Health Unit

Before we get into our health unit, I thought I'd share a pic of the adorable origami bunny finger puppets we made for art today. We found this great series of origami videos on happypuppytruffles's YouTube channel. Bunny Finger Puppets is the first in the series. I can see many happy hours ahead using these instructional videos. Even spatially-challenged Mommy was able to follow the simple instructions.


Health is another subject we are covering in a five week unit this year. I decided to focus our time looking at a few of the human body systems. I chose a few books to use as the backbone (pun intended!) of our study. We are covering the first six chapters of the old book (circa 1970) Blood and Guts by Linda Allison. This will take us through a voyage including our skin, bones and joints, teeth, muscles, heart and lungs. Some of the other books we will pull in to supplement are The Way We Work by David Macaulay (the art work in this book is unbelievable!), Anatomy Academy by Katie Collins, and the Usborne lift the flap book, See Inside Your Body.

I plan to continue where we left off in the Blood and Guts book when we return to health again next year . There are quite a few fun hands-on experiments in this book. Next week, when we learn about teeth, we will be soaking an old baby tooth in soda to show its corrosive effects on the enamel of our teeth. We also currently have a chicken leg bone soaking in a jar of vinegar waiting for it to be decalcified. There's always something interesting sitting around in our kitchen. If you ever come to visit, just remember, it's always a good idea to ASK before eating anything you find in the refrigerator.

This is a Rant

Sometimes I just want to scream, "Why can't you just do your work and stop all the whining!" and sometimes I do.

JT doesn't enjoy doing math. He did at one point. I remember when he liked math. I remember when I'd send math problems along with him to school so he'd have something to do when the rest of the class was completing something he had already mastered. His Kindergarten teacher encouraged this and he always said he liked to do the work.

Sometime in the last three years, he has lost that love. In fact, he'd probably say math is his least favorite subject. Initially, I thought part of the problem was that he was bored. So we looked for 'fun' math. No good. Then I thought it might be the choice in curriculum, so we changed. Several times. No good. Then I found out that he didn't think it was 'fair' if he had to do work that he already thought he knew how to do. I understood that complaint. I hated it in school, too. So I would pick and choose a few problems in each lesson for him to do as proof that he understood a concept before I'd let him move on. This was not acceptable to him. I lowered the number of proof problems he had to do hoping it would be more 'fair' in his eyes. Instead, he would rush through the problems, making MANY mistakes, and then get angry when I asked him to correct his work. Now he just stares at the work until I start taking away privileges to produce results. This is NOT how I want him to learn math.

However, he loves to read ABOUT math. He read Flatland and thought it was fantastic. He recently read The Number Devil and talked about it for days. He loves to read the stories in the Life of Fred books, but don't expect to catch him working on the problems.

So...do I drop most formal math instruction for some time and deschool just in that subject? I'm sure if I provided books on the subject of math, he would devour them with relish. I don't want to drive him to hate all math. It happened to me. I was an excellent math student until I ran up against a class in 9th grade called Progressive Math. Geometry, Algebra II and a bit of Trig all in one year. I was never the same after that.

I think a step back may be in order for now; the same way we dealt with JT's problem with music instruction. Structured learning wasn't working. We stopped his piano lessons. We waited for what felt like an eternity for the spark to ignite on its own. Then one day, he was playing again because he wanted to play. I'm not sure if math can work the same way. I can't imagine suddenly feeling the urge to 'do math' the same way I might feel the urge to make music. But maybe that time will come. For now, I will pick up all the books I can related to math. I will encourage him to hang out on math websites. I will make sure he isn't forgetting what he already knows. Then, when he sees the need for the use of math on his own, he will be far more motivated to work because it will mean something to him.

Right now, it only means something to me and that might not be enough.

Civics

As homeschoolers in PA, we are required to teach specific subjects every year. The list includes English, arithmetic, science, geography, history of United States and Pennsylvania, civics, safety education, health, physical education, music and art. Some of these subjects are covered daily in our classroom. English, math, science and history are consistently covered throughout the school year. Physical education, art, music and geography make an appearance about once per week, sometimes more often. I am covering the remaining subjects; health, safety education and civics, in smaller units. Health and civics each get five weeks of study, safety education was a three day fire safety day-camp in late summer, plus a few activities the rest of the year.


