Here is some of my favorite music. Click the play arrow if you wish to listen!
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A busy week!
Apr. 1, 2008 • 9:53 AM
Last week I didn't blog much but wanted to record a few things from our week. It was very eventful. We had our regular music lessons and also a group lesson on another day. This is when all the teacher's students come together and play pieces and work on duets/group pieces. They then play these pieces at recitals, etc.
Besides this, we also had our monthly Homeschool Co-op day and the following day we had a field trip day! It was busy but a lot of great fun and learning was done! Here is just a peek at some things we did and learned on these outings.
Homeschool Group Co-op Day: I am busy throughout the day so I don't get to take pictures of all the classes. The young (LAMBS) class learned about caterpillars and butterflies and new life in Christ! The older kids are doing a nutrition class. They plan the menu for the day and bring food items as well as help to prepare foods. They dress in the colors of the food groups on the food pyramid. They may even learn and perform a play on healthy eating. A free educational program you can also use for this can be found here at mypyramid.gov on the worldwide web. Click on the tab "For professionals" and you can download and print the whole curriculum. There is also an online game and a coloring page (and more) under the For Kids section. Check it out if this is an area you would like to teach in your homeschool. The older children also have another on-going class -in art appreciation. This week they transfered their drawing they made last month from tracing paper onto canvas paper. Next month they will start painting it! We also have physical education every month and they write and read their Creative Writing assignments. These kids have become excellent writers. I love hearing their Creative writings each month. (I encourage you if you are part of a co-op or group of homeschoolers to start up Creatie writing- giving some prompts or an assignment each time. They complete them at home. Then read them when the group meets.) This time I had a stack of interesting pictures/photos from magazines. They each chose a picture and for next month, they are to write a story about the picture! The other class is the Human Body class. I mentioned this class on my blog before and showed pictures. The teacher was a nurse and she gets the organs that they are studying from a butcher shop - usually a pig or cow's organ. The children get to really see what the organs are like by seeing and touching them. WARNING! These pictures are graphic and kind of gross! Look at your own risk!
This month they learned about the digestive system:
They held a blue rope to see just how long the large intestine is if it was laid out in a straight line. Did you know... that an adult's small intestine is more than 17 feet long! The large intestine is shorter than the small intestine but it is called "large" because it is wider. About 18-20 hours pass between when food is eaten and when it it passes through the large intestine.
After the lesson, they were able to touch and look at a pig's stomach:
Here is a picture of a stomach (similar to our human stomach): The stomach is a muscular bag of digestive juices. The walls of the stomach are made of 3 layers of muscles. It can take up to 6 hours for the stomach to empty its contents into the small intestine.
The children also learn that many hands make light work. At the end, teams of two are given a task to go do- to clean up the building. Once they are completed and checked then they get to pick from the prize bin!
Here are my little ones doing their part of clean-up! They had fun!
Then the next morning we had a field trip to a taxidermy shop with our homeschool group! Afterwards we went to a park/nature center closeby that also had mounted animals on display. They had a wildlife art contest going on as well so we got to view other elementary student's art work!
Here we learned how to mount an animal. You start with a styrofoam form. They have forms out there for every animal. The animal's skin,fur and horns are all that are used from the actual animal. The eyes, teeth, tongue, etc. are all artificial and added after the tanned hide is wetted to be more pliable and fit over the form. It is then sewn in place. The yellow form below is for a small fox.
The facial features need touched up with air-brushing. The eyes, noses and teeth look more realistic after a good paint job!
Here are deer in the process of painting. The children are "dear" as well!
Below is an elk and a wild pig. This pig was believed to live on a pig farm though, as it is much larger than the average wild pig. (You can see with this pig how the ears are held in place until they are dry again and stiff. The rods are then removed. The pig's face has also not yet been painted. The elk's face has been painted.)
Even an ostrich is getting mounted!
Our group that day:
More info about taxidermy:
Taxidermy is a general term describing the methods of reproducing a life-like three-dimensional representation of an animal for permanent display. It uses the actual animal's skin (including the fur, feathers or scales). It is preserved and mounted over an artificial form.
The word "taxidermy" is derived from two ancient Greek words:
taxis, meaning movement
derma, meaning skin.
Therefore, loosely translated, taxidermy means “the movement of skin.” This is a fairly appropriate definition as many taxidermy procedures involve removing the natural skin from the animal, replacing this skin over an artificial body, and adjusting the skin until it appears lifelike.
Thousands of years ago when man had to hunt for his food, he found that the skins of his prey, when treated with certain substances could be preserved and used for clothing and shelter. This process is called tanning and produces leather.
The first taxidermists were primitive hunter-gatherers who crudely formed animal skins over mud and rock for use in their hunting rituals. Over time, as methods to preserve these skins improved and the need for tanned skins increased, the tanner became one of the most important members of the tribe.
By the 1700s, almost every small town had a prosperous tannery business. Once animal skins were tanned, the leather could then be made into clothing, shoes, bags, and used as blankets or shelter.
Leather products are no longer as much a necessity as they were in past civilizations however, they are still very nice to have!
By the 1900s, taxidermy had developed into a full-fledged form of wildlife art.
If interested in becoming a taxidermist someday, some good areas of study would be anatomy, dissection, sculpture, painting, light carpentry (for assembling bases) as well as tanning. You can then also get into leathercraft and scenery.
Some more photos from the park/nature center:
Brown Bear (above) and polar bear (below)- and the head of a walrus in the left corner.
...and an American Buffalo/Bison.
Goodbye for now...
Happy Homeschooling!
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Apr. 1, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ApplesofGold
WOW!! I wish we were part of your co-op! That looks and sounds fantastic!! Holly
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Apr. 4, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by CrossView
Wow! Looks awesome! I so wish we had stuff like that in our area... =D
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