Eclectic Unschooling
Friday, October 13, 2006
No muss, no fuss history ...
Posted in Curriculum Choices
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The children have been listening to Diana Waring's
"What in the World's Going on Here?" series on CD during breakfast.
When they're done eating, they clear the table and color, write or draw
while continuing to listen. We own Sets 1 & 2, but I found out that there is a third set now available that takes you right up to the Korean War. My challenge has been to search out and print pictures that apply to what they're listening to. Yesterday they colored pictures pertaining to the Roman civilization. Here are links to information about Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3. You can also visit Diana Waring's site and her blog. |
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Friday, October 13, 2006
There's a fungus among us ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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For some reason, our 7 year old daughter has become deeply interested in fungi. What an odd choice! If anyone can recommend resources for learning more about common (outdoor, natural) fungus, including identification, I'm sure she would be pleased. Here is a little photo montage of our recent discoveries.   |
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Thursday, October 12, 2006
Our favorite spot ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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There is a drive that we love to take
as a family. It takes us through a portion of the nearby State
Forest. Along the way is a scenic overlook from which you can
view many acres of prairie, forest and flowages. We have been making it a point to drive there every Saturday night in recent weeks. According to the DNR, hundreds of birds stop there on their migratory flights south at this time of year.  We have seen heron, egrets and eagles, as well as more common birds. We have heard loons, though we haven't sighted any as of yet. On our walk to the overlook, we've seen the tracks of deer, cougar, wolves and bear. I snapped a picture at the end of our last visit. It's really a beautiful spot.  |
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Thursday, October 12, 2006
HomeschoolBlogger Contest ...
Posted in Miscellany
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Tia at The Official HSB Community Blog has posted a scavenger hunt contest. The contest details are in this post. The prize is the Homeschool Version of Auralogs Tell me More Spanishฎ software. Enjoy the hunt! QUOTE FROM CONTEST LINK: "Contest winner will receive the BRAND NEW Homeschool Version of Auralogs Tell me More Spanishฎ software. Valued for its speech recognition technology and personalized language courses Tell me Moreฎ has over 5 million users worldwide. This complete, four level set covers reading and writing, listening and speaking, grammar, vocabulary and culture. A $245 value!! Learn more HERE and dont miss out on your chance to win!" |
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Saturday, October 7, 2006
A beautiful walk!!!
Posted in Exploring Creation
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The Trail that surrounds our little
community has a lovely, landscaped section that follows along the
Creek. We recently walked there and were surprised to find a bend
in the trail with birds everywhere we looked! I don't know what
draws them to that spot, but we found many familiar types and a few we
could not identify. How many species can you identify?  The bunny hopped across our path and, since I didn't have enough bird photos to fill up the image, I let him sneak into our collage. I highly recommend the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds both for the Eastern Region (which we use here in Wisconsin) and for the Western Region. The bird guide and our binoculars are essentials wherever we go, whether by car or on foot. |
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Saturday, October 7, 2006
Introductions are in order ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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Please meet Mr. Walker. In
mid-August, we found him hanging around the corner of the old grocery
store downtown. I asked Mr. deMoose for permission to invite Mr.
Walker back to our home. Mr. Walker was reluctant to join us, but we eventually coaxed him to come along. He didn't prefer our menu choices and we found we could not tempt him with any green thing, so we said our goodbyes after a day and a half. A few days ago, one of Mr. Walker's relatives stopped by to chat for a while. It was a short visit because we already knew we had nothing to offer for the next meal. Here is a picture we took of Mr. Walker before we invited him to stay with us.  Learn more about Walking Sticks and all manner of other creatures at eNature.com. |
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Saturday evening (Part 3) ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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On to the beaver dam! As I related in my entry dated August 16th, we've been watching the progress on the beaver dam we discovered earlier this summer.
I am so thrilled to see a live porcupine. They're very interesting creatures. We greatly enjoyed watching him amble up and down the road. He ignored us most of the time. He was greatly annoyed, however, when he found trash on the side of the road. His nose touched it and he reacted as though he was very upset.
Thus ended our outing for the day. Perhaps we'll catch another glimpse of Mr. Ouch at a later date.
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Monday, August 28, 2006
Saturday evening (Part 2) ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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Warning to the squeamish: There is talk of animal droppings in this blog entry. We decided to take a bit of a side trip before proceeding to the beaver dam. While Mr. deMoose was working one day, Grandpa (my father) took us out for a drive. We found quite a few tunnels or dens dug into the sand along the sides of the road. Outside of one den laid a dead porcupine. We have wanted to find more evidence of what lives in these dens. Porcupines certainly make such dens, but so do badgers and fox. On our side trip, we found one such den that had not been attended to since the most recent rain. Outside of the den we found animal scat! Could this be the clue to discovering who lives within? The scat was older and looked to be about 4 to 6 long. Of course, it would be drier due to laying in the sand. Anyone who has any suggestions as to what animal might have left behind this deposit is welcome to leave your guess in a Comment below. We don't necessarily believe the scat belongs to the den's resident.
