Ha!

My friend Mark sent me this joke:

"Following a tough day of homeschooling her children, my friend was in the kitchen muttering to herself when her 14-year old son walked in. "What's going on?" he asked. "I'm having a parent-teacher conference," she growled."

Dino day!

Since we are reading The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved by Ken Ham, I thought it would be fun to have a Dinosaur-theme for today. So, after our morning reading, we had dinosaur (hot dogs & eggs [green/red food coloring) for lunch & lava juice(red tea). Jonathan got really grossed out and couldn't finish his. I guess he has too active of an imagination! ha!

We also created a dino-style land complete with a volcano. Truth be told, I am sure it is not the Biblically correct layout.
No one really knows exactly "when" the dinosaurs died. There are all types of theories. I personally like to believe that they existed right along-side Adam and Eve and then became extinct after the flood. That is how the book we are reading presents it, and I just like that theory.

I have also heard theories (of those that they were part of the gap theory) that they came before Adam & Eve and during the gap between Genesis 1:1 & 1:2. Regardless, we know that GOD CREATED. And we wanted to create and have fun ourselves.

Quick Update

I am trying to keep my computer time to a minimum, but I wanted to post a really quick update.

Besides ABeka Math, Reading, & Language Arts, learning hymns (How Firm a Foundation presently!), and drilling with flashcards via "buddy school", we are reading the following books. I read a short section each morning. It may take awhile to finish, but it also allows us to get a lot of information into our brains!

• Just finished Genesis today!
• Scripture Memory: Proverbs 9:10,11 *We were playing a game today with it. If you like "x", then say the verse. Ryan said, "If you like to slide down muddy slides, say the verse." He then proceeded to quote the verse with fervor! I thought that was cute!
  
• Still reading Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
• Boyscouts of America 1911 version (this book is huge, but reading in little bites!)
  
• Heath, Safety, & Manners (family reading although it is for first grade... it is a good review for Justin and a good start for Ryan!)
• Don't Know Much About American History - learned about the Boston Tea Party today... hoping to find the Disney "Johnny Tremain" movie at the library.
  

• The Great Dinosaur Mystery SOLVED! by Ken Ham who is the founder and executive director of Answers in Genesis. We just started this book yesterday.
  

Something I liked that we read today:" God as foundational to ALL thinking (biology, history, geology, etc.) is the Christian World view. Man's beliefs (evolutionary history) as foundational to ALL thinking is called a Secular world view. Most Christians have been indoctrinated through the media and education system to think in a secular way. They tend to take their secular thinking TO the Bible, instead of using the Bible to BUILD all their thinking.


I(Kim) personally love those verses that say:
I Corinthians 3:18-21a

¹⁸Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

²⁰And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

²¹Therefore let no man glory in men

Learning While Traveling

Last Wednesday we traveled to Alabama for my sister Erin's wedding. It was fun, and we took three days off normal school. Kind of like a little spring break, I guess.

Learning did not cease during our trip though.

One thing I decided to do was to go to the library and carefully choose some audio educational material to listen to in the van. My van does not have a CD player, so I had to find some cassette tapes. Thankfully our library still has some, so I was happy about that! I was actually able to find a lot of read along audio sets. Subjects were covered but not limited to Social Studies, History, Science, and of course Literature. I especially liked the Smithsonian Backyard series. We had two of those. I loved the colorful art as it taught my children about bumblebees and armadillos!

The titles included the following:

1. Stone Soup
2. Armadillo at Riverside Road
3. Kate Shelly and the Midnight Express
4. City Mouse and the Country Mouse
5. Lost in the Storm
6. Hill of Fire
7. The Josefina Story Quilt
8. Bumblebee at AppleTree Lane
9. The Long Way to a New Land
10. The Good, The Bad, and the Two Cookie Kid
11. Arthur's New Puppy
    

Audio School!

I love the idea of learning through audio. Here are a couple of things I am currently using as supplements:

~Audio math CDs (for example, I am using the one pictured above right now to help with multiplication tables).

~Audio books (the boys just finished listening to the Chronicles of Narnia's:The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe). They can learn in the bed at night too!

~Audio internet mp3 files. My favorite sites for those are the following:

www.yourstoryhour.org

http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/

History: Great American Pastimes

Today while we were reading an excerpt from Don't Know Much About American History by Kenneth C. Davis, we came upon a really interesting section entitled "Great American Pastimes".


["Which of the following might you have played as a colonial kid?"
a) basketball
b) hopscotch
c) Frisbee
d) miniature golf

The answer is letter b. There wasn't much time to play in colonial days, but kids squeezed in games of tag, blindman's bluff, London bridge, hopscotch (then called scotch hopping), or hide and seek.

"If you were very lucky, you might have a spinning top, cornhusk, or rag doll, or a set of checkers (called checks), dominoes, jacks,marbles, or cards."]

Jonathan cracked me up. He said, "Since checkers were called 'checks', were marbles called 'marbs'?"

hahaha... I didn't laugh out loud although it was VERY. HARD.!

Mr. Speedy

Justin sits proudly after being a good example to Jonathan. He completed chores, oral reading, silent reading, & seatwork early today. Jonathan caved under the peer pressure and finished right after Justin. Teacher Mom is proud, and Principal Dad will be elated to come home to such news. :-)

Buddies!

Science Project: The Human Eye

We are studying the human eye for science. I was looking for a good picture to use as a model from which to pattern our own model.


I found a great cornstarch clay recipe here. It worked beautifully!

Jonathan stirring and heating the salt/water mixture Ryan mixing the cornstarch and water

Justin molding the dough

I didn't get pictures of everyone mixing the food coloring in, but I would have gotten it all over the camera!
I used a black magic marker to outline the iris and make the pupil.

Jonathan had cornstarch all over his face!

I used a wooden kabob skewer to keep it in place

Here is the optic nerve trailing behind

I realize it is not an extremely complex model, but trying to place a clear cornea over the outside of the iris seems a little difficult as well as filling the eyeball full of liquid.

I did have an idea for the cornea though... I thought of those plastic bubbles you get in a gumball machine.

Below are the Youtube documentaries we watched:

A Fun Vocabulary Idea

I had an idea in regards to enriching the boys' vocabulary. I have been reading books that are a little "older" than their level to them.

In some of our reading, I have to stop and explain the meanings of the words we read.

Some of the books we are reading:

Genesis - King James version
Robinson Crusoe
Making Brothers & Sisters Best Friends

I started writing the words on a piece of paper that I had to explain to them, and post it on the refrigerator. My goal is to use the words in conversation all day long. It can be quite fun!

Here is today's list:

1. multitude
2. inherit
3. tarry
4. vow
5. reluctance
6. consulted
7. ravenous
8. diverse

The following is my favorite dictionary:

Webster's 1828 version (includes Bible verses to go with the words!). The original meanings of words have been changed over time (as society has moved further away from God!).

Here is the link:

http://1828.mshaffer.com/

A few ways I have been using the sentences:

• Please do not be reluctant to complete your math paper."
• "You do not have a multitude, but only a few."
• "I know you are ravenous, but please just do that last little problem and we will eat lunch."
• "Please tarry at the table. Do not go into the other room."
• "If you vow to finish, you will inherit many blessings from your mother!"
• "If you need help, please consult me."
• "Those are diverse, but that makes life interesting."