Two Impromptu Field Trips

Without even meaning to, we've been learning a lot about reptiles lately.  We've been reading about them in Aydri's current Chirp Magazine and doing some impromptu activities from there also.

One morning, my parents showed up at our house as we were just starting school and told us about a den of Gopher Snakes they found.  We immediately decided to go show the kids.  The snakes were just coming out for spring.  

As we looked down in their hole we could see dozens of snakes curled around each other.  It was a mixture of creepy and exciting.  You can see three heads peeking out in this picture.

There must have been a cavity under the sidewalk where the snakes holed up for the winter.

We made crocodile puppets after reading about them in Chirp.  On another day, we read about how reptiles shed their skin and the magazine suggested spreading Elmer's Glue on their hands and letting it dry so that when they pulled it off it would look like reptile sheds.  The girls didn't really like having wet glue on them and then it itched as it dried and hurt when we pulled it off.  hehe.

The natural history museum brought in a few reptiles for Earth Day.  We only made it for the Bearded Dragon.

 They are native to Australia and the girls loved watching it eat cockroaches.

 There were a few other things to look at in the museum.  We joined their facebook page so that we are notified when they have special events for kids going on.

Fireball Meteorite

We joined NASA's facebook page and found out about the Lyrids Meteor shower last Saturday night.  We didn't know if we would see anything, but the weather was nice so we stayed out with the kids.  We live a little ways from the city and it was very dark.  We knew the kids would get tired and Aydri did eventually fall asleep outside.

At first, the meteors were so small and short that we weren't sure if we were really seeing them.  Kendi was getting frustrated because she always missed them.  As it got later and the the sky got darker and our eyes adjusted to the darkness we started seeing bigger and bigger meteors.  Finally one was long enough that Kendi was able to catch it.  We thought it was huge.  Then all of a sudden we saw one blaze clear across the sky with a long exploding tail.  I had never seen anything like it before and it felt like it was really close.  A few minutes later we saw another that traveled just as far, but without the fiery tail.  That made me want to go research the big one that we saw.

What I think we saw may have been a fireball meteorite.  The websites that I read made it sound like these things are very rare, but I couldn't find any news reports about the one we saw.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but I couldn't figure out how to take pictures of the night sky.  I know, I'm lame.  The pictures online of other fireballs don't do them any justice anyway.  Apparently, on the same night, there was a minivan-sized fireball that landed over California.  Yikes!

Solar System

We spent about a week and a half learning about the Solar System.  We didn't get too deep because it will be so much more fun to explore space when the kids are a little older.  We went over the basics. . . moon, sun, stars, earth, planets.  We made our first lapbook.  I printed off a packet about space from THIS link.  It was simple enough for Kindergartners, but I even learned a thing or two.  I had to watch a couple of youtube videos on how to make a lapbook and then again on how to fold the papers.  It wasn't as obvious to me as the creator of the packet assumed it would be. haha.

I thought Kendi would love making the lapbook.  She loves to color, cut and paste, but this didn't go over that well.  I think next time we'll do lapbooks more like THIS LADY. 

 If that doesn't work we'll give them up altogether.  What Kendi really enjoyed was painting a model of the Solar System.  I had to order one online and the moment it came she was excited about it.  She set up and painted the entire thing.  Kendi and Aydri spent hours in the closet looking at the planets glow in the dark.

Just as we were finishing up studying about space we took a trip to the local university's observatory.  The kids were so excited.  The students and professor there were able to answer all kinds of questions while we waited for it to get dark enough.  Aydri got a little bored and wanted to do her favorite thing, take pictures.

They warned us that it would get loud when they opened the ceiling and spun it around.  I thought the kids were going to freak out, but Aydri started yelling, "Yippee!"

 The sky was perfect for star gazing.  We got to see Jupiter and it's four moons.

 Mars.

 And Venus.

They told us to come back in a month or two to see Saturn.  And if you call ahead and ask them to bring an attachment for the telescope you can take pictures with a DSLR.  They also told me how to take pictures of Jupiter and it's moons with a 300 mm lens.  I'm going to try it one of these nights when the sky clears up.

There is also the Annual Solar Eclipse coming up on May 20. A lot of museums and parks are hosting events and providing solar viewing glasses to watch the eclipse with.

I also joined NASA's facebook page so that I can keep up on what's going on with Space Exploration and so that the kids can watch their upcoming events.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I really enjoyed reading this book.  I was expecting it to be a difficult book to read, but it was surprisingly easy.  I'm always surprised when I'm able to pick up on the deeper meanings without having to be told what they are. Maybe this homeschool approach is finally working with me.  I am beginning to think deeper about everything I read.

Dickens does a really great job with describing the way Pip was brought up.  After his parents death's, Pip is left with his harsh sister, Mrs. Jo.  Pip's sister brags about how she "brought him up by hand" like it was an accomplishment and something that even Pip should be proud of.  I assume that, a long time ago, it was a rare thing and an accomplishment for a baby to survive infancy without being nursed by its mother and that is what they are referring to when they say being "brought up by hand."  I can't help but think that it really means that Pip was brought up not only without his mother's nourishment, but also without emotional nourishment as well.  This lack of love is what sets Pip up for social failure and awkwardness later in life.  The book goes on to illustrate the struggles of learning lessons without the help of a true caring mentor that only a parent can provide.

Solve For Unknown

This week Kendi learned about solving for unknown in Math.  You know how the equations go: ? + 3 = 5.  We did the entire lesson and worksheets one day and did the math adventure on the next day.

We applied this to real life by getting out her piggy bank.  She had just got some birthday money so we spent a little time taking out tithing, adding some to her savings and then some to her spending as well.  After we were done counting and adding out how much money she had in spending we talked about some things she could save her money for.  She had a total of five dollars in spending and wanted to figure out how much more money she needed to earn to be able to buy a $30 item that she had decided on.  I wrote out the equation for her.  5 + ? = 30.

Kendi completely understood the concept and followed where I was going with this.  It became more than just a story problem when we applied Solving for Unknown to her life.  She was so excited she went out and earned another five dollars and then asked if we could figure out how much more she needed to earn now.  I love it when math is this much fun.