The Physics of a Snow Day!!

So what better time to think about Physics (specifically for us, Newton's three laws of motion) then while sledding on a snowy day?  I'm sure that everyone who goes sledding is thinking physics - as they are busy playing???  Perhaps as soon as your kids ask if they can go out and sled in the snow, your mind immediately thinks of the great science lessons in action that they will be having!  So...you immediately say yes to your begging children who want to skip school, allowing them this awesome opportunity at some great physics lessons!  Right???

Nature: Creating an Eye to see Him

Leigh's idea of "knowing God and making Him known" resonates with me and I try to carry that thought with me and put it into action each day as I spend time with my kids.  Nothing sings of God's existence and makes Him more tangibly known here on Earth than the creation around us and it's beauty and complexity.  I began doing a Nature Journal with my daughter last year to try to incorporate this wonder and awe of God.  I wanted to begin to train her eye to "look for God" and see Him in everything around her.

Once I set my mind on doing this, it's amazing how much I began to see around me that sings of God.  Most of our "nature study" is done while walking or riding bikes in the morning before school or when some opportunity pops up in the day.  We keep our eyes open and stop if we see a bug on the ground, a worm, a snake, hear an unfamiliar birds call, see a bird we hadn't noticed before or whatever God has for us that morning.  It can be as simple and silly sometimes as noticing a tree that is bent and asking Sarah "why do you think that tree is bent towards the ground?" and us coming up with possible reasons.  Sarah concluded at the end of one conversation about a bent tree that "it must be bowing down to God Mom!" - I think she gets it!  I love that reasoning that she's developed now.  She sees everything in creation as "bowing down to God" which the Scriptures tell us is true...

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." (Isaiah 55:12)

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord." (Psalm 96:11-13)

"Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away." (Psalm 148:1-6)

"Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds." (Psalm 148:7-10)

"Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:7-10)

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4; cf. Psalm 97:6)

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

So now we look for God everywhere.  We usually snap a picture of what we find, print it on my computer, cut it out and paste it to her book.  She dictates to me what she wants to say about it and I write it for her.  We like to do this together because it helps us also work on grammar, spelling and writing skills simultaneously and naturally with our Nature Study.  To help you come up with your own Nature Study - here is a look at how some of our adventures above in the example of our journal,  occurred:

The picture of her holding the stoneberries:  We were riding bikes and noticed the pretty red berries of spring along the side of the path.  We stopped, we picked some and then once we returned home we googled them to see what they possibly were.  We matched the pictures to find the right image and then we read about them together.  We washed them and tasted them to see what they tasted like.  We talked about why God made them and who He made them to feed and their purpose.

The picture of the Smoky Mountains:  While staying with a good friend who owns a house on a Mountain top in the Smoky's we got up one morning looked out our window and snapped this picture.  The "smoke" was the topic of discussion and how it occurs and why and how the Mountain chain got it's name.  We talked about the scripture verses in Exodus regarding Moses and how he went up to the top of Mount Sinai and how it was described as above the clouds and how that may have looked similar.

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire.The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain^[b]trembled violently. ¹⁹ As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.^[c]

The picture of a slug and it's babies:  One night a care giver for my special needs son was leaving after a big rain and it was probably about 8:30pm.  As she walked outside she saw these giant slugs and came back and told me to get the kids!  (Even the people who work in my home are now doing this and seeing God's creation!) So we went outside with our camera and looked at them, touched them and then came inside and googled information about them and put it in our Journal.  We discussed the purpose of God making slugs and what their "job" in nature was that He created them to do.

The picture of the girls with an ant hill:  While having a friend over to play outside, they noticed an ant hill.  They came running inside to tell me they saw this giant ant hill (now Sarah has even her friends doing this!).  I grabbed my camera and went outside.  We looked at the ant hill and discussed how they thought the ants made it, what might be inside of it and how the ants would respond if anything disturbed it.  I then told them to step back and I gently stepped on the ant hill enough to disturb it so they could see what happened next.  We watched in awe as the warrior ants went to the permitter to defend against whatever was disturbing their hill and then the worker ants began to carry their white eggs to safer locations within the ant hill.  We took pictures and discussed it looking it up inside the house on google to learn more and talked about what job they serve in God's creation.

