Posted in Homeschool
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When a few of us decided we were going to start a homeschool co-op this year, I knew exactly what I would teach. I wanted something that would help draw in families, so I thought about dissections. So many families hate doing dissections labs. I have always loved doing hands-on science, didn't always do well on the textbook part, but I loved the labs. The great thing about dissecting is that you can see just how wonderful Gods hand is in everything. Once you see how everything works together, how there had to be a plan, there is no way you can still believe that things just happened to collide into each other and formed life. There had to be a plan, Gods plan. Basically, I'm just going to tell you where my resources are from for each lab we do. There really is alot online. You can get your supplies: specimens, tools, tray, etc.. at HomeTrainingTools or Nebraska Scienctic . One book I use often is "How to Dissect" by William Berman. It has 11 specimens, including a fetal pig, which I won't be doing. For Earthworm: http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/earthwormdissection.htm This was the worksheets I copied off for us to follow along with. I made sure I knew what each of the bold words were, and I also made a volcabulary crossword puzzle out of these bold words. You can do this online for free at http://www.puzzle-maker.com/ . Then I printed off the one copy and made more copies somewhere for my students. Other sites you can go to are: http://www.middleschoolscience.com/earthworm2.htm http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/earthworm.htm http://sciencespot.net/Media/yuckywormwkst.pdf http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/worm-dissection-project.html http://kentsimmons.uwinnipeg.ca/16cm05/16labman05/lb6pg2.htm http://www.gonzaga.org/teachers/dfreedbe/newweb/labEarthwrm.htm Virtual Labs: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL_14/BL_14.html http://biog-101-104.bio.cornell.edu/BIOG101_104/tutorials/animals/earthworm.html I told the kids that I wasn't an expert on dissections, which I'm sure I proved quite quickly, but that we were learning together. Have fun with it. Just explore and see what you can find. Also remember that this is not the time to necesarily (I know, bad spelling) understand each and every organ, but to find them and see where they lie, follow the digestive system, etc.... They can go into more detail at home in their own biology studies. Next.....Crayfish |
Posted in Homeschool
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Today was the first day back to school, didn't follow the schedule exactly, but that was o.k. I did get up at 6am, started the coffee, did some computer and then did some weights. Started the dishes and woke dd up at 8am, she had a late night so wanted her to get a few more minutes. By the time we got chores done, breakfast, dh wanting me to play cards with him, we didn't get school started till 10am, but that was o.k.. Reading is still going along well, I can see that math isn't going to be her favorite subject. We played a math game and did some addition flash cards. I'm going to be ordering Singapore Math next week sometime, well start at the beginning, see how it goes. We also did some piano, we really haven't been doing much since the end of March when we stopped taking lessons. Right now I'm just reviewing with her what she had all ready done with the teacher.