Last year I struggled to put together an organized study of civics for the boys. I had it on our calendar as a once a week item, but always seemed to push it aside to finish other things. So this year I decided I had to get serious and PLAN something in order to really pull it off. I decided we would spend three days a week for five weeks on topics related to citizenship and government. Here is what I ended up throwing together.

~Week One
Discuss what rules and laws are and how they affect both our nation and all organizations
Activity: imagine you are the leader of a country and must write up your own laws, create
five laws for your citizens.
How can people change laws if they are unfair? Read about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the
civil rights movement. Discuss non-violent protests and how they can change laws.
History of the Star Spangled Banner. Read The Star Spangled Banner in Translation

~Week Two
Read about the establishment of the US government and the Constitution. Watch BrainPOP
videos on the branches of government and Bill of Rights. Do activity sheets for each.
Begin reading The Voice of the People
Review vocabulary related to these subjects; amendment, allegiance, independence.

~Week Three
Activity sheets (from old Calvert material) on citizenship, leadership and authority.
JT only, choose one leader we read about and write a paragraph about him or her.
Read fact book on presidents.

~Week Four
Discuss civic duties.
Make a list of the ways we can help our community.
Discuss American symbols; flag, bald eagle, seal, etc.
Discuss American foods and their true origins.

~Week Five
Learn about national landmarks.
Choose one landmark to research further.
Review the roles of each branch of government.
Use online activities such as iCivics and quizzes on Sheppard Software websites.
Watch School House Rock videos related to government.

It has been a fun unit for us. Fifteen days isn't really enough time to cover the full scope of civics, but knowing that we will touch on a little every year, I assume we will eventually have a good grasp on the subject. This morning a member of the Gifted Homeschoolers' Forum posted this video her daughter had made about the Constitution for a class on government.




When the boys were watching it, JT said, "I like how she used the harmonies. Maybe she did that to show how the Constitution helps us live in harmony with one another."

I thought that was a nice final note for our study on citizenship.

For the Love of Reading

Reading has always been one of my favorite pastimes. When I was a kid, I rarely went anywhere without a book. As a teen, I'd spend hour after hour in my room reading. My daughter, now in her 20s, followed closely in my footsteps. She was reading a healthy dose of sci-fi and fantasy novels while riding the bus to school. When JT came along, he was an early reader with a voracious appetite for more books than I could supply.

Then came EM. We read to all of our children, pretty much from birth...one of my favorite pictures is my husband with a newborn EM on his lap reading Dr. Seuss's ABC book. But when the time came for reading on his own, EM was reluctant. In past posts I have discussed both his auditory processing problem and his intermittent exotropia and how those two issues may have contributed to his avoidance of reading. While he has made progress in the years since both diagnoses, he has never preferred reading over any other activity.

Then a couple months ago, we chose Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as our new bedtime read aloud book. My husband reads a chapter from a book to both boys during their snack time. He read aloud to our daughter until she was into her teens and will continue the tradition as long as the boys continue to listen. When we finished the first book in the series, EM decided he would try to read the next book on his own. He picked up a copy of The Chamber of Secrets at the library and finished it in less than 10 days!

Earlier this week, he was working on the grammar assignment pictured above. When he came to the question "Which book do you plan to read next?" he had an answer. I don't think EM had ever PLANNED what book he would like to read next before he discovered Harry Potter. Now, only two days after our trip to the library, EM is nearly 100 pages into The Prisoner of Azkaban. I don't know if this reading splurge will last beyond the final Harry Potter book, but for now I'm encouraged by the excitement EM is showing. When he finished reading The Chamber of Secrets on Monday night, he said to me, "What perfect timing. Tomorrow is library day so I can get a copy of the next book right away!"

And that was music to my ears.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Our family spends a lot of time together... a LOT of time. We school at home, we do many outside activities as a family, and my husband works from home. Most of the time we enjoy our group hermitage. But then there are some days...
Remember that old Bill Cosby routine Brain Damage? There's one part of that routine that really resonates with me lately.
Will you stop touching me?!