So as you can see - it can be planned or unplanned as long as you begin thinking about how to make it a lesson in seeing God's creation and learning more about it and Him when any opportunity arises.

I Linked Up Here

Advent Day 5 - God's Snowflakes

Advent Day 5 - today we decided we are God's snowflakes - each individual, each unique, each purposefully designed and carved out by it's creator.  Like the joy that comes on the face of a child when they unfold their snowflake creation to see it's full display of unique beauty; so God delights to see us walking with Him, using the gifts He's designed, carved out, purposefully placed in each of us... His snowflakes.

As we folded our paper to be able to cut, I thought about how it could be analogous to us being folded by life's experiences as we grow up.  The different experiences that shape us and give us our frame.  As we snipped away purposefully at the paper with an end goal of a beautiful design in mind.  I thought of the snips God often must do in our own lives to cut out the things that will make us less than what He has for us to be.  In the end if we submit to the scissors of the Creator, we too like the snowflakes, become a one of a kind design that reflects the mind and intention of the Creator.

While the girls cut, I asked them to think of all the ways that we are like snowflakes.  They had some great thoughts that were well developed and thought out.  Answers like white as snow in Christ, uniquely made, one of a kind and beautiful were some of the things they came up with.  We also talked a little about science/math; talking about snowflakes being comprised of feathery ice crystals as they fall through the earth's atmosphere (cycle 1) and the reason they appear white is the crystal facets which diffuse (causes to spread) reflection of the spectrum of light (cycle 2 coming weeks) and then we touched on how they generally are created with six fold symmetry.  Gotta live classical and tie in those cycles!  :)

Today my Advent thought is to let God snip away at those areas in my life that might cause me to be less than He created me to be; when unfolded before Him, I stand one day. 

Today, may God show you the beautiful design that is you, His personal snowflake.  Maybe He's not done snipping yet, but you can be sure the design once unfolded before Him, will be one of unique beauty and bring Him glory in Heaven as all His snowflakes gather to bring a white Christmas before His throne of Grace.  Praise be to God who has made me white as snow... His personal snowflake.

To make a snowflake I googled and landed at Martha Stewart's website for directions on folding.

Advent Day 19 - El Greco Snowman - Cycle 1 Flashback

Advent Day 19 - El Greco Snowman - Cycle 1 Flashback

Another advent activity we worked on was to make a snowman - but not just any snowman - an El Greco snowman!  It is super easy and a great review of a Cycle 1 Great Artists.

What a Blessing $25 Can Buy You!

Waiting for the sunrise at the retreat campus in Black Mountain, NC.

So what can you get these days for $25 that will really be something you'd talk about for a long time afterwards?  An inexpensive dinner for two?  A pair of movie tickets?  How about an entire weekend Science Retreat including accommodations, meals and activities???  Well, thanks to the generous heart of Mr. Greg Landry that's just what you can get for $25 at Landry Academy!

A few friends sat in my basement school room chit chatting post Wonderful Wednesday one week in May, when one of us received a text from a friend "Hurry up and sign up for Landry Academy Retreat!  They just opened up the sign ups.  It's great and it fills up fast!" and a website attached.  None of us had heard of it before.  We quickly jumped on the link and although we thought it sounded too good to be true for the price, we quickly decided that we would sign up to go the following October in Black Mountain, NC.  We had no idea what we just signed up for, but when someone says retreat, mountains of NC in October and you're in May of your school year - does it really matter?  You sign up!  So we did.

I had almost forgotten about signing up for this retreat.  A lot happens between May and October.  However, October did come and we all remembered and plans were laid to leave little ones behind and carpool together to the mountains of NC for this "retreat" experience.   All of us attempted to contact Landry to find out what the "agenda" was for the weekend.  We never received any details about the trip aside from an e-mail two weeks out reminding us of the retreat and directions to get there with an arrival time to be there.  Three women - all planners and driven by well laid out details - this was a little daunting.  We had no idea what to expect.

We arrived at the earlier time they allowed - we wanted the scoop and from the e-mail, we saw that there would be a need to "claim" your bunking quarters.  Upon arrival we went to the main building where everyone was to check in.  We received a badge with a dinner sticker that let you eat for all your meals free and a retreat T-shirt you picked up upon registration.  You weren't given an "agenda" still but told to go to another building after dinner and given those two times.  Then you were given a map and told you could go to any of the pre-determined buildings to claim your sleeping quarters.  We took off trying to find a suitable place to fit us all together.  The first building was older and smelled a bit musty so we quickly ran up to the next building.  This one was renovated and had hardwood floors, so it was much more suited to two of our allergy laden folks (me being one of them) and it had a refrigerator which was needed for all my food I had to bring because they were unable to accomodate food allergies.