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Posted in Homeschool
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Last year I made up schedules according to what was going on in our days, I've taken and updated them. We basically have our home days, h.s meeting days (1 X/mo), and co-op days (2 X/mo). School Schedule:
Home Days: 6:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, drink glass of water, exercise 7:00 check emails, start laundry 7:30 chores- switch laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up, wake up E 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 school- MFW 10:30 break 11:00 school- math, science, nature walks, piano, computer 12:30 lunch 1:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 1:30 school- finish up everything, read, activity cards 3:00 E- Wishbone 3:30 E- Quiet time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 5:00 quick pickup of house, help E pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 E's bathtime 8:00 E's bedtime
HFC Meeting Days 6:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, drink glass of water, exercise 7:00 check emails, start laundry 7:30 chores- switch laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up, wake up E 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 clean out car 9:00 gather everything needed for meeting, 9:10 leave for meeting 9:30 meeting 11:30 library, groceries, errands, etc..... 12:30 lunch 1:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 1:30 school- MFW 3:00 E- Wishbone 3:30 E- Quiet time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 5:00 quick pickup of house, help E pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 E's bathtime 8:00 E's bedtime
Co-op Days: 6:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, drink glass of water, exercise 7:00 check emails, start laundry 7:30 chores- switch laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up, wake up E 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 E- computer, piano, silent reading, etc...... Mom- gather everything for classes and read over lessons 9:40 leave for gym 10:00 gym (maybe mom can walk in other gym?) 11:00 library, errands, lunch.... 11:45 be at co-op, set up 12:00 classes 3:30 finish errands 4:30 quiet time 5:00 quick pickup of house, help E pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 E's bathtime 8:00 E's bedtime We also have Bible studies 3 nights each week, so bed time varies.... Now this is jsut a plan, it is very flexible, so if something comes up I'm not afraid to change things. I just need something to get me back on track for awhile. What about you??? |
Posted in Homeschool
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.....went really well. I wasn't sure if dd-7 was going to make it or not, she hadn't been feeling well most of the week. Annnnnndddddd, I didn't get any pictures. Got there and realized that the battery was dead. A friend of mine did take a picture of our project, but probably won't get anytime soon if she is like me. We did: "What do roots, stems and leaves do?" . We drew out a plant on the board and she traced and colored it in. Then she wrote what each one does, and we put the explanation next to each part. We also found a verse to copy for our board. We had seeds in a glass that were starting to sprout, a jar full of blue water with celery in it to show how water gets up the stem. We also had a plant that we took out of the soil to show the roots. Then we had carrots and celery to snack on. I know, I used a lot of we, but she is only 7, so I did help alot. Another project that someone else did that I think alot of you might appreciate: Diaper Comparison. One of the girls took diapers from different companies and compared how much liquid they would hold. Pampers, Huggies, Roundys (store brand from Copps or Pick n' Save), and Aldi's brand. Guess which one held the most? Aldi's Brand And which one held the least? Pampers Anyways, all the kids got participation certificates, with jugdes comments, and a bag full of goodies from surrounding companies and resturants. We also had lunch at the end. Lots of fun.
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Posted in Homeschool
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We have 6 weeks till our science fair. So I'm trying to plan each week what we need to do to be prepared. Our topic is: What do roots, stems, and leaves do? This week we have to:
Here are some sites I found, I still need to go through them and see what applies to our needs: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/plants.htm http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/PlantBio_p015.shtml?from=Home http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SciencePlantPartsFunctionDiagramAndMobileK2.htm http://www.quacked.net/freestuff/plants/ http://www.ed.uri.edu/smartprojects/plants.html http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1659 http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceExCanWaterTravelThroughPlantStemsMO68.htm http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceExDoPlantsLoseWaterThroughLeavesMO68.htm If anyone has any other suggested sites, I would really appriciate them. Is anyone else doing science fair projects this year? |
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It's that time of year when our homeschool group does a science fair. This is our groups 4th year and each year there is so much learning, even for those who are not doing a project. My older daughter participated the 1st year, I can't remember the exact title, but it had to do with our eyes seeing color. She even made a model of an eye with a basketball, really cool. This year is our youngest first year. We are doing: What do roots, stems and leaves do? This works out great because its something we would be covering in our studies this year anyways. This is my one big tip: always pick a project that you will be working on that year anyways, you may have to do it earlier than planned, but at least your not giving yourself extra work for the year. So here are some sites that have to do with science fairs. Maybe some of you will be doing one this year, or maybe you might like to put together a science fair for your group, even if its just a few families getting together. If you have any questions on how our group goes about it, just ask me. http://web.mac.com/terrellshaw/iWeb/ScienceFair/ http://www.hometrainingtools.com/misc/science-fair-guide.pdf http://www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/science_fair/ http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/scifairstudio/teachers.html http://www.wright.edu/cosm/sciencefair/SFweb1.htm http://eho.org/homeschool_prep/article.asp?articleid=50&resourceid=107 |
Posted in Homeschool
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I havent' given an update on homeschooling lately, probably time. For those who don't know, we are using My Fathers World First Grade this year.
