Science, Slime, and the Human Body - 2009 - Week 8

I don't think reading a basic run down of every chapter we did in math and worksheets we used is fun to read....so we are going to focus on more what our real day looks like.

Science Fun
Human Body - Skin, Hair, and Nails Unit
On Thursday we started this very interesting- and a little gross - unit! In true Leadership Ed. (TJED) fashion I allowed the kids to take this lab to where their interests led them and then we looked up more with our books and the Internet. We have an awesome microscope that we bought at Amazon.com and slides (Kit A and Kit B) from the 4-Year Plan. Plus we made our own slides.

Here are the things we looked at:

• Dead skin from our own hands/arms.
• Hair from each of us and the dog.
• A dog eye booger. (eeewwww! not my idea)
• Saliva - Chris' to be exact.
  
• Prepared slide - Human Skin Cross-section - this shows the hair and how it grows out of the skin. We could also see the sweat pores.
• Prepared slide - Mouth Swab - the inside of our cheek skin.
• Prepared slide - Human Blood.

Book Resources:

• Usborne Science Encyclopedia - pgs.368-369
• How the Body Works - pgs. 31-41

Slime Lab
On Thursday thru Friday my kids wanted another lab day and so we went on a quest to find the BEST slime recipe. We tried several recipes and decided the best is to combine a Silly Putty and Slime recipe to get a nice, bouncy slime. The kids also discovered that if you put the concoction in the refrigerator over night it makes a better bouncy slime.

Read Together - We finished Little House in the Big Woods and started Farmer Boy.

Socialization Activities - Principles of Leadership Class

Marly - Projects - Loom Knitting & sewing balls for the Humanitarian Center. Reading - Diary of a Whimpy Kid: The Last Straw, Dairy of a Whimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Guy Time, Regular Guy, The Diamond of Darkhold.

Chris - Projects - Leatherworking. Reading - Redwall series, Diary of a Whimpy Kid: The Last Straw, Dairy of a Whimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Mom - Many of my projects are on hold. My work has graciously given me more hours, to which I am grateful. However, I'm very exhausted! Reading - The Love Dare and Leven Thumps and the Gateway of Foo.

Road Trip! - 2009 - Week 7

We are currently in Flagstaff for Mike to interview with a couple of companies. We made the decision to start looking in other places and he came up with interviews right away. Back home he only had 2 interviews in 4 weeks, one of those jobs was only part-time!

There is a bit of snow around - old snow that just hasn't finished melting. It is warm during the day right now (55 was the high) so this snow will not last long without another storm to come in and add to it. It was so fun to walk/drive around and see the beautiful snow and trees. We saw different types of animal tracks. I just love the smell of ponderosa pines!

We decided to go with Mike and take school on the road. I packed up all the books and we decided to take this opportunity to have a nice, long fieldtrip. We were able to accomplish quite a bit even with the disruption in routine.

Kid's School:

• Devotionals - Gospel Principles lesson 14 - Audio CD "Rough Start, Great Finish" by John Bytheway
  
• Classes/Clubs Attended - Principles of Leadership
  
• Read Aloud Book - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Activities we did along with this book: hand sewing, different straight stitches, darning.
  
• Educational Games - Risk, Wii Music
  
• Fieldtrip to the Mountains
  
• P.E. - Dog walking, kick ball, roller blading, snow ball fight and snow hike.
• Projects - Humanitarian - We are sewing several types of balls for the LDS Humanitarian center.
  
• Math
• Marly: Math-U-See - Epsilon - Unit 1 test, Lessons 9-12
  
• Chris: Math-U-See - Delta - online drills
  
• Individual Reading
• Marly: The Story of the World: Vol.2 2-20 thru 2-23, Outcast series, The Truth About Sparrows
  
• Chris: The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Vol. 1 1-40, Redwall book 1, How to Be Totally Miserable by John Bytheway
  

Mom's School:

• Reading list - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (finally finished this one), The Love Dare (a 40 day challenge so I'll be reading this one every day for awhile - see this movie "Fireproof"), Leven Thumps and the Gateway of Foo
  
• Projects - Humanitarian project with the kids.
  

What do we do for Homeschooling?

Our First Adventure at Home Education
When we first started homeschooling, we actually used an online public school with a virtual academy using K12 curriculum. Because it is a public school, we had to meet their requirements, have a teacher oversee us, and take the state testing. The first year I thought it was great...and then I started seeing some problems with being under someone else's thumb.

The first issue was that they require so much more than what my kids would do at public school. It was A LOT of stuff to do! It was full of busy-work, worksheets and fluff. In order to meet their requirements, we were constantly rushing through the lessons without really LEARNING the material. It seemed just like regular school to me, only harder.

The second issue was that my children are very different people, with different learning styles. Their program said it allowed for several types of learners, but we did not find that to be the case. It was still too much like public school at home.

The third issue was that my kids were on completely different science and history. While this is a good thing for reading, grammar, and math...it was very complicated to study different time periods and science subjects making more work for me.

We also tried Connections Academy, which uses the Calvert Curriculum. I liked it better than k12, but it still has the same issues above.

