Nirvana Homeschooling

Pinecone, Lard, and Bird Seed Winter Bird Feeders

2012-02-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

We have been having an usually mild winter this year, but we decided to give the birds some good winter time bird food anyway. In general, birds need more fat during winter time, so we used lard in our winter bird seed this year instead of peanut butter because we got a half pig last year. Pigs have a lot of lard on them, and I have been struggling to figure out what to do with the all the lard. After a few batches of tamales and tortillas I still have lots of lard. I decided that the birds would probably enjoy some nice bird seed and lard since I was told by a local farmer that birds love lard.

To make these simple bird feeders, you just take some fallen pine cones and rub them in lard. Then, you can sprinkle some bird seed on top of the lard. We use a generic wild bird seed mix that attracts lots of different birds to our yard. Finally, hang up your easy bird feeders outside.

Weaving A Pot Holder With a Loop Loom

2012-01-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

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One of the best parts about homeschooling is that you can pick and choose different styles of education that you like and work well for your family. One of the things that I really liked about Charlotte Mason style of education is the incorporation of handy crafts that are practical. As Little BBQ’s first handy craft we decided to have him make a pot holder for his play kitchen using a loop weaving loom.

Loop weaving looms are very inexpensive. I found one a few days before Christmas on clearance at Michaels that came with a weaving needle (you can use a crochet needle if your kit does not come with a needle) and cotton loops. I showed Little BBQ how to weave the first row. Then, he tried to weave by himself but he lacked the coordination to keep track of the over and under pattern and get the loop to where he wanted it, so I helped him with his first weaving project. Next time I will help him weave less until he can finally complete a pot holder on his own. Our kit came with enough loops to complete four pot holders. I predict that he will be able to weave by himself by the forth pot holder. This project took us 3 different sessions to complete. The first time that we weaved Little BBQ only had enough patience to weave for 4 rows. The second time that we weaved, he again lasted 4 rows. However, on the third session he was able to finish the rest of the pot holder. I finished off the sides for him since it was not clear even to me while reading the directions how to finish off the pot holder. Next time I will show Little BBQ how to finish off the sides. The only thing that surprised me about the weaving was how much the pot holder shrank when we took it off the loom. The pot holder really is only good for play dishes.

A loop weaving loom is great for early elementary students. Concepts that can be explored by using a loop weaving loom include counting by twos and pattern making. Weaving is also good for fine motor skills that early writers need to develop in order to write clearly.

Posted on Simple Lives Thursday

Freezing Art

2012-01-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

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For Christmas I got the kids some liquid water colors because I was tired of struggling to get the water color pellets to produce nice vibrant colors that I had seen on so many art teacher blogs. Our first project with the new liquid water colors was a science experiment on freezing. I got the idea from the book, Science Arts by MaryAnn Kohl and Jean Potter. The book is fantastic. The book uses art projects to explain science concepts. This book is great for a child who loves art or a child that is weary of science.

In this experiment, the concept of diffusion is explored when children paint on a wet piece of paper with water color paints. Diffusion is when the paint molecules spread. Then, the concept of freezing is explored when you place the painted piece of paper is placed outside in freezing temperatures or in the freezer. When freezing occurs, the water molecules line up into organized structures to create sheets of ice. We took the experiment one step further and watched the paper thaw again in the house. In this case you can watch the paint become more diffuse again causing the intensity of the paints to diminish as the pigments in the paint spread out over the piece of paper. I recommend taking pictures of your paints before freezing, after freezing, and after thawing to see how much the paint diffuses. The results with liquid water colors can be really stunning. This experiment is appropriate for preschool to early elementary aged children. My toddler also participated, but she does not have a concept of diffusion yet.

Science concepts explored in this experiment: diffusion, freezing, states of matter (liquid and solid), thawing

Materials modified from Science Arts p 101

White paper

Water

Liquid water colors

Cookie sheet

Plastic wrap

Freezer or freezing temperatures outside (we put out paintings outside)

Directions

1. We the white piece of paper. You want the entire paper wet.

2. Paint the wet piece of paper with liquid water colors. I recommend taking a picture of your work after this step. Observe how the paint diffuses outward as you paint.

3. Place the piece of paper on a cookie sheet and place a piece of plastic over the painting.

4. Place the painting outside or in the freezer.

5. After 12-24 hours, remove the plastic wrap from the painting and observe the ice crystals. I recommend taking a picture now.

Miss Bubbles': painting a wet piece of paper

After freezing:

The ice up close:

After thawing:

Little BBQ's painting:

After freezing:

After thawing:

Posted on We Love to Paint

Even Steven and Odd Todd Gingerbread Cut Outs

2011-12-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

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We have been enjoying the Christmas season here at our house. We have also been doing a lot of learning. We read the book, Even Steven and Odd Todd by Kathryn Cristaldi which teaches children about odd and even numbers. We decided to make a Christmas themed craft about Even Steven and Odd Todd to reinforce the odd even pattern. We cut out a ginger bead chain out of paper. The original intent was to use brown paper, but we were out of brown construction paper and we did not have a paper bag so we improvised and used yellow paper instead. Even Steven all looks the same with a white button on his right arm, black button on his left arm, and a blue heart in the middle. Every Odd Todd looks different although Little BBQ did not want him to look too different because he wanted Odd Todd to have friends and dress nice. I think my little boy is already very socially conscious.

Posted on virtual refrigerator

Marigold Necklaces

2011-11-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

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El Dia De Los Muertos is a holiday celebrated in Mexico to honor the dead (for a more detailed description of this holiday click here). Marigold garland is traditionally made to decorate alters and homes because it grows wild in Mexico. The festive orange blossoms look great when strung together. For our El Dia De Los Muertos Party, we had the kids make marigold necklaces. Marigolds were one of the last things still growing in my garden, so I picked all the marigold flowers the morning of the party and put them in a bowl for the kids. We took yarn and taped a toothpick to the end to make a child friendly needle, then we had the kids string the flowers on the yarn. The girls at the party were very into this activity. The best part about the activity was that it was very frugal because I already had everything in my house.

How I Taught My Preschooler How to Multiply

2011-11-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

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Little BBQ has been asking to learn multiplication, so I decided to give it a shot. Little BBQ already has a good grasp of addition and subtraction so multiplication seemed like a logical next step for him. Little BBQ seems to have a way with numbers; he can quickly pick up a new concept if I teach it to him visually and hands on.

Little BBQ in some ways is your typical child. He wiggles all the time and his attention span is short, but when he focuses his attention he can learn a lot in a short period of time. I taught him to multiply by using what I call the bucket system. I told Little BBQ that he has a choice: (a) the first number can be a bucket and the second number can be the number of beans or (b) the first number can be the number of beans and the second number can be the number of buckets.

He told me that he preferred option ‘b,’ so from here my example will use the second number in a problem as a “bucket” and the first number represents the number of beans needed.

For this simple method a child sets up buckets that need to filled with a certain number of beans. For example, 4 x 5 would require 5 “buckets” filled with 4 beans.

Little BBQ used a tablespoon to fill up his buckets because he is a very hands on learner. After working several different problems he quickly began to pick up a pattern. Within 20 minutes he was able to deduce all of the twos times tables and recite them. We have used this method with numbers up to 13 successfully.

Homeschool Mother's Journal 10/21/2011-11/4/2011

2011-11-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

We have been doing lots of partying lately. I love this time of year with all the fun parties that the kids get to attend, and we even hosted a party ourselves! We very rarely host parties, so this was a fun treat. We hosted a Halloween/El Dia De Los Muertos party. The kids had a blast. We did sugar skull decorating and made marigold necklaces from flowers from my garden. To prepare for the party I did a deep fall scrubbing on my house. I washed the floors, baseboards, walls, and cabinets. Even my oven is clean right now! I am loving having a super clean house. Now I just need to get a little more organized, and I will be a happy woman.

In our homeschool this week…

We have actually been picking up some history which is great. We got a cool nonfiction book from the library called, Toys! Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions by Don Wulffson. Little BBQ for once has not been fighting me on history. I am working on easing him into history lesson for awhile now, and he has resisted, so I decided to change strategies and teach history about things that he found interesting. I figure in our pre-k year we can splurge and spend time on odd and fun history.

I am inspired by…

We went to our friend's El Dia De Los Muertos party, and I was really inspired by her cool decorations and pinata. I did not decorate much for our party, but it was neat to see her interpretation of the holiday especially since the holiday has so much meaning for her because her first daughter was still born on El Dia De Los Muertos. As she elegantly put things in her facebook status, her baby has her own special holiday.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We were suppose to be a field trip today, but Little BBQ is sick so we stayed home instead. We have, however, gotten out of the house a lot lately. We went on a nature hike a few weeks ago which was a lot of fun. We have also been bowling with our homeschooling group twice which is another fun every other week event. We also did our Halloween tradition with one our friends. We bring over a big turkey to their house and enjoy a big meal together after a full night of trick or treating. Little BBQ was a tree fairy. I made the costume myself. Miss Bubbles was a pink dinosaur. Both kids looked so cute.

My favorite thing this week was…

My favorite thing this week was our Halloween/El Dia De Los Muertos party. I made all the food vegan friendly since we have so many vegans in our homeschooling group. I loved seeing all the sugar skulls that the kids decorated.

Things I’m working on…

I am working on a care package for two friends right now. One of my friends just got divorced, and the other found out that her baby has an enlarged heart. Both will be getting a care package soon.

I’m reading…

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Issacson. I am really enjoying the book. I never knew that Einstein had a daughter out of wed lock with his wife before they got married. I am surprised by the great length that the scientist went to keep this a secret.

I’m cooking…

As usual I am cooking lots of things. I made four different types of Povitica, which is a Eastern European bread. I made the traditional walnut filling, chocolate strawberry filling, pear apple butter filling, and raspberry filling. I also made lots of vegan goodies that I am working on blogging about in my cooking blog as well. Currently, there is an excellent smelling roast in my crockpot which is perfect for a day with a sick kid.

I’m grateful for…

I'm grateful for my healthy family.

I’m praying for…

I am praying for my friend's sick baby. Her daughter has been transfered to a hospital in a larger city where I am hoping that the doctors can figure out what is going on with her daughter. I am praying for my mom to a new job as a public school teacher. She went on two interviews this week, so I am hopeful that she will get a new job.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Our vegan Halloween party!

El Dia De Los Muertos Toddler Craft

2011-11-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

This year our family threw the annual homeschool Halloween party at our house. To add a twist to the party I also made the party an El Dia De Los Muertos party as well since there are always tons of Halloween events every year. For a very brief background on El Dia De Los Muertos please visit my other blog here.

Since the party had toddlers to high school students, I wanted to include some toddler crafts at the party as well. I decided to make Q-tip skeletons from the blog Bee in Our Bonnet that I originally saw on Pinterest. No one at the party actually completed a Q-tip skeleton, but I did do the project later with Miss Bubbles. This was one of her first experiences with glue, so it turned into a messay affiar, but we had a lot of fun.

Elephant study using Elephants Can Paint Too!

2011-10-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

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Little BBQ chose the book Elephants can Paint Too! by Katya Arnold at the library. I decided to turn this short and easy nonfiction book into a small unit study for him. Elephants can Paint Too! is appropriate for early elementary school students. The book will capture the imagination of young children as the elephants in the book learn how to paint just like humans. The book has lots of elephant facts spaced through out the book without reading like a dry textbook. For our small unit study I read the book to Little BBQ first just to enjoy the book. I did not stress the facts sprinkled in the book. I just let him enjoy the book. Then, we visited the web-site, The Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project, that the book was benefiting. The conservation project helps rescue Asian elephants that are on the endangered species list. We read the profiles of various elephants in the project, and we admired their paintings. To teach Little BBQ computer skills we copied some of the pictures on our computer, and I taught him how to make layers on GIMP (a free version of photoshop.) I have chosen not to include this photo on this post because the elephant painting images are copyrighted.

We also watched videos of the elephants painting. Next, Little BBQ mimicked elephant paintings.

Then, Little BBQ reread the book to me and he dictated to me the facts in the book while I wrote them down on a piece of paper.

Finally, we found the locations of all of the Asian elephants on a globe and colored a map of Asia where the elephants were located.

Mothers Homeschool Journal 10/30/11 - 10/14/11

2011-10-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

We have had a busy past two weeks. I have been working on canning apples and grapes. We are finished with the grapes now, but we will still have some more apples to can. I am looking forward to a break.
In our homeschool this week…

We have had a busy two weeks. Last week we went to a corn maze and pumpkin patch with our homeschool group. The corn maze was huge with intricate patterns of a pumpkin, owl, witch, and other designs. The pumpkin patch was also very large. We were allowed to take home a medium sized pumpkin (I love living in area where pumpkins grow abundantly.) This week I organized an event in our homeschooling group to go on a hike along a river. I made a last minute decision to put together this event because we had an Indian summer at the beginning of the week which was fabulous. A lot more people showed up than I previously thought would show up.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Go outside as often as you can. Good weather does not last forever, so you want to enjoy it while it is here.

I am inspired by…

I am inspired by the leaves changing color outside. I have finally got into the fall spirit. I finally stopped lusting after the summer that has passed, and I am now fully enjoying the fall that is here. I am a summer baby, and I have never lived somewhere summer is so short, so I find myself feeling like summer never go started around here. I am slowly learning to adapt to my environment. I am focused on schooling the kids, wrapping up canning, and throwing our homeschool Halloween party.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We visited the corn maze and a park along the river. I think it has been for our kids to see some of the same kids over and over again. We were supposed to go to another pumpkin patch yesterday, but the event got cancelled due to rain.

My favorite thing this week was…

Dr. Lazy Palate and I were discussing what to get the kids for Christmas. I mentioned that I wanted to get Little BBQ a keyboard because he has been taking in interest in piano, but I did not think that we would be able to fit a piano into our budget. Coincidently, Dr. Lazy Palate and I were looking at dressers on Craigslist to try and modify for Miss Bubbles to turn into a doll house when we found a good condition organ on Craigslist for free. We contacted the gentleman, and he even delivered the organ to our house. The organ came with a bench, a light, and all the manuals. We plan to surprise Little BBQ with the organ for his birthday. It is amazing how life just works out sometimes.

What’s working/not working for us…

Little BBQ finally seems to be enjoying reading. He used to fight me when I mentioned sitting down and reading. Today he sat down with me to read three books including one longer book. I am very happy with his progress. With nonfiction he seems to be coming around there as well. He fought me on doing some activities based on a very short nonfiction book that he picked from the library. I wanted him to practice picking out facts out of a nonfiction book. I do the writing for him since he is a slow and messy writer, so I did not bog him down with handwriting, and he fought me. We ended up putting the activity down for a day. After discussing why he did not want to finish his school work with Dr. Lazy Palate, he told Dr. Lazy Palate that he did not like the book. I do not know what changed Little BBQ’s mind because the next day he reread the nonfiction book and picked out the facts for me write down. Then, he was upset when we returned the library book to the library. Sometimes it just takes time.

