Week 24-25 & Maple Syrup Day

The past two weeks have moved quickly. It seems like we've done a lot. We also fit in another field trip for this school year. We haven't taken many, this was our 3rd one for the year. I just wish it had been a little warmer. I want to tell you all about our trip, so I will try to be brief with our school work.
 
History: In history Sis has been learning about the Roman Empire.One of the books that we are read is "City" this book explains how Roman cities were planned and built. We learned about the different building structures as well as roads and aqueducts. It was pretty interesting and I loved that it had a lot of illustrations so that we could see what it was talking about.

 Sis only drew one picture in her notebook over the past two weeks, but I think it's my favorite one this year. She drew one of Hannibal's war elephants, when he took 40 elephants over the mountains to Rome. I won't show you all the other note booking pages with her writing and timeline.

Boo learned about Samuel Morse and the invention of the telegraph in US history. We already learned a little about Morse code in science this year, so some of it was review. Boo had fun writing secret messages though with the codes. The second week she learned about the California Gold Rush. Here's some of her copy work from both weeks.

 
For a history project Sis made a card game, called "Go trade." Similar to "Go Fish." The cards had different items that were traded to Rome from other countries. For example a card would say "Oil and Wine from India." and the goal was to find all of the matches. Here is a pic of us getting ready to play our card game. Baby Bear just decided to photo bomb us.

Science: In science we continued our unit on water. We used our veggie steamer to observe boiling water evaporating and turning back into condensation as it hit a cool lid. We placed some ice on the lid to help the gas cool quicker forming larger drops more quickly. Then we watched them fall back into the pot. This was just sort of a review of how rain happens. One new thing we discussed though was that clouds actually have the ability to move so that water that evaporates over the ocean doesn't necessarily rain back down over the ocean. God designed an awesome way to water the whole earth with the lakes and oceans.

Bible: All of Boos Bible lessons this week focused on Jesus being the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. She made a crown with her memory verse on it.

Art: We decided to go back and do a painting that we skipped earlier in the year. This one was of a field with a spider web! The spider web is white and you can't see it great in the pic.

Maple Syrup Day!

Finally here is a little bit about the field trip we got to go on. We took a little road trip an hour from home to Chippewa Nature Center where they were having their annual Maple Syrup Day event. We got to not only learn all about how maple syrup is made, but got to explore the nature center, participate in crafts and games and spend some time with some of our family that live around there. In the visitor center the girls got to see all kinds of animals, Indian tools and a canoe, observe birds feeding, touch different animal skins and all sorts of cool things.
Baby Bear liked this stuffed turkey on the right.
 Here is a picture of Boo and Baby Bear feeling all the different animal furs. This was a good activity to go along with Boos adventures in US history since she's been learning all about pioneers who hunted and wore animal skins. There was also quite a bit of Indian things for her to see.


 After exploring the nature center and observing the birds and ducks on the river. We went to do some crafts. There was also a pancake breakfast for those who wanted to sample the homemade maple syrup. The girl's uncle decided to give them a try. He said it was the best he's ever had. The girls then made Maple leaf name tag necklaces and then they made little baskets that look like maple trees. We also played a couple games like a beanbag toss and a hopping game. I tried to get a good picture of them with their crafts, but Baby Bear was freaked out by the stuffed bear in the case behind htem, even after I assured her it was dead.

 
After we left the visitor center we took a wagon ride out to where they make the maple syrup. It was a little chilly and very muddy. I had been hoping for a nicer day, but it wasn't too bad. I forgot to get a picture of our wagon ride. Our first stop was the sugar house where the syrup is made. Outside they had some syrup boiling in a large pot over a fire. The man explained to us that is how they use to have to make the syrup in the old days. Now they have much more efficient machines.

Then we went inside and sat through a demonstration where they explained how they make the syrup now. We were shocked to learn that they have to get 40 gallons of sap out of the trees to fill up the machine, but most of the sap is water. The machine uses evaporation to get all of the water out of the sap and when it's all out only 1 gallon of pure maple syrup is left! Wow! It takes a lot of tree sap to fill all of those bottles. I loved that we were learning about evaporation since that's what we are also learning at home in science! I couldn't get many good pics of the demonstration.

  
Next the girls got to go outside and learn how to tap a tree and how they connect the buckets to the trees to catch the sap. We opted out of the guided tour through the woods to look at trees because it was just too cold and muddy.

After that we went to an old school house where we sat and watched a puppet show about Maple syrup and trees and we got to finally warm up next to a heater!

