Bones, swords and cheetahs.  These are three topics our 5 year old daughter told us she wanted to “study about in school” over the next few weeks.

I think back to when we started homeschooling.  Our now 13 year old son was 5.  That seems like so long ago!

Not only are our son and daughter different personalities at 5 years old, I was a different type of homeschooler 8 years ago. Admittedly, I was less likely to ASK my son what he wanted to “study” in school.  Therefore, he was less likely to volunteer.  I was always planning the topics.  After a few years of wondering, “Why does my son seem so bored with homeschooling?  Why isn’t this as fun as I thought it would be?”, it dawned on me…what is he interested in studying?

Our daughter obviously feels she has a say, therefore has some degree of control over her education.  Although, I don’t like the word control.  I believe ownership is a better word.  She is taking OWNERSHIP of her education.

I am NOT advocating that our children pick and choose whether they learn to read or write.  However, I feel science is a topic which lends itself to a more relaxed, child-led approach; especially up through 6^th or 7^th grade. 

Our daughter’s desire to study bones came from a recent shopping trip to a large book store.  In order to provide my husband with a few quiet moments to find the book he wanted, I took our daughter to the children’s section.  She gravitated to the science books and immediately selected a book on bones.  Thus, our unit began.

 We spent about 12 hours in total studying bones, using a few books we had on hand and from the library, and a few websites.

My point is…science does not have to be complicated!  There are so many topics you can cover….plants, mammals, ocean life, magnetism, chemistry, etc, that it can seem very overwhelming.  Plus, it is easy to feel we are missing a crucial topic..."will my child know the difference between a mammal and a reptile?"

Here are a few tips for making science relaxed, fun, educational...and hands-on!  Think of these as steps and write down 2 or 3 suggestions per step.  Then, depending on the time you have, use 1 or 2 of the suggestions you’ve written in each step.  Don’t feel you have to do everything you find or brainstorm!

• Ask you child what interests them or coordinate a mini-unit with a field trip or vacation.
• Then, select a few books.
• Next, find an activity or two on the Internet.
• And, if possible, think of a related field trip.   (We are going to visit our local science museum and check out the human and animal skeletons they have on display. When we study swords, we are going to visit a friend who is a medieval re-enactor whose specialty is sword fighting!) 

Here are the resources we used for our bones unit:

Books:

• “Bones:  Our Skeletal System” by Seymour Simon.  Morrow Junior Books, 1998.
• Note:  Seymour Simon authors many science related books that have wonderful photographs.
• “The Incredible Human Body Flip Charts”. Edited by P.L. Young. Tormont Publications, Montreal, Canada.
• “The Magic School Bus, A Science Fact Finder: Skeletons” by Jackie Glassman.  Scholastic Books, 2002.
• “Outside and Inside You” by Sandra Makley, Scholastic Books, 1991.
• “The Skeleton Inside You” by Philip Balestrino, HarperTrophy, 1989.

Activities/Websites:

• Make a skeleton using paper plates.  This is an activity both my 13 year old and 5 year old did together.  Although, the vocabulary is above grade level, my daughter was challenged and able to remember a few of the new words.  I am a firm believer in challenging a child.  http://student.biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/skeleton_lesson.html
• Although this was a bit above grade level, we enjoyed building a skeleton and looking at all of the bones in a hand. http://www.medtropolis.com/VBody.asp
• We used this activity.  However, we used  macaroni and spaghetti pieces to make a “replica” of the bones in a hand.
• We saved chicken and fish bones and compared them.
• Using spools of thread, a long chenille stick, and small circles of cardboard (about the same size diameter as the spools of thread), the kids made a replica of a spine.  The spools of thread were the vertebrae and the cardboard disks where the discs between the vertebrae.  This helped illustrate how the spine helps us bend and move.

 Field trips:

• The orthodontist’s office to view x-rays of our son’s jaw.
• The local science museum where there is a display of 12 animal skeletons and numerous human skeletons.
• A class given by a wildlife education specialist. (Acutally, when we were at the CHAP convention in Harrisburg, PA, the booth next to ours was a local park and staffed by wildlife education specialists.  They gave a free class at their booth on animal bones.  Check with your local park system!)

Next week, perhaps cheetahs or swords!

This week I wanted to share information on some fun science field
trips and programs. Sometimes it is difficult to find engaging and
educational field trips as our children move into the junior and senior
high grades. The resources below are ones we have used over the last
few years and found exciting and interesting.

 Challenger Centers for Space Education

 
The Challenger Centers were started by family members of the space
shuttle Challenger crew. The centers are located throughout the United
States, usually housed within a museum, university or science center.

