Sunday, May 15, 2016

SL Core G Week 26 "D" Middle Ages BiblioPlan Wk 14 May 9-15, 2016

Sonlight Core G Week 26 "D" 
Middle Ages 
BiblioPlan Wk 14 
May 9-15, 2016
Snow! on May 15th!  

Hello Friends!
Curriculum, you know you may wonder why it takes us so long to get through our Sonlight and BiblioPlan material--we do two programs together, woven together (our attempt to!) and that takes a bit of time!  I always felt like we were rushing through our material and gave myself permission to slow down to the pace that I felt we were able to absorb the main points.  I should be very clear, that I don't think everyone should go slow, but that everyone should go their own speed and not feel pressured to let their curriculum dictate your pace!  Each family should go their however best fills their needs (and not the other way around!).  

*Skip to the "Our Lessons This Week" if you want to miss our details and blessings from the week.*

Still too cold to open the windows and get back to our painting and completing the "Rec Room."  Maybe in another week....hoping!  Today (and yesterday) we had sleet and snow!  Can you believe it?!!  What odd weather Michigan has!  It is weird to have our heat still going as we approach June!

Snow! on May 15th!

Libraries (2), Music, Yard Sales...& Blessings:
Monday we drove down to the downtown library again this week, and found a bunch of great audio's on sale!  What a blessing!!  Tuesday Dd had her private lesson with her teacher, and is close to passing her memorization test to gain entry into the Northern Lights Homeschool Band.  They already have 202 musicians signed up for this year's band! We also went to our local library.  Our friend, Michele Z. took us to Pickerel Lake on Wednesday.  I posted an entire post about this wonderful park.  We were blessed at some new clothing at yard sales on Friday and Saturday-- I really lucked out finding TWO ladies who were selling their gently used clothing, in my size!!!  The only other time I have ever got that many new shirts was when I graduated from college and my Aunt Ruth took me shopping for 'work attire.'  I thought that was going to be my life's only shopping spree---but this week I was really fortunate!  I probably got twenty new tops!  I have to say, I really felt in my heart that this was a real blessing directly from the Lord!  I was saying, 'Praise the Lord' for the next 24 hours!  Do you ever have those times that you really feel like something was clearly a blessing from God?  I do...and this was very much the case.  I really want to share how the Lord has been blessing me.  You may or may not know how difficult these past 9 years have been, but they really did pave a well-worn path between me and the Lord.


Date Night:
Dd went to a birthday party/over-night party with seven girl friends on Friday, and Dh and I got to have a real date night!  I took the opportunity, after Dd was dropped off, to spend two hours at the Christian book store finding a new bible.  Dh gave me money for my birthday recently, especially to buy my own choice bible.  Years back he and his mother had given me two bibles, but they didn't have my name engraved on them, and I wanted a bible that I picked out myself.  When the woman engraved my name, she kinda messed up, and my name doesn't look right.  She made a practice run, and then a real run over-top of it, and the ink was wobbly.  From a far it probably looks okay; but it was a bit of a bummer.  I might go back--but I'm not sure if I should make a deal of it, or if I should just let it go.  So, in one week I got to go hiking with Dd and my new friend, Michele (and her son)---then fabulous yard sales that provided me with so many new tops (a new dress-up dress for next years Christmas party, and new dress shoes to go with it), a new bible, AND Dh and I got to go out for sushi date!  Dinner--just the two of us!  That is a lot of blessing in one week!  Thanking the Lord!

Chickens:
We have all been spending a few hours here and there working on the chicken coop!  Saturday, Dh and Dd got a new wall built for it!  It is really coming along!!  The chickens are doing really well.  Saturday, Dd and I went and bought some bales of straw.  The chickens were very untrusting of it at first, but soon found they LOVED it!  They are so funny!  Our garage has a door to our fenced in back yard, and I've started taking the birds out and leaving the door open so they can get back in, if they want.  Well, it is so funny---they will enjoy being outside for a little while, but not too long.  I left them for about 40 minutes and then went to check on them, and all twenty of them had come back in the garage and wanted back inside their chicken tractor homes!!!!!!