After the school house we went to another old log cabin house that looked just like something out of Little House on the Prairie. Inside the girls did another craft of planting beans seeds that they got to bring home to grow. Our last stop was to my brother in-laws parent's home. They raise pigs and just had a few litters born, so we went out behind their home to meet one of the baby pigs. The girl's were so excited and in love. Now they almost cry every time I feed them ham.haha.

Box day!!!!

So, I had to share my joy with all of you. It's here! EEEEEEKK!! My favorite holiday...box day (known by many home schoolers as the wonderful day of the year that the UPS truck arrives to deliver all of next years curriculum and then just like Christmas you get to unwrap all of the boxes and look at all of your new stuff!) The only bad part of this holiday is that as I've heard others say "The new stuff is all so exciting that you want to start it now and lose interest in what you're currently doing." I'm trying hard not to have my head in the clouds thinking about everything I have planned for next year, but to focus on what we're doing now. We do still have a few months of this school year left, although I will admit I'm anxious to be finished. So, here is a picture of everything that came this past week minus a new keyboard for music lessons!

I still have a list of read-aloud books I want to buy and of course supplies. But, this is all three girl's curriculum so far. It's nice that because we decided to return to My Father's World, Sis and Boo will now do all History, Science, Bible, Read-aloud, Art and Activities together! That means less books to buy and less time trying to teach 2 different grades. They will separate only for the grade leveled subjects...Math and Language.  Baby Bear will be starting K (I can't believe she's kindergarten age already!) She will also be tagging along with anything fun the older girl's are doing.

The last time we did MFW together Boo was only in preschool and just tagging along for fun, but we did Exploring Countries and Cultures together as a family. I think that was our favorite school year. We had so much fun. I love all of the hands-on, crafts, games, read-aloud time, food, field trips, and celebrations that go along with My Father's World. So I am so excited about next year. My kids seem to learn best together and when we're having fun.

Next year we will be learning Rome to Reformation. There's so many opportunities to make school fun next year, learning about The Roman Empire and time of Jesus, then Medieval Times with castles, knights, and princesses! Some fun things that we already have planned are a Roman Feast, building a 3D medieval castle, learning to play Chess, a cooking class, and keyboard lessons. There are also crafts and projects/ activities every week. I have a lot of read-aloud books planned including a nice full color 126 page picture book of Pilgrims Progress.

For science we will be finishing the 2nd half of our "Science in the Beginning Book" and then the 2nd half of the school year will be astronomy! Fun! I'm thinking solar system models and a trip to the planetarium will be on our agenda. MFW also included some good Christian books on having important talks with kids about growing up, becoming a woman, and where babies come from. I also ordered a couple good ones from Heart of Dakota. I can't say I'm too excited about having those talks, but I am thankful that MFW thought of that and gave us some good material to help when the time is right.

Our MFW package included a year long subscription to World Kids for the girls to read for their quiet reading time. We already received the first issue and it's basically a news magazine for kids about things happening in our world right now. I loved it and I think the kids are going to enjoy reading it too.

Other than that I'm searching Pinterest and blogs for activities, recipes, and field trips that will go along with next years studies. Wouldn't a trip to a Medieval Times dinner show be perfect? We'll see. I also have some fun ideas for the first day of school and some surprises for the kids.

This past school year has been really hard for us. It just seems to be dragging and I really dislike how much of Sis' work is independent and we're all doing different things. We've skipped out on so many of the extras that make school fun. Science is my kids favorite thing about school and of course that's the one thing we do together. I feel like this year we've sort of lost what I love so much about homeschooling...us learning together as a family, the kids working together on projects, spending time together and making it fun. School has not been that way this year. We're all disconnected. They're taking turns learning with me while the other goes and works in their room.  I use to have kids begging to do school and now I hear more groaning, "Do we have to do school today?" It's not age, kids can love learning and have fun doing it at any age. It's that when you're not enthusiastic about school, your kids will not be either. So it was a no-brainer that we need the My Father's World family cycle. It's what works best for us and I have high hopes that next school year we're going to be back to loving school like we did in the past.

Weeks 21-23

History: For US history Boo learned about Robert Fulton and the invention of the steamboat. Since we're learning about pioneers. We learned how this invention helped travel to the west become much easier. Here is some of her written work...

