Live the Adventure

Oct. 27, 2009

Incredible Science Kits for Older Kids

If you give your child a science kit,

It really should be a Thames and Kosmos.

And if you have a teenage daughter,

She’ll really enjoy Creative Cosmetics.

She’ll learn a bit of biology and some chemistry too.

While she mixes some bases to make a batch of goo.

Including a book full of recipes to make the lotions,

Mix this and that to create incredible potions.

Not only for fun but also educational,

This kit has our vote because it’s sensational!

Okay, laugh at my attempt at poetry… I’m no Shakespeare. But I really do love the Thames and Kosmos science kits for older kids. When my children were younger, I loved purchasing fun little science kits. We’ve had our share of flowering rocks, sun print paper, magic ink and erupting volcanoes but as my children got older, it became harder to find a kit that I didn’t feel was really incredibly simplistic. Then I read an ad about the Thames and Kosmos science kits that intrigued me, but the kits were expensive! Imagine my surprise when one day while I was shopping I found the exact kit I was looking for, Power House a kit about alternative energy, on clearance at Hobby Lobby for half the normal price! Since this kit was one we had planned to buy, I snatched it up hoping that it delivered what it had promised. Though my kids have not completed the kit yet, I am impressed. It is certainly worth the investment and it’s been educational and fun for the entire family.

This week, while shopping with my just turned 13 year old daughter, we ran across another deal at Hobby Lobby, Creative Cosmetics. Also a Thames and Kosmos kit and also on clearance, normally priced at $59 the kit was on sale for $17! What a deal! My daughter was so intrigued that she bought it with her own money and began creating as soon as we returned home. Not one to enjoy the science kits like the boys always have, I’m impressed to see that she has grabbed this kit on several occasions just for fun. At least that’s all I thought until she began throwing out little tidbits here and there. Do you know your lips are red because the skin in that area is very thin allowing the blood vessels to show through? That the skin of an average adult can cover the area of 16 to 21 ½ square feet? Or that dandruff is a combination of fat glands and dead skin cells?

Not only does Creative Cosmetics teach your child how to care for their hair, skin and nails, they also learn how to mix, use and apply their own cosmetics. There are also recipes interspersed throughout the experiment book describing how to create your own beauty products using all natural ingredients that can be purchased at your local grocery store.

With a number of science kits available from chemistry kits, physics kits, solar kits to kits to complement the Dangerous Book for Boys. Chances are if you’re looking to add a little bit of science fun in your school program, Thames and Kosmos may have just the thing.

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Sep. 5, 2009

Adventures in Ancient Egypt

If you normally read this blog you may be confused by the title of the entry. After all, aren’t we learning about the Civil War? How is that related to Ancient Egypt? Well, it certainly isn’t, but the local library is offering a 6-week Egyptology series focusing on the art of Ancient Egypt. It’s free and since we do need art credits this year, I thought why not? My kids loved our study of Ancient Egypt several years ago, why not delve a bit deeper? Yesterday was our first of six 1 ½ hour lectures.

School is back in session, so though I didn’t expect to see many kids in attendance, I was surprised that most of the group appeared to be over 60. Right away my son began talking to one of the gentlemen behind us. Now, what is that question homeschoolers are accustomed to hearing? The one about SOCIALIZATON that we all hate? Do people really think that homeschoolers are weird, unsocialized and unable to interact properly with other people? Well, guess again! But then maybe I shouldn’t boast too loudly, I guess I really didn’t hear the conversation, maybe the gentleman does perceive my son as weird!

The kids and I thoroughly enjoyed the talk and learned a lot of interesting facts about the mythology of Ancient Egypt and the style and characteristics of the art. The speaker was knowledgeable and entertaining. Afterward the program, on his own accord, my other son went to the front of the class to converse with the speaker and ask a few questions so I knew he really enjoyed the instruction we had received.

Though I had encouraged the kids to attend the first lecture, there will be no prodding next week. All three of them are looking forward to hearing more about the fascinating world of Ancient Egypt.

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Sep. 3, 2009

Additional Online Resources for Homeschooling and Traveling Families

Okay, I promised when I posted about iTunes U that I’d finish my post about online resources that we use in our homeschool, and this is way overdue. Though I have found many websites that have been helpful, I do have several that over time have become favorites. Some are free, some are available for a small charge, but all have been helpful to us.

Learn Out Loud is the perfect place to visit for audio downloads and podcasts. If you sign up for their ‘Free Resource of the Day newsletter’, they will email you free speeches, lectures, sermons, interviews or books each day. On the website you will find an easy to navigate Free Directory where you can browse the titles that are offered at no cost. Though my children are older and I find many of the titles they send appropriate for them, if you have younger children, you may want to check out Kids Learn Out Loud first. Here the material is broken down in different age ranges; 8 and under, 9-12 and teens and also by category. Once more, since we are still continuing our study of the Civil War, I found several titles to compliment our study, one on slavery, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas and also Lincoln’s famous speech, The Gettysburg Address at no charge.

