"Oh! Homeschool moment!"

Thus spake Ramona, when she spotted this guy outside the kitchen window this morning:

Love these homeschool moments.* 

*Though she was slightly disconcerted when we looked up some facts about the praying mantis and she spotted the word "cannibal." 

Nerdy Summer Fun

Naturally we were in desperate need of a few new books, since we just sold eleven bags of old ones. Our local bookstore had a sale on used (i.e., dirt cheap) books, so we came home with a few:

Ramona has been perusing the Totally Irresponsible Science book and she has responsibly informed me that, "It's not really irresponsible, Mom. There are lots of safety warnings."

In other nerdy pursuits, Ramona found an intriguing feather in the backyard, and we started Googling.

Her guess (a Downy Woodpecker?) went into her Nature Scrapbook, on (appropriately) the Feathers page: 

And in other news, Ramona finally fulfilled a lifelong ambition and was called up to assist a magician during a magic show at the library. The magician was also a balloon artist, and for her participation, Ramona got this cool jet pack:

I, on the other hand, was slightly humiliated when I couldn't get the main balloon for the jet pack blown up. I finally get a shot at helping a magician, only to display my lack of lung power? This is the story of my nerdy life.

School and Unschool and Everything In Between

What we've been doing:

* For Ramona's book club we just finished reading Marie McSwigan's Snow Treasure. It was slow going for her at first, but once we got into the meat of it, she enjoyed it. Here's a link to my quick review from 2006. (That was waaaay back when I read it to my then 10- and 12-year olds, and Ramona was just a pre-schooler. And here's a link to loads of other WWII related reading for younger readers.)

* Ramona has a new pen pal. Snail mail lives! We use this stuff called paper, pen, envelopes, and stamps. If you haven't tried them, you should give it a whirl. It's revolutionary!

* Science for Ramona right now is mostly National Geographic Kids and Kids Discover. These also dovetail nicely into the "social studies" category. Also under the social studies category is being ten years old and living with teenagers ... all kinds of opportunities for viewing those creatures in their natural habitat and discussing their anomalies with your mother.

* Finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to Ramona. (I edit the icky, dark parts late in the book.) All past bloggy-things-Harry are here.

* Dragon Box is still a hit around here.

* Ramona also likes several of the math games she's tried at Sheppard Software.

* Betsy, who's taking a French class at the college, is reading Pride and Prejudice on the Kindle -- in French. She's also re- (re-re-re-) reading a hard copy in English, so if she gets hung up, she just jogs her memory with that. She's surpassed me and the little bit of French I took many years ago. I do still remember how to ask what time it is and the location of the nearest bathroom. Vital stuff.

* Anne-with-an-e loves spring break almost as much as she loves dissecting things in her zoology class.  Or is it that she loves dissecting things almost as much as she loves a leisurely spring break? Either way, she's having a lovely week.

* Lent rolls along. Our Lamb of God is beginning to grow fuzzy. I can be heard occasionally complaining that I really want to have something sweet. Sugar! (Eeek...How spoiled am I? Really!?) I caved one evening, the Saturday night we were out of town for the girls' Winter Ball. I gobbled some regifted chocolates that night. (That is a story too long to go into, but suffice to say that I do a Christmas gift exchange with a friend each year, and I always give him oatmeal cookies, and he always gives me regifted chocolates, and this was the first time we'd seen each other since Christmas. A sad excuse, but the only one I've got.) Back to Lent: we have lots of talks about sacrifice and hardship, hunger and plenty, waste and abundance, sin and repentance. We talk about weakness and chocolate and first world problems.

We got ourselves to confession. We'll plan to get there again soon.

* We've started doing Night Prayer with the girls. I've used iBreviary for myself for some time now, and love it. Atticus and I also use it for Morning Prayer, and now Ramona is enjoying taking charge of scrolling us through the Liturgy of the Hours before bedtime. It's loverly.

"Hey, there's pepper all over my notebook!" (Or, Schoolish and Unschoolish Things)

Anne-with-an-e was studying for a zoology test.

