Science Part III: Birds and Fish

Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind. - Albert Einstein

One last science post to catch all the science odds and ends.

PK1 is very interested in birds.  WOW..is it a stretch for me to get into this with her.  We started taking pictures of birds, identifying them and logging them in a notebook:

We visit a bird sanctuary:

We observe birds on Gram's feeder:

We go on nature walks:

And record what we see in a nature journal:

We also visited the Aquarium in Chicago this winter.  It was amazing!

Science Part II: Animals

ll things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. - Cecil Frances Alexander


We also learned a lot about animals as part of our science this year.  PK1 has always been a HUGE animal expert.  She gives us all kinds of random and remote facts about animals.  She will pour over science almanacs for hours, she watches nature documentaries on PBS.  PK2 still doesn't know the difference between a rhino and a hippo. We attended a great class for homeschoolers at our zoo.  Every month is a different topic.  First you hear a lecture with pictures and video, then you meet an animal up close, then you go on a zoo walk.  It is an EXCELLENT class:

Braving the cold (note to my mom..would you ever have thought that I would go out in the cold in February to walk around the zoo and touch animals?...I guess I have grown a woman's heart):

Waiting for the lecture to start:

A snake skin:

A skunk skin:

Petting a snake:

Science Part I: Human Body

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.  ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

This year in Science we studied the human body.  I used this really great book with templates to create your own life size body.

We traced around their bodies, cut them out, and added body parts as we studied them. Here is the "before" with just the brain:

After..nine months later..we finally finished (except..minus the face?...I think I forgot that) Do the PKs look older?  My camera is certainly better!

We memorized one fact about the function of each body part and made a notebook page about the different concepts we learned. Here is the one about blood:

And here is one about the senses:

Then we read lots and lots of living books about the body.  We read at least 50 books about the human body!  But this was great because both girls liked these a lot. We like the Sam's Science series:

Magic School Bus books are always a favorite:

And I love the illustrations in these books by Aliki:

We visited an exhibit about the human body at the science museum:

Fetal Development..which one looks like Aunt Susan's baby?:

X rays human and animal:

To Read or Not to Read - Literature

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain. -- Louisa May Alcott

This was a frustrating post to write because I want to mention all the wonderful books we read.  I will have to highlight just a few.  At least half of our literature came from the historic time period we studied (The Middle Ages).  Again, the idea is to read the stories in context.  Also to familiarize children with great literary works so they will not be intimidated by them when they encounter them later.  Here are a few favorites from that category:

Saint George and the Dragon is a child's version of Spenser's The Faerie Queen.

From the author of The Wind in the Willow, The Reluctant Dragon, gives lots of great details about life in the middle ages, through the eyes of a friendly dragon.

In Marguerite Makes a Book, a little girl, as her father's apprentice, takes you through the painstaking process of making a book in the middle ages:

In Castle Diary a little boy keeps a diary of his adventures from training as a squire to knighthood:

Aesop's Fables are such classics.  I remember these so well from when I was a kid.  The girls also reenacted quite a few of them for me in partial costume.

We read three of Shakespeare's plays. Macbeth, 12th Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I was not interested in A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I always thought that one was kind of dumb.  But PK1 saw that it had fairies and a donkey and begged to read it.  Now I love it!  Maybe I never understood it before?  We used two different series...Shakespeare Can Be Fun and Tales from Shakespeare.  

Then for just plain literature PK1 read, mostly on her own, some aloud by me, The Boxcar Children, Magic Treehouse, Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, Grandma's Attic, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, The Dangerous Journey (a child's version of Pilgrim's Progress...HIGHLY recommended), Just So Stories, Dr. Doolittle, B is for Betsy and too many others to name.  

Bible

"For more than a thousand years, the Bible, collectively taken, has gone hand in hand with civlization, science, law-- in short, with the moral and intellectual cultivation of the species, always supporting and often leading the way." Samuel Taylor Coleridge

One of Charlotte Mason's ideas about reading your kids the Bible is to not ask too many questions.  She suggests that you just read it to them and let them absorb it.  This is very freeing because you don't have to worry as much whether they are "getting it."  And you don't empose some artificial "lesson" out of each passage.  At this point we just read a Bible story every morning and pray.  I think the habit of it is important..starting the day that way.  Then the kids know that you, the parent, thinks this is a priority.  If I skip any lessons or have to take a short cut, I try not to skip our Bible time.

This year we used Egermeier's Bible Story Book.  My dad read this to me as a kid. It is very thorough and just right for elementary age.

Even though Egermeier's was our primary source, we took lots of breaks to do some other really good series that I want to use every year to reinforce certain ideas. One of these is "Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers."  I highly recommend it. Each has a different idea like The Trinity, The Gospel, Missions etc.  It has little kids explaining to eachother what these ideas are.

