December Already?!

Wow! I can't believe it is already the 2nd day of December! We made our family portraits the other day, and I think they came out quite nice :-) Thanks, Dad, for your patience in setting and resetting the timer over 400 times to get just the right shots!



So, we are studying the first Christmas, obviously, and I found a multitude of helpful resources this year! My first favorite is Celebrating the Season! by Sheri Graham. In there I found copywork for the Christmas story found in Luke and Matthew, and was able to adjust to our varying abilities. She also has in there an awesome Advent Calendar, which we are using daily- it reminds me of the Resurrection Eggs, and was VERY easy to put together! Another favorite of mine is the Nativity Lapbook by Angela Frampton. This is a free resource available to anyone to print and I pegged it to be a good independent study for my 6th grader- it is simple enough for him to do on his own, yet he is learning quite a bit. It even has a small comparison/contrast between the Bible and the Nativity Story movie.

For Geography, we are studying the United Kingdom, so this week, DS#2 is reading Magic Tree House #25- Stage Fright on a Summer Night, and DS#1 is Reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Together, we are reading The Mystery at Big Ben by Carole Marsh.

For Science, we are still working through Apologia's Zoology I, and currently studying insects. We have raised caterpillars and released the butterflies (one Monarch and five Painted Ladies) and our ant farm is in full swing. All three kids are still enjoying studying Zoology, and I think we are going to be able to move onto Zoology II in January! We recently purchased Sea World passes, so I hope I will find those useful as we study God's swimming creatures...

So- I hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday Season, remembering to keep Christ at the center of it all...

Life

Whew! Life has just been a whirlwind! I took on a part time job teaching two-year-olds in the afternoons. I'm really enjoying that, but I hadn't seen it coming and I've had a hard time keeping up with everything, specifically my blog. We've stayed caught up with school, for the most part, but have not had time for some of the extras. I expect to get into more of a routine here in the near future and get back to some of the "fun stuff" we do for school.

We're currently studying France and pterosaurs (actually, we're just finishing up the pterosaurs and moving onto insects tomorrow). We're reading Mystery at the Eiffel Tower, by Erin Kelly- DS#2 especially enjoys these books, and I've introduced the A to Z Mysteries to him, which he is also enjoying, reading on his own.

Speaking of DS#2, he is enjoying flag football this year. He has a good team and an excellent coach and they have won all by one game so far. Not that that is important, and I never stress winning, but it just makes the boys feel better when the win some ;-) He has even gotten to RUN with the ball some this year, which is a HUGE boost to his interest in the game. He is also still learning guitar and doing quite well at it. He is currently learning some Christmas tunes and Praise & Worship songs. He has a great teacher, there, too.

DD started a ballet class last week. She had been asking to try dance, and they offer it where I am now working, so that was perfect timing. She really enjoyed her first class and did not want to take off her ballet clothes or slippers afterwards.

Mike is taking DS#1 camping again soon, along with DS#2 this time and they have invited some of their friends and dads to come along. I think I will be somewhat envious to miss this time they have together, but I know they will really enjoy it.

We had our 2nd Annual Boy Party (I guess it's going to be annual, now!), and that was a huge success! We had 13 boys over and 12 of them spent the night! I think everyone had a great time! We had make your own pizzas and they primarily played light sabers and dressed up in costumes.

Last week, our church had a Trunk or Treat outreach, and we all had so much fun with that! There were many GREAT trunks there-- Mike & DS#2 dressed up as Indiana Jones, so we decorated our trunk to go along.

I can NOT believe it is NOVEMBER already!!! This year has just FLOWN by!!! I am hoping that I will find time to keep my blog more up to date, so I don't have to do one long post for nearly an entire month!!!

Microscope!

OK This was just too cool not to post! I found on Donna Young's website today, that I could use my simple digital camera to take pictures of whatever we are viewing on our microscope. I thought I had to buy the fancy kind, but noooooooooooooooooooooooooo... it was so simple, and mine came out just fine! Here are some pictures of a bird feather we were looking at this morning. If you click on the pictures, you can see the barbs and barbules pretty clearly, I think!

Bird Feeders and Bird Feeder Experiment

The kids made bird feeders for science. DS#2 and DD made similar ones for an experiment they are conducting. They are to find out which kind of seed the birds prefer- sun flower seeds or tiny seeds (we sorted the sunflower seeds out of the big bag of wild bird seed), so their bird feeders needed to be the same and hung in the same spot. We'll observe them at the same time each morning and keep track of how many birds hit each feeder while we watch.

DS#2 made his own kind of feeder, using a milk carton and even hung it himself in his butterfly garden. He saw a Blue jay while he was doing that, so that's already cool!

DS#2 and I also made a "smart suet" from the recipe in Zoology I. We hung this just below an old birdhouse we have (that DS#1 and Dad built a couple of years ago), where we have frequently seen a Woodpecker. I hope the Woodpeckers like it- I know our dog sure did! Here she is giving it her lick of approval.

We're hoping, by putting all these feeders out, we'll see more birds in the future.

Birding

I am SO excited!!! I gave DS#2 and DD each a pair of binoculars and a bird book to start our unit on birds in Apologia's Zoology I. As you know, I was a bit concerned about DS#2 not enjoying this unit, but he certainly enjoyed getting his own pair of binoculars and all three kids (DS#1 already had his own pair of binoculars) were out there this morning looking for birds. DS#2 even referred to himself as the "bird finder" in his journal! The two younger ones are working towards their Wings Over Florida Junior Birding Certificate. They are learning how to identify birds with the booklet you can print out from that site, and when they find 15 Native Florida Species, they will recieve the certificate you see below (you download it from that site and print it out for them). They identified a Mourning Dove and Black Vulture already this morning! DS#1 is helping DD with this, as it is written for 3rd or 4th graders...
...but DS#1 is also working towards the Wings Over Florida Birding Certificate. He has to find at least 50 native birds to reach the first level and 350 native birds to reach the highest level (there are five levels in all). With this program, you print out the Official Florida Bird Checklist and check them off as you find them. This program is free, though you do have to send off for these certificates, and you can work to earn all five certificates at one time. Below, you can see the Elite Birding Certificate, for finding 350 Florida Birds.

Flight

Well, I was worried about using Apologia's Zoology 1 with DS#2, who is tired of all the animal talk at our house. I needn't have... today, the kids built gliders to specifications in the Science experiment- to see which wing would allow the glider to fly better-- a short, wide wing or a long, narrow wing. DS#2 really enjoyed this project (as did the other two, but they love Science anyway)... They were actually learning about birds and flight, but DS#2 didn't know that ;-)