Progressive Phonics

Thanks to whomever did this spreadsheet. I found Progressive Phonics.

I know what the lad and I will be doing tomorrow. :)

Should prove interesting.....

What We Learned Today - Magnets

Today I set the lad up with Magnets, iron filings, nails and what not. He took it from there.

Things the lad learned or that we talked about, not necessarily in the order learned/taught

1. water doesn't change how a magnet acts
2. water doesn't wash off iron filings
3. iron filings are fun to watch on paper - you can make them dance
4. iron filings will cling to a magnet and they are very sticky.
5. magnets can break easily if they are the stick type
6. magnets sometimes stick end to end and sometimes they don't...sometimes they stick in the middle and sometimes to the side. (when I ask Justin if that is because of polarity he says yes)
7. nails sometimes jump up the side of a magnet while others just cling loosely and others stick very hard to the bottom of it and we don't know why that is.
8. iron filings will rust.
9. magnets have a north and a south (but Justin doesn't really get this at this point)
10. iron filings are very small...but they stick in long lines when they dance...it's fun to make them move around in clumps. :)

Review: The Middle School Student Schoolhouse Planner

Middle School Student Schoolhouse Planner.

I was sent this e-book to review and I have to admit, they managed to impress me. They did. And quite frankly...most planners don't really thrill me. It's like I have this mental thing of "what can they give me that I can't figure out on my own"? But this planner, indeed, it amazed me. Wow...they packed a WHOLE whack of things into this planner. Loads of calendar pages, planning pages, goal pages, conversion charts, and more. Basically...you name it...it will have it. It is packed with tidbits of information that every middle schooler needs to know. Very well done. I was quite pleased with this planner by the time I finished looking through it.

I have to admit that as a Canadian I was displeased with the amount of focus there was in the United States (as much as I expected it), but also as a Canadian I was very pleased that an American company had some focus on Canadians (three pages of info indeed!). :)

I would happily recommend this planner to anyone who wants to help their middle school scholar get their year organized.

Gymnastics

Today was the lad's first day at Gymnastics. He was VERY uncertain about going. He was alarmed that I wouldn't be in the same room as he was in, but he had fun! Hubby dear and I had fun watching him.

He tumbled and balanced and listened, and very occasionally acted like a complete goofball.
He does NOT know how to somersault yet. :) We just grinned watching him try and how much absolute fun he had while doing so. :)

Gymnastics was held at the Forest City Gymnastics Club. He takes part in their kindergym program. It's for 3-5 year olds. Most of his classmates were 3 years old, with a couple four year olds and then the lad at 5. :) It was a good morning of learning and fun.

University of Kentucky College of Agriculture

now THIS is a cool site. University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

Unit studies, teacher outlines, all types of project for 4H children to work on...and they provide it seems like everything except the physical stuff (aka...if doing a study on insects.. YOU have to catch the insects). :)

they made a little bike!!!

that you don't have to pedal on

What We Learned Today: fanhawe pioneer village

On Thursday, Sept 9, we went to the pioneer village in London. One of the ladies from Kids Learning Connection booked a group visit to Fanshawe Pioneer Village. There were about 50 of us all told.

They split us into two groups for a tour. We saw different buildings.
The group that the lad and I were in saw an artists birth home, the brewery, the print shop and oh...some other building that I can't remember. What can I say...short term memory problems. I do have pics so that will help with the memory. :)

At the artists birth home the lad enjoyed seeing of the old toys that children played with (an old wooden noahs ark), at the brewery going up and down those narrow stairs evoked comments of "I'm a bit scared here mommy", and the print shop was fun because he could print off something by himself. He enjoyed that.

Anyways, afterward the tour they had a time to play 19th century games: bean bag toss, 'laces', lawn bowling and tug of war. I helped win the tug of war for the small kids team. :) Justin had a hoot playing bean bag toss. And then we did the pillory. The children had lots of fun pretending they were being punished for various things like stealing a loaf of bread, or breaking something.

When the main game time was over, the lad and I wandered around seeing the rest of the buildings. It was a fun day out for us.