Our Second Adventure in Home Education
After feeling the online schools were not working well for us I decided to start reading books on homeschooling. This was scary to me! I was worried about my ability to do it, and most of all, to do it WELL. I started with The Well Trained Mind, which focuses on a Classical Education. This book came highly recommended, but it was overwhelming and difficult to see how I could possibly implement all that the book said was needed. I tried doing all that it recommended. I bought tons of curriculum, only to find that I sold it later. The only things I kept from this was our history uses her books, The Story of the World, which is a fabulous series of sequential history. Isn't that how history happens - sequentially? Makes sense to me!

I looked into Unit Studies next and thought this would be a great way to have both of my kids on the same history and science. Next I read about the Charlotte Mason method and loved how she talks about using REAL BOOKS, not textbooks.

Our Third (and Final) Adventure in Home Education
Then a homeschooling friend, a veteran of over 16 years, recommended that I read A Thomas Jefferson Education. My eyes were opened to this concept of education - which is not just for homeschoolers. It can be for charter and public school students as well. You can read more about our path to Leadership Education at Batchelor Family.org.

The beauty of this method of education is that I can focus on similar subjects with all my kids, whether I have 2 or 8 it does not matter, and teach them all at the same time. I allow each child to do a level of work that matches their abilities and goals.

This method also focuses on each person OWNING their education, making it truly theirs...not mine, or their teachers, or the state school boards. The method is not nearly as expensive. We get the majority of our curriculum from the public library - for free! We use "real books" not textbooks. If my children are learning about the civil war, we get books about the civil war - picture books, biographies, encyclopedias, etc. We focus largely on classic books, which we find all over the place inexpensively. I love finding these gems at garage sales and Goodwill.

Why am I sharing this? Well, I have had so many people ask me about homeschooling lately that I decided it was a good time to share. I have also had several people I know bring their children home and worry about if they are doing it "right". I think there is no one way to homeschool, but there is a "right way" for your family. Each family is different and our education needs will be different.

The Tuesday That Felt Like A Monday

Today really should have been a Monday. Everything seemed to go wrong.

1. I was late getting up.
2. I left in sweat pants with no makeup and found out everyone else was wearing nice clothes and they looked cute.
   
3. My bad back is really bothering me since Sunday.
4. My teenage kids were acting like 2 year olds today.
5. My husband got another major rejection letter after what he felt was a promising interview.
6. I have to work again tonight.
7. We had hotdogs for dinner (which my husband hates).

Should I whine some more? No - I need to spare everyone. The funny thing is that I just finished giving my husband a pep talk...I just have to laugh at myself a little here! I am always trying to uplift others yet I wish I could cry on someone's shoulder for a change. So, you are my shoulder if you are reading this. By the way - Thanks!

"You Belong to Me" from Fireproof

Ok - by now you must all know that I am obsessed with the movie Fireproof. This is another song from the movie that I just L O V E! I wish they would make a soundtrack so I can just buy the whole CD and play it over and over in the car.

I am still reading The Love Dare, the book mentioned in the movie. I like the book as well and highly recommend it.

2009 - Week 6 - This Week in Homeschooling

I did not get everything on here this week. I was just WAY TOO busy!

I added another portion to our rundown of what we do - educational games! I don't know how I missed adding that before. We consider games to be one of the fun, hands-on things that we do.

I prepared a special presentation on the 4 Levels of Scholar Phase that I shared with my husband and kids this week. It was an eye-opener to me to study this part of Leadership Education and really think about where we all are in these levels. For more, see my post on the 4 Levels of Scholar Phase.

Kid's School:

• Devotionals - Gospel Principles lesson 13-
  
• Classes/Clubs Attended - Principles of Leadership, Discovery Book Club - "The Hound of the Baskerville's" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  
• Read Aloud Book - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Activities we did along with this book: whittling soap, sewing aprons.
• Educational Games - Phase 10 Dice, Settler's of Catan, Sudoku, Rubik's Cube, Wii Music
  
• SAT Prep vocabulary & spelling words - Review last week's words - New Words - vivacious, adept, ambivalent, avarice, cacophony, copious
  
• Grammar & Writing - Journal Entries on each book read - The Winston Grammar Program: Basic Level - Word Roots Level A A1 & A2
  
• Science - The Human Body Unit - We skipped science this week. It was a busy one!
  
• P.E. - Dog walking, kick ball & roller blading at the park.
  
• Math
• Marly: Math-U-See - Epsilon - Chapters
  
• Chris: Math-U-See - Delta - Unit 2 Test, online math drills
  
• Individual Reading
• Marly: The Story of the World: Vol.2 2-19, Abduction, Charlie Bone and the Shadow,
  
• Chris: The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Vol. 1, 1-39 (2nd half) thru 1-40, Redwall
  

Mom's School:

• Reading list - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (still working on this one), The Love Dare (a 40 day challenge so I'll be reading this one every day for awhile - see this movie "Fireproof")
  
• Projects - (1) Sewing aprons with the girls - but had some glitches since our sewing machine broke. I am trying to borrow one. (2) Quilting 9-square patterns - we started on this project and plan to work on it for a few weeks. We plan on each of us finishing our own 9-square and making one big quilt. I have saved clothes and things that we hope will make a nice memory quilt. Again, we are looking to borrow a sewing machine to finish.
  

