|
Welcome to My Blog!
Schooling two active boys has never been more... interesting. That's the word I'm looking for!
I love my boys! God has given them the blessing of strong, active bodies and minds. We continually pray the first will remain intact, and the second will remain engaged with Him first, and then the school work. You'll meet my sweet sons, both entirely different, but both loving God to the best of their ability in the way He made them. I lovingly refer to them as my Bell Pepper Boy and my Habanero or Hambone. That should say it all!
This blog is an eclectic mix. The events, conversations, and the thoughts behind it all will be in here.
Every once in a while I'll try to capture something I don't want to forget. I hope you find things you enjoy. Please let me know if you do!
Blessings!
Our Curriculum
- Mystery of History vol. 1
- Saxon 5/4
- Horizons Grade 2
- A Beka Language
- Spelling Power
- Apologia Zoology 1
Books I'm Reading
- The Bible
- Adam and His Kin by Beechick
- It by Groeschel
Favorite Links
|
Friday, February 8, 2008
Rock & Roll!
Posted in School Things
Well, today shall be forever reckoned in my mind as Rock & Roll Day!
A couple of us planned the activities for our home school group's Geology Day, and I think the planning yielded some really great things. I was refreshed in my rock knowledge, worked with some great people, and showed love to the kids in our group by attempting to provide a fun and rich environment for them. I'm excited about what God did in me in the process.
It wasn't easy. I was nervous. I was at a loss for ideas at one point. I felt like I was the only one to hit the brick wall on this. (And bricks are made of what?) Anyway, most of it was just because it was a last push, due to team communication and such. I'm just glad we finally got it all together and planned something that looked like it would go really well.
Shockingly, everything we planned didn't take all that much time. We ended with a few minutes left at the end, and that was nice. For those who are interested, I'll give an idea of how it all went. This was our general flow:
Large group:
We began with the verses in Genesis. I wanted to bring out the idea that geology was God's idea, and He is the one who made everything we would be looking at today a few thousand years ago, knowing we would be looking at it today.
The kids had been in music class before this, and they had been practicing a song about the three types of rocks, so my partner did a quick overview of the types. When he talked about sedimentary, we had samples of sandstone and the "ingredients" in limestone. I got to show the acid testing we do to find limestone and marble. When he talked about igneous, we showed some rock samples. We told them we'd get into more about this type later. When he got to metamorphic, my partner began our experiment with three pieces of layered clay under a brick. (This we returned to at the end of the class.)
Age Appropriate Groups:
With a rough idea of the types of rocks, we then broke into two age groups. I worked with the kids between the age of 6 and 8. My partner worked with the 9-12 year olds.
Our group did the following:
* We played with a few bins of legos sorted by color for a few minutes while talking about layers. We compared legos to FlexiBlocks. Since we had a minute, we were able to talk about what happens when layers bend...and when they don't. (By the way, if you give a child a lego...he's going to want some jets/wheels/sound effects to go with it.)
*We then moved to a table where the kids made their own layers in jars. They chose from corn meal, graham cracker crumbs, and flour. They spooned it into their jars. Some kept them rather flat, while others tried to get some interesting slopes and such. They actually looked really neat when done. It looked really natural. (These jars have to be pretty tightly packed, and stirring is not advantageous to the layers' position.)
*Next, our group got a chance to "dig" for fossils in a large plastic bin full of sand and "planted" objects. They loved the surprise of finding all kinds of neat things! (I was surprised at how much they enjoyed this.) Based on my knowledge of making sandstone with the other kids, I'm wondering if this activity could be modified. . . *heh heh heh*
*We rolled over to our other form of rock, igneous. Here I used the recipe in the other post with flour, salt, water, and school glue. It really helps when you know exactly the consistency you're looking for on this one. Too wet, and it doesn't form. Too thick, and the plastic bag "piping" action gets hard. (Don't cut the corner on the bag until you've got what you're looking for!) These "rocks" will dry over time, or can be baked in an oven the same way you would bake the salt dough recipe. I baked mine. After drying, these rocks will be colored or painted by their creators. Remember that not all igneous things are black. (We found that Sharpie marker works great on this project!)
*Our final project with this age group was making fossils using shells and plaster of Paris. Other than the plaster process taking about 3 minutes, it was FAST! I can't wait to see how these come out. These projects traveled to a mom's house, and she'll have them for our end of the year Family Event.
The older group, which I didn't get to hang with, did quite a bit while I wasn't looking!
*I think they made sand castles with damp sand.
*They made sandstone in little paper cups.
*They learned some basic classification/identification things.
*They built the volcano project.
(I wish I had been able to hang with this group because I was really intrigued by their projects.)
Large Group:
After their activities, we pulled everyone together again.
There were some kids finishing other projects, so they were able to use our sheet to identify some rocks. I paired the older students with a younger student to help identify the rocks they had brought with them today. Most worked. We had some basic lava rock, though, that didn't fit the sheet very well, based on what they knew. Oh, well. *shrug*
We checked on the progress with our metamorphic experiment (clay and brick). Since it was barely changed, we went with a little coaxing method. The child with the largest foot...and weighing the most...got to add pressure to the brick! A few pressing moments later, and our clay was a bit metamorphosed! (The layers in the clay on this one is key!) True, if we had added heat, it would have been faster. This is February, though.
We had some examples of things using different "rock" elements in them. We had pottery, a mortar/pestle, and an arrowhead. My final idea was to inject the idea of geology far into the future. (Or whenever God feels the New Jerusalem will be unveiled.) We read the verses in Revelation 21 that talk about the precious stones/metal used in the city, walls and foundations. What a neat way to end!
I hope you enjoyed reading about our day. It was short. I would have rather spent much more time on all of the topics we rushed through, but this group's focus is more fellowship with a sprinkling of academic. If I thought about this with my kids, we'd be rockin' and rollin' around the topics for a while!
|
| •
Post A Comment! •
Send to a Friend!
|
Comments
Last Page | Next Page
|
Blog Things
My Thoughts
I love comments!
Categories
Blogging Friends
|
Posted by 
Posted by
Friday, February 8, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Have a great evening!
Blessings~
Laura