September 2009 Archives
WRITING
Seth was asked by his teacher to turn in a sample of his writing. The subject was what he did over the summer. Even though it wasn't over the summer Seth decided to write about Yellowstone. He dictated to me what he wanted to write and then he used my copy to write it for himself. He did a great job. I haven't heard anything from his teacher about it yet, but I think she will be pleased too. I took pictures of the work, but I'm not sure if you'll be able read it or not. After the pictures I'll type up what is written.
(On my trip to Yellowstone I saw lots of animals. My favorite geyser was Old Faithful. I went to the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. I did the Young Scientist program. I got to use a laser thermometer. Yellowstone was rockin' awesome.)
SCIENCE
In Science class Seth has been learning all about Matter and its different states. James has taken over teaching science which Seth loves! He is always excited on Science days to have James come home for lunch or after dinner and the two of them go down and have an hour or so just to themselves. They've talked about liquids, solids, gases and molecules. They've done experiments where they've frozen things, thawed things, and boiled things. Seth built models of molecules using marshmallows to show how molecules look when they are in a solid, liquid or gas state.
EGYPT
In History we have been learning all about the Ancient Egyptians. It has been a great set of lessons for us. We have been reading every age appropriate book on the subject that we can find. I've been showing Seth pictures of the trip James and I took in 2002, when James' parents lived there. Today we learned about the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmer. When the unification was complete Narmer combined the two crowns of Egypt. The course material had us cut out the shapes of the two crowns and paste them together, but we took it a step further and actually made a crown that Seth could wear. I used craft foam I had left over from Halloween last year and ta-da:
We had so much fun in our lesson today, we decided to push on to the next lesson which was all about hieroglyphics. We learned about papyrus and Seth was actually able to look at and touch some real papyrus we brought home from Egypt. Seth was also able to spell his name in hieroglyphics and then he did Jacob's name too. I printed out some cartouches and we wrote his name again in royal style! He liked it so much he even did some of his Phonics lesson in hieroglyphics (he spelled "pull" in hieroglyphs). So, here he is... Seth: the Pharaoh of the United Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt!
Isn't he cute!?!
PROGRESS
Seth continues to make good progress in math and his reading skills have improved astronomically. I think he is finally starting to enjoy reading a little more, which is great! I have realized as we have been in school a little over a month now, how much my attitude affects the way Seth feels about things. I'm not much of a math person and I think he can tell. Also there are days when I get frustrated and my patience is too thin and on those days it is hard for either of us to learn. I am trying to get better at being more positive and patience.
Jacob and Lia are cooperating fairly well with our school schedule. Lia still takes two good naps during school time, and when she is awake she will hang out downstairs, getting into whatever she possibly can, but mostly being good. Jacob participates in some of the lessons with us and I have also started him on making his very own alphabet book and teaching him some very beginning phonics. He has been extremely clingy lately and I am wondering if it is because of how much time I need to spend with Seth for school. James and I are working on trying to spend an hour or so exclusively with Jacob every night so that he doesn't feel too left out. Jacob is also enjoying his neighborhood preschool and spending every Wednesday with his cousin Caleb.
All in all, we are still loving our School at Home and are extremely happy with the results so far!
Seth was asked by his teacher to turn in a sample of his writing. The subject was what he did over the summer. Even though it wasn't over the summer Seth decided to write about Yellowstone. He dictated to me what he wanted to write and then he used my copy to write it for himself. He did a great job. I haven't heard anything from his teacher about it yet, but I think she will be pleased too. I took pictures of the work, but I'm not sure if you'll be able read it or not. After the pictures I'll type up what is written.
(On my trip to Yellowstone I saw lots of animals. My favorite geyser was Old Faithful. I went to the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. I did the Young Scientist program. I got to use a laser thermometer. Yellowstone was rockin' awesome.)
SCIENCE
In Science class Seth has been learning all about Matter and its different states. James has taken over teaching science which Seth loves! He is always excited on Science days to have James come home for lunch or after dinner and the two of them go down and have an hour or so just to themselves. They've talked about liquids, solids, gases and molecules. They've done experiments where they've frozen things, thawed things, and boiled things. Seth built models of molecules using marshmallows to show how molecules look when they are in a solid, liquid or gas state.
EGYPT
In History we have been learning all about the Ancient Egyptians. It has been a great set of lessons for us. We have been reading every age appropriate book on the subject that we can find. I've been showing Seth pictures of the trip James and I took in 2002, when James' parents lived there. Today we learned about the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmer. When the unification was complete Narmer combined the two crowns of Egypt. The course material had us cut out the shapes of the two crowns and paste them together, but we took it a step further and actually made a crown that Seth could wear. I used craft foam I had left over from Halloween last year and ta-da:
We had so much fun in our lesson today, we decided to push on to the next lesson which was all about hieroglyphics. We learned about papyrus and Seth was actually able to look at and touch some real papyrus we brought home from Egypt. Seth was also able to spell his name in hieroglyphics and then he did Jacob's name too. I printed out some cartouches and we wrote his name again in royal style! He liked it so much he even did some of his Phonics lesson in hieroglyphics (he spelled "pull" in hieroglyphs). So, here he is... Seth: the Pharaoh of the United Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt!
