Apologia Physical Science with a CM Style

A Reader Asked:
Since you adapted Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology to use in a more Charlotte Mason style, what suggestions do you have for adapting Apologia's Exploring Creation with Physical Science text?


My Answer:
With any textbook, I have my boys read and narrate in some fashion that makes sense. It can be giving an oral narration, keeping notes in a journal as they read, or perhaps drawing a diagram or making a model. Keeping their hands busy along with their minds seems to work best and it gives me a way to know how they are internalizing the information. Any time I can come up with a way to tie their textbook learning in with some actual real life experience helps me to keep it in a Charlotte Mason style. I tend to shy away from any "fill in the blanks" type activities.

I did not keep track of our supplemental projects for Apologia Physical Science but I am currently pulling together ideas for my high school age physics student so perhaps those will spark some ideas for your middle school children.

Here are some things I have in mind:
1. Biographies of scientists: You might choose Newton, Galileo, or some other person you come across in the book.


2. Work with magnets and a compass: We are going to work with a compass and a GPS to go GeoCaching. There is also a section in the Handbook of Nature Study starting on 776 that has loads of ideas for activities.


3. Weather: We are going to work on setting up a weather station in our backyard to record temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and so on. This is going to be an ongoing project. The Handbook of Nature Study also has info on weather and weather maps.

4. We also are going to be working on a year long star, moon, and planet observing project. The Handbook of Nature Study has some info to get us started and then we will be using binoculars to view the sky as much as we can at night.

5. Not sure if it is included in the Physical Science book or not but we are going to be working on alternative energy projects like building a solar oven and a small windmill. My son is also very much into airplanes so he is pursuing a list of aviation centered books.

Anyway, hope those get you started thinking about some ways to make science more real and alive for your daughter. I highly suggest getting and then reading the Handbook of Nature Study's introductory pages on nature study and how you can accomplish it in a few minutes per week.

We are planning on working out of our text for four days a week and then using one day a week to work on the supplemental ideas I have listed above. We may pick one focus per term and one biography per term in addition to the text.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Keeping Up With High Schoolers

As the weeks whiz by and my boys gain their momentum in their schoolwork, I am finding it absolutely necessary to spend a little more time at the end of each day reviewing their work. I can remember the days of quickly checking math papers and where clean-up meant filing papers away in subject binders. Now, wrapping up the day takes on a fuller dimension.

High school is hard. Even with teacher's guides and answer keys it is hard to keep up. I find myself stopping periodically during the day to say short prayers asking for wisdom and strength to get it all done. The planning we did up front, including the "why should we do this subject" phase, is what saves me from throwing in the towel many days. I know why we are covering Algebra 2 and Physics and Spanish and those solid reasons make it much less likely that I will let things slide on the days I am just not in the mood to struggle with particular algebra problems or physics labs that make me crazy.

With all that said, here is what we accomplished during the last few weeks. Remember as you read this post that it covers three week's time.

Literature: We read a little Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. What a journey! Tapestry of Grace made it easier for me by providing great teacher's notes, but we ended up not reading all of the Thoreau selection simply because it didn't interest the boys all that much. I was surprised at that for some reason. We are using notebooking pages as a means of written narration and as simple as this is, I am finding the notebook pages to be a powerful tool for gaining insight into the minds of my high schoolers. Their thoughts and reflections are as important to me as any quiz or worksheet would be in a public school situation. (Thoreau page available as part of History Scribe's 100 Famous Writers set.)

Here is my son's favorite Thoreau quote and it makes me smile when I think about it.

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than to be crowded on a velvet cushion." Walden

Just for fun last week we watched The Count of Monte Cristo from Netflix. Although it did not follow the book whatsoever and it was a little too intense for me, the boys enjoyed it.

Moving on now to read and study Les Miserables, we will be taking a long time to savor it as we go along.

Physics: Math skills, math skills, math skills. Nothing else to say.

