Botany today (using Apologia Botany)

 Great picture of the boys from McCormick's creek.  We went with Papa & Grammy & Dad on Monday.

Ryan's Science Books

I found these science readers at the thrift store.  Ryan loves science so much these days, that I wasn't too surprised to find him with them all lined up on his bed enjoying them.  He has started copying information from them into his "file" (a science note-book he has created on his own).

Curricula Favorites

I'm in the mood to talk about some of my favorite curricula.

 

I either have really nerdy kids, or maybe since we home-school they don't know it's not cool to sit around reading your text books, or maybe their textbooks are just that interesting.

 

I also wonder if it is odd that my Justin and Jonathan talk among themselves about the difference between commutative or non-commutative numbers.  Maybe it's odd that Justin tells us when we use a hyperbole.

 

 I might think it is a combination of all three, but I'm more likely to think it's because of the awesome way their curricula are written.   At first, I had a little difficulty pulling away from my traditional thinking about these things.   After hearing rave reviews, I decided to check out some different curricula for Math and Science.  After all, I am the parent and the teacher and yes, I am free to direct the education of my children.  So last year, I took the plunge.  I am not disappointed.    Learning should be fun, shouldn't it?  It should also stick.  I have come to the conclusion that when learning is fun, it naturally sticks.

 

You know books are fun when your children read them:

 #1 Without much coaxing

 #2 over and over....and over

 

Life of Fred Math:

 

My favorite thing about Life of Fred books - besides the fact the kids love them- is that they teach in a holistic way.  In other words, the kids learn about biology, history, and other topics along with the math instead of separating math from life.  As a matter of fact, just to name a couple of the titles: Pre-algebra with Biology and Pre-algebra with Economics. 

 

The coolest math books ever written:

Life of Fred Math 

One of the lower elementary books

*I do supplement by using math problems from other textbooks as well, but the author assures the me that it is not necessary* 

 

 

The coolest science books ever written:

Apologia Science

 

 

Justin, reading Apologia astronomy purely out of interest 

 

I think what I love so much about Apologia is that it is more of a living book, meaning that it reads more like a novel.  There are plenty of fun projects.  Instead of just answering questions, the boys narrate the information back to me.  They take notes in their notebooks.  They are allowed to draw pictures.   They seem to enjoy narration and notebooking. What kid doesn't love talking about the things they are learning?  Especially an auditory learner. They also enjoy going back and looking at the pictures they have drawn and the things they have written. 

Ryan's

 

 

Jonathan's

 



Justin's

 

 It's hard to break free from the thought process that says that learning has to be boring, but we are doing it.  I believe that more is retained when it is enjoyed.

We are studying the planet of Venus, which is covered with volcanoes.  This is one of the projects recommended in Apologia's Exploring Creation With Astronomy.  The butter represents lava which is soft, molten rock.  The experiment shows that as time passes, the molten lava hardens back into rock.

Astronomy Projects

The boys are learning astronomy using Apologia Science.  We have done a couple of fun projects that the book suggests.  The first two pictures are the boys seeing how indentions occur when craters hit a planet.  The last two pictures are of the boys making models of the planet Mercury.

The finished product.  Now we wait for them to dry...

Answers Magazine

A quote we read from Answers in Genesis magazine today :

"Although there is tremendous physical evidence of a global flood, ultimately, it is a matter of trust in a perfect God who created everything(Genesis1:1), knows everything (Colossians 2:3), has always been there (Revelation 22:13), and cannot lie (Titus 1:2).  The only alternative is to trust imperfect fallible human beings who can only speculate on the past."

Love it!

The Case of the Mummified Pig and other Mysteries in Nature

We are enjoying an excellent book on the study of ecology.  From the book:

"If dead plants and animals did not decay, the elements in them would never return to the soil and air.  Eventually plants would run out of some important elements, and they would not grow.  That would be a disaster for nearly all living things."

Wakko's universe song

Of course we explain that God made it all. This is just too fun!

Tree identification video

We watched this today:

Leaf Unit Study:

We are doing a Leaf Unit Study. 

