"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Monday, July 02, 2012
Homeschooling fun
I'm running high school chemistry lab course for my kids this year, and, long story short, they got to do a tour of the Chemistry Department at Indiana University. It was a marvelous tour, ending with a popular chemistry demonstration:
It was tons of fun, with explosions, fires, and liquid nitrogen. No chemistry demo is complete without liquid nitrogen.
Then, a friend organized a field trip to Limberlost State Historic Park in Geneva, Indiana. I'd never heard of the author Gene Stratton-Porter before moving to Indiana, but we learned that she led a very interesting life. The house we toured was one she'd lived in in the early 1900s. It was beautiful but I think my husband and kids enjoyed the Loblolly Marsh that she used to visit even more. Our guide, Bill, an enthusiastic naturalist, did a nice job and endured the heat with us.
That reminds me, I don't know if my kids know how lucky they are. As homeschoolers, we're able to pick up and go anytime, anywhere. At the tender ages of 14 and 16, they've already been to about 46 of the 50 States, and 4 of the 10 Canadian provinces. We sure do enjoy our driving trips across the continent, but I'm going to keep reminding them that they're lucky, lucky kids. in so many ways.
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Home, home(schooling) on the range...
...where we learn that in North America, we don't have antelope (they're pronghorn; antelopes are in Africa) or buffalo (they're bison; buffalo are in Asia).
I also learned that there is such a place called "Cornell College". I had always assumed that when I say "Cornell" (as in, ds#1 took a bird biology course from Cornell), or when I see "Cornell" (as in, Carl Sagan was a long-time professor at Cornell), that they mean the one and only Cornell University. Imagine my surprise to hear about Cornell College, which is in Iowa, not Ithaca, NY. Learn something new every day.
We're 2/3 of the way through the Prentice Hall Biology labs, which the teens seem to be enjoying so far. :) I swear the moms get more excited than the kids do, though, when an experiment works. We'll reconvene in mid-January, giving the kids a well-deserved break over the holidays.
On to more photos from 2004!
The kids were taking tennis in the summers. Here's ds#1 working on his back-hand:
and ds#2 muddling through:
The Asian Culture Center at Indiana University offers half-day summer camps every year. The boys are hard at play making masks with the other campers:
More reading in their spare time:
There are many interesting limestone caves in our area; here we are at McCormick Creek State Park (I think; dh will correct me if I'm wrong).
On a field trip to the Indiana State Museum:
The boys peeling eggs for deviled eggs. Not sure why that's so amusing, but, apparently, it is.
Slave labor! The boys helping to harvest carrots and other things.
Playing with their best friends:
The guys with one of our watermelons that was bigger than their heads:
Marbleworks was one of their favorite games (before evil Wii came into our lives).
Carrie (Under the Willow Gifts) may recognize this place - Sidling Hill in western Maryland. We always pass by on our way to visit dh's relatives.
And speaking of relatives, here's one of our favorite aunts (always has a good toy to amuse the boys) from western MD:
Our friend C's mom has a little vineyard in her backyard. It may be little, but in a good year, it produces tons of fruits. 2004 was one of those bumper years. This was the crop we got after C and her family had already had their fill. The boys were helping us process them.
Here's my goofy son #1 with a couple of his creations, a wind-sock made from a plastic food tub and a puppet made with a paper towel tube, a toilet paper tube and chenille stems. I miss those days when that's all it took to make them smile like this. ;)
Next homeschooling post: more photos, and a look back on what they've learned and what else we need to do for the 2009-2010 homeschool year.
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
I also learned that there is such a place called "Cornell College". I had always assumed that when I say "Cornell" (as in, ds#1 took a bird biology course from Cornell), or when I see "Cornell" (as in, Carl Sagan was a long-time professor at Cornell), that they mean the one and only Cornell University. Imagine my surprise to hear about Cornell College, which is in Iowa, not Ithaca, NY. Learn something new every day.
We're 2/3 of the way through the Prentice Hall Biology labs, which the teens seem to be enjoying so far. :) I swear the moms get more excited than the kids do, though, when an experiment works. We'll reconvene in mid-January, giving the kids a well-deserved break over the holidays.
On to more photos from 2004!
The kids were taking tennis in the summers. Here's ds#1 working on his back-hand:
and ds#2 muddling through:
The Asian Culture Center at Indiana University offers half-day summer camps every year. The boys are hard at play making masks with the other campers:
More reading in their spare time:
There are many interesting limestone caves in our area; here we are at McCormick Creek State Park (I think; dh will correct me if I'm wrong).
