Science Experiment

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Today we had our first science experiment of the school year.  My boys really enjoy science so much & since my background is in the sciences I have a lot of fun with it as well.  We useApologia Science.  This is our second year using this curriculum & this year we are usingExploring Creation with Zoology 2 Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day.  We enjoy doing this all together- baby to Mommy.  Today we did an experiment to demonstrate what happens to a person’s lungs when they dive deep into the ocean.  Here the boys are blowing up a balloon inside a bottle (or attempting to blow up a balloon inside a bottle.)  Then they stepped on the bottle to increase the air pressure inside the bottle & observe changes in the balloon.  B1 was having his own private experiment with how fun balloons are in the background. 

One of the things I have been working on is making our school work more interactive & visual.  Normally I would have read this experiment out of the book & then we would all follow along as I led the boys in doing what the text paragraph stated.  Instead I typed the experiment out on a checklist for each of the boys & created a Science Center.  I provided the materials & they were responsible for making sure the materials were there & then following the step by step directions to complete the experiment.  They had a place to check off each step as they completed it & record observations.  I also included a few simple questions to get them thinking about what was happening.  They completed the experiment with a little supervision from me.  In general I thought there was more work & thinking taking place on their part & work + thinking = learning in my book so I was pleased.  Here is the sheet I made:

This is an idea Sue Patrick talks about in her materials.  Of coarse her experiment sheets are done with great graphics instead of my hand drawn pictures but who am I kidding- I have 4 children!  This was a lot quicker & the boys followed my drawings fine & gained all the benefits of really doing the experiment themselves.  I will continue to try working with the Science Centers & let you know how it goes.

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New Diet by MY HH (Hot Hubby)

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It just so happens that I am married to the MOST wonderful man in the world.  This week in addition to his normal great thoughts he explained to me finally how to loose unwanted pounds.

To fully appreciate the wisdom of his advice let me provide a little background.  I have known & loved my husband for 13 years now.  In that time he has worn 1 size of pants- period.  His weight has fluctuated (maybe 20 lbs. or so) but he has worn the same size pants for at least the last 13 years!  I on the other hand in the same 13 years have worn from a size 8 to a size 18 & everything in between!

The other night he was standing in our kitchen & I remarked to him, "Dear, you are loosing weight; I’ve got to start feeding you better!"  And that is when he explained it all to me.  "Honey," he said, "you have got to eat more ice cream.  The more ice cream I eat, the more weight I loose."

After my explosive laughter he explained how he had ice cream for dessert everyday at dinner (5 days a week) & we had made 2 freezers of ice cream that week after supper & yet he had lost 5 pounds.  "It’s all that dairy; it’s just great for you!" he beamed.

MEN!

School is in

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Brookgreen Academy 2009-2010 has been underway for 3 weeks now.  This year we are pleased to have a 4th, 1st, Preschool, & Toddler class.  All our students are of the highest caliber & particularly good breeding!  There has been, however, a serge in grafetti on our campus as is shown above.  We are so thankful to have a school that inspires it’s students in such a way!


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Workboxes at Work

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This school year we have begun using workboxes.  I actually don’t remember how I got introduced to Sue Patrick & her system but I have been learning about it for the last year or so.  I would strongly recommend that anyone interested go directly to Sue’s website so that you can learn more as I may not present everything exactly as she recommends.

I purchased & read & Sue’s book & have listened to her speak at a workshop recently.  Her system is not a curriculum but a method of organizing your existing curriculum to make it work better for you & your family & to learn more.  In addition to helping you organize it also teaches you to be more visual in your  presentation of school work & to incorporate review materials into the school day.  Although I will say that I do not agreee with all her methods or ideaology I appreciate her emphasis very much.  She unashamedly calls homeschool Moms to be professionals with a high calling that requires much.  Anyway, visit Sue to learn more about what she does; I wanted to show my homeschool friends how things have been going at Brookgreen Academy.

Below you will see the workboxes for L4 (Preschool.)  I did not purchase a show organizer as suggested but instead revamped an existing bookshelf that was already in our home.  We have a very small house & a large family so space is of the utmost importance to me.  The workboxes are shown here packed & ready for the next morning.  Let me say that I am not a workbook teacher!  The boxes may appear to be filled with worksheets but they are actually brimming with LEARNING!  We have been doing workboxes for 3 weeks now & all I can say is… I’m still doing it!  I don’t know if it is something I will maintain forever, that will be interesting to see, but it has definately benefitted our learning in ways that will stay with us forever.