Ramona had been on my laptop, watching a science video. I can't remember what Betsy was doing (I'm sorry, Middle Child! I feel your Middle Child pain!)

Ramona had been performing her scientific inquiry, that of sorting salt and pepper with a static-charged balloon, at the kitchen table, which was also Anne's workspace of choice. So, naturally, a bit of overlap occurred between animal and mineral.

Then, Ramona decided that her experiment might one day be the basis of a homeschool pick-up line. She did her best imitation of a suave homeschool guy purring, "Hey, there ... I can separate salt and pepper."

This led me to ask her what, exactly, she knew about pick-up lines. Then I remembered that I had, at some point, shared this little gem with the girls, and I wondered if Ramona had remembered or read over someone's shoulder. She said, "No. I've just heard the girls talk about pick-up lines."

I made a note to myself to ask the girls more about this.

It's possible that while the separation of salt and pepper was occurring, Betsy was reading Brain Rules, which is a pretty fun and fascinating little book. Or she could have been playing Dragon Box, which my kids surprisingly love. I say "surprisingly" because it's an app based on algebra and my daughters swear on a stack of slide rules that they hate math. Or she may have been furthering her love of all things Jane Austen by rereading Pride and Prejudice for the -- how many times is it now? Do I need a slide rule to figure this out?

And now I'm back to the homeschool pick-up line. Any guy with half a brain, trying to impress a homeschooled girl, need only say something like this: "If I can ever be even a tenth of the romantic that Fitzwilliam Darcy turned out to be, I'll die a happy man."

Don't fall for it, girls.

And that's a recent day in the life.

Homeschool High School Carnival: The Science Edition

It's hosted this month by Theresa, at LaPaz Home Learning.

I didn't have time to get a science post written, but there's some good stuff at La Paz, including Theresa's take on science, here.

A perfectly charming way to start my day

With this article:
Thinking Too Much About Chalk.

Thanks for the link, Atticus.

Snapshots of Days With Ramona

We've started putting together her anatomy project (kind of hard to see, but here it is):

She made the heart with fun foam. The intestines will be made of hot pink giant chenille stems. We're thinking we'll sew lungs from pieces of red fleece. We haven't decided what Ramona's brain will be made of. Hmmm. (The idea for this came from a very old piece of curriculum, a book entitled My Temple of the Holy Spirit.)

~~~~~

More science ... discussing acid-base reactions. Yesterday, Ramona was busy mixing an indicator solution. We ran to the store for cabbage first, of course. 