On a field trip to the Indiana State Museum:
The boys peeling eggs for deviled eggs. Not sure why that's so amusing, but, apparently, it is.
Slave labor! The boys helping to harvest carrots and other things.
Playing with their best friends:
The guys with one of our watermelons that was bigger than their heads:
Marbleworks was one of their favorite games (before evil Wii came into our lives). 
Carrie (Under the Willow Gifts) may recognize this place - Sidling Hill in western Maryland. We always pass by on our way to visit dh's relatives.
And speaking of relatives, here's one of our favorite aunts (always has a good toy to amuse the boys) from western MD:
Our friend C's mom has a little vineyard in her backyard. It may be little, but in a good year, it produces tons of fruits. 2004 was one of those bumper years. This was the crop we got after C and her family had already had their fill. The boys were helping us process them.
Here's my goofy son #1 with a couple of his creations, a wind-sock made from a plastic food tub and a puppet made with a paper towel tube, a toilet paper tube and chenille stems. I miss those days when that's all it took to make them smile like this. ;)
Next homeschooling post: more photos, and a look back on what they've learned and what else we need to do for the 2009-2010 homeschool year."I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
Sunday, December 06, 2009
It's about time I talked a bit about homeschooling...and take a walk down memory lane
This blog isn't about homeschooling per se, but homeschooling is as much a part of our lives as homesteading...in fact, I would say more so. We've been doing both for almost the same number of years.
So, I'm thinking that I really should talk about our homeschooling, maybe once a week - as a record for ourselves, perhaps, and also as our duty to be proponents of it.
We have been extremely lucky in that, except for a handful of encounters (probably less than 5 in the past decade), we have received only warm support, some glowing praises, and even some admiring envy when we tell people we're homeschooling. I know people who have horror stories.
Naturally, homeschooling isn't for everyone, and you should always go with what works best for your family and kids. We had our reasons for starting to homeschool (gifted for one, special needs for the other), and it's been a great journey so far.
Anyway, I was thinking I'd post some photos of our homeschooling fun, and since I'm too lazy to scan in photos, and our digital camera-ownership only go back to 2004, I'd start with showing you some photos from that year. Hope I don't bore you too much, but then again, I won't hear you if you fall asleep on the keyboard. =)
We started that year with a trip to Vancouver in January. Here are the kids at the airport, quietly doing activity books.
While in Vancouver, we took them to Science World:
Back home in our old homeschooling space in the kitchen (they've since outgrown that furniture and have moved into our office space).
When not doing academic work, they often read books.
We used to participate in a lot of field trips offered through our homeschool group. Here we are at the local newspaper company, getting a tour.
Our homeschool group also holds a lot of fairs. This is one that ds#1 did on frogs (bet you couldn't guess) for the Science Fair.
One time, the kids decided to build a dummy to warm up their dad's chair until the real dummy (just kidding!) came home.
When the Brood X cicadas hit our town, we went over to our friends' farm to feed cicadas to their chickens. We learned a lot about periodic cicadas that year.
While perusing our wonderful Farmers Market that summer, we discovered that the boys were the cover-kids for the local arts center! We had taken many class there, and they had featured the kids doing ceramics on their summer catalog.
Also that summer, ds#1 tried his hand at photography. He needs a lot more practice, but has taken some rather lovely photos.
More photos next time I post about homeschooling!
Ds#1 also took the CAT/5 exam again this past Friday. He'd taken the grade 7 one this past June when he was supposed to have just completed grade 7, but his scores were so off the top of the chart that we really didn't learn anything from it. So, I had him take the grade 10 test this time. Maybe that will show us areas that he could work on in the next few years before university.
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
So, I'm thinking that I really should talk about our homeschooling, maybe once a week - as a record for ourselves, perhaps, and also as our duty to be proponents of it.
We have been extremely lucky in that, except for a handful of encounters (probably less than 5 in the past decade), we have received only warm support, some glowing praises, and even some admiring envy when we tell people we're homeschooling. I know people who have horror stories.
Naturally, homeschooling isn't for everyone, and you should always go with what works best for your family and kids. We had our reasons for starting to homeschool (gifted for one, special needs for the other), and it's been a great journey so far.
Anyway, I was thinking I'd post some photos of our homeschooling fun, and since I'm too lazy to scan in photos, and our digital camera-ownership only go back to 2004, I'd start with showing you some photos from that year. Hope I don't bore you too much, but then again, I won't hear you if you fall asleep on the keyboard. =)
We started that year with a trip to Vancouver in January. Here are the kids at the airport, quietly doing activity books.