Another fantastic resource for auditory learners and those that love books is Librivox. This site offers books that are in the public domain as audio files. The books are read by volunteers and then posted so you can download them to your computer or listen from the site, many of the volunteers do a wonderful job on their readings and we’ve found this a really great substitute for purchasing audio books.

Several years ago, when we followed the Ambleside Online program, I found Project Gutenberg. This wonderful website offers books that are in the public domain freely. Though it’s my preference to have a hard copy of the book and not read it from the computer screen, that’s not always possible when the book is out of print and not easily attainable or affordable. In those instances, this site is a wonderful resource and if you have plenty of ink and paper, you can always print the book chapter by chapter. Unfortunately, my printer is one item that didn't make it into the camper.

Though much like Project Gutenberg, The Baldwin Online Children’s Project offers children’s books that are in the public domain in an electronic (or e-book) format. Here you’ll find many of the Ambleside Online and Waldorf titles that are used in their program and they also have a wonderful list of Christmas titles that you may want to keep in mind for a bit later.

At home I had a huge collection of field guides, but decided not to drag them all into the camper. A solution I found to replace them is e-nature. Now it doesn’t matter what part of the country we’re in, Midwest, Southeast, Pacific Coast, when I need to look something up, it’s virtually at my fingertips.

Answers in Genesis is my favorite Creation Science resource. Their site is loaded with articles, e-books, lectures, sermons and even full-length videos under the media section. This has been an invaluable resource for my family and a perfect addtion to our science,history and bible programs!

A fairly new website that stems from Vision Forum Ministries is BlueBehemoth.com. Their goal is to provide a large selection of trustworthy, affordable, completely downloadable family friendly audio and video selections for the Christian family. If you sign up for their newsletter, you’ll be alerted to their new free resource that changes daily. Here you’ll find sermons, books, music, lectures, dramas and even full length feature films.

Okay, I realize that strictly going online isn’t the way to go. After all, we have traveled to a few places where we couldn’t even get a cell phone signal so we knew trying to connect to the internet was useless. That’s why I really like these sites that allow you to download to your computer, MP3 or iPod so you have access whenever you need it. And besides, these sure cut down on the amount of books I need to carry with me! Until next time….Happy homeschooling!

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Aug. 8, 2009

A look at iTunes U; an awesome teaching tool!

Alright, if it wasn’t clear to me before, it certainly is now. I MUST stop buying books. If I continue at this rate, our camper is going to look like a Book-mobile in the very near future! Really. It’s only a slight exaggeration. Two of the outside, under the camper storage units are full of books and every possible space inside the camper not already designated for something else quickly becomes a place to stash and hide our piles of reading material. We really can’t live like this. Books are supposed to equal entertainment, relaxation, learning- NOT STRESS!!!!

I see one solution in mind. I must purchase a Kindle. Aaaahhh. No more piles, no more books falling at us when we open our above the head storage. A Kindle, now that would be the life. Well, it’s certainly on my wish list, but a bit of an unrealistic purchase at the moment. So, I’ve been looking for some creative alternatives and think that I’ve just happened to find a few. So, if you are space challenged like we are, you may find this entry helpful. Or you may have creative solutions of your own. In which case, I beg of you, for my sanity and my families well being, please share!!!

Thanks to Ann Zeise of A to Z Home’s Cool, who brought to my attention iTunes U. iTunes U is an online collection of thousands of educational videos, pictures and lectures from top educational institutions which include colleges, universities, museums, and other relevant foundations and associations. This free program is open to anyone with access to the internet. The courses can then be viewed on your computer or downloaded to an iPod or iPhone through both cellular and Wi-Fi networks.

Finding an introduction page was certainly easy and offered a wonderful video to help me navigate iTunes U. But I found that though I couldn’t wait to begin cruising through the plethora of material, I had a hard time actually finding it. I don’t know if I was just having a blond moment as my kids call them, or if this is just my ignorance, but I decided to spell out exactly how to find what you’re looking for.

So, here it goes: If you do not have iTunes downloaded on your computer, follow this link, a screen will open up that will introduce you to iTunes U. To get the most out of the program, go ahead and watch it, it’s short and won’t take much time. The very last sentence in the paragraph directly under the screen will give you a link to go to the store. Once iTunes Store opens up, you will see a box on the left hand side that says ‘Store’, simply select the iTunes U option.

If you do have iTunes downloaded, you should simply be able to open your iTunes account, and select iTunes U from the store option. With iPod users, we do access iTunes daily, but for some reason it still took me a bit to find this. Once you find the store, you can begin searching the university. Simply select iTunes U and then select the category you want to search in.