The best things about this system (for our family) have been-

1. This system forces me to be prepared!  Not that I have ever been a lazy teacher by any means but I am very good at pulling things together at the last minute which might work but it does not allow for the maximum use of time & resources.  You can not pull workboxes together at the last minute.  I’ll let you know if I get to that point in the future!

2. We are utilizing tons of fun hands on interactive things that I have always collected & wanted to use but "never found the time to do."  Part of this organizational system is a conscious effort to vary types of tasks & motivate students with different types of learning tools & manageable chunks of material.  It is great to finally get out all that stuff I always intended to use & really see my boys learning & loving them!

3. This system integrates review which I recently realized was a real deficiency in our school day.  We have so much fun learning new things & for the most part have an extremely high retention rate but there are some things that just require review & I had not previously scheduled that into our day.  This sytem helps me do that.

Above are the workboxes for E6 (1st grade.)  Here again, I used what would fit into the space we had available & yet still allow E6 to see his work which is an important part of making progress & keeping expectations clear & visible.  Instead of the plastic shoeboxes he has a set of drawers & if a day requires more workboxes that this drawer allows I simply stack shoeboxes on top to make additional workboxes.

Another great advantage of this system is that I am becoming so aware of how & when to make things more visual.  I am looking at all kinds of materials now & seeing ways to use it in more hands on, fun & interactive ways than I ever did before!

My oldest, F9 (4th grade) is not using workboxes in this sense (by his choice.)  We have been using a successful written daily schedule for several years but I have adapted that schedule to make it like workboxes on paper.  I will try to get a picture of it & post that soon.  He is thinking about switching to the physical workboxes so we’ll keep you posted.  Although this may appear to be geared more to young children Sue uses the system with her children- 14 & 12.

Well, all this is well & good but what results are we seeing?- the proof is in the pudding.  I am spending more time planning (bad?) so that we can spend more time learning (excellent!)  Instead of spending my "school hours" rushing to gather materials, find a book, & trying to stay one step ahead of the gang- I am spending my time answering questions & doing "Work with Mommy" activities with my children (which are wonderfully scheduled to allow individual attention to each child.)  I am not an early learning advocate (other than the natural education called life) but my L4 wants to do "real school."  Now instead of his days being filled with twaddle & endless preschool workbooks he is actively engaged in quality learning & doing 2-4 hours of "school" every day, most of which he manages himself.  My E6 is able to know how much X (x being that which he prefers not to do) he has to do to get to Y (Y can’t I do that instead.)  He also knows exactly when the school day ends & he can devote himself to higher callings such as wooden weapon making & theatrical noises with body parts.  As for F9 he is getting many of his favorite activities (reading) sprinkled through out the school day instead of piled on at the end (which could be translated as not as important !)

I hope to share more about the workboxes because I know many of you are interested in this.  Of coarse there are so many folks blogging about this right now & many have much grander ideas than me.  Hope this is helpful to someone.

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My plans OR God's plans

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I am a planner-100%.  I love to plan.  I love a list of things to do, a list for how I might do each one, a list for the order I will do them in, a list of the supplies I need, etc.  Nothing excites me quite as much as the end of the school year (when I evaluate what worked/didn’t that year & plan what I will change for next year) or the beginning of the school year (when I actually plan exactly how each of those changes will be executed.)  I have used a new set of planning sheets- each designed & printed by me- for every year that I have homeschooled- 5 now.  I fall asleep at night thinking of my plans for this or that.  I just love to make plans.

For the past week I have been getting ready for the start of our school year- we go on the old school schedule where Labor Day is the last hoorah of summer!  When I awoke this morning I had visions of spending my day pouring over more of my plans.  Other plans where on the way.  My husband’s Aunt called to say that she & her daughter & our Grandmother were on their way.  It’s not that I wasn’t happy; I was!  It’s not that I don’t enjoy them or didn’t want to have visitors; it’s just…I HAD PLANS!  I had already planned how the day would go & now it wouldn’t & every morsel of my self-serving flesh was groaning.  Its groans sounded like this, "Why can’t I just do what I want to do?"  "What about ME?"

Those are familiar groans because I live with 9 year old, 6 year old, 4 year old, & 1 year old children.  Those are the very groans they make when anything inconveniences their wants, needs, & desires.  Of coarse when they make those audible groans I promptly chastise them because that is not the Christ like attitude!  Wonder where they learned to groan like that?  I certainly never planned to teach that to them!  No matter, to want our plans does not need to be taught- it is inherited.

Today turned out splendid.  We had such a lovely supper & got to talk & look at scrapbooks & arrange flowers & do nothing.  I spent another day with our Grandmother who is well on in her years & heard some stories I had never heard before.  It turns out God’s plans were better than mine- imagine that!  I think I should plan to teach that to my children.