The Challenger Centers offer simulations of space missions for grades
4th and above. There are 5 different mission scenarios which simulate a
trip to either Mars, the Moon, a comet, or Earth.

The inside of the center is a mock-up of both the inside of a space
shuttle and Mission Control (located at the destination). Each
participant is assigned a job (research, life support systems,
navigator, satellite assembly and launch, communications). During the
mission each student completes a set of tasks that helps their team
arrive at their destination (where Mission Control is located), plus
achieve other various mission goals. Half of the participants begin the
mission in Mission Control, and the other participants begin the
mission in the shuttle. When the shuttle lands at its destination
midway through the mission, the participants switch locations. The
Mission Control crew boards the shuttle to return home and leave the
“fresh” crew behind. During the second half of the simulation, the
shuttle must launch satellites and return to Earth.

Preparation for the mission can be just as fun as the field trip
itself! Once a group is registered for a mission at the Challenger
Center, teaching materials are sent to the organizers. Included in the
packet is a book of suggested activities and “job applications”.

I highly recommend getting the group of participants together for a
day (plan for a 5 hour day with all parents helping to run the
activities) of pre-mission activities (provided in the teacher’s
packet). Besides the obvious educational benefits, the group becomes
more of a “team”, and they are better prepared for their mission
assignments.

Before the mission, you will also need to assign the participants to
their specific job for the mission. A list of jobs and job descriptions
is provided in the teacher’s packet which are photocopied and
distributed to all of the registered families. We had students fill out
the job application and provide their top 3 job selections. We
emphasized the need to let us know why they were experienced for a
specific job. Fortunately, we were able to assign the participants to
their number one job selection.

I urge you to visit their website and read more about the missions and
locate the nearest Challenger Center. This is an excellent field trip
for middle school and early high school ages.


 Junior Master Gardener

You may know some adults who are certified Master Gardeners. This
program is provides two levels of certification for children in grades
3-5, and 6-8. However, when we completed the first level curriculum in
a co-op, we also included preschool through second grade. They didn’t
receive an “official” certificate from the JMG group, but one of the
moms created certificates of completion for the young ones.

The minimum number of students needed to begin a JMG group is 5.
(Perfect for families multi-ages!) The Teacher’s Manual provides all of
the activities, including supply lists. The information is well
organized and easy to divide up if completing as part of a co-op. We
had 6 families involved and assigned a chapter to each mom. She then
selected the activities from the Teacher’s Guide, assigned the
activities to the other moms, and made certain the needed supplies were
ready for the teachers during that chapter. The other moms taught on a
rotating basis. So, we each taught once very 6 weeks. Obviously, we
were all available to assist because the activities are definitely
hands-on!

A terrific feature of this program is the required community service
project required in each chapter. We did some unusual and rewarding
projects: for the fruits and vegetables chapter, the participants put
together fruit baskets to deliver to Hospice patients and their
families.

Visit Junior Master Gardener at http://www.jmgkids.us/


 SEMAA

SEAMAA is an acronym for a NASA sponsored program entitled “Science,
Engineering, Mathematics, Aerospace Academy”. The program was developed
to reach children who are underrepresented in the math and sciences
fields. The programs are usually located at a college or high school
campus.

I stumbled upon this program surfing the Internet in search of space
related activities for a science co-op. The program in our area is
located on the campus of a local university. The director was very
excited to have our group visit. Camps are offered during the summer
and on Saturday, however, we visited during the week.

The program was located in a large “lab” room. There were
approximately 10 “work” stations, including a mini-wind tunnel,
satellite imaging station, a large screen flight simulator (this was
very “cool”!), and an aviation navigation station.

The activities are advanced, and I don’t recommend this for students
younger than 7th grade, especially if you attend as a group. They offer
camps they gear toward younger ages, but to visit as a homeschool
group, older students will gain the most from the activities.

Each station has a notebook containing step-by-step instructions and a
booklet of worksheets to be completed as the student works through the
instructions. The director invited us to come back as individual families during the
week any time to continue working on our own.

Check out their website for the SEMAA program near you!

Michelle Eichhorn and her husband Rick live in North Carolina, where they have been homeschooling their 2 children (ages 13 and 5)  for 81/2 years.  Michelle is co-owner of Treasure Box Press and teaches homeschool science classes at a local children's museum. She also serves as the Judge Advisor for the North Carolina FIRST Lego League.

Visit her at:

www.homeschoolblogger.com/eyecorn
www.homeschooblogger.com/homeschoolscience
www.treasureboxpress.com

Feathered Fun

The bright yellow of the male goldfinches, the handsome red of the male cardinals and the deep blue of the daddy bluebirds provide a rainbow of beauty at the birdfeeders in our yard each Spring, Summer and Fall.