You’ll find the most popular selections appear in the center of the page. These include MIT Open Courseware, Writing Family History, An Introduction to Comics, Superheroes: Fashion to Fantasy and many others, but those caught my eye. You can also search by 'Category'. Since we are still learning about the Civil War and this week, slavery in particular, I chose 'History'. A little box appeared at the side with a few more options of which I selected 'North American' and once again the top downloads appeared in this new topic. Though you can do a search of the program- which is outlined in the introduction video- I decided just to browse through the featured listings to get an idea of what was available.

I was thrilled to find a program called Voices from the Days of Slavery. This happened to be first person accounts of stories and narratives collected during the 1930’s and 1940’s as part of a documentation process sponsored by the New Deal agencies during and after the Great Depression. This was a perfect supplement to the book we’ve been reading as our read aloud for the past couple days called, To Be a Slave by Julius Lester. To hear the words of those who had suffered through the horrors of slavery and then to hear their voices really impacted my children and they couldn’t wait to share their new knowledge, thoughts and reactions with their dad when he got home from work.

At the click of a button, I can download quality teaching material through iTunes U; this is certain to become a wonderful supplement to our studies now and in the days to come. I’m curious to see what features iTunes will add to this program in the future.

I had originally planned to share other resources, I’m just so excited that I can’t think past iTunes U. So, stay tuned and I’ll add some more goodies later in the week. ~ Happy Homeschooling!

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Aug. 2, 2009

Learning to Allow the Lord to Orchestrate Our Days

Have you heard of The Homeschool Lounge? If not, now is a great time to check out the website and who knows? You may want to get in on the Homeschool Open House 2009 giveaway. To learn more about THL or the giveaway, be sure to click on the button above this post. It's easy to enter, you just have to post to your blog, facebook or your page at THL a bit about your homeschool. This could include the curriculum you use, what your plans are for the year, pictures of your school time or questions and concerns that you may have. The idea is to connect with, encourage, inspire and learn from other homeschooling families.

I've shared our First Day of School with you, a bit about our Civil War study and how to Choose Curriculum but today I'd like to share with you how I learned to become a relaxed homeschool mom. I shared a bit about this before and in order not to bore you and repeat myself, if you're just joining me, you can find that post here. For the rest of you, keep reading.

I’d heard it said once that we pray so hard over the decision whether we should homeschool or not, and once that decision is made, we take it upon ourselves when we are deciding how we should homeschool. I’ll never forget something that I once heard at one of the first support group meetings I’d ever attended. The speaker simply stated, “If you would pray before jumping out of bed in the morning and ask God, what do you have planned for our homeschool today?" You’d be surprised at what the answer would be. They were confident that God would supply all of the needs of our children. As a Christian, I had always thought that I did trust the Lord to supply our needs, but was He really interested in our homeschool? Though I was certainly intrigued by this, I didn’t fully understand that comment until I began noticing how the Lord orchestrated some of our days in Virginia. This trip allowed me to truly relax and make positive changes in how we did school and it all started with a book….

We'd been traveling back and forth to Virginia Beach for several months and on one of the quick trips home, I felt led to grab a book off the bookshelf. Deciding that I didn't really have room for it, I returned it to the shelf, locked up, left the house and got in the car. The insistence to grab that book persisted, so I hastily ran back inside and tucked it in my book bag. The book was an old Landmark book that I'd found at a thrift store called The Barbary Pirates. I knew my boys would be interested in it, since it was about pirates, of course.

Once we were settled back into our hotel room, I remembered the book and began to read it to the kids. Right away I was fascinated and amazed that the Barbary Pirates book was actually a story about the beginnings of the United States Navy. That may not seem to amazing to you, but you don’t yet know that we were in Norfolk, Virginia, adjacent to the oldest shipyard in the world and largest naval base on the East Coast. If the pirates weren’t enough to interest the boys, this new found knowledge certainly did not escape them. As I was reading, the boys were also playing a strategy game with tiny ships called “Pirates”. They were excited to find that some of the ships in the book were also the ships they were playing with in their game.

That was such a pleasand and eye-opening experience that I learned to that prompting and the results were incredible. There were several other ‘ah ha’ moments on that trip that allowed me to easily see how the Lord could orchestrate our days. One day, it was suggested that we visit the MacArthur Memorial. When we arrived, there was a school field trip going on. We asked the coordinator if we were able to sit in on the movie that was being shown. Immediately, he recognized that we were not from Norfolk. We told him we were from Ohio and he announced that he was from our hometown! He was so excited to see someone from his old home that he scheduled a private tour of the complex just for us if we were willing to return in a couple days, how could we resist?

It was exciting to me that many of the outings we were going on seemed to be an extension of what we’d learned earlier in the year. Not to mention, before going to Virginia Beach, we’d just wrapped up an ocean study with our science co-op. We'd also read about a breeches bouy and how ships go through the lock system. We spent time with an Army Corps of Engineers employee as she showed us how the locks work. We now had the opportunity in Virginia, to go and experience firsthand what we’d spent the first part of our school year learning about and it was really exciting.

Since that trip, I've no longer worried about my shortcomings and how I homeschool the kids because I now understand fully that God has us covered.

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