Questions/thoughts I have…

Please show me your best Halloween crafts, food, games, and decoartions!

Things I’m working on…

I finished canning grapes this week. We made Concord grape juice concentrate and grape jelly. Both are fantastic. I love grape juice. This just leaves apples to can for the season. I am switching my focus from canning to our homeschool Halloween party.

I’m reading…

I am still reading Chiles to Chocolate. I am almost finished with the book. I have been focused on so many other things that I have not had much time to read lately.

I’m cooking…

My cooking group this month made mu-hsu pork, Chinese pancakes, and hoisin sauce which came out amazing. The hoisin sauce was the best hoisin sauce that I have ever tasted. The sauce had the perfect sweet and spicy combination. Plus, the sauce was super simple to make. I can see myself making the hoisin sauce again with stir fry for a fast meal. I also made ground cherry pie filling from our ground cherries in the garden. The ground cherries taste like pineapple, and they are very easy to grow in the garden. They were Miss Bubble’s favorite thing that we grew in the garden this year. I also made a fruit kimchi which was spicy and excellent. I like the spicy fruit kimchi for breakfast. Lastly, I made a moussaka or Greek lasagna from garden produce for the freezer, so I can have some easy nights of cooking.

I’m grateful for…

I am grateful that I live somewhere with fall foliage.

Mothers Homeschool Journal 9/16/2011 - 9/30/2011

2011-09-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

In the past two weeks we have finally fallen into a homeschool groove. Little BBQ has been taking initiative to start some of his school work on his own, and he has chosen to do more educational things during his free time which is a really nice change from my constant nagging and worrying that I am doing enough with Little BBQ.

In our homeschool this week…

We have been doing lots of reading and math because it has been raining outside. Little BBQ will finally sit through books and make predictions about what is going to happen next. I am excited to see his reading comprehension grow. He asked to take a break from addition problems to learn subtraction. I was surprised when I showed him to subtract that he was able to do it correctly with bean counters after me showing him just one time. He now takes out his addition and subtraction flash cards and works out the problems by himself out loud. I can hear that he is getting the answers correct. I am pleased with his progress.

I am inspired by…

I have been really inspired by all the wonderful things that I see in pinterest. I have been saving ideas, photographs, and articles on topics that we are covering now and topics that we will cover in the future in our homeschool. I have also found lots more books that I want to read. I also found a fairy costume that looks fairly easy to make for Little BBQ's halloween costume this year.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We went to visit our friend’s farm this week to help them install some math and language software on their computers. Last week we went to the park with our homeschooling group. It was nice to get outside on one of the few nice days that we have had. I have also enjoyed seeing Little BBQ grow socially. He used to be socially awkward and have trouble making friends, but lately something just clicked with him socially. He has no problems walking up to other kids and asking them if they want to play.

My favorite thing this week was…

I enjoyed getting out of the house last week to have dinner with a friend. It was nice to get away and be an adult for a few hours. I am also looking forward to working on Little BBQ’s Halloween costume tonight with my craft group that meets about once a month. Little BBQ wants to a yellow and orange fairy while Miss Bubbles wants to a pink dinosaur.

What’s working/not working for us…

Little BBQ seems to be resisting listening to music right now. I am not sure what to do about it. He requested piano music from the library last week, but now he refuses to listen to the CD. I have tried to put the music on in the background while doing other activities, but he does not want to listen to that CD. The only music he wants to listen to right now is pure moods.

Things I’m working on…

I am working on Little BBQ’s Halloween costume. I enjoy making the kids costumes. I am also in the process of compiling a list of the DIY projects that I want to complete before Christmas. So far on my list is to make more felt board pieces, decorating some cloth bags to use as grift wrap for Christmas, and to make a dress up center for the kids.

I’m reading…

Chilis to Chocolate: Food the America’s Gave Us edited by Nelson Foster and Linda S. Cordell. The book is a series of essays on native food from America. I stumbled upon the book at our local library which was a coincidence because Little BBQ had told me that he wants to grow his own garden next year. I wanted to do something that lined up with our homeschool studies, so I was considering having him grow a Native American garden next year. This book has been a lot of fun to read about the different foods grown here in America and how the foods have changed over time. For example, amaranth used to grow only 1-2 feet high, but now the stalks grow 6-8 feet high!

I’m cooking…

I am always cooking lots of things during this time of year. Last weekend we smoked a brisket on the grill and we made the leftovers into chili which I am going to enter into a virtual chili contest. I have also been canning a lot. This week I canned plum sauce, plum butter, watermelon jam, canned whole tomatoes, and apple pear butter. Canning season is winding down after apples, and I am looking forward to a break.

I’m grateful for…

I am grateful for all the wonderful produce that we were able to can this year. This winter will be a real treat with all of our fun canned foods that we made.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

I have started using homeschool skedtrack to document our homeschooling. I like that the program is free on-line and very easy to use. I have been documenting our homeschool on pen and paper, but I also like knowing that our records are also in another location if something ever happens to our house.

I have also been inspired by seasonal bucket lists, so I decided to make my own. I love fall.

Mothers Homeschool Journal 9/16/2011

2011-09-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

Wow it has been a very busy few weeks. We spent a day in Indianapolis. We went to the Scottish Rite Cathedral which has beautiful architecture and stained glass. We also went back to the Conservatory. We took a very short vacation to Michigan a few weeks ago. We have now seen Lake Michigan from the Illinois side, the Indiana side, and the Michigan side. We like the Michigan side the best. I climbed another sand dune while Dr. Lazy Palate and Miss Bubbles only made it about 25% of the way up. Little BBQ did eventually climb up the sand dune to watch the sunset with me, but in reality he was more excited to roll down the sand dune. Other than our short vacation our life has been filled with lots of canning. We have been canning peaches and tomatoes. Today we get 3 bushels of apples from a local orchard, so we will be canning tomatoes and apples next week. We are also making chili all week next week for freezer meals. We will be making several different variety of chili to give us some easy freezer meals.

In our homeschool this week…

Our homeschooling group has been revived after a turnaround in the leaders in the group. Everyone seemed enthusiastic, so I hope this enthusiasm continues and field trips actually get planned and executed. I would like to do more as a group. I also hope that some younger kids join the group so Little BBQ has some more kids closer to his age since all the young kids have moved away.

I am inspired by…

I have found Pinterest really inspiring. I like searching for topics that I plan to teach Little BBQ for ideas on activities that we can do since he is very hands on.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

This week we stayed close to home. Tonight we will be going to an open gym at a gymnastics center which is one of our favorite activities.

My favorite thing this week was…

It has been a long few weeks. Last week Miss Bubbles was sick. This week Little BBQ and Dr. Lazy Palate were sick. This has left me running myself ragged trying to keep up with everything. My house is a mess right now. So far my favorite thing this week was harvesting a bunch tomatoes, peppers, okra, and ground cherries out of the garden. I always enjoy working out in the garden outside. Too bad it rained a lot this week, so I did not get to work out in my garden as much as I would have liked.

Things I’m working on…

I have been working on the kid’s felt board. I have made several pieces. The kids seem to love the felt board. Miss Bubbles has used the felt board to learn a lot of different farm animals so everything is not a puppy any more. Little BBQ has finally started using the felt board to tell stories which is why I made the felt board. Now I have Little BBQ begging me to make more pieces.

I’m reading…

I read Intelligence and How to Get It by Richard E. Nisbett which was a great book to read. The book goes into a lot of detail on how we school and things that we do at home can affect intelligence. This book is perfect for a lay person. Nisbett uses a wonderful critical eye to examine the studies in the field and does his best to give a nonbiased report on the latest research. I also read Quirkology by Richard Wiseman, PhD which I really enjoyed. The book covers the psychology of quirky things in life like how to detect a lie, how to tell if someone is really smiling or not, and how superstition affects our society. I am currently reading 1491 by Charles Mann. This book is an alternative history on how Native Americans lived before the arrival of Columbus. The book really resonates well with me. He argues that Native Americans were not merely submissive characters in mother nature’s story but instead they alterned the land and became the master of their own destiny. He argues that the population of the Native Americans was much higher than historians originally thought. He argues that Native Americans routinely practiced controlled burning to keep their land fertile and they planted trees. It seems that their society was a lot more complex than we originally thought.

I’m cooking…

I have been canning tomato soup, ketchup, peach BBQ sauce, tomato consommé, peach sauce, peach pie filling, sugar free peach jam, pizza sauce, and tomato sauce.

I’m grateful for…

Everything.

Microscope pictures of sea shells from Lake Michigan

2011-09-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

Last week we visited Lake Michigan, so Little BBQ picked up a few tiny sea shells at the beach that were perfect for looking at under his microscope. I have had a few questions lately about what type of microscope we use at home. We use a Bresser Junior Digital Hand Microscope that can be purchased at Toys R Us. The microscope has terrible reviews on-line, but we have been very happy with the microscope. The microscope takes pictures at either 20x or 200x zoom. There is no eye piece to look through to focus the image because the image shows up on your computer screen making it much easier for a parent to teach a child how to focus a microscope. There are multiple light settings including white, red (Little BBQ's favorite), and red and white together. To capture an image you just click the blue button on top of the microscope. From there you can save the image to your computer. Little BBQ has found the microscope very easy to use. We use windows, and we have had no problems loading or using the software. For less than $20 I consider this microscope a steal.

Here are some images of his sea shells:

Taken at 20x magnification:

Taken at 200x magnification:

More shells:

Little BBQ's favorite setting with the red light:

Crystal structures and catching CO2 with Sponge Candy

2011-08-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

I really love science, and I love cooking, so it seems natural that I keep teaching Little BBQ lots of science in the kitchen. This time I took my Daring Bakers challenge which was candy this month and turned it into a science experiment for Little BBQ. Sponge candy is a very simple candy to make with lots of interesting science.

Basically sugar is heated to a high temperature where it turns into the “soft ball stage” then baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate [NaHCO3]) is quickly added to the hot sugar. The heat from the hot sugar causes the baking soda to release carbon dioxide bubbles. Then, the candy is quickly cooled and the carbon dioxide bubbles get trapped in the candy and the sugar does not have time to line up into ordered crystal structures. Another trick to sponge candy is that you add an interfering agent that contains high levels of fructose like corn syrup or honey. The interfering agent helps to prevent the sugar from lining up and making hard crystal structures that gives some candy a grainy texture. Instead the sugar will look glassy and disorganized under a microscope.

For our little experiment we took microscope pictures of sugar as our control. Then, we made the sponge candy. We made sure that we had holes in our candy. Then, we placed the sponge candy back under the microscope to see if the sugar had enough time to make organized structures. It appears that we made our sponge candy properly because we found air pockets from the CO2 and glossy, disorganized sugar structures.

Little BBQ got so into this experiment and the science behind it that he wanted to know more, so I drew a picture of sugar at the molecular level. I let him color all the carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms different colors, and we counted how many bonds each atom has connected to it to make general rules about hydrogen bonds, carbon bonds, and oxygen bonds. I am very proud of Little BBQ on this experiment. For the sponge candy recipe, please see my cooking blog post on sponge candy.

More microscope images of sponge candy:

Eric Carle Style Art

2011-08-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

This week when I exploring some new art options for Little BBQ I came across Eric Carle's web-site where he has short videos on how to make the caterpillar found in the Very Hungry Caterpillar. How cool is that? I thought that the technique was a little too difficult for Little BBQ and a few too many steps at this age, so I modified the technique to have few steps for him. The modified technique did not have the rich textures that Eric Carle's caterpillar had, but it was still a lot of fun and came out nice.

For the modified Eric Carle caterpillar technique we used colored tissue paper instead of white. This saved us from taking a white sheet of tissue paper and having to paint it a solid color. I also pre cut the shapes for Little BBQ since I did not think that he had the patience to cut delicate tissue paper without tearing it, so this saved us another step. We taped out caterpillar onto a piece of string to hang on the wall because the caterpillar was too large to fit on a piece of paper, but you can easily glue a smaller caterpillar on a piece of paper.

For reading about caterpillars we read Waiting for Wings by Louis Elhart along with the Very hungry Caterpillar because Waiting for Wings went into more detail about butterfly anatomy and was a little more detailed on the life cycle of butterfly than the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I also like that the book was simple enough for Little BBQ to read out loud to me. The sentences are short and each page contains a single sentence making the reading bite size.

Materials

Colored tissue paper
Scissors
Paint
Dish
Water
Paint brush
Bubble wrap, small piece
String
Tape
Glue
Eye
Marker

Directions

1. Cut the tissue paper into caterpillar parts. You can use circles or another shape for the body and head of a caterpillar. You can have the child do this part if they are gentle and coordinated or you can have an adult do this part.
2. Put a little paint in a dish and add a little water. Mix well.
3. Have the child paint a design on the tissue paper shapes. Eric Carle usually does zig zag lines. My son did blobs.
4. Allow the tissue paper to dry.
5. Add a little more paint and water to a dish and mix well. Use a different color than you did with the first paint.
6. Add dots to the caterpillar parts.
7. Allow to dry.
8. Add a little more paint and water to a dish and mix well. This should be a unique color that has not been used before.
9. Dip the bubble wrap in the paint and stamp the paint on the caterpillar pieces.
10. All the tissue paper to dry.
11. Arrange the caterpillar in the desired order. Flip the pieces over. Measure a string two inches longer than the tissue paper pieces.
12. Tape the tissue paper pieces to the string. Leave 1" on either side of the caterpillar.
13. Flip the caterpillar back over and glue an eye on the head and with a marker draw a mouth.
14. Hang up your creation!

Making Butterflies and Dinosaurs out of Foam

2011-08-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

When Bushka (the kid’s grandmother) comes to visit there is always crafting and decorating occurring. I am not crafty or artsy. I try to provide my kids with crafting and art supplies to expose them to the arts, but I am not too great at taking on craft projects myself. I am not the mom whom has a perfectly coordinated house with cute pillows and handmade curtains and painted storage boxes that perfectly accent the painted closet door. I am the person with a sparsely decorated house with blinds instead of curtains. I do not have the decorating gene either. It seems that anything artistic or musical is completely missing from me, so when my mom comes to visit she always brings with her 10,000 ideas for the kids rooms or craft projects to complete with them.

This time Bushka wanted to make butterflies for Miss Bubble’s room and dinosaurs for Little BBQ’s room. Thankfully this was a fairly straight forward process. She took foam sheets and cut out dinosaur shapes and butterfly shapes. She got patterns from coloring books and from the web. Then, she painted the dinosaurs and butterflies with colors that matched the kid’s curtains that she made. For the butterflies she even added some glitter to add some shine. For some parts of the dinosaurs she made three dimension spots, and she added pipe cleaner antennas to the butterflies. Lastly, she glued on some googol eyes. This fun little project that she completed helped to transform one corner of kid’s room. Here are the results:

Little BBQ's curtain:

Little BBQ's dinosaurs:

Miss Bubble's curtain:

Miss Bubble's butterflies

Thanks mom!