Before the leaves begin to change color next autumn, our family will have logged many bird watching hours and will have fed pounds of birdseed to our feathered friends.  To help my children learn to identify the birds that frequent our yard, I developed a Feathered Friend Form.  (By now you’ve learned…I love forms!)

If your family enjoys birds, butterflies and other backyard wildlife, consider certifying your yard as a backyard habitat with the National Wildlife Foundation.  It’s easy and free – the best type of educational resource!

There are 4 requirements for certification.  Your yard must provide:

·        Sources of water:  a small metal garbage can lid, turned upside down on a terra cotta pot makes a perfect bird bath.

·        Shelter:  Thick bushes, brush or rock piles, all provide a place for birds to seek refuge from predators. Mulch piles from old leaves and grass clippings are a hiding place for salamanders and snakes.

·        Food:  This can be as simple as a homemade feeder or berry producing bushes.

·        Places to raise babies:  Thick bushes, brush piles, nesting boxes are all ways to provide birds with a safe place to lay eggs and raise their broods.

A drawing of your backyard is required, with the sources of water, food, shelter and “baby raising” areas clearly notated.  We drew ours on graph paper, complete with a compass rose and legend.  What a great geography, mapping and math lesson all in one!

Visit the National Wildlife Federation for more information at:

          http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/habitat2.cfm

The Great Backyard Bird Count is another fun program.

          http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

Here are a few tips and projects that are a result of our 20 years of bird watching:

·        If you have a big bird bath, place a stone in the middle so insects, such as butterflies can sit and rest.

·        Bird nesting baskets are a great shelter for birds during the winter.  We were given some as a gift one Christmas and ended up buying a few more, as they provided warm shelter during winter months.  (If you search for these online be sure to use the phrase “bird nesting baskets”.)

   ·        Contact a local bird store to see if they sponsor a local bluebird trail.  In our area, landowners (with 8 or more acres) will put up 6-8 bluebird boxes and work with local bird stores to recruit families to gather nest box data on a weekly basis.  We have participated in blue bird trails with 4 other homeschool families, thus our data collection  day was every 5 weeks – very easy to assimilate into our busy schedule!  Check out the National Bluebird Society web page for an abundance of bluebird information.

·        Let Black-eye Susan and Purple coneflower flower heads go to seed in the Fall, gold finches love to feed on these (And, it helps to spread the seed for next Spring!)

·        During the winter months, especially, birds need our help via birdfeeders. We have discovered that a different variety of birds visit our feeder during the winter. 

·        To reduce the risk of birds flying into a window or door, tape a black silhouette of a bird to the glass.

·        If a bird does fly into a window and is on the ground.  Do not move the bird unless you feel it is in danger of being hurt by a dog or cat.  If you must move the bird, use paper towels and gently place the bird in a box with a cover (poke a lot of air holes in the box top) and set in a warm place.  It may take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours for the bird to regain consciousness and strength.  Usually, they are not physically injured but are stunned.  Do not attempt to even feed the bird water.  Avoid putting your face close to them….all they see is a big, scary face!

·        If you put bluebird houses in your yard or on your land, please use a snake guard.   We have saved several nests full of eggs from hungry black snakes with this simple and inexpensive apparatus.

·        A CD of bird songs is very helpful and great fun.  We can often hear the cardinals at dusk, chirping in a nearby tree as they wait for a safe time to visit the feeders.  It’s fun to be able to identify these chirps and songs.

Enjoy God’s creation as it awakens this spring from its winter slumber!

• Read "Archimedes and the Door of Science" and chapters 6,8 and 9 in "Exploring the World of Mathematics" by John Hudson Tinerr.
• Teaching Note: Biographies are an interesting way to assimilate information. I HIGHLY recommend all of the books in the "Exploring the World Of…" series by John Hudson Tiner, Master Books. These are geared for grades 6 through 12.
• Fill out the biography sheet (or type on a separate sheet of paper). Highlight his major contributions to mathematics and science. Plus, include some of the stories or anecdotes about his life you found interesting.
• The invention you selected to research is Archimedes’ Claw. Research this invention and write a synopsis of your research. Don’t forget to address these questions: What did this invention do?Why was it needed? What problem did it solve? Did it work? What were the benefits? What were the drawbacks?
• Include any sketches you find.
• Read the Engineering Design Process page in your booklet.
• Visit and work through the following website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/forces.html
• Then, complete the activities on the top half of page 5.
• Visit the following website and complete the spahgetti bridge activity at:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/2416_bridge.html
• Imagine you are an inventor in ancient times and want to design this claw idea you have. Answer the question 1 in the EDP.
• Next, sketch your design for the claw invention.
• Think about the design process. How many changes did you make to your design before you began building? What do you think are the improvements you made on Archimedes’ design?
• Build your design. As you build, think about what worked in your original drawing and what didn’t. Did you make changes to your design as you were building? Or, did you build it to match your design and wait for the testing to make changes to your design?

