Science Project

Our home school has been exciting. We have recently been studying Time, Space, and the Solar System. However, before we got to this unit, we studied the Brain.

This was an exciting unit for all of us. We got to dissect a brain and study the various parts of the brain. Here are some pictures of our experience.



Obviously this is not a human brain! This is a sheep's brain. Our curriculum called for a cow's brain. It also suggested that we get a fresh one. Ugh! All I could imagine was this slimy blood covered brain. No thank you!

Well, I called every butcher I could to see if they had a brain. No one had one. All the better for me. I found a place online that has preserved sheep brains and all the tools and instructions to help with dissecting a mammalian brain. You can look here for any supplies you need at Home Science Tools. I love this web site. It has tons of information that can help you understand just about any science project. I am now thinking of purchasing a new microscope from them. The one that we currently have, one person has to hold a flashlight under the slide while the other looks at the slide. Not fun!

After examining the cells under the microscope (see the flashlight?), we drew a picture of what we saw. Being that this was our first time slicing a sample to put under the scope, I don't think we did too badly. However, let me make a suggestion... if you decide to do this project, don't skimp on supplies by not buying a microtome. A microtome is designed to securely hold specimens and expose them in tiny increments so that they can be thinly sliced for slide preparation.

You guessed it... I don't have one, so I had to slice as thinly as possible with just a scalpel. Not easily done. I think by the third try I had a thin slice...yet we found that it was not thin enough.

Here is what we saw. Now remember, only a flashlight to light our slide... Although our sample was too thick... I think gave my boys a really cool show. In fact, they drew out what they saw...

This was an interesting experience for all of us! We learned all the different parts of the brain. We still have the brain! It is preserved in formaldehyde. My boys want to slice it in quarters and in every other direction... not to be sadistic, but learn about other parts that connect to the brain. I am not ready to "slice 'n' dice" yet.

Well, I hope to write more soon about our next adventure in home school.

See ya soon!!

Heidi

Homeschool Fears

I started this blog for two reasons. One was to journal all my home schooling successes or failures and the other was journal things that I have learned in web design.

You see, I am a home school mom and I teach a 10 and a 12 year old… both are boys. This in itself is a challenge. You see, when it comes to planning school, I could use some pointers. You don’t realize how much a student has to learn in one year. It is mind boggling!

You have to plan for Math, Reading, Writing, History, Social Studies, Language Arts, Health, Arts, and so much more. I mean, you really want the best for your child. You want them to have good careers, good lives… right?

You figure that as a teacher, all you really need to do is to teach reading, math, and writing… for the most part this is correct. You really do want your student to have the ability to teach himself. No, I don’t mean that is really all you do, but that is the biggest responsibility you have as a teacher.

If you can teach your child to read, write, and do math, they CAN do the rest. All you would need to do is to plan what they are to learn. Like the old fashioned water pump, you need to prime them. However, that is not all I need to do. When you make their lessons completely out of a book though, you create a mental boredom. There is no interest in reading all the time. You have to put some action into their learning.  For instance, when we studied topography, we created a topographical map out of clay. When we studied the crossing of the Jordan River with Joshua leading them into the Promised Land, we took 12 stones and painted them and labeled them after each tribe. We stacked them as a memorial on our front porch. We were studying memorials and this was one that was a memorial to God.

So, now my 12 year old goes into Jr. High (a.k.a. Middle School) this next fall… I am petrified. I know he needs more Science and he’ll learn more Algebra… but am I teaching adequately? Do I spend quality time preparing lessons for him…? These are fears that I have.

The only way I, or any home school parent, can overcome these fears is to take it to the Lord in prayer. Only He can guide you and give you peace…

I have blogged before on how I ended up here, home schooling our children. I won’t go through that over again. You can read it on my Homeschool Journal.

Now, more than ever, I seem to be more anxious over this next year than I have been in a very long time.

In my next blog, I will discuss curriculum decisions.

Happy Schoolin!

