Science Mania

So, St. Nick is making me just the slightest bit crazy today. Yesterday he had the breakthrough that if he finishes ALL his schoolwork before lunch, the rest of the day he can do whatever he wants. I'm not sure why it took him half the year to realize this, but I'm also not sure I said it aloud until yesterday when I had to endure ten minutes of "I don't WANT to do math! I don't WANT TO!!!" (the problems looked hard - they were just set up differently than he's used to seeing them).

Today we cranked from one subject to the next all morning (sort of exhausting to me - I got used to breaks every five minutes), so he can do ... drum roll ... Science! For the rest of the day. In fact, every five minutes (during math, while reading, while I'm checking email) I'd hear, "Mom, can we do science? What will we do for science? Mom? Science?"

I now have two containers of snow on the counter because of this experiment. And I might end up with potatoes soaking in water because of this experiment, though I'm hoping St. Nick forgets because I'd rather not sacrifice a potato for the sake of science, not today anyway.

I can't imagine why it never occurred to me to check online for easy experiments before. But it didn't, until today (the "Mom? Science?" helped). Why, there are zillions of experiments online that I can do with stuff I have sitting around! Here are the best resources I found. I know without any doubt whatsoever that I will become a frequent visitor to these sites. My poor potatoes.

Steve Spangler Making Science Fun. What's especially neat are the videos that illustrate many of the experiments.

Easy Science Experiments from the "surfing the net with kids" site. Too many ads, but links to all the science sites you could wish for.

The Science Explorer is an advertisement for books, but has much online content as well including Science Snacks. No, nothing edible, just "bite sized" experiments nicely organized.

And Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab. Despite the white text on a black background, which makes my eyes go buggy, it looks like there are some fun experiments with nice summaries of what each one teaches.

This should keep us busy!

Did You Get Your Flu Shot Yet?

Who wants to stand in line? I could mix up my own batch and keep it in the refrigerator. Let's hope I don't confuse it with the yogurt ...



(Thank you to A Garden Full for the laughs!)

Copybooks, Spelling Tips and More

Ok, going slightly crazy trying to figure out what to do about copywork. Getting St. Nick to do penmanship worksheets is a little like, oh, jabbing cocktail forks under my fingernails. But I've been reading up on Charlotte Mason and Classical Education, and I'm convinced I need to do this. Besides, the kid has to learn to write eventually, right? I've tried some informal copywork, which has worked wonderfully. Give St. Nick something to copy that means something (vs. a page of the letter A, "Now just write five hundred As on this page, sweetie. See you in an hour!") and it's not cocktail forks, it's more like rubbing salt into a small cut. Much better!

Here are some resources I've found ...

Everyday Spelling: A website with spelling tips and frequently misspelled words by grade grade 1.

A good list of online songs and poems for children. If I go the "make my own copybooks" route, this will be invaluable. (Hello, can you say "cut and paste"???)

A MS Word template for preschool wide-ruled paper. I've used many of the MS Word templates and they are wonderful! Not sure if the link will work, but here's the page for general stationary templates.

Back to life - Little Fish just asked for some Zucchini bread, but sadly he has a bag of marbles covering the floor, so until they're pick up, no luck! He is now playing "marble toss" into Mud Pie's dolly carriage. Hope he doesn't lose any - because I'm plum out of marbles.

Oy, speaking of out of marbles, that "good list of links" to poems above? Bla! Forget it. All the links but one are dead. Here's a list of what I managed to find:

Enchanted Tulips (1914) and other Verses for Children. (The only link from the above that worked.)

A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Luis Stevenson.

Another link to the same poems (in case the one above quits working - same poems, different site).

Mother Goose Rhymes.

More rhymes from Enchanted Learning. Try not to look at the web design.

General quotes for copybook work. Maxims and such. Some in Latin! Cool. Actually, now that I look at it, this is a cool CM site.

An interesting mix of book-themed quotes - some appropriate for young children, others not.

And there's always, of course, the Bible. (Tip: look up a passage and click "Listen")

That Time of Year Again!

Almost time to start school! And since I've spent more time planning out the school year than I have breathing, what better post than a list of books and resources?!? Enjoy!

Educational Philosophy/Introduction
(books to look at first)

John Taylor Gatto – Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. John Gatto has been a teacher for 30 years and is a recipient of the New York State Teacher of the Year award. This book is not about homeschooling, rather discusses the origins of the educational system and its current status.

Raymond and Dorothy Moore – Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child’s Education. Not “new” exactly, since the Moore’s wrote this in the late 70s, but the research cited has only been further validated with time. This is not a homeschooling book, rather is a book on child development, most specifically, educational development.

Lisa Whelchel – So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling: Fifteen Families Show How You Can Do It. Narratives of family composites show the many ways and many reasons families choose to homeschool.

