Who Needs School?

Spelling

2011-12-20T18:26:00.000-05:00

Kira asked me today if she could take lessons for spelling because she really wants to learn how to spell. Sigh... workbooks and prepared lessons are not really 'my thing', but that's what she is wanting right now so I went to the bookstore and found an age appropriate spelling book. I also bought flashcards for the Dolche Sight Words. I haven't decided exactly how I will be incorporating these things into our lives, but it looks like we are going to be embarking on Spelling and Sight Words for now.

Worms Eat Garbage...

2011-06-27T13:38:00.000-04:00

Today begins our first lengthy science project.... WORM COMPOSTING!

I ventured out to the store to buy the perfect container for our worms. Because I do not intend this to be a massive composting project, I got a smallish container - big enough to hold the worms but small enough to be manageable by myself and the girls. When we returned home, I added a few worms to the box. We have five worms in our container. I had purchased a box of red wigglers a couple of weeks ago for feeding the turtle. All that was left of the wigglers was six worms. After treating the turtle to one of the worms, we put the rest in our composting bin.

Because this is a science project, I have a notebook for observation. Day 1 lists 5 worms and lots of newspaper bedding.

We did a bit of research to determine what would be good to feed our worms and we learned that they like just about any organic material. Fruits, veggies, and other kitchen waste can be placed in the bin for feeding the worms. It's not much different from the turtle, really. In an effort to jump start the feeding of the worms, both girls went outside to collect some grass and leaves for the hungry little worms.

It is my hope that this project will teach them how certain household wastes can be recycled for the benefit of the earth. I also plan to use some of the worms to continue feeding the voraciously hungry turtle. She loves worms most of all and there just aren't any around here for digging. We're too close to the lake and the worms know that people fish in the lake so they hide... I'm sure of it.

For further reading on worm composts, I highly recommend the book Worms Eat My Garbage. It is an interesting read and gives useful information on the biology of worm composting and worm reproduction.

I Shouldn't Be Alive

2010-12-31T02:03:00.001-05:00

This was today's field trip to explore Kira's current obsession with the "I Shouldn't Be Alive" survival show...
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I told Kira we were going for a drive and asked her to tell me what we needed to put in the car in case of an emergency. So she decided that we needed a couple of blankets, some water, some food, flashlights, a lighter, and some toys... lol.

So we got 3 blankets - one for each of us - and a pack of graham crackers and a jar of peanut butter. I filled 2 bottles with water. She helped me gather all our emergency supplies and take everything to the car.

We had to go by the Dollar Tree to get batteries, so I got her and Marisa a Sprite and me a Dasani water.

Then we 'got lost' - literally. I asked them which way to turn at every light or stop sign. I couldn't even begin to tell you how we got where we went. I found a place called Bolding Mill campground. We stopped there and got out to look at the lake because there was a very shallow area where you could see the bottom. I explained that all the leaves that we could see piled up in the water makes perfect places for fish to lay their eggs because the babies can hide from predators. Then a guy came with his boat and we watched him put his boat in the water - move his truck - and go off on the lake to fish.

I taught Kira how to use my phone to call her daddy, just in case mommy ever got hurt and couldn't use the phone. Then we went on with our 'getting lost' adventure.

So then I come to a place called Toto Creek. Again, it is a local campground with boat docks. (lots of those around here)

I parked the car and we all got out and walked over to the edge of the trees. There was a big wooded area. Kira and I chose a good clearing (right near the edge of the woods/parking lot) where we could build ourselves a shelter - and then we pretended we were lost in the woods and trying to survive until somebody found us.

(I'm sure you're laughing by now... but it gets better.)

I had to use the scissors that we had included in our emergency kit to cut away some briers from our clearing. While I was doing that - without any direction from me at all - Kira was gathering longer branches that we could use to build a 'roof' over our shelter.

So I laid one blanket on the ground after I cleared the briers and twigs and pine cones out of the way. I sat Marisa down and covered her with another blanket so she could be warm. And then I used the branches that Kira had found to build a sort of wall by wedging it between the trees. We had chosen an area that had several trees kind of lumped together, but was clear in the center and had a natural "doorway" for the shelter. Anyways, I used the third blanket to drape over the branches to act as a wind break wall.

Then we snuggled up together and I made Graham Cracker, peanut butter, ghiradelli square sandwiches... which were beyond delicious!

We sat and talked about how we could build a better shelter if we were actually lost. What we would do if we heard voices out in the woods if we were actually lost. Lots of different scenarios...

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOMENESS! And... I thought of this all on my very own!!! lol

I told Kira that we will go camping when the campgrounds open in the Spring and we will build ourselves a true shelter using trees and sticks and stuff.

I was amazed at how she "packed" our emergency kit and how she chose properly sized branches that were just right for wedging between the trees for building a shelter.

I just had to share. It was so much fun!
(Marisa was pretty much just along for the ride - and the chocolate peanut butter sandwiches... )

Twelth Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:55:00.001-05:00

Grade 12 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Principles of U. S. government
* The democratic ideal
* Basic documents of the U. S.
* Agriculture in the U. S.
* Urbanization
* Conservation
* Business and industry in the U. S.
* American party system
* Propaganda and public opinion
* Comparative governments
* Comparative economic systems
* Consumer education
* Crime and delinquency
* Psychology
* Labor-management relations
* Economic concepts and theories
* Taxation and finance
* Distribution and exchange of goods and services
* International relations
* American foreign policy
* International organizations
* Public education
* Women's role in today's society
* Family economics and management

Science

* Physics
* Electricity and magnetism
* Photoelectric effect
* Heat
* Light and optics
* Sound and acoustics
* Wave motion
* Quantum theory
* Relativity
* Force
* Mechanics
* Space, time, and motion
* Work, energy, and power
* Electronics
* Nuclear energy
* Nuclear physics
* Solid-state physics

Language Arts

* English literature
* Shakespeare
* Literary, social, and political heritage of England
* Literature of the 1900's
* World literature
* Cross-cultural literature
* The theater
* Nature of tragedy and comedy
* Techniques of acting
* Film as an art form
* Critical and evaluative reading
* Current periodical literature
* Mass communication
* Comparative study of mass media
* Radio and television
* Listening skills
* Parliamentary procedures
* Identifying verbals
* Report writing
* Writing social and business letters
* Writing book reviews, précis, essays
* Writing term papers
* Bibliography development

Mathematics

Calculus

* Derivative of a function
* Logarithmic and trigonometric functions
* Indeterminate terms
* Computation of derivatives
* Rate of a change of quantity
* Maxima and minima
* Integrals
* Length of curves
* Volume and surface areas
* Computer analysis of graphs

Advanced Algebra

* Sets of numbers
* Binomial theorem
* Progressions
* Complex numbers
* Theory of equations
* Permutations
* Functions and their graphs
* Combinations
* Probability
* Determinants
* Inequalities
* Matrix algebra
* Mathematical inductions
* The derivative

Probability and Statistics

* Tabular data
* Graphs
* Measures of central tendency
* Quartiles and percentiles
* Measures of dispersion
* Simple correlation
* Statistical inference
* Permutations
* Combinations
* Binomial theorem

Eleventh Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:54:00.005-05:00

Grade 11 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Age of exploration and discovery
* Colonization of America
* A new nation is born
* Constitution of the United States
* Development of a new nation
* Period of nationalism
* Sectionalism
* American Civil War and Reconstruction
* United States as a world power
* Struggle for women's rights
* World War I
* The Great Depression
* World War II
* The Cold War
* The nuclear era
* Civil rights
* Delinquency and crime
* Psychology
* Problems of mental health
* Urbanization
* Public education
* Role of women in today's society

Science

* Matter and its behavior
* Carbon and its compounds
* Formulas and chemical equations
* Acids, bases, salts
* Atomic theory
* Periodic law
* Water and solutions
* Chemical bonding
* Molecular theory
* Equilibrium and kinetics
* Spontaneous reactions
* Titrations
* Ionization and ionic solutions
* Colloids, suspensoids, and emulsoids
* Oxidation-reduction
* Nonmetals
* Metals and alloys
* Electrochemistry
* Energy: forms, chemical changes, and measurement
* Nuclear reactions and radioactivity

Language Arts

* American literature
* Cross-cultural literature
* Analysis of plays
* Vocabulary of poetry
* Critical and evaluative reading
* Propaganda techniques
* Mass communication
* Advertising
* Music and painting
* Architecture and sculpture
* Listening skills
* Vocabulary development
* Grammar
* Story writing
* Editorial writing
* Journalistic writing
* Writing term papers
* Proofreading symbols
* Use of Reader's Guide and other reference aids, both print and electronic

Mathematics

Algebra II

* Relations and functions
* Square roots, surds, radicals
* Rational roots
* Linear equations and analytic geometry
* Quadratic equations
* Binomial theorem
* Imaginary numbers
* Exponents and radicals
* Logarithms
* Progressions
* Higher-degree equations
* Vectors
* Determinants
* Permutations, combinations, and simple probability
* Estimation and approximation

Trigonometry

* Solutions of right triangles
* Use of table and interpolation
* Measurement of angles
* Properties of trigonometric functions
* Complex numbers and vectors
* Concept of a limit
* Graphs of functions
* Solutions of oblique triangles
* Logarithms
* Identities and equations
* General triangle solutions

Tenth Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:54:00.003-05:00

Grade 10 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Prehistoric peoples
* The earliest civilizations
* The early Greeks
* Early India and China
* The Islamic world
* The Middle Ages
* African civilizations
* Civilization in the Americas
* The Renaissance
* The rise and fall of monarchies
* Birth of modern democracy
* The French Revolution
* The Industrial Revolution
* Nationalism
* Imperialism
* Science and industry
* The world wars
- World War I
- Between world wars
- World War II
* The Cold War
* The Vietnam War
* The search for peace
* Democratic ideals and values
* The rise and fall of Communism
* The collapse of the Soviet Union
* World interdependence
* World problems and issues
* Role of women in today's societies

