Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

In the Name of Science

All the kids had a great time with the Edible Cell

I've never been much of a science gal, most likely because of the boring way it was taught to me. Who wants to sit and read about all these scientific details that mean absolutely nothing to me? Yah, well, I didn't. But science is one of those subjects that homeschooling has brought fun into. I absolutely love teaching my kids science and I love learning along side of them.

We spent the first two weeks - 4 days really -- love the Apologia schedule -- learning about the history of anatomy and about the cell. Friday we had our first big project. There's another homeschooling family at our church that is doing the same curriculum this year so they joined us in making an Edible Cell. What better way to help the kids remember the parts of the cell than to have them build their own by sticking candies (organelles) into jello (cytoplasm)? I will forever remember that the mitochondria is bean shaped - as in jelly bean. Jelly Belly to be exact. We had skittles for lysosomes, fruit rollups for endoplasmic reticulum - some with nerds added as ribosomes, smarties were the golgi bodies, bits of licorice were centrioles and we finished it up with a big gumball as the nucleus. Will they (or I) remember every single thing we learned about each organelle and its function? Doubtful. But will they remember more than if they had just cracked open a (boring) textbook and mindlessly read about it? Absolutely. And most importantly, it's the hands-on learning that makes it an everyday part of our lives. Because I was right along side of them stuffing my cytoplasm with lysosomes and mitochondria, I'm now knowledgeable enough to have discussions with them about it. So next time they break open a box of nerds, maybe - just maybe - they'll think to themselves "I think I'll eat some endoplasmic reticulum today." And if not, I'll be able to remind them what they're eating without running to the book or a teacher's manual.

Adding the organelles

Liberty just wanted to pick out the candies I put in hers

so proud!

Looking good!

She stuffed hers full!

After they were finished, we flipped them out onto a plate and you could see all the different organelles floating in the cytoplasm. Awesome!

Wordless Wednesday

Back to School

First morning of school

Ah, yes it's that time again! Last week was our first week of the new school year. We made some changes this year and I have been excited to see how things would go. So far, great! One huge thing is my attempt to be more organized and prepared by using My Well Planned Day.It's a web-based planning software and so far I am in love! I was able to spend some time over the summer typing up lesson plans, which are stored on the website, that I can then assign weekly. Each child gets a daily check-off list detailing what they are to do for what subject. This is especially nice since we have different schedules for different days. We've cut history back to 3 times a week and added a new science curriculum for the other 2 days. 

Making paper

Another addition we've made was joining a local homeschool group, Cornerstone Keepers. Starting this Thursday, we'll be meeting every other Thursday afternoon to participate in enrichment activities. The kids will earn pins for each activity completed throughout the year. These are life skills that will help them later on or just be fun to experience. We've also joined up with a few other homeschooling families at church and will be having park days and field trips.

Our first week went very smoothly. We finished before lunch every single day! That's saying something since we don't start until 9am. My alarm goes off at 8am and I refuse to wake up any earlier. Yes, I'm spoiled. And yes, I do wear a t-shirt and pajama pants all day. Wouldn't everybody work in their PJs if they could? That's one of the little joys of homeschooling. We're free to do what we want, answering almost to nobody. (Thank you Florida for making your education standards so low!) We can wear what we want, do our work where we want (the living room floor has been the choice so far), and learn what we want. All the kids are fascinated right now with reptiles and amphibians. Specifically toads and snakes. The garage is filled with tanks and cages full of critters my kids have collected. All in the name of science!

Both boys caught a snake which are being kept in a tank in the garage

Later this week we'll be blowing eggs for a history project. I hope to get pictures up here of our creations so check back!