Bugs!

So I have to admit that we are not very fond of insects around here. We don't like to find them, pick them up or even read about them much. And although we covered Life Science last year in school, I'm pretty sure that insects go the shaft. So when our local science and nature center offered a homeschool class on insects, I signed the girls up as fast as I could.

After an introduction about the characteristics of insects, the kids went to the "Critter House" to examine some insects close up. My favorites? The mealworms and the humongous hissing cockroach. That would be the nice creature seen in the picture above, that all the kids TOUCHED.

Next they went out into nature to find some insects. They observed in a grassy field and in the woods. Here are the girls thrashing the grass to find some specimens! In the woods, we found dozens of millipedes and ispopods (that's rollie-pollies for all you fellow non-insect lovers).

Kayla actually has a millipede on her spoon in the picture below, but when he started to climb up her arm, she dropped everything. Here it is post-drop, still OK we're happy to report!

My favorite part of the class was that the kids charted all of the insects they found on a giant graph on a flip chart. You have never seen kids so exited to mark an X on a piece of paper! Since the class, Kayla has decided we should graph almost everything. Her last analysis was of the colors of the fall leaves. Yes, she's 3! Both girls are loving science this year (and I didn't
even have to touch any bugs!).

Until next time,

Marcia

A Morning at the Apple Orchard!

This morning we went to Erwin Apple Orchard for Kayla's very first preschool field trip. Of course she's tagged along on many of Leah's and our homeschool field trips, but she was so excited to go on her very own field trip. After a brief battle about wearing her coat (which covered her sparkly pumpkin shirt) and despite chilly weather, a good time was had by all. Please excuse the huge montage of pictures, there were just too many good ones! After a hayride out to the fields, we picked apples and pumpkins. Then we returned to enjoy a treat of homemade donuts and apple cider; it was quite clear that this was the highlight of the visit for the three-year olds! Of course we had to bring home some donuts and cider to share with Daddy. :) And now we have to figure out what to do with all of these apples!

Kayla with her teacher, Ms. Renee

This afternoon Leah had her first Daisy meeting for Girl Scouts. She was a little shy going in as she's participating in a troop where most of the other girls already know each other, but she was beaming when she came out. It's been a long time since I was a Girl Scout - some things are the same (Make new friends but keep the old, some are silver and the others gold, ring a bell anyone?) and some way different (how about $3.50 for a box of cookies and no God in the pledge anymore?!). I'm hopeful it will be a good experience for Leah, although my suspicion is that the attraction to the group is primarily the uniform!

Tomorrow is an ordinary school day at home. Sometimes we get so busy that it's really nice to have quiet days at home!

Marcia

Preschool for Kayla and Science with Leah

A couple of weeks ago Kayla started preschool at a local coop two mornings a week. Now it may seem strange that a homeschooling family is sending their daughter to preschool! We wanted Kayla to experience a group school setting, as well as determine how she learns best. Although Kayla is showing many signs of being advanced like Leah, she has a completely different personality and learning style. It's important to us to determine the best school option for each of our children individually, each year.

So far, Kayla is having a blast. Separation anxiety? What is that? Leah and I get the opportunity to volunteer in the classroom a couple of times a month. It's been really neat to watch Kayla in action and Leah blossom as a little helper! It is quite obvious already that the experience is pretty much social for Kayla though (as opposed to academic) and she looks forward to "school with Mommy and Leah" every day, so we'll see. In the meantime, she gets ample time to sing silly preschool songs and play with playdough every week, two things Mommy does not do very well with at home! Here she is on her first day of preschool.



While Kayla is at preschool, Leah and I take advantage of the uninterrupted time to complete science experiments most days. This year, we are using a curriculum called R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey - Earth and Space. This program is really nicely organized, with readings, experiements and lab sheets for each topic. We supplement with living books about whatever we're studying.