Science

* Characteristics of life
* Classification
* History of plants and animals
* Microscopic life
* Simple organisms: algae, bacteria, fungi
* Vertebrate life
* Mammals and birds
* Plant life
* Photosynthesis
* Cells
* Protein synthesis
* Genetics and heredity
* DNA-RNA
* Genetic engineering
* Reproduction and growth
* Human biology
* Nutrition and digestion
* Behavior
* Conservation of human resources
* Environmental issues
* Energy in ecosystems
* Scientific method
* Biology and space travel
* Disease and disease control

Language Arts

* American literary heritage
* Cross-cultural literature
* Folklore and ballads
* Regional customs, traditions, folkways, and language
* Literary interpretation and critique
* Novel, short story, and essay
* Understanding poetry: lyric poetry, and the sonnet
* Drama
* Distinguishing between fact and opinion
* Persuasion and argumentation
* Listening skills
* Public speaking and debate
* Extending dictionary skills
* History of the alphabet
* Vocabulary and etymology
* Geographical dialects
* Grammar
* History of writing
* Techniques of writing
* Journal writing
* Writing short stories, poetry, and plays
* Writing term papers
* Constructing footnotes

Mathematics

* Origins and uses of geometry
* Terms, postulates, theorems
* Sets
* Nature of proof
* Inductive and deductive reasoning
* Ratio and proportion
* Algebra in geometry
* Angle relationships
* Parallel and perpendicular lines
* Congruent triangles
* Right triangles
* Pythagorean Theorem
* Circles
* Polygons
* Relationships between circles and polygons
* Mensuration theory
* Measurement of geometric figures
* Simple constructions
* Loci
* Transformational geometry
* Introduction of symbolic logic
* Coordinate geometry
* Trigonometric functions of angles greater than 90 degrees
* Special angle relationships
* Problem solving with geometry

Ninth Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:54:00.001-05:00

Grade 9 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Basic human communities
* Community, state, and national government
* Political parties and elections
* Comparative cultures and religions
* African American, Hispanic, and other ethnic studies
* Urban studies
* Women in our history
* Conservation, including human conservation
* Resource management
* Elementary economics
* Labor and management
* Taxation
* Foundations of American democracy
* U. S. Constitution
* Rights and responsibilities of good citizenship
* United Nations
* World geography
* Advanced map and globe skills

Science

* Earth's history
* Earth science
* Ecology and environment
* Weather and climate
* Air and air pressure
* Air masses and fronts
* Water and its uses
* Erosion
* Air and water pollution
* Heats and fuels
* Electricity and electronics
* Solar and nuclear energy
* Nature and uses of light
* Simple and complex machines
* Atomic structure
* Chemistry of matter
* Molecular theory
* Nature and use of chemicals
* Metals and plastics
* Space and astronomy
* Space travel
* Nature and causes of disease

Language Arts

* Evaluating material for accuracy
* Reading the newspaper
* Analyzing propaganda
* Advertising
* Drama and film
* Analyzing poetry
* Dramatic poetry
* Using poetry anthologies
* Novel and short story
* Folklore and myths
* Structure of a play
* Parable and allegory
* Interpretation of literature
* Listening skills
* Effective discussion techniques and questioning skills
* Preparing a speech
* Public speaking and debate
* The unabridged dictionary
* Vocabulary
* Foreign words used in English
* Grammar
* Fundamentals of composition
* Report writing
* Extended reference skills
* Special indexes

Mathematics

General mathematics
* Ratio and proportion
* Basic concepts of statistics
* Mathematical vocabulary
* irect and indirect measurement
* Banks and banking
* Investment
* Budgeting
* Insurance
* Taxation
* Graphs and tables
* Informal geometry
* Elementary algebra
* Customary and metric measurement

Algebra 1
* Absolute value
* Sets and their relationships
* Properties of polynomial forms
* Equations
* Signed numbers
* Fundamental operations
* Equations of the first degree
* Ratio, proportion, variation
* Relations and functions
* Special products and factoring
* Fractions and fractional equations
* Square roots
* Radicals
* Quadratic equations
* Elements of probability

Eigth Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:53:00.001-05:00

Grade 8 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Our African, Asian, and European backgrounds
* Exploration and discovery
* Growth and development of the United States
- Colonial life
- Struggle for independence
- U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
- Westward movement in America
- American Civil War
- Reconstruction
- U. S. as a world power
* Meaning of democracy
* Our American culture
* U. S. political system
* U. S. economic system
* U. S. government
* U. S. geography
* Advanced map and globe skills

Science

* Scientific method
* Scientific nomenclature
* Scientific measurement
* Ecology and environment
* Conservation
* Composition of the earth
* Ocean, atmosphere
* Weather
* Water and its uses
* Weathering and erosion
* Recycling of resources
* Magnetism and electricity
* Heat and light
* Forces in liquids and gases
* Wave, mechanical, electrical, and nuclear energy
* The earth's movement
* Newton's three laws of motion
* Machines
* The atom
* Periodic table of elements
* Compounds and mixtures
* Chemical changes
* Astronomy
* The universe and Milky Way
* Space and space travel

Language Arts

* Independent reading
* Literal, inferential, and evaluative reading skills
* Literary terms
* Novel, short story, narrative poetry
* Nonfiction
* Biographies of great Americans
* American poets and storytellers
* Creative dramatics
* Listening and speech activities
* Advanced dictionary work
* Extended vocabulary
* Figures of speech
* Spelling
* Infinitive, participle, gerund, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, direct and indirect object
* Kinds of sentences and their parts
* Functions of sentence elements
* Writing simple business letters
* Report-writing skills
* Improving skills in using basic reference sources
* Inductive and deductive reasoning

Health and Safety

* Grooming
* Functions of the body
* The body's utilization of food
* Types and functions of foods
* Environmental hazards
* Community sanitation and health
* Health care services
* Sexually transmitted diseases
* Accident prevention, safety, and first aid
* Mental hygiene
* Substance abuse

Mathematics

* Maintaining skills in fundamental operations
* Factoring and products
* Sets and simple sentences
* Numeration systems
* Using fractions and decimals
* Ratio, proportion, and percent
* Equalities and inequalities
* Simple formulas and equations
* Graphing an equation
* Powers and roots of rational numbers
* Polynomials
* Metric and non-metric geometry
* Pythagorean Theorem
* Scale drawing
* Right-triangle trigonometry
* Customary and metric measurement
* Permutations
* Probability statistics
* Statistical terms
* Mathematics of insurance, banking, and taxes

Seventhh Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:52:00.001-05:00

Grade 7 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Lands and peoples of the Eastern Hemisphere
* Prehistoric peoples
* Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern civilizations
* The Middle Ages
* Renaissance and Reformation
* Scientific Revolution
* Age of Reason (Enlightenment)
* Industrial Age
* Yesterday and today around the world: Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific
* World trade and resources
* Contemporary problems and issues
* Environment
* World geography
* Advanced map and globe skills

Science

* Scientific classification
* The cell
* Heredity and genetics
* Effects of weather and climate
* Properties and uses of water
* Atmosphere
* Air pressure
* Rocks, soil, and minerals
* Ecology and environment
* Conservation
* Heat and temperature
* Laws of motion
* Energy
* Scientific method
* Laboratory techniques and safety

Language Arts

* Improving reading skills
* Literary terms
* Novels, short stories, plays
* Myths, legends, ballads
* Types of poetry
* Biography and autobiography
* Planning and producing dramatizations
* Speech activities
* Listening skills
* Refining dictionary skills
* Spelling
* Parts of speech
* Person, number, gender of nouns and pronouns
* Punctuation of conversation
* Clauses and phrases
* Compound sentences
* Writing descriptions, reports, journals, and letters
* Note taking and outlining
* Extending reference skills: atlases, directories, encyclopedias, periodicals, on-line information services, CD-ROMs, and other electronic reference material
* Library organization

Health and Safety

* Good grooming and posture
* Dental health
* Healthy habits and lifestyles
* Exercise and fitness
* Effects of stimulants and narcotics
* Functions of the body
* Circulation and respiration
* Germ theory
* Sexually transmitted diseases
* Family life
* Toxins and antitoxins
* Antibiotics
* Immunization
* Chemotherapy
* Genetic disorders
* Personal and public safety
* Accident prevention
* Personality development
* Substance abuse

Mathematics

* Prime and composite numbers
* Square root
* Order of operations
* Absolute value
* Inequalities
* Numeration
* Properties of nonnegative integers
* Rational numbers and fractions
* Ratio, proportion, percent
* Finite, infinite, and empty sets
* Basic geometry concepts and terms
* Development and use of formulas
* Perimeter, circumference, area
* Metric and customary measurement
* Reading and constructing graphs
* Measures of central tendency: mean, mode, median, range
* Elementary business mathematics
* Use of calculators and computers

Sixth Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:50:00.003-05:00

Grade 6 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Global and regional studies
* Countries and cultures of Africa, Latin America, Asia, Australia, the Pacific, and Europe
* Native American cultures
* The Roman Empire
* Relationships among nations: customs, traditions and beliefs, political and economic systems
* United Nations
* Milestones in human achievement
* Transportation and communication
* World trade
* Citizenship and social responsibility
* World geography
* Map and globe skills

Science

* Classification of living things
* Ecosystems
* Ecology and the environment
* Microbes
* Algae and fungi
* Human body
* Food for growth and energy
* Climate and weather
* Recycling of resources
* Elementary geology
* Oceans
* Electric and magnetic interactions
* Electricity and its uses
* Sound, light, and heat
* Nuclear energy and radioactivity
* Solar and geothermal energy
* Conservation
* Elements and compounds
* Universe
* Simple astronomy
* Space and space travel
* Scientific theory
* Inventions and discoveries

Language Arts

* Reading silently and skimming
* Critical reading skills
* Introduction to mythology
* Types of literature
* Lyric, narrative, dramatic poetry
* Listening skills
* Nonverbal communication
* Extending dictionary skills
* Vocabulary building
* Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms
* Using roots, prefixes, and suffixes
* Spelling
* Concepts of noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb
* Sentence structure
* Diagramming sentences
* Cursive handwriting
* Types of writing: narration, description, exposition, persuasion
* Simple note taking
* Writing outlines, letters, factual matter (reports, newspaper articles), verse (limericks, ballads), creative prose (diary, stories)
* Bibliography building
* Organization of a book
* Using reference books and indexes
* Using on-line information services, CD-ROM's, and other electronic reference materials