I think thats everything. I'm sure I forgot something though. Last time I forgot about our verse study, but this time I didn't. That's just the way life is for me, always forgetting something. |
Posted in Homeschool
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It's snowing!!! I think we have 3 or 4 inches so far and should be getting another 3 or 4 inches. Here is a song I found at this site. This is what I think of snow. I Love Snow That site has all kinds of stuff for snow. You could make yourself a unit study out of it if you wanted to. Happy Snow Day! |
Posted in Homeschool
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.......can you guess what they all have in common? PLAYS!!!! They were all plays that we have been to in the last few weeks. pig and spiders??? Charlottes Web of course. This was so fun. The characters really interacted with the kids. Wilbur was my favorite, he had such curly hair and great expressions. merchants??? Merchant of Venice. My dd-18 loves shakespear and every year this really known and expensive group (they charge $50 or more for an outdoor show) comes and gives a performance for the schools in the area. We took my dd-6 also, she just loved all the costumes. hyper bunny??? Max and Ruby. This was about a pair of bunnies, sister and brother. The brother is younger and is always getting into trouble. It really reminds me of a couple of sibblings, in a comical way that kids understand. Its a lot of work taking care of a younger sibbling. I think this is a show on cable, but we don't have cable. tradition??? The Fiddler on the Roof. Our local highschool put this on last week, they did a great job. It really was like watching the movie. The fiddler was our piano teachers daughter, the tailor and innkeeper are from our congregation. The tailor was homeschooled till 9th grade. It was so funny watching the Papa do the "If I were a rich man...", my dd-18 and her friend and I were laughing so hard (quitely of course). We kept picturing my dh doing this, which he does quite often. So funny..... The first three plays we saw at a city 45 minutes away(we live in the boonies) at the cities performing art center. Every year they send out a guide of what they are offering in the educational department, for schools only and they include homeschoolers. There prices are really nice, usually $5 a ticket, $7 for the shakespears. If you haven't looked into one in your area, check it out. Sometimes its only been one family going, so they don't have a minimum required, it's real easy to fit a handful in somewhere. |
Posted in Homeschool
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I am involved in a support group, I'm actually the coordinator since spring of 2006. At that time our group was smaller, we had an average of somewhere around 50, adults and kids that attend. Now we are averaging 110 adults and kids. Anyways, it was brought up that maybe we should have a statement of faith, due to a problem with an outside class that our group hired a teacher for. I'm not sure at this time if the group is want ing all families to sign, or just those outside the group teaching. My questions are:
Thanks for your help.... |
Posted in Homeschool
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Well, first we went to Nigeria, then to Italy, over to the Netherlands, and then down to Southern Africa, and then to about 10 other countries. Today was our 1st World Fair. When you came into the meeting room you received a passport that had to be stamped by each country. I took my dd-6 and another young girl around, wanted to make sure they found out some information, not just run up and get stamped and run off. I think it took us about an hour and 15 minutes, and they learned quite a lot. About half way though the morning, I had all the different countries come up to the map and mark where their country was. Then we had three countries that performed for the group, Italy sang a song (she has been singing at the highschool for the last two years), Netherlands sang a lullaby, and then Ireland did a dance. It really was alot of fun, many stated that they would like to do this again. |
Posted in Homeschool
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We have been using My Fathers World First Grade for school this year. We are really enjoying it, very easy to follow. We were able to finish up to Day 26, plus or minus an activity that we may do later.