Posted on For the Kids Friday, I'm Loving It, Frugal Friday, Thrilling Thursday,

Homeschool Mothers Journal June and Mid July

2011-07-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

We have been busy this summer, so I have not updated in a while. We have been doing lots of gardening and lots of swimming since it has finally stopped raining here. Little BBQ has been jumping off the diving boards like a pro, and Miss Bubbles has been progressively getting better at swimming. She keeps trying to swim on her own, but she does not have the muscle mass yet to swim on her own. My garden has produced well. I harvested a bunch of carrots this week. My tomato plants are large, and I am waiting for my tomatoes to change color. I got my first three purple bell peppers this week. I am waiting for many more peppers to change color. This week Bushka (AKA grandma) came to visits, so we went to the Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens in Indianapolis, IN. You can read about it here. It was an amazing trip.

In our homeschool this week…

We have been taking a break from schooling to enjoy summer. I have been busy planning for next year. We will be studying the 50 states, so I have been planning some hands on projects to keep Little BBQ interested.

I am inspired by…

Pinterest. I have found some many good ideas on that site. Send me an e-mail at nirvanaandlazy@gmail.com if you would like an invitation. I still have a few left.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We visited the Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens in Indianapolis, IN.

My favorite thing this week was…

Swimming with Bushka and the kids. I enjoy summer. I love the heat and the sun. Swimming is one of my favorite activities.

Things I’m working on…

Canning. Lots of canning. I made glazed carrots, cherries in apple juice, blueberries in apple juice, blueberry butter, blueberry pie filling, cherry Danish sauce, cherry almond jam and cherry pie filling this week. You can follow my canning adventures here on my cooking blog.

I’m reading…

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser which is good, but I am not enjoying as much as I thought that I would. I just read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study by Howard Freeman and Leslie Martin which were both amazing, so I think Fast Food Nation is just having two tuff acts to follow.

I’m cooking…

Lots of different things. I made homemade ravioli, and tonight we are having a roast with rutabagas from the garden.

I’m grateful for…

I am grateful for Bushka coming to visit. I am grateful that everything in my life seems to be falling in place after a rough few years.

Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Garden in Indianapolis

2011-07-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy summer this year. The kid’s grandmother whom prefers to be called Bushka since she is too young to be a grandmother ;) has arrived to visit the children. We decided to take a trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens in Indianapolis, IN. For one dollar you can tour the conservatory on your own for as long as you wish from 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday or from 1 pm to 5 pm on Sunday. The sunken gardens are open from 10 am to 9 pm from April 23 to October 11^th and 10 am to 5 pm from October 21^st to April 22^nd.

I consider this trip to be a bargain. The conservatory has an amazing array of different tropical plants that are all picture perfect. The conservatory has beautiful landscaping with small little ponds and waterfalls. Because the plants are all tropical, it is a very hot and humid location, so I would recommend wearing shorts when you visit. My words can not relish enough praise upon this fabulous location. I think pictures can do more justice to this amazing place. Here are some of our favorite pictures from the conservatory:

Unfortunately, we went to the conservatory first, then we went outside into the sunken gardens. While the sunken gardens were nice, according to Bushka, “they sunk” compared to the elaborate conservatory that puts you inside of a tropical paradise. The sunken gardens are a nice formal garden with nice blooming flowers in large patches, but they just don’t compare to the amazing conservatory. Overall, I recommend anyone visiting Indianapolis to take a trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory. For one dollar you are getting an amazing deal.

Some pictures taken by Little BBQ (he has improved a lot):

Cheap and Easy Bathtub Paint

2011-06-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

One of my friends posted a great idea for bathtub paint on Pinterest. The original idea came from Meet the Dubiens. The idea was so simple that I was kicking myself for never thinking of it before. To make easy bathtub paint just add a few drops of food coloring to shaving cream. We have tried to play with shaving cream in the bath tub before, but Miss Bubbles and Little BBQ were never that interested. I guess white shaving cream on a white bathtub wall is just not that enchanting, but when you add color the shaving cream it is a whole new story. Both kids were excited and loved painting on the bathtub walls with the colored shaving cream. The best part is that it is much cheaper than buying expensive bath tub paint from the store. Miss Bubbles has painted in the bath tub twice today, and I am thankful that this is much easier to clean up after than her usual painting adventures. I call this activity a double win for me and the kids on this gloomy rainy day.

Posted on For The Kids Friday

Mothers Homeschool Journal 5/27/11 ad 6/3/11

2011-06-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

Once again I will be covering two weeks. Last week I was so busy canning strawberries that I did not have a chance to update my blog. We have been doing a lot of things lately since the weather has finally started getting nicer. We visited Traders Point Creamery two weekends ago. We did the self guided tour and sampled some cheese and yogurt. You can read more about that adventure in my blog post about the field trip. We also picked strawberries last week. I am so excited for strawberry season. I love the ruby red fruit that welcomes summer weather. I took Miss Bubbles to a free art festival in our town to see some excellent works of art. Our town pool opened, so we have been enjoying going to the pool. Little BBQ has been going off the diving board. My garden has been very productive over the past few weeks. I have harvest lots of greens. I have also been canning like crazy. So far I have pressure canned pork broth, beef broth, and asparagus. I have boiling water canned strawberry syrup, strawberry rhubarb jam, strawberries in red wine, chocolate strawberry sauce, strawberry preserves, and strawberry BBQ sauce.

In our homeschool this week…

We have been working on adding double digit numbers and reading. I am so excited that Dr. Lazy Palate has come on board with reading to Little BBQ. I think Little BBQ loves when dad reads to him. We have also signed our entire family up for the summer reading program at the library. Our library even has an adult program which I think is so cool.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We have been doing lots of traveling around these past two weeks. We went to Traders Point Creamery, the art festival, the pool, and an orchard to pick strawberries.

My favorite thing this week was…

My favorite thing was taking the kids to the pool for the first time this season. It was really awesome to watch Little BBQ go off the diving board. Miss Bubbles also swam her heart out. She wants to swim independently, but she does not have the muscle strength yet, so I give her the bare minimum amount of support that she needs to maneuver herself in the water.

What’s working/not working for us…

Dad reading to Little BBQ is working really for us. It has doubled the amount of books that we can read in a day which is excellent.

Questions/thoughts I have…

I love summer!

Things I’m working on…

I am working on lots of canning projects. I am also working on making cheese. I have made paneer and whey ricotta this week. I am going to work on some goat cheese next.

Books I’m reading…

I finished The New Terrarium this week. It was a great read. I really enjoyed reading about plants that can grow in a terrarium. I think I am going to have Little BBQ make a terrarium this year as one of our science projects. I am also reading Liberty Defined by Ron Paul. I really like that Ron Paul is really transparent about his beliefs as a Congressman. He outlines his beliefs then he defends his beliefs. I really like that he is consistent. Consistent is something that I strive to be in my own beliefs.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Here are some links to artists that Miss Bubbles and I really enjoyed at the art festival.

Gary Love: landscape photography
Paul M. Jeselskis: pottery
Diane Overmyer: oil and pastel paintings

Field Trip to Traders Point Creamery

2011-06-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

This is one family field trip that I was really excited about. Traders Point Creamery stated selling at our local farmers market last summer, and I was really excited that we finally had more than just spotty access to the only grass fed and organic creamery in the country. Our small town had a small mom and pop grocery store that carried their milk sometimes; the grocery store said that their shipments from Traders Point Creamery were not always reliable so sometimes they had milk from them and sometimes they didn’t.

My family has been on many farms. Dr. Lazy Palate’s best friend growing up was a dairy farmer, so he is familiar with dairy farms. We knew for the most part all you were going to see on a tour was animals out in pastures which are always exciting for the kids especially Miss Bubbles who has associated cows with the sound, “mooo.” However, we were a bit disappointed with the tour. We took the self-guided tour ($2 for adults and free for children under 3) on a rainy muggy day since neither one of our kids were going to walk nicely for a guided tour after sitting the car after a long drive.

We were hoping to see more than just animals. We were hoping to see where the cheese was made and to find out a little more about their cheese making. However, there was only a little small room where you could look inside to see some of the cheese making equipment, but due to the weather the window had a lot of condensation build up so we could not see inside the cheese making room.

There are a few other cons of Traders Point Creamery as well. Traders Point Creamery milk is very expensive. For one quart of milk it costs $4.00. That makes the milk $12 a gallon. Commercial organic milk that is not grass fed here costs $6 a gallon, so that is double in price. Outside of price, another frustration that I have with Traders Point Creamery is that they buy milk from other local farmers and resell it under their label. I find it a bit frustrating that I am paying that much money for milk that is not necessarily from Traders Point Creamery. Luckily, an Amish farm has recently started selling milk at our farmers market. Their milk is 100% grass fed and uncertified organic. One gallon of milk costs $6 or $5 if you join their milk share program. This is much more economical, and I have not noticed a difference in taste between their milk and Traders Point Creamery. I have also made cheese with both milks, and I have not had trouble with either. My last source of frustration with Traders Point Creamery is that they do not offer a buyback program for their glass bottles. They sell their milk in a beautiful glass quart bottle. The bottle is very thick glass and very sturdy. Other dairies in our area charge you a deposit when you buy the milk for the glass bottle. Then when you return the bottle you get your deposit back. We have requested numerous times that Traders Point Creamery should offer a similar program, but the response back that we have heard is that they feel their customers are already environmentally minded and will recycle their glass bottles on their own. I know for a fact that not everyone is recycling their glass bottles. We live in a town where you have to pay a hefty amount of money for recycling, so we know some people are penny pitching right now and are just tossing their bottles in the garbage to save on costs.

On the upside of the tour we did get to see a mother pig nurse her babies which both kids enjoyed. We also got to see a one day old calf. It is amazing how large the calf was for one day. Delivering a human baby looks like a cake walk compared to delivering a baby calf. We also got to sample some of their maple yogurt which was good. The yogurt was sweet and creamy. We also tried some of their Fromage Blanc cheese which was fantastic. The cheese was spreadable, creamy, and rich. It is no surprise that Traders Point Creamery has fantastic cheese because they have master cheese makers like Fons Smits on staff¹. Fons Smits started the creamery line for Traders Point Creamery¹. Before working at Traders Point Creamery he set up dairy factories in Tanzania¹. He also assisted with opening dairies in Asia and Europe¹. He was also the developer of Mt. Tam, a cheese produce by Cowgirl Creamery¹. It is clear that Traders Point Creamery knows how to hire excellent talent and produce excellent cheese.

The self-guided tour is a bargain if you have never been to a farm before. However, many famers will allow you to tour their farm for free. Many farmers will even give you a guided tour for free, so it might be best contact one of your local farmers to see if they are open to letting you tour their farm. Many farmers are excited to give you a tour of farm to promote healthy eating to show people exactly where their food comes from.

At this point my feeling on Traders Point Creamery is neutral. I love that they are trying to provide grass fed milk to customers. I think that more people need to drink more milk from grass fed cows because cows that are on a 100% grass fed diet contain 5 times the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than feed lot cows². Milk is the primary source for a human to get CLA since beef provides very little CLA². Conjugated linoleic acid helps protect the heart and helps aid in weight loss². To get CLA in milk you have to drink whole milk since CLA is a fat soluble compound; many scientists argue that the health benefits of CLA outweigh the downside of saturated fat found in whole milk². Given these health benefits I hope that more grass fed dairies open up in the future. If Traders Point Creamery is the only option that you have for grass fed milk, then I would highly recommend them. However, if you can find a more cost effective method for getting grass fed milk, then I would go this route. Our family has made the choice to primarily buy from a competing dairy that is uncertified organic to save on costs.

¹ Helwg, Richard. The Complete Guide to Making Cheese, Butter, and Yogurt at Home: Everything you Need to Know Explained Simply. Atlantic Publishing Group Inc. 2010. p83

² Peeples, Lynne. “Is Milk from Grass-fed Cows more Heart-healthy?” Reuters. Accessed June 3, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/28/us-milk-grass-fed-cows-idUSTRE64R5GY20100528

Homeschool Mother's Journal 5/20/2011

2011-05-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

This week was a nice slow week. Little BBQ seems to be maturing in some ways. He helped me clean up this week without screaming and yelling which was a nice change. He also put himself down for a nap one day this week which is also a nice change since he usually does anything he can to stay awake. I know he is getting tired when he starts begging for carbohydrates. I made some pork broth and pressure canned it for later. I have been buys collecting up recipes that we want to try for canning this year. This year we will be pressure canning on top of boiling water canning so this opens up options for us like canned corn and peas. I am really hoping that the tomatoes in my garden do well so I can have lots of canned tomatoes. I got paranoid of tomato blight this week and put down more nonfat dry milk and egg shells around the tomatoes to prevent tomato blight. I hear that tomato blight is really bad around here, so I want to try and prevent it if I can. My lettuce is growing like crazy. My European salad mix section looks like a fancy salad bar. One of my pea plants has its first flower on it, so that is exciting. Little BBQ has also been building lots of houses which I really love seeing him being creative.

In our homeschool this week…

We have been doing lots of reading and working on our soroban abacus. Little BBQ seems to be more comfortable adding numbers up to 9 on the soroban, so next week we might try adding double digit numbers.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We didn’t go anywhere special this week except for the library which is always nice. We are very fortunate that the librarians are tolerant of Miss Bubbles running around the library sitting on all the big chairs while I get more books and Little listens to books on the computers. We also went to a garage sale today. For $13 we got Miss Bubbles some dresses in the next size up since she seems to be in a growth spurt. I was hoping to find her more outfits to sleep in, but we did not find any sleepers for her.

My favorite thing this week was…

My favorite thing this week was watching a movie with Dr. Lazy Palate last night. We haven’t had a lot of downtime together lately, so it was nice to just relax.

What’s working/not working for us…

I think we are finally falling into a rhythm that is working for us.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I am crossing my fingers that the warm weather stays.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

This is a random project that Little BBQ made for me. I allow him free access to art supplies, and he just randomly sat down and made this for me. I love when gets a random spurt of creativity.

Book: My Friends the Flowers

2011-05-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

I love the flowers of spring. Spring this year is even more exciting because we are living in a new location, and that means new flowers. Last year Miss Bubbles was still little and could not tolerate being outside much, so we did only small chunks of time outside. This year Miss Bubbles is bigger, and we have a backyard, so we are spending lots of time outside. One of my favorite things that I did as a child was to press flowers and make collages out of them.

I decided that it was time to let Little BBQ enjoy this favorite past time of mine. Last week we picked flowers from the backyard, then we placed them between newspapers and put them under some heavy boxes. One week later we had some nicely pressed flowers. To give Little BBQ some inspiration we read the book, My Friends the Flowers. The book used a lot of personification to give personalities to the flowers. Then, in the back of the book there was a small identification guide for flowers. Most of the flowers in the back of the book we did not find in our backyard, but it was still fun to look at the pictures of the flowers.