Health and Safety

* Personal appearance
* Dental health
* Health maintenance
* Our food supply
* Exercise and fitness
* Cure and prevention of common diseases
* The heart
* Accident prevention
* Safety and first aid
* The health professions
* Understanding emotions
* Coping with stress and anxiety
* Preparing for puberty
* Human reproduction
* Substance abuse

Mathematics

* Exponents
* Operation of powers
* Set of the integers
* Factoring
* Fundamental operations with fractions, and decimals
* Fundamental operations with compound denominate numbers
* Multiplying and dividing common fractions and mixed numbers
* Relationship between common and decimal fractions
* Problems in percent
* Properties, identification, and construction of geometric figures
* Identification and measurement of angles
* Concepts of similarity, congruence, and symmetry
* Scale drawings
* Customary and metric measurement
* Problem analysis
* Interpreting graphs
* Concepts of averaging and sampling
* Use of calculators and computers

Fifth Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:50:00.001-05:00

Grade 5 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Exploration and discovery
* Establishment of settlements in the New World
* Colonial life in America
* Pioneer life in America
* Revolutionary War in America
* Westward movement in America
* Industrial and cultural growth
* Democracy's principles and documents
* Life in the U. S. and its possessions
* Geography of the U. S.
* Natural resources of the U. S.
* Canada and Mexico
* Relationship between the U. S. and Canada
* Comparative cultures of Canada
* Countries and cultures of the Western Hemisphere: Central America, West Indies, South America
* Map and globe skills

Science

* Biological adaptations
* Biotic communities
* Animal and plant classification
* Fish
* Reptiles
* Bacteria
* Molds
* Trees
* Plants and their food
* Conservation
* Cells
* Human body
* Landforms
* Properties of air and water
* Time and seasons
* Temperature and thermometers
* Magnetic fields
* Use and control of electricity
* Conduction and convection
* Light and optics
* Force systems
* Chemical systems
* Sun and solar system
* Space and space exploration
* Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Language Arts

* Silent and oral reading
* Types of literature
* Presenting original plays
* Listening skills
* Dictionary use for word meaning,
analysis, spelling
* Common homonyms
* Homophones and homographs
* Synonyms and antonyms
* Using a thesaurus
* Spelling
* Plurals and possessives
* Kinds of sentences
* Parts of sentences
* Cursive handwriting
* Outlining
* Paragraph writing
* Writing letters, stories, reports, poems, plays
* Preparing a simple bibliography
* Proofreading skills
* Parts of a newspaper
* Using study materials: keys, tables, graphs, charts, legends, library catalogs, index, table of contents, reference materials, maps

Health and Safety

* Dental hygiene
* Our water supply
* Sewage disposal
* Care of the eyes
* Nutrition and diet
* Diseases
* Germ-bearing insects and pests
* Community health resources
* Elementary first aid
* Bicycle and water safety
* Preparing for puberty
* Human reproduction
* Substance abuse

Mathematics

* Reading and writing numbers to 10 places
* Mixed numbers
* Set of integers
* Numeration systems
* Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division of whole numbers
* Fundamental processes: whole numbers and common fractions
* Common and decimal fractions * Decimals to the thousandths
* Ratio and percent
* Exponents
* Customary and metric measurements
* Extension of geometric concepts
* Word problems in daily life
* Charts and graphs: picture, bar, line, and circle graphs
* Concept of sampling

Fourth Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:48:00.003-05:00

Grade 4 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Types of community life
* History and development of the local state
* Relation of the state to its region, nation, and the world
* World cultures
* Reasons for our laws
* Regions of the world
* Continents
* Time zones
* Earth's resources
* Climatic regions of the world
* Map skills: longitude, latitude, scale
* Using a globe

Science

* Structure of plants
* Environment of the local region
* Biological organization
* Classification systems
* The insect world
* The reptilian world
* Plants and animals of the past
* Structure of plants
* Seeds
* Ecosystems
* Balance of nature
* Human body
* Weather's influences
* Weather instruments
* Climate
* Cause of seasons
* Earth and its history
* Oceans and the hydrosphere
* Air and water pollution
* Magnets and electricity
* Light and color
* Solar system and the universe
* Living in space
* Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Language Arts

* Silent and oral reading
* Choral reading
* Listening skills
* Telephone skills
* Making and accepting simple social introductions
* Summarizing simple information
* Listening to literature
* Critical reading
* Short stories, chapter books, poetry, plays
* Spelling
* Increasing dictionary skills
* Cursive handwriting
* Simple outlining
* Writing letters and informal notes
* Written and oral book reports
* Creative writing
* Developing skills in locating information
* Increasing indexing skills
* Developing encyclopedia skills
* Utilizing parts of a newspaper

Health and Safety

* Personal and mental hygiene
* Dental health
* The body and its functions
* Skeletal and muscular systems
* Care and proper use of the body
* Principles of digestion
* Basic food groups
* Good nutrition habits
* Diseases
* Safety
* Substance abuse

Mathematics

* Reading and writing numbers
* Roman numerals to C
* Prime numbers less than 100
* Prime factoring
* Numeration systems
* Subsets
* Decimal and fraction equivalents
* Addition and subtraction facts to 7 places
* Multiplication and division facts to 144
* 1-, 2-, and 3-digit multiplication problems
* 2- and 3-digit dividend, 1-digit divisor problems
* Meaning of mixed numbers
* Finding simple averages
* Geometric concepts
* Customary and metric measurement
* Time to the second
* Problem-solving methods
* Charts and graphs

Third Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:48:00.001-05:00

Grade 3 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Holidays and folk customs
* Native Americans
* Explorers and pioneers
* Appreciation of different cultures, races, religions
* History and development of local community
* Community helpers
* Consumers and producers
* Sources of food and clothing
* Shelters of animals and people
* History and development of transportation
* History and development of communication
* Citizenship and social responsibility
* Basic human needs and wants
* Local geography and topography
* U. S. geography and regions
* The continents
* Flat maps and globes

Science

* Animal helpers
* Dinosaurs
* Life cycle
* Plants and animals of the desert
* Plants and animals of the sea
* Common birds, trees, flowers
* Forest plants
* Conservation of plants and animals
* Weather and climate
* Earth's changing surface
* Magnets and electricity
* Compass
* Gravity
* Light and color
* Energy and its sources
* Force and work
* Machines
* Moon and stars
* Earth satellites
* Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Language Arts

* Silent reading
* Reading prose and poetry aloud
* Oral presentations: reporting experiences orally with accuracy
* Alphabetizing through the third letter of a word
* Dictionary skills
* Developing word-attack methods
* Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms
* Spelling
* Beginning cursive writing
* Concept of paragraph
* Using period, comma, question mark, apostrophe, quotation marks
* Writing short, original stories and poems
* Post writing skills: editing and proofreading
* Increasing indexing skills

Health and Safety

* Care of eyes and ears
* Dental health
* Proper balance of activities
* Healthful leisure activities
* Prevention and control of diseases
* Parts of the body
* Nutrition
* Health with relation to food, shelter, clothing
* School and community health services
* Home safety hazards
* Safety in the community
* Simple first aid

Mathematics

* Reading and writing numbers to 5 places
* Beginning Roman numerals
* Rounding numbers
* Positive and negative numbers in daily life
* Simple fractions and equivalents
* Properties of one
* Numeration systems
* Addition and subtraction facts to 25
* Multiplication and division facts to 100
* Perimeter, area, volume
* Geometric constructions
* Similar and congruent figures
* Properties of solid figures
* Customary and metric measurement
* Time to 1- and 5-minute measures
* Estimation of outcomes
* Problems-solving analysis
* Word problems
* Charts and graphs

Second Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:47:00.001-05:00

Grade 2 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Holidays and festivals
* Patriotic celebrations
* Communities in other lands: past and present
* Family and family history
* Families around the world
* Neighborhoods
* Community services and helpers
* Shelters, stores, and food
* Citizenship and social responsibility
* Interdependence of people
* Basic geography: oceans, continents
* Map skills

Science

Useful and harmful animals
* Life cycle
* Birds and insects in winter
* Animal babies
* Animal defense of themselves and their young
* Plant and animal food
* Dinosaurs and other extinct animals
* Food chain
* Plant reproduction and growth
* Habitats and homes
* Weather and its effects on earth
* Effects of the seasons on the lives of people, animals, and plants
* Climate
* Water cycle
* Air and atmosphere
* Magnets and forces
* Gravity
* Earth and sky
* Sun, moon, planets
* Simple constellations
* Exploring space
* Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Language Arts

* Reading silently for purpose
* Dramatizations and interpretative or oral reading
* Use and meaning of quotation marks in reading
* Story development: beginning, middle, end
* Simple book reviews
* Listening skills
* Organizing ideas and impressions
* Alphabetizing through second letter of a word
* Using dictionary guide words
* Vocabulary development
* Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms
* Methods of word attack
* Ways to study spelling
* Simple punctuation and capitalization
* Refining manuscript handwriting
* Writing independently in manuscript form
* Brief and simple letters and journals
* Narration, description, letters, poetry
* Increasing skill in handling books: table of contents, and index

Health and Safety

Personal cleanliness
* Dental hygiene
* Basic food groups
* Communicable diseases
* Preventive measures against disease
* Neighborhood safety

Mathematics

* Counting, reading, writing to 1,000
* Counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, and 10's
* Ordinal numbers to 10
* Zero as a place holder
* Using sets and number facts
* Addition and subtraction facts to 20
* Basic multiplication and division facts
* Multiplication and division facts as inverse operations
* Multiplication properties of 0 and 1
* Place value through 100's
* Fractions in daily life
* Decimal numeration system
* Basic concept of ratio
* Geometry puzzles and activities
* Estimation
* Common customary and metric measures of time, weight, length, volume, shape, temperature
* Telling time and using the calendar
* Handling money (coins)
* Problem solving
* Charts and graphs

First Grade Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:44:00.001-05:00

Grade 1 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Holidays, traditions, and customs
* Our American Heritage
* Different cultures at different times
* Family, school, neighborhood, community
* Farm and zoo
* Neighborhood helpers
* Jobs and careers
* Social skills and responsibilities
* Basic geography terms
* Making and reading a simple neighborhood map