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Posted in Homeschool
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WARNING!!!! THIS IS LONG..... Well I have been inspired by Our Journey...at Home to get some sort of schedule together. The problem is I have different schedules for the day depending on whats going on. We have gym and piano everyweek, homeschool meeting and art classes once a month, so I had to make a separate schedule for each of those days. Hopefully this will help me keep on track, doing what I am suppose to be doing. We shall see... School Schedule:
Home Days: 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 school- 12:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 12:30 lunch 1:00 school- finish up everything, read 2:30 DD- quite time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 4:30 quick pickup of house, help DD pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
Piano Days: 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 school- 11:00 grab quick snack leave for piano lessons, 1:00 lunch and errands, visit the sick and elderly 4:00 pickup house, laundry, 4:30 independant school- computer, leap pad, mazes, etc... 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
HFC Meeting Days 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 gather everything needed for meeting, 8:45 leave for meeting 12:00 lunch and errands 1:30 school- 3:00 DD- quite time Mom- Bible- work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 4:30 quick pickup of house, help DD pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
Art Days 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 school- 12:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 12:30 lunch 1:00 leave for art class 3:30 DD- quite time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
Gym Days: 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 clean out car, gather items for day: library books, etc... 9:00 leave for library 10:00 DD- gym Mom- Ladies Bible study if available, or walk in other gym 11:30 Errands and then home 12:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 12:30 lunch 1:00 school- finish up everything, read 2:30 DD- quite time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 4:30 quick pickup of house, help DD pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime |
Posted in Homeschool
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......just can't wait to get on the road again. Yes, I am leaving for vacation again. This time it is only dd-6 and I. We are going to a christian homeschool camp with about 250 other people. We only know two families, but are looking forward to meeting lots of new folks. Every night there will be singing and two days will have bible classes. So I'll talk to ya all in two weeks. Donna |
Posted in Homeschool
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We didn't get as far as I would have liked. Life just seemed to be happening this week.
Got to do better this next week. Well be taking the following week and half off for camping. |
Posted in Homeschool
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......and saw the kids across the street getting onto the bus. We live in a small community, so this is all kids K-12th. Our alarm clocks don't go off till 7:30, my husband leaves for work about 8:45. Do you know what time these kids will get home? 4:20. Thats 9 hours away from home under the influence of others. 9hours. If they're in extra curriculum activities, more. I remember in hightschool leaving catcihing the bus about 6:30 and not getting home 3 nights a week till 6:30. Then I had homework because I would get motion sick on the bus, so I couldn't do it then. I am so glad that my babies (actually only have one left to school) are homeschooled.
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I'm getting ready to start another year with the local homeschool support group. I am the coordinator again this year, I have done it for the last 1 1/2 years, so this will be my last. Which is fine, because I would really like to start working with the kids again. Anyways.....I was wondering what kind of discussion questions have gone on in support groups that you have been apart of? I need some new and fresh ideas. Also, have you ever done any "get aquianted" activities during your first meeting of the year? if yes, could you share. We did one last year where we teamed up with someone we didn't know, found out enough about them and then introduced them to the rest of the group. Thanks |
Posted in Homeschool
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We got as far as Lesson 18 in MFW-1 this week. I really like this curriculum.
All in all, a very productive first week. I know that last week was suppose to be our first week, but sometimes things don't go as planned. |
Posted in Homeschool
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For those of you who know of the Estes Family, due to medical needs of there youngest child, they are having a big financial burden. Some fellow homeschoolers, on there own doing, are having a benefit for the Estes Family. Check out the below site. Not only will you be helping one of our fellow homeschoolers, but you will benefit also. So go check it out..... http://www.chirotoons.com/benefit/ |
Posted in Homeschool
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Some Moms and I from our homeschool group were trying to come up with something for our group to do this fall. We thought we would host a culture festival and invite homeschooler groups from surrounding areas. We would have passports for each child so that they would get a stamp from each country they visited. We are hoping also that we could get at least 5 countries to give some kind of demonstration. It could be a game that everyone could participate in, a song, a dance, any kind of tradition from that country. We would try to plan them thoughtout a two hour period. What do you think? any suggestions on what to add? Minimum of 10 countries- booths (no more than two families per booth)
2. display table
3. give away items
Stamp for passport and ink pad Will need several countries to give a performance about their country.
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