Whales

For Science this year, we are doing Apologia's Zoology 2 (Swimming creatures of the fifth day).  The most current chapter was on whales.  A suggestion they had was to make an ocean box and as we study certain creatures, we'll add them to the box.  Since there are 2 different kinds of whales - baleen and toothed, each boy colored a type to add to our box.  To make it look 3-d, we have cut the fish and glued part of it above the box and part of it below.  Creatures we find on top the water will be placed on top the box and creatures we find in the bottom of the ocean will be on the bottom of the inside of the box and we'll include all creatures in between.  Here is a picture of our box after we added whales.



Nicolas did the dolphin (toothed whale) on the left and Alex did the humpback whale and baby (baleen whale) on the right.

Alex's history

For Alex's history this year, he's using the curriculum "Mystery of History".  He begins with creation and goes through biblical and world history in order.  For one of his assignments, he was to create his own animal and name it just like Adam did.



He named it Inphoizzard.

Later he had to build a ziggarat out of legos.



A ziggarat was used by the Sumarians (in present-day Iraq) to worship idols.

Native Americans

I am teaching a Native American class using Evan Moor's History Pockets.  Alex and Nicolas are both taking this class.  We are taking several Native American field trips this fall also.   We studied the Tlingit tribe today, from western Canada and Alaska.  They have celebrations called "potlatches".  They make masks to wear and robes and feast for several days.  In fact, you haven't held a "good" potlatch unless people eat so much that they get sick.  They use these masks for dancing.  Here are the masks my class made.

Think co-op class

Alex is taking a Think! Building Challenge class for co-op this semester.  I wanted to share some of the things he's done so far.

What can you build with spaghetti and mini marshmallows?  Well, Alex and his team found out it wasn't as easy as it looked!



What can you do with a deck of cards and paper clips?  This one looked a little easier.



What about spaghetti and paper clips - by yourself with no other help?  You have to be able to pick it up off the table without it breaking!



Keep watching for more creations!

Hot Diggety Dog!

We did the Hands of a Child Hot Dog unit last week.  Did you know that the average American eats 60 hot dogs in one year?  Did you know that the average number of bites to finish a hot dog is 6.1 bites?  We learned all this and more last week.

How to say "hot dog" in different languages:



Survey of what our friends like on their hot dogs:



Hot dog acrostics:

Nicolas


Alex


To finish up the unit, we had a weenie roast in our backyard. 





 I made my hot dog into an octopus by cutting 8 "legs" into the end of the hot dog, and then roasting it over the fire.

National Left-Handers Day

August 13 was National Left-Handers Day, so I went online to research the holiday.  This is an international holiday that began in 1976.  Left-handers are sometimes called southpaws, which some people think began with left-handed pitchers.  So that made me wonder, did most baseball stadiums face west when this nickname began?

Some famous left-handers that we mentioned:

Barack Obama
Ronald Reagan
Benjamin Franklin
Alexander the Great
Buzz Aldrin
Jay Leno
Michelangelo
Da Vinci
Tim Allen
Kermit the Frog (really?  a puppet can be left-handed?)
Mark Spitz
Jimmy Conners
John McEnroe
Babe Ruth
Ty Cobb
Ken Griffey, Jr.
Shoeless Joe Jackson

And then two that we looked at a little more closely were artist Paul Klee and poet/writer Lewis Carroll.  We read a book on Paul Klee's history and looked at some of his artwork.  He loved patterns and used very simple design.  Then we read some of Lewis Carroll's poems, including some from Alice and Wonderland.  (One of these days, we'll get around to reading that book aloud.)

Some others that the adults reading this blog might think are interesting lefties -

Phil Collins
Both Everly Brothers
Jimi Hendrix
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr
Carol Burnett
Charlie Chaplin
Robert DeNiro
Whoopie Goldberg
Cary Grant
Michael Landon
Robert Redford
Jerry Seinfeld
Dick Van Dyke
Oprah Winfrey
Dorothy Hamill
Terry Labonte
Larry Bird

Some of the tests you can do to see just how left handed you are (even if you're right handed to write) are:

Imagine the center of your back is itching.  Which hand do you scratch it with?