General Guides

(books for those who have decided to homeschool)

Clay and Sally Clarkson – Educating the Wholehearted Child. The Clarksons discuss the rationale behind homeschooling, give an overview of methods, then develop a schooling method grounded in discipleship. Jam packed with useful tips and practical helps and can be used alongside any curriculum.

Cathy Duffy – 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. Cathy Duffy provides descriptions of various homeschooling methods, (a rather lopsided) quiz to help identify one’s natural method, and detailed reviews of her 100 favorite curricula. More reviews on her website.

Susan Wise Bauer – The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. Incredibly detailed guide to educating in every subject area from a Classical perspective.

Specific Curriculum/Resources

www.rainbowresource.com Anything and everything educational can be found here. Really. The catalog is the size of a phone book.

www.tapestryofgrace.com Tapestry is a classical multi-age humanities curriculum (students of all ages study the same topics at the same time) covering the subject areas of history (and church history), geography, sociology, literature. It also has a built-in writing program and literature packages are available (using real books, not textbooks, and many primary sources for the upper levels). Would need to supplement with science, math, language arts (for pre/early readers) and any other electives.

www.sonlight.com Sonlight is a literature-based “curriculum in a box.” Purchase a core-ultra package and get all books for all subject areas, teaching guides, etc. They use Explode the Code for reading, and offer several options for math and handwriting.

www.lamplighterpublishing.com Lamplighter is republishing 18^th and 19^th century, out-of-print works for young people. We’re just over halfway through The Hedge of Thorns, which is a very moving story.

www.readamerica.net The website for the publishers of Reading Reflex, a truly fantastic and surprisingly simple reading program.

Noeo Science curriculum. A great compliment to Tapestry.

www.singaporemath.com One of the top math programs both among homeschoolers and in schools.

Whole Heart Online. Website of the Clarksons (authors of Educating the Wholehearted Child).

Winter, Christmas, Advent Activities

A bunch of links at CatholicMom.com (how funny!). Some look great, but I haven't explored them much yet.

A fun link from that list on making old fashioned gum drops! (Refrigerated.)
Recipe: Old Fashioned Gumdrops

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 6-oz. package any flavor fruit-flavored gelatin
2 envelopes un-flavored gelatin
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

Additional granulated sugar for coating

Directions

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

2. Spray a 9 x 9-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Pour the gelatin mixture into the pan and refrigerate for 3 hours.

4. Cut the set mixture into 1-inch squares and carefully remove them from the pan.

5. Roll the candies in sugar until coated.
Your candies will be sticky. Keep a wet rag handy.

Refrigerate to store.

A link to other projects HERE.

Christmas Cookie recipes HERE.

All sorts of ornaments HERE.

And a recipe for Christmas Ornaments from Salt Dough.
Why link to it when I can copy it here? (I would probably not microwave them. I wonder what the directions for baking are? "Bake at 200 until hard. Huh. Ok, another link that says 250 for 2 hours.)

Oooh, but cool instructions for different kinds of salt dough ornaments, beyond cut-outs! Look HERE.

What you Need

4 Cups of Flour
1 Cup of Salt
1 1/2 Cups of Hot Water
Holiday Cookie Cutters
Decorations, Glitter, Paint, Beads, Etc.

Knead the dough and roll it out to cut out shapes with cookie cutters (just like if you were making sugar cookies). Place them on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for about 2 minutes. Paint and decorate as desired. Most of all, be creative and have a lot of fun!

An alternate:
Salt Dough for Christmas ornaments

Salt dough ornaments have been made by generations of children, they are so much fun to create, and oh so easy for you to whip up a batch of dough. You can even experiments by adding food coloring to the dough before baking.

1 cup salt
1 1/4 cup water
3 cups flour
drinking straw
cookie cutters
string

Dissolve salt into water, then slowly add flower, stirring until mixed. Knead and roll, then cut out with shaped Christmas cookie cutters. Use a straw to poke a hole in each near the top. Bake at 200 degrees until hard. Add string to hang.

These can be painted with regular paint, and glue adheres well for decorating.

Fall and Thanksgiving Craft Links

I just found this fantastic website with a Freedom Feast program - telling this history of the first Thanksgiving, the constitution, and more. It turns Thanksgiving into a true celebration of American heritage and an educational event! I don't know how my relatives would take to it, so maybe I'll save it for a year when we're on our own. But it is such a good idea!!

Here is the link to Freedom Feast.

~~~~~~~~

A must-do Thanksgiving craft, a Turkey Hat! And in case the link breaks, here are the instructions:

CRAFT MATERIALS:
	Scissors
	Brown paper bags
	Cardboard (cereal box)
	Glue stick
	Colored construction paper
	2 small white pom-poms
	Black permanent marker
Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. From the brown paper bags, cut a circle 3 1/2 inches in diameter for the turkey's head. Next, cut a 3-inch-wide band to fit around your child's head.

2. From the cardboard, cut a strip 5 by 1 1/2 inches to use for a neck. Fold it three times accordion style, then glue one end to the back of the paper circle.

3. For a beak, fold yellow construction paper and cut out a small double triangle (1 1/2 inches along the fold). Cut a rounded L from red paper for the turkey's wattle.

4. To create eyes, draw a black circle on each pom-pom with the marker. Glue the eyes, wattle and one side of the beak to the head. Let them dry. Then, glue the loose end of the neck to the center of the headband.

5. Now, wrap the headband around your child's head; mark where the ends overlap, then remove the band and glue the ends. Finally, glue on construction paper feathers and wings.

