Dinosaurs

Well, we weren't originally planning on doing a unit on dinosaurs until next year, but after we got knee-deep into preparations for Mason's dinosaur birthday party, I decided to declare a school mini-unit to indulge the kids growing interest. It was nothing too outlandish, but we did read quite a bit about dinosaurs during our two week unit. We also did some hands on activities associated with the party. First off, we needed dinosaur bones for our Dino dig activity at the party. As a result, one night we mixed up a play-dough-like concoction and Nick and the kids molded true to life dinosaur bones using books for models.



Then, at the party, the kids got to dig for bones in both the sandy Dino dig and do "actual" rock excavations from the Dino rock we purchased. (these photos are on the family blog) It was a super party, and it worked out to be an appropriate time to introduce my children to the world of dinosaurs. At some point I'm sure the school curriculum will require a more in-depth look at the prehistoric creatures, but this was a good start.

The Pilgrims and the Indians

Who can teach elementary school without a November unit on the Pilgrims and the Indians?? Not us, obviously. And we studied them in quite a bit of detail too, knowing that we will be enjoying Thanksgiving in Plymouth next November. Here are a few photos of us during the course of our study:









It was a pretty typical review of the Pilgrims and the Indians, with the typical crafts and activities, but I will never tire of teaching these stories and the wonderful legacy left to us by those special people and that special gathering.

Trees

After taking a lovely trip to Yellowstone, where we capped off our Church History and National Park units, we settled back into school with a much more practical agenda for the winter months. Our days of trips and outdoor adventures will be coming to a close with the onset of winter, and although the long hours spent at home during the winter will be less exciting, I think they will prove to be very necessary to our ultimate educational goals. In other words, I think it's time to get more serious with reading and math and stop having so much fun!! Well, not that reading and math can't be fun, but not in the same way that all of our science and geography units have been fun. Anyways, even though we are settling into a more rigorous math and reading routine, I did decide to take the kids on one more great outing before we entered our winter hibernation.

This time we took a trip to the local apple orchard. We've been here before to pick apples, but this trip to the orchard would be somewhat different. Pick apples we would, but we had much more to do there than just eat glorious honey crisps in the cool fall breezes. This time we would be holding class in the grassy orchard, spending time examining the trees, and the fruit, and the seeds. If you recall back to the beginning of our school year when I posted the different curriculum requirements, there was a science requirement that read:
Children should know that there are two kinds of plants: deciduous and evergreen.
And that was about all it said on the topic of trees and most plants. As always, however, this would not suffice for our home-school. As a result, we decided to kick off a full unit on trees, and one that would last over several months rather than beginning and ending in the apple orchard. As I mentioned before, this unit actually came into my mind when we were talking about the lodge pole pines of Yellowstone. The kids were so interested in the fires and how the pine cones "popped" in the heat that I thought it would be a good starting point to kick off a full unit on trees. So, that is just what we did. I found two diagrams, one of the lifecycle of a deciduous tree, most of which are angiosperms (i.e. and apple tree) and one of the lifecycle of an evergreen tree, most of which are gymnosperms (i.e. a lodge pole pine.) These diagrams were perfect because they focused on seed propagation, and let us return to a discussion of the lodge pole pine cones and how they burst and spread their seeds after the fires. We could then compare and contrast that with the seeds that grow on the angiosperms and eventually turn into the delicious fruit that we all love to eat. This led into a conversation about how those seeds were spread and on and on. The kids loved our tree lessons, and were so excited to go study the apple trees close up.
And wouldn't anyone be excited to have school in this quaint little setting?



It all started with the usual hay ride into the orchards...







followed by a few minutes enjoying the farm animals. Mason was a little timid at first, but not EmmaLee. In fact, some of the chicks got loose while we were there and Emma single-handedly rounded them up.







After playing with the farm animals, we walked through the corn maze,



and then proceeded with plenty of apple picking...





and then lots of apple eating and apple cider drinking.



Then we pulled out the tree books and read and read. It was homeschooling at its best.