After reading the book, I let Little BBQ make his collage. I was thinking that this was going to be a 2 dimensional project, but Little BBQ decided to stack the flowers individually on top of each other and glue them that way. It is funny sometimes how I envision an art project and how Little BBQ interprets the project in a completely different way.

Addition with a Soroban Abacus

2011-05-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Soroban Abacus; Shown is the number 123456789 (zero is represented with all the beads pushed toward the sides)

Early on I decided that I wanted to teach Little BBQ how to add using an abacus, so I always assumed that I was going to either buy or make an abacus with 10 beads per column since we use a base ten system in our society. However, when I started reading, Here's Looking at Euclid by Alex Bellos, I started to change my mind. He made some sound arguments that our brains can quickly differentiate between 1, 2, and 3 items but as we go higher in the number scale it becomes harder and harder for your brain to process more than three (p 14).

It seems that many ancient cultures understood this phenominon. You can see from the diagram below that the Chinese, Romans, and Idians all used dash marks for numbers 1, 2, and 3, but once you got past 3 they changed the symbol to another unqiue symbol in order to quickly distinguish the higher number (p 14).

Armed with this new found perspective I decided that an abacus with 10 beads did not make sense because Little BBQ would not be able to quickly distinguish the difference between 6 beads or 7 beads. I wanted the abacus to be an efficient tool for learning, and not a source of frustration. Many modern abacuses designed for children use brightly colored beads to distinguish the different numbers, but I still think that fewer beads will allow for faster processing.

I decided that a soroban abacus made the most sense. The soroban abacus uses five beads per column. By adding an extra horizontal line bisecting the columns you can quickly represnt the numbers 0-9 on one column. The soroban abacus was used between the seventh and nineth centuries in Japan to accomidate a new merchant class of people who needed to be able to quickly add numbers (p 40). To ease the transition between the abacus and the electronic world an abacus attached to an electronic calculator was sold in Japan for many years (p 41). Interestingly, addition is still quicker with an abacus than an electronic calculator since the answer to an addition problem is in front of you as soon as you input the values while the calculator still needs to be told to process the information to come up with an answer (p 40). The efficiency of the abacus is probably why it is still a popular tool studied in Japan today by school children who form after school clubs to compete in adding a long series of numbers as quickly as possible using a soroban abacus (pp 40-41).

When a student becomes an soroban abacus master, he can move on to azan. Azan is a technique for visualizing a soroban abacus to quickly add numbers. Proficient pupils in azan can add a series of 15 numbers quicker than a person can use an abacus, pen and paper, or calculator. The catch is that each number is only shown for 0.2 seconds (p 42). That is hardly long enough to process the number on the screen. Azan students keep a visual soroban abacus in their head and when a new number is flashed the student visually moves the beads on the soroban abacus around in his head keeping a running tally of the sumation (p 42).

Interestingly, nueral imaging studies have shown that adding with soroban abacus stimulates areas of the brain that are associated with visuospatial processing while pen and paper addition stimulates areas of the brain that are associated with linguisting processing. In other words, the abacus uses the right side of the brain while the pen and paper method uses the left side of the brain. The soroban abacus is an excellent learning tool for visual students.

Want to really stimulate your brain? Some Japanses students can play shiritori while practicing azan (p 43). Shiritori is a word game where the first person says a word then the next person says a word that starts with the last syllable of the original word and then the first person makes a new word using the last syllable of the second word. The game continues on in this pattern. Bellos gives this demonstration of a young Japanese girl who is a soroban prodigy while she plays shiritori. In the demonstartion the girl is shown 30 three digit numbers during a 20 second time period while playing shiritori (p 43). Her shiritori dialogue with another student is shown in the text below

Ringo
Gorira (gorilla)
Rappa (trumpet)
Panda (panda bear)
Dachou (ostrich)
Ushi (cow)
Shika (deer)
Karasu (crow)
Suzume (sparrow)
Medaka (killifish)
Kame (turtle)
Medama yaki (fried egg)

At the end of the 20 seconds the girl states that the summation of the 20 numbers is 17,602 (p 43).

Given the sucess of soroban abacus training, I have decided to teach Little BBQ addition using a soroban abacus. To make the experience more person for him, we made our own soroban abacus out of a card board box.

Materials

card board box, lid removed
paint
ruler
knife or scissors
string
breads
tape

Procedure

1. Have the student paint the card board box.
2. Decide how many columns you want the abacus to contain. Cut notches into the top and bottom flaps of the cardboard box equal distance apart for the set number of columns that you chose (we made our abacus with nine colums all 3.2 cm apart).
3. Cut the string to stretch across each the box from one notch to the other. Place 5 beads on each string. Insert the string in the notches and tape the string to the box. Continue in this pattern until all the columns are finished.
4. Make two notches on the sides perpendicular to the columns. These notches should be close to the top of the box but far enough away from the edge so one bead can comfortably fit abvoe the string line. We decided to use a red string to distinguish this line from the columns in our soroban.
5. Insert the string in the notches perpendicular to the columns. Tape the string.

Posted on Tutorial Tuesday

All references are from the book:

Homeschool Mother's Journal #17

2011-05-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

We had a lot of fun. We had 2 fires outside which both kids loved. Little BBQ climbed his first tree. We made pork broth to pressure can for later. I made gumbo for the first time with homemade sausage. I had my first garden harvest of some greens, and Miss Bubbles picked me some pretty flowers. Miss Bubbles is saying words like, “ball,” “more,” “thank you,” and “pizza.”

In our homeschool this week…

We made an abacus to learn addition. I love the visual method of an abacus. Little BBQ seems to be picking up counting with abacus quickly, so we are going to attempt addition with the abacus this week. We also found out that Little BBQ will be allowed to join the swim team this summer even though he is technically 6 months too young to join. He has been lap swimming since age 2 with me, so I am excited that he can finally practice with some kids closer to his age.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We went to Lake Michigan for mother’s day. It was wonderful. The beach was not too crowded yet, and we climbed on top of some sand dunes. We ate an excellent Italian restaurant. The rest of the week we stayed close to home to relax and enjoy the sunshine. Today we went to the farmers market where we got purple asparagus for $3.00, apple mint for $1.00, bok choy for $2.00, green asparagus for $3.00, raw milk for $4.00, and chocolate milk for $8.00.

My favorite thing this week was…

Mother’s day! It was a fun day. My family had been itching to go to the beach since we used to go for the day in April before spring break when we lived on the east coast, but the Midwest does not have any salt water beaches, and April was cold. It would have been nice to be able to spend more time in the water, but it was still a blast and the bugs were not out in full force yet.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I am in full planning mode for next year. We are taking a tour of the United States! We will be studying each state in depth. Since Little BBQ wants to be a chef, we will be making a recipe from each state that will be showcased on my cooking blog. I would like to know, is there anything unique that your state is known for or any unique recipes?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

The flowers Miss Bubbles picked for me.

Homeschool Mother's Journal #15 & 16

2011-05-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

I did not write up a review of last week, so this week I am going to include a reflection of this week and last week.

In my life this week…

Last week was spent recovering from Dr. Lazy Palate's overseas trip where he came back sick. We got to visit some friend's on their farm. The boys got to play together, and I picked up a half a pig. Over the weekend we decided to take a trip to Indianapolis to have some good quality family time. We visited the Indiana Medical History Museum which was a lot of fun. The museum turned out to be a hidden gem; I would recommend that anyone visit this museum.

The boys on the farm

This week, one of our vehicles had "catastrophic brake failure." These are not words that you want to hear your mechanic utter under any circumstances. The brakes failed while Dr. Lazy Palate was driving to work. Thankfully, he was able to get the vehicle to a repair place without hitting anything or breaking any traffic laws. The even better news is that the cost to completely replace the breaks was less than we had anticipated, so that was a sigh of relief on all fronts. At home the kids and I worked on expanding the garden to plant 12 tomato plants. I still need to further expand the garden to hold another 6 tomato plants and 6 bell pepper plants.

In our homeschool this week…

We have been focusing on reading and playing outside whenever possible. We have been digging for earth worms and making observations. We have been painting with pine needles and letting Miss Bubbles have her first painting experience. I have been research methods for teaching math. I have been making close observations about Little BBQ to understand how he learns, so I can prepare myself to teach him math.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We went to the our friend's farm and the Indiana Medical History Museum last week. This week we stayed close to home since we only had 1 vehicle. We did, however, find a beautiful blue robin's egg in our backyard which was an unexpected treat.

My favorite thing this week was…

My favorite thing last week was visiting the Indiana Medical History Museum. My favorite thing this week was painting with pine needles. I enjoyed watching Little BBQ explore using the unusual paintbrush.

What’s working/not working for us…

I think things are really tranquil in our lives right now which is great considering how stressful things could have turned out.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I am grateful that the week ended on a positive note.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

I want to share a blog post from my friend. She is a very inspiring person. Her and her husband are building their own small house on their farm. I am impressed with her hard work, dedication, and ingenuity. She gives tips on how to frugally build your own house.

Painting with Pine Needles

2011-05-06T10:39:00.001-07:00

We are trying to incorporate more outdoor art in our days since it is finally becoming nice outside. This week I decided to let the kids paint outside. Little BBQ painted with pine needles and Miss Bubbles had her finger painting experience. Little BBQ was apprehensive to use pine needles as his paint brush at first. He he looked at me kind of funny when I told him that we were going to paint with the pine needles. I showed him on a piece of paper how I painted with pine needles, then he got really into painting with the pine needles. He experimented with a splatter painting technique, and he experimented with using the needles like a regular paint brush. It was fun to watch him experiment and create.

Miss Bubbles did not grasp the concept that I gave her paint to paint on the paper. Instead she mainly painted herself even I took her paint filled finger and placed it on the paper. She preferred to be a living piece of art instead. She really had an interest in painting her knees. I was also thankful that I decided to take off her dress and put a disposable diaper on her since she got so messy, but it was fun. After she painted herself, she got distracted and wanted to run through the grass in the yard. I love warm spring days when we can freely explore art and nature.

Miss Bubbles

The Finished Product

Field Trip: Indiana Medical History Museum

2011-05-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

Our family decided randomly to take a day to trip to Indianapolis to visit the Indiana Medical History Museum, and we are glad that we did. The museum is nestled in a rougher part of Indianapolis. In fact when we were driving there we were wondering if we wrote down the directions wrong or if we got the wrong address, but sure enough the museum was actually there inside of a fenced in property on a run down side of Indy. The museum is housed in an old pathology building built in 1895. The building was part of the very large Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane that at one point treated between 3,000-3,500 people at one time.

The museum costs $5 for adults, $1 for children 6-18, free for children under 6, and $3 for university students. The museum is open from 10 am – 4 pm Thursday through Saturday with the last guided tour starting at 3 pm. Group tours of 10 or more are allowed on Wednesday-Saturdays if scheduled in advance. Everyone who enters the museum will receive a guided tour because the museum curators do not allow people to walk around by themselves. The museum was well worth the money. There are many artifacts and the curators know a lot of information and are more than willing to share what they know.

The museum mainly houses pathology equipment, but it does house some other medical related artifacts like an infant iron lung or negative pressure ventilator to treat polio (poliomyelitis) when patients become paralyzed and are unable to breath by themselves.

infant iron lung

The building also houses a seated auditorium where medical students listened to lectures. Older medical institutions had standing lecture halls where students would stand while listening to medical lectures.

auditorium

Once a person enters the pathology building, they had already passed away, and they were there to have their body dissected to determine the cause of death and to perform any research. A body would be placed on an exam table that was tilted slightly so any fluids released during the examination would drain off the table and onto the floor. The fluids would eventually find their way to the drain in the floor. The fluids would be released directly into the city sewage. During the examination, the physician would speak his notes into a pipe that lead upstairs for another person to take his notes during the procedure. During the early 1900s, there were no standards about record keeping; so many notes are missing a patient’s gender, age, and cause of death (all records are sealed due to HIPPA so no records can be browsed at the museum).

dissecting table

The physicians who worked at the pathology building did tremendous amounts of work. These physicians had to be some of the hardest working and skilled people that I have ever seen. The quality of their slides is impeccable. Their preserved brains are in fantastic condition. Many of the medical instruments were hand cranked. Today we take a few tubes and plop it into a centrifuge that has controlled temperature settings, speed setting, and time settings. Many of the centrifuges in the early 20^th century were hand cranked. The museums curators hypothesize that psychiatric patients would come down and help hand crank the instruments in exchange for minimum wage.

During the early 20^th century in Indiana, psychiatric patients were wards of the state. Their medical care and meals were all paid. If the patients worked in the hospital, then they also received minimum wage. The curators noted that most of the “mentally ill” were not ill in the same way that we envision mentally ill today. Most of the patients were overwhelmed with their situations. For most patients, if they did not grow enough food, then their family died. This is a stressor that is unknown to most of America today. Patients who entered the hospital in the early 1900s were rehabilitated mentally and were also given the opportunity to learn a new skill or earn money as a patient to help their families. Patients would learn bread baking, clerical work, and other skills.

Looking at the medical equipment, you can really appreciate how far we have come in the medical field. Cryostats are used to slice tissue into equal sized slices so they can be mounted on slides. A modern cryostat has a light and a temperature setting. You can take your time when slicing your tissue. In the early 1900s the cryostat has to be sharpened by hand. Then it had become cold. The curators hypothesized that the instrument was made cold by placing it in a freezer. The tissue sample had to be frozen as well and mounted on a piece of paraffin. Then, the tissue sample was sliced very quickly before the instrument warmed up too much and the sample turned to mush. Working a cryostat was a work of art. A single cryostat had over 1000 page manual on the operation and maintenance of the instrument. Whole medical school lectures covered the topic. The curators hypothesized that the physicians that worked at the pathology building had figured out ways to put down on the number of steps suggested in the manuals because they felt that there were physically too many slides and samples documented to be done by the book. Once the sample was placed on a slide, it was died with many of the same procedures that we use today. Physicians back then even worked under hoods like we do today. Of course our hoods have advanced filtration devices mounted on top to keep harmful chemicals out of the air supply. Once the sample was dyed and the cover slip glued on, the sample can last almost indefinitely. The slides were analyzed under microscopes. These microscopes have no light source, so the samples were analyzed by sunny windows.

cryostat

tissue samples

One of the interesting things that the curators learned from reading the physician’s notes and records is that they felt like they were missing something. These physicians were beginning to understand the role of genetics in mental illness. The first question that a patient was asked upon checking into Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane was about family history. The patients could site many generations of people in their family that had trouble with mental illness. These reoccurring patterns intrigued the physicians but they were unable to come up with any coherent hypothesis. Sadly, the records of these patients that could help us better understand the genetics of mental illness have been sealed since the enactment HIPAA (health insurance portability and accountability act). Previously in Indiana, medical records could be used for research purposes after 70 years of date of death, but now these historical records have been sealed up and no one can see them so all that is left is the personal journals of the physicians who worked at the pathology building. I think this is an unintended consequence of HIPAA that has lasting effects.