~~~~~

We watched Dolphin Tale and the next day, Ramona had decided she worked at an animal hospital. She posted the proper signage in order to keep trespassers away:

~~~~~

And, although it seems too early in Nebraska for the daffodils that Atticus brought home yesterday to be in bloom, they are lovely: 

School Notes

from ImageChef.com

We'll call it Zoom Schooling.

Ramona has been watching old clips of Zoom, at PBSKids.org and on YouTube. It's science, it's history, it's drama, it's cooking, it's art.

It's exhausting.

Yesterday, it occurred to me that I remembered feeling the slightest bit of relief when my older girls outgrew Zoom. I just couldn't keep up with it: "Let's make batteries from potatoes while we're creating three-layered popsicles while we're talking in Ubbi-Dubbi and mixing our own paints from materials found in our backyard! And then let's put on a show about all that stuff, and volunteer in our community to teach others how to put on the same show using only the power generated from potatoes!"

(Anne-with-an-e, by the way, can still speak fluent Ubbi-Dubbi. That amazes and frightens me.)

So. There seems to be a new project daily, not to mention the fact that I can't get "C'mon and Zoom, c'mon and Zoom, c'mon and Zoom, c'mon and Zoom and zoom, zoom, zooma, Zoom!" out of my head.

Throw in lots of great Advent reading, and so far it's been a December to remember.

Bits and Pieces of Our Days

 

While she was sick, Betsy decided to learn how to fold paper cranes. She was originally shooting for a thousand (editor's note: Sadako influence) but hasn't made it yet. Ramona is in the picture above, helping with the inital count. 

  

*****

Last night, Betsy and Ramona called Anne-with-an-e into the room to look at something. Anne replied, "It had better be good -- I'm right in the middle of reading about heart malformations." 

This girl is seriously looking forward to upcoming dissections for her biology studies. 

*****

Ramona loves panda bears. Ramona loves crafts. Ramona loves plans.  (Hmmm ... schooliness and crafts ... this is the offspring of the Unschooly, Not-So-Crafty Mom?) Ramona requested a Panda craft, and proceeded to describe her idea: a collage-inspired thing wherein we would cut out black shapes and glue them onto white paper, thus creating her dream panda. Here's the result: 

I'm grateful she comes up with the ideas because my idea of a panda craft would be: "Honey, go cut pictures of pandas out of your Ranger Rick magazine." 

(I did, actually, refer to an old issue of Ranger Rick to do this craft -- we found a panda craft, and I used it as a model for this little guy.) 

Speaking of Ranger Rick, I love both it and Your Big Backyard for loads of Ramona's science. Throw in Kids Discover and National Geographic Kids (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!) and you've got science, history, social studies and current events, all while cuddling up on the couch with your daughter and a snack. 

*****

Last week for Poetry Friday, I featured a book by Celeste Davidson Mannis, a counting book, packed full of haiku and beautiful illustrations. Unbeknownst to me, another book that I picked up during the same library visit is also by the same author (but a different illustrator -- funny that they both caught my eye.) The second book is The Queen's Progress, ostensibly an alphabet book, but also full of historical facts. I haven't had time to read through it all, but it looks quite lovely.

*****

My time is up for now -- Pancakes for lunch today! The griddle awaits.

I'm glad she didn't bring the eyeball home

Or, a short update on our homeschooling:

This week, Anne-with-an-e spent some time shadowing our veterinarian. She watched a dental procedure (translation: teeth had to be yanked out, lots of blood), dogs and cats being spayed and neutered, and a declawing.

She didn't faint or get queasy. (I'm beaming.)

When offered the opportunity to take a closer look at (translation: dissect) an eye that had been removed from a cat, she declined. It was, after all, her first day.

Best not to push those queasiness limits.

This still stuns me. I thought I was raising a writer. She says "writer" is still on the table, but this vet stuff is pretty compelling business.

*****

On the writing front, I hope to get time soon to tell you more about Anne's "Harry Potter Fan Fiction Challenge" -- she issued it to the whole family, assigned two basic plot ideas from which we could choose, and gave us a deadline. The deadline was Christmas Eve, so clearly, I'm a little behind in my reporting on this ....

*****

Speaking of writing challenges, Ramona took a cue from Anne and issued a poetry challenge. This came right after we had a warmish day, and she was inspired to write a springtime poem she entitled "Hamilton Beach." (Yes, I believe a small appliance was in sight.) She made invitations for the whole family, urged us to accept her poetry challenge, and promptly forgot about it.

*****

The other day, Ramona said to me, "Mommy, tell me if you think this is an in-drawing book."

I said, in that oh-so-intelligent way I have, "Huh?"

"Listen," she said patiently, and proceeded to read the first sentence of a book to me. "Doesn't that sentence draw you in?" she asked. "Don't you want to know what happens next? This is an in-drawing book."

*****

Betsy is still at work on her novel, which features characters with names like Arrow, Pure, and Faith, but recently she has spent more time on a short story that is now up to, I believe, 12,000 words. This frightens me. I never wrote more than 1,016 words at a time when I was her age.

*****

Betsy has also been spending some time teaching herself new songs on the piano. (I generously call it a piano ... it's actually a keyboard, but it works for learning basics, and for me to pretend I can play "Amazing Grace.") She's teaching Ramona what she's learning, too. I love this kind of self-directed stuff.

Why I Love Our Vet

Because she has encouraged Anne for almost four years now.

Because, a couple of years ago, she told Anne that when she was fifteen, she could start to do some shadowing.

Because now that Anne is fifteen, she is going to start some shadowing. (Watching surgery is not my idea of a good time, but apparently it's Anne's, because she couldn't be happier.)

Because I love a vet that I can laugh and cry with, and who hugs me before I leave. (I won't tell you everything we talked about, but I can tell you that the next customer in the clinic might have been wondering why it took half an hour for my cat to get two shots.)

That is why I love our vet.

Secret Agent Girl

Betsy is my detective. She loves all-things-spy. Today at the library she launched a search for books on the subject, and came up with Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things, by Cy Tymony.

What a fun little book! Shortly after we got home, she had assembled a "metal detector" using a cd case, velcro pads, an am radio and a calculator.

I can't wait to see what she does tomorrow.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Check out details at Nasa and at Space.com

It's nine degrees below zero here this morning. It might creep all the way up to 7 degrees today, then dip back down to -1 tonight.

We may be peeking at the moon from a window tonight, rather than from the backyard.

(Photo thanks to stock.xchng.com)

Ramona reads!

Ramona's independent reading is really taking off.

Currently, she's enjoying Cynthia Rylant's Puppy Mudge books. They are simple books (pre-reading/beginner level) and Ramona loves to read them aloud to her daddy and me. We're hearing quite a bit about how Mudge takes a bath, finds a friend, wants to play, loves his blanket and has a snack.





Another current favorite is Crinkleroot's Visit to Crinkle Cove by Jim Arnosky.

Crinkleroot has become quite a pal to Ramona. He's the next best thing to actually getting out into nature.





Also by Arnosky's alter-ego, Crinkleroot, Ramona loves 25 Mammals Every Child Should Know.

(Good for nature study and for reading skills as well.)




Another repeated check-out from our library is Beachcombing: Exploring the Seashore. Ramona adores anything about seashells (we must get this family to an ocean) and this book gives her plenty to love.



A number of Jim Arnosky's books are out of print, but they're worth hunting down. Check your library, or buy used.

And, be sure to spend some time wandering through his website. He has animal coloring pages, fact pages, and so many gorgeous books.

Just one more recommendation -- straight from Ramona (who just looked over my shoulder and said, "Oh! Mommy! You can't forget the lion book!") So without further ado, don't forget: the lion book!

"Houston, we have a butterfly."

Thus Anne
announced
to the rest of us
that this














had become this.

We got our butterfly kit from Rainbow Resource, but you can also get them directly from Insect Lore, which has several different butterfly kits as well as all kinds of other buggy stuff your kids will bug you to get.

We haven't done this since Anne and Betsy were seven and four years old, so Betsy barely remembered witnessing this little miracle once before.

We got to see every stage of the life cycle, as we were patiently watching one morning (we didn't get much else done, but it was worth devoting the time) when one of the butterflies emerged. At first, the chrysalid shook repeatedly, then was still. Finally, the butterfly simply dropped out and onto the floor of the garden. The girls feared it was dead, as it looked so compressed and helpless. But soon its wings slowly unfolded, bit by bit. It climbed to the top of its home, continued pumping its wings and became the lovely Painted Lady we'd hoped to see.

All five of our caterpillars made it to adulthood, and are currently enjoying life in their colorful condo with carnations, sugar water, and admiring fans who keep Mr. Putter (the cat) at bay.

More about Painted Ladies at:

The Butterfly Site (also includes ideas for raising them on your own, rather than with a kit)
The Earth's Birthday: All About Painted Lady Butterflies
Wikipedia entry
Enchanted Learning

Science this week

A few of the things we've been doing:

We hit the lake and the girls did some writing in their nature journals:

Ramona, putting her notebook away:

We visited our favorite ducks:

And walked on our favorite tree-lined trail:

Back home, we watched as our five caterpillars (dubbed Pokey, Tumnus, AmyJo-MegBeth, Hermione and Luna) grew:

and grew:

Ramona, when asked what in the world she was doing on the floor under a blanket, blithely replied, "I'm an amoeba, Mommy."



Well, yeah, of course. What kind of mommy (or science teacher) am I, to have missed that?

Our plans this year: Science

Last year, I cobbled together our curriculum, as it were, from a multitude of sources, ranging from the library to long-forgotten books on our shelves. I admitted that I love to buy new books, but that I don't always need to.

And, last year worked well for us. I had fun researching, gathering, discovering good things at the library. But, it was, alas, quite a bit of work.

This year, I gave in to my inner curriculum junkie and we're looking more structured here than we have in awhile.

For science, each of my girls wanted her own book. So, I've tailored things to their desires and interest.

Anne-with-an-e is very interested in all things animal, and for the last two years has been insisting she will be a vet when she grows up. I know that most girls, at some point, want to be vets when they grow up. And, it's true that this may be a passing phase, but it may not. For this year, anyway, we're focusing on the life sciences with this book from Catholic Heritage Curricula.

Life Science: All Creatures Great and Small is recommended for Anne's age, and appears to be a good fit. It's more textbook-ish than we're used to, but I have no qualms about adapting such resources to our needs, style and purpose. I tend to leave out the busywork and get to the core.

Add to the above Anne's almost daily habit of reading the encyclopedia for recreation, and some volunteer time at the local animal shelter, and we've got science.


Betsy was a little harder. She wanted variety, and so did I. I was looking for areas in which we may be weak, may have overlooked some things. Then I found this Science Daybook at Rainbow Resource. It combines reading about the day's science topic with journaling and looking at related snippets of literature, poetry or magazine articles. It appears to be a living sort of textbook, and Betsy is pleased with what she's seen so far.

I am, too.

I also plan to stick to my commitment to follow up on the idea in this post of Melissa Wiley's, wherein she notes:

I've been looking for the passage I know is in one of Charlotte Mason's books about making sure children have one or two favorite nature-spots to visit on a regular basis: a park, a garden, a particular wood, a shore, that is visited over and over in all seasons, so that the children may grow familiar with the plants, birds, and beasts that live there, and see how things change throughout the course of a year.

We were at a local lake yesterday, marveling at how much its banks have risen with the recent buckets of rain, and spotting a variety of wriggly little creatures that we don't always see when the lake stays within its usual confines.

I imagined us returning much more regularly this year, through every season. And, now I'm itching to buy some lovely, new nature notebooks. Oh, I know the ten-cent ones from Target will do, but ....

Where are the Kratt Brothers?

When Anne-with-an-e was about about four years old, we discovered the Kratt Brothers. We watched Zoboomafoo every day and soon my little preschooler, who still couldn't properly pronounce the "th" blend could (in true, painless unschooly style) explain the symbiotic relationship between a clownfish and an anemone.

I love these guys.

Now, thanks to the magic of DVD, Ramona does, too.

But, Kratt Brothers ... where are you? All I can find that's more current than Zoboomafoo is this series on DVD, called Be the Creature.It was on the National Geographic channel, and was geared to adults, though I think my kids would love it. It looks like a gem.

And, it looks like we're not the only fans, as I found this fan club site via Google.

Kratt Brothers ... where are you now?

An edible solar system

After reading several books lately about the solar system, Anne-with-an-e stumbled on the idea of "mint planets" in The Secret Life of Food, which is a book overflowing with with fun and creative ideas.

We know it's not done precisely to scale, especially our sun. And, we couldn't get Saturn's mint rings to stay on, so we substituted a dress-up bracelet supported by toothpicks.

And, that pink thing on the far right, just past Pluto (which we know is no longer called a planet ... we just wanted to cover all historical bases)? No, it's not an alien. It's Ramona's snowman.

Superboy, super classification

Wow -- Theresa's SuperBoy has left us in the dust when it comes to classifying animals. Their biology project is amazing!

Check out the filing system here and terrific samples of work here.

And, check into Theresa's newly founded Yahoo group for her biology project here.

Theresa, as always, you're an inspiration.