While we did lots of tree crafts and tree lessons during this time period, our tree talks won't end here. We'll revisit trees again in December with our Christmas tree. Then we're going to do an honorary tree unit in February when we talk about family trees. And then we will be off to collect and boil down our own syrup in the March Maple Tree Festival up in St. Paul. Perhaps we will even go swinging on birches when we get to our poetry unit, or spend a day in the summer climbing trees just for good measure. Who knows, and who knew trees could be so wonderful!

Oh, and I almost forgot to include this picture of us truly enjoying the fruits of our labors in the orchard:

National Parks

After spending a week and a half saving the planet, we dove head-long into our next unit on national parks. We had no time to lose as our Yellowstone Trip was only about ten days away. Still, we had to be thorough. We started out by talking about national parks in general. We talked about what national parks are, how they came into being, and who is in charge of watching over and protecting them. (The Park Rangers) We actually took quite a bit of time looking up national parks in a national parks book we purchased, and the kids loved playing National Park Memory--a special version we picked up at the Science museum.



My favorite part; however, was when we moved into the discussion of the very first national park in the whole wide world: Yellowstone National Park. I just love Yellowstone, having gone there many many times as both a child and an adult. I was so excited to have this chance to teach my kids all about it, not to mention to take them there. I decided to break my Yellowstone Unit into two parts: 1)Geothermal Features and 2) Yellowstone Wildlife.

First, geothermal features. This section was a blast to teach--literally. First we reviewed the layers of the earth and everything the kids learned about fault lines in Summer Camp. Then we took a day to talk about volcanoes--Yellowstone is actually sitting on a large dormant one. During this discussion we of course had to construct our own volcano and cause it to erupt. The kids thought that was great. Unfortunately, Nick deleted the picture of our amazing handiwork! After talking about volcanoes, we went into a long section on the active geothermal features in the park, namely, geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. I have been to the park many times and I never realized the difference between all of these things. It was fascinating, and the kiddos loved it. They were so excited to swim in a hot spring, smell a fumarole, and watch Old Faithful erupt!

As we talked about all of the geothermal features, as well as the Yellowstone volcano and earthquakes, somewhere along the way we got side tracked on the Yellowstone fires. We got so side-tracked, in fact, that I decided to make a third section simply on the fires. Spence was especiallly taken with them-watching online video after video of the great forests burning. Then of course we had to talk about how they fought the fires and watch video after video of the airplanes dumping water and chemicals on the fires in an attempt to put them out. The kids were mesmorized. They were also devestated thinking that the whole park was still burned down. Fortuntely, we learned that the park was not entirely burned down, and that the fire actually did much good for the park. This lead into a discussion of the famous lodge-pole pines that dot the park. We learned all about their life span and how important fires can actually be to their growth. I even learned something as we discussed the logde-pole pine cones that contain the seedlings for new trees. Only under extreme heat can the cones pop and release their seeds. And only with adequate light (i.e. not being blocked by too many big trees) can the seeds take root and grow. It was an interesting tangent, and one that gave me an idea for another special unit when we get home from our trip.

Because we got side-tracked, we didn't get to our wildlife segment before leaving on our trip. I did; however, teach them all about the wildlife while we were in the park. We talked about the deer, elk, moose, and bison. We talked about black and grizzly bears, including what to do if you were ever to meet a real bear in the wild. We read about eagles and trumpeter swans. We studied marmots and chipmunks and beavers. And of course, we traced the history of the gray wolf and it's significance in the park. All the while we munched on special Yellowstone Animal Crackers and marked off the animals on our Yellowstone Bingo Cards as we came across them. It was awesome! A school special unit and a family vacation we will all never forget. (For all the pictures check out the Yellowstone Post on our family blog.)