Balancing lessons and home:
I got another five boxes mostly unpacked this week.  I am having such a hard time trying to cook, clean, get lessons done, and everything else. Do you all have that issue too?  When there are more chores, it does get harder.  But, glad I don't let any amount of work get in the way of accepting invitations to parks!   

Dd did all the plastic on the insulation on this section too

Chicken coop:
We put in the studs, floor bases, insulation, plastic, then plywood.  The square hole is where their 'shoot' or door out to their run will soon be!
This new wall was put up by Dd and Dh supervising.  They worked together for about five-six hours on Saturday.

Our Lessons This Week:

Bible: 
Veritas Press Gospels
Card 114: Completed
12 Apostles Appointed
(reading of the apostles being chosen in Matthew 10: 1-4, Mark 3: 13-19, and Luke 6: 12-16.  It is so interesting comparing the same stories in varying gospels.)  

Card 115: In Process
The Beatitudes
Matthew 5

Zeus is no longer the head-fred of our coop; "Michael Buble" is now the top Rooster!  and he is doing little attempts at crowing.  If we have to 'let one of the rooster's "go," it will be Michael.  Zeus is a much nicer Rooster and not so competitive.  This picture is of Michael Buble---btw, I did NOT name him!  A friend of Dd did, it is some inside joke.
The handsome young rooster in the center is Zeus

History:

BiblioPlan Companion for Medieval History
Chapter15: Companion


Magna Charta by James Daugherty:
In Process


Story of the World: Volume 2: The Middle Ages
Ch. 11-27
(audio--listen while driving)

Sonlight Mapping and Timeline
Week 26 completed


Science: 
Apologia: General Science: Module 9
Text done, Student Notebook done, Test done
*but, there is still one experiment I want to do with earthworms.*

Added In: The Usborne Intro. to Genes & DNA
pg's 4-25

Hike, at Pickerel Park: 2 hours
We saw masses of frogs, birds, water bugs, dragon flies, beaver dams (2), Snapping Turtle, Paint Box Turtle...all sorts of nature.  We saw a Eastern Towhee there, then came home and an Indigo Bunting was on my feeder!  Also, Red-Winged Blackbirds have been coming to my feeders this week; which is new.


Language Arts:

Writing--I had Dd write a few paragraphs on two topics, she picked one topic, War of the Roses, and secondly, on the 5th Criterion (science).

Easy Grammar, Plus
corrected pages 285, 281, 277
new: 277, 279, 283, 287

Word Roots: Level 1
pg's 20-23


Foreign Languages:
Rosetta Stone: French (10 minutes each day)

Sign Language: 
passed lessons 1-4, taught 5 & 6, almost memorized.


Math: 
Teaching Textbooks: Algebra I
Test, 33-36 

Music:
Alto Sax: 40 min. each day, plus 30 min. lesson with her teacher
Piano: 2 hours this week
Violin: 30 min. this week

Home Economics:
*wrapping Addy's gifts
*writing Thank You card to Lexi
*Dd made me a Moo-less Pie (tofu, honey, and choc. chips) for my birthday cake this year (no crust)
*Dd sewed a cool dress out of one old "dress-up" dress and some cool fabric we had.  I'll try to get a photo next week.


*5-6 hours of working with Dh on the chicken coop, what is extra nice about working with my husband, is has her do most of the work--the cutting, sawing, drilling...
*caring for the chickens (she did better this week!)
*chores--dishes, laundry, cat litter.... 

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Friday, May 13, 2016

Pickerel Lake Park

Pickerel Lake Park 



Hello Friends!  Here are some pictures from a nature reserve in Michigan!













We saw lots of tree's downed by beaver, and TWO beaver dams.

Lots of snails...some came home with us



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Apologia General Science Module 9 Experiments...In Process 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5

Apologia General Science 
Module 9 Experiments- 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5...In Process
Still completing these experiments, will update in a few days

Experiment 9.1 
Building a Model of DNA




Dd did this experiment on her own, and it was easy for her to follow the directions and connect the piping and the colored plastic beads to make a MODEL of DNA
The only supplies needed were the long pipe cleaners, four different color beads and strong scissors.