We also added the states of Indiana and Mississippi to our United States map in week 21.  In week 22 we learned about going west by wagon train. We read a fictional story in our American Pioneers and Patriots about a family who traveled this way and then we learned many facts about what it was like to live in a wagon train. We added the States of Illinois and Alabama to our map. Then for week 23 we did not have any history lessons, but we learned about four more states, including our home state   Michigan!                                         


In week 21 Sis continued to learn about ancient Greece in her history studies. For her Draw and Write Through History assignment she drew "Bucephalus" the ferocious black stallion of Alexander the Great that only he could ride. Here's a picture of her note booking pages that now include her drawings.

For week 22 she finally finished Greece and her studies switched over to Rome. Next school year the girls will be doing history all together and the first half of the school year focuses on Ancient Rome and the days of Jesus. We will be doing a lot more hands on projects including a Roman feast! Can't wait. So, since Sis is switching curriculum she will get a repeat of a lot of this info, because the two overlap some. Oh well, I figured that it won't hurt for her to study Rome twice, since it was such an important part of Bible history! Sis drew a picture of the lighthouse of Alexandria, which is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world for week 22. In week she did a lot of writing and reading (I decided not toadd pics of all of those notebook pages, so I don't bore you to death) but she didn't have a drawing to do.

Read-aloud:
For our read-aloud time Sis' book goes right along with her history studies. We started reading the book "Cleopatra." She was a very interesting woman to say the least. We've been enjoying learning about her though. The book is an easy read full of colorful illustrations. We've just been reading a few pages a day.

Boo and I finally finished reading Farmer Boy together. All the kids have enjoyed listening to this one. I've been reading this each day while the kids eat their lunch. They listen while they eat. I've found that lunch time is a great time for read-aloud time, especially with little ones. It's one of those rare moments that everyone is sitting down at the same time and Baby Bear is too busy stuffing her face to be distracting.

Bible: for her bible studies Boo learned a new name for Jesus. For two weeks we learned that Jesus is the "Head of the Body" (the church).
 
Reading: I had to take this proud picture of Boo. She's been reading small picture books this year for reading time, but this was her first book with chapters that she finished. She read a chapter a day aloud to me and when she came to the end she was so proud. She said "Mom, I really read this whole book!" She's come a long way since last year, when she was really struggling with her reading.

 Science: In science we are learning about water and air. We did 3 experiments with water over the past few weeks.The first week we learned that water is the only liquid that expands when it is in it's solid phase, all other liquids contract. To demonstrate this we filled a water bottle full of water, cover it with a balloon and froze it. The water expanded and no longer fit in the bottle so some of it froze into the balloon. Then we filled a spoon full of liquid wax. when it "froze" there was less wax in the spoon then when it was liquid.

Our second experiment taught us about volume. We took two pieces of aluminum foil the same size and five pennies on top of each piece of foil. We kept one piece of foil flat and with the other we wrapped our pennies up in the foil. Even though both had the exact same weight, only one floated. The pennies and foil that were flat had a greater volume (took up more space) so it would have had to push a greater amount of water to sink. Science is quickly becoming all of my kids favorite subject! "Science in the Beginning" has been the best science curriculum we have ever done. My kids are amazed at just about every experiment and they are learning and remembering so much.

Our third experiment was also about volume and more sinking and floating we made some hypothesis' and then tested a bunch of items to see if they would float. We learned that it is VERY important that ice floats. As we learned earlier all other liquids condense when they freeze and would therefore sink in water. God made water differently from the other liquids, because it plays an important part in creation. If ice did not float then lakes and ponds would freeze from the bottom up because ice would sink to the bottom. Every winter all of the living creatures would die in the lakes and ponds. But, because God designed water to expand when it freezes causing the ice to have more volume than the water, it floats and only the top of the lakes freeze. The animals are kept safe under the ice until it melts in the spring! So much of science (really all of it!) points to such an amazing intelligent Creator!

Math& Language: I feel like we have been doing a ton of math and language lately because both Sis and Boo are only about half way through their books and the school year is way more than half over, so we're trying to catch up. Sis is working through fractions this year. We're currently working on reducing using Prime Factorization. Wow! It has been so many years since I've had to do this stuff. It literally took me two days to figure out  how to even teach one of the lessons! It scares me to know it's only gonna get worse from here! Boo has mastered her addition facts. We spent one week learning how to tell time to the minute and now she is working on subtraction facts.
 
Art/Poetry: We did two poetry paintings over the past 3 weeks. The first was one of our favorites. It was a sunset over a horizon. The second painting we did in week 23. It was a little different from anything else we've done this year so far. Most of our paintings have been landscape, but this was a painting of apples on a table with checkered wallpaper! fun. We all enjoyed this one.