Additional Activities

Listed below are additional ideas for integrating Lego-Science with other inventions from ancient times:

• The ancient Chinese people are credited with inventing the wheelbarrow. Build a wheelbarrow out of Legos™.
• It is not unusual to still see an abacus used by shop owners in China today. Visit the following website and follow the detailed directions for building an abacus out of Legos: http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/abacus/intro.html
• Once your abacus is built, try some of these math problems:http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/mathline/concepts/asia/activity1.shtm
• The Ancient Romans are famous for their aquaducts. Read and complete the online engineering activities at the Build Big website:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/bridge/index.html
• Next, using the concepts learned, build a replica of the aquaducts out of Legos™.
• Studying 20^th century history and inventions? Don’t forget Henry Ford and the automobile. Use Legos™ to build a rack and pinion gear combination to learn how steering mechanisms work! Visit the following website for step-by-step instructions:http://www.hightechkids.org/download.php?file=RacknPinionLab.pdf

Click here for the inventions unit booklet.

Michelle Eichhorn and her husband Rick live in North Carolina, where they have been homeschooling their 2 children (ages 13 and 5)  for 81/2 years.  Michelle is co-owner of Treasure Box Press and teaches homeschool science classes at a local children's museum. She also serves as the Judge Advisor for the North Carolina FIRST Lego League.

Visit her at:

www.homeschoolblogger.com/eyecorn
www.homeschooblogger.com/homeschoolscience
www.treasureboxpress.com

So, have a critter habitat ready for occupancy ahead of time! Don’t forget, you’ll want to record this learning moment... have a camera, clip board, pencil and copies of this "Creature Log" on hand.

• Ideal containers: an old aquarium with a screen top or a plastic storage container with lid (poke plenty of air holes in the top).
• Put down a layer of dirt from your yard or use potting soil on the bottom of the habitat.
• Build up the dirt thicker in one area and plant grass seed. (We did this one winter for a "wooly worm" that eventually built a cocoon and emerged in November!) You’ll want to keep the aquarium in sun until the grass sprouts.
• If there is room, plant some parsley or dill seeds. (Black swallowtail caterpillars eat parsley and dill.)
• You can also cut about 1 inch off the top of plastic "Dixie" cups (bathroom size), poke 2-3 drainage holes with a pin, and plant grass seed in the bottom. Place them in a warm, sunny spot until the seeds sprout. Then, place these cups around the habitat.
• Place other ground cover on top of the soil layer. We used pine straw, but leaf mulch works well, too.
• Add in various sized sticks and some rocks. Provide at least one medium sized rock. Arrange them so there are little "caves" and hiding places.
• Empty tissue rolls or paper towel rolls (cut in half) are a great place for bugs to hide. Crickets, especially, like to congregate inside the tubes and climb on top.
• Save lids from juice bottles, milk containers, and small jars. These make perfect water and food dishes. Note: dried oatmeal is a good food source for crickets and other bugs.
• Prepare a spray bottle of water. This is an effective way to provide moisture, but not end up with stagnant water at the bottom of the aquarium. Plus, it’s an easy way to water the grass! (Be prepared to "mow" with scissors, too.)
• If you bring the habitat indoors, place it in a dark room or closet at night, so the insects and animals have total darkness.
• If you do not have an aquarium or plastic storage box, bug catchers and "bug barns" from the dollar store make wonderful habitats, too. Our daughter has hers lined up on the ground outside and has them "prepped" with pine straw, stones and sticks (with just enough room for a small bug!).
• Other supplies to have on hand for these spontaneous "nature" moments: encyclopedias, field guides or other books, copies of the "Creature Log", pencil, clip board, crayons or colored pencils, magnifying glass, net.
• Discuss your critter catching policies with your children before they start putting animals in the habitats: What animals will not be allowed? How long can they keep certain critters? What is the best way to pick up the creatures?   (Please remind them NOT to touch the wings of a butterfly. The delicate scales are easily damaged and this will prevent the butterfly from flying.)

www.homeschoolblogger.com/eyecorn

www.homeschooblogger.com/homeschoolscience

www.treasureboxpress.com