Experiment 9.2 
Finding Food in Plants


This experiment has two separate parts, one test with a potato and one with a pale green leaf (we used a piece of lettuce).  Dd didn't take any pictures while doing the potato test, but I took a photo AFTER she had completed the lettuce test.

**I should state that we used our "kit" from Christianbook that included iodine, which was oddly clear?!!  Luckily I also have Lugul's Iodine; which ours was it's normal reddish color.  The clear iodine didn't seem to work as well.  If you also use the kit that sells alongside, you might think about getting or using your own iodine. 


Potato experiment: Worked
Iodine is often used to see if there is starch in something, if so, it turns the starch blue.  The potato is made of starch, so the white insides turned blue.


I'm assuming Dd put a drop of each kind of iodine on the slice of potato.

You can see the slice of potato on the cutting board, it turned almost black!




Leaf experiment: Didn't Work
She soaked a lettuce leaf in alcohol, to break down the leaf and also pulled out a chlorophyll.  After soaking we added iodine and the leaf was *suppose* to turn blue, but didn't.  I am *guessing* it was because Dd didn't use the iodine that was red, but used the clear iodine that came in our kit.  I did take pictures of the lettuce after the iodine was applied.



I added some of our reddish iodine, to see if it would turn blue, but perhaps the pores were already full of the clear iodine?



Experiment 9.3
A Simple Biosphere: Undetermined Success

First seedling - May 3rd

Our first attempt at a biosphere died...perhaps the seeding was too frail for the increased sunlight.  I did have high hopes.  We planted a new plant in the cap and so far it is growing and doing alright.

The plant will continue to survive because there was carbon dioxide in the jar when we closed the lid.  The seedling will use the sun to make energy, and also the water in the jar, and the carbon dioxide in the air to produce glucose and oxygen.

Second seedling - May 9th



Second seedling -May 13th 
The seedling doesn't look as good as it did on Monday, not sure...we will keep an eye on it and take another photo in a few days.



Experiment 9.4
Sensing and Responding to Change
(uncompleted so far)


Experiment 9.5

Fruit Fly Reproduction
(Our first banana in a large jar attracted no fruit flies; but managed to get moldy.  A second, older, blacker banana has been put into the jar and we are awaiting the results.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

SL Core G Week 26 "C" (BP 14) Middle Ages May 2-8, 2016

SL Core G 
Week 26 "C" (BiblioPlan Week 14) 
Middle Ages 
May 2-8, 2016
Dh's gift for me...I love the smell of Petuna's!


Hello Friends!  Did you know that May 4th is a special holiday; Star Wars, "May the "Fourth" Be With You."  This year, Dd wore her "Rey" costume to the Star Wars Party.  One of Dd's friends invited us to meet-up at the Millennium Park and go on a little hike this week, and we went.  The hike was very short, but it let us see another park in this area.  Dd had another private sax lesson with her band teacher, Mrs. March.  On Friday, she had her monthly, "Girl's Club" get-together.  They played volleyball, "Gaga Ball," and "Nuke-Em."  To wrap up our activities this week, we went to the library and church.  It was a very full week, and Dd was extremely tired and run down by the end of it.  We had a LOT of driving this week, so listened to a lot of audio's-- Mystery of History & Story of the World on Middle Ages.

Independent Study
This week we tried out a new format in our homeschooling---I wrote down everything Dd needed to do for the week and left her on her own to do it.  She liked the "independent" format, but she didn't get all the things done that I had assigned.  I had asked to do the science experiments WITH her, but she went ahead and did the ones she wanted to do on her own.  It didn't go the way I had planned--I had asked her to meet with me each day for bible study and sign language lessons, and she was always busy.  I'm afraid it wasn't a good attitude week.  I'm not sure how parents can balance independent and good attitude.  We had a lot of talking about this, and hope that we can combine how to help her become more independent and maintain a good relationship with her parents. Dd thought this week was really good; but it might be b/c she didn't have to work as hard as she does when we work together.  I have to admit, I wasn't sure how much work she could do alone, so I probably didn't assign as much work as she could have accomplished.  I noticed she didn't work as hard as she does when I am working with her.  We still have a lot of work on getting Dd working more independently.