Isn't he cute!?!
PROGRESS
Seth continues to make good progress in math and his reading skills have improved astronomically. I think he is finally starting to enjoy reading a little more, which is great! I have realized as we have been in school a little over a month now, how much my attitude affects the way Seth feels about things. I'm not much of a math person and I think he can tell. Also there are days when I get frustrated and my patience is too thin and on those days it is hard for either of us to learn. I am trying to get better at being more positive and patience.
Jacob and Lia are cooperating fairly well with our school schedule. Lia still takes two good naps during school time, and when she is awake she will hang out downstairs, getting into whatever she possibly can, but mostly being good. Jacob participates in some of the lessons with us and I have also started him on making his very own alphabet book and teaching him some very beginning phonics. He has been extremely clingy lately and I am wondering if it is because of how much time I need to spend with Seth for school. James and I are working on trying to spend an hour or so exclusively with Jacob every night so that he doesn't feel too left out. Jacob is also enjoying his neighborhood preschool and spending every Wednesday with his cousin Caleb.
All in all, we are still loving our School at Home and are extremely happy with the results so far!
This was the best school ever!
We spent Labor Day weekend in Yellowstone National Park. Friday we drove for about 6 hours and Seth and I did Phonics and Reading on the way. On Saturday we headed over to the Old Faithful visitor center to sign Seth up for the Junior Ranger program and the Young Scientist program.
For the Junior Ranger program Seth had to hike one of Yellowstone's trails, listen to a Ranger Talk, and complete several activity pages in the Junior Ranger book. Right after we watched Old Faithful erupt, Seth was able to listen to a Ranger talk about how geysers erupt, so he completed one of the requirements for the Junior Ranger program right away.
For the Young Scientist program he had to conduct an actual science experiment about whether geysers are alive or not. We were able to check out a science tool kit that contained some rock samples, colored pencils and a laser thermometer. Seth LOVED the thermometer. We hiked around the Old Faithful geyser basin and Seth was able to measure the temperature of hot springs and geysers and even compare them to the cold temperature of the creek that runs through the basin. For his science experiment he hypothesized that geysers and hot springs are alive. First he had to figure out what around him was alive and what was not alive, then he had to observe some of the geysers and hot springs, he learned that even though geysers and hot springs are super hot that they can still support some life in the form of bacteria, so although the actual geyser is not alive things can live in it. He also learned that different kinds of bacteria like different temperatures and that the beautiful colors that surround some hot springs and geysers are made up of the different kinds of bacteria. When his experiment was done Seth turned in his tool kit and received his Young Scientist patch. He had so much fun exploring and figuring things out. I'm pretty sure he wished he could have taken that laser thermometer home with him.
Later that day we went to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which is one of the most famous springs at Yellowstone, because of rainbow of colors that surround it. Seth was able to explain to me why there were so many colors and to guess how hot the water might be in each of the color rings. It was a good review from our science project earlier in the day.
On Sunday we drove up to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. There Seth was able to complete his hike for the Junior Ranger program as he hiked down a series of switchbacks to get to the lower water fall on the Yellowstone river. At the end of the hike was an awesome view of the Canyon and Seth discovered why Yellowstone is called Yellowstone. The canyon is walled by bright yellow rocks
Next we headed up to Mammoth Hot Springs, Seth was able to read the map of Yellowstone and tell which direction we were going and I read him the map legend so he could identify different symbols on the map. On the way we passed through Hayden Valley, where we saw hundreds of Buffalo just hanging out on either side of the road. Seth had been keeping a tally of all the animals we saw in the park, but there were too many buffalo to count. I think he just made tallies until he got tired of making them. We still need to make a graph of the information that he collected.
As we hiked around Mammoth Hot Springs, Seth saw more colorful bacteria and he also saw some springs that were no longer flowing so the bacteria had died leaving just white tiers of mineral deposits. As we made our way back to our camp, we stopped at Tower Falls which is quite impressive in how far down the water falls.
While we were waiting for dinner that nigh Seth and I completed his Junior Ranger pages and talked about all we had learned over the last two days. I was amazed at how much information he remembered.
On Monday morning we went to the Grant Village Visitor Center and Seth received his Junior Ranger patch, he also learned about the huge fire that swept through Yellowstone in 1988. We had seen a lot of burned trees and it was good for him to learn a little more about why they burned and what good can come out of a forest fire.
As we drove home Monday afternoon we did a Math lesson and another Reading lesson. It was a wonderful school weekend and the whole family learned a lot about Yellowstone.
We spent Labor Day weekend in Yellowstone National Park. Friday we drove for about 6 hours and Seth and I did Phonics and Reading on the way. On Saturday we headed over to the Old Faithful visitor center to sign Seth up for the Junior Ranger program and the Young Scientist program.