Algebra 2: Plodding away....seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Robotics: I mentioned before that the project they are working on as part of the Mayan Adventure book is complicated. It involves a whole series of tasks all strung together. We decided with this project that we are going to make the props that go along with the challenge and this involves a huge work space which we only have out on our back deck. To keep it simple, we decided that we would use a roll out type set-up for the area so we can mark where all the props go. The first task is to have the robot push three 2-pound idols into place....we are currently using 2-liter bottles filled with gravel as our "idols". I had a video but Blogger for some reason does not want to upload it....maybe next time.

Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) has been doing some hand-holding for me the last three weeks. We have the basics down and we are now refining elements of style. Actually, it has been kind of fun for the boys as we work through the decorations and triple extensions again. Using their Pride and Prejudice essay, we are editing sections of it as part of our weekly lessons.

If you don't have the DVD Tips and Tricks from IEW, I would highly recommend it as an additional motivator and inspiration. It is only $10 and worth every penny. (It now comes with the TWSS DVD set...check your set if you already own it.)

Fine Arts: We are finishing our second six-week term for artist and composer study and I am absolutely *in love* with the simplicity of the plans I designed at the beginning of the year.

Here is what they studied during this period:
Mr. A: Jean-Francois Millet and Anton Dvorak
Mr. B: Gustav Klimt and Johann Brahms

If you are interested in knowing more, download the plans and read the simple instructions. (Separate post about the Millet project will follow next week.)



Geography: The focus for the last three weeks has been on doing a little memorizing of maps...filling in countries as much as possible from memory. We are working on the Middle East and Asia at the moment. Although we are finding this difficult, it is also rewarding when it starts to come together. Romania, India, and Greece have been our focus countries and we have realized that we know very little about the modern countries under study. India could fill a whole term if we allowed time for it. We started watching this video from Netflix: The Story of India and at five hours long, we didn't make it all the way through, but we watched enough to give us a great background into modern India. (The notebook pages above are from History Scribe's World Religions set.)

Official Tests: Mr. A took the CHSPE a few weekends ago which will enable him to take a few college courses with no hassles if he passes. Preparing him for the test was easy using the Baron's Prep Book and he felt confident walking into the test that he knew what to expect. This child does not normally test well since his learning style makes him over analyze each question. He had to remember to read the questions carefully, make sure he knew what they were asking, and then choose his answer after considering the choices. There was also a writing component that we prepared for by writing two practice pieces using prompts from the prep book. The hardest part for him to get down was the timing since they suggest using only thirty minutes for the actual writing portion. We get the results at the end of November.

I think that about covers the academic high points of the last three weeks.

Not officially homeschooling but still part of their education: The men in our family did squeeze in a very rainy deep sea fishing trip last week which resulted in 80 fillets in the freezer. The four of them caught their limit of ten fish each. Highlighting the trip was the sighting of numerous jelly fish. The boys said that they were hanging out just under the surface of the water and up near the boat, making them easy to see. There were a variety of colors: purple, orange, and yellow. I wish I could have seen that!

This is a rather long post but recording some details in these Weekly Wrap-Up posts seems to help other moms who are either in the midst of high school or are contemplating high school. I know that I would have relished reading specifics from other high school moms..not just the lists of curriculum used and the book titles but the meat of how to implement the plans.

Enjoy!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Looking for Some New Picture Study Ideas?

This week on Curriculum Choice I wrote completely updated and enhanced post on the Come Look With Me art book series. I encourage you to pop over and read the whole entry there for some fresh ideas for how to include picture study using this wonderful books.

Do you have some Dover Coloring Books sitting on your shelf? Popping over to Squidoo, check out my new Squidoo lens giving some suggestions for using those Dover Coloring Books in a variety of ways.



Because of their reasonable price and the variety of topics presented, I have used these coloring books for many years as part of our art, history, science, and literature study. If you would like to learn more, I have finished a new Squidoo Lens sharing a lot of ideas and suggestions.

Dover Coloring Books on Squidoo
I will include a link on my sidebar for future reference.

I have a Weekly Wrap-Up post in the works so brace yourselves for a long post tomorrow.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sketch Tuesday: Pick Pocket

Hands take some time to learn how to draw and it takes lots of practice. Many of you commented on what a challenging assignment this was but you did not give up. There are some great sketches this week. Enjoy your slideshow!