Science

* Grouping and classification
* Living and nonliving things
* Animals
* Pets
* Farm animals
* Zoo and circus animals
* Woodland animals
* Common birds
* Plant and animal habitats
* Seeds, bulbs, plants, flowers
* Weather and seasons
* Day and night
* Solids, liquids, gases
* Air and water
* Magnets
* Fire and temperature
* Sun, moon, stars, planets
* Simple machines
* Beginning experimentation
* Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Language Arts

* Reading
- Phonetic analysis
- Structural analysis
- Establishing sight vocabulary
* Reading informally: names, labels, signs
* Simple pantomimes and dramatic play
* Creating stories and poems
* Telling favorite stories
* Organizing ideas and impressions
* Enunciation and pronunciation
* Presenting information orally, in sequence and with clarity
* Book reports and critiques
* Discussion skills: taking part in group discussion
* Beginning dictionary skills: alphabetizing
* Beginning spelling
* Beginning grammar: nouns, verbs, adjectives
* Introduction to punctuation and capitalization
* Manuscript handwriting
* Handling books
* Using table of contents
* Development of a class newspaper

Health and Safety

* Personal hygiene
* Dental health
* Good eating habits
* Exercise and rest
* Diseases
* Common cold
* Dressing for weather and activity
* Safety rules to and from school

Mathematics

* Counting and writing to 100
* Counting by 2's to 40
* Simple number patterns
* Beginning ordinal numbers
* Using 10 as a basic unit
* Simple properties of zero
* Simple properties of sets
* Beginning addition and subtraction facts
* Number-line use
* Place value and numeration
* Concepts of quantity and size
* Concepts of equality and inequality
* Concepts of ordinal and cardinal numbers
* Using 1/2 and 1/4 appropriately
* Estimation
* Geometric patterns and figures
* Basic customary and metric measurement
* Recognizing time: clock and calendar
* Value of penny, nickel, dime, quarter
* Solving simple word problems
* Basic probability and chance
* Basic chart and graph concepts

Kindergarten Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:43:00.001-05:00

Kindergarten Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Meanings of holidays, traditions, and customs
* Understanding and appreciating other cultures
* Individual's role in family, home, school, and community
* Relationship of the individual to the group
* Work and jobs
* Safety rules and symbols
* Basic human needs
* Self-respect and self-awareness
* Awareness of others
* Location of home and school
* Diagram of home and school

Science

* Observation of everyday, familiar things
* Common animals and plants
* Interrelationships of animals and plants
* Classification of living things
* Farm animals
* Care of pets
* Like and unlike plants
* Indoor plants
* The sun: our principal source of energy
* Weather and seasons
* Temperature
* Light
* Colors
* Senses
* Earth, moon, stars, planets
* Simple measurement
* Beginning experimentation

Language Arts

* Phonics
* Choral reading
* Listening to literature, music, poetry
* Nursery rhymes, fairy tales, fables
* Social listening
* Constructing visual images while listening
* Oral communication skills
* Role play
* Following and giving directions
* Paraphrasing and summarizing
* Organizing ideas
* Experience stories
* Relating events and experiences using complete sentences
* Listening for correct speech habits and word usage
* Beginning writing process
* Manuscript handwriting

Health and Safety

* Personal hygiene
* Good eating habits
* Good grooming
* Care of teeth
* Major body parts
* Physical fitness
* Safety to and from school

Mathematics

* Simple counting to 20
* One-to-one relationship
* Concepts of more, less than, same
* Sequence of events
* Correspondence of quantities
* Ordinal-cardinal relationship
* Number-numeral relationship
* Recognition of basic sets
* Meaning of addition and subtraction
* Introduction to number line
* Estimation
* Elementary geometry (shapes)
* Calendar and clock
* Denominations of money
* Basic problem-solving strategies
* Basic chart and graph concepts

PreSchool Scope and Sequence

2010-12-28T11:41:00.002-05:00

Preschool Curriculum Guide

Size

* Understands big and little.
* Understands long and short.
* Matches shapes or objects based on size.

Colors and Shapes

* Recognizes and names primary colors.
* Recognizes circles.
* Recognizes rectangles.
* Matches shapes or objects based on shape.
* Copies shapes.

Numbers

* Counts orally through 10.
* Counts objects in one-to-one correspondence.
* Understands empty and full.
* Understands more and less.

Reading Readiness

* Remembers objects from a given picture.
* Knows what a letter is.
* Has been read to frequently.
* Has been read to daily.
* Looks at books and magazines.
* Recognizes some nursery rhymes.
* Identifies parts of the body.
* Identifies objects that have a functional use.
* Knows common farm and zoo animals.
* Pronounces own first name.
* Pronounces own last name.
* Expresses self verbally.
* Identifies other children by name
* Tells the meaning of simple words.
* Repeats a sentence of 6-8 words.
* Completes incomplete sentence with proper word.
* Has own books.
* Understands that print carries a message.
* Pretends to read.
* Uses left-to-right progression.
* Answers questions about a short story.
* Tells the meaning of words heard in story.
* Looks at pictures and tells a story.
* Identifies own first name in manuscript.
* Prints own first name.

Position and Direction

* Understands up and down.
* Understands in and out.
* Understands front and back.
* Understands over (on) and under.
* Understands top, bottom, middle.
* Understands beside and next to.
* Understands hot and cold.
* Understands fast and slow.

Time

* Understands day and night.
* Knows age and birthday.

Listening and Sequencing

* Follows simple directions.
* Listens to a short story.
* Listens carefully.
* Recognizes common sounds.
* Repeats a sequence of sounds.
* Repeats a sequence of orally given numbers.
* Retells simple stories in sequence.

Motor Skills

* Is able to run.
* Is able to walk a straight line.
* Is able to jump.
* Is able to hop.
* Is able to alternate feet walking down stairs.
* Is able to march.
* Is able to stand on one foot for 5-10 seconds.
* Is able to walk backwards for five feet.
* Is able to throw a ball.
* Pastes objects.
* Claps hands.
* Matches simple objects.
* Touches fingers.
* Able to button a garment.
* Builds with blocks.
* Completes simple puzzles
(5 pieces or less).
* Draws and colors beyond
* a simple scribble.
* Able to zip a zipper.
* Controls pencil and crayon well.
* Cuts simple shapes.
* Handles scissors well.
* Able to copy simple shapes.

Social-Emotional Development

* Can be away from parents or primary care givers for 2-3 hours without being upset.
* Takes care of toilet needs independently.
* Feels good about self.
* Is not afraid to go to school.
* Cares for own belongings.
* Knows full name.
* Dresses self.
* Knows how to use handkerchief
or tissue.
* Knows own sex.
* Brushes teeth.
* Crosses residential street safely.
* Asks to go to school.
* Knows parents' names.
* Knows home address.
* Knows home phone number.
* Enters into casual conversation.
* Carries a plate of food.
* Maintains self-control.
* Gets along well with other children.
* Plays with other children.
* Recognizes authority.
* Shares with others.
* Talks easily.
* Likes teachers.
* Meets visitors without shyness.
* Puts away toys.
* Able to stay on task.
* Able to work independently.
* Helps family with chores.

Elachee Nature Center

2010-10-05T23:16:00.000-04:00

I took the girls to the local nature center yesterday. It has been a while since we have engaged in any particular educational activity, so I decided to pack them up and get them outside now that the weather is mild again. Much to my surprise, our nature center has a honey bee hive.

--- Not just ANY honey bee hive! ---

Their honey bees live in a glass hive! We got to stand there and watch all the bees going about their bee business inside the hive. It was so awesome to see how they were all working around each other and doing their own job.

We also got to see and touch a few snakes and turtles. The girls, of course, loved touching the snakes. I made a mental note to remember that Monday - early afternoon - is feeding and cleaning time for the animals. Hopefully we will be able to spend more time hanging out with the animals there.

Tide Pool Discoveries

2010-05-24T20:14:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh, we had such a blast at the beach last week when we were on vacation. We went out on Thursday morning during low tide and discovered dozens of tide pools to be explored.

We found:

     2 hermit crabs
     3 sand snails that we managed to dig up out of the sand
     1 sand crab that wasn't too disturbed by our insistence that he stick around
     1 live shrimp
     2 dead jellyfish
     more than a few minnow fish

We spent a great deal of time playing with the tiniest hermit crab. He gladly graced us with his ticklesh little claws as he crawled all over our hands (as long as we kept our hands under the water). He was quite adorable. He would have easily fit on the end of a pencil eraser.

I would love to live near the ocean so we could explore the tide pools on a more regular basis. I think it would be a cool project to do a daily log of one of those pools. We could measure the tide pool's width and depth, then keep a log and drawings of what types of critters we find in the pool each day. That would be such an awesome science project. (And art... and math... and hmmm... what else could I work into that one?)

Vacation Education

2010-05-18T22:23:00.000-04:00

We are spending this week in South Carolina on Hilton Head Island. This is the first time I have been here. I've been very pleased with the area. The beaches, the pace, and the general atmosphere is great for taking time away from regular life.

While here, we've had the opportunity to do many things that have been good for fun and education.

On Sunday we visited Coastal Discovery Museum. There were many things to be done at the museum. The best part, of course, was that the admission to the museum was 100% FREE. I love FREE stuff that provides entertainment AND education.

We played dress up and pretended we were colonial kids.

We looked at a really large skeleton of a sea turtle. Seriously, we could have used that turtles shell to build ourselves a really awesome cave.

We walked through the butterfly pavilion and saw "flying flowers" and the caterpillars that make them. (Translation: We saw monarch caterpillars and swallowtail caterpillars, along with a handful of butterflies.)

We walked out on two different boardwalks that stretched out over the salt marsh. This, by far, was my favorite part of our visit. I thoroughly enjoyed walking out over the marsh. It was low tide when we made our visit, so the water was way down. We were blessed by visions of thousands of fiddler crabs as they went about the business of life. It was absolutely amazing. I really could have sat and watched those crabs for hours. Marisa was with me on this one. She would have gladly sat and watched the little crabs going about their business for quite a long time. Unfortunately, Kira and Daddy were way too impatient for that. They figured that twenty minutes of fiddler crab life was plenty enough for them.

