Done for this day!

On Wednesdays, Don leaves for school with Gabi at around 8:30.  They commute together, because his job is just down the road from her college campus.  We try to get our day started by 8:00.

Michael checks his planner to see what he has to work on today.

Michelle recites her vocabulary.  We are learning Greek words that are common roots for English words this year, using English from the Roots Up. It is a simple and straight-forward exercise, through every-day repetition by recitation, she learns a word a week, plus several derivatives of each word.  There is some historical background to the words in the textbook, and we go through that.  For example, we learned the the word 'biblos' means 'book' and comes from the name of a Phoenician town in antiquity named 'Biblos.'  The papyrus from Biblos was used to make scrolls (Biblos).  And thus we get the word 'Bible' which originally was written on scrolls (biblos). 

Each new word has an index card with the word written on one side and six to eight derivatives and their definitions on the other.  On Fridays, we do a review of all the words we have studied so far.

Right after this we go through our Bible verse for the week, repeating it together (chanting) for memorization.  This too is tested on Fridays.

Michael works on his science experiment.  He usually has two experiments a week to do for his Physical Science class.  I think this is his favorite school activity. 

In this experiment, he was learning about electricity and chemical reactions.  The bubbles coming off the battery were oxygen on one side and hydrogen on the other.  To prove that, he had to trap the bubbles to see that there was twice as much of one as the of the other, proving that it was the gas from H2O - twice as much hydrogen as oxygen. 

He then had to write a lab report explaining everything using the steps of the scientific method.

Michelle did all her morning lessons, then she had her reading time just before lunch.  She chose to read a book of fairy tales.  Reading has a calming effect on her, and this is a great thing considering how worried I was a couple of years ago about how she would do in school due to her difficult time at the orphanage in China.  Her favorite things to do now are reading and making jewelry with beads.  Her reward at the end of the day is to go to her room and play with beads.

Michael had piano after lunch, so I packed up the kids and went off to our wonderful piano teacher who lives about twenty minutes away. 

Part of my difficulty today was that Emily is sick with the flu.  We tried to make her as comfortable as possible for the ride.  I was glad she didn't get sick in the car, and she went back to bed when we got home.  I'll be making some congee for dinner tonight - a Chinese chicken and rice soup, or porridge, they fed to the babies in the orphanage.  Both girls associate it with comfort food, as I continued to make it for them when they came home from China. 

When we came back home, Michelle did the dishes while I went outside and did  gardening and collected eggs from our chickens.

Michael got back to work doing his math lesson and reading for King's Meadow. 

Michelle finished writing in her nature journal, more on that soon...

Chores and dinner await.  The day was over at around 3:30.

Read-a-loud for tonight is: The Secret Garden



 Linking with Simple Lives Thursday!

Smithsonian Museum Day - don't miss out!

The Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day is this coming Saturday, September 25th.  Museums from all over the coutnry participate.  Follow the link and get two free passes per email address.

Enjoy!

Nature Journal Blog Hop #1!

<center><a href="http://schoolroomreflections.blogspot.com/search/label/blog%20hop" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="160" alt="School Room Reflections" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5002403681_ff5173ef99.jpg" /></a></center>

If you are joining my Nature Journal Blog Hop, please copy and paste the picture or html code above in your post!  That way others can learn about it!   Link up is at the bottom of this post.

Wisteria

So, we went on our weekly nature walk on Friday morning.  The girls look forward to it and were all excited to walk out the door.  It's our time to explore and discover new things together.  Most of the time, we go out to see what we can find, but on Friday I had one thing I wanted them to check out.  I had gone out earlier in the week thinking about trimming the wisteria that grows out of control all summer.  When I came up close though, I discovered that there was a pair of cardinals making a lot of noise and fluttering around.  They had their nest built in there, so I had to change my plan and postpone trimming for a while; but I decided it would be a nice opportunity for the girls to see the pair and their nest.  So, we headed on out to check them out, and they were there making a fuss at us again for getting too close.  We didn't look inside the nest, so as to not disturb them too much, but I suspected there were babies in there.   We also saw another pair of cardinals along our driveway, in the big oaks.  For some reason, those are the ones they drew in their journal.



Jet Clouds



As we walked around the house and over to the driveway, Emily looked up and discovered jet clouds.  There were several planes flying overhead at that time, around 8:30 in the morning; probably loaded with commuting businessmen, unaware of the streaks they were leaving behind them all over the sky.  Emily marveled, and I enjoyed one of those precious moments when my kids make a great new discovery.  Of course, I was asked how the jets made those clouds, so I tried to explain water vapor and condensation - big words I had to remember to review later and maybe follow up with more information back inside.

