May 27, 2010 by KellyH.

Over the past week we’ve had two snakes turn up in our yard. The first was a big one. A Black Rat Snake about 4 feet long. Here it is crawling across the top of one of our windows–a 5 ft-wide window! It just shimmied up the side of the house.

Here it is trying to climb another part of our house:

Check out the pattern!

The second snake was found in our pool as we were draining/cleaning it. I believe it is a Plain-bellied Water Snake.

I can’t help but wonder if that big one was the one that left the 4-foot long skin shedding a couple years ago. And as for the little one… he was so cute I wanted to hold him, but didn’t have the courage.

Posted in Science | Print | No Comments »

February 21, 2010 by KellyH.

We’re two weeks into our human body unit, but didn’t start making our organs until last week. No, I haven’t made the outlines of my children yet. After reading through the instructions, I was a bit flustered as to what needed to be done first. There are instructions for making everything… but not instructions for the order of making the models.

So, I’ve decided that we’ll just make all the organs and then worry about creating the body to “stick” them onto. And then I’m going to jot down lots of notes about how the project should proceed next time, and place it into my Weaver 3-D Body Book!

My children are really enjoying the sewing–actually, I think they enjoyed picking out the material for each organ the best. Rather than go out and buy plain material, we’re using whatever I have on-hand. These will certainly be colorful bodies!

I’ll post pictures at Facebook once we get a few more organs completed.

Posted in Volume 1, Science | Print | No Comments »

January 12, 2010 by KellyH.

As we moved into the second half of Chapter 10 (Vol 1) today, we focused on moons. Using the list of questions/facts from the 6th grade science objective #3, I started Googling phrases. First, I found this site:

The Lunar Clock at TheSwordbearer.org

This site taught us how to “read” the moon and then, based on its location in the sky, tell the time. Based on what we learned, the clock in the main graphic has the wrong time if we’re reading the moon correctly.

The other site I found quite interesting is:

The Moons of All the Planets

I didn’t realize that Shakespeare had such an influence on the naming of the moons of Uranus!

We also found a site that tells you how much you would weigh on the moon. Just plug-in your earthly weight and click the button:

The Moon’s Gravity at MoonConnection.com

I would love to hear about your “great finds” online and in books! Feel free to leave a comment here, on Facebook, or on the email list.

Posted in Volume 1, Science | Print | No Comments »

January 8, 2010 by KellyH.

Chapter 10 (Volume 1) has us studying the stars. In Bible lesson 4 we talked about how stars differ, and it was suggested that we study constellations. I pulled out my Handbook of Nature Study, by Anna Botsford Comstock. Part IV covers “Earth and Sky.” I highly recommend this book for anyone with children. It’s good reading, even for adults!

After studying the charts of constellations in the Handbook of Nature Study, I assigned the following for Creative Writing: “Create a constellation. Plot it, name it & sketch it.”

Of course, my daughter created an animal constellation–a bunny. Her older brother offered to work with her, and created a stick constellation that is actually attached to the bunny constellation (gotta give them credit for teamwork, at least). These two constellations were completely made-up, and not based on any existing stars.

My younger son decided that he was going to “find” something within the existing stars. After studying the charts a little longer, he created an acorn located between Pegasus and Cygnus.

I’ve always loved star-gazing, and it’s something my children have grown up doing as well. Once the weather gets a little warmer, we’ll be turning our eyes heavenward at night once again, looking for some of the new constellations we learned about this week, as well as finding new ones… like an acorn… or a bunny, holding a stick.

Posted in Creative Writing, Science, Bible | Print | No Comments »

September 16, 2009 by gracefrombrazil.

I enjoy the luxury of not rushing through a book.  I decided to try to find a book that would last through several units and would reinforce the subjects .  I have not read all of Jules Verne’s novels but the few that I have read aloud always teach us so much in such a fun way.  I chose for this unit The Mysterious Island.  It is the sequel to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and my children have been wanting to read it after they finished Captain Nemo’s first underwater adventure.

From the early chapters I immediately saw that it would encompass so much of our future studies while reaching back and touching on others.  Stealing away in an air balloon and barely surviving a hurricane brought back to our minds units already studied.  One of the real surprises was the day we were studying in our math about how to figure the height of something very large by comparing it to a much smaller item, that has a known length, we saw it illustrated by the brilliant Cyrus Smith in the book.  That was very cool.

My 9 year old enjoyed reading through a lovely illustrated version of Aesop’s Fables during this unit.