The First Day of School

Well, today is the first day of school. Public school that is. It is the real day of truth. I awoke early this morning with such mixed feelings. I know we are supposed to home school, but there is still this strange feeling of being left out. I can't help but look at Maddi and feel kind of sad. She has no idea what today is, but I do. I know the Lord has a purpose for all things, and he can give us so much more than the world. I know for myself that we don't need the experiences of the world to be fulfilled and to grow into His people. Still, my heart feels heavy as I know that Nick and I have chosen to deprive Maddi of this life experience. She can never have another first day of Kindergarten again. Today will come and go, and with it, that opportunity. From here on out, if we ever put her back into school, she will be different. All of the other kids will have already started. They shared that experience all together. They all walked through the door of the school together. They kissed their mothers good-bye, met their teacher, played on their first recess--everything you do on the first day of kindergarten. All except my Maddi. I love her so much, as I do all my kids. I don't want her to miss out on anything in life. I don't want her to be strange, or different. But, then again, I guess I do. I guess that is what this all boils down to for us. We will have to be strange and different--peculiar--if that's what He requires. I feel intensely sad today, but intensely grateful as well. I pray that my children will be grateful for this decision too, and not look back with anger or resentment. Who knew being a parent was going to be so complicated! Heaven help us as we try to negotiate this monumental task! Or should I say, keep helping us, as He always does.

Music Makers

I wanted to include a brief post here about an extra-curricular school project that I have decided to take on again this year. This project is a once-a-week, two hour musical class I refer to as Music Makers. It is much like the Kinder Music programs available in many states, but differs in that I have no certification to run it, and so, I run it free of charge. It is quite a time-consuming program, both in prep time and in running time, but I decided to run it again this year to meet two of our family's home schooling needs. First off, it gives us a formal music curriculum to teach not only actual musical education (i.e. notes, rhythm, instruments, etc.), but to also teach topical items through music. And second, it gives my children some classmates other than each other. They love the company, and I hold music makers parties at each holiday to help enhance their home-schooling experience. While there are times when I wonder why I give myself the extra work, for the most part I love hosting the class. If I was really ambitious I would start a music makers blog to follow all of the crazy stuff we do in class, but lets be honest, I've got to sleep sometime!

Earth Summer Camp

I think every Kindergartner, in this modern day and age, has a unit on "the Planet Earth" and how to care for it. Consequently, I felt like I too should brooch this subject with my children, and perhaps try to be a little greener myself in the process. Originally, I thought I would hold this class sometime close to Earth Day; however, when I saw an Earth Summer Camp at our community center, I decided we would have this special unit sooner than later. It seemed to fit into our schedule nicely too. The kids could go to summer camp and get introduced to the planet Earth. Their class would cover the placement of Earth in the solar system, the actual layers of the planet Earth, rocks, mountains, fault lines, etc., and then briefly touch on conservation issues. Then our home school unit could expand on the conservation issues, including days on water conservation, energy conservation, garbage conservation and recycling, air pollution, and move into a discussion of taking care of our planet. This would lead very nicely into our next special unit on National Parks. After all, national parks are simply land set aside to protect and conserve. After covering national parks generally, then we'd move into specifically studying Yellowstone National Park, in anticipation of our trip there in a few weeks. At that point, my kids would already have a foundation for discussing the geothermal features in Yellowstone, and learning about the plants and wildlife would just be fun little extras! It would all flow so logically--necessary in my world of teaching! There was only one problem! Day one of summer camp put a wrench in my plan! Let me explain.

Perhaps I am naive, or I just didn't give it a lot of thought, but when my children arrived home from the first day of summer camp and told me all about how the earth was formed when a big explosion happened in outer space, shooting our planet off like a rocket into its current placement in the universe, I about died! I probably should have assumed that a Science summer camp on the Earth would teach Big Bang theory, but to be honest, when I enrolled them I was thinking more about the Earth's composition than about its origin. Needless to say; however, after day one of summer camp, origin was forefront in my mind. In fact, my two week holiday came to an abrupt halt, and the kids and I began an immediate dialogue about the earth's creation.

