Friday, May 23, 2008 - Detective Sunshine

For the past few weeks DD10 has taken an interest in detective stories. I suppose it started with her reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. She found it at the library sale, and was bound and determined to read this unabridged classic. She claims that it is a challenge, but she likes it because she can "hear" the people speaking with their English accents.  

She has also been listening to the free audio of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that I downloaded from here

She has been preparing a Detective Lapbook (look for it FREE at Homeschool Share after the BLAST!) and learning all about searching for clues like fingerprints, footprints, hair analysis, handwriting analysis, etc. She examined hair under the microscope to solve the case of "Who took my hairbrush?" and searched for and measured footprints to solve the case of "Who Stomped Through the Garden?"

DD took a break from her Sherlock Holmes book for a day, and read Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus. This is a story of the mouse that lived with Sherlock Holmes in Merry Old England in 1885. The mouse, Basil, was the greatest detective of the mouse world, learning from the best. Very cute story!

We also happened to have a movie based on Titus' book, The Great Mouse Detective, so we watched that together, as well as a Sherlock Holmes dvd we picked up on the dollar shelf of the grocery store.

I'll post pictures of the tri-folder lapbook she made after the Blast. :-)

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Saturday, May 17, 2008 - A Cyclops In Our Yard

Last month, my 8yo found this cocoon in our front yard.

We watched it for a few weeks, as it literally jumped around in the little habitat the girls made for it. Then... a Cyclops was born. :-)

Actually, it is a Polyphemus Moth, named after the one-eyed giant of Greek mythology. It has large eye spots on the wings, as well as really pretty metalic spots. We watched as it pumped up its wings, which were an incredible 5.5" across.

After observing it for a few hours, and researching it, we set it free on the bushes outside. There is more information (and much better pictures) here.

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Friday, May 16, 2008 - Creek School

Every spring, when we are anxious for a change of scenery, we make it a point to walk the 1/2 mile down to the creek and do our schoolwork creekside.

The rule is, 10 minutes of schoolwork...

DD8 reading Spider Jane by Jane Yolen.

DD10 reading Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Doyle.

And then 10 minutes of...

Playing in the water...

or picking flowers...

Thank you, Lord, for lending me your two dear children and allowing me to homeschool them.

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Friday, April 25, 2008 - The Estrogen Level Around Here Has Increased

...As we added 20 girls to the family (and 1 boy at my husband's request) :-)

10 reds and 10 white leghorns

and 1 rooster named Henry.  

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Friday, April 25, 2008 - Creation Day 5 - Sea Creatures

Continuing with our study of Sea Creatures, this is what we have been working on over the last few weeks. [note: this was a few weeks ago, just haven't blogged till now] We are compiling Creation Notebooks, so where lapbook components are mentioned, they are glued to cardstock and hole punched for the notebook.

We read together Pagoo by Holling C. Holling at the rate of about 2 chapters a day. As I read, the girls worked on notebooking pages from HSS

We piggybacked Pagoo with various picture books and reference books.

As a tie in to the Pagoo chapters about jellyfish, we did a mini-row of FIAR title Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Sasha. The girls used some lapbook components from HSS as well as notebooking pages from Evan Moor Giant Science Resource Book and Considering God’s Creation.  DD10 read about jellyfish in CLP Nature Reader Book 3.

As a tie in to the hermit crab theme, we shared A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle, with DD8 using lapbook components from HSS, and read about hermit crabs in CLP Nature Reader Book 2. She also read about lantern fish in Fish Do the Strangest Things.

As a tie in to the crab and tide pool theme, we did a mini-row of FIAR title Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews and did some lapbook components from HSS.  DD8 also read about crabs in CLP Nature Reader Book 2.

As a tie in to the barnacle and sculpin themes, we read Burt Dow, Deep Water Man by Robert McCloskey. DD10 read about barnacles in CLP Nature Reader Book 3 and notebooked findings.

We read a bunch more too, mostly about crustaceans. I'll scan and post as I find the time.

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Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - Back to School Blast 2008!

Not ready to think about "Back to School" yet? Well Homeschool Share is! And you should see the prizes available for winning submissions! All of the details are here.

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - Sea Mammal Lap n Note

Finally got a chance to scan DD10's lap n note pages she did for Creation Notebook, Day 5 - Sea Mammals.

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Monday, March 10, 2008 - Names of Jesus
King of Kings

This block is "King's Crown" to represent the King of Kings.

What King do you serve?

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Saturday, March 8, 2008 - Days of Creation
Day 5 - Sea Creatures

We worked on our study of the Fifth Day of Creation using Simply Charlotte Mason's 106 Days of Creation Study.   We started out learning about Sea Mammals. This especially thrilled 10DD because she has a passion for dolphins and has been studying them herself for over a year.

Read Alouds and Units –  

Miss Pickerell Goes Undersea by Ellen MacGregor

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey - HSS

Humphrey the Lost Whale by Wendy Tokuda - HSS

10yo dd’s book list –

Dolphins at Grassy Key by Marcia Seligson, a living book about the work and residents of a privately owned Dolphin Research Center. Great photographs!

The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse, a chapter book about a girl who was raised by dolphins after being shipwrecked at age four.

A Dolphin Named Bob by Twig C. George, a chapter book about a sick dolphin that was nursed back to health at an aquarium, and the baby she has years later.

Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne.

Kilroy and the Gull by Nathaniel Benchley, a chapter book about a killer whale that escapes from a marine land to the open sea with his friend, a seagull. She narrated the story on Orca border paper.

Whales and Other Creatures of the Sea by Joyce Milton.

I Can Read About Whales and Dolphins by J.I. Anderson.

8yo dd’s book list – 

Dolphin by Robert A. Morris, a Science I CAN READ book.

Whales and Other Creatures of the Sea by Joyce Milton.

I Can Read About Whales and Dolphins by J.I. Anderson

Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne.

Activities:

Dolphin Unit from HSS  (we put lapbook components on cardstock to add to notebook)

Ocean Theme Math and Language Arts Printables  

Completed Whale Fact Cards from Considering God’s Creation

Completed Whale Skeleton Comparison from Evan Moor Giant Science Resource Book

DD8 wrote fictional story about Orca on border paper.

Did Whale Anatomy Printout from Enchanted Learning

Completed Whale Fact Graduated Book

Completed Whale Products Accordion Fold

Movies:

20 Years With the Dolphins (National Geographic DVD)

Miracle in the Pacific (National Geographic DVD)

Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (fictional movie about sponge harvesters)

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Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - Nature Study - Birds

Our study of Birds in our Creation Studies conveniently took place as many varieties of birds migrated to our area. We saw lots of crows, blackbirds, redwing blackbirds, and Canadian Geese. And we also saw some beautiful white birds we have yet to identify.

**Edited to say that the beautiful white birds are Snow Geese! Thanks, ladies for your help!

Some blackbirds resting on our apple tree.

These are the beautiful white birds we can't identify. The girls are hoping they are storks, but I have my doubts. They have about a 3.5 - 4 foot wing span, and some of black wing tips. They have long necks, but shorter legs than a stork. This picture is from about 1200' away, the closest I could get without making them take flight. Any ideas?

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