Interlock your fingers.  Which thumb is uppermost?

Imagine you are applauding.  Start clapping your hands.  Which hand is uppermost?

Wink at an imaginary friend straight in front of you.  Which eye does the winking?

Fold your arms.  Which forearm is uppermost?

These tests and others are from:

www.lefthandersday.com

2010-11 School Year

We officially started school this week.  I realized that I haven't shared the plans for the year, yet.  So, here goes...

Math - Math - U - See for both boys

Grammar - Easy Grammar for both boys (this is new - so we'll see how it goes)

Spelling - Spelling Power (if I decide to continue with it)

Writing - Writing for 100 days for Alex, and D'Nealian Cursive for Nicolas

Bible - verse memorization (index card style), Character lapbook (from Homeschool Share) and Hymn Study (based on Jimmy's squidoo lens)

History - Mystery of History for Alex (6th grade) and Early American History for Nicolas (3rd grade) using History Pockets - Colonial Life and Life in Plymouth Colony, the following Download and Go units:  Ben Franklin, George Washington and Davy Crockett, along with other resources I have here.

Science - Apologia's Zoology 2 - Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day

And then to add something fun to the mix, I have a book that has holidays for 365 days.  I looked through it this summer and picked out fun holidays that we will base activities on throughout the year.  The following are the h0lidays I picked out:

Aug. 13   National Left-Handers Day (so Aug. 16-20 we will study more about lefties)

Sept. 18  National Play-Doh Day (so Sept.17 will be play-doh fun day here)

Sept. 26  Johnny Appleseeds Birthday (so Sept. 24 we will have apple fun and our read aloud will be The Apple and the Arrow)

Oct. 11   Columbus Day (so Oct. 9 we will study more about Christopher Columbus)

Oct. 16  National Dictionary Day (so Oct. 15 we will learn more about the dictionary and how to use it)

October is national family history month so Oct. 18-22 the boys will draw their own family trees along with pictures, as I have them.  Since losing their last great-grandparent this week, they have been asking questions about which great-grandparents they have met.

November is National Aviation Month, so Friday, Nov. 5 we will try to watch Those Amazing Men and Their Flying Machines

Then leading up to Thanksgiving, we will focus on being thankful in different ways (yet to be determined by me.)

The week after Thanksgiving, we will start our Advent activities with Jotham's Journey.

Jan. 10 is National Pizza week, so we will do our Download and Go unit study on Pizza and have a pizza party that Friday.

Jan. 29 is National Puzzle Day, so Jan. 28 we will do various puzzle type activities, or just spend time putting together a puzzle.

Leading up to Valentine's Day, we will do our Download and Go Chocolate study along with making Valentines.

Feb. 23 is the anniversary of the creation of the Tootsie Roll, so this will go right along with our Chocolate study.  We might have to extend our chocolate study for the whole month!!

March is National Craft month, so every Friday for the month, I will have a fun craft for them to complete.

Mar. 17 is St. Patrick's Day, so we will have fun St. Patrick's Day unit to complete.

Easter- study the death and resurrection of Jesus.

May 5  is Cinco de Mayo, so we will do Download and Go's Expedition Mexico

Along the way, where there needed to be other fun activities filled in, I have included the following:

Hands of a Child's Hot Dog Unit study
Download and Go's Birthday Unit for each boy to do the week of their birthday
Homeschool Share's M is for Melody unit (to get our music in for the year)
Hands of a Child's Mary Cassatt Unit Study (to get our art in for the year)
Download and Go's Expedition Australia
Download and Go's Twisting Tornadoes (in the spring - since we are in tornado alley)
Download and Go's Expedition China
Download and Go's Mother's Day (possibly, if we can fit it in.)

And as we study different sea animals with our Zoology 2 book, I will throw in some animal studies from Homeschool Share (octopus, whale, manatee, sea turtle, shark,  hermit crab, and mollusk.

I'm excited about all we will learn about this year.  I'm not sure the boys are as excited, but hopefully I can spark a fire in them.