If you are every in Indianapolis, then I encourage you to visit the Medical History Museum of Indiana. It is an intriguing museum that is off the well beaten path.

Other photos of items of interest

freezer

hood

microscope

real skeletons

Homeschool Mother's Journal #14

2011-04-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

It was a very long week. Dr. Lazy Palate was out of country this week, so it has been just me and the kids. Two tornados touched down by our house this week, and a water pipe starting leaking all over our homeschooling room. I still have to clean up the house for Easter and work on cooking some food for Easter. We did lots of Easter projects this week which was a lot of fun. Our trip to pick up a half a pig was cancelled because of Good Friday. The farmers market had a special pre-Easter market today. We got celery for $2, green onions for $2, garlic onions for free, 5 lbs of honey for $18, and two cookies for the kids. It was a lovely day with lots of sun shining. My garden is coming along. The second set of snap peas has come up along with the Swiss chard.

In our homeschool this week…

We started listening to a book on tape; we are listening to Anne of Green Gables. I am trying to slowly work on Little BBQ’s listening attention span; so far it has not gone over too well. I am finding the story enchanting, but Little BBQ does not want to listen, so we are still on chapter 2. Little BBQ is reading to me The Giant Jelly Bean Jar by Marcie Aboff. All of the words in the book are at his reading level, but the book is long at 32 pages with lots of words per page, so it is taking him awhile to read the book to me. We also read Commotion in the Ocean and made a wall of sea creatures. Due to all the rain this week, we were unable to be outside as much as we would have liked. To compensate we did a lot of Easter crafts from egg shell art, cascarones, molded crayons, and shaving cream art. It was a lot of fun.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

On Wednesday we went and visited one of our friends whom also homeschool. Little BBQ lost his pocket watch at their house a while back and they found it so that was an unexpected treat. It was nice to talk to another homeschooling mom who has been doing this for many years what curriculum she enjoyed and which ones she would have passed on in retrospect. I also enjoy getting her perspective on things.

My favorite thing this week was…

I think our favorite thing this week was making the cascarones. This year was the first year that Little BBQ was actually into dying eggs. In the past, he did not get into the activity too much, so this was an unexpected pleasure. We are going to dye some hard boiled eggs tonight so Dr. Lazy Palate can be there share the experience, and we will read the Easter book that we checked out at the library.

What’s working/not working for us…

I am not sure if the book on tape is working for us. I do not know if Little BBQ has the maturity yet to listen to a book on tape. I have heard of other kids his age loving books on tape, but I think Little BBQ might be far too active for this activity. I am going to give it a little more time and see how he responds.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

Does your child enjoy books on tape? At what age did you child start to enjoy books on tape?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Egg Shell Art

2011-04-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

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We were originally going to have 18 cascarones this year, but I dropped some of the eggs on the floor, and they shattered. Instead of crushing them further and adding them to my garden like I normally would I decided to make an art project out of the crushed eggs. Little BBQ took the egg shells and added them to egg dye. We dyed them like a normal egg. Then I let Little BBQ have a bottle of glue and the dried crushed eggs. He took my patterns from my marshmallow Easter candy and glued the egg shells to the patterns creating a fun little Easter project that we will probably do again in winter when I don't have a garden that needs extra calcium from the egg shells.

Materials (source: from our home)

Broken egg shells
Cups
Hot Water
Food coloring
Vinegar
Paper towels
Paper
Glue

Directions

1. For each color of egg shell, you will need 1 cup for dying the shells, 1 cup hot water, a few drops of food coloring, and 1 tsp vinegar. Mix these ingredients together and add the eggs shells.
2. Once the egg shells are the desired color, remove the egg shells and let them dry overnight on a paper towel.
3. On the next day, glue the egg shells to a piece of paper to create a work of art.

Cascarones

2011-04-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

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As a kid we used to make cascarones for Easter and Fiesta. Everyone would meticulously save their hollowed out eggs for moths to later dye and fill with confetti. The belief is that a person who has a cascarone broken over their head will have good luck. Our family saves those little paper dots from the hole puncher to put inside the eggs making this a fun frugal project.

Little BBQ called the tissue paper that covers the hole in the egg a "hat." He told me that the eggs were faces and we were putting hats on top of the eggs. I thought it was a cute and funny story. We will definitely be doing this project again next year.

Materials (makes 12 cascarones)

12 Eggs
Cups
Hot water
Food Coloring
White Vinegar
Paper towels or drying rack
Confetti or hole punch dots
Tissue paper
Scissors
Glue

Directions

1. Poke a small hole at the top of the egg and remove the insides. Wash out the egg shell with hot water and allow the egg shell to dry over night.
2. Decide how many different colors of cascarones that you want to make. We made four different colors. For each color, you need 1 cup, 1 cup of hot water, several drops of food coloring, and 1 tsp of white vinegar. Mix all of these ingredients together for each color inside the cup.
3. Carefully dye each egg by placing the egg in the cup with the desired color. The longer you let the egg sit the color, then the darker the egg with become. Place the dyed eggs on a drying rack.
4. When the eggs are fully dry, carefully insert the confetti inside each egg.
5. Cut little tissue paper squares to cover the holes.
6. Glue the tissue paper squares over the hole of the egg.
7. Let the glue dry and break them on top of people's heads that you want to have good luck.

Melting Experiment: Molded Crayons

2011-04-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a rainy week here in the Midwest which means lots of energy has been flowing through our house. We decided to make some molded crayons in spring shapes. My mom did this project with me as a kid. As a kid we did the project as an art project, but I decided to use this opportunity to teach Little BBQ about melting. Melting is simply changing a solid to a liquid by using heat. This leads to a discussion about what is solid and what is liquid? We ran around the house and found examples of both solids and liquids.

To get the pretty spring molded shapes we use a candy mold. The crayons were all broken already peeled crayons, so this was a frugal rainy day activity. We heated the broken crayons in the microwave. We sorted the crayons into different containers for each color. It took about 4 minutes to melt the crayons in the microwave. Using oven mitts Little BBQ poured the liquid crayons into the molds. The first time we melted the wax in the microwave we made the wax too hot and melted part of the mold, so you want to take crayons out of the microwave as soon as they become liquid so you can preserve your candy mold for later use. Once the crayons were dry we flipped the mold over and the crayons fell out. Little BBQ went a little nuts pouring the wax on top of the mold and over filled some of the molds, so we broke off the excess crayon after we took the crayons out of the mold. You can remelt the excess crayon again. To clean out the dishes that you melt the crayon inside, microwave the dish for about 30 seconds and wipe away the warm wax with a paper towel (I did this part).

This was a fun project that we all enjoyed. Miss Bubbles enjoys coloring with the large butterflies because they fit into her hand easily. Little BBQ thought that they were pretty. I think we will do this project again when we accumulate more broken crayons.

Materials

broken crayons with papers removed
microwave safe bowls
oven mitts
candy mold

Directions

1. Sort the broken crayons by color. Place the different colors in a different bowl.
2. Microwave the crayons until just melted, about 4 minutes on high.
3. Using oven mitts, carefully remove the melted wax from the microwave.
4. Pour the wax over the mold. You can add several different colors to the mold.
5. Allow the wax to cool.
6. Turn over the mold and pop out the new crayons. Any excess wax can be trimmed and remelted.

Shaving Cream Art

2011-04-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

We love art in our house on long rainy days. We have done shaving cream art a few times. The first time we did shaving cream art Little BBQ went nuts mixing the colors that he ended up with a mud green colored design. We also used a whole 8 ½ x 11” sheet of paper for the art design, but I have found that I like doing this project with smaller sheets of paper because it seems more manageable to dip the paper in the shaving cream with a small piece of the paper than with a large piece of paper. This time around we did the shaving cream art with Easter cut outs that were my patterns for my Easter marshmallow candy.

Materials from Artful Parenting

Large flat container

Shaving cream

Food Coloring

Spoon or other item to mix the colors together with

Paper, cut into any size and shape desired

Wash cloth or paper towels

Directions

1.       Fill the bottom of the container with shaving cream.
2.       Add several drops of various colored food coloring to the shaving cream. Mix the colors together using a spoon or other mixing item. Be careful not to over mix the colors.
3.       Dip one side of the sheet of paper onto the shaving cream. Press down on the paper to make sure that the entire surface of the paper is coated with colored shaving cream.
4.       Lift up the sheet of paper out of the shaving cream and lay down the paper shaving cream side up to absorb the colors for 2 minutes.
5.       Wipe the shaving off the paper shapes.
6.       Allow the paper to fully dry and enjoy your shaving cream art.

Book: Commotion in the Ocean

2011-04-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

We have been working on studying the ocean and creatures that live in the ocean. One book that we really loved was Commotion in the Ocean. The book had pretty bright pictures and a story line that just had a nice rhythm to it when you read it out loud. The book didn’t go into any technical details but instead just made light of different characteristics of sea life. We decided to make our ocean. We made a clam, crab, dolphin, fish, and a jellyfish. This was a perfect preschool book.

Homeschool Mother's Journal #13

2011-04-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

A lot of cool things happened this week. Little BBQ can finally catch a ball! It is amazing that do an adult catching a ball seems so easy, but to a child catching a ball takes a lot of coordination. Miss Bubbles was able to sit on a picnic bench without assistance and eat her entire meal. I think that is a great accomplishment for 15 months. Miss Bubbles also went underwater by herself for the first time at the poor. She was standing on the stairs and just dunked her whole head in the water. She did not panic and came up for air when she was ready. Our first set of peas is growing; they are now about 3 inches tall. There are tons of dandelions everywhere so we have been incorporating them into our art projects of the week. Our neighbor’s tulips are starting to bloom just in time for Easter. I finished reading, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet which was a good fast read and perfect for a middle school student interested in space. You can read my full review here.

In our homeschool this week…

We spent a lot of time outside. We looked for earthworms after a rain one day. We picked tons of dandelions. We crushed egg shells to put in our garden to add some calcium to the soil. We went to the library and got more books. We went to see a reproduction woodland Indian settlement which was a lot of fun. You can read about our adventure here.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We went to the park one night and had a picnic at the park. It was a lot of fun and this is where Miss Bubbles sat on the bench by herself unassisted and ate her entire dinner. We also visited the Woodland Indian settlement.

My favorite thing this week was…

We made some Easter marshmallows this week which was so much fun. My original idea was to make Peeps® but it turns out that I was not coordinated enough to make Peeps®. Instead I traced cookie cutters on a piece of paper and put the tracing under a sheet of wax paper so I could make Easter shapes. Little BBQ made the number 16 with his marshmallow goo. It was a fun project. You can read about it here.

What’s working/not working for us…

Being outside a lot is working for us. It is amazing to watch Little BBQ and Miss Bubble’s gross motor skills improve so much.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I really enjoy homeschooling; I really enjoying being the one to teach my children.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

A photo of Little BBQ's "16" written in marshmallows with some chocolate on top.

Book Review: The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson

2011-04-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet is a must read for a casual space geek. The book is light hearted with many cartoons and hand written letters from disgruntled elementary school students sprinkled inside. The author pokes fun of himself as one of the leaders of the downfall of Pluto as a planet. The book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, does an excellent job of teaching technical science terms in a casual manner that is easy for the lay reader to understand. I would highly recommend this book for any middle or high school student interested in space history.

The last chapter of the book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, is a note to educators on how to teach astronomy to young students that is well worth the read. Tyson suggests that educators teach the planets in terms of density. The inner planets of the solar system are denser than water and will sink if they are placed in a large bowl of water while the large gas planets will float and are less dense than water. Tyson says that Saturn has the approximate density of cork which will float in a bowl of water.

I think this book will make an appearance again when my children are old enough to read and understand this book. At approximately 150 pages it is a fast read with large type, so it will make a great supplementary science reading book. Plus, it is readily available at most public libraries.

Book: Flower Ball

2011-04-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

I love books that use a lot of personification; I think it helps to stimulate a child’s imagination. The book, Flower Ball by Sigrid Laube, is a fun fantasy book about inclusion and acceptance. In the book, the vegetables and the flowers don’t get along, but no one can remember why they don’t get along. One day cauliflower decides that he wants to attend the beautiful flower ball; carrot decides to join him. The two travel together to the flower ball where the flowers stare at the party crashers. As the evening goes on the two groups realize that there really is no reason that they don’t like each other, and they decide to become friends. As our activity for this book we decided to personify dandelion since there are so many bold dandelion flowers in bloom right now. Little BBQ informed me that dandelion is a male who wears a dress, so we made a paper doll that wears and dress. He drew a face on dandelion. Little BBQ gave dandelion a hat on top of his well decorated dress.

Field Trip: Indian Woodland Settlement at Prophetstown State Park

2011-04-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

We decided as a family to take a field trip out to Prophetstown State Park to see the Indian Woodland Settlement so Little BBQ can learn about the woodland Indians lived. Briefly, the settlement was started by Tenskwautawaw and Tecumseh¹. The brothers left an Ohio Shawnee settlement to start a new Native American Confederation that rejected a trade based lifestyle¹. Instead they focused on communal land and the old ways of living¹; Tenskwautawaw was the medicine man for the community². Tecumseh was a warrior leader who visions of creating an Indian nation that spanned from the great lakes to Mexico; Tecumseh was a sympathetic warrior who did not believe in unnecessary torture³.

Randomly, we learned that the closer you lived to the center of the settlement, then the more important you are within the settlement. Little BBQ got to sit inside a replica of a sweat lodge, and he got to see the living quarters for a common woodland Indian.

Council House:

Medicine Lodge:

Typical house and meat preparing areas:

For more information please visit:

1 Prophetstown state park

2 Tenskwautawaw

3 Tecumseh

Homeschool Mother's Journal #12

2011-04-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

In my life this week…

It was a fun week, but I wish we had a little better weather. Wednesday was beautiful and we spent the day outside in the garden, but it was cold or rainy every other day this week. This week we built a new garden plot and planted carrots (5 types), rutabaga, peas (4 types), mixed greens, Asian greens, swiss chard, and spinach. I am anxiously waiting for my plants to grow. I finished reading, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. The book was a quick read. It was all right. I did not know what I was expecting, so I went into it with an open mind. The quest was a little odd. I guess I failed to see how spiritual enlightenment could occur just by following a series of outdate rituals.