Posted in Living Books, Volume 1, Science, Miscellaneous | Print | No Comments »

May 31, 2009 by gracefrombrazil.

Have you ever tried to read a book that is really popular amongst the home school “living books” crowd, given up, and felt bad since everyone loves that author?  You may have even wondered what was wrong with you.  Did you then valiantly try again only to have your children ask you to not read that book anymore? This is what happened when we undertook to read a few of Holling Clancy Holling’s books.  Of the three titles that I have, Seabird, Paddle-to-the-Sea, and Minn of the Mississippi, none captured our interests.  Which is odd since my children are all avid nature entusiasts.  The other time this happened was when we read The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley. The Holling’s books had all the earmarks of a perfect fit with this unit since the contents of the books coincided with many topics to be studied.  But alas it was not to be.

But on the other hand I had a similar experience with another author but this time what once seemed void of meaning now penetrated my mind and gripped me.  Reading the tragic tale of  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in my high school English class failed to engage me but when I dipped into it again while my children sat around it was a different experience altogether.  Words that once seemed remote and enigmatic now seemed within my grasp.  The rhyme was spell binding.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean

And then these well known lines:

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

I have learned that sometimes several tries is good enough to put something away forever, but on the other hand you just never know when that one illusive book or work will suddenly come alive.

Alongside these books my children read  Mutiny on the Bounty and Robinson Crusoe(condensed).

Posted in Living Books, Volume 1, Science, Miscellaneous | Print | No Comments »

July 19, 2008 by KellyH.

While we were outside the other day (saying goodbye to visitors–Hi, LaDawn!) my children spotted a small snake near the edge of the driveway. He was small, so we thought he was a young snake. I got my camera and snapped a few photos so we could find out what type of snake he was.

Imagine my surprise when we discovered this is a Western Pygmy Rattlesnake!

He was a tiny little guy. See those twigs? That longest one is only about four inches long. According to OKSnakes.org, this guy is probably full grown.

And, yes, he’s venomous–all rattlesnakes are venomous. No, we never heard a rattling sound. This is a very small snake, with a very small rattle–hard to hear in most cases, and I’m glad I didn’t let any of my children get close enough to try to hear it!

Once I had identified the snake, I was quick to explain to each of my children that this snake could hurt them. I’ve been trying to give them all a healthy respect for wildlife. I don’t want them to get hurt through ignorance or naivety.

How safe are your children? Do you know what kinds of snakes and spiders reside in your neighborhood? Check your local library for books on snakes, spiders, and other forms of wildlife. Learn to identify the more common critters. Teach your children to be safe and keep their distance.

Posted in Science | Print | No Comments »

April 15, 2008 by KellyH.

I just had the privilege of assisting (ever so slightly–I took photos) with a bird rescue. I’d noticed an American Avocet hanging around the pond at the local golf course, so I contacted the Tulsa Audubon Society and let them know. Today, on our way home from piano lessons, my son and I saw people at the pond trying to catch the bird. We stopped to see if we could help. The gentleman who lives across the street had a really good dog who also assisted. Here’s a few photos…

The Avocet is now being cared for by a veterinarian who specializes in rehabilitating wild animals.

Thanks go out to John Kennington, current President of the Tulsa Audubon Society, and Gail Storey, Vice-President.

And, of course, a special thanks to Zoe for her help in rescuing the Avocet!

Posted in Science | Print | No Comments »

April 10, 2008 by KellyH.

While I was in California last month, I almost stepped on a Banana Slug. How I managed to miss it is a mystery, but when I doubled back from my walk (about 20 feet from where I found the slug) it was right there, bright as a banana! My kids would have LOVED to see it!

Posted in Science | Print | No Comments »

October 16, 2007 by KellyH.

He was scratching at the door. My daughter thought there was a puppy outside, so she went to the window to see. It was a lizard! Yellow head, blue body, green tail. Definitely a male, and definitely a collared lizard.

We also caught a black widow spider recently! We’ve been doing some remodeling in our home, and when my husband picked up a piece of scrap wood he felt the spider (and dropped the wood!). We’ve had this fine specimen in a small container for four days now. I believe it’s a female, because of its size. My daughter (9) went straight to the wildlife resource books and looked up black widows. Did you know black widows spin 3-D webs? Most spider webs are flat, two-dimensional weavings. Black widows create ‘balls’ for their web. We have a lot of those around the yard, but the spiders are small and brown. That will have to be my next research project… spiders!

Posted in Science | Print | No Comments »