When we were making our way back to the car, I came across an interesting creature. It appeared to be a caterpillar, but it was shaped like a scorpion. I couldn't see any type of stinger and whenever I touched it with a stick it would curl up like a grub worm.I did find some photos and learned that this was, in fact, a caterpillar. It's the caterpillar for a tussock moth. The one we saw was red/black fur and a red head with black antennae and tail.

Booth Western Art Museum

2010-05-07T11:51:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we took the girls to the Booth Western Art Museum. I decided to make this visit because Kira has recently become enamored with pioneer life. As a way of expanding her exposure, we decided to go to the local Western Museum. Of course, it didn't hurt that the museum has a monthly FREE day that just happened to be yesterday.

We started with the American West Gallery where we saw sculptures and paintings and a real stage coach. We also visited the Cowboy Gallery that was filled to the brim with pictures and sculptures of horses. This was probably Kira's favorite art exhibit because she adores anything to do with horses. We moved on to the Heading West Gallery where we viewed paintings of the westward expansion and played with the "touchables" that are set out in the various galleries for the kids to play with.

Our final stop was the Sagebrush Ranch. The Ranch is an educational playground where the children can play and learn. There is a dress up section filled with western style clothes. There's a library section with about 50 different books to read, complete with comfortable bean bag chairs to lounge on and a loft bed to climb into for reading privacy. (We're definitely going to build a bed like that in the girls' bedroom so they can have separate beds in that tiny space.) The Ranch also has two different computer stations where the kids can play games.

The highlight of the ranch was the stage coach replica that bounced along with a TV screen that shows a wild west scene as you "ride" in the coach. Marisa was in that coach a few dozen times before we finally left the room. In fact, the girls would have gladly stayed another hour or two had the adults not demanded that dinner was much more necessary than spending yet another hour at The Ranch. This alone would be worth paying the normal admission price. I'm glad they have a FREE day, though. It's nice for families to be able to visit even if they don't have the money to pay. Trust me - when you have multiple adults and multiple children making a visit to the museum, that admission fee can add up really quickly.

I believe we will make every First Thursday of the Month our Booth Museum day. Even though we spent more than two hours in the museum, we still missed a few of the exhibits. We definitely have to go back to play at the Sagebrush Ranch, too.

Washington D.C.

2010-04-12T10:09:00.000-04:00

My son and I went to Washington D.C. last week for a vacation - just the two of us. It was a nice trip. We visited the National Air and Space Museum while we were there. I have to say that I look forward to returning to D.C. with the two girls because the educational value of this particular city is enormous. There is so much to do and so much to see. There's an added benefit that admission to the many museums is free.

My son is not home schooled, so this visit was during his Spring Break from school. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't all that interested in roaming the museums. I really wanted to see more than just the one museum. I definitely intend to return to D.C. soon so we can explore all the museums more thoroughly. I know the girls will learn so much from an experience of that nature.

If you can work a trip to D.C. into your curriculum, I definitely recommend it.

Preschool - Take 2

2010-03-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

I went to register Marisa for Preschool today. Kira, upon hearing that Marisa would be going off to school next fall, asked if she could go with Marisa. Kira tried Preschool last year, but was unhappy there for various reasons. She is currently 5 years old, so I thought they would not allow her to enroll. However, all that was needed was for me to sign a waiver stating that I understood that she would be in a class with children who are at least a full year younger than her. Because we have no intention of sending her off to Kindergarten, I have no problem with her spending her "Kindergarten" year in a Preschool classroom. I'm hoping that she will actually enjoy this more than she did the last time we tried this. There are a couple of things that might actually make it easier for her.

First, she is actually enrolled in the class this time and NOT on a waiting list. She will begin school at the beginning of the school year along with everybody else.

Second, Marisa will be going, too. She won't be wondering what she is missing at home. She'll know that Marisa is getting any special attention while she's away at school.

Third, she won't have the same level of physical limitations because she has progressed so rapidly this year. She still can not sit with her legs criss-crossed, but at least she can run now.

Marisa and Kira will be assigned to separate classrooms, but the rooms are side by side with a shared bathroom area. There is an open space that will allow the girls to see each other, speak to each other, and perhaps even play together for part of their day if the need arises.

After I finished the registration process and came home to tell my husband that both girls were going to attend, but in separate classroom, Kira immediately started asking questions about how far she would be away from Marisa. I actually ended up driving her over to the facility so she could tour the classrooms. Luckily, the director and assistant director kindly allowed us to do that. Kira met both of the teachers and determined that either teacher and either room would be perfectly acceptable for her. She also stopped bugging me about how far away Marisa would be - which was my whole purpose. Kira is very timid and needy. She feels much more confident when her baby sister is nearby. You would think that it would be the other way around... I'm hoping that this opportunity to explore her own identity with Marisa being nearby, but not too close, will help Kira become more confident in herself.

One thing that pleased me about this facility is that they follow The Creative Curriculum System. From what the director said, this system follows similar lines as Unschooling. The director explained to me that the teachers create and submit weekly lesson plans which are on display for the parents to review. However, if the students are talking about a specific topic one day, the teachers will adjust their plans accordingly in order to explore the topic that has caught the interest of the children.

It is important to remember that home schooling - and unschooling - does not necessarily mean that I am the only teacher my children will ever know. It means that I know how to find and use the resources that are available to me in order to provide my children with the best education possible.

Library Visit

2010-02-25T12:47:00.000-05:00

We made a visit to the main county library last night. I don't go there very often because it is a bit of a drive for me, and there is a local library that is generally sufficient. Every once in a while, though, I like to go to the bigger location because they have such a wide selection. When I select movies for our viewing, I tend to drift through the stacks and pick up whatever appeals to my interests as I wander. The selection of movies is far better at the main branch. I drifted along and selected about 16 movies last night, only to find that the checkout limits have decreased to a maximum of ten movies at a time. I had to finagle to get a card for my husband so that I could bring home all the movies I had chosen. It's just easier that way. In the end, I brought home all the movies I had selected, so it was worth the extra hassle.

I talked to the library assistant for a bit about audio books last night because Kira adores The Magic Treehouse audio books. Unfortunately, there is a limit to just how many of those books there are and how many my library actually has. After a bit of discussion and browsing, I chose to bring home 4 new audio books.

     - Judy Moody Declares Independence
     - Cam Jansen and the Ghostly Mystery (Kira enjoyed the story, but I did not enjoy the narrator.)
     - Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the U.F.O.
     - Kit: An American Girl (Okay, I have to admit that I was prepared to dislike this. I have a natural aversion to History in just about any form. I decided to bring this home at the last minute even though I knew I would be seriously miserable having to listen to the story. Last night, in hopes of boring Kira to sleep, I put this in. Kira and I sat up until nearly 1:00 AM listening to Kit's story. Even after Kira was asleep, I continued to listen. I was absolutely captivated. The narration is engaging and the story is just amazing. I will definitely be finding more of these. )

Along with the four audio books, I also brought home several movies.

     - I Want to be a ... Firefighter: Explore a Career in Firefighting (I would really like to know where THIS movie was last year when Kira first became obsessed with fire. This movie would have saved me a ton of hassle and frustration.)
     - Savage Skies: Fire and Rain
     - Wetlands: Georgia's Vanishing Treasure
     - National Geographic: Ballad of the Irish Horse
     - Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Going to School (I watched all of 5 minutes of this and turned it off. Did I really used to watch this show? )
     - National Geographic: Ocean Drifters
     - National Geographic: Dolphins, the Wild Side
     - National Geographic: Born of Fire
     - National Geographic: Killer Wave: The Power of the Tsunami
     - Life Science: All About Fish
     - National Geographic: Dinosaur Giants: FOUND
     - Eyewitness: Shark
     - Amazing Animals: Endangered Animals
     - National Geographic: Volcano!
     - Amazing Animals: Armored Animals
   - Eyewitness: Elephant
     - Eyewitness: Jungle

I also picked up one book - Real-Life Homeschooling by: Rhonda Barfield.

What Is Unschooling?

2010-02-23T13:08:00.000-05:00

I've been explaining the concepts of Unschooling for the last week to various different people. My niece was amazed that I would allow the girls to do as they please without making them do any school work at all. My daughter's Sunday School teacher was intrigued by the concept and wanted to know more. My sister and I had a discussion about Montessori Schools and Unschooling. My best friend worries that the girls will be ill equipped for life in a college classroom after growing up with their education being dictated solely by them.

I need to get my book written. It would be so much easier to direct those who want answers to read a book than to try to give them a detailed explanation in the span of a short conversation. The outline is written. The thoughts are there. I just have to sit down and force myself to type out the words that are already buried within my mind and heart. Then comes the process of getting published - which is just plain scary for me. Luckily, I have a friend who knows the industry and will be helpful in getting me on that road to being published.

Numbers and Words

2010-02-05T09:05:00.000-05:00

Well, the last couple of days has been pretty impressive around the Schonder School House. Somewhere along the line, Kira picked up some pretty interesting information. She has learned to divide sets of things in half. She has started writing words all on her own. She made leaps and bounds with her connections of content.

Last night, Dad and I were playing Tekken on the Play Station. Kira started sounding out some words. We didn't really think much about it until she brought us a piece of paper that she had written the word "bat" on. She explained to us that this was the bat you use to hit balls with and not the bat you see flying in the sky at night. She asked for more paper and continued writing out words. (Just WOW!!!)

This morning, she crawls in bed for some snuggles. After a few minutes she tells me, "Mom, 5 has a middle person. Four has a middle hole, but not a middle person."

blink blink blink

Mind you, it was very early and I am NOT a morning person. I had to ask her what she was talking about.

So she holds up her hand - with 5 fingers up. Then she tells me again... "Five has a middle person - see... *wiggling her middle finger*. Four does not have a middle person. It has a middle hole. *putting her finger in the middle space*

again... blink blink blink

My foggy brain found the capacity to discuss odds and evens with her.

Then I asked her how she would divide the 5 so that her and Marisa would get the exact same amount.

Dad started to help her, until I told him to hush. (he isn't usually home on Fridays...)

After a bit of consideration, Kira decided that to divide the middle person she would need to use a knife to cut it in half --- but only by asking a grown up to help her.

I think this is so awesome!