In our homeschool this week…

We made a zither which is a musical instrument. It was a fun little project for Little BBQ. We also learned about diffusion with Chinese Tea Eggs which was a lot of fun. We took our time and smelled every ingredient before we put it into the pot. We watched as the mixture heated up and bubbles started to form. We watched the egg transform from all white to pale brown and then dark brown. Then we got a great tasting treat in the end. We also started reading You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You which breaks Aesop’s fables into two speaking voices. I take one voice and Little BBQ takes the other. Little BBQ has been struggling with lying this week. He lied to us about taking pretzels into the living room (we do not allow food outside of the kitchen) and one of Aesop’s fables is about the boy who cried wolf. Little BBQ does not seem to understand what is wrong with lying. He knows that he will get in trouble for taking the pretzels in the living room, so he just tells us that it wasn’t him. Thankfully, he isn’t trying to blame someone else or his little sister for taking the pretzels into the living room.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We stayed close to home this week. We enjoyed every second we could outside. Little BBQ got to play with the neighbor girl, and Miss Bubbles crashed in on our neighbor’s bon fire. It was a good week.

My favorite thing this week was…

I really enjoyed making and planting our garden, but I also really enjoyed making the Chinese tea eggs. I cannot decide which item I enjoyed more.

What’s working/not working for us…

Hands on projects are working well for us. Little BBQ enjoys doing projects, and I enjoy the bonding time that I get with him from helping him make projects.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I really enjoy homeschooling. I am in the midst of researching math curriculum. Does anyone have any recommendations? I am currently leaning towards the Singapore curriculum.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Here is a photo of our Chinese tea eggs which we a blast to make.

Music: Making a Zither

2011-04-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

This week we have been working on slowly reading The Story of the Incredible Orchestra by Bruce Koscielniak which is an amazing nonfiction book of the history of the orchestra. We read the page on early musical instruments and came across a zither. I was unfamiliar with a zither, so we went on you tube and found some videos of people playing zithers. We really enjoyed the relaxing music that large zithers produce (found in the korean video). It is a bit rustic sounding but still really pretty. It reminds me a bit of a harp. A small zither reminds me more of a banjo (found in the Austrian and German videos). Some of our favorite zither music is listed below:

Traditional Korean Zither Music

Zither Music From Austria

Zither Music from Germany

We also decided to make a zither. Our zither only ended up with 12 strings because I wanted enough room for Little BBQ to easily strum his zither.

Materials

A shallow card board box (I used a box for canning jars)

Scissors (they need to be sharp enough to cut through the card board box)

12-40 pieces of string long enough to drape across the box

Tape

Stuff to decorate the zither (we used patches of cloth and glue)

Directions

1. Cut two parallel sides of the card board box at the crease.

2. Gently move the sides inward about 1 inch to make a trapezoid. Fold the back end up towards the inward folding sides. Tape the trapezoid together.

3. Trim the back end of the box to be the same height as the sides.

4. Tape string across the zither from one inward folded side to the other inward folded side.

5. Trim the excess string.

6. Decorate your zither.

Diffusion Experiment: Chinese Tea Eggs

2011-04-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Diffusion is when molecules travel from an area of high concentration to low concentration. Diffusion can be difficult for a child to visualize, but with Chinese tea eggs diffusion is easily visualized. For a recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs see my cooking blog here. The tea solution is a dark brown color while the egg is white. When diffusion occurs through the cracks of the egg, the egg turns brown. The tea solution is the area of high concentration while the white egg is an area of low concentration. The shell protects parts of the egg from diffusion leaving the egg white if no diffusion occurs (usually occurring if you let the egg simmer for less than an hour) or a little diffusion may occur causing the egg to turn light brown. Using this simple experiment you can allow your child to see diffusion. Plus, Chinese tea eggs taste good. You can experiment with different simmering times to see more and more diffusion occur as time goes on. We let our eggs simmer for 2 hours and the eggs got a little brown under the egg shell while the cracks got very brown.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 11

2011-04-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

In my life this week...

Well it was not a great week for us. On Tuesday, we tried to go to the local art museum only to find out that it is closed this week because they are changing out exhibits. Then, Little BBQ got the stomach flu, and then I got the stomach flu. It has not been a fun week.

In our homeschool this week...

We did not get a lot of schooling done this week due to all the illness. Since Little BBQ is young, I am the one driving the schooling forward, so if I am not healthy, then little to no schooling gets done.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We tried to go to the art museum this week, but it did not happen. We will attempt this field trip next week or the week after.

My favorite thing this week was...

My favorite thing this week was the Hawaiian kabobs that we had on the grill. We had sirloin steak, pineapple, bell pepper, onion, and potatoes on the kabobs. They were really tasty, and I love being able to cook outside on the grill. I look forward to more grilling weather this summer.

What's working/not working for us...

I have found that reading a new book to Little BBQ first, then having him reading it back to me works really well. When I read out loud to him, I read above his reading level, so it can be challenging for him to read back to me, but so far he is doing well with it.

As a follow up from last week, we have also made a new rule in our house that Little BBQ can only play wii on weekends and that is working really for us. He has stopped asking to play wii all the time making my day a lot easier.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I finished reading The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I enjoyed reading the book, and I have lots of thoughts on the book that can be seen on my blog post about the book since it is really long.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

I did some writing again for the Associated Press. I wrote:

1. the best cooking blogs that are you are not reading (really you should check out these awesome blogs)

2. items our family keeps in our emergency preparedness kit

3. five ways to throw an ecofriendly birthday party on a budget

And a photo of a pretty building in our town:

Also posted on the Weekly Wrap Up.

Book Review: The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

2011-04-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have heard lots of references to the book, The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise, but I was not exactly sure what the program entailed, so I checked out the book from the library. As it turns out The Well Trained Mind is a suggested course of study for homeschooling students who want a classical education focusing on reading and writing. In fact, the program is super writing intensive with a lot of Latin sprinkled in and a dash of science and math. History is incorporated into all the reading and writing.

The program segregates education into three blocks. The first stage is the grammar stage where student learn facts; lots of facts. The grammar stage covers 1^st-4^th grade. The second stage is the logic stage where students learn cause and effect and begin to discover why things occur. The logic stage covers grades 5^th-8^th grade. The last stage is the rhetoric stage where students learn to combine the knowledge gathered in the first two phases of education to purse their chosen disciplines. In the high school years is where a student can specialize in various topics.

History is uniquely broken up within the three blocks of education. In the first year of a block, a student studies ancient history covering 5000 B.C.-A.D. 400. The second year within a block student study medieval history through early Renaissance history 400-1600. In the third year of a block, a student studies late Renaissance history to early modern history from 1850-present. This means that a student will study the same period in history three times.

Likewise science is broken up within the three blocks of education as well. In the first year of a block, a student studies biology. In the second year of a block a student studies earth science and astronomy except in high school when only astronomy is covered. The third year in a block is spent studying chemistry. The last year in a block is spent studying physics and in high school physics and computers is studied. The logic behind studying science in this order is that the rapid growth of these respective fields corresponds to the blocks in history noted above.

Up until this point the program seems feasible. However, The Well Trained Mind is a big book that covers a lot of information. There are curriculum reviews and recommendations, schedules, lists of important people, and teaching methods. When you first read the book, the program will seem overwhelming because the authors cover education from the preschool years through high school which is a lot of education to cover in one book.

I found the schedules in The Well Trained Mind very tedious because I like numbers and visuals and the schedules were tediously written out with detailed directions. I can quickly understand a program better when I see what percentage of my time will be spent on each subject. I also wanted to see the schedules lined up in charts so I can quickly see the progression of education through time. Below I have made pie charts for each grade level for the amount of time spent on a subject. I hope these charts can help another overwhelmed parent visualize the program quickly. The schedules often contain a range of time that a subject should be covered, but to make my charts consistent I always used the maximum amount of time used in the ranges.

My charts lack the detail that the book offers, so if you are curious to learn about the program and curriculum recommendations, then please read the book.

After reading the book The Well Trained Mind and looking at my charts, I am apprehensive to follow this program exactly. Many people criticize the program because it does not focus on the creative spirit of a child, however, my criticism of the program stems from the fact that math and science seem to take a back burner in this course of study. According to Fox Business, the top ten jobs of the future are going to be genetic counselor, organic farmer, medical records administrator, mobile application developer, robotics technician, stimulation engineer, social media manager, stem cell researcher, and sustainability officer. Looking at these jobs all of them have a heavy focus on math, science, or technology (even organic farmers need to have a good running knowledge of science in order to implement new technologies in the field.) Under The Well Trained Mind schedules your student will be focusing a lot on reading, writing, and Latin. While reading and writing are excellent foundations to learn science in the early years, more focus needs to be placed on skills that are going to be needed in the future.

As a homeschooling parent, your job is to prepare your child for the real world and provide them with skills that are necessary to thrive in the structure of our current society. Some student may have no interest in science and math, so they are going to have a natural propensity towards the humanities and this is fine since we need excellent writes to communicate stories of our times or social workers who can work towards ensuring that all children grow up in a safe home. Under these circumstances The Well Trained Mind schedules are excellent. However, if you child has a gift or natural interest in science and math, then you are doing your child a disservice by choosing to place math and science on the back burner. In my humble opinion, I would scale back the study of Latin and add more science. In particular I would combine astronomy and chemistry into 10^th grade and spend more time on those subjects. Then I would move physics to 11^th grade. For a student who is particularly gifted in science I would add a second year of biology to 11^th grade or for student with more average interested in science I would add a second biology course to 12^th grade. For a student with a lot of interest in science I would add either a second study of chemistry or physics in 12^th grade. Biology is probably the most rapidly changing field in science right now. The reality is that we are only beginning to understand the living world around us. Of the top ten jobs listed above four require a strong biology background: genetic counselor, organic farmer, stem cell researcher, and sustainability officer. Biology is easier to understand once a student has a good fundamental understanding of chemistry. This is why I suggest adding a second year of biology to high school after chemistry has been fully studied at the high school level. List below are my recommendations for a revised science schedule and an accelerated revised science schedule.

Revised Science Schedule

9^th grade: biology

10^th grade: astronomy and chemistry

11^th grade: physics

12^th grade: biology

Accelerated Revised Schedule

9^th grade: biology

10^th grade: astronomy and chemistry

11^th grade: physics and biology

12^th grade: chemistry or physics

The second dose of biology, chemistry, or physics should prepare a homeschooling student to take the AP (advanced placement) exam. Taking an AP exam will show prospective colleges that your child is capable and ready for college level work. Likewise, I have adjusted the amount of time spent on science within the schedule charts below.

A second change that I would make to the curriculum is to add a systems thinking class in 9^th grade and again cut down on the Latin. Our world is not a simple cause and effect relationship; instead our world is complex full of intertwined relationships that all affect one another. In order to prepare our children for a complex environment, I think a class in systems thinking would be beneficial since the student already has an excellent understanding of logic. Systems thinking will allow students to understand science in history in a whole new way. Systems thinking is the next step after logic and will prepare a child who wants to purse any career path. Listed below are my updated schedule charts.

I think if you are considering a classical education for your child, then you need to read The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. The book is thought provoking, meticulous, and detailed. It lays out a solid education for student who wants to pursue the humanities. For a student who wants to pursue a career in science or medicine, then I think an alternative schedule should be followed, but The Well Trained Mind provides a solid foundation for anyone to begin planning their homeschooling education.

Homeschool Mother's Journal #10

2011-03-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

In my life this week...

My life this week was nice and slow. We had some nice weather at the beginning of the week, so we played outside a lot. We planted our herbs in recycled containers this week. We got the breaks on our car replaced this week. The house is messier than normal, and it is driving me nuts. I need to clean it up. I started readingThe Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. So far I am enjoying the book. I like reading about how different families school their children. I don’t think that their plan as written will work for our family because I disagree with the order of her high school science education, but I am still getting some good ideas.

In our homeschool this week...

Little BBQ has really been enjoying reading. He is asking to read more books which makes me happy. His attention span is growing by leaps and bounds. Little BBQ could barely sit through one book back in January. Tonight he sat through 5 books. He was really into the Curious George series. George’s mischievousness reminds me a lot of Little BBQ.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We visited some friends this week who also homeschool. It was nice to let our sons play together. They played really well together. There was a lot of banter back and forth along with some role playing on both sides.

My favorite thing this week was...

My favorite thing this week was planting the herbs with Little BBQ this week. He diligently filled each container up with dirt and diligently put seeds into each container. It was really cute. Then he wanted the herbs to grow NOW so he got a fake flower and put it in one of the containers. I really appreciated the effort.

What's working/not working for us...

Little BBQ can not handle playing the Wii for even short periods of time. He gets too temperamental over the sword playing game. He has to win. He gets upset if he does not win. I took away the wii for the whole week. Since taking away the wii he has been behaving much better. We are still struggling to find a way to let him enjoy the wii in moderation. We have thought about letting him play the wii only on weekends. It seems even if the wii is around, then he just begs to play it all the time. When the wii is hidden, then he doesn’t ask about making my life much more pleasant with him.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

Does anyone else struggle with wii playing? How do you regulate playing time? How do you help you child cope with losing?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

I have been doing some writing for Yahoo. I wrote several articles this week including one on noncandy inexpensive Easter egg fillers, another how to throw a graduation party on a budget, and ten weird things to do in Austin, Texas.

Book: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

2011-03-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

This week we continued on our gardening path. We read the book, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. It was a cute book about a tiny seed that survives and thrives much longer than all of its other larger seed counterparts. One seed falls in the ocean, one seed grows to flower that gets picked, another seed gets stepped on as a small plant, and other seeds had other adventures. The book is a great spring board to discuss seasons and planting seeds. As our follow up activity for the book we looked at some seeds under a microscope. We looked at flax, coriander, and chive seeds under a microscope. The coriander seed was the most visually stunning seed with its round shape and pretty markings on the outside.

Coriander seed:

Chive seed:

Flax seed:

Flax seed up close:

After we looked at the seeds under a microscope we planted herb seeds in recycled pots and plastic containers. We took plastic containers like milk jugs and cut the tops off and poked holes in the bottom. Little BBQ painted the pots. Then we planted flax, coriander, chive, anise, and lavender seeds in the various recycled pots. Little BBQ got a little impatient and wanted the flowers to grow NOW so he took a fake flower and planted it in one of the pots so he could have his flowers now.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 9

2011-03-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

In my life this week...

We planted the spring garden! I am so excited about our garden this year. We planted carrots, spinach, Asian greens, lettuce, rutabaga, swiss chard, and peas.

In our homeschool this week...

We finished off our Cajun unit study. Originally, I thought that we were going to read a book on Mardi Gras, make a mask, and a king cake. Instead we ended up doing a unit study on Cajun people. This is our first year homeschooling. I call this our test year since my son is still in preschool and we don’t have to be strict on homeschooling. I wanted to experiment and see what worked for us. I found that I really like unit studies. I like to have themes where everything works together. I like to coordinate the art projects with the books we read and the food we eat.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We didn’t go anywhere special this week except outside because it was finally nice outside! Our backyard is a little muddy still, but that is not a big deal.

My favorite thing this week was...

I really enjoyed planting my garden. I love being outside.

What's working/not working for us...