Here are more examples of the dens or tunnels that we often see. Any thoughts?
(To be continued ...) |
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Sunday, August 27, 2006
Saturday evening (Part 1) ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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When Mr. deMoose was finished with work
last night, we picked up some burgers at the drive-thru and went on an
excursion. Now that his business is in full swing, our
opportunities for exploration outside of simple walks are limited. Our goal was to see the progress on the beaver dam. Along the way, we passed some cranberry bogs and saw a pair of sandhill cranes. Of course, this was the perfect opportunity for a picture, so I stood on the running board on the far side of the truck to snap a few photographs. Our 7 year old daughter loves to whistle and mimic bird calls. She is very good at this! She whistled to get the attention of the birds, but they didn't respond. Mr. deMoose felt this was his chance to attempt a bird call of his own and let loose with a loud "BAAAAAWK". "Bawk?" said I! "That will *not* work". "RllRllRllRllRll" came the deep-throated response from the male crane. He did not like this new male encroaching on his territory! Each time my husband would "bawk" the crane would respond with this odd trilling sound. None of us could duplicate it. The crane finally became so annoyed with my husband that he began to put on a display of protection for his territory and wife.  We continued to watch them until they descended into the next bog and we could only see their heads peeking up at us. Score: 2 animals sighted for us and we haven't even reached the beaver dam yet! (To be continued ...) You can read more about cranes in Wisconsin on the DNR's website or at the site for the International Crane Foundation. If you visit Wisconsin, I highly recommend taking a drive through the Sandhill State Wildlife Area on the Trumpeter Trail. It's beautiful! |
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Thursday, August 17, 2006
Audubon Bend ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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As I mentioned Tuesday in My dogs are barking! my children have been naming their favorite spots along the Trail and the River. The Trail follows the edge of the River for a mile or more. There are several resting points with benches placed at natural openings in the vegetation, allowing a good look at the River. One such spot is located at a bend in the River that the children have dubbed Audubon Bend. Of course, the name is in honor of John James Audubon, author of Birds of America. This picture was taken from the bench. We sat and sipped some water and just enjoyed the view.  |
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The Beaver Dam ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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A few weeks ago we discovered a beaver
dam under construction. It seemed to be fairly new. There
wasn't much water backed up behind it and there was a steady stream of
water flowing over the right side. We returned a few days ago to discover that our beaver has managed to plug the leaks and he has a nice little pond now. The vegetation has responded to recent much-needed rain and is quite lush. We stayed a while to listen to the bullfrogs sing. The children were hoping to catch a glimpse of the beaver, but I think he has plenty of places to hide and we may never see him.  |
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006
My dogs are barking!
Posted in Exploring Creation
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Isn't that what some people say when their feet hurt? Argh! Our community is surrounded by a 4.5 mile trail. A small portion of it follows city sidewalks, but most of it is a paved path. Two blocks from our home, the Trail follows the edge of the river. We've walked a short section of the Trail a few times. Yesterday we walked a little over a mile. Today the children wanted to tackle a large goal. Three plus miles later we returned home. Not three level miles, either. Our city is situated on two "shelves". The lower shelf is next to the river and is where our home is located. The upper shelf includes a large part of the city including the Park and Fairgrounds. We had only been walking a few minutes when a bald eagle flew overhead. We watched him fly over the city and begin to soar on the air currents. He had been flying over the same part of the river where we saw an osprey fishing a couple of weeks ago. Our walk today was so arduous that I am quite done-in. We plan to return tomorrow and thereafter with our Field Guides and nature notebooks so we can observe, identify and record the creatures and plant life that we've been enjoying. The children have taken to naming different points along the Trail. A bench is situated overlooking a turn in the river's path. The spot has now been christened Audubon Bend. Picnic Point is located up a long, steady climb and we plan to take a picnic lunch there soon. Just beyond Picnic Point is Killer Hill. It is aptly named and I don't intend to retrace my steps there ever again! Argh! |
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Monday, August 14, 2006
Our choice for mathematics ...
Posted in Curriculum Choices
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We purchased Calculadder's MasterPak 1 and MasterPak 2 on CD-ROM from Rock Solid.