I spend a great deal of time breaking up disagreements between the boys. These usually involve someone infringing on someone else's personal space. Many times EM will work on JT's nerves with some minor irritating behavior until JT has had enough and reacts in a physical way. I come on the scene and EM is in trouble for invading the personal space and JT is in trouble for not walking away from the situation or calling a parent to deal with it. Both of these issues have been discussed more times than I can count. Is there hope that eventually it will be planted firmly in their minds so that it brings about the proper reaction? One can only hope.

Now I know that all parents with more than one child at home deal with these kinds of issues on a daily basis. Kids will always have their squabbles. But I can also understand why so many parents rejoice when summer vacation is ending. The daily dose of sibling conflict is reduced. Less time together equals less time to fight. We on the other hand, have no reprieve.

Some times are better than others. When the weather is nice, they play outside with each other fairly well. We have an acre of land for them to spread out from one another. When there is snow on the ground, they play nicely together while sledding. They can even play for hours inside with LEGOs or other creative toys most days. But when the weather is nasty, day after day, or we have few plans that allow us to leave the house on separate errands...the tension begins to build and the conflict ensues.

This problem is not only an issue the boys must face. I also get easily irritated when I've been shut up with my crew for too long. For me, it usually comes out as a heightened annoyance with noises and personal space invasion. Little things, like JT's incessant need to drum on any available surface or EM's inability to sit still start to feel like direct attacks on me. Then my fuse is shorter and my reactions are less than cheerful.

Luckily, I am beginning to recognize the signs of an impending explosion. Now I need to start working proactively to prevent them. I am going to put a new policy in place. When any of us are starting to feel the pressure building, we will take a time out and go to our separate corners to do what we love. For me, it will probably be reading or playing either my violin or piano, JT will probably chose reading and EM will likely choose to play in his room.


Getting along harmoniously in such close quarters takes some work. Don't get me wrong, our happy times far outweigh the bad. I want our home-bound lifestyle to be one of peace, not strife. With a little effort, I think it can continue to be a haven for all of us.

Studying American History

I must admit, as a student I did not have a very high opinion of history. The first real memory I have involving studying history in school is of the most dismally boring American History class I had to take in 9th grade. The room always seemed too warm, perfect for napping, and the teacher had a monotone voice. I don't think I learned anything in that class.

So far, we have had great success in our study of ancient history. Using The Story of the World series with supplements like the Horrible Histories books, the boys have been able to stay interested because we are reading about history through stories, not boring lists of facts. I wanted to find something just as easy to use and interesting to read as those books, but focusing on American history. That search hasn't turned up the perfect fit yet, but we did find a good starting point.

All Through the Ages, History through Literature Guide by Christine Miller is a good resource that is helping in our search. This book is really just a list of books about history. It is split into time periods such as Exploration, New World Colonization and Colonial Wars. Each time period is then split into sections that can include; overview of the era, specific events, biography, historical fiction, literature and culture. Each of these are broken down into four different grade levels, as well.

Last year, we barely touched on American history, but what we did cover revolved around the pre-colonial Americas. We looked at the native tribes that were here long before the first Europeans arrived. This year, we started up with a bit more on what life was like for those native peoples. We then covered early exploration by Europeans and the Vikings. We looked at the first settlements and how the colonies gradually grew. One excellent book we read on the French and Indian wars was Struggle for a Continent by Betsy Maestro. I remembered very little about this time in history from my school days, so I enjoyed this book.

Today we started looking at the issues that led up to the Revolutionary War by reading the first two chapters in the book, A Young Patriot by Jim Murphy. This story is told through the eyes of a young man born in 1760 who ends up enlisting to fight against the British. It is well written and full of art from the time period. Once again today, I learned that the boys often know more than I do about a particular subject. One of the illustrations in the book was a picture of an engraving of the Boston Massacre done by Paul Revere. I said, "I never knew Paul Revere was an artist!" JT said, "Oh yes...he worked for a newspaper and was a silver engraver."