I started having Little BBQ do silent reading by himself on top of reading out loud daily. I give him the library book bin and let him choose what to read. He has been reading for twice a day by himself for 15 minutes apiece. He sits on the rocking chair to read. Sometimes I can tell that he is reading the book to himself and sometimes I can tell he is just flipping through the books to the look at the pictures. Either way I am happy.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am beginning to plan our homeschooling for next year which would be pre-kindergarten. I think I want to do unit studies, but I am not sure how long I should plan for each unit. A week? A month? I think we are going to study the different states in the US. We are going to learn the geography, the history, and the culture of each state. I think I was going to break the US up into regions for each unit.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

This is a link to a recipe for pork saltimbocca from my cooking blog. It is an easy and delicious weeknight meals since you can’t have too many of those lying around. Also, a link to a homeschooling freebie a day.

Book: Mardi Gras: A Cajun Country Celebration

2011-03-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Originally I thought we were just going to read a book on Mardi Gras and make our king cake and a mask and be done with the holiday, but the book, Mardi Gras: A Cajun Country Celebration by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, that we got from the library was so much more involved than just a cute story on Mardi Gras. This book was a children’s fact book on the Cajun people in general and where they come from, how they live, and their music. We found ourselves tracing their path of migration along our globe. Then we found ourselves listening to some Cajun music on Youtube. Our favorite group was the Savory Family Band. They played with all the instruments discussed in the book. This was the first time that Little BBQ saw and accordion. We made a Mardi Gras mask, a pointed Mardi Gras hat, a king cake, and finished off this unit with red beans and rice. I am really proud of Little BBQ for getting through this book. We had to read it in very small chunks since it was above his comprehension level. We took about 1 week to cover this entire book, but I think the learning experience was well worth the effort.

Book: Doggone Dogs

2011-03-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Little BBQ has requested a project using clay, so I decided to use clay in our story time activity. Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont is quickly become one of our favorite books in our house. The book reads very quickly so even Miss Bubbles can sit through it, and it has a lot of fun rhyming words to keeps the rhythm of the book fast paced. The illustrations are very silly. Every time I read the book, Little BBQ notices something new about one of the illustrations every time making this book great to read over and over. This is one of the most request books in our house for read aloud, and Little BBQ enjoys reading this book silently. I love the versatility of the book. For our story time activity we make dogs out of clay. I showed Little BBQ step by step how to make the dog with the red clay, and he followed along with the yellow clay. Little BBQ is very proud of his dogs. He will not let anyone touch his dogs. I think I see more clay projects in our future.

Homeschool Mother's Journal- 8

2011-03-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

This is my first week participating in this blog event. I like the journal style of the event. I think it is a great way to document the little things going on in our lives right now.

In my life this week...

We got a lot accomplished. We visited our friend’s farm and let our kids play together. We enjoyed a king cake together. On Wednesday we went to the library and checked out lots of new books to read. On Thursday we cleaned up the house, and I even vacuumed the stairs. We placed our seed order for our garden this year. It looks like we will be growing peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, mixed greens, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, and some herbs.

In our homeschool this week...

We were productive in reading, but Little BBQ is on a math strike. Instead of pushing hard I decided to back off and revisit the topic next week. Maybe he just needs some time off from math especially since he is only in preschool. Miss Bubbles, our infant, loves books. This week she started saying, “read it.” She loves a Winnie the Pooh book and a soft cloth book on kitties.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

This week we went to our friend’s farm. Thankfully it didn’t rain that day, so it was nice to drive on the unfamiliar country roads on a nice day verses a rainy day. We enjoyed some ground beef and potatoes grown on the farm, and I brought a king cake to celebrate mardi gras. Miss Bubbles got to pet a dog. She liked to touch the dog, but she did not like the dog to sniff her back. Little BBQ got to see a horse, goats, chickens, and some cows.

My favorite thing this week was...

My favorite thing this week was visiting our friend’s farm. I got some much needed socialization. I enjoyed teaching one of the older boys about photography and using natural light.

What's working/not working for us...

Reading and doing an activity right afterwards seems to be working really well for Little BBQ. He has the attention span to sit through one story, but he loses interest if you try to read him several books at once like they do at the library story time. We can read multiple books in day this way. I need to stop saying, “let’s do math.” If I say these words, then I hear a resounding “Noooooooooooooo!” I think I am going to go back and revisit the book Math Arts because Little BBQ seems to be responding well to this type of instruction.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am really enjoying homeschooling. I am glad that I get the opportunity to teach my children and watch them grow intellectually.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

My king cake recipe that I made this week. The photo was staged and taken by Andrew, a homeschooling student interested in photography.

A link to a free 3 month trial of homeschooling legal defense association (expires March 31st) that one of my friend’s sent to me.

Book: Imaginary Garden

2011-03-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

Spring is here at is raining…a lot. With the warmer weather the kids and I are anxious to get outside and get our hands dirty in the garden, but Mother Nature has had other plans for us. To quell our desire to be outside we indulged ourselves into fantasy land with the book, The Imaginary Garden, by Andrew Larsen. The book is about a little girl and her grandfather. The little girl loves her grandfather’s flower garden, but her grandfather moves to an apartment where he can no longer garden. To recreate the grandfather’s garden the pair decide to take a trip down fantasy lane and paint a picture of their ideal garden. As the season goes on the pair update the picture with more blooms.

Since we have already placed our seed order for the season, we did not need our seed catalogues anymore. Instead of throwing the seed catalogue away, Little BBQ was allowed to cut pictures from the catalogue and make his own imaginary garden. I was nervous about letting him use big boy scissors for the first time instead of toddler scissors, but he did well with the transition.

Watch Our Bean Plant Grow Up Close

2011-02-23T06:46:00.000-08:00

Spring is almost here, and we are getting excited! To get us ready for spring, Little BBQ picked out two books on gardening, How Groundhog’s Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry and Strega Nona’s Harvest by Tomie De Paola. Both books were a lot of fun. Strega Nona’s Harvest focused more on sharing your harvest while How Groundhog’s Garden Grew focused on how seeds grew into plants.

Being inspired by the groundhog book we decided to watch a bean plant grow using the method outlined in 101 Great Science Experiments by Neil Ardley. We checked on our bean plant daily and watered it as needed. One week after planting the bean, we had a little bean plant. We identified the parts of the plant. Then, to observe the plant closer we used a handheld microscope to view the different parts of the plant.

The leaf with a vein running through it:

The furry stem:

The slick root:

Once it gets warmer outside we plant to plant our bean plat outside, and if we get a harvest, we will share our harvest just like in Strega Nona’s Harvest.

Materials to watch your bean plant grow modified from 101 Great Science Experiments p 60

1 paper towel

Water

1 dry bean

1 clear glass jar

Directions

1. Wet the paper towel and squeeze out the excess water.

2. Lay the glass jar on the side, and lay the bean about halfway down the glass jar.

3. Place the paper towel in the glass jar and along the backside of the bean. Mold the paper towel to the bean so that it provides support for the bean when you turn the jar back up right.

4. Water the bean as needed when the paper towel gets dry.

5. Watch your bean plant grow!

6. Identify the roots, stem, and leaves.

Book: Terrible Storm

2011-02-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

On our usual weekly library run, Little BBQ picked out the book, Terrible Storm by Carol Otis Hurst. The book is about the blizzard of March 1888 that left the north east covered in a thick layer of snow for 3 days. The book is about two men with opposite personalities and that ended up waiting out the snow storm in opposite but unpleasant ways. For a preschooler, the book this really brings into the light the idea of opposites. With Little BBQ I asked if he would rather be in a room full of people or a room full of animals, and he responded a room full of animals, so for our art project corresponding to the book he drew a picture of himself in a room full of people, the opposite of what he would have wanted. To make the snow, he took the eraser end of a pencil and dipped into white paint.

Sketch it Tuesday: Things that grow on the farm

2011-02-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

This is our first time participating in Sketch it Tuesday. Little BBQ has begun drawing pictures where you can actually identify things in his drawings, so I decided that this would be a cool thing for us participate in. Little BBQ is a perfectionist, so he wants his sketch to be perfect. I am trying to encourage him to go with the flow. The sketch is of a strawberry, grapes, and a leaf.

Noncontact Method of Painting with Watercolors

2011-02-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

Little BBQ is a hands on learner. He loves to get his hands dirty and create something. I am always searching for some fun new projects for him to dive try out. I came across a watercolor book at Goodwill. The book, Watercolor: Red Yellow Blue by John R. Koser is written for adults, but I have been able to translate some of the techniques for young artists. One activity that we have been doing is called noncontact method. In this method, parts of the canvas are covered by mat board so they will not get paint on them. Then a tooth brush is used to splatter paint onto the open areas of the canvas. Mr. Koser uses primary colors to create his paintings. To create a green section, he would splatter paint yellow and blue. By doing this he is adding depth to his paintings. Within his paintings you can see some of the primary colors come through instead of a solid block of green. By doing splatter painting, he is adding texture to his paintings. The noncontact method allows him to block off complete parts of his painting to focus the colors into one section. For example, if he wanted to make a red barn, he would block off everything but the barn and splatter paint red on the barn. To add some lighting effects, he could add a little bit of yellow where light is shining on the barn and a little blue to create some shadows. In the end, you will end up with a very unique looking barn.

For Little BBQ, this is too much information, but I did want him to focus on the mixing of colors. When we did his color blocking, I allowed him to use up to 3 paints per section so we could make observations about the colors and how they mix together. We also discussed which colors were more dominant. I allowed him to add as much or as little color as he wanted to each color block. Like all preschool art, it is far from perfect. You can see sometimes he smashed the paper too hard when he went to cover it up causing the colors to smudge together. Another time he put the wet toothbrush on top of his work causing the water stain to stay on the paper. These are usual things for preschool art. I think at this age the act of doing the process, exploring, and observing is far more important that the end result.

Materials Needed (inspired by Watercolor: Red Yellow Blue pp 82-83)

1 crayon or pencil in any color

1 sheet of construction paper or other heavy weight paper

Scissors (I cut the paper for Little BBQ since he does not have the coordination to make sharp turns while cutting)

Tape

1 sheet of white paper

Old toothbrush

Watercolor paints (you can use a full set of colors or just the three primary colors)

Water (to rinse the toothbrush)

Directions

1. Draw a picture on the construction paper. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It can simply be some scribbled lines.

2. With the help of an adult, cut the individual shapes out of the paper. Make sure to save the cut out shapes.

3. Tape over the cut lines on the paper to make the construction paper stronger.

4. Place the construction paper over a sheet of white paper and cover up all the cut out holes with the corresponding cut out shapes except for one hole.

5. Using the toothbrush, splatter paint the exposed hole. You can use up to 3 colors in each hole.

6. Once a hole is filled with color, cover it with the corresponding cut out shape.

7. Uncover another hole and continue repeating steps 5, 6, and 7 until all the cut out holes are filled with paint.

8. Remove the construction paper, and your painting is finished!

The Very Hungry Little Caterpillar

2011-02-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Once a week we go to the library and stash up on books to read for the week. Last week we got the classic children’s book, The Very Hungry Little Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The book has wonderful colored pictures a very simple story that early readers can read by themselves. The hole through the food is ingenious and Little BBQ’s favorite part. The book also teaches children about the life cycle of a butterfly. I used the book to help teach Little BBQ about sequencing of events. We discuss what comes first in the life cycle of the butterfly and relate that to how human babies grow up to be adults. To end our study of the book we did an art project showing the life cycle of a butterfly. The leaf cut outs were leftovers from a thankful tree that we completed around Thanksgiving. The egg is a marshmallow. The little caterpillar is made of a series of marshmallows. The big caterpillar is made of pom poms, and the butterfly is made of a coffee filter and a twist tie.

Feeding Birds in Winter

2011-02-02T10:22:00.001-08:00

We recently moved to a new house. While the inside of the house is great, I was concerned that the backyard had no signs of life. No birds outside singing in the morning. No squirrels running through the trees. Nothing. Not even insects. My lifeless yard made me antsy. Was there no sign of life because a predator is hiding in some not so distance trees, was there a pollutant causing all the wildlife to die, or was there a shortage of food for the animals?

To bring life and energy back into my backyard, Little BBQ and I made some bird food for the birds. Since it is winter time here, we took wild bird seed mix from the store and mixed it with peanut butter because the birds need the extra fat during winter time. Then, we placed the food inside orange peels. Finally, we set the food outside and waited.

…and waited

…and waited some more.

Weeks went by and still no signs of life. Was our backyard cursed? Had all the animals in the area died? I was nervous. Finally after 4 weeks some life finally began to appear. First we had a small bird.

Then we got a very small squirrel.

And finally lots more birds.

Little BBQ’s new job is make new bird food whenever the old food runs out. We also practice taking pictures of the animals. Little BBQ is learning to focus a camera. We also make observations about the animals. From watching the animals we have learned about sharing. The animals take only what they need. They do not hoard. They seem to have faith that another food source will pop up if they need it. Everything in our yard seems more harmonious. In the morning there is a flutter of activity from the early morning birds. During lunch time a little squirrel makes his presence known. Feeding the animals has provided us with a fun and educational wintertime activity.

Field Trip: Chicago Aquarium

2011-02-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about a homeschooling group is that you can score awesome deals with group rates. Our homeschooling group managed to get a group rate of $7 per person to the Shedd aquarium in Chicago, IL. Normally tickets would have cost $26.95 for adults and $19.95 for children plus $2 extra for the dolphin show (which was included in our $7 ticket.) However, there are some things that I wish I knew before I got to the aquarium just so I would be a little more prepared.

As a group you all have to arrive and enter as a group on time otherwise your slots can be given to other groups. Parking is a $1.50 an hour with the parking meters that take quarters only or $16 for the day for the parking lot. The other catch to entering as a group is that you are assigned a specific time to eat lunch in the group cafeteria. You can not eat early or later. To help make lunch smoother the aquarium does allow you to bring in your sack lunch at the beginning of the day and put it into a bin labeled with your group name so you don’t have to carry your lunch around all day. Once you get to lunch, you have 30 minutes to eat. Normally 30 minutes would be plenty of time to feed myself, but when I am feeding an infant who wants to feed herself, a preschooler, and myself, I felt rushed, but that is not the aquarium’s fault. Our group was 28 people so we were suppose to share the cafeteria with another group, but they never showed up to lunch, so we got to eat by ourselves. After lunch we had the option to put our lunch pails back in the bin labeled with our group so we didn’t have to carry our lunch boxes around. The other catch of a group rate is that you are assigned a time to see the dolphin show. Again you can not be late.