At holidays we may stop and do a series of books about Easter or Christmas.  I really like the Brian Wildsmith illustrations. He has Joseph, Easter, Exodus, Jesus and Mary.  Maybe more.

And there is really fantastic, kid-friendly docterine in the Paul Maier books.  He has The Very First Christmas, The Very First Easter, The Very First Christians (Pentacost), The Real Story of the Exodus, Creation, Flood and maybe some other I don't know about.

Sammy and the Shepherd is a study of the 23rd Psalm.

We also read through The Jesus Storybook Bible once a year.  We have probably read it 3-4 times since PK1 was little. It goes a lot faster than Egermeirs and is very different.  It gives such a great overview of God's plan for his people. I have started giving this book as birthday and baby gifts.  I recommend it to anyone who will listen.

History

History is not history unless it is the truth-  Abraham Lincoln

Our history studies are really the jumping off point for the whole rest of our curriculum.  We use a four book series called The Story of the World and we are just now half way through.  The great thing about it is that it is chronological.  I really think that is the only way to really understand history.  If the first thing a kid learns about in history is "The Pilgrims," he has no religious, geographical or historical context to put that in.  We also study God's work in the world as part of history.  Abraham and Moses are historical figures like King Tut and Napoleon.  We start with Creation, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, The Roman Empire, Vikings, Knights and so on. Last year we studied the Ancients.  This year was The Middle Ages. As you go you study the art, science, literature, religion, famous people and geography of that time period.  See how it covers everything?

We usually read a chapter and then PK1 tells the lesson back to me orally.  I type it up and she colors a picture under it.  Next year, she will probably be ready to write it herself. Here is the page she made after we learned about Vikings:

The book is not American or Euro-centric either..so when they discuss knights, they also taught about Samurai knights from the east.  PK1 wrote a pretty good little compare and contrast between the two.  Here is what she wrote:

Samurai were knights from Japan.  They were a little bit different from the English Knights.  They also used the Feudal System and the Samurai had to fight for the King in exchange for land.  But when Samurai weren’t fighting they liked to write poems, do dances and build gardens.  One of the Samurai generals did a certain dance before he led his troops out to war.


And this is what she drew:


















There is also a map for every lesson.  So when they learn about Marco Polo and the Silk Road they have this map:

Then we would also read other books that went along with whatever we were studying.  Biographies of interesting people like Martin Luther:

 Joan of Arc:

 We studied Saint Nicholas, Saint Benedict and Saint Patrick  Saint Patrick was AWESOME!

We also read books like A Medieval Feast which told about all the food and preparation that went into a big feast during Medieval Times:

Here are a few more of PK1's drawings.  They are pretty funny!

The Globe Theater:

Martin Luther nailing up the 95 Theses (that is a hammer, not a hair dryer):

The first 3 of Henry VIII's wives..she ran out of room and interest for the last 3!

And my absolute favorite from this year...The Council of Trent.  Do you not love the arguing archbishops?

Doing School at Home 2009-2010

"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." Charlotte Mason

 I decided to try to document some of the learning that we have accomplished in our home this year. Starting tomorrow I am going to address one area of study a day.  Most of my curriculum recomendations come from the book The Well Trained Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer.  She was homeschooled herself back when you could practically get arrested for it.  Now she is an author, professor and homeschool mom.  If her book hadn't made it sound so great..I never would have done it.

I also like the ideas of Charlotte Mason, an education philosopher from the 19th century who thinks that children should read high quality books, be outside every day, be observant in nature and memorize poetry.

I really wouldn't have made it the last two years if it wasn't for my best friend and her darling children.  It isn't just that we do all kinds of fun and educational stuff with these guys..although that is great.  I am serious when I say that the only way I am able to get through the day with a little bit of dignity and grace is because she is such a strong support and example for me.

Another nod goes to my sister, because she keeps me laughing. She also inspires me because she does such fun, creative, earthy stuff with her kids.  I would never think to do that on my own, but I have to keep up with my little sister!

And my husband who gets us started with a hearty breakfast each morning.

I can't write a big paragraph about "why we do school at home" or "why doing school at home is great" because I am not super fanatical about it. But the fact that we do school at home is proof that God does exist.  (how is that for extreme?)  I think God led me into it by placing the right people and books in my path and I continue to do it on faith while it works for our family.  I am very thankful for the last two years.  They have been a real blessing and time of growth.  Plus, in what other educational setting can you put together a puzzle of the provinces of Canada, wearing a cowgirl costume?

* Reminder..check back each day this week for a new post on our schooling.