Now, let me pause here and say two things. First of all, I want to note, in behalf of all of you scientifically minded individuals, that I am not in direct opposition to everything supposed in the Big Bang theory. Just most of it. And secondly, let me just state that my kids have in fact been taught the true creation story. Many times in fact. Which was part of the reason it was so troubling to hear them tell this second version as fact. This ought to be a lesson to all parents. Even children who have been taught the truth, may not recognize a contraction when it is presented to them from another source. When my kids shared with me their understanding of the Big Bang theory, as it had been taught to them in summer school, they did not see any problem with it. They didn't connect it to the creation story we read in Genesis. Then, when I asked them how the world could be created by a big bang when the scriptures teach that Jesus Christ was the creator of the world, they just stared at me kind of confused. Eventually we got to the obvious conclusion, the one that many Christian scientists have come to, that Christ just caused the Big Bang, but even that was insufficient. My kids still couldn't seem to get past the mental image of some big explosion, and after talking and talking and talking, it was clear that a very accidental version of the creation was still stuck in their minds. I was upset, and angry at myself for not anticipating the topic. I was also ready to keep them out of the rest of the week of summer school, not to mention march right in and tell their teacher what I thought of her teaching Big Bang to my 4 and 5 year olds. My level headed husband; however, pointed out what a good teaching moment this was. "They need to confront some opposition." he said reasonably. And I guess that's true. It helps them to learn that not everything they will ever learn is true, and that they need to always weigh new understanding in light of their cherished gospel knowledge. It also taught me the absolute necessity of talking to children about what they see and hear in other places, and the obligation we have to teach them the truth.

So, teach them the truth we did. We countered Science summer camp with our own unit on Creationism. We read out of the Old Testament and Pearl of Great Price every night. We discussed the order and purpose of each day, the beauty of it all, and most importantly, the great Creator Himself. We testified to the truth of the scriptures, and told them to anticipate their visit to the temple as an adult where they could learn even more about God's creation of this Earth. It turned out to be a very positive experience. And although the U-Tube explosion video was very impressive, I think the true message sunk deeper into their hearts. And, as for their teacher, well, I couldn't resist having a little talk with her. Only, I made the kids do the dirty work. I helped them write her a letter about how we believe that Jesus Christ created the Earth. We then gave her a pass along card for a free Bible where she could read all about it.

Following our week studying the Creation, we then launched into our Save the Planet week. First we talked about garbage. We watched our Little Hard Hats movie on where the garbage goes. We visited the city landfill, talked to our garbage man, and made recycled paper. Through it all, we were careful to cover the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle program presented in most schools, and then tried to implement these ideas into our home. The kids went crazy with it all. They made special garbage cans in our house just for recyclable goods, they went through our current recycle bin and garbage to find things they could re-use (i.e. they used all the old baby food jars to sort their legos into), and they became quite effectively--the recycling police. We even thought we would try our hand at a compost bin; however, after actually building the thing, we determined that we weren't quite that green yet!

Once we finished our discussion on garbage, we moved straight into energy conservation. We watched our movie on Ben Franklin and the history of electricity. Then we learned all about power plants and how energy gets to our homes. Then we brainstormed ways to save energy, as well as had a unit on safety as regarding electrical power sources. By the end of these discussions our little police had duel jobs: recycling and energy-efficiency monitoring.

We couldn't end there though. We had to learn about water, where it comes from (the water cycle), how it gets to our homes, and how important it is that we have enough of it. The kids loved our field trip to the water tower, and you guessed it, they became diligent about not wasting water as well. In fact, one night during dinner, Spencer stood up and went to the sliding glass door. He then proceeded to open the door and poor his glass of water on the flowers outside. When I asked him what the heck he was doing, he informed me that he was no longer thirsty and that rather than wasting the water, he was going to water the plants with it. Pretty impressive, I know. Not too mention hilarious! I have to confess that even I started to get caught up in all of this. I told Nick that I want some of those down-spout water containers for Christmas. We already store drinking water in our food storage, but storing rainwater for outdoor use seems like a equally good idea!

Even water conservation didn't bring our unit to a close though. What true "greeny" can teach about saving the Earth without a class on the O-zone layer and global warming? Maddi was actually very affected by this discussion, particularly the part about air pollution and acid rain. She announced that we were going to start riding our bikes everywhere, and she has also decided she wants to protest airplane usage. It was amazing to see how the kids truly cared about these issues. It made me realize how truly wise it is to teach children when they are young. They internalize the beliefs, and as the adage states, when they are old, they will not depart from them.

Here is a shot of the kids holding some of their projects from our Planet Earth Unit:
Think green signs, paper mache globes, recycled paper, grass that they planted in a cup, and their own version of the planet earth cut out of construction paper. (Maddi built a Mayo Clinic right in the center of her Earth and made her Daddy very proud.)