Here is your slideshow: Hand Holding a Leaf


This week's assignment, due Monday, November 2, 2009: Sketch something you put into a wallet or the wallet itself.

Make your sketch and send it in by Monday, November 2nd and it will be included in the slideshow on Tuesday morning . All sketchers are welcome. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com

Don't forget that I made a whole new page to store all our slideshows on Squidoo. I also feature the current week's slideshow and a Sketch of the Week. Enjoy!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Loving It....Art and Music this Week

Pens have been flying the past few weeks as the boys work deeper into the Drawing in Pen and Ink book as part of their art skills plans.


I see a lot of improvement in many areas of their sketching. This book is definitely a winner! I wrote a whole post about it a few weeks ago if you missed it: Drawing in Pen and Ink.

Loving it.

We are currently test driving a new set of Prismacolor markers: Chisel Tip and Brush Tip. I will be sharing in the future my complete review of these markers, along with a giveaway of a set to one of my readers. :)

What about music???

Right now I am in love with this CD......
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet-Horn Quintet-Oboe Quintet



Lilting, happy music is always welcome as as I work and relax and this CD puts it all together. If you click over to Amazon.com, you will be able to preview the music selections. Some tracks are available as MP3 downloads if you just want a little sample.

I was able to find a YouTube selection with my favorite track from this CD:
Oboe Quartet in F: Allegro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8IULfAbOSA


Play this one on a raining day and I guarantee you will feel so much lighter and happier.

Loving it.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

I Just Had An Epiphany

Sometimes it amazes me when I have a flash of insight.

Last year we struggled to complete the "trimmed down" version of Tapestry of Grace rhetoric level literature. I cut out several books and slowed down the reading of most of the books we did read. We waded through and hand-held through many of the tougher selections. I called the year successful.

This year I reverted to TOG Classic for year three literature because I really liked the selection of books and the pace better for my boys. They are enjoying the books and we are finding a lot to discuss on Fridays at our weekly meetings.

Over the weekend the book Paradise Lost came up and we realized that it was one of the books we skipped from last year. Paradise Lost by John Milton is a classic epic poem that is based on the Genesis story of Adam and Eve and the events following.

So where is the epiphany?

Drum roll.......
We can go back and read the book now. Even though we skipped it last year and we are onto a different century and time period, I am giving us permission to go back and cover Paradise Lost now.

So last year when I was in the midst of my literature crisis and I was so against skipping books on the plan, why didn't I realize that it didn't mean that we could *never* go back and read the book in a future time? Narrow thinking like this plagues me from time to time, perhaps keeping me from seeing how simple a solution there was all the time.

We are now ready to read Paradise Lost.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

More high school literature posts:
Organizing Literature
Taming the Desire to Do Everything

Sketch Tuesday: Leaf Time

I enjoy this kind of paper work. :)

Here is your slideshow: Something Made of Paper

This week's assignment, due Monday, October 26th: Sketch Your Hand Holding a Leaf

If your child has trouble sketching the hand, just sketch the leaf but try to get them to make as much detail as they can showing the shape, edges, the veins, etc. See additional note below.

Make your sketch and send it in by Monday, October 26th and it will be included in the slideshow on Tuesday morning . All sketchers are welcome. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Just a note to parents:
Hands are really hard to draw....takes lots of practice. If you are interested in learning to draw hands realistically, you might like to check your library for a book or here is a video I found on Youtube that shows how to draw a hand holding something (he uses a sword but it works for other things as well).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nGXrIre1OI
I suggest that you watch the video and equip yourself to help you child a little with this sketch assignment.

Another idea: My youngest son worked through this book a few years ago and it really helped him in his sketching.

A Heritage of Handiwork

My grandma was an artist with the needle and thread. She spent hours and hours with her little bundles of colored threads and a sewing box at her side. I can remember sitting and watching her work and even sometimes trying my own little projects with her guidance. Each stitch of color was a joy to her and I like to think that my love of color came a little bit from observing her work.

When I got married, my grandma gave me a set of embroidered dresser scarves, pillowcases, and kitchen towels. Some of these I still use including the dresser scarf shown above. They make me smile and remember my dear sweet grandma.