Our Vacation

Well, we finally did it. We finally took a vacation. It has been 6 years since our last vacation to California... It is such a long drive to go to CA... Now, since we live so far north, it is a 3 day trip to drive.Let me ask this...Is it still a vacation if you can't really afford it? This has been our dilemma for 6 years. There just has been no extra cash to make the trip. Then when Marty lost his job, it became impossible.Well, we finally took time and left for California and I thought I would write about our excitement.We spent months trying to decide how we were going to go to California. We were meant to go to Lompoc to visit Marty's parents, whom we have not seen for 6 years at least... Marty's mom had a car that she wanted us to have... so we knew we were going to drive home. But, now we had to decide how to get there. If we drove there, it would be a 3 day drive. Then when we came home, again it would be 3 more days and maybe two vehicles to get home. NOT FUN!

We made the decision to fly this time. Our boys were more than excited… for they had never been on a plane (except for Matthew when he was 6 months old). The days were counted down and finally we get to the day when we are to fly out.

Our itinerary was to fly from Moscow/Pullman airport, to Seattle (SeaTac), and then LAX, and finally to Santa Barbara Airport.  This was exciting, scary, and long. We planned for everything… at least we thought so.

Since this was the boys’ first plane flight, we knew they were too excited to know safety facts like, stay on the plane until the plane came to a complete stop, and stay close to Mom & Dad NO MATTER WHAT!! There was so much I stressed over as a Mom… Perhaps you understand.

I digress… O.k. we board the plane in Moscow/Pullman… boy this was a surprise… sort of. The plane is a prop plane. It seats probably 60 people and it has two large props to it… It looks safe enough, but we watch the engines just the same. Now, remember, this plane is supposed to fly direct to SeaTac. At least, that is what we understood on the ticket information. But NOOOO … we fly to Lewiston first. This was idiotic to us. You see, we live right smack in the middle between Lewiston (to the south), and Moscow/Pullman (to the Northwest). It is cheaper to fly out of Moscow/Pullman, but we still took a stop off in Lewiston… this is all of a 15 minute flight. On the ground in Lewiston, we had a delay. Apparently, the pilot was called out of the cockpit to take a look at the right engine. It was leaking. We were right next to the right engine. After his inspection, all is fine… Finally, the plane taxis down the tarmac and we take off for Seattle.

On this flight, the boys got to sit together, but Mom & Dad had to sit separately. Mom sat behind the boys and Dad sat several seats ahead of them. So, the boys were, more or less, on their own to do what they wanted. They were in heaven!

So, we land in Seattle…boy what a HUGE airport! We deplane and head into the terminal… we had a bit of a layover so we take time to visit the restrooms. We found the gate that our tickets say that we’re to be at… and we sit there… Marty charges his Palm, I watch the kids… the kids beg to run off and look at things. It all seems relaxed and calm. One thing I really didn’t teach the kids, but they figured out on their own was the arrival/departure board. You know the one you’re supposed to look at for all flight information. Yeah, well, Matthew goes over to that board and begins reading it. He comes back to me and says … “Mom, what time is the plane supposed to be here?”

I looked at my watch; it time for the plane to be boarding… So I look up to notice there is NO PLANE! I explained to him that the plane should be there… He told me that I should take a look at the board. So we go to the board… You know what we found out? Our plane was at a different gate! I am panicked now… I run to the counter to ask one of the attendants… Sure enough, we’re supposed to be at another gate that is clear across the terminal and it is loading now. Yikes, do you remember I said that SeaTac is really big?? Yeah!

So, I get instructions on how to get to the gate… I send the boys after Marty who is charging his Palm… and we bolt for the gate. We had to catch a tram to get there… We finally made it and got seated. The plane took off shortly after we boarded.

We flew for quite some time before we got to LAX. They gave us food and drinks and the boys each had a window seat… they could see forever!

Now this last plane was excitement in itself. LAX is just as large as SeaTac, plus there is always construction. We had to go to a different terminal but couldn’t get there from where we landed. We had plenty of time to eat dinner, so we did. After dinner we headed toward our gate, only to find out that the terminal that we had to be at was clear across the tarmac! We had to catch a bus to go over there.