Overall these are not terrible demands. In fact most school kids would find this schedule very lax, but homeschoolers are not known for punctuality, schedules, or structure (or at least our group is not.) We were a chaotic blob. In our group there are the extremes. We have people who are perpetually early and people who are perpetually late and the people who are completely random. We have people who follow strict curriculum for their homeschooling and we have unschoolers who learn on their own unique path. If anything, going on field trips with so many diverse people makes you learn how to work with different types of people. For me starting my journey into homeschooling and parenting has taught me to be more flexible. As a scientist I thrived on making experimental plans. When plans went awry, you followed plan B, C, or D. I have found that kids and in particular homeschooled kids do not work like well oiled machines.

My son, Little BBQ, is highly sensitive. He hates loud sounds and as I have learned on this trip he hates blue lights. Yes blue lights. This is the same little boy who goes to sleep every night with a light on because he is scared of the dark. White lights are good, but blue lights are bad. He was also petrified of the fish at the aquarium. However, he is not scared of the fish at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden. What is the difference? I am not sure. Little BBQ was so excited to go to the aquarium that I was sure that he was going to love it, but he turned out to be paralyzed with fear. Upon entering the aquarium he informed me that he wanted to go home. Eventually after some coaxing from an older member of our homeschooling group he warmed up to the aquarium a little bit. His little sister Miss Bubbles got kicked out of her stroller so Little BBQ could watch the fish nestled in his little cocoon of safety in the stroller. Thankfully Miss Bubbles liked the fish and did not mind being carried everywhere.

I thought Little BBQ had finally warmed up to the whole aquarium experience because he finally out of the stroller and was free roaming around with the rest of the kids when it was time to attend the dolphin show. Little BBQ sat down with his best friend and prepared for the show with the rest of the kids. Then it happened. The blue lights came on as the dolphin show started. Little BBQ got up and bolted for the exit with tears filling his eyes. One of the dads in our group who can be equated to a giant teddy bear ran after him and gave him a giant bear hug until he calmed down. One of the other moms who also had a child who was sensitive at the preschool age was able to decipher what was bothering Little BBQ. He told the other mom that the blue lights were, “too loud.” So there you have it. Little BBQ hates blue lights. Instead of going to the dolphin show Little BBQ hung out at the gift shop with teddy bear dad.

Later that day we were walking around the polar exhibit having a great time. Little BBQ played in the hands on exhibit with the other kids; he had a blast. Then we decided to walk on to meet up with some other people in our group when we saw the dreaded blue lights again. Little BBQ immediately freaked out. At least he is consistent. I had to carry him for the rest of the trip to keep him calm. We were able to avoid the blue lights by going through the other side of the polar exhibit. Luckily, Miss Bubbles did not have a lot of anxiety that day and let someone else carry her while I carried Little BBQ.

On this trip I learned more about my sensitive son, and I was secretly happy that Little BBQ wanted me the second time that he got scared of the blue lights since he generally gravitates towards males for comforting (dad is the ultimate comforter for Little BBQ is this house.) I also was relieved to learn that I am not the only person with a sensitive child. I have read books on sensitive kids and read about other parents with sensitive kids, but I had not actually met anyone else with a sensitive child. Likewise, I am relieved that my friends with a sensitive child now have a teenager who is well adjusted and unique in his own right. It is also nice to have someone around who understands and can offer some good advice on ways to handle the situation. Most parents have told me, “just make him deal with it,” but for Little BBQ the things that he is sensitive to are very real for him even if they are not very real for us. All of our realities are unique. We each perceive the world around us differently. There is no well beaten path or a road less traveled. We all have own unique ever evolving path.

Tibetan Prayer Flags

2011-02-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

This week homeschooling has been very slow because Little BBQ has been sick. When Little BBQ is sick, he does not want to do anything but sleep. It really stresses and freaks me out when he is sick because he is such an active little kid. He is the type of kid that can barely sit through dinner, and when he is sitting, he is fidgeting. Now that Little BBQ is feeling better we can continue on with our schooling. We started a small unit study on Tibet. Little BBQ picked some books about Tibet from the library last week, so we have been enjoying some Tibetan folklore.

One of the stories that we read was “Yeshi’s Luck” from the book Tibetan Tales for Little Buddhas. The lesson in the story is that we don’t know what life is going bring us; things that at first might seem bad can be good and vice versa, so we should just take life as it comes at us. I really wanted to focus on this story this week because Little BBQ has an explosive temper because he is a very passionate child. While I love his passion, I need to teach him different ways to cope with his temper other than throwing things or hitting things. Contained in the story is a chant, “Om Mani Padmé Hung” that is pronounced OHM MAHnee peMAY hoong. The chant means, “the jewel is in the lotus blossom.” Every time an event occurs in the story the father repeats this chant to clear his mind. I am trying to teach Little BBQ to do the same thing whenever he feels a temper tantrum coming on. Little BBQ really likes the chant and says it really slowly to really annunciate the different sounds in the chant. So far he has said the chant after he has a temper tantrum and not before, but it is a start.

The other cool thing that the story highlights at the end is prayer flags. In Tibet, people write prayers on pieces of bright colored cloth and put them on a string and hang them outside (Rose, 2004, p 4). We obviously don’t know any Tibetan prayers, so we put things that we are thankful for on our Tibetan prayer flags. Some things that Little BBQ included on his flags were, “mommy, daddy, little sister, pink, food, kitties, and sun.” I also wrote a poem on one flag that was contained in the story. The poem is posted below.

Life is like a potter’s clay
changing shape from day to day.
As stars sparkle in the sky
light and dark go quickly by.
What’s the future, no one knows.
Be at peace with how life goes.

(Rose, 2004, p 23)

I am having Little BBQ memorize the poem. When things upset him, we discuss the poem. The poem is really beautifully and speaks to us all on those hard days when life seems to take a turn for the worse. I think our whole family can learn a lot from the Tibetan culture. I hope you enjoy our paper version of Tibetan prayer flags.

Field Trip: Indianapolis Museum of Art

2011-02-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

I am very proud of Little BBQ. We went on our first field trip with our homeschooling group. He was very well behaved at the museum. One of the coolest things about the Indianapolis Museum of Art is that you can take as many pictures as you want as long as you don’t use a flash. The only exception is that no photos are allowed to be taken on the Contemporary Art floor. I gave Little BBQ one our old cameras so he take pictures just like all the big kids in the group. Four families went on the field trip and Little BBQ was the youngest member of the group. The other kids were all in middle and high school. The oldest member of the group did an amazing job of taking Little BBQ under his wing. He showed Little BBQ how to use his camera and made sure that he stood still on the escalators while I pushed Miss Bubbles in her stroller on the elevators.

I am also impressed that Little BBQ managed to get a few photos that were not too blurry. All of the photos contained in this blog post were taken by Little BBQ. We started off the day walking through the gardens where some outdoor art was displayed. Then we ate our picnic lunch and viewed all of the indoor art. Everything in the Indianapolis Museum of Art is free of charge except for special exhibits. When we went there were no special exhibits, so it cost nothing except for gas on the long trip there and back.

Little BBQ liked the African pots the best. He kept telling me they were dirt. After we got home armed with Little BBQ’s pictures we flipped through them and discussed what he saw at the museum. We looked at map of where the different artifacts were from that Little BBQ photographed. We also looked at his garden pictures. I asked him what he liked about each of his pictures. He seems to gravitate towards things with lots of color so he took several flower pictures. Of course there were the mandatory self portraits of his feet, shirt, and face that come with every batch of pictures taken by a three year old, but overall I was impressed with his ability to take pictures.

For other homeschooling parents of young children I urge, no beg you, to join a homeschooling group. It probably has been the best decision that we have made so far in our homeschooling journey. Joining a group allows your child to interact with people of all ages. One of the mothers in my homeschooling group commented that she loves that her high school son can comfortably interact with 3 year olds to 40 year olds because he is constantly interacting with people of all ages. For Little BBQ on this trip the older kids taught him to respectfully enjoy art and use a camera. I hope one day that Little BBQ can return the favor to a younger homeschooling student one day. Posted below are more pictures that Little BBQ took on his trip.

Books we read this week:

Box Assemblage

2011-02-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

This week for math Little BBQ has been working on the concept of enclosure. For a young learner, “enclosure is when objects are grouped together and fenced or held together as a unit” such as a dozen eggs in an egg cart (Math Arts p151.) To explore this concept creatively Little BBQ made a box assemblage. We took box from my canning jars and went outside. Little BBQ was allowed to collect outside objects to place inside of his assemblage (a 3-D collage.) As we were gluing the objects inside of his box we discussed the fact that all the items inside the box are now together as a unit instead of a single leaf or rock they are a unit composed of lots of leaves, rocks, sticks, and grass. We also brainstormed other things that come as unit like eggs, bags of apples, and berries inside of boxes. Overall, the project was a lot of fun. I think this is a fun way to creatively learn about enclosure.

Materials (modified from Math Arts p 163)

A cardboard box
Small objects to put inside the box (we used items from nature)
Glue

Process

1. Choose the small objects to be placed inside the enclosure.

2. Place the objects inside the box.

3. Rearrange the items until the young artist is satisfied with arrangement.

4. Glue the objects inside the box.

5. Display the assemblage in a special place.

This post was featured on Carnival of Homeschooling
Books that we read this week:

Field Trip: Fire Station

2011-02-02T09:50:00.001-08:00

This week I took Little BBQ to a fire station for a tour with our local moms group. I wanted him to understand the seriousness of fire. When Little BBQ was about 3, we had just moved across country by less than 3 days, and I was very pregnant with Miss Bubbles. I went to talk to Dr. Lazy Palate in the bathroom while he was shaving. I left Little BBQ in our new living room with his toys for less than 3 minutes. In our new living room was a gas fire place. We were under the impression that it was a wood fire place. We were completely wrong. In less than 3 minutes, Little BBQ had opened up the glass doors to the fire place, turned on the gas fire, and threw his toys inside the fire. The smoke detector went off. We go running through the house looking for Little BBQ. We ran in his room. We screamed his name. He did not respond.

After going to Little BBQ's room, we run into the living room to see tons of smoke. Dr. Lazy Palate drops to the ground and sees Little BBQ in front of the fire place giggling; I leave to go outside since I am pregnant. Turns out Little BBQ is happily throwing his toys in the fire. Dr. Lazy Palate ran and grabbed Little BBQ and brought him outside to where I was located. Then, he ran back inside and got some water and extinguished the fire. As it turns out it was actually a very small fire contained inside the fire place. The fire was super smoky because the vent hood was not open. In the end, everyone was all right and the smoke from the fire dusted every cob web in our new house.

Since this incident we have locked the glass doors to the fire place so Little BBQ or Miss Bubbles can not get into the fire place. We have also talked extensively to Little BBQ about fire and taught him to get out of the house if a fire occurs and where he can meet us. He knows our address, our phone number, and an emergency number. He can also get to our neighbor's house easily.

Taking him to see a fire station and truck was just another way we keep reinforcing fire safety. I want him to understand that there are serious consequences for lighting fires and that fire can hurt people. At the fire station, a firefighter discussed fire safety with the kids. Then the kids got to sit in the fire truck. As a treat, a firefighter turned on the lights on the fire truck for the kids to see. I highly recommend taking your kids to a fire station or teaching them about fire. It could save their lives one day.

The Spice of Life

2011-02-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

As you can see by this blog, I love to cook. I want to transfer that passion for cooking on to my son, and thankfully he has taken quiet an interest in cooking. Cooking is special because you have to do it to sustain yourself, so the better you are it then the more enjoyable the experience is going to be. I want to teach Little BBQ about spices and the way they melt together to creating exciting culinary achievements. To help him appreciate spices we did a spice collage today. We smelled and identified each spice before he was allowed to dump it on his collage.

He really liked the scent of cinnamon, but he was not a fan of curry which is ironic because he loves Indian food. The end result was a highly fragrant collage that is hanging in Little BBQ’s “art gallery.” This activity was another great rainy day activity.

Materials

Paper (we used red construction paper but you can use any type of paper)
Variety of ground herbs and spices (we used oregano, curry, lemon pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, paprika, mustard, and garlic)
Glue

Instructions

1. Make a glue picture or pattern on the paper.

2. Smell an herb or spice and identify the herb or spice.

3. Place the herb or spice on top of the glue.

4. Brush off any excess herb or spice into a trash bag.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 until the picture is complete

Rain Dancer

2011-02-02T09:03:00.001-08:00

This spring has been super rainy, and super rainy days mean lots of time indoors which is pure torture for an active preschooler. I have been so desperate for ideas for things to do that I have scoured blogs and even bought some books to help me find some rainy day inspiration. I finally found an interesting book called Science Arts by Mary Ann F. Kohl and Jean Potter. The book combines two of my favorite things, art and science. As a kid I remember all the beautiful pictures found in science books such as volcanoes, cells, animals, metabolite pathways, and all the other things that intrigue a young student. I remember wanting to be a medical illustrator, but my art skills were less than stellar. I even had an art teacher tell me I was talentless. He was probably right, but I still love all the pretty pictures in science books. And even better, I have made my own pretty science pictures over the years using microscopes and stains. I love the marvels of modern science that let me see our world even when our eyes don’t allow us to.

Now I am mother of two children, and I want them to appreciate science and art as much as I do. I want them to get excited about the world around them. I want them to discover both art and science. Today I let my son explore diffusion through art. It was another dark rainy day, and I was excited when I saw this activity called, “Rain Dancer” in the book Science Arts because it actually used the rain in the activity. The age recommendation was age 4 and up, but I decided to let Little BBQ try it anyway even though he is only 3.5 years old. He was a little young to understand the concept of diffusion, but he did enjoy the process of doing the project which was great. We are definitely going to save this activity for another rainy day.

Modified from the book Science Arts page 24:

Materials

Rainy day
White paper (we used computer paper)
Kids paint
Paintbrushes

Art experiment:

1. Paint the white sheet of paper.

2. Put the painted paper outside and let the rain hit the paper.

3. Bring the paper back inside after 5 minutes or until desired amount of spreading has occured.

Little BBQ tore the paper trying to bring it inside, but the concept is still there.

Science Concept Learned:

Diffusion occurs when the water droplets hit the paint on the paper. The pigments from the paint are in high concentration on the paper, but the pigments begin to diffuse or spread out across the paper once the water hits the paint.

This post was featured on Carnival of Homeschooling. and Homeschool Showcase #60

Color Wheel

2011-02-02T08:29:00.001-08:00

This week Little BBQ has been studying the color wheel. I made a simple color wheel template by tracing the bottom of a cup six times in the shape of a circle. Then, I gave Little BBQ paints in the three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. I instructed him on which colors we were going to put in each circle and allowed him to choose the order that he painted his color wheel. When it came to the mixed colors, we talked about how the secondary colors are made from the primary colors.

He did well with the project. At first, he did not understand why we going to mix the colors. He wanted me to give him his entire paint set and just let him free paint, but I explained to him that we were going to try something different today. We also did a test run on a piece of scrap paper to show him that he needed to paint within the lines. Overall, he did well. He got a bit out of control with the red, but that is to be expected at age 3. Little BBQ was really proud of this project; he hung his color wheel up in his room.