We've been studying weather since the beginning of the year, including making a rain gauge, an anonometer (fancy term, huh? It measures the speed of the wind.), a weather vane and a re-creation of the earth revolving around the sun to show the change of seasons. We have identified types of clouds, predicted and logged the weather, wind speed and direction, and rainfall for the last several weeks and concluded with making graphs of everything. I'm sure I never learned this much about weather in school! Leah really enjoys the hands-on nature of this curriculum and I appreciate that it doesn't require obscure scientific materials that require significant searching out and funding. Here is Leah working on her rain gauge.




Until next time!


Marcia

A New School Year

We started up our new school year just after Labor Day, and we're really in the swing of things now! We've settled into a routine and are accomplishing so much each day. Here are the girls on the first day of school, after a special breakfast out with Daddy!



And when it was time for recess, we went to the park!


Here are a couple of pictures of our school room - keep in mind that it has never been this clean again since I took these photos!



Our main work area


Kayla's spot


Just part of the way too many resources I've collected


Our workbox set-up and calendar center

and the computer center

We really enjoy having a dedicated space for school, although we seem to end up all over the house! The basement playroom is right outside this room, so Kayla plays out there when she tires of her "school." She also started attending a co-op preschool two mornings a week and is loving it! Afer the first day, she came home a little concerned though, that she couldn't do school with Mommy and Leah anymore. I'm glad to know she likes learning at home with us! While the girl were waiting for me to fix lunch that day, Leah explained her science project to Kayla (which involved thermometers, water and lots of ice) and they played/learned contentedly for almost an hour, forgetting about lunch. That's what homeschooling is about for me!

More on the curriculm we're using this year later, but you can find the list and links on the right.

Marcia

I have discovered that if I am going to update my blog regularly, I'm going to have to really change my habits! I spend so much time reading everyone else's blogs and gathering new ideas, that I am neglecting my own.

I am currently working on plans for our next school year - I know it's only March, I'm a little compulsive. And I love to buy books. :) When we began homeschooling in the fall, we decided to take one year at a time, to ensure we were making the best educational choices for the girls each year. The main reason we decided to homeschool was because Leah was just way ahead of the regular kindergarten curriculum. I don't think I can expect a teacher with 20 other students to come up with completely different activities daily to keep Leah challenged, and there are no gifted education programs in Ann Arbor. At home we have been able to move at Leah's pace, including 2nd grade spelling and math, and reading everything she can get her hands on. Of course now we're faced with the fact that she's even farther ahead and if we ever decide to put her back in public school, we would probably have to accelerate her greatly. And now Kayla, who's talents I though might lie in jumping off tall things or anything involving a ball, is following in Leah's footsteps. She'll be three in May, but she already knows all of her letter sounds and she started sounding out words this week. She picks up more than I know when she's playing in the background during school. I can barely keep up with these girls!

Anyway, I'll be attending this conference in a few weeks, I'm going to try not to go broke in the Vendor Hall! Seriously, I think listening to the creators of many of the curricula and seeing them in person will help a great deal in deciding what is best for us. I'm especially excited to hear from Susan Wise Bauer, the author of The Well Trained Mind. This is the book that really inspired me to actually start homschooling. When I read her book, I thought, "Wow! This is the education I wish I could have had." Oh, and did I mention that I'm going all by myself, while Ed takes care of the girls at home?! This will be the first time I've been away from them for more than 36 hours since Leah was born. Five hours alone in a car to listen to a good audiobook, sleeping all night with no interruptions, sleeping past 7:30am!

We are also considering Classical Conversations next year. What the kids learn in 24 weeks is amazing! Anyone out there have thoughts about this program?

So I'm finally jumping on the bandwagon and starting a blog. Apparently I have so much to share that I need to put it out in cyberworld for you all to access 24 hours a day! This blog will follow the adventures of my family as we spend our days and nights at home. This is our first year of homeschooling and it has been quite an education for me! And we enjoy our time as a family at night, at least when my Ed is in town! Thanks for sharing the journey with us.