Update on our chrysallis

If you look very closely, you can see the wings.  I don't think it will be long before we see the butterfly.

Birds field trip

To go along with our study of cardinals, we attended a field trip at Minnetrista in Muncie about birds.  After listening to bird calls, the kids disected an owl pellet.  Owl's eat live animals like rodents and such.  However, their bodies cannot digest all the animal they eat, so after the meat is consumed, they upchuck (for lack of a better word) the bones and fur of the animal.  this is called an owl pellet.  Now, it may sound disgusting (and for those of you who know Nicolas, he has a strong gag reflect and I was concerned), but she explained that the pellets were cleaned to get rid of germs and they were very dry.  Here are pictures of the boys disecting.

And here is what we found.  To the far left is the top part of the skull.  Aiming toward the bottom left are the long front teeth.  Next in line are the bottom parts of the jaw - you can also see the long teeth there.  Then the next pile is just miscellaneous bones.  She let them bring the bones home.

Then we talked about beaks of different birds and how they are used.  The first was a Robin and that their beaks are long to fint down into the ground for worms.  Here the boys are digging for 'worms' in oatmeal with chopsticks.

Then there was the birds that crack open nuts, like the Cardinal.  Here the boys are using a nutcracker.

Then there are birds that use their beaks to peck insects off of trees, like the woodpecker.  The boys used tweezers to pick rice off a log.

And finally there are hummingbirds that use their long beaks to get nectar out of flowers.  The boys used straws to get water out of a vase.

What a great learning experience.  This field trip went along great with our science also - Zoology, the study of flying creatures.  We were already discussing bird calls and field markings.

To finish the field trip, they kids walked around outside to listen for and look for birds.  We didn't see many, but it was a nice walk.

Indiana history trip to Mounds St. Park

Our 4th graders all visited Mounds State Park in Anderson today to see the Indian mounds.  We learned that they used the mounds to help them know what time of the year it is - or for their calendars.  Many people believe that they are burial grounds, and some are, but most where used for ceremonial purposes.  They would have "church" on the mounds.  Also, they built the mounds so that at the spring and winter equinoxes, the sun would set directly behind a smaller mound letting them know it was time to hunt in the spring or gather food in the winter.  It was very interesting.

Here is a picture of the great mound.  It looks like a hill and a ditch.  The Adena indians dug them themselves using bone and baskets.  Because of erosion, the mounds aren't near as tall as they were originally built, and the ditches used to be much deeper.  Indians today still consider these mounds sacred structures.

Here is our group in front of the mound.

Albert lapbook

Here are pictures of our Albert lapbook.  Since they are both pretty much the same, most pictures are of Alex's lapbook.  I have added in a couple that were different in Nicolas's.

Where do cardinals live?

Cardinal's song.

Alex's copywork above, Nicolas's below.

And our study of sound.

Our schedule this year

 I just wanted to share the exciting things we will be learning this year and give insight on the schedule we will use.

Morning:

Bible (using the book series Ten Boys Who Changed the World, Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents, Ten Boys Who Didn't Give In, etc. - series also has Ten Girls Who...)

Math (both boys are using Horizons this year)

15 minute break

Science (Apologia's Zoology 1 - the study of Flying Creatures - birds and insects.  There are lots of opportunities for experiments.  Last week we discussed lift and drag as it pertains to flying objects and made 2 cardboard airplanes with different lengths of wings to see which one travelled further.  This week we will be making a bird feeder to invite different species of birds into the yard to enjoy and nature journal.)

Language Arts (Nicolas is using Horizon's Phonics along with A Beka Readers and library books for his reading.  Alex is using Bob Jones English 4 which we are alternating with his spelling book.  I have listed books I would like him to read this year that either relate to our Unit Studies or are from the Ableside Online book list.  Last week and this week, he is reading a book from Hank the Cowdog series.  Nicolas is reading an Usborne title, Cowboys.)

History (Moving West History Pockets from Evan-Moor.  Alex only.  Many of our Unit Studies are westerns this year, so we are using the history pockets to go a little deeper.  Alex really enjoys doing these pockets and he is mostly independent in his work while I listen to Nicolas read aloud to me.)

Afternoon:
Lunch break (1 hour)

Unit Study (This will vary depending on whether or not we had our co-op meeting that week.  When we have co-op we are using some Five in a Row Volume 4 titles and some homeschoolshare.com titles.  Beyond co-op, I have chosen some animal studies that relate to our co-op titles to fill in, we will do an election study right before election time, I have chosen a Detectives study that will be super fun for the boys, and I will allow the boys to pick something they would like to study on some blank weeks.  These are the titles that we will make into lapbooks.)

Read Aloud (I have chosen books from Ambleside Online that I want the boys to be familiar with, and also some books that go along with our Unit Studies.  Last week we read Buffalo Bill to go along with Lightning Larry, and keeping with the western theme, this week we are reading B is for Buckaroo: A Cowboy Alphabet.  This week's Unit Study is not of a western theme, but our next 2 are, so I decided to just stick with cowboys and westerns rather than take a break this week.  The boys seem to be enjoying them.)

Break (15 min)

Electives (This will include many things throughout the year.  At this point we have not started this section of school, since we are getting into the school routine slowly.  We will begin in September.  Subjects that will be rotated here are Poetry Study, Artist Study, Musician Study, and Typing for sure.  Hopefully I will begin piano lessons for the boys, or possibly they will take music lessons on their favorite instruments - Alex on guitar and Nicolas on drums.  I would at least like to teach them to read music, if not playing the piano.  I may or may not throw a foreign language in here.)

Our goal would be to start school at 9:30 and finish by 2:30 or 3:00.

Although we don't use a year-round school calendar, we do start earlier than the public school and take more breaks.  We started on August 4 this year and will still be done by Memorial Day.  We are taking the following breaks:

Labor day week
Last week of Oct for fall break
3 weeks for Christmas
Last week of March for spring break
Last week of April
Plus some 3 or 4 day weekends throughout the year.

 

 

Lightning Larry lapbook

Here are pictures from our Lightning Larry lapbook.  We didn't end up doing all that I wanted to do with the lapbook, but since we are shortening our weeks during August, we ran out of time.

Inside of Alex's above,  Nicolas's below.

Alex's tall tales and Alliteration books opened.  We changed the names of the character's in the book from "bad" names to "good" names since the cowboys became good after Lightning Larry shot them with the lightning bolts.  Dismal Dan became Daring Dan, Stinky Steve is not Steady Steve, Lousy Luke is Lovely Luke, Moldy Mike is Mighty Mike, and Creepy Cal is now Cool Cal.

Nicolas's Past and Present and Alliteration books opened.  Again the names were changed: Dismal Dan - Daring Dan, Stinky Steve - Stuffed Steve, Lousy Luke - Likes Luke, Moldy Mike - Mighty Mike, Creepy Cal - Care Cal.

All of the above finish Alex's book.  Below finish Nicolas's

Albert pictures

For co-op, the boys drew pictures of cardinals, below:

Alex's above, Nicolas's below.