They had the best price, including shipping. Our shipment arrived
today!! I didn't expect it just yet as they have a notation on
their site that shipping might be slow during this time of year. MasterPak 1 includes CalcuLadders 1-3 in their entirety and also includes their penmanship course called ReadyWriter. MasterPak 2 includes CalcuLadders 4-6 and the AlphaBetter dictionary skills course. I love the idea of printing daily math worksheets that are designed to be completed quickly. If a child hits a rough spot, I'm sure I can pull together different resources to shore them up in the weak areas. I expect we may use some of the Key To series for this purpose, on the recommendation of Mrs. OreoSouza. My hope is that this approach can take us right up to Saxon's Algebra 1/2 and we'll go from there. Now if I could only locate the box containing my printer cables ... |
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Sunday, August 13, 2006
Finally settled ...
Posted in Miscellany
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I believe I can finally say that we have
settled into our new home. My office is still full of boxes, but
the rest of the house is in fine shape. My husband's new store
finally opened last week and has been doing very well. We are thrilled by our new community and the surrounding countryside. We live on the edge of a nature preserve along the river. A few minutes outside of town are state and county parks that exhibit the beauty of northern Wisconsin. We have seen all manner of animals and birds here, though we are still holding out for the first sightings of bear or wolves. Most of our schooling centers around God's creation as it's basis and stems from there in many and varied directions. Living in a beautiful section of that creation makes "school" as natural to us as breathing. |
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Friday, February 24, 2006
Leaving well enough alone ...
Posted in Unschooling in General
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I am a bit sleep-deprived today and
we're still recovering from illness, so we're taking a day off of
anything remotely school-ish, including Momma-instigated games,
discussions and reading. While I tucked myself away in the powder room this morning, I heard the children talking geography while playing with the wall-sized laminated map of the United States. I purchased a set of these maps (world and US) about two weeks before someone gave us a set as a gift. I've allowed the children to be very hands-on ... even as much as laying on top of it on the floor! ... with one of each. While I nursed the baby, my oldest picked up a thick US History workbook that she works in once in a while. She read that George Washington's teeth were actually made of human and animal teeth and bone ... not wood. I didn't know that! When I came up from doing the laundry, I found all three older girls sitting on the living room floor amidst a pile of Nature Friend magazines. Their study and conversation continued until it was time for lunch. I love this! |
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Wednesday, February 22, 2006
In awe of God's creation ...
Posted in Exploring Creation
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I am amazed at the information in a FoxNews.com article today. (Link)
It was a great conversation starter for geology, perspective, current
events, international politics ... and we're still rolling! LOL At first the children guessed that the cave opening was large enough that their Grandpa (6'3"+) could stand up with a little room above his head ... until I pointed out the military helicopters on the cave floor!  |
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Monday, February 6, 2006
Scrambled Frenzy ...
Posted in Games That Teach
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Our family has been enjoying playing
Scrambled States of America 2. It's a simple card game that we
purchased for less than $5 at Wal-Mart. You are required to match
states based on criteria such as goegraphical location, population, and
so on. When you locate a matching card, you have to slap your
hand down on it. Being first is great, unless someone slaps your
hand in the process. LOL The game is based off of a book by Laurie Keller called Scrambled States of America. It's on my "To Buy" list for March. The first game based off of the book is supposed to be fun so we might check it out as well. What are your family's favorite games? |
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Saturday, December 17, 2005
Masters of Illusion
Posted in Educational Multimedia
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I've turned our homeschool focus a bit toward art recently as we tentatively explore painting in history and personally. We borrowed "Masters of Illusion" from Freshwater Fred's Lending Library. This short video is very interesting! It covers the use of mathematics and perspective in Renaissance (1400-1550 AD) art . We found the comparison of the artists' perspective drawings to those generated by a computer to be captivating. How very exact their work was! I have never been good at any form of "art". My paintings are on par with my first grader's work. My drawings are not much better. Handicrafts are a struggle for me, as well. My brain just isn't wired in that direction. I think we'll look for more resources about perspective in art. There might just be some hope for me yet! If your library system doesn't carry this video and you don't live in a state serviced by Freshwater Fred, it is available for purchase at Amazon.com. The price seems steep for a video less than half an hour in length and it isn't available in DVD format at this time. We plan to purchase it for our home library, though. |
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Friday, December 16, 2005
Our project for today ...
Posted in Miscellany
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My friend Janne posted the story on her blog
of a soldier who returned home, injured, and received a card telling
him to die. I cannot express my anger and disgust at this cruel
act! FoxNews.com carried the story at this link on December 5th. Our school project this afternoon is to make get well cards for Joshua Sparling. PFC Sparling? We thank you for your service! |
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Friday, December 16, 2005
A defining statement ...
Posted in Unschooling in General
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Rhonda posted this saying in her blog ... Striving to be... Relaxed...but not lax. Unschool...but not unstructured. Commited...but not slave.
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