We built four new beds, and hope for more later.  I mowed and put the grass inside the new beds, then we dumped most of our compost and old leaves into them too.  We got three beds pretty filled up already!  I took two buckets out in the woods and filled them up with humus to add into the mix.


Dh and I build the Raised Bed frames for our future garden. 


 Dh put together a larger compost bin--from some wooden skids.  


The broom on the floor is where the outer wall will be built.  


And, we have been working on building the chicken coop, in the 'barn' section of our outbuilding.  So, we did get a lot done on our chores.  


Dd trimmed some of our bushes did some yard work.

Dd trimmed three bushes.



Our Lessons:

Veritas Press: Gospels
Card 113: Completed
Journey Through the Bible:
pg's 226-227
pg's 253-281



Courageous: Exclusive Collector's Edition, DVD
DVD: Courageous, 
Honor Begins at Home
Do Hard Things by Brett Harris
pg's 128-143



Dramatic Audio CD - Boy of Mount Rhigi
Audio: Lamplighter: 
The Boy of Mount Rhigi


**History Related:**
BiblioPlan: Companion for Medieval History
Chapter 14: The Black Death, The Hundred Years War....
BiblioPlan Advanced Maps:
Wk 11,12,13

Monks & Mystics: Chronicles of the Medieval Church: History Lives: Volume 2
Monks & Mystics by Mindy Withrow
*How the University was Born
*Thomas Aquines: We call Him the Ox
Audio: Story of the World: Vol. 2, The Middle Ages
Ch. 1-10




Mystery of History Vol. 2 Early Church-Middle Age
Audio: Mystery of History: (Lessons 63-79)
The Shoguns and Samurai of Japan,  St. Francis, The Children's Crusade, King John and the Magna Carta, Fredrick II, St. Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, The Great Khans, Marco Polo, Sir William Wallace and Robert Bruce, Bravehearts of Scotland,, Dante Alighieri, The Aztecs, The Hundreds Years' War, The Black Death of Europe, The Ming Dynasty, John Wycliffe, Geoffrey Chaucer...


Sonlight Timeline and Mapping:
Weeks 23, 24, 25

Product Details
Add-In Reader:
Hawksmaid, 
The Untold Story of Robin Hood and Maid Marion Hawksmaid



Foreign Languages:

Latin:


Word Roots Level 1
Word Roots Level 1
CRITICAL THINKING COMPANY / 2015 / TRADE PAPERBACK
Word Roots Level 1
pg 10-19



DVD: Word Up 
Lesson 3,4,& 5
Rosetta Stone: French
10 min per day

Sign Language:
Lessons 1-5
We are using my old class from when I took classes.


Music:
Alto Sax
She is trying to memorize two songs for her Marching Band try-outs.  So, she has been doing two or three practices each day instead of just one.  Probably five or six hours this week.

Piano:
Not a big piano week---one or two hours



Teaching Textbooks: Algebra I
28-32


Exploring Creation with General Science Text Only

Science:
Apologia: General Science: 
Module 9: What is Life?
Text: 217-236
Experiments: 9.1, 9.2, 9.3
Draw a Cell

Dd taking care of her seedlings, and growing a lot of different things--herbs to veggie's

Dd is helping take care of the chicks.

Hiking---TWO hikes--one to Millennium Park, and one on our property.


Language Arts:

Easy Grammar, Plus
pg's 128-143

Sewing:
Added more fabric to her hood.


Fun Books:

Product Details

Way of the Warrior, The (Young Samurai, Book 1)

Mar 28, 2010
The Way of the Warrior: Completed
by Chris Bradford


Product Details

Way of the Sword, The (Young Samurai, Book 2)

Mar 28, 2010
The Way of the Sword Young Samurai: In Process



Product Details

Hawksmaid: The Untold Story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian

May 10, 2011
Hawksmaid by Kathryn Lasky
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