Ignore This, Please

2010-01-14T13:24:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading for a while, then you are aware that this blog is partially intended as a detail of records for our schooling. This post is for the purpose of records keeping, so while it may appear to be a bit odd... just nod and smile and say to yourself "Man, she's one smart Mom for covering her bases so thoroughly." and then come back to visit again when we talk about the next set of event.

----------

Email Sent January 13, 2009

Thank you again for contacting the Georgia Department of Education. This response has been provided by AskDOE, the Superintendent’s Helpdesk. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this response, please don’t hesitate to contact AskDOE at 404-656-2800 or 800-311-3627 and refer to Help Ticket number 00403717.

Email Received:

I have a question regarding the compulsory attendance regulations for home
schoolers.

My daughter will turn 6 years old on September 8th of this year. Her birthday
falls after the cut off date for entering the 1st grade.

I am aware of Georgia's laws. However, I am uncertain about when we will need
to begin reporting to our local DOE.

Do we begin reporting this year even though her birthday falls after the
September 1st cut off date?

Or are we exempt from the attendance regulations until the following year when
she will be 6 years old prior to the September 1st cut off date?

Please advise.

Sincerely,

Shaunalynn Schonder

----------

Response Received January 14, 2009

Response from AskDOE:

S Schonder

Dear Ms. Schonder:

Your e-mail to State Superintendent Kathy Cox has been received and is being addressed by AskDOE, the Superintendent’s help desk. Thank you for this opportunity to assist you. I am responding on behalf of the Superintendent.

Because mandatory attendance is from ages 6 - 16, you will not need to report intent to home school. Kindergarten is not required in Georgia. However, when she reaches the age for grade 1, you will need to submit a Declaration of Intent and Monthly Attendance Reports to your local school district. Your child will be eligible for public school 1st grade when she is 6 and soon to be 7.

I wish you the best and thank you, again, for contacting the Georgia Department of Education. Please let me know if I can provide further assistance.

Sincerely,

(name deleted)
Education Administration Specialist

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** We do not need to begin reporting attendance for Kira until September of 2011.**

Africam

2010-01-13T12:48:00.000-05:00

I've talked about Africam before over at The Art and Science of Parenting. As part of our zoo studies, we have been watching Africam for the past few hours. Kira and I sat up until midnight watching the sunrise at the Nkorho water hole. Unfortunately, we only saw a few birds last night. Today we have been a slight bit luckier. Right now there is a night safari group in the camera's range. The group has been busy taking pictures of some sort of large cat - probably a lion - that is barely visible to the camera. The light from the safari group keeps glaring so all we can see is the outline of the cat. The way it is laying in the grass, though, leads me to believe that it is most likely a lioness or bachelor lion. Kira and I are both hoping the lion will venture to the water's edge where the camera can get a good look.

Night has descended swiftly upon the plains, as is common in Africa. There is little transition between night and day. Unless the animals come closer to the water's edge where the infrared light can illuminate them, we will simply have to be content with their sounds. I can actually hear a slight bit of rumbling that sounds like it might be from a lion. It isn't exactly a roar - just chatter.

Africam is such a cool website and resource. I discovered it some years ago when Angel was finishing the 9th grade and embarking on her home school journey. We spent many nights sitting up (sprawled on the couch...) watching the goings on at the watering hole. We were both somewhat obsessed with the camera that watched over the African Plains. We wondered every day what beasts might present themselves for our viewing.

Now, Kira is becoming just as captivated with the camera over in Africa. She sits for extended lengths of time just watching the screen and chatting with me about what we might or might not see. It took a while for me to get her to understand that the camera was watching something that was going on right this moment. After all, the time there is not the same as it is here. Sunrise there finds us cloaked in darkness of night. Sunset there finds us in the midst of our day. It's a difficult concept for a child to comprehend. She's learning, though.

Texas School Board Suspends 4 Year Old Child for Long Hair?

2010-01-12T10:36:00.000-05:00

Apparently I am behind on the times. Some few weeks ago, the principle of Floyd Elementary School in Dallas, Texas decided that it was appropriate to suspend - SUSPEND FROM SCHOOL - a 4 year old child. Now, was the child misbehaving? No. Was he being disruptive to the education of others? No. Was he being sexually inappropriate towards other students? No.

So you may wonder what infraction this child has committed that would call for such a harsh response from the schools. After all, the child is barely even old enough to attend school.

What horrible incident has caused the school to suspend the child?

His hair is too long.

That's right. The child's hair is too long and the parents refuse to cut his hair just because the principle of the school insists that his hair must abide by the school's code.

The parents refused to cut Taylor's hair. The school responded by suspending him. After a length of time, the school decided to allow Taylor to attend school - under in-school suspension. For the past few weeks, this 4 year old child has been sentenced to live out his days separated from all of his friends and all other children at the school. He is isolated in the library without the benefits of social interaction or play time, being taught by a teacher's aide.

The parents are currently engaged in a fight for their child's right to wear his hair as he pleases. I agree with their choice to fight the schools on this matter. In fact, I would need to point out that if his hair is too long then every girl in the class should also be forced to cut her hair or braid it daily as the Board has ruled their son can keep his long hair as long as he braids it every day.

Learn more Here .

Assessments

2010-01-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

Kira is progressing fairly quickly with her reading. I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher - Jen. Jen has offered to assess Kira's reading level to help me determine what I need to do next to help Kira continue to progress with her reading skills. I'm really looking forward to that assessment.

The key part of home schooling is knowing where to go for information and/or assistance whenever you may need it. I've been trying to explain this to many of my friends. Home schooling does not mean that I am the only person who will ever provide educational instruction to my children. What it does mean is that I have a greater control over what my children are exposed to and how quickly they progress with information.

Either Wednesday or Thursday I will be visiting with Jen to let her spend some time with Kira. After that, Jen and I will work together to formulate a plan for what I need to do next to keep Kira moving forward with reading. I imagine she will tell me what I already know. (Kira is ahead of her "age" in her reading ability. Keep doing what I am already doing in order to continue our progress.) The reassurance is always a good thing.

A Night at the Zoo

2009-12-20T19:13:00.000-05:00

We're building a zoo. Our big January project is to build our very own zoo. We've already made a list of all the animals that will live in our zoo. The next step is to study each animal and determine what region that animal belongs in. (Arctic, Antarctic, Rain Forest, African Plains, etc.)

We will be building dioramas of each region. The dioramas will be built in those "under the bed" plastic Rubbermaid containers.

After our zoo is complete, we will be hosting a Night at the Zoo event. We will send out invitations to various friends and relatives. We will create a buffet snack table. We will greet our guests and then Kira will give a tour of the zoo, complete with lectures about each region and what animals live there.

We will be posting fact sheets, too, for our guests to read about our animals and regions.

I'm very excited about this project. I've been "creating" this in my mind for a few years now, just waiting for the girls to be old enough to begin.

Reading Lessons, Continued...

2009-12-07T01:08:00.000-05:00

I took a bit of time to reorganize the index cards that are taped to the bathroom wall. Now they are organized into categories according to their "word families."

"Word families are groups of words that have a common feature or pattern - they have some of the same combination of letters in them and a similar sound. For example, at, cat, hat, and fat are a family of words with the "at" sound and letter combination in common." (Enchanted Learning)

After I organized all the words, I added a few new words that Kira has not yet read to me. I know she is able to read them, we just never actually sat down and read each word in that grouping. I added a couple of extra "families" that I know she will have no trouble with, also.

In the morning, I will show her how I have rearranged everything. Kira is somewhat resistant to the process of reading out loud. She likes to claim that she can't read or that she's not in the mood. In order to get her to be a bit more interested, I will be pulling out the shiny stars. Each time she reads a word for me, she will get to pick a star sticker and place it on the word card to show that she has read that word. I will make her put her stars on the cards in an even interval to prevent her from focusing on one word at a time. In this manner, I hope to give her some motivation to do the reading and reinforce that she is able to do it without any complaining.

Now I know Kira will be reading all these words whenever she happens to be in the bathroom. It's just the nature of the human brain to find something to occupy itself during times of stillness. (not that my 5 year old is EVER still...) What I need, though, is a way to get her to read those words to me. That's why I'm bringing out the stars.

I will continue to add new words to the wall throughout the next few months. As each word card accumulates a certain number of stars - FIVE maybe - then it will be "retired" to a different location. Maybe we will create a "word families" box and let her keep her retired cards in that box so she can still practice the reading skills with those cards whenever she wants to pull them out.

Feel free to throw me a few suggestions. While I'm pleased with how readily Kira is grasping this particular concept, I am also completely open to any and every possible idea to make it better for us both.

Sorting

2009-12-04T22:52:00.000-05:00

I have a HUGE box of buttons of various sizes and colors. I like to use my buttons in art projects and scrapbooking, but I often find myself spending way too much time looking for just the right color or just the right size.

I have a solution.

My two girls will start sorting my buttons for me tomorrow. I'm going to buy the appropriate number of jars and have them sort my buttons by color / size. This will accomplish a multitude of things.

First, Marisa will get to practice her colors. She will also be able to practice sorting by color. She might get a bit of size sorting in, but I'm not too sure that she's ready for that at the lovely age of *Hell Hath No Fury* 3 years old.

Second, Kira will get to practice her color and size sorting. At the age of 5 years old, she is more than capable of doing this level of sorting. She will also be sorting out the animals, the flowers, and the holiday buttons to add a level of difficulty.

Both girls will get paid a small pittance each day for their work. This will give them an idea of earning their money. They already have piggy banks that they just adore dropping coins in. Giving them a bit of cash to compensate them for the time they spend on such a tedious task will also help keep them motivated. This task will take many days to complete and I wouldn't want them to stop in the middle without finishing the sorting project.

Most importantly, though, my buttons will ultimately be sorted into a system that will allow me to access whatever it is I may want or need at any given time. THIS, of course, is my main goal!

Major Organizing Project = Massive School Lesson for Both Girls

WIN

School House Rock

2009-12-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

I bought the School House Rock Collector's Edition DVD about a year ago. Unfortunately, I could never quite figure out how to navigate through the menu. Yes - consider it to be a bit of blondness combined with a great deal of stress at the time.