It felt a little frantic as we searched for a room that would allow all of us to bunk together.  There was a large group there who seemed more familiar with this process and they were grabbing rooms and beds fast, so we had to kick it into gear in order to be able to get a spot!  We found a room finally, after two women kindly switched rooms with us, allowing us to have a bottom full sized bed enabling us to not be split up and bunk together.  I slept on the top bunk!  I haven't done that since I was a teenager!  :)  There was a bathroom that several of the rooms shared - with clean linens in a laundry room, that were there for the taking as needed and the sheets were on the beds.

Once our claim was staked for a room, we then went down to the main building where we checked in for a cafeteria style meal.  I brought my own food and just took it along with me.  After eating we made our way to the assigned building, where all the scheduled activities would be taking place.  Once there, we arrived to several tables filled with various science related materials, books, experiment kits etc.  An area with hot chocolate, tea and coffee and several large filled containers of chocolate for the eating,  spread throughout the area.  We made our way to a table up front and settled in to see what this was all about.  Mr. Landry introduced himself and let us know that there would not be an "agenda" given to us Moms.  (I think a moment of panic set in for most of the homeschooling moms there.  LOL  It appears by nature most moms that homeschool like to have things under control and scheduled out.)  He said that we would be told where to be and what time to be there - that was the agenda :).  We were free to attend any or all of the scheduled events or we could walk the campus grounds, relax at the dorm or whatever else we'd like.  It was foreign to just go with the flow - especially when you're the one directing the flow most of the time!  He further explained the purpose of this weekend was to help us learn how to better teach science to our kids and to bless Homeschool Moms.  They had home schooled their children and knew the pressures and stresses along with the blessings of homeschooling.  

We were told that Saturday would consist of all day experiments of various kinds.  We also would be having a contest to win "Sammy" the Skeleton.  The contest consisted of coloring or decorating however you saw fit, the frog anatomy apron that we were all given and then later on the day Saturday - all of us voted to find the winner.  We were told to go to those tables filled with science related stuff we saw when we came in and peruse through it and keep in mind anything you liked because the next day we would be able to come up and just pick whatever we liked off the table to take home upon his cue! 

Saturday's experiments consisted of blood typing, DNA, Genetics PTC paper, dissections of a rat and goat uterus.  I stood at a distance on the rat and went for a nature walk during the goats!  LOL  I can handle human things better than animals or even parts better than the whole.  Like I would sooner dissect an eyeball or a heart, rather than a rat.  :)-

This is where I was for the goats!  LOL

Sunday was a time of worship with a relevant message and then a personal testimony and encouragement offered by a staff person of Landry Academy.  The weekend wrapped up with lunch and then heading back home.

I personally had never heard of Landry Academy, until that text urging us to sign up for this retreat.  Since that text alert, I have spent some time on their website.  I feel it is a worthwhile venture to jump online and see what they have to offer.

In essence, Mr. Landry has developed a Christ centered online learning environment, where kids in 4th-12th grades can take a variety of online classes in several standard subject areas ranging from Art to Science, taught by experts in those offered fields.  They also offer unique electives.  It's difficult to find teachers that have a Christian Worldview when it comes to subject areas such as Science - so I applaud Mr. Landry's efforts greatly.  Mr. Landry being a previous Science Professor and Christian, has both a passion for science and people and it shows in all he does and offers.  Landry offers two day lab intensives and some really neat family trips such as a snow tubing family science weekend or white water rafting family science weekend.  They also do neat Mission Trips where abroad education is combined with ministry.  Lastly, they offer week long Christian Camps for 8th-12th grade students.

If you'd be interested in checking them out - you can find them at www.landryacademy.com .

The Education of Theatre!

My daughter and I love Theatre.  We are blessed to live in an area that has a lot to offer in this realm. Theatre goes beyond fun.  It is an entire education in itself.  We are always hearing about the benefits of sports for children but let's take a look at the educational value of theatre...