Some books we are/will be reading:

Copywork:

Book lists on leaf stationary :-)

Preserved leaves from our nature walk:

Some of the pictures from the nature walk we took a couple of weeks ago:



Leaf Unit Study, Lapbook, Notebook Ideas

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/leaf_man.php

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/trees.php

http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/2007/10/fall-time-lapbook.html

http://www.ourbigearth.com/2008/11/02/the-home-school-lapbook-learning/

http://www.squidoo.com/tree-lapbook

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45271190@N04/5028190893/in/pool-lapbooking/

The Mosquito

I chose the easy & fun route to teach lessons about mosquitoes:





This one is great, but it won't let me embed (Click the link below to see it. It is very interesting!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFfO7f8Vr9c

Click here for the printable wheel we made with the life-cycle of a mosquito after watching the Youtube videos about mosquitoes. We are adding it to the bug notebook.

I took some pictures but my camera battery died so I didn't get great ones, but I do want to occasionally have pictures of them working on projects... so here we go:

They are always so silly! :-)

Termite homes

After reading about termites and adding a page to our insect notebook about termites, we watched this FASCINATING clip about termite homes:

Justin's first electricity experiment: The Joy Buzzer

Justin wants to study electricity, so we bought him a kit from Dangerous Books for Boys.  Here is his first experiment:  the "Joy Buzzer".   I didn't do the best job videoing, but I am glad you can actually hear the buzzing. He is so excited about it.

"The vibrating motor is a tiny motor that has an off-center weight at the end of its rotating shaft.  When the shaft spins, the center of gravity changes because of the rotating imbalanced weight.  This produces the vibrating motion.  These little motors are used in electronics such as cell phones and vibrating video game controllers to generate their vibrating action."

Butterfly videos

We are learning about butterflies.... This clip was very interesting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWT51807cyM

We also watched these:

Praying mantis

Since we have been doing a unit study about insects, and daddy found this praying mantis on Saturday, I figured it was a great time to study them!

He or she is huge!

I didn't know they could eat mice and snakes, but they do!  Eek!


We also watched the link below (It wouldn't let me embed).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hGuallLPcM

Bug notebook pages

The boys have been adding pages to their bug notebooks.  These were my 3 favorite from this week. 

  I usually read to them some information about bugs,sometimes watch a Youtube video,  and then they are allowed to choose their favorite fact. 

Ryan is in copy-work stage.

   He drew the picture himself and then copied the letters.

He says his stag beetle is eating a centipede.
All pictures are clickable.

Jonathan writes about click bugs: "Little bugs that click are called click beetles."  What I thought was so cute about this picture was the two little bugs at the top holding the banner.

Justin writes about the firefly.  He had more than one thing he liked about fireflies.

*"Lampyridae" is Latin for shining fire!!

*The chemicals in fireflies are used in research to fight cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses.

*They're related to the beetle.

Bug videos

Seeing bugs in action:

Insect/Bug Unit Study

The boys have been collecting all sorts of interesting insects (pupa, moths, and beetles of all sorts and shapes) so I decided that it would be a great time to do a bug unit study!   We have plenty of resources for to make a notebook with this study.  So far, we have used the following:

• "Bugs Fun Kit" - includes mini-books, coloring books, stickers, stencils, etc (thanks to Papa & Grammy)
• Let's Discover Insects - facts, stickers, & activities (thanks to Mummy)
• The First Book of Bugs by Margaret Williamson - amazing book that I printed from the internet several months ago and just recently read to them. 
• enchantedlearning.com.

Pictures are clickable for closeups

 

 

Justin's

 Ryan liked the Ambush Bug Nymph 

 Jonathan's little potato beetle above is saying, "Did you know that they suck insect's tissues?" 

Jonathan loves to draw comics...

They love creating notebooks.  We will be adding more to them as they learn.

BRAIN UNIT STUDY

note to self:  Try these for upcoming brain unit study
LINKS FOR BRAIN UNIT STUDY