I decided to try again now that my life has settled down quite a bit. Luckily, I found the menu to be much more comprehensible this time.

I have spent the better part of the day listening to the never ending series of songs, accompanied by appropriate animations, that teach about a large variety of subjects. We've listened to a song about bones, songs about parts of speech, songs about legal matters, and songs about money. It's pretty cool how these topics can be translated into songs that kids will inevitably learn. My husband still sings "Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function" which he learned when he was a kid.

If you have never been introduced to School House Rock, I highly recommend that you find a copy at your local movie store.

Phonics

2009-12-02T00:27:00.002-05:00

I've been spending the last few days teaching Marisa her letter sounds. We make a fun game of the whole process.

I ask her what the letter "A" says.

She tells me that the letter makes some off the wall sound that is completely not what that letter says.

I tell her in a voice that is incredulous that that is NOT what the letter says.

Then I tell here exactly what the letter says.

She repeats what I say about the letter, then we carry on to the next one in line.

We do this for the entire alphabet.

This is the same method I used for Kira two years ago. Kira, however, preferred to tell me that her letters said "nothing" instead of providing me with nonsense sounds. At any rate, Marisa is learning the letter sounds and having fun being obstinate about it. Who knew that "MY" Marisa would enjoy being obstinate and difficult??? (Never saw THAT one coming...)

Bob On Site

2009-11-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

Kira got a new movie at her birthday party last weekend. (Yes, her party was incredibly late... due to family being out of town for an extended period of time.)

Kira has been asking me lately about how houses are built. Of course I have no clue. This is not my area of expertise. Well, for her party, I gave her a Bob On Site movie that is all about how houses are built. She already has the one about roads and the one about bridges. She really enjoyed those two and learned so much about how these important parts of our world are constructed.

Well, we've been watching houses being built for the last 24 hours or so. It's pretty interesting. The movie starts by showing how Bob's foundations are built, then it shows a video clip of real construction sites with foundations being built. The movie progresses this way throughout the entire process.

Did you know?
   - It takes a full week for the foundation of a house to dry.
   - Crews spray water on houses while they are being demolished to help contain some of the dust.

Atlanta Zoo

2009-11-18T21:32:00.001-05:00

We went to the zoo today. The girls had a wonderful time. There was hardly anybody there, so we took our time through all the exhibits without feeling pressured to get out of the way. It was awesome. They played with the panda (through the glass) as he was eating his bamboo. It was pretty cool to watch him sit and eat.

We visited the petting zoo and learned that goats are bovine, akin to cows, and have FOUR stomachs. We also learned that goats chew cud. (I never knew this.)

We saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, and a whole host of the usual zoo animals.

We hung around the flamingos for a while and watched them sparring with each other.

We watched the otters playing and, interestingly, waiting to be fed. We just happened upon the otter exhibit close to feeding time. Somebody walked by with a set of keys and those critters went nuts. Unfortunately for them, he was not on his way to feed them. Then, a golf cart approached and stopped. I have never seen so many otters piled up on one single rock in my entire life. They sat there staring at this guy expectantly, only to be disappointed by the knowledge that he was simply doing his rounds to empty the trash cans. As we waited and watched, the little otters whimpered and moaned because they were so hungry. (sounded a lot like my two girls throughout the day...) When we finally left, they did a great bit of whimpering. I think they were enjoying our company. I peeked around the wooden fence to see just what all the whimpering was about and all seven of them were lined up by the water's edge staring at where we had disappeared. It was incredibly cute.

We had a really good day. I had intended to take a sketch pad and art set, but decided that it was a bit too cold to try to do much in the way of drawing. Besides, Kira was so excited that she bounced from spot to spot. I think getting her to sit still long enough to draw a picture would have been difficult.

2009-10-31T11:05:00.001-04:00

Apples Up On Top

2009-10-30T21:04:00.001-04:00

... and below... and all around.

We went to the apple houses up in Ellijay, GA yesterday. The apple houses are a place where the local orchards send their apples to be cleaned and packaged. Some apples get turned into pies, sauces, jellies and other delectable treats. Some get bagged up for purchase. These apples are so delicious and so fresh because they are local and not shipped from out of town.

Well, upstairs there is a wall of windows where you can look down into the warehouse area and watch the workers washing and sorting the apples. It's a very neat process that involves forklifts, cranes and heavy machinery.

The first step is to set a large crate of apples into the water bath. The crate is very big and has to be lifted and maneuvered by machinery. The machinery gently lowers the entire crate into the water bath so that the apples can slowly float to the surface. The apples are rinsed off here and moved by a gentle current to the conveyor belt that will take them through an air drying process.

After the apples are rinsed, they move through an air dryer and then onto a sorting table where they are turned continually so the sorter can easily see any bad spots or bruises. The bad apples (and the leaves) are removed at this point. The good apples get to continue on up the conveyor to be packaged in boxes and bags (unless they are surreptitiously retrieved to be tossed to cute little blond bystanders).

You may already realize from previous posts that I am not afraid to ask for special privileges when I see something I want to get involved in. Well, I wanted to get up close and personal with those machines. This was a rare opportunity for the girls to get a look at what happens to our food before we buy it. I waited patiently by the glass paneled door for somebody - anybody - to walk by. My moment arrived and I tapped on the glass then motioned the young man to the door. He obliged me with curiosity. When he opened the door, I sweetly explained that I had a home schooled child who wanted to see what was going on with the apples. He disappeared for a moment to consult with his manager and returned with golden words. We could enter the inner sanctum as long as we remained behind the white line (or rather, the row of pallets that were a considerably safe distance away from the heavy machinery that posed a safety risk).

Woo Hoo!!!

I retrieved Kira from the tables where she sat with Grandma Janet and whisked her away behind the closed door that marked the barrier for those normal customers without permission to enter. (Let me gloat for a moment. I almost didn't ask because I was quite certain that my request would be denied due to safety regulations.) Kira stood on the wooden pallet a few short feet away from the machinery and watched the apples roll and tumble over the table made of spinning metal rods. I leaned down close to her ear and talked to her about what was happening at each stage of the process. We stood there and watched as the apples rolled by. We yelled out questions to the worker who was sorting the apples and he quickly and happily answered. Then, to my startled amazement, he pulled out the most perfect green apple I think I have ever seen. It was the perfect size for little hands. He motioned for me to step closer so he could gently toss the apple my way. Upon receiving his offering, I noticed that there was not a speck or bruise anywhere to be seen. Kira quickly snatched the apple from my hands and began munching happily away upon her gift. She has since declared that the green apple from the apple house was the most delicious apple she has eaten to date.

After we stood and watched for a few more minutes, I took Kira back to the tables and back to Grandma Janet. Risa noticed right away that Kira had a fresh, shiny apple. There was no doubt that I would need to venture back out to the machines with one more cute little blond headed girl in hopes for receiving one more shiny green apple. I would probably have to beg for another free offering, but beg I would if necessary. (It wasn't necessary, of course. Nobody can resist these baby blues...)

Risa was much less interested in the apples rolling along the belt and far more entertained by the movements of the machines. No doubt she would have loved to climb up inside those machines and dissect the inner workings until she understood what it was that made the belts move and the apples roll. That's just how her mind works. She's mechanical in nature. She was quite pleased, however, when her own shiny green apple was gently tossed our way. She smiled and waved and yelled "Thank you." as loud as she could in hopes that he might hear her over the noise.

To add to the wonder of our day, I do believe we made that man's whole week. He seemed genuinely thrilled to be the center of attention and to be able to do something so small as offering an apple to a young child. I hope he spent the rest of the day with that big grin on his face. I know how boring and tedious that kind of work can be. Perhaps our impromptu visit brightened his entire day and not just a few short minutes.

What we learned:

How apples are cleaned and packaged
That there are many different types of apples and each one tastes and feels different
Forklifts can pick up very heavy things with very little effort at all
Honey combs look really neat when you can see them cut up and placed in jars of honey
There are different types of honey
What old washing machines looked like
To be thankful for our modern day machines so laundry is not the chore it used to be
That the bruised apples are not thrown away - they are used to make ciders and sauces and other goodies

Board Game Day

2009-10-22T13:52:00.003-04:00

We joined our home school group on Monday to have a board game day. It was really fun. The girls got to play different games with other kids and start getting to know these kids that we hope to spend a bit of time with over the next year.

The host provided snacks and treats and games. Everybody was asked to bring any special games that their kids might enjoy playing.

Kira spent most of the time following her baby sister around. I was surprised at how shy she became and how long it took her to warm up to the new group of kids. She isn't usually so timid.

I'm looking forward to spending time with these families this year. We're doing a field trip next Tuesday that should be loads of fun.

Contest...

2009-10-14T14:55:00.002-04:00

The Pacifier Debate

Time is ticking away.

The counter has begun.

The contest will begin shortly.

Do you want to win free stuff?

Are you ready?

Well, well, well - do I have the spot for you.

Visit The Art and Science of Parenting on Friday evening. I will be posting details regarding my next give away contest right here.

**If you want to be a sponsor, just send me an email at aandsparenting@gmail.com or leave me a comment below.**

Field Trips for Last Week

2009-10-13T17:40:00.002-04:00

I am a bit late in writing about this. I just never got around to it, I suppose.

Last Tuesday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It is a regular trip for us, but this time I splurged a bit and paid for me and Kira to take a behind the scenes tour. I opted for the shorter tour because it was less expensive and, well, shorter.

We got to go up to the top of the tanks and watch the catfish being fed. We also got to visit the top of the Ocean Voyager tank, where we were just two short feet away from the massive Whale Sharks as they swam by. I highly recommend this to anybody who loves to watch them in the tank. It's amazing just how huge they are when they get up close and personal.

Kira also had a chance to see a rubber replica of the food that the Whale Sharks eat. She got to touch and hold tiny krill and tiny little fish that looked exactly like what the big sharks get to eat. We learned about target feeding and broadcast feeding. Mostly, though, it was just really cool.

On Friday we visited Rock City, another nearby local attraction. We walked through the city made of rocks for THREE SOLID HOURS. (feel sorry for me please...) We visited Mother Goose Village and saw the diorama depictions of our favorite Mother Goose stories. It was a pretty good day. There was probably more fun there than education going on as I was so busy trying to deal with all the walking that I just wasn't focused on any learning.