Here are some things that theatre will teach your children:

Teamwork           Responsibility           Collaboration       Leadership        Abstract Thinking

Conceptualization           Creative Thinking            Public Speaking in a Fun Way         

Boost Self-Confidence        Learn to Accept Constructive Critique (a key life skill!) 
  
Boosts Literacy /Social and Math Skills       Improves Attention       Develops Empathy  

Studies show students in the arts scored higher on the verbal portion of SAT and higher on the math portion. Students involved in the arts are four times more likely to achieve academic notice, hold school offices, win awards for writing and even enter science fairs. Arts students read  for pleasure more often, and perform community service at a much higher rate than their non-arts friends. Students gain academic life skills through performing!  You can reference the UCLA study and The College Board study for more facts on how the arts improves your child's education.

Year 2 - Week 5 Hibernation and more

Year 2  Week #5       Hibernation and more

 Today we did a project based on our science memory work.  Everyone came in their PJ's to hibernate!  We made a diorama of how animals adapt to environmental changes - which in our case was the start of winter.

Element Concotions

This week we had a delayed start to Wonderful Wednesday, due to some unusual North Carolina snow!  The sun decided to come out, the temperatures warmed up, and we were able to still have some science fun together!  We made some very bubbly element concoctions, that were quite the hit and super easy!  Don't miss this week's fun…

Schole' in Practice Week 20

This was our last week before our 3rd learning celebration of the year!  The kids were busy working on their Greek vignettes, and making laurels for their performance.  We also had our first SGCA student music recital and some scary, smelly experiments for our science!  We started today with our final week of virtue focus on perseverance, with an object lesson that stumped them all.  Join us as we recount our schole' moments for week 20….

Advent Day 12 - Class Christmas Party!

Advent Day 12 - Class Christmas Party!

One of the blessings of being in a Community is just that - Community - enjoying shared time together in this journey called homeschool!  What better way for the kids to enjoy that Community outside of CC than to have a Christmas Party....so we did!

First things first - we made our place holders.  We took candy canes and rubber banded them together and tied a curled ribbon to make them become our holder for the cards we made.  The kids could take them home after the party along with their gifts.

10 Easy Kids Christmas Crafts! PLUS Huge Giveaway!!!

It's already that time of the year!  Hard to believe but it's true!  I am excited to be part of another fantastic giveaway - this time for the coming Holidays!  There are two prizes and 2 winners!  So don't forget to sign up at the bottom of this post!  There are also a lot of great gift ideas from a bunch of creative bloggers - so check out the link up below as well!

I always love making Christmas crafts with kids.  So I thought I would share my top ten easy crafts we made during Advent last year.  These are simple for kids to make and a great way to kick off the season!

Year 2 - Week 14 Wonderful Wednesday - WW1 Soldiers and Acid/Base Experiments

Week 14 Wonderful Wednesdays!

Today we dressed up for the military and discussed World War 1!  We focused our discussion around the trench battles.  I had written on a white board the way trenches were built, showed some photographs on my iPad and discussed the conditions and dangers that soldiers faced while fighting in the trenches.  Then I set up a game that was designed to help them better understand some of the challenges of this sort of fighting.

We first set up "trenches" using our gym mats.  They allowed us to zig zag the trench - which was what they did in WW1 and we discussed why that was tactically beneficial to the soldiers.  Next I gave them stuffed snow balls we had, along with rolled socks and those became the "mortars" that the soldiers in the trench were going to use to stop the advancing attackers.  The attackers used Nerf® shot guns and those simulated the rifles that they were issued.

BIRTHDAY BUNDLE DISCOUNT - ONE WEEK ONLY!

My favorite little guy, is no longer very little!  My Mason, is turning 15 on Monday the 15th and I am discounting my Teaching Plan Bundle $15 in honor of him, to celebrate!!!   This is a GREAT deal to celebrate his big day!  You get the Teaching Plan, Wonderful Wednesdays Plan and the Pin Maps document for an incredible $14.95 after the $15 discount is applied (use the code: MASON at checkout)!  Hurry though - this discount only lasts until Sunday, September 21st!

If you have been following me for a while, then you are aware that I have a special needs son.  You can read about him on a variety of posts by clicking here.

In honor of him turning 15, here are 15 things I LOVE about my special needs son: