Chai School - Our Homeschool Blog

Luca and Math

2011-04-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Luca spent 2 hours doing math in the morning. Willingly. We were in the kitchen together, I got him set up & began to scrub the kitchen floor. The fun, it never ends. Anyhow, we chatted the whole time, him asking questions when he needed too, using foam letters as manipulatives & doing the work. I'd get up and check on his progress, comment appropriately and get back to the fabulous dingy cream colored, dirt showing floor. [Can I just say I hate my kitchen floor.]

He did a fabulous job. I was really impressed with how he kept on going and figuring out the answers. It's a good thing. He tends to ask me what the answer is, but after the first few minutes of me going, "figure it out" he decided that it was faster to do just that!

Anatomy Paper by Niles

2011-04-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

My project is on the immune system. Something I already knew about the immune system is that the immune system helps prevent diseases. I will list the major organs in the immune system. The immune system helps your body by using white blood cells.

The function of the immune system is to keep your body healthy. Leukocytes are part of the defense system that kill germs and disease. There are many types of white blood cells. There are the phagocytes and the lymphocytes. Phagocytes chew up invading germs. Lymphocytes help the body remember germs. Leukocytes are found in the spleen and in bone marrow.

Disease fighting blood cells start in the bone marrow. Each work on different types of diseases. Netrophils move around your blood to search for foreign cells. Macrophages clean wounds and other white blood cells that have been damaged. Lymphocytes attack bacterial and fungal infections.

There are two types of lymphocytes. B Cells produce antibodies to mark bad cells to be destroyed. T Cells seach for hidden germs and diseases. They use antibodies to mark germs and diseases so other cells know to destroy them. Your cells are marked with Human Leukocyte Antigen.

The lymphatic system is a bunch of small nodes that filter out bad germs that could harm your body. Lymph nodes are located in your throat, arm pits, knees and groin area. When you get sick your immune system helps you get better. You know if your immune system is working if you were sick then you eventually got better. If you get cut and it doesn’t get infected, your immune system is working. When you are sick, your lymph nodes swell.

If your immune system is not working properly you may get sick. Sometimes your immune system will attack important parts of your body. This is called auto immune disease. My mom has sjogrens syndrome. This is when your body attacks its own moisture producing glands. Moisture glands are in your eyes and mouth sometimes it also effects organs such as kidneys liver and lungs.

I learned that without your immune system you would get sick all the time. Your immune system helps you by killing diseases. It uses your kidneys and your liver and white blood cells. It also uses lymph nodes to prevent germs and sickness and diseases. So without your immune system you would be sick almost every day.

Bibliography

Macnair, Trisha. (2009, August ). Health: sjogren\'s syndrome. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/sjogrensyndrome1.shtml.

Dowshen, Steven. (2009, November ). Your immune system. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/kid/cancer_center/HTBW/immune.html#.

Kate, Dr. (2004, January 24). Kids health the immune system. Retrieved from http://www.cyh.sa.gov.au/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=152&id=2402#6.

Updates

2011-04-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting the blog lately because life's been too dang busy to keep up w/three blogs. But some quick updates.

Niles is taking Anatomy in Chapel Hill. It is the same teacher as he had for chemistry. This class has a lot more homework though! I am amazed at the amount of work he has to do.Read a chapter in an online text book, answer a the review questions, do a word of the week. It's all good stuff though & he is learning a ton about how the body works. They will be doing two dissections as well.
Luca is in speech now and his progress is amazing. He is really making great strides with the "l's" and the "r's". He can move his tongue to one side & is working on the other side now. And he can lift it up, something he couldn't do before.
I got a computerized reading program to try with him, since April/May is going to be nutso for me with work. I am hoping this will help him to get up to speed. He's made huge progress this year, but there's room to go. The great news is that he is finally at the point where HE wants to read.
Niles was at the store the other day to spend his b'day money. He added it all up, figured out the tax and paid himself. He spent $39.12 of his $40. In his head, the total he came up with was $39.10 by using rounding. I was impressed. Way to go big man! Way.To.Go.
Electric guitar lessons are rocking out.

That is all for now. I need to get some rest.

Animal Grossology

2010-12-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

We went to the Animal Grossology exhibit at the NC Museum of Natural Science w/some homeschool friends. It was very cool. Here are some pictures.

Niles in Chemistry

2010-12-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

Niles took a two part chemistry class through UNC for homeschooled children. It was a great experience for him and he really liked it. Here is a partial video of the end of class project he worked on. I forgot my camera & the IPhone app I have will only record for as long as this video goes. But it was very cool & he liked it!

Volcano Experiment!

2010-12-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

Zoo Club at the NC Zoo in Asheboro

2010-11-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

Co-op & Fairy Tales Class

2010-10-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

Little Red Riding Hood

The Seven Dwarfs

The Princess and The Pea

I've been reading a fairy tale and doing a class w/primarily preschoolers during co-op this session. Here's some pictures of the crafts we've done. I got all the ideas from a book: Crafts from Your Favorite Fairy Tales by Kathy Ross. Excellent Book!

Alliteration Poem #2

2010-10-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Baby Elie bites back when bullies attack her

Grimm's Fairy Tales

2010-10-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

In our homeschool co-op, I've been doing a class with some of the kids. I read them a fairy tale and then we do a craft project based on the story. I like using the original stories, which are sometimes different from the Disney version they are used too. Here is a great website that has the original Grimm brother's stories on it.

More Science

2010-10-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

Friends of ours gave us a microscope kit and the boys had a great time looking at the slides that came with it and examining anything else they could find that would fit. Leaves, money, drawings, etc. I don't have any pictures as I was feeling rather punkish w/a huge headache which has evolved into full blown cold.

They are also building a wooden car kit, which I will take pictures of once it's finished. The good thing about homeschooling. Even if the teacher is sick, the kids can find educational stuff to do!

Science Updates

2010-10-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

This week the kids & I made applesauce together & they helped me make chili. Doesn't get more practical than that!

Niles is still really enjoying his chemistry class in Chapel Hill. It's interesting because both he & Nate are taking a chemistry class right now. I can tell that they are both age appropriate and challenging. I signed Niles up for the second session which starts just a week after the first session closes. And I think Niles likes that he is taking the same class as Nate. It's been great to see him in a setting where he knows no one and still flourish and participate.

Teaching Moments

2010-10-01T05:59:00.000-07:00

One of the cool things about homeschooling is that Niles can pursue, to a certain degree, his interests in all things military. For example, we are studying the Revolutionary War, as I've said before, so he's been learning lots of interesting facts about the soldiers. I got a free copy of a dvd series on America that was done by the History channel, from the founding of the country to modern times. So he & Luca were sitting and watching the section on the American Revolution the other day. I like the History Channel stuff because it does reenactments and puts names to people in historic events. For example, they were talking about the minutemen and read a letter from one of them to their wife. Anyhow, during this segment, Niles starts filling Luca in on all the details of the Minutemen, why their uniforms were different from the Red Coats, etc. During the portion on the ride of Paul Revere, Niles also starts talking about the poem by Longfellow he'd just read. It was really cool for me to just sit back and listen to Niles as he took this time to really explain and teach more information to Luca without even realizing he was doing it.

Political Cartoon

2010-09-24T05:44:00.000-07:00

Niles created this cartoon, for the Revolutionary War, based on the phrase "We must all hang together". Blogger will not let me turn it the correct way, sorry. ARGH

Building a Sukkah

2010-09-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

Our synagogue holds a build a sukkah event every Sukkot. This year we went to a family that also has chickens, ducks, 2 dogs [one being the biggest dog I have ever seen in person - think Clifford. Seriously.], rabbits & I think it was frogs in the aquarium. I was too busy trying to get my kids steered outside & away from big dog. Anyhow, here's a couple pictures.

Reading Next

2010-09-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

Luca and I are now reading Chocolate Charlie and the Factory by Roald Dahl. I love that this is a copy I had in 4th grade. I know this because I diligently wrote my name and "4th grade" after it. ;) He is looking forward to watching not one, but two versions of the movie with me once we are done. I haven't seen the Johnny Depp version, so I'm curious how it will be.

Revolutionary War Poem

2010-09-21T05:47:00.001-07:00

I found a great workbook on CurrClick which shows examples of all different types of poetry by giving examples related to the Revolutionary War. Hence the War Haiku posted previously. Since we are studying the Revolutionary War, this gives me the chance to work in an English Lesson, along with History in his journal. ;)

Here is another poem that he wrote. It was supposed to be an alliteration, but he only used the "w" twice, so we'll give it another chance today. But I do like this, as it shows his creativity so I'm posting it as well.

War can come as easily as war can go.

Haiku by Niles

2010-09-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

War has no kindness

Soldiers like to win all wars

It is a bad sight

2010-09-09T05:07:00.000-07:00

L'Shanah Tovah!

We wish for you a very sweet new year! May this year hold an abundance of joy, peace, and well- being. May we see the blessings in our lives, cherish them, and help them flourish.

So far so good

2010-09-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

Our school year is really taking off and I'm very proud of the hard work the kids are doing. Niles has really taken to the work box system and will start without prompting on most days. He is now reading The Hound of the Baskervilles for his reading time. I picked that because he likes mysteries and he likes ghost stories. A good classic to work his way through this month. Niles seems to be excited about chemistry, even though they haven't "blown anything up" yet. I've also signed him up for part two of the class so he'll be all set for science until January. It's a great program and I look forward to more things in the future.

Luca is reading! It is so awesome! He was finally ready and is just taking off like a rocket. I am so excited for him. When I put down the BOB book for him to read, he said, "this one is hard, I hate it." And promptly read it to me! I said, "I don't think hard means what you think it means." And he laughed! This is the child that fought me tooth and nail last year whenever I'd want to do it. I credit two things: him being ready and the new program. Knowing that he was ready is half the battle, giving him the time to get ready was a struggle for me. Especially with all the "is he reading yet" questions I get from family. But it was worth it, because now that he is ready, he has no associations of frustration with it.

You know you're a homeschool parent when....

2010-09-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

...you are making scrambled eggs with your kid and he starts asking questions about eggs that you can't answer [how does it form inside? what is the name of the clear part?] and you go find him a lesson which contains the info while the eggs are still cooking!

Today's Snippet

2010-08-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

I don't usually post here all that much, so three times in two days seems excessive to me but, I had to write about Luca today. I wasn't planning on doing much, if anything today after our field trip, since 2 hours at an Art museum is a lot. Add in a trip to a consignment store to try & find clothes for Nate [btw, I will not spend $50 on a USED pair of jeans for myself, let alone my teenager!], and a Super Target run and you have one tired Momma.

Luca decided that he wasn't done for the day though. He did some math - number writing practice, handwriting practice and then read me the first BOB book. The BOB books work really well w/the ABeCeDarian reading program we're using. He was so proud of himself! I love getting to see the moment when things connect for them.

the boys' fully operational work stations...

Niles desk just arrived too! Yeah!

Field Trip to Nasher Art Museum

2010-08-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

First Day of the 2010-2011 School Year

2010-08-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is the boys clocking in image. I couldn't resist!

Today was a great start to our home school year. I set up 9 work boxes for each of the boys and 1 work box for Elie. The boys "clocked in" and we got to work! I explained how the system worked, or at least re-explained it, as I had talked with them about it before but didn't have it all set up yet. I didn't jam pack them since we eased back in, but all 9 boxes did have something in them. I think this will be a really great tool for them and for me! Only drawback so far is that Niles desk hasn't arrived yet, so he did work on the kitchen table today. He's looking forward to having his own workspace though & I like that enthusiasm.

One tidbit though: Need to get girly more boxes and make sure that has enough different stuff going on too. She was mad she had only one & doesn't have her own shelf for them!

Today's lessons also included how to shuck peas for dinner, why pink-eyed peas are called "pink-eyed" and a tip on making baked sweet potatoes. Niles loves working in the kitchen with me. It's nice. Now if only I can get him to wash dishes.....

Iowa Test Results

2010-08-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

....are in! And he did fabulous! His overall score ranked him as grade/month 5.7! I'm glad that he did so well and I'm very proud of him. Way to go buddy!

Back in the swing next week

2010-08-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

Our school year officially starts next week. I'm waiting til Nate goes back in order to get them in line. This year, trying something different:

School will be a set time each day & no gaming even during breaks during that time!
I'm trying the workbox system by Sue Patrick.

Niles is doing a geometry class at UNC for homeschool students.

I'm looking forward to having more structure this year. I am NOT an unschooler. No offense to those of you who are, but that makes me crazy! I need more organization and structure in order to get these boys to focus and myself as well. I hope to write more about how these things are working for us as we get up and running.

Our first field trip is already scheduled for the Nasher Art Museum on Friday, August 27th too!

Iowa Testing

2010-08-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

Niles is doing his mandatory Iowa testing for the school year. I was pleased that Heather told me his confidence is much higher, he's finishing everything w/time to spare & he's talkative w/her! Woo hoooooo!! Go Niles!

Luca doesn't have to take that this year, thank goodness. I have no idea how it will go for him next year. I don't see why he needs to take it at 7 when kids in public school don't have to take it til 3rd grade. Oh well, I don't make the home school rules, I just follow them.

Homeschooling Philosophy

2010-07-24T16:03:00.001-07:00

• Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson.
o from The Humanity of Muad'Dib by the Princess Irulan

Leaps & bounds

2010-06-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Luca is making huge leaps right now. It has been such a satisfying time for me. To finally get to experience him making the connections, building the blocks and reading has been so gratifying! I love it!!

Niles is also reading two books for pleasure. He's still working on the Neil Gaiman book but also picked up a Goosebumps book when we did school at Borders one morning. That's our boy!! So glad someone else finally likes horror in this house!

Progress

2010-05-19T18:49:00.001-07:00

We started a new reading program [me & Luca]. ABeCeDarian - and it is working much better. I'm very pleased with the progress he's made in a week. He's definitely more interested & it starts on making words out of the sounds right away. So he can sound out mop, sat & tap already! I said, "Luca, you read those words!" And he said, "I did? Hey, I DID!" Very cool!

Luca is progressing rapidly through math now. I started w/Sinapore's early K books & we finished both of those & are now doing the K book A. We are zipping right along & it's giving him more confidence, since he 'knows' some of this already. I like how the present the info in this series. It's a good fit for us.

Niles is reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. His teacher,from the co-op, who he read Tom Sawyer with, recommended it. He started reading it on the way home from the book store. I thought that was very cool!

He also had a light go on re: fractions this week. I sat down with him and he got it pretty quickly that way.

Our friend has emerged!

2010-05-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

Overnight

2010-05-03T05:21:00.001-07:00

...our friend made some progress!

Caterpillar

2010-05-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

We have a visitor on the side of our house.We saw three or four the other day crawling around on the side of the house. I have no idea why this one decided to make it's home there. I think it is a Mourning Cloak caterpillar, aka nymphalis antiopa.

field trip to the NC Natural Science Museum

2010-04-27T11:49:00.001-07:00

We went to the Museum today w/one of our homeschool groups. It was a major success and the kids had a great time. :) So did I. I like learning about sharks & think they are fascinating creatures. Our knowledge of them is still pretty limited, so it was fun to learn some new things. For example, they don't all have to move all the time to get oxygen. Their gills do a good job of that w/o needing to move constantly. They have more gills than other fish for that reason. Some lay eggs, some lay eggs inside themselves which hatch inside & leave momma as a live birth & some do live births! How crazy is that!

What's happening here

2010-04-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

Niles is reading this book for a class in co-op. I think it's a bit beyond him but the stretch is doing him good.

Luca finished a chapter on Earth in his science book & liked it. Although he was mildly annoyed it involved no experiments. We took a detour to learn a bit about flamingos & what makes them pink during this too. Niles had to come check it out as well, since he didn't know why they were pink either.

Handwriting for Luca is getting better, despite all his protests of I can't do it!! He definitely reminds me of his brothers. None of them particularly like doing school work & would rather complain about it for 10 minutes before beginning anything. Now I usually say something like, 'you can crab for 10 minutes, do the work & then be done or you can do the work in 10 minutes & be done.' Niles gets this better now than Luca & even Nate for some things. ;)

Bentonville Pix, provided by Angela

2010-04-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Guatemalan Haroset/Charoset (Passover) - 295897 - Recipezaar

2010-04-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Guatemalan Haroset/Charoset (Passover) - 295897 - Recipezaar

Haroset ingredients

* 3 green apples, peeled, chopped, with a splash of
* lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons cashews, chopped
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 1 ounce sweet passover wine
* 1 teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped

Sauce

* 1 ounce green chilies, and
* red chile, chopped, they are locally called chiltepe
* 2 teaspoons onions, chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped
* 1 small tomato, chopped
* 1 tablespoon wine vinegar
* 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
* cinnamon

Directions

1. Toss all haroset ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. Liquify all ingredients for the sauce in a blender and season with salt to taste,.
3. Add 1 tablespoons of the sauce to the haroset and blend.
4. Add cinnamon to taste.

Chag Sameach Passover!

2010-03-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

Making Guatemalan Charoset

March - the month of plague

2010-03-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

March has been somewhat of a bust for us with school work. I spent 3 weeks battling a sinus infection off & on. Then Niles & I both had the 24 hour tummy bug. We did some work, but certainly not enough so things slowed down a bit. Thank goodness for co-op & religious school, it kept us in somewhat of a routine at least.

Niles did get a chance to go to the Bentonville Civil War battle re-enactment with our friends. [I had to work that day.] And he really enjoyed that. They got to see the cannon line, the soldiers, etc. Niles enjoys just about any activity involving soldiers. I really need to investigate that civil war camp again for him. Ben is not old enough to go though, so it might have to wait til next year. I'm not sure he'd want to go by himself. Plus I signed him up for 2 weeks at the local JCC camp and about had to take out a mortgage so that all 3 boys could go. Craziness. Anyhow, that's why things have been quieter here.

Old Salem

2010-03-08T04:14:00.001-08:00

Ballistics Class photos by Niles

2010-02-25T17:47:00.001-08:00

Flat Stanley goes home. Here is the letter we sent back w/him

2010-02-22T13:56:00.000-08:00

February 22, 2010

Dear Miss D--- and class,

Thank you so much for letting Flat Stanley come to visit us in Knightdale North Carolina! Knightdale is a small city, right outside the capital of Raleigh. Our town was founded in 1927. There are approximately 10, 322 citizens living in Knightdale. Our city is 733 miles away from yours, which is about 13 hours if Flat Stanley had to drive it.

We had quite an adventure while he was here. Normally winters in North Carolina are pretty mild compared to what you are used too. Our temperatures can average in the 50’s during the day and drop to around 32 degrees at night. But while Stanley was here, we got several inches of snow! Luckily, we were able to find some winter clothes and a toboggan for him to use for some sledding fun. Did you know that here in North Carolina, they call a winter hat a toboggan? This caused us some confusion when we first moved here from Michigan because we couldn’t figure out how you’d put a large wooden sled on your head! We’ve included a picture of him enjoying the snow. We’re also sending his snow gear and toboggan back with him, in case he needs it on his next adventure!

Flat Stanley came to our homeschool co-ops and we’ve included a picture of him next to a poster with the Pledge of Allegiance on it. We say that every time we meet for our Kindergarten group. We learned about Helen Keller recently while talking about how everyone is different and unique. Do you know who she is? If you don’t, maybe your teacher can read you a book about her life. When she was little, she got very sick and couldn’t see or hear. She had a special teacher come live with her because she couldn’t go to school like other kids her age. Because of her life, many schools were founded in order to educate people who were also blind and/or deaf. We were able to go visit a museum exhibit about the School for the Blind and Deaf in North Carolina at the State Capital Building in Raleigh. The most surprising thing we saw was pictures of the children playing music! They have music, printed a special way, for the children to be able to read it. This is called Braille & you read it with your fingertips! We were able to use a tool to write Flat Stanley’s name in Braille for you to be able to touch.

While at the Capital, we also toured the rest of the building. We took some pictures of Flat Stanley visiting the Senate and House Chambers that have been restored. There are also many monuments around the grounds of the building. Flat Stanley enjoyed seeing them and we’ve included some pictures of him by the Presidential monument and the Confederate Memorial. North Carolina was part of the Confederacy during the Civil War, while Massachusetts was part of the Union Army. We sent you a picture of what the Confederate soldier uniforms look like too.

I hope you enjoy all the pictures and information we sent. Thank you for sharing Flat Stanley with us!

Owl Pellet dissection

2010-02-09T05:11:00.000-08:00

Visiting Flat Stanley

2010-01-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

We have a visiting Flat Stanley here from a friend of ours. Stanley is getting to enjoy the rare & elusive snow storm in North Carolina! Here he is enjoying sledding. Did you know that the type of sled he is riding is called a toboggan? But here in North Carolina, the hat that he & Luca are wearing is called a toboggan & the sled is just a sled. Us relocated Yankees think that's just not right!

Field Trip in our Neighborhood

2010-01-31T07:51:00.000-08:00

We went on a walkabout the other day. The boys wanted to show me the creek that winds through our neighborhood. It was a good time & reminded me of growing up & all the times I spent in the backyard, playing by the river in Monroe.

Hard tack

2010-01-31T07:42:00.000-08:00

Niles & I made hard tack. Which is the bread sailors used to eat on ships in the 17th century. Yes, it is as tasty as it sounds! Haha! It's salt, flour & water. And could probably be used to repair portions of your home if necessary! But it was fun to make it & get a chance to experience something he'd only read about in his book.

Going buggy

2010-01-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

Luca is in a great co-op class this time, called Going Buggy. Here is a picture of the peanut butter play doh ant he made one day. And here is the clay sculpture spider. And the mealworms we are watching change into beetles!

Baking

2009-12-30T06:43:00.000-08:00

Another project we did was bake a coffee cake! The boys are really enjoying doing cooking & baking, so I've been trying to include them more in projects & planning. The hardest part is that Elie always wants to help too! She wants to be on the same chair, wants to measure with the same cup or spoon & don't even think about not letting her use the mixer!! So when the recipe says 10 minutes prep, figure 20-25 depending on how much pushing & shoving there is!

Origami

2009-12-30T06:38:00.001-08:00

We've been having a pretty nice winter break. I haven't been stressing too much about what we are getting done, especially since Nate is gone & very obviously on break in California w/his dad. But I did find some books about origami at the library,so we did some of that! We talked about the shapes, lines of symmetry & just how hard it is to follow someone's instructions! But it was fun & we plan do more today. Obviously, we started w/the very easy origami kids book! And hey, I needed it just as much as they did!

Dental Disclosing Tablets

2009-12-22T14:04:00.000-08:00

My Mom sent the kids some sour gummy candy recently. I also found the dental disclosing tablets that our dentist sent home the last time we were in. So the boys had a great time discovering just how much gunk those candies left on their teeth. It was impressive. And yes,they did get it all the purple dye off their teeth after a couple tries!

Park Day

2009-12-22T13:36:00.001-08:00

We met Luca's friend today at a local park. It was a bit chilly [in the 50's] but lots of energy was expended & that was the goal. ;)

Japan Brochure by Niles

2009-12-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

If you click on the individual pages, it should allow you so see them closer, so you can actually read what he wrote.

Acrostic Poems

2009-12-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Jumping Samurai
Attacks
Peasants
Attacking
Nippon

Samurai
Attacking
Mormons
Urangatans in Mountains
Reunion
Attacking
Italy

Niles was shocked to discover how the Japanese treated missionaries [hence the Samurai attacking Mormons in the above poem]. He's really enjoyed learning about their culture and does actually talk about more than their warrior spirit. We're working on a travel brochure and I will scan that info in when we're done, to show that. ;)

Haiku by Niles

2009-12-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

Cherry blossoms, spring
play, fire, work, music, festivals
poems and dancing

Fun, earthquakes, mountains
tsunami, typhoons and death
destructive waters

Islands of the sun
Is beautiful with Nature
and its past and present

The land of beauty
and courage and great battles
undying peacefulness

Stone Soup

2009-12-01T06:08:00.000-08:00

This week at our Kindergarten co-op, Colleen had the kids reenact the book Stone Soup. There are several editions of this book, as the story, in various forms, exists throughout the Europe. We have a version by Jon J Muth which we've read in honor of Samurai Week, as this one is set in China and uses Chinese folklore in the characters of Hok, Lok and Siew. They are deities which bestow health, wealth & prosperity. In this version, the villagers have become suspicious of strangers and even their neighbors and won't help each other out due to famine, floods and war. The book shows the villagers learning to be giving and rediscover happiness. The monks trick them into this by making soup, starting off with three smooth round stones, and the villagers end up bringing everything else.

For the reenactment, we had villagers and soldiers. We had a big pot and put in the veggies and the rice, etc. Then the kids played outside for awhile as it cooked. It turned out very well & Elie loved it. So did Niles. Luca had mixed feelings about the whole veggie thing. ;) But it was a fun activity and we have some leftovers for lunch today!

Samurai Week

2009-11-26T07:29:00.000-08:00

Luca desperately wanted to do ninja week. Well since Ninjas are part of a "secret" society, it's hard to find books on them. So we settled on Samurai Week. This is currently in process as I had wanted to start it next week, after Thanksgiving, but the boys were SO excited about the idea that we started this week. So we've been reading books about samurai warriors and Japan. We had pot stickers for dinner one night & fortune cookies for dessert. Work w/me here - the boys aren't that into sushi. The Japanese eat very different then what we as Americans are used to. In fact there breakfast looks a lot like our lunch. A traditional Japanese breakfast consists of steamed rice, miso soup, and various side dishes. Common side dishes are broiled/grilled fish, tamagoyaki (rolled omelet), onsen tamago, tsukemono pickles, seasoned nori (dried seaweed), natto, and so on. So I'm having a hard time w/that one. I don't think I'm going to get good enough to make tamagoyaki anytime soon! But I got a couple Japanese cook books, so as we work our way into next week, we'll do a couple more uniquely Japanese meals vs. simply Asian meals.

We've started making felt samurai armor and are going to finish that up in the next day or two, depending on how it fits in w/cooking today. And we also borrowed Mulan 1 & 2 from my friend Heather, so that's our movie option today. To really get into the spirit of samurai week, I took all Niles' word problems from his books & rewrote them to reflect something about the warriors or Japanese culture. He found that more interesting, so I'll continue that this week as we finish up our review of multiplication and division. I also found a great unit study on Japan through CurrClick that he's doing, so this is a pretty well rounded week! One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is to have Niles read Luca a library book about our subject. He read him a book on Japan and You Wouldn't Want to be a Samurai [A Deadly Career You'd Rather Not Pursue] by Fiona Macdonald. Very funny but informative! Here are some pictures of what we have done so far w/the felt.

Field trip to a friend's

2009-11-26T06:59:00.000-08:00

Our friends Angela & Neil have chickens now! So we added some school adventure to the playdate with their son by visiting their chicken coop. Chickens are much softer than I anticipated. I expected their feathers to be...I don't know...maybe coarser? When you touch an individual bird feather, they seem firmer, but when you touch the actual feathers on a live chicken, they are very soft. They were curious & did some pecking [to see where we fit in in the whole pecking order, hahaha] but otherwise, just scratched & bobbed. It was fun! Nate enjoyed picking them up & kept calling them "little dinosaurs".

Real World Math

2009-11-10T09:10:00.001-08:00

Niles has been seriously hating math lately. So while we're still forging ahead somewhat w/the Singapore stuff, I'm going to try & put in some more practical real world instances of math use. Today, we made strawberry yogurt scones & spent a lot of time talking about fractions. And transferring the smaller measurements into the one cup size. An example, we had 2/3 cups of whole wheat flour. We saw how much 1/3 filled up the 1 cup and then how much more another 1/3 cup filled up and guessed how much remained. Here are some shots of it. I got the recipe from the blog Annie's Eats. She's got some yummy stuff out there! Check it out.

Learning about rocks

2009-11-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

At our Kinder co-op yesterday, Colleen found some great science experiments about rocks. The boys got to melt gummy bears in hot water [in a ziploc bag] to demonstrate lava. Then we put them in ice water to show how the lava cools & hardens. They also used 2 different types of bread, ripped them into little pieces & then "crushed" them between sheets of wax paper. And finally, they ripped up marshmallows, added caramel & chocolate chips, and smashed those together. After that, we dipped that in boiling water too, to show how rocks form & still keep bits of their different parts. These were also cooled in the hot water. I told Niles we were doing some rock experiments so he came too. He was SOOO glad he did. Colleen is awesome! Here are few shots of the marshmallow experiment. I didn't think to take pix of the others. Oops!

Lesson Planning

2009-11-05T05:15:00.000-08:00

I'm trying something new with the kids. Each boy has a folder w/their name on it that contains the work for the week. This is much easier w/Niles as he can read the assignment sheet & check things off on his own. Niles has a tendency to start & not finish something or to say things like "I didn't know what I was supposed to do" so if I go to drop Elie off & don't take the kids to the library with me, nothing gets done. Or at least not enough gets done. This way, I have page numbers & assignments down. I took a teacher work day last week, when both Elie & Nate had school off as well and got their stuff ready for the month of November to really give this a good shot. So far, it's been going well. Niles hates math, so this way, he can see exactly how much he has to do for the week. And he can choose to do it all on one day or spread it out. I did tell him, if it takes you 3 days to do all this week, then you're done for the week, but if it takes you 7 days to do all this work, then you won't get a day off. He's still pondering that one out. ;) Niles has been asking lots of questions about movie special effects lately so I got him a book at the library about it. He really liked that. Anything that gets him to read more for pleasure is good.

Luca's folder is filled w/various work sheet type activities, practicing his letters and such. So he has some things he can do while I'm away. His phonics and some of the math need to be done w/me. But he can do things like draw x number of buttons on coats, x amount of apples on a tree when I'm not here. And Niles enjoys reading him the instructions too. It's very sweet. Luca can be a bit fussy about his work and I get some "I don't want to do this" flak. But he's learned that school at home is still school and when it's work time, I mean it. I am in no way an "unschooler". And I get that learning is fun and doesn't have to be traditional here at home. But we also have to do things to move the process forward. He is excited to be learning to read, but it still requires work. You don't just one day start reading w/o learning the building blocks. This reminds me of a funny story. We are going through reviewing the sounds all the letters make. And I had just introduced "n" and said nnnn like Niles and Nate. Niles chimes in "and Neil." I say, "this is true, but Luca calls Neil 'dad' so he is really d or duh." To which Neil chimes in from his office, "I'm not sure I like being "Duh!" which got us all laughing.

Leaf Charting

2009-11-05T05:08:00.001-08:00

At this week's Kinder co-op, the kids charted leaves they had collected. Were they brown or green? Were they pointy or straight edged? Colleen also used some cool manipulatives she had to show how you can use triangles and squares to make octagons and hexagons, etc.

Science Class

2009-10-31T07:32:00.001-07:00

We've been working on some weather experiments in science. This one involved seeing how frost forms by using crushed ice and a glass. The boys also used table salt, poured on the ice to see why we salt the roads before ice storms. The book we are using is called Weather Watcher by John Woodward.

Wordly Wise Book 3

2009-10-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

is finally done! I am looking forward to starting book 4 as I found a test booklet to go with it. It's more about using the vocabulary words in sentences to make sure there's comprehension of the meaning. I don't actually test Niles for spelling of words. In this age, when even my Iphone will try to correct my spelling, I don't see the point. I am an avid reader, but only a mediocre speller. I've read some articles which say that there is a genetic component to spelling. I prefer to be a creative speller & use spellcheck at the end. I find it more valuable to have a large and accessible vocabulary and witty repertoire than know how to spell it....

Flat Stanley, The Hulk & clay bugs in biology

2009-10-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

Flat Stanley at the Love of Learning Co-op

2009-10-17T05:27:00.000-07:00

We have our latest Flat Stanley & this time we have twins! They are from Gilly & George H and they went to our homeschool co-op, where Luca is taking Lego Robotics and Biology. He couldn't hold both the robots and the Flat Stanleys, so we ended up taking Lego pictures there & Stanley pictures at home. :)

2009-10-13T08:30:00.001-07:00

Things have been a bit crazy here, between Nate's bar mitzvah, Elie being sick for a week and me being exhausted. So school has been going on, but not necessarily on a daily basis. Some passing thoughts from the kids to share though:

Niles: "the Pilgrims were crazy! how can fun be bad?!' [ed note: perhaps this is why you don't find many around anymore....]

Luca: everytime we go over letter sounds the following things help him remember - qu is for queen elie! G is green giant and s is for snake.

Niles is loving chess club at the co-op we joined. Luca is having a good time at lego robotics. In spite of the fact that each time, he tells me he hates legos and never plays with them at home. I say really? What's that in your hand & get that sheepish grin. ;)

Our Second Flat Stanley has arrived!

2009-10-03T05:04:00.001-07:00

For Shabbat, he went to Kindergarten consecration w/us. Luca is holding his copy of a Torah that he received at the special family service. There was lots of singing and a little dancing too! The family services are short, sweet and filled w/lots of little kid energy.

Around the yard

2009-09-29T06:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Luca decided he was a pirate and wanted to go on a treasure hunt in our back yard. Of course, there was no spot in the backyard w/a prominent X telling us where to dig. We did however find some neat interesting things, including these different type of mushrooms, and these two caterpillars, covered in something....Looks like little eggs?! Anyone have any ideas?

Make A Cloud

2009-09-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

from the book Clouds by Anne Rockwell

Materials:
1 large, round rubber balloon
one clean, dry, medium glass jar
one rubber band
approximately 3 1/5 tbs of water [you may have to experiment w/the water level to get it right. the water should just cover the bottom of the jar.]
one match
one regular flash light

~Cut off the mouth end of the balloon and make sure that it fits over the lip of the jar.
~Make sure the rubber band will hold the balloon tightly to the jar. Then place the balloon and the rubber band aside.
~Pour the water into the jar.
~With an adult, light a match over the jar and then blow it out.
~Allow the jar and the balloon to sit for 2 minutes so that the smoke from the match will disappear.
~Turn off the light in the room.
~Turn on the flashlight and place it near the jar.
~Push down the balloon for a few seconds and then quickly pull it back up.

What did you see when the balloon was pulled back up? Why do you think the small cloud formed? Did you see droplets of water on the sides of the jar?

We found that this works better in the evening, when the room can get dark and you can see the cloud better.

Our Mystery Visitor

2009-09-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

On the way to our Kinder Co-op Meeting, Luca announced that he was going to be a Mystery Man. He was no longer Luca. This is what we learned over the course of the afternoon and evening about our visitor.

His name was Steve. He rode a bouncy ball all the way here from Chicago. It popped though, so he couldn't get back there yet. In Chicago, there are a lot of trees w/coconuts and tall grass. He has 6 cats and 3 dogs. He has a younger sister, who has brown skin, like Elie, but her hair is white and not black. Steve is the oldest in his family. He has no brothers and is glad. He left Luca locked up in the bathroom there, but gave him food and water first so he would be ok.

Steve likes chow mein noodles and chop suey. He also likes burgers w/pickles on them and sprite to drink. He enjoys playing with legos too. He wanted to make sure we had some at our house, so he wouldn't get bored. He doesn't know the rules here, so we have to teach him how our home works. Everything could be different in Chicago. They have kangaroos that can bounce high too.

Steve refused to answer to Luca and had to be given a tour of the house so he would know where to sleep and where the bathroom is. He looked a lot like Luca and sounded like Luca. This may confuse his family in Chicago, if they find Luca. He went home the next morning and we had our Luca back!

;)

2009-09-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

Flat Stanley at the Kinder co-op

2009-09-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

We had our kinder co-op on Monday & Stanley came along for the ride. We read Caps for Sale & kids acted out the story. Each getting a turn as the peddler and 2 turns as the monkeys! It was very cute. They were measured w/links & Luca is 29 links long. He was the shortest, big surprise. Elie of course wanted no part of that activity.
There was number bingo, an uno game, and they began working on their own autobiographies. Fun!!

Flat Stanley at Religious School

2009-09-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

Flat Stanley Rhodes Day 2

2009-09-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today, Stanley joined us for some school time at the kitchen table. We read about soil and how seeds travel, worked on some handwriting skills [as you can see in the pictures] and some math time. And don't forget the most important time of the day: lunch break!

Flat Stanley from Arkansas & the Rhodes family

2009-09-11T12:31:00.001-07:00

t

e
Our first visiting Flat Stanley has arrived. We took him to the park yesterday when we went to our homeschool co-op meet up. He had a great time on the slide and the play structure w/the kids. Elie did not want to give him up for awhile....

Homemade Flags

2009-09-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

For an art project , the boys made US flags today. I'm not sure why Niles attached his blue field on the opposite side...maybe the lefty strikes again?!

I wonder

2009-09-07T04:49:00.000-07:00

are other homeschoolers constantly asked by their family the following, "what are the kids doing in school now?" Ummm, you just asked me a week ago. Why does every conversation involve this? And trust me, with my Grandmother, it's not that she's genuinely interested, it's more she's concerned that they are learning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luca wanted to write his name & decorate his gift bag for a birthday part we went to yesterday. He never wants to do this! I was surprised & really pleased at how good his writing was!! He painted his name the other day w/a brush & it came out great too. The no pressure tactic works well sometimes. Other times, the breathe fire & freak out tactic seems to work better. ;)

Communities, Citizens & Ben Franklin

2009-09-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

We've been talking about Communities, our country & citizenship this week. Some tidbits from Luca:

- Policemen are heroes. So are firemen & I guess those people who drive ambulances. I think it would be fun to do that. Then you can go through the red lights. Spider-Man is a hero in comic books. I could be a hero in real life if I had to.

- What country are your people from Mom? Mine are from Raleigh. Niles found this amusing.

- When drawing a map of the our yard, it is important to add the cats to the driveway. That's where they are always hanging out, anyhow.

- When told Neil & I had to be fingerprinted to get Elie, this became an obsession, so today, we went to Michaels & got a stamp pad & fingerprinted him. I'll try to scan it and add the picture. He liked that the tips of his fingers were black for awhile, even after washing them w/soap.

- Ben Franklin invented electricity, the lightening rod & wrote a lot. Niles was sure of this. When told about the story of the kite & lightening, he declared "that guy was nuts even if he did invent lots of stuff!"

These things have to be my favorite part of homeschooling. ;)

Flat Stanley

2009-09-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

Here is our Flat Stanley, getting ready to go on his homeschool adventure! His first stop if Huntsville Texas!

Math manipulatives

2009-09-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

How cool are colored plastic bugs, to talk about patterns and numbers with?! These were from our kinder co-op first day. We read Beep Beep Vroom Vroom by Stuart Murphy and had colored trucks, planes & trains to use too.

Dental Field Trip

2009-08-28T15:38:00.001-07:00

2009-08-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

School has gotten off to a fairly slow start. The flexibility of home schooling some days. Plus the headache of one older brother who decides that instead of studying Hebrew, he wants to comment on everything his "stupid" younger brothers are learning. If I could erase that word from his lexicon, trust me, I would. We've had numerous discussions about age appropriate learning, what he did at that age, how rude and harmful that type of behavior is, but it doesn't sink in. I got so frustrated w/him at one point, I had to banish him to his room.

The great myth of home schooling I think is that the families all work in glorious harmony and it's a party all the time. Ummm, no. Yeah, some days I am so frustrated, I go hide in my room for a couple hours. And then there are days when it all goes great & runs smoothly. Sort of like life, in general.

You just have to hope that there are more good days than bad ones.

A good day story:

We did a buoyancy experiment. The boys picked 10 different items and classified them according to whether or not they thought they would sink or float. We tested their hypothesis by dropping said items in the tub, observing what happened & recording them in their notebooks.

2009-08-13T17:02:00.001-07:00

2009-08-13T17:01:00.001-07:00

2009-08-11T14:04:00.001-07:00

egg & plaque experiment

2009-08-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

First Day

2009-08-10T16:36:00.001-07:00

School started today at our house. And a good day it was. :) Luca surprised me - he finished a whole workbook [only 30 pages but still] of identifying differences in groups [ smaller, bigger, shorter, smaller, which one is different, etc]. And then went on to do about 10 pages in another workbook which is working on numbers. He did 1-5. I was impressed.

Niles did good as well. He read the lesson on teeth out loud to Luca. We talked about & identified the different types of teeth we have& why some people need braces [in case you are wondering all three of the boys have been cursed w/my teeth & will be needing braces. Nate's top set are already on]. We also are working on an experiment about plaque, using a hard boiled egg & coke. The experiment can be found here. Since the boys all have their 6 month check up this month, this is a great build up to next week, and it will be a hands on field trip. haha! The boys are terrible about brushing their teeth long enough, twice a day, the whole nine yards, so I'm hoping that this experiment will inspire them a bit. Guess I'll have to wait & see.

Hopefully tomorrow goes as smoothly. It is Luca's birthday though, so I'm not sure how much he'll get done. I can't believe he's going to be 6!

2009-08-09T06:36:00.003-07:00

2009-08-09T06:36:00.001-07:00

2009-08-09T06:34:00.001-07:00

Iowa Test Results

2009-08-04T04:24:00.000-07:00

Niles' testing results came back & he did just fine. He came in w/in normal 3rd grade levels. Some areas lower, some areas higher than average. I knew his week point was math, so that wasn't a surprise. He hates doing it, the testing was no different. :)

Glad to know that he's right on track. This year, I hope to move a little further ahead of that, since I've know what to expect & where to focus my attention on.

Official School Start Date?

2009-08-03T09:29:00.001-07:00

So I've been asked recently when do my homeschool kids start school? We've not had a formal set up this summer, although we have done educational things. But I have set an official start date of August 10th, simply because for counting purposes, I am required to have 180 instructional days per each year for the boys. You have to start somewhere!

Lesson plans are being drawn up, curriculum prepared & chocolate hidden for Mom's sanity! LOL! Both boys got into the co-operative I wanted them in, so each Thursday afternoon, they will get 2 classes taught by someone other than me. I will take a turn doing a class at some point, so they may have me, depending on what the other options are. The nice thing is that they are also in separate age groups. So they will have some space to be themselves & not rely on each other. Niles got the opportunity to meet one of the other boys already, who was in the Apple Camp w/him. This begins in September. Luca is also in a Kinder Co-op, which is just Kindergarteners, which starts at the end of the month.

The problem isn't so much that home schooled children aren't socialized. I'm finding that the problem is to not overschedule! Park dates, book clubs, co-operatives, oh my!!

Survival Camp Week

2009-08-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

This past week at Lee Brothers, the theme was survival camp. The boys LOVED it. The man who designed the Warthog & Apache helicopters came in to talk to them. He brought a part of a propeller blade, other helicopter parts & videos to show. Then, they also had a US Army sergeant come in & talk to them about boot camp, being in the Army, etc. Niles was in heaven! He told us all about it, the types of weapons they use, what he thinks he would use, etc. I am not unconvinced that we don't have a future soldier on our hands. The breaker may be - he'd have to get his hair cut! Hope you enjoy the pictures from Friday's presentation! They were taken w/my Iphone, so they tend to capture things moving in weird ways.

2009-07-25T09:01:00.001-07:00

2009-07-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Niles spent the past week at the Apple Store in the mall, doing mini-camps on a Mac computer. He made 2 songs, a slide show of pictures, a video presentation and a mini-movie. Aside from the obvious effect of brainwashing him against PC's for ever [haha!], he had a fabulous time! He loved being able to create crazy things on the computer and then bring them home to show us. The people who ran the camp did a great job with the kids and I would recommend them if you get a chance.

It was a bit frustrating for me, simply because I couldn't leave the mall all morning & had Elie & Luca with me. At least the play area kept them mostly occupied, as did a breakfast at Panera, free pastry day at Starbucks & dunkin' donuts during the week. ;)

Niles finished his Iowa testing and now we are waiting for the results. 2 weeks of Tae Kwon Do camp are coming up & then we are officially beginning the next school year!

2009-07-03T09:53:00.001-07:00

Iowa Testing

2009-06-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

Niles is doing Iowa Testing this week, given by my friend Heather. He was distracted during the math part, big surprise, but did ok on the English part she said. NC has a law that homeschoolers have to give a national test each year. They don't want the results [unless your school is inspected] and the score doesn't effect whether or not you are allowed to h/s either. Seems weird to me, but it's the law, so we're doing it. I'm not sure whether or not I had to this year, as he had part of the year in regular old, public school, but I'm not taking any chances.

Museum & Sea Turtle Hospital visits

2009-06-20T18:01:00.001-07:00

We went to the Topsail Island museum and the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital on Friday when it was so hot. You can tell that the kids were getting tired by the expressions on their faces in the first few pictures. You can't take pictures of the sea turtles, but we did get to see several of them. I did get to take pictures at the Museum as you can see.

We got to see several Ospreys flying along the beach and other military helicopters. Plus way out to sea, we saw what looked like a naval ship.

Barnacles, Fish & Crabs Oh My!

2009-06-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time at the beach! We got to see barnacles attached to several things, an old buckedt& an old deodorant stick to name two. We found sand fleas, or sand diggers depending on who you ask, and two different types of crabs. Here are some shots of the barnacles & one of the crabs. David also caught a small silver fish & we had that swimming in the little pool for a bit, but I couldn't get a decent picture of it.

Farmer's Market

2009-06-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

We went to the Raleigh Farmer's Market with our good friend Heather & her daughter Cambree this morning. I'm not posting the picture I took of them at lunch or Heather will kill me. But we did have a great time! Elie loves all the fresh fruit! Luca does too, but is often too shy to take pieces from the vendors w/o some help from me. We got some fresh salsa, tomatoes, peaches, blackberries, honey & some hot sauce for Dad. When we got home, we talked about the small tomato seeds vs. the large peach pit/seed. Very cool! As you can see, the boys had fun being silly too, with Luca pushing Niles around a bit in the stroller as Elie, who was sitting in my lap at the time,cracked up.