages of this, I reread the directions and realized he was supposed to do it WITHOUT hitting the other objects on the page. So I told him I made a mistake and that he needed to draw a line while going around the shapes, not hitting them. So his next several ones were done while having the line literally circling every single shape on the page! The first time we all laughed so hard that he just kept it up for the laughs. He had the biggest grin on his face doing it too. It kept him busy for quite a while tho so that was good.
Now to find some time to go over Christopher's art study with him. I feel bad sometimes that the other boys get so much of my attention but I sort of pick and choose which subjects I pay close attention to with Christopher but I make sure to hit everything and do all discussions with him at some point. Just not all get done weekly as they should and that is yet another area I need to improve on.
We had fun with our Prairie lesson today. Got to pull out the science book and talk about how breathing works with the exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide. It was sad tho as Pa keeps talking about all these stories his dad told him of his youth and when I asked the boys for stories about their grandparents, they couldn't really think of any. That will definitely be high on my list of priorities, to have them go and ask their grandparents about their memories of when they were young. Maybe have them ask their great-grandparents too.
Nicholas was hilarious today. Didn't want to work with me at all. Finally he chilled out and settled down. He glued ribbon onto his apple to study the letter A. He spent the whole time insisting I sing "The A says..." and he would yell "Ahhhhh". LOL Then we read The Blue Boat which he enjoyed once I got his interest. He was mad it wasn't Yellow Ball still. Thankfully once I started reading aloud while ignoring him, he decided it wasn't so bad after all. After that, he did some coloring in one of his Kumon books. I misread the directions and told him on the second pages to draw a line while hitting all the shapes on the page. So he did that. Then after 5 pages of this, I reread the directions and realized he was supposed to do it WITHOUT hitting the other objects on the page. So I told him I made a mistake and that he needed to draw a line while going around the shapes, not hitting them. So his next several ones were done while having the line literally circling every single shape on the page! The first time we all laughed so hard that he just kept it up for the laughs. He had the biggest grin on his face doing it too. It kept him busy for quite a while tho so that was good.
Now to find some time to go over Christopher's art study with him. I feel bad sometimes that the other boys get so much of my attention but I sort of pick and choose which subjects I pay close attention to with Christopher but I make sure to hit everything and do all discussions with him at some point. Just not all get done weekly as they should and that is yet another area I need to improve on.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Molasses-on-Snow Candy and Quantum Workshop
Didn't get a chance to update on Friday after everything else that went down that day. The kids had a good time at the Quantum workshop they did. I really wish I could have stayed and paid attention to it to get more details of what they did but I was busy chasing Nico at the park next door. From what I gathered when they came out, they set different kinds of salts on fire to see where they showed up on the light spectrum and how that corresponded to their place on the periodic table of elements. I'm hoping to get them to write a bit more details on their own blogs since after that, they were too into the idea of playing and then I was too involved in getting my keys back out of my locked vehicle to find out anything more.
Today we had my nieces over after therapy so things were a bit bonkers. It was lots of fun and I had saved one of our Prairie lessons from last week to do with them today. We read the chapter in Little House in the Big Woods about Christmas and then made our own Molasses-on-Snow candy like they did. Well, sort of.
First off, it's not snowing here right now. And the odds of it ever snowing here are slightly above that of me giving birth to a baby girl. As in, it isn't happening. So we had to figure out how to make our own snow. Ice meet Mr. Cuisinart! It sort of worked. LOL I would say that if you wish to try this in the future tho, run the ice through first and then stick it in the pans in the freezer while you make the candy. Trying to oversee the kids making snow while I was boiling the candy and trying not to burn it while 5 kids were arguing over who got to put the ice in and who got to push the button was not something I would care to repeat. Much better to oversee each one separately.
Once we had the candy and pans ready tho, it was easy to get them to settle down to make it. I don't think I had it at quite the right temperature and it was hard to work with, especially with 2 kids to a pan but they all seemed to have a good time and much laughter was heard from my living room.
It tasted okay too. Not my first choice in things to reach for but not bad either. And I think it was really good for the kids to hear about how the children in the story considered this such a treat and how for fun in the snow, they made pictures by falling off a stump and trying not to disturb the print they made of themselves as they got. How for Christmas, they were happy to get one piece of peppermint candy and a pair of new mittens in their stockings and it was a huge gift for Santa to leave a real dolly. So much different from the sense of entitlement so prevalent today.
Today we had my nieces over after therapy so things were a bit bonkers. It was lots of fun and I had saved one of our Prairie lessons from last week to do with them today. We read the chapter in Little House in the Big Woods about Christmas and then made our own Molasses-on-Snow candy like they did. Well, sort of.
First off, it's not snowing here right now. And the odds of it ever snowing here are slightly above that of me giving birth to a baby girl. As in, it isn't happening. So we had to figure out how to make our own snow. Ice meet Mr. Cuisinart! It sort of worked. LOL I would say that if you wish to try this in the future tho, run the ice through first and then stick it in the pans in the freezer while you make the candy. Trying to oversee the kids making snow while I was boiling the candy and trying not to burn it while 5 kids were arguing over who got to put the ice in and who got to push the button was not something I would care to repeat. Much better to oversee each one separately.
Once we had the candy and pans ready tho, it was easy to get them to settle down to make it. I don't think I had it at quite the right temperature and it was hard to work with, especially with 2 kids to a pan but they all seemed to have a good time and much laughter was heard from my living room.
It tasted okay too. Not my first choice in things to reach for but not bad either. And I think it was really good for the kids to hear about how the children in the story considered this such a treat and how for fun in the snow, they made pictures by falling off a stump and trying not to disturb the print they made of themselves as they got. How for Christmas, they were happy to get one piece of peppermint candy and a pair of new mittens in their stockings and it was a huge gift for Santa to leave a real dolly. So much different from the sense of entitlement so prevalent today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)