Recently, my mom was decluttering her house and offered to give me her stash of handmade dresser scarves and pillow cases. I gladly accepted and now own a lot more of my grandma's hand stitched items. I decided to take photos to document her work and to share with other family members. Please excuse the lack of ironing.....they have been folded up and stored away for quite some time.


This dresser scarf with the pretty lady and the watering can was one that I can remember having on my nightstand growing up. I can remember laying there and just enjoying the patterns and colors. Isn't she lovely?


I love the scalloped edge on this one and it will be perfect in my bedroom on our dresser.

I uploaded a whole set of photos to Flickr.com if you would like to see a slideshow of many of the treasures in my collection now.

Here are a few to see here on the blog.



Love the bird!



How about some deer? I think this one was made for one of my brothers.



This one is very worn and it needs some repair but it is a work of art.

You can see more over on Flickr.com if you are interested.

I would love to be able to display some of these in my home but there are only so many places you can put out dresser scarves.

I am currently working with this book and making some fun little projects for myself. I highly recommend this book if you are a beginner and want an easy way to get started with embroidery. Fabric, small embroidery hoop, assorted colors of thread, embroidery needle, and scissors and you are set to go!



Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Keeping it Fresh with Electives

(I accidentally posted this entry over on my nature blog earlier but it really belongs over here on this blog. I am copying it over here so if you subscribe to both blogs you will be getting two of the same entry.....see note on my other blog.)

The challenge I am finding with my high school age boys is to keep our academics solid but balance that with some fresh ideas for "electives".

In our home, keeping our bodies fit has always been a priority. My sons all have a liver disorder that is an issue and their stamina is not always what it should be. One of the benefits of homeschooling chronically ill children is that we can go with the ebb and flow of their energy levels. When they were young that meant shorter lessons with time for rest when needed and now that they are growing in their teen years, we have returned to that sort of pattern again. It works well with homeschooled children and I am grateful every day for the ability to keep our activity levels even with their energy.

With that said, they are still normal teenage boys and they need to work on their physical strength and have some fun every week. I purchased the book Homeschool Family Fitness many years ago and we still use some of their ideas as part of the President's Physical Fitness Challenge goals. I test them at the beginning and end of every term as a way to track their progress.

Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, sit and reach, jump rope, and a mile run are all things they continually work on together. The mile run they complete once a week and everything else they do daily.

I also have other expectations as part of their physical education requirements. They pick from a list of "once a week" activities: weight lifting, volleyball, basketball, swimming, tennis, walking trail, or the skatepark. They have "once a month" activities as well: longer bike rides, snowboarding, longer hikes, and other sports as part of social events with our congregation.

The newest activity to be added to the list is one that our family has never tried before. My youngest son had heard about this sport and saw the course at a local park. He asked if we could give it a try and he loved it!

Disc golf is something that never occurred to me to try with the boys before for some reason. We made a stop at the local sporting goods store where a friend works and he helped us pick out a couple of discs to get started with. (I am told that we can not call it a Frisbee....I made that mistake once and I will never make it again.)

We drove over to the park and it was a glorious day, warm even. We had no idea what we were doing at first or where to even begin.

Note: If you click the photos you will go over the Flickr where you can see the photos with notes.

The signs were all so confusing.

We just decided to jump in and go for it.

My son, it turns out, is a whiz at disc golf. After a few wild throws, he really got the hang of it and was making par on each "hole".



The challenge is that the "hole" is really far away from the starting spot (click over to Flickr for notes).



The goal is really a pole with a wire basket that you throw the disc into.



For me this meant that I spent quite a bit of time scrambling around under bushes to find my crazy disc that never seemed to go where I wanted it to go. See my yellow disc there in the bushes?


At the end of the afternoon, we had scraped knees and dirty hands from climbing up and down hills and searching for lost discs. This was a much more physically demanding activity than I originally thought. The verdict from my son is that this is a new sport he wants to pursue.


In fact, on the way to the parking lot we ran into my nephew (who is a criminal defense attorney and I was wondering why he was at the park during the afternoon of a workday...hmmmmm) who was there to play a round of disc golf with his friends. He offered to help Mr. B and they have since been back to run through the course without me in tow. Providence....thanks Adam!

