History: We started in the time period of 1730's when George Washington was born. Many other great men/women of our country are also around or being born including John Adams, John Hancock, Daniel Boone, and Ben Franklin. We aren't exclusive in our study of America and we are also learning about what is going on in England, France, China, and India. Here is just a snapshot of a week's worth of reading. We actually frequent three different libraries in the area so I'm not out a small fortune each year.
The book below was such a find! This is a copy of the book that George Washington used in training himself as a gentleman. He hand wrote each rule and put it into memory and practice. Having it as a reference was funny as well as enlightening.
The book below was such a find! This is a copy of the book that George Washington used in training himself as a gentleman. He hand wrote each rule and put it into memory and practice. Having it as a reference was funny as well as enlightening.
Science: We started the year with a short, four week study of the human body. I thought it would be a motivating hands-on way to start the school year. The kids really seemed to enjoy it and the lack of projects in History were made up for in Science.
Cute board game that Bubbles had received for Christmas sometime ago. We cracked it open for Prez to have a go. It includes removable decals of the body's organs and he LOVED racing us to see who could "build" their body first.
This was a cumulative game of Jeopardy we played to see what we had learned. I thought the kiddos did a great job of remembering details.
Bubbles was the winner, but in Prez's defense, he didn't sit in on every Science lesson.
Inside of a chicken bone with lots of bone marrow.
Gross!
Model of a lung and how the diaphragm works. 
Red balloon is the lung...yellow balloon on the bottom is the diaphragm.
Model of how the arm muscles work.
One muscle pulls, while the other pushes.
Blood had to be studied with the circulatory system, of course!
Luckily, it was fake blood that we made. Although, I'm sure he had Daddy fooled.
Homemade stethoscope.
Two eggheads? No. Naturally this is a Science experiment.
What's the importance of brain fluid?
It protects the brain from injury. We used water for our fluid, but down below the poor fellow had an empty head, so he cracked!
Made a little brain hat in order to get an idea of what parts of the brain were used for which things.
The senses.
We learned that an adult brain weighs about 3 pounds and has a gray/pink, warm, squishy appearance and feel.
Using sand, instant mashed potatoes, and warm water in certain measurements, we attempted to get a grasp on that information.
Pretty fun to play with.Art: I have shortened our school week to four days of hardcore lessons and on Fridays we do all of our fieldtrips, Mass, and art lessons. I am teaching the kiddos to draw and we are studying different artists. One of the lessons was teaching the kids to look for simple shapes when drawing still life objects. You sketch this out first and then add details and more precise lines to have your picture come to life.
This is a picture of a jalapeno pepper that Prez drew. He used an oval shape for the body and a triangle shape for the top.
Here is a pencil, which when turned you can tell was laying on the table. I suggested he add some charcoal underneath for the shaded effect. I thought it turned out well.
Here is Bubble's rendition of a green onion. The oval at the bottom with the crescent "leaves" really likened to the original vegetable.
Prez's log cabin he drew when learning about Daniel Boone.
Bubble's log cabin and tree, which she was very happy to "get the tree branches to look right".
Here is Bubbles working on her own take of Paul Signac's Palais de Papes Avignon.
The object was to draw a landscape, practicing drawing straight lines, and then filling it all in with different colored squares of paper.
Last but not least, we were working on transforming 2-D objects into 3-D objects with proper shading. I thought Bubble's sphere really popped out and she was extremely content with her efforts.
Prez also did a remarkable job, but I did help him with instruction on where to darken, lengthen, and shade more. We also traced the circle. Either way, I believe they both have learned a lot.
This is a picture of a jalapeno pepper that Prez drew. He used an oval shape for the body and a triangle shape for the top.
Here is a pencil, which when turned you can tell was laying on the table. I suggested he add some charcoal underneath for the shaded effect. I thought it turned out well.
Here is Bubble's rendition of a green onion. The oval at the bottom with the crescent "leaves" really likened to the original vegetable.
Prez's log cabin he drew when learning about Daniel Boone.
Bubble's log cabin and tree, which she was very happy to "get the tree branches to look right".
Here is Bubbles working on her own take of Paul Signac's Palais de Papes Avignon.
The object was to draw a landscape, practicing drawing straight lines, and then filling it all in with different colored squares of paper.
Last but not least, we were working on transforming 2-D objects into 3-D objects with proper shading. I thought Bubble's sphere really popped out and she was extremely content with her efforts.
Prez also did a remarkable job, but I did help him with instruction on where to darken, lengthen, and shade more. We also traced the circle. Either way, I believe they both have learned a lot.I hope to stay on top of the school posts, but one never knows. I wish I had pictures from our trip to the Nasher Sculpture Center, but I'll try to do better next time.
As for now, we continue the papers, reports, tests, and calculations, but we are now studying Astronomy. That should be "out of the this world". :)
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