Nature Walk: Tracks and Millipedes

The kids went on a hike to learn about animal tracks at a local nature center.  Lucky for them they went before the recent ice storm.   The crust we now have on top of the snow is strong enough that the 50+ pound kids aren’t breaking through (I barely break through and can walk on top is places) so it probably wouldn’t show tracks well.  But, they went when the snow was still nice and soft, and had a nice trek through the woods. 

Back at the Nature Center, Vicki was able to get a close-up look at a millipede.  Evidently I’ve been successful at not infecting her with my dislike of bugs, especially those with lots of icky little legs.

Meet Galactic

Over the weekend Daddy took the kids to Petco to spend the gift cards they received for Christmas.  They were supposed to be used just for fish but decided on Galactic instead.

I handled snake a lot in a previous life as a zoo docent so I think he’s great!  He (could be she, we really don’t know, it’s not that easy to find out) is a hatchling red albino corn snake.  He’s tiny, about the size of a large earthworm.

We’ve been learning lots about snakes in general, and corn snakes in particular.  Like all snakes, Galactic is cold-blooded so it’s very important he has proper heat provided in his tank.  We started off with heat lamps (recommended by the pet store) but soon found out an under tank heater is better for corn snakes.

It’s also important for corn snakes to have a few hides in various areas of the tank.  Hides can be purchased from the pet store or made using egg cartons or tp tubes(at least for a snake as small as Galactic).  Corns like to hide and it’s important that he can be comfortable in all areas of the tank so he can self-regulate his temperature by moving around.  We have the skull seen in the above picture, a cave, two sea shells and Galactic can fit under his water bowl.  Plenty of place for him to hang-out.

Corn snakes are nocturnal so they are most active at night.  Galactic seems to be settling into a pattern where he comes out around 6pm each evening, explores his tank for a while, including climbing up the thermometer probe wire to see if there’s any chance of escape.

I’m looking forward to this weekend when we feed him for the first time (they eat every seven days and he was fed at the store before he came home), and the first time he sheds. 

Since corn snakes can live 20+ years in captivity, Galactic will provide years of observation.

Wrap-Up: Jan 6 through Jan 24

Well, the big changes I alluded to back in December are here.   The kids are being taught by our new homeschool nanny/private teacher/governess – we haven’t really figured out what the proper term is yet.   Whatever we end up calling her (I’ll probably go with nanny most of the time just for simplicity), we are very glad we found her.   Jen is a certified teacher, familiar with homeschooling (her much younger brother homeschools), and familiar/comfortable/ amazing with quirky, active, excitable little boys and girls.

The kids are now back to doing school using most of the resources we were using last summer.  Math Mammoth, Evan Moor, Scholastic, etc.    I’m excited because now I can go back to doing weekly updates!  There just wasn’t that much interesting to write about Time4Learning.    For anyone paying that much attention – the wrap-ups will be about a week behind to give me extra time to get pictures together and write them up.

Starting with the fun stuff: what have the kids been doing for the past few weeks?  Lately it seems to be all about the snow.  Like many other areas of the country, we are having a very cold, snowy winter.  The kids have been sledding and tubing more this year than they have their entire lives before.

The day of one of the snow storms, Daddy decided we should take the kids down the road to a local golf course to try some sledding.  It worked well except for the water trap at the bottom that required catching the sled to make sure they didn’t land in it.  (and the fact that it was COLD!! and in the middle of a snow storm!)  The kids had fun (good thing they got snow pants, snow boots and new gloves for Christmas).

 

Jen has a good hill near her house without trees or water traps, and close enough to get inside when it gets too cold, so she’s taken the kids tubing there a few times.

They also ventured out to a local art museum for a homeschool class in collages.    They had a great time.  Vicki decided her collage needed a coating of black paint and threw herself wholeheartedly into the project.

   

And on to the important stuff.  Since going back to written work is a big change from T4L, they are starting off with the basics and gradually adding stuff back in. 

LANGUAGE ARTS

Vicki

Vicki took some amazing leaps in reading while doing Time4Learning.  She literally went from sounding out CVC words to reading Magic Tree House and similar level books.  She now has her own caterpillar for her completed books and she’s doing great.

Vicki currently isn’t doing any phonics, but in the next few weeks will start All About Spelling with Level 1.  

She started The Wand with Level 1, Stage 1 – Hop on Pop.  (I have The Wand from a group buy on Homeschool Buyers Co-op so it may not match up with the current subscription choices).

Vicki is doing Reading Comprehension and Grammar using Scholastic for now, but may drop the Scholastic Grammar if The Wand appears to be enough, and switch to Evan Moor for Reading Comprehension.

HWT:  Vicki is back to working her way through Handwriting without Tears 1st grade book, with some extra practice on the lined chalkboard.

George

HWT:  George is doing HWT 3rd grade Cursive book.  He’s doing okay with it but when he’s allowed to write however he wants, he still tends to go with printing in all caps.

Evan Moor Skill Sharpeners Spell and Write Gr 4:  He’s doing very well with the 4th grade spelling.  He never gets more than one or two wrong.  I like this program because it also covers various grammar topics – like homophones, contractions, etc.

Evan Moor Daily Reading Comprehension Gr 4: These are still pretty easy for George.  In addition to just passages, they also introduce reading a Table of Contents, Index and charts.

Evan Moor Word-A-Day:  He’s currently doing the 3rd grade Word-A-Day and mostly has no trouble with the definitions.  He’s also practicing dictionary skills by looking up some of the words each week.

Reading:  He’s doing quite a bit of reading.  He’s read through the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (multiple times), and is currently reading Judy Moody and Stink series.

MATH

Vicki

Math Mammoth 1A: Vicki is almost done with MM 1A and will move on to MM1B.  She’s does one page a day.

Evan Moor Skill Sharpeners Math Gr 1:  Vicki is slightly more than halfway through the Evan Moor grade 1 math.   She usually prefers this to MM since it’s much more colorful.  It’s great for review of previous topics since it has a mix of problem types.

George

Math Mammoth:  George is currently finishing up MM3B.  Once that is done, he’ll be once again doing a mix of chapters, but all from 4A.  As he gets farther along it’s much harder to mix between levels, so it’s likely he’ll work within one level at a time from now on.

Scholastic Algebra Readiness Made Easy Gr 5:  He has moved on to grade 5 Algebra Readiness.  He found much of the Grade 4 easy but he’s having to really slow down and think it out now. 

Scholastic Solve the Riddle Math Practice Multiplication and Division:  SInce he hadn’t done these in months, I started back toward the beginning.  They are a good drill to help with memorizing multiplication facts. 

Scholastic Logic Posters, Problems and Puzzles:  He enjoys doing these but there aren’t that many so shortly I’ll have to find something new.  This has a mix of grid puzzles, poster puzzles, number puzzles, venn diagram puzzles.

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Jen has all kinds of resources and books that she’s been bringing for the kids to use.  The kids were amazed when I knew a bunch of the songs on the Schoolhouse Rock dvd (and even more amazed that they were actually played on tv when I was a kid).

She’s brought over lots of books for them to try and that’s how George “discovered” Stink and Judy Moody.

Our homeschool journey has changed once again but I think this one is going to work really well for all of us.

Hi! We’re still here! And here’s the pics to prove it

Wow, it’s really been a long time since I posted.  My job went from temporary to permanent back in September, so things have continued to be crazy.   I’m hoping to get back to regular posting soon.  Meanwhile, here’s what we’ve been up to:

The kids are doing great with Time4Learning. 

Vicki is now working in second grade for Language Arts and will be doing third grade Science and Social Studies once her reading is strong enough. 

George has moved on to fourth grade in everything except Math. 

They are moving very quickly through T4L.  It’s not a very rigorous program but they are learning.  Vicki’s reading took a huge jump once she started T4L and she is now working her way through the Magic Tree House books (among others).   They frequently share interesting tidbits from science and social studies. 

I’m very glad they are showing progress with T4L because we’ve been really bad about getting to the supplemental stuff.  I’m hoping to change that once we get through the holidays.

What else have we been up to….

We celebrated the kids’ 8th and 6th birthdays in August…

We reviewed bear safety thanks to a visitor to our yard…

The kids went to the beach with Daddy and some of his friends, and it turns out they LOVE the ocean.  We might have to visit more frequently next summer.

We had a great time visiting Big Sis Steph at school for homecoming and seeing her dance (she was Ginger Spice in a 90’s tribute)!

 

The kids were a pretty pink unicorn…

 

and a Purrloin (a purple cat Pokemon) for Halloween…

 

and had a great time getting candy and dancing to the DJ at our town’s Trunk or Treat.

We celebrated Thanksgiving, where I once again attempted to get decent pictures of the kids together….

 

This one isn’t bad if you ignore that neither of them are actually looking at the camera.

We did get a nice girls picture…

and a boys picture.

We’ve already enjoyed playing in lots of snow.  We’re currently experiencing our second snow storm in a week.  I think this is going to be a fun winter.

And then they decided they were tired of me taking pictures of them through the window (I stayed inside where it was warm!).

Now the kids are doing Christmas crafts with Granny Kaye and we’re getting all decorated for the Holidays (more on that later).

Big Changes Coming

It’s been a really long time since I posted but I have a good reason.  :-)

I recently returned to work.  Full time, out of the house, Monday through Friday work.  A too good to turn down job basically fell into my lap when I wasn’t even looking.   It all happened very quickly – a phone call on Tuesday, an interview on Wednesday and starting work on Thursday.  

We will continue to homeschool but we are taking some time to work out routines and plans and catch our breath.

The plan so far:

Grammy Kaye is watching the kids during the day.  I wouldn’t be able to work and homeschool without her help.

The kids are doing Time4Learning while they are at Grammy’s house during the day.  Vicki is doing 1st grade, while Georgie is doing 3rd grade.   Time4Learning is nice because they can work at their own pace, and even work in different grade levels for each subject (one up and one down from their core grade).  We initially started Georgie in 4th grade math since that’s where he’s working in Math Mammoth, but the difference in format along with the different scope and sequence were giving him a lot of trouble.  He is now moving fast through the 3rd grade math.

They will also do independent reading while at Grammy’s house.  George has been doing great with his reading lately.  He finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, 3 Diary of a Wimpy Kids books (he read them more than once, really likes these), a couple Pokemon books, and he is currently working on The Wind in the Willows.

In the evenings we will do “homework”, which will consist of handwriting, educational games, some activities from The Wand and possibly some AAR for Vicki, since she tends to give Grammy the most trouble with these subjects.  Georgie is very good at doing his work independently so his homework will consist of logic puzzles (which he needs help with), writing activities (The Arrow and I’m thinking of getting WWE), and maybe we’ll continue with Math Mammoth and let T4L be mainly a supplement/review.

We will do Science, History, and Geography on Saturdays.  

I’m hoping to sign them up for classes for Phys Ed (martial arts, swimming lessons), Art and Music.

It may be a few more weeks before I’m back to regularly posting (and probably that long before we actually start those Saturday topics).  I’m still adjusting to working, and working on getting the house reorganized for our new plans.

4-H Cultural Awareness/Asian Adventure

Our latest 4-H theme was cultural awareness, and we started by visiting The Newark Museum for their Asian Awareness guided tour.  Our tour guide was AMAZING!  She had just the right touch of firmness to keep the group under control and moving along.

We started with Japan, when our tour guide put on a beautiful kimono…..

 

 

and we saw an exhibit of beautiful carves cases, and ornaments (called Netsuke when worn from the obi, or belt for the kimono).

In the China exhibits, we saw a beautiful garden carved from semi-precious stones and metal.

We moved onto the Southeast Asia exhibits, where George was fascinated by the Dharmachakra or Wheel of Law (from Thailand)….

 

and a statue of the Hindu God, Ganesha.

The museum has a Buddhist temple that was Consecrated by the fourteenth Dalai Lama.   Our tour guide explained to the kids about being respectful, about the different types of offerings (offerings are intended to be pleasing to the five senses and would include food, flowers, incense, lamps and music).

Next we visited the Look/Touch/Learn: Tibet exhibit.   The exhibit features a mural (by Tibetan Artist Phuntsok Dorje (that depicts various aspects of life in Tibet).

The kids were able to check out a small Tibetan tent…

play a pretend tea ceremony…..

and spin a Buddhist prayer wheel.

After our official tour was over, we checked out a bunch of the other exhibits, including the Egyptian…

the Native American….

the Dynamic Earth, which was full of interactive exhibits and games….

  

Generation Fit, another interactive exhibits with exercise equipment, health information, and Just Dance!

   

We finished up with a visit to the Fire Museum, which featured an interactive exhibit where the kids searched for fire hazards, learned what to do to escape a fire, saw the actual results of a fire on some vinyl siding.  In addition, there was historic protective clothing, equipment, illustrations and memorabilia, an 1853 Fire Hose Cart built for the Neptune Hose Company No. 1 of Newark, and a piece of the World Trade Center to honor the NJ Firefighters who assisted on 9/11.

 

The Museum was a great place to visit.  I can’t believe we are less than an hour away and have never visited before.  We will be going back again (actually this month to visit the planetarium) to further explore.

If you live in the area or are visiting NJ, check out The Newark Museum.  I highly recommend it!

 

When we met at the library, we learned more about Japan, India and China. 

First we discussed some of the various holidays they celebrated in those countries, that we don’t celebrate.  We learned about Children’s Day and Doll’s Day in Japan, Chinese New Year in China (and learned which animal each of the kids are in the Chinese Zodiac), and Diwali and Holi in India.

We learned how to say Hello in the primary language of each country (konnichi wa – Japan, Nin Hao – China, Namaste – India).

We discussed how chopsticks were used to eat in China and Japan, and the kids tried picking up pompoms using chopsticks.

For the first time I utilized the overhead projector and the kids danced to Katti Kalandal – the Bollywood style dance in Just Dance 2. (I tried to find something more authentic but most were not appropriate for children).

We talked about Rangoli, the traditional Indian folk art designs that are displayed on the floor of the house near the doorway to welcome guests and celebrate special events.  Rangoli are usually symmetrical designs made with colored rice powder, but we made ours out of fuse beads (and not so symmetrical).  

Our next 4-H topic (for July, this post is really late), is Space and will include a visit to the planetarium at the Newark Museum.