For the Junior Ranger program Seth had to hike one of Yellowstone's trails, listen to a Ranger Talk, and complete several activity pages in the Junior Ranger book. Right after we watched Old Faithful erupt, Seth was able to listen to a Ranger talk about how geysers erupt, so he completed one of the requirements for the Junior Ranger program right away.
For the Young Scientist program he had to conduct an actual science experiment about whether geysers are alive or not. We were able to check out a science tool kit that contained some rock samples, colored pencils and a laser thermometer. Seth LOVED the thermometer. We hiked around the Old Faithful geyser basin and Seth was able to measure the temperature of hot springs and geysers and even compare them to the cold temperature of the creek that runs through the basin. For his science experiment he hypothesized that geysers and hot springs are alive. First he had to figure out what around him was alive and what was not alive, then he had to observe some of the geysers and hot springs, he learned that even though geysers and hot springs are super hot that they can still support some life in the form of bacteria, so although the actual geyser is not alive things can live in it. He also learned that different kinds of bacteria like different temperatures and that the beautiful colors that surround some hot springs and geysers are made up of the different kinds of bacteria. When his experiment was done Seth turned in his tool kit and received his Young Scientist patch. He had so much fun exploring and figuring things out. I'm pretty sure he wished he could have taken that laser thermometer home with him.
Later that day we went to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which is one of the most famous springs at Yellowstone, because of rainbow of colors that surround it. Seth was able to explain to me why there were so many colors and to guess how hot the water might be in each of the color rings. It was a good review from our science project earlier in the day.
On Sunday we drove up to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. There Seth was able to complete his hike for the Junior Ranger program as he hiked down a series of switchbacks to get to the lower water fall on the Yellowstone river. At the end of the hike was an awesome view of the Canyon and Seth discovered why Yellowstone is called Yellowstone. The canyon is walled by bright yellow rocks
Next we headed up to Mammoth Hot Springs, Seth was able to read the map of Yellowstone and tell which direction we were going and I read him the map legend so he could identify different symbols on the map. On the way we passed through Hayden Valley, where we saw hundreds of Buffalo just hanging out on either side of the road. Seth had been keeping a tally of all the animals we saw in the park, but there were too many buffalo to count. I think he just made tallies until he got tired of making them. We still need to make a graph of the information that he collected.
As we hiked around Mammoth Hot Springs, Seth saw more colorful bacteria and he also saw some springs that were no longer flowing so the bacteria had died leaving just white tiers of mineral deposits. As we made our way back to our camp, we stopped at Tower Falls which is quite impressive in how far down the water falls.
While we were waiting for dinner that nigh Seth and I completed his Junior Ranger pages and talked about all we had learned over the last two days. I was amazed at how much information he remembered.
On Monday morning we went to the Grant Village Visitor Center and Seth received his Junior Ranger patch, he also learned about the huge fire that swept through Yellowstone in 1988. We had seen a lot of burned trees and it was good for him to learn a little more about why they burned and what good can come out of a forest fire.
As we drove home Monday afternoon we did a Math lesson and another Reading lesson. It was a wonderful school weekend and the whole family learned a lot about Yellowstone.
*As a side note*: Last night Seth was over at my mom's house watching PBS when a show called Yellowstone Serenade came on. The show is made up of pictures of Yellowstone set to classical music. Seth was able to identify many of the landmarks, tell my mom why Yellowstone is called Yellowstone, and about the bacteria in the hot springs. I guess the whole learning aspect of the trip was a success for him to remember all of that!
Who knew that Science would become Seth's favorite subject? He likes Art too, dislikes Math and Phonics and tolerates History and Language Arts because we get to read cool stories sometimes. Anyway, today our Science lesson was about using the Scientific Method to answer questions about the world. It was really fun. Seth had to find out if a popsicle would melt faster in the sun or in the shade. His hypothesis was that it would melt faster in the shade, so we started our experiment to find out if he was right. We put one popsicle on a plate in the sun and one in the shade. Then we took pictures every ten minutes until one of them was completely melted.
Ten minutes turned out to be a little too long, because by the end of 20 minutes both popsicles were melted completely. Luckily, we were able to make our conclusion from the pictures taken at the 10 minute mark and didn't have to do the whole thing again. Seth was happy to know which popsicle melted more quickly, but was a little sad that his original hypothesis was wrong. I had to explain very carefully that even real scientists are sometimes wrong and that is why scientists conduct experiments in the first place; to find out if they are right or wrong. I think it ended up making sense to him. We finished up by enjoying a non-melted popsicle. Who knew Science could be so fun and so yummy?
Ten minutes turned out to be a little too long, because by the end of 20 minutes both popsicles were melted completely. Luckily, we were able to make our conclusion from the pictures taken at the 10 minute mark and didn't have to do the whole thing again. Seth was happy to know which popsicle melted more quickly, but was a little sad that his original hypothesis was wrong. I had to explain very carefully that even real scientists are sometimes wrong and that is why scientists conduct experiments in the first place; to find out if they are right or wrong. I think it ended up making sense to him. We finished up by enjoying a non-melted popsicle. Who knew Science could be so fun and so yummy?