At this point, our plan involves spending as much time as it takes to make a leisurely walk down America's history. My preliminary outline goes as far as the time period immediately before the Civil War begins. We will cover topics like the early establishment of our government, early presidents and their work, California colonization, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, the Homestead Act, exploration of the southwest, the War of 1812, the Indian Removal Act, the Industrial Revolution, the growth of slavery, beginning of the anti-slavery movement, Women's Rights, the Mexican War, mining, Westward Expansion, and the Gold Rush. That brings us to the 1850s. I have a list of resources for each item included in my time line. Based on our love for taking our time and delving a bit deeper as we go, I'm guessing we might make it through this list by the time the boys are ready to go to college! Seriously though, I would really like to make it to the end of the list by the end of our school year. I want to start out next year with a couple months dedicated to the Civil War.

No matter how long it takes us to get through, I know we will enjoy it far more than if we just looked at dates and facts. Christine Miller puts it best in the introduction to All Through the Ages,

"It is very rare to find the reality of history in a history textbook. They are much too limited to even begin to contain its grand scope. History should be about the stories of the day: the people and their lives, the immediacy of their times."

Our goal will be to experience those times through the stories we read.

Changing Gears

We are back to schooling after a nearly three week break. I think we all really needed that time off. I felt a level of energy this week that I haven't felt in a long time. Over the weekend, I spent a large amount of time prepping both my next science unit and our civics unit for this year. I also spent a good deal of time updating our American history studies to include a much better plan of action.


Before I really dive into what is coming, I want to spend just a little time sharing some of the highlights of our Marine Science unit that wrapped up right before the holiday break. We dedicated six weeks to this study. Our texts included Marine Science 2, published by Dandy Lion, Discover Nature at the Seashore by Elizabeth P. Lawlor, and Ocean published by the American Museum of Natural History. Different topics of study included life in the kelp forests, anatomy and shape of fish, tide pools and their ecosystems, marine mammals and their habitats, ocean invertebrates, marine plants, and my favorite...sand!

I know the study of sand probably borders more on the geology side of science, but after seeing Dr. Gary Greenberg's work with sand, I can't get enough! We brought a sample home from Ocean City and I made a request to family and friends that if they get anywhere near a body of water, they must bring me a sample of sand to examine.

Here's a picture of a portion of our collection so far.

We also had a few ocean related field trips. Our annual visit to a performance of the Harrisburg Symphony turned out to be a perfect fit for our science units. One of the pieces was an excerpt from Claude Debussy's, La Mer. We took a family vacation to Ocean City, NJ in mid-November and also visited the Adventure Aquarium.


Each of the boys made a poster showing the life found in a kelp forest.







We enjoyed this unit because it allowed us to go places we hadn't before. The boys had not seen the ocean so our trip was a first for them. They learned a great deal about how diverse life can be, from the cold, dark depths of the oceans to the warm, tropical reefs. They learned about animals that can thrive in the freezing Antarctic waters and on the scalding hot ocean vents. For Christmas, JT received a copy of the series, The Blue Planet. As we watch it together we are able to reinforce much of what we learned in our marine science unit and will continue to add to our new knowledge.

And now for the new plans! After spending countless hours poring over specs on various microscopes, I finally made my purchase. I settled for the Omano OM118-M4. It arrived this week and I am in love! I might let the boys use it... if they can get me away from it. I also ordered a microtome to allow us to make many of our own slides. I could have made a homemade one using an old thread spool, but I couldn't resist the fancy version.

Our official name for our new science unit is cellular structure and microscope use. My plan covers the next eight weeks of schooling. I'm really looking forward to this unit. It's going to have a HUGE amount of hands-on work. The boys will get a chance to really learn how to put a good scientific journal together. We will also make many of our own slides and explore the world of the tiny. We have already started looking at cell structures this week. BrainPOP has been an excellent source for this plan. We will also use quite a few books for this study. A few of my favorites are in the picture on the right.

Next week I'll give some details on both our civics and American history plans. I know I have been posting nearly exclusively about science this year and would like to broaden my subject matter a bit as I continue. While reading, writing and mathematics are very important skills that everyone needs to learn, science can give us so much opportunity to be set on fire for learning. I know the desire to go a little deeper comes most often with my boys when we are exploring the world around us. That excitement can turn the need to write a paper or read a long passage from a scientific journal from tedium to adventure. So bring on the science and all the rest can fall into place.