While in Vancouver, we took them to Science World:
Back home in our old homeschooling space in the kitchen (they've since outgrown that furniture and have moved into our office space).
When not doing academic work, they often read books.
We used to participate in a lot of field trips offered through our homeschool group. Here we are at the local newspaper company, getting a tour.
Our homeschool group also holds a lot of fairs. This is one that ds#1 did on frogs (bet you couldn't guess) for the Science Fair.
One time, the kids decided to build a dummy to warm up their dad's chair until the real dummy (just kidding!) came home.
When the Brood X cicadas hit our town, we went over to our friends' farm to feed cicadas to their chickens. We learned a lot about periodic cicadas that year.
While perusing our wonderful Farmers Market that summer, we discovered that the boys were the cover-kids for the local arts center! We had taken many class there, and they had featured the kids doing ceramics on their summer catalog.
Also that summer, ds#1 tried his hand at photography. He needs a lot more practice, but has taken some rather lovely photos.
More photos next time I post about homeschooling!Ds#1 also took the CAT/5 exam again this past Friday. He'd taken the grade 7 one this past June when he was supposed to have just completed grade 7, but his scores were so off the top of the chart that we really didn't learn anything from it. So, I had him take the grade 10 test this time. Maybe that will show us areas that he could work on in the next few years before university.
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A NaNoWriMo "Vacation"
If you consider cranking out a 50,000 word novel in 30 days a vacation, then, woohoo, break out the sunscreen and bring on the cabana boys! For those of us who like to bang our heads against the wall and suffer the pain of a taunting blank screen (or a piece of paper), National Novel Writing Month is, indeed, a "vacation" to remember. Care to join me? I'm "writer64" at NaNo, and would love for you to buddy me there. =)Before I neglect my crops on Lil Farm Life (cursed FB and its time-sucking games), and my blog, and my bloggy friends' blogs for an entire month, I thought I'd share some chapters from my life...which is not quite an open book. I apologize for my writing-related jokes.
Chapter 1: My experimental life
...in which we extract DNA...bwahahahaha! Who says biology is boring? Incidentally, would you believe "bored" and "boring" are two words my kids have never uttered in their lives? Seriously. Dh and I must be doing something right.
So, the kids in the biology lab class got to extract DNA from split peas. If you'd like to follow along, and I know you do, see these directions.
Well, they're not quite the strands the directions make them sound like they'd be. Here's ds#1 trying to "pull" them out:
Kind of a murky mess. But after letting the test tubes sit for about an hour, the DNA stuff separated themselves out. Here they are, the infamous DNA clouds! Heh. So, what do you think? Cumulo-nimbus? Alto-stratus?
Chapter 2: We'll have fun, fun, fun 'til our daddy takes the clay awayI'd like to see him try to stop us from having fun. More ceramics joy from our previous workout...here's a beautiful sycamore leaf by ds#2. I love the glaze on this one:
Ds#1 made a sassafras imprint trivet, which can also be used as a wall hanging:
And I made a set of 5 little condiment dishes:
I'm trying to decide whether to list them on our Artfire site, or start an Etsy store..Chapter 3: Nerds R Us.
...or "why I think my kids are space aliens in disguise". Then, again, maybe it's just indicative of our wacky homeschooling lifestyle.
This is what's under my 13 year old son's bed. I think he has half the library's collection there.
I'd think that pre-teen and teen boys would have posters of rock stars, athletes, or, gack!, pretty models on their walls, but here're the walls over ds#1's bed. There's a poster of Vancouver, Newberry (children's fiction) winners, an Escher print, a Magritte print, a Toko print, a little poster of The Story of the Stars and Stripes, a small poster of some eagle (not the rock band) festival, the cover of a Harry Potter LEGO set, and a small print of some ancient sea creature (elasmosaurus or something).
And over ds#2's bed, we have...well, you can probably see this one pretty well yourself. The Parts of a Cell poster really rocks!
A model of the solar system hangs from the ceiling in this photo, and a how-to art poster and Geologic Time Scale poster adorn the wall.