Our next big field trip will be to the Imagine It museum in Atlanta. That's coming up in about 2 weeks, I believe. Grandma will be back from California, and she's coming with us, so the girls will have a double treat.

Planning...

2009-10-05T12:41:00.002-04:00

I'm making plans today.

I've made plans to go on a field trip to Imagine It with our home school group.

I've made plans to set up a field trip at our local post office - hoping to get enough people to join me.

I've made plans to take a nap today. I'm very tired.

I've made plans to clean the house.

I've made lots of plans today.

The Visible Horse --- FAIL!

2009-09-28T05:30:00.001-04:00

We gave Kira an Visible Horse for her birthday. I knew when I bought it that this would be something that we (meaning me) would have to put together because it is for older kids.

Saturday afternoon I decided to open the box and see what I could make of it. I was accompanied by an eager audience of two - because assembling toys is so much easier when little people are watching (and grabbing and instructing and 'helping' and just generally being in the way).

I made NOTHING of it.

It's an actual model that requires paints, cement, and Daddy!

I thought it would be an easy 'snap together' type model.

It turns out that the Visible Horse is actually the type of model that you put together with days and days of intensive work and extensive drying.

**Mom hangs head in shame.**

Daddy walked into the room when he heard my sounds of frustration.

Daddy walked out of the room and fell to the floor in fits of laughter. (Lucky he didn't stay IN the room or he may have been showered with unpainted horse parts.)

I have been assured that Daddy will acquire the proper materials for building the model horse and will commence the project with Kira. They will assemble the beast together. My job will be to keep littler hands out of the way (and out of the paint...).

Scrabble Anyone?

2009-09-27T04:06:00.002-04:00

I'm so excited over today's lessons. (Yesterday? It isn't Saturday anymore...)

We pulled Scrabble out to play with the teenager this evening. Kira immediately came running over to ask if we could spell words together. It's been a long time since she was reading words at Grandma Shari's house using the Scrabble tiles. I obliged Kira by providing her with a few words to read. She was much faster this time than before. She did have a few moments of "I can't do it!" but that quickly passed as she realized that she could, indeed, read the words. She would run off to watch her Liberty Kids movie and then come back a few minutes later to read another word. She did get a bit annoyed at me because most of her words started with an "f." She asked me why all the words had to start with that letter so I had to explain to her that it was the only letter I had that would work to create a word.

Kira is also learning to write her letters with the help of a very special learning manipulative. I'll be writing a review about that product within the next week. I am definitely loving how easy it has been for her to learn how to write.

Feel that hard spot? It's a bone.

2009-09-26T12:49:00.003-04:00

Marisa watched Sid the Science Kid yesterday while we were at Grandma Janet's house. I only have a couple of the DVDs for Sid, so we rarely get to see anything new. Yesterday's episode was about using you brain and how muscles work. Apparently this made an impression on Marisa.

Last night while I was in the shower, Marisa and Daddy has a discussion about muscles. Marisa was telling Daddy about where her muscles are and what they do. Daddy took this opportunity to tell Marisa about bones.

Marisa was fascinated by this new discovery. She was thoroughly excited to discover that she has bones. She spent the next four hours - YES... FOUR HOURS - telling us where her bones were.

Touching her forehead, she would say, "Do you feel that hard spot, Mommy? It's a bone."

Then she would touch her knee and say, "Do you feel that hard spot? It's a bone."

Then she would touch her arm and say, "Do you feel that hard spot? It's a bone."

Then she would touch my arm and say, "Do you feel that hard spot? It's a bone. You have bones inside you, Mommy. I have bones inside me, Mommy."

She chattered about this new discovery for hours on end. Long after Daddy was asleep, Marisa was still going on about bones and how she had all these bones.

I did take the opportunity to point out to her that she had joints to go along with those bones. She was far less fascinated by that revelation that the fact that she had bones.

Preparing for Worms

2009-09-25T14:14:00.004-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, after the initial dismay at being presented with pet worms, I gathered the girls to help me prepare the new worm bed. We ripped up newspaper into shreds to provide good bedding for the pet worms. Then we shook in a little bit of their dirt so they would have some dirt to wander through. I used a colander to sift the big pieces and the rocks out of the mess of dirt. Kira and Marisa had fun observing how the fine soil went through the holes while the bigger pieces of soil and rocks and roots stayed in the bowl. I used this opportunity to help them understand the process and purpose of sifting.

After we found the worms - they were rather small - we placed them in their new home with some bread to make them happy.

Today, Grandma Janet added a couple of worms to our collection.

I'm really looking forward to this lesson. I already explained to Kira that the worms will eat our leftover food so we won't have to throw it in the garbage and send it out to the landfills. I also told her that the worms will make their own soil... and how they make it. She was only slightly disturbed by the concept of her worms creating their own soil... I wonder if she realizes that she's been playing in the creations of their bodily functions all this time?

Pet Worms

2009-09-24T11:46:00.002-04:00

My beautiful little girls went outside this morning to dig in the garden with their Grandma Janet. They came back inside with a box filled with soil and two worms.

Kira has asked if we can keep them.

Well....

I've been wanting to start a worm compost. It looks like this might be the right time to start. I'll be setting up a more permanent location for the new pet worms. With the help of the wonderful book "Worms Eat My Garbage," we are about to embark on a very interesting scientific journey.

Rain - Again!!!

2009-09-21T07:15:00.002-04:00

There's more rain today. The forecast says it will rain for the next few days. I don't recall having this much rain all at once in quite a long time. When I was a kid it would rain almost every afternoon during the summer, but not long stretches of endless rain. We've had a pretty long stretch of endless rain here.

The girls are awake. They decided that getting up around 6:00 AM was a good idea today. I have NO IDEA why, because they're both grumpy and obviously still sleepy. I think we'll be making a visit to Grandma's today.

So far this morning Kira has tried to engage me in several different discussions. Unfortunately for her, I am NOT a morning person.

I'm trying to find the educational value in continual rain. Can somebody please tell me how to use this non-stop rain for educational good???

Mushroom Hunt

2009-09-19T19:51:00.009-04:00

We took the girls to a local state park today to hunt for mushrooms. The extra rain we've been having has caused a massive explosion of mushrooms in our area. Today I decided to take a photo journey through the woods to capture the wide variety of mushrooms that can be found here.

I have not made any attempt at this point to identify these mushrooms. I'm not sure that the girls' fascination goes beyond the general observance that there are so many different mushrooms to be seen. I did take lots of pictures, though. I want to share the photos here. If you happen to recognize any particular type of mushroom, please feel free to enlighten me.

Keep in mind that all these mushrooms were found within an area along a trail that was less than a half a mile long. We did not have to go very far to find a huge variety. (The very last picture looks like just a pile of leaves. If you look really closely, you will see the tiny little mushrooms that are poking up through the mass of dead leaves.)

No More Pre-School

2009-09-13T21:43:00.003-04:00

Kira decided she was all done with pre-school so I withdrew her from the program. Fun was had, but I do believe she missed being at home. I also think there is a limit to how much can be gained from continual unstructured play when the playing centers around the same toys day after day after day with little variation.

What I learned from her time in pre-school is that she has a fondness for the Science Center. Their Science Center was equipped with magnifying glasses, telescopes, and scales plus a few fake bugs and such. I will be acquiring my very own Science Center fairly soon to accommodate her interest.

I also learned that setting up our "school space" in Centers might make everybody's life just a little bit easier. That will have to wait for a while because we are limited on space right now. However, in the next year or so I will be able to organize things in a way that will allow us to create specific locations for specific areas of study. I'm a planner so I will spend the next few months making notes and considering all the various possibilities for setting up this type of system.

Animal Deciders

2009-09-09T11:54:00.004-04:00

Kira invented a new game last night called Animal Deciders. Yes, this is the name she chose for her new game. It's a very interesting game. Two players - me and her - take turns being an animal. One player pretends to be an animal and tells what they look like, what they eat, and what they do. The other player has to decide what kind of animal is being described.

This game started with Kira telling me that she lives in the water, eats fish that gets stuck in her head, and only has a heart and lungs - no brain.

**blink blink blink**

Um - it took me a few minutes... then I realized she was a Jelly Fish!!! Mind you, she just turned 5 years old yesterday.

We played this game for over a half an hour. Suffice it to say that she stumped me far more than I stumped her. I can now mark off "knows common animals - both land and sea" from her Scope and Sequence.

This has also left me wondering exactly how long it will be before I can no longer keep up with her... (I'm scared...)

Testing Risa

2009-08-28T11:37:00.002-04:00

With Kira off to classes during the day, I have a bit of extra time to spend with Marisa.

This morning it was raining. Risa wanted to go out and watch the rain fall. Luckily it is getting cooler so being outside is easier for me. We sat outside for a while watching the rain and looking around.

I took this opportunity to test Risa on her colors. I can now say for certain that she is very clear on all her colors. This isn't the first time I've tested her. I do it pretty frequently. She's really known her colors for a while, but letting her pick out those colors in a natural setting makes it more certain that she's not just following a pattern.

She also counted to 5 for me. This is new. She can now count all the way to 5 all by herself. One more set of requirements that she has accomplished by just paying attention to the world around her...

Who Needs School?

Spelling

Worms Eat Garbage...

I Shouldn't Be Alive

Twelth Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 12 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Mathematics

Eleventh Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 11 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Mathematics

Tenth Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 10 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Mathematics

Ninth Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 9 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Mathematics

Eigth Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 8 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Health and Safety

Mathematics

Seventhh Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 7 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Health and Safety

Mathematics

Sixth Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 6 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Health and Safety

Mathematics

Fifth Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 5 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Health and Safety

Mathematics

Fourth Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 4 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Health and Safety

Mathematics

Third Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 3 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Health and Safety

Mathematics

Second Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 2 Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

Science

Language Arts

Health and Safety

Personal cleanliness* Dental hygiene* Basic food groups * Communicable diseases* Preventive measures against disease* Neighborhood safety

Mathematics

First Grade Scope and Sequence

Grade 1 Curriculum Guide

Personal cleanliness
* Dental hygiene
* Basic food groups
* Communicable diseases
* Preventive measures against disease
* Neighborhood safety