Florida Native Morning Glories

We found a native Morning Glory vine climbing up another bush, its delicate purple flowers only there for a few hours before the sun would dry them up, greeted us as we walked by. 

Once inside, we pulled out the Handbook of Nature Study, where we learned all about cardinals, my favorite resource to use after nature walks.  We also looked at our birding guide and learned about where cardinals live, and how they migrate during the different seasons.  We looked at animal migration maps for other birds and butterflies at Journey North, a site where you can record your observations.  We recorded our sighting of Monarch butterflies on our walk there.  That was a good opportunity to do some geography review.

The girls just love these walks, and Friday mornings work out best for us because Michael is gone to his martial arts class with Gabi then, so I have the morning to do something like this with them.

When we went inside, they drew their pictures, each focusing on what they learned or liked about our walk.

Michelle's Picture

Michelle's picture reflected some of the things she has been learning in our art classes, like the texture on the trunk of the tree.  Her cardinals show the difference between the male and female cardinals.  I think she liked that it was a sunny morning too!

Emily's Picture, and "the biggest raindrop in history!"

 Emily had all the different things we saw in her picture and wanted to label them, so I wrote them down for her to copy.  She also drew herself and Michelle looking out the windows of the house.  Her father's comment when first seeing the picture, "that is the largest rain drop in history!"  She laughed.  I only suggested that there might be either eggs or babies in the cardinal's nest.  She drew hatching cardinal babies, just coming out of their eggs.  My favorite was the jet "stream" (cloud).

Since Michelle is older and more advanced, I asked her to write a paragraph about our nature walk.  I showed her a way to organize a word outline to help her get started.  I taught her about the importance of organizing our thoughts and information before starting to write, and how that helps people understand what we are trying to say better.

She gave me the important words about cardinals, the topic she wanted to write about, then I helped her organize them around the circle, forming a web.  Visual cues, like graphic organizers,  really help her understand better and make writing easier for her.

Join the Nature Journal Blog Hop by following the link below!

Happily linking with Autumn 2010 OHC!

Flashback Friday

Emily - July 2007

I love looking back at old pictures, especially children's pictures.  I remember the day we took this picture, it was a beautiful day, so I'd decided to do school outdoors.  Emily, being the youngest, thought reading books was the coolest thing.  Her brother and sisters, mom, and dad all did it; so she was determined to do the same. 

Wasn't she the cutest China doll?  We adopted Emily in June of 2005.  She was born in China, in Hunan province, in South China.  She has been such a sweet blessing to us. 

 Happily linking with Flashback Friday, Friday Blog hop!, and Weekend Blog Hop.

Piano Practice?

If the truth be told, I do not sit and monitor my children very often while they do their daily piano practicing.  For one thing, it's easy to tell if they are doing it just from what I hear.  But, I'll have to admit that I don't necessarily know exactly how they go about doing it... 
Check out what Michael's idea is regarding piano practice.

Wordless Wednesday - Recess

Recess

                              Happily linking with You Capture.

School is Outdoors Again and New Science Curriculum

We are finally nearing the end of the sweltering summer days and enjoying doing some of our school outdoors.  During the fall season, Michael can enjoy reading and journaling out by the chicken coop, doing double duty while the chickens are out grazing.  Predators stay away when they see us out there.  Come February, he will have to spend most of his time indoors avoiding oak pollen and miserable allergies.  The best time of the year for him begins now, from September through January.  He loves it out there.

I think every year, about a month after school starts, I discover that one of my subjects is not working for us.  This year, it was my science plan for Emily and Michelle.  Thankfully, it didn't take me long to find a good option.  I discovered RSO - REAL Science Odyssey.  It's perfect.  It is age-appropriate for them, with lots of hands on activities, good structure, a variety of resources, using simple materials - and they love doing school together.  It uses a classical approach to teaching, which is something I really like as well. I looked through it last weekend, and we started working on it yesterday.

Looking for living things on her plot


For today's lesson, the girls had to do a "plot study."  They each got a designated area on the yard and a magnifying glass to look for living and non-living things.  We had discussed and done a lab yesterday about what the differences are between the two.  RSO integrates nature journaling into its lessons, another thing I like about it.  So, they made their observations, we talked about some of the differences in their locations and whether they would find those same things in a different ecosystem.  They are learning a lot of new vocabulary.  I couldn't be happier!

When I got the book in the mail, I discovered that some or all the materials can be downloaded at the Pandia Press website, so next time I order there will be no delay. 

I'm linking with Outdoor Wednesday!