I've asked the kids if they want some different (read: non-educational) posters up, and they said, "mmm, no". Okay then.Chapter 4: Food, glorious food
I made another couple of pie crust a la Mark Bittman, and this time, I used the acorn squash that friends gave us to make "pumpkin" pie. Pre-mixing:
After pouring into the crust:
I used the pumpkin pie recipe by Jackie Clay who writes a column for Backwoods Home magazine.Because we have a carpet of cilantro in our greenhouse (no exaggeration), dh bought some haddock and trout yesterday and cooked them with a creamy cilantro sauce, accompanied by green beans with sun-dried tomato paste (yup, both homegrown). It was totally divine; I'm drooling again just thinking about it:
I've been baking today, in between loads of laundry. My friend Jennifer is having a food drive for the winter homeless shelter here in town, and needed donations of food. (Neither the Shalom Center (which normally serves breakfast and lunch) nor the Community Kitchen (which normally serves dinner) is open on Sunday.) I made a dessert - chocolate chunk blondies (a King Arthur Flour recipe, and, yes, I will post the recipe some time this month):
and a couple of loaves of the 5 minute artisan bread:
If other townies are reading this and would like to help, Jennifer will still need food for December 6, January 3, February 7, and March 7. Contact me and I'll get you in touch with her.Chapter 5: Odds 'n ends...a happy doggie end
I saw this book advertised somewhere and am intrigued by it. It hasn't come out yet, but if anyone reads it before I do, please let me know if it's worth buying!
I have one of the One Skein Wonders book and really like it. :)And here is the doggie end, just as I promised. A bit stinky, but happy, nonetheless.
I hope to be able to visit your blogs a few times during the month, but if I don't get around to that, I promise I will be back with a vengeance in December. ;) Wish me luck with NaNo, please!"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
What have we been up to?
Oh, a lil' of this, a lil' of that.
I set up the telescope Saturday night and while we couldn't see the Great Red Spot, we did see the 4 largest moons of Jupiter. Our own moon was nearly full and was so bright that we felt like we were staring at the sun. Could see the craters on the southern edge really well though.
Sunday, we picked up lamb from the processors (many thanks to our friend, C!), and then picked tons of apples from C's trees, and some grapes from C's mom's little vineyard. I forgot to take a photo of this year's crop of grapes, but it's not as huge as the one from 2004:
And then Ike blew through. We were worried we couldn't get home as we only had one route to get home with the bridge being closed, but luckily no large trees came down on the roads we took, although many trees did come down all over the county. In fact, as of today, there were still thousands without electricity. We were lucky to have lost power for only 20 minutes.
Monday morning, I rescued an oven bird that had crashed into our window. After propping it up in the sunniest spot I could find on a cool morning, it recovered enough in about an hour to fly away.
Monday night, inspired by Gracefruit's jamming, I made grape jelly with the grapes we had picked (and the boys and dh had processed).
Not as pretty as I'd like (a bit too cloudy), but I'm pleased that it went smoothly and well, and, boy, do the grapes smell fabulous.
And the rest is pretty much the usual - out most of the day the past several days with homeschool stuff. Whoever thinks that homeschoolers don't get enough "socialization" has never met a homeschooled child. Even with a homebody mom (I have always wanted to be a hermit when I grew up), my kids end up interacting with a lot of people all the time.
"Happiness depends upon ourselves." ~ Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
I set up the telescope Saturday night and while we couldn't see the Great Red Spot, we did see the 4 largest moons of Jupiter. Our own moon was nearly full and was so bright that we felt like we were staring at the sun. Could see the craters on the southern edge really well though.
Sunday, we picked up lamb from the processors (many thanks to our friend, C!), and then picked tons of apples from C's trees, and some grapes from C's mom's little vineyard. I forgot to take a photo of this year's crop of grapes, but it's not as huge as the one from 2004:
And then Ike blew through. We were worried we couldn't get home as we only had one route to get home with the bridge being closed, but luckily no large trees came down on the roads we took, although many trees did come down all over the county. In fact, as of today, there were still thousands without electricity. We were lucky to have lost power for only 20 minutes.Monday morning, I rescued an oven bird that had crashed into our window. After propping it up in the sunniest spot I could find on a cool morning, it recovered enough in about an hour to fly away.
Monday night, inspired by Gracefruit's jamming, I made grape jelly with the grapes we had picked (and the boys and dh had processed).
Not as pretty as I'd like (a bit too cloudy), but I'm pleased that it went smoothly and well, and, boy, do the grapes smell fabulous.And the rest is pretty much the usual - out most of the day the past several days with homeschool stuff. Whoever thinks that homeschoolers don't get enough "socialization" has never met a homeschooled child. Even with a homebody mom (I have always wanted to be a hermit when I grew up), my kids end up interacting with a lot of people all the time.
"Happiness depends upon ourselves." ~ Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
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