An unexpected lesson for us: don't carry loose batteries in your purse. IF they connect your purse will get very hot and you can melt a corner of one's camera. NOT a fun experience.

What we Learned today : Density

It was actually two days ago, but life got busy that night.

We took
Corn syrup
Vegetable oil
and coloured water.

Put them in a wide mouth mason jar.
about an inch of each.

We discovered.. corn syrup sits on the bottom, oil goes to the top, and water is sandwiched in-between

Then we had the fun of finding things to put the jar.

Thumbtacks, lego, unpopped popcorn, raisins, chocolate chips (that led to an impromptu snack), grape, screw, bolt, nut, white thing that acts as a foot to something or other, millet seed, tomato, plastic from a bag, and such like.

We learned that lego and millet seed and plastic floats on top of everything!
Screws and metal things sink all the way to the bottom!
and most everything else sits between water and corn syrup. but the fish food sits JUST ABOVE where the oil and water line meet. We found that rather intriguing.

We learned that a pencil put pointy end in sinks farther than a pencil put on it's side (it was a small pencil).

it was lots of fun learning about the weight of things and how fluids are different thicknesses.

Cornstarch Experiments

This video is just odd....



this just fun


mythbusters (even explains it)

Science on the brain

They put together a variety of science based videos on you-tube.

rather interesting to watch them.

Measuring Yourself.


How strong a strand of hair?


How to keep an egg from breaking


go check them out. If you go straight to you-tube it will connect you with more of them. Science is fun and interesting. :)

What We Learned Today - Jet Engine

This come from the book "101 great science experiments by Neil Ardley".

Justin saw this one in the book and just wanted to do it. In fact he insisted for the next two hours that we go home right now so that he can do it. We of course insisted that we had our things to do first, so we ran our errands and eventually headed home.

One blue balloon attached to a straw on a string. He's ready to let go.

and so he did...the end result.. and boy...did it ever zip fast. Just like a jet engine!

Once we ran through that a couple of times it was time for the boy to just experiment with a balloon and tape and other such stuff. And Experiment he did....First he asked for a tied up balloon... and then he whacked it back and forth a couple of times. The he changed the tape. We went from packing tape to masking tape. and instead of two pieces, he used three. That held the way he wanted it too.

So then he went to the kitchen where he retrieved a straw and a q-tip. I wondered "HUH? what is he up to now?"He proceeded to stick the straw in his mouth and blow the Q-tip at the balloon. He did this about 5 times with an unhappy "AW" being the result. I finally asked him what he was doing. He demonstrated with spinning the balloon all the way around the string. So I asked "why don't you think it's working". His response "It's not heavy enough."

So he decided next time to blow the q-tip into dad's ear and just chortled. :)

Next change in plan.

He built a bumper

and then he built a glider.

and now all the bunnies in bunny town are happy because they can safely hang on and zip down the string. The bumper will give them a nice soft landing so they don't get bumped off. :) All is well. :)

His final chortle of this experiment time was to jam the q-tip into the straw and then say "mommy, blow in this". When I couldn't get it out, he laughed. :) He's a fun, silly lad.

Stick Bombs

have to admit...I think stick bomb videos are very cool.

check out this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiWxU3jXOFc&feature=feedrecmore

and then to learn more of what they are here at wiki is really neat. :)

Makes me inspired to try it out.

the audio is horrid on this one, but you can see how to make them.

Sketch Tuesday - something that grows on trees

This is our boy's first sketch that we've submitted to Sketch Tuesdays. :)

We were to sketch something that grew on trees.
The Buggy chose to do crabapples. The top one is very mouldy.

We have a crabapple tree out front that my hubby grew from a wee seed. It gets nice crabapples, it also gets a lot of not nice (as the buggy would say, mouldy) crabapples. :)

In case you wonder what the black circles are... those are the branches that the Crabapples grow on.