~~~~~~~

A leaf garland. Make two dozen or more leaves and write something for which we give thanks on each as added. Each person should add one each evening.

~~~~~~~

Carmel apples! Yummy!
1 1/2 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
6 tbsp. water
Popsicle sticks
8 to 10 apples (McIntoshes work well)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar and water. Stir until it has a smooth consistency. Gently bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 3 minutes, until the pan's sides get steamy and the mixture is thin but somewhat sticky. Remove from heat. Pierce the center of each apple with a Popsicle stick, then swirl in the caramel syrup until coated. Place apples on a greased cookie sheet to harden. Refrigerate for at least 1 to 2 hours. Serves 8 to 10.

Physical Education Links

Pretty much the ultimate list of all schools/private websites with info and curriculum: PE Central.

Excellent page with downloadable schedules and (the link will go directly to) a page of online games and activities: Nathan Jyringi's site.

Amazing online resource of lesson plans for individual games/activities: PE lesson plans.

A Little Lie

“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful."
Proverbs 12:22 NIV

Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD,
but those who act faithfully are his delight. ESV

St. Nick was busted for this twice yesterday (and it has been an issue more often lately) so Daddy and I did some thinking on how to deal with the situation. Old standbys of taking away computer time, sending to bedrooms, etc. are ineffective and often end up putting more strain on me than the benefit they (don't) reap in St. Nick. So. We decided to put the bugger's good memory to work with some scripture memory, and I found some crafts (now that the printer is hooked up, for the first time in over a year! [long story]) to reinforce the passage and, well, here are the links.

Coloring page with a verse.

PDF of a puzzle based on Proverbs 12:22.

A little lesson plan some church in Virginia put together for their Sunday School program on the topic of lying. Very helpful. I just hope they leave the page up long enough for me to use it.

But wait! I have a printer now! I can print it! WooHoo!

Beginning in January

I want to do a calendar every day - we will find the date and cross it off or put a sticker on it, say the day of the week, the month, the year.

Update - my mother-in-law just gave me a kid's calendar! How perfect is that?!?

Oooh, spelling for next year!

Since next year is technically First Grade (not that we're doing K work this year), I think using the word lists from Reading Reflex as spelling lists would be great. This year we can learn to recognize those words, and by next year we'll have the basic code down, and simple spellings. This will work great!

Random Resource Links

Below are random links as they come to me. Check back often for new resources!

Instructions on making your own natural dyes. Great for hands-on history!

Bird Coloring Book (pdf).

Inner Body is an amazing site for getting into anatomy. It's beyond where we are now, but I know I'll find it useful in the future!

(Should have called this the Link Fairy Blog.)

Manners Tea Party

This is something I want to do someday - perhaps next year. Have a tea party (or formal party) every few weeks and practice manners. Table setting, napkin use (!!!), politenesses of all sorts.

Good idea, yes?

What Month Comes After August?

That would be September. Which is why I have been sitting at my dining room table, books piled to the cobwebbed hanging lamp, for the past few weeks. Not heady reading (that’s my husband’s department), but picture books, curricula, catalogs, and my trusty IBM Thinkpad.

I’m coming up on my first year homeschooling, and had to hammer out a plan for September for St. Nick. I need to stimulate his interests (boogers, vomit, amputations, monsters) while teaching a few basic things he might need to know later in life (reading, and which insects are poisonous to baby sister and which are not, and why he ought not feed any insects to sister regardless of toxicity).

And since it’s Friday, and for lack of anything intelligent to say, beyond the names of all major Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, I will share my favorite online homeschool resources.

Starfall. A website dedicated to helping children learn to read. It utilizes phonics, stories, games, and all things interactive. And it’s free.

Better Chinese. This is a free demo of their online program (lessons 1-3). If the rest of the program is like this, my whole family will be speaking Mandarin by the end of the year. Fish is already singing songs in Chinese.

Singapore Math. The math curriculum for Moms who detest all things rote and boring.

Sonlight. A literature-based whole-book curriculum. My fallback option if I can’t figure out how to use the curriculum below. Fantastic packages for individual subjects like math and science.

Tapestry of Grace. A literature-based curriculum that combines historically organized unit studies with classical methodology (i.e., the trivium). And it’s Reformed. Do you know how hard it is to find homeschool curricula that is Reformed?

Last, and I wish least, the website that will give St. Nick the motivation to read: Captain Underpants. Who knew sounding out the words: Booger, Vomit, Underpants and so on could be so engrossing?