5 Pillar Certification - My Scholar Phase

For those who would like to follow my other blog, here is the post:

http://tjedtrenches.blogspot.com/2009/01/5-pillar-certification.html

"While I'm Waiting" from Fireproof

I just love this song! I'm not a huge fan of Christian rock...but maybe I'm getting more into it now.

Fireproof - Movie Review

My friend Jen recommended the movie Fireproof the other day. We watched it and I have to say it is the best movie I have seen in a long time that shows the need to improve a marriage. So many movies are of couples breaking up, cheating, or other promiscuous behaviors. This movie is a real tear jerker, so be prepared! Even just hearing the music from the movie makes me cry. I really want the soundtrack.

I highly recommend watching this movie and allowing older children and teens to watch it as well. We discussed many of the issues brought up in the movie with Marly and Chris which are hard topics, but the movie shows a little bit of how destructive pornography can be to people (nothing inappropriate is shown, just the topic is part of the story). It also shows how showing the proper care and attention to your spouse and your marriage can repair problems and prevent divorce.

Fireproof is a Christian movie with the characters discussing Atheism and Christianity. I felt that my children were old enough to understand these topics as well. The only thing that I felt was not in keeping with our religion, the LDS church, is the use of the cross and that they believe marriage is for life only. I wanted to jump into the movie and say, "No! You can be together FOREVER!"

As a divorced person, this movie touched some raw nerves for me. For anyone who has not been like the couple in the movie, you are very lucky. For those who have, you know what a terrible path it is to walk. I wondered if something like The Love Dare would have helped my first marriage or the marriages of others that I know who are divorced. I do think it still takes two. No one person can change everything that is wrong with a marriage. However, something like The Love Dare could help people to love each other again, or rather love each other more deeply.

I found The Love Dare, the book mentioned in the movie, at Wal-mart for less than $11. I figured $11 was a small price to pay to improve my marriage. (even with Mike out of a job)

2009 - Week 5 - This Week in Homeschooling

In addition to Marly and Chris's babysitting job, Chris has been sick with a sinus infection this week. The level of his education was greatly effected this week and we hope he will get better soon!

Kid's School:

• Devotionals - Gospel Principles lesson 12 - We spent the entire week on the Atonement.
  
• Classes/Clubs Attended - Principles of Leadership
• Read Aloud Book - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (and my kids THINK they have chores)
  
• SAT Prep vocabulary & spelling words - Review last week's words - New Words - winsome, meager, haughty, foster
  
• Grammar & Writing - Journal Entries on each book read - The Winston Grammar Program: Basic Level - Word Roots Level A A1 & A2
  
• Science - The Human Body Unit - Respiratory System - Usborne Science Encyclopedia pg. 358-359, How the Body Works pg. 69-77, Human Anatomy Coloring Book p. 218-23 (College level book - we do not memorize the terminology, but the detailed diagrams are really good).
  
• P.E. - Daily dog walks. Chris was too sick to do much else.
  
• Math
• Marly: Math-U-See - Epsilon - Chapters 9-11
  
• Chris: Math-U-See - Delta - Unit 2 Test, online math drills
  
• Individual Reading
• Marly: The Story of the World: Vol.2 2-18, Molly Moon Stops the World, Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure, The Hounds of the Baskerville's (1st half)
  
• Chris: The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Vol. 1, 1-38 thru 1-39 (1st half)
  

Mom's School:

• Reading list - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (still working on this one), The Love Dare (a 40 day challenge so I'll be reading this one every day for awhile - see this movie "Fireproof"), Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning (studying up on the levels of Scholar Phase to present to the family next week)
  
• Projects - cleaning and perfecting my bread making skills. See my favorite recipe at The Solar Cook.
  

A Good Reminder

I enjoyed watching this video and hope you will too.

Obama and Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Dear Friends & Family,

I have seen a few emails going around about Obama's desire to appeal Same-Sex Marriage Bans. I always want to see the SOURCE of their information in addition to the message of whatever cause it is that is sending emails. I complained during the presidential campaign about not knowing what Obama's agenda was, well now he has it all out in plain sight at WhiteHouse.gov. Please check it out so you know what to expect.

Here is the source:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/ - The statement on Same-Sex Marriage is neatly tucked in towards the bottom.

Directly from the website above:

Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.

The terminology "judicial extension of marriage" is KEY here. He is saying that judges should be able to make laws....which is against the Constitution.

Last time the Bill was introduced: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:5:./temp/~mdbsdO0WJP::

Where to join the cause:

http://www.nationformarriage.org

The BEST way to support the Ban on Same-Sex Marriage:

• Become educated about the cause.
  
• Write to the appropriate representatives, senators, presidential offices, etc.
  
• Write your OWN letter. Using blanket forms from a website does not get read nearly as much as a straight-from-the heart letter of why YOU do not want Same-Sex Marriage to be legal.

Sincerely,

Celeste Batchelor