The last plane we had to get on was smaller than the first. It had really big props on it… It only would seat like 20-25 people. The boys’ seats were right behind the prop and when the engines started, it looked like the propellers were going to slice right through the fuselage. The engines were so loud we could barely hear the flight attendant on the P.A. system. Boy, I was so glad to get off that plane.

After three planes and five airports, we ended up at our destination without any real problems. The boys were exhausted by the end of our flights. We started our adventure at 2 pm and finally got to our hotel in Lompoc, CA by 12:45 am.

I’ll have to write more to describe our drive home!

More later!

Heidi

Catching Up

It has been a very long time since I have blogged. So much has happened… Since my last post, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita released their fury on the Gulf Coast. Many have had to recover from all this tragedy. Luckily, as I see it, the hurricane region doesn’t snow much… Here we are in Northern Idaho experiencing, what I have heard to be, the earliest winter in a while.

Hurricane Rita reunited me with a couple of cousins that I have not been in contact with for over 20 years. The last I remember, I think I was 16 years old. That is over 100 years ago you know… <sheepish grin> Anyway, that was only a short visit in passing… The time before that, I think I was 12 years old.

When I had heard she was and her mother and her brother, and all their families combined were now refugees, I began to be a little concerned. So, I contacted my cousin. We spent HOURS on the phone catching up with each other. It was so much fun.

My cousin is a Professional Storyteller and author. This hurricane was devastating to her business. Her main area of business is Louisiana, Texas, and Florida. She loves kids and telling stories. She is such an animated person, even over the phone.

One dilemma I have with my homeschool is getting my boys to write. I feel like I am battling a monster sometimes… I am sure you can relate. I get anything from, “Momma, do I have to write a paragraph?” to “Momma, will you write for me?”

The main point to THEM writing is to ignite their creativity! My boys are very animated. They LOVE to tell stories, but the don’t like writing. It doesn’t matter that writing is another form of telling a story… it’s writing! BLECH!

Well, I decided to talk to my cousin, ask her what she would recommend. She gave me some really neat tips. “First,” she said, “have them write in a journal daily. Anything they want to write.”

Well, we do that already. I have my boys read a chapter a day in the Bible and then write about that chapter. This gives them something to write about.

“Secondly,” my cousin suggested, “don’t make the write book reports. Instead, have the write book reviews. When one is really good, have them submit it to the local library for posting so that other kids can see if it was good or not.”

Well, I did ask my librarian, and she said that would be a great idea. She would start up a board. After speaking to her, I went poking around on the Internet. I remembered that Blogger.com had free blog spots online… So, I talked with my boys… I get really excited. They love the Internet. Anything that they can do on the computer or the Internet they would love. I told them that I no longer required ‘book reports’ of them, but I would like them to write a review for me to put on their own blog. This blog could and would be read by family and friends. They could share their work, or their opinions with their loved ones.

Anytime we do Creative Writing, or a language arts assignment that really is a job well done, I ask them to post it on their blog. Anytime they read a book, watch a movie, or play a computer/Playstation game, I ask them to post it on their blogs. They like using their blog.

My cousin, as I have said is a Professional Storyteller and Author. She has her stories on CD and one day, decided to send a copy of her stories to us to hear. My boys are going to wear them out, I think. They love both CDs. One day, my youngest, he’s 9 years old, came to me and told me he wants to write a story. He even told my cousin on the phone that he wanted to TELL her his story…maybe she could write it … (this was his thinking.) My cousin encouraged him to write it and email it to her, then she would proofread it for him and return it. If it was really good, she might help him publish it. He was so excited that she was interested he got busy writing! Yes, my son… WRITING… well, until he was hit with writer’s block.

Well, they do have their own blogs and I think they are terrific. Take a look at them. http://matthews-review.blogspot.com/ and http://nikolas-info.blogspot.com/ …

Well, thank you Dianne for encouraging my boys to write!

You can check out my cousin’s web site to learn more about her stories. You can find her at http://www.storyconnection.net .

More later…

Heidi