Review: Math in the Right Direction

Math in the Right Direction: Forms of Sequential Memory That Affect Learning By Anne-Marie Laliberté-Denis is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I have to admit, the second part of this e-book titled I found a bit intimidating... what exactly is Sequential Memory
and just how will it affect learning and will I be able to remember it? That of course didn't stop me from reading the book. :)

The author points out that as home-schoolers we "have the opportunity to tap into the different forms of sequential
memorization (really learning math), thereby avoiding re-teaching or frustration when faced with skills that just don’t seem to "stick." " We are not limited to working with 25-30 students and having to primarily work with short-term memory (knowing enough to pass a test). We can use different methods to help our student(s) retain the information that they need to.

I appreciated the fact that the author listed some different things we can do to help students get their facts into their long term memory.

This book is worth reading. :)

Review: Getting to the Root of Writers' Block

Getting to the Root of Writer’s Block By Kim Kautzer is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

Writing is a process, not an event. Children trained in the process of writing learn to view the final draft as merely one of several steps in an evolving work. And when the steps seem doable, even the most intimidated writer stands a chance at accomplishment.

That paragraph sums up this whole book for me. Writing is a process, it has steps in it, and one needs to learn those steps in order to write decently.

The author goes on to speak about different things we can do to encourage or help the struggling writer. From brainstorming, to provide concrete ideas to start with, and so forth. But the biggest thing we can teach our children when they are learning to write is... one step at a time leads to a finished product.

Review: Career Explorations for HS Students

Career Explorations for High School Students: Pursuing their Dreams ByCarol Topp is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I was sent this to review by The Old Schoolhouse. And I have to admit, right up front... we're not there yet. My lad is only five so I'm reading this only to see what it has to say and if it's something that I think I'll like to read again in the future.

The author emphasized that choosing a career is a process. Things in life change, and therefore, so does one career. She went on to explain that there are four steps to career exploration and gave us a list of resources one might wish to look at when going through this process.

Overall, well written piece and one worth looking at again in 10 years or so. :) For those of you further along in the process, it worth looking at now.

Review: Integrating Concrete Math into Everyday Life

Integrating Concrete Math into Everyday Life By Jason Gibson and Dr. Ruth Beechick is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

This book is divided into two sections, the first being written by Gibson and the second by Beechink.

This paragraph sums up the first part of the book really well

The trick is to integrate basic math into everyday life before your child even realizes he or she is “learning” something. Look for ways to creatively bring math into the child’s activities—ways that are actually fun so that from the beginning he or she associates math with positive thoughts.

I have to admit that I found the second part of this book repetitious after reading Building Strong Arithmetic Thinking by Dr. Ruth Beechick. Very similar thoughts in these two books. But this paragraph does a basic summation of the second half of the book

After plenty of visualizing and concrete understanding, children will have little trouble learning what we call the “math facts.” They will already know most of them in their heads; others they can figure out because they are close to the facts they know; and only a few are left to memorize by rote.
But even with those larger numbers, children understand what is happening because of the concrete understanding they have acquired.

A good book overall. :)

Review: Building Strong Arithmetic Thinking

Building Strong Arithmetic Thinking by Dr. Ruth Beechick is a is WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I liked this weebook right from the start.
It helped it make sense to me about how to teach math to by boy. :) Yeah! :)

Beechink says this "First, get rid of any textbooks or workbooks you have for kindergarten and first grade. And
second grade, too, if you’re brave." and then says "Everyday activities are far better than workbook activities." She follows this with examples of what she means.

I thoroughly enjoyed the practical applications of this book, and plan to put them into practice. :)

Review: Writing Essays

Writing Essays by Dr. Ruth Beechick is a is WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I have to admit, I was somewhat startled by the opening pages. Some statements were made that surprised me as they went against the way I was taught about essays. I have to admit though, Dr. Beechick's statements do kinda make sense. :) Why force a methodology, if by letting a person struggle through a process, they learn it better?

I think I shall find this e-book helpful as my son gets older, to consider how to teach him about writing essays, what they are and how to write them.

Review: Getting Childred Excited about Writing

Getting Children Excited about Writing is WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse. Written by Maggie Hogan this e-book talks about getting children involved with Writer's Workshops.

She speaks to what works, and what to aim for and who each workshop will be different because of the people involved with it.

For people who want to lead a writer's workshop of their own, and get their group of children excited about writing, or at the very least, have a fun way of introducing different forms of writing, this e-book would be a very helpful aid.