I decided it was not a sport for an old lady like me but I am really glad that my son suggested the activity as part of his physical education since it turns out he is a natural player.

When we started homeschooling we were pretty hit or miss with PE until I realized it needed to be on the schedule and it needed to have a shape and form or we would let it slip. Many homeschoolers feel they have to enroll their children in organized sports as a way to provide physical activity for their children but we chose not to take that road. I offer our experience as a way of showing that PE can be a regular part of your week and without much effort keep your children physically fit. My boys *need* this time and it encourages them to spend time with their dad and older adult brother too, a little male bonding time.

It is refreshing to have time to be active and to have some fun outdoors. Physical education is one way we keep our high school schedule fresh and interesting.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Frank Lloyd Wright Bubble Window Project

Welcome to all who are viewing this project from Pinterest! I hope you check around the blog and then subscribe for future projects. If you are interested in additional 20th Century artists, you may be interested in my Harmony Fine Arts Grade 4 or Grade 8 plans in ebook format. You can click over and read the details and find lists of artists covered in each year plan. 

It is funny how things work out. After posting our Tiffany Glass project a few weeks ago, Dana at School For Us posted a comment about how they used the Tiffany Glass project to follow-up on their study of Frank Lloyd Wright. I thought they did an excellent job and so when I was paging through the Great American Artists for Kids book, I was pleasantly surprised that there is a project for FLW as well! The Bubble Window project looked like something fun to try.

We gathered the materials and waited for some free time to explore his glass art and to complete the project.

Again the Great American Artists for Kids book came through with a project using simple materials we had on hand.

• Clear contact paper
• Colored art tissue (Thanks to a stash from my daughter Amanda at Hearts and Trees!)
• Black Sharpie marker and/or black electrical tape
• Ruler or yardstick
• Scissors
• Circle templates (jar lids or cups worked well for us)

We started off viewing some of Frank Lloyd Wright's art glass and getting an idea of how he used shapes and colors. It was a little different than Tiffany did in his artwork.



My sixteen year old and I decided to each make a separate panel that we could hang together on our schoolroom window. We measured the length and and cut a piece of contact paper without removing the backing to get started.

We started off by cutting circles and squares out of tissue paper. We used cups and plastic container lids as circle templates.


Before we pulled the backing off the clear contact paper, we placed our design down to get an idea of how we wanted to stick the tissue in the final pattern.


After we had our basic design planned out, we each decided on different ways to complete the project.


My son decided to pull off the backing, lay down the tissue, and use a Sharpie Marker on the sticky back to make the black lines.

I opted to pull off the backing, lay down the tissue, layer the other piece of contact paper, and then use a Sharpie and black electrical tape to make my lines.

So now here are some things we want to say about this project:
1. The Great American Artists for Kids book rates this as a 2-star project. I think it definitely needs to be a 3-star project since I would never expect a child to complete this project without a lot of adult help. I would absolutely say to do this project independently the child would need to be a mature middle schooler.
2. We had trouble with the tissue paper sticking where we did not want it to stick. Sometimes we were able to remove it from the sticky paper, but sometimes it was just plain stuck and we had to incorporate it into the design. :) The tissue paper also blows from the table and onto the contact paper like it has static.


3. Use a ruler or yardstick you don't mind getting Sharpie Marker on during the process.



4. Expect bubbles and wrinkles when you layer the contact paper. There is some room for smoothing it when you are done but for the most part, once it is stuck together you are left with wrinkles and creases. I think it just adds to the uniqueness of each panel.

5. When you use the Sharpie marker on the sticky or the non-sticky contact paper, it will smear until it is completely dry. We tried to work from top to bottom with the Sharpie and that helped.

6. If you use black electrical tape for the black lines on the edges like I did, you need to make sure not to pull it tightly as you lay it down. The tape is a little stretchy and it will curl your panel up.


I loved this project and I would like to do it again sometime. The biggest thing I would change would be to make my panel much smaller so it will be easy to work with. The size of our project was hard to handle and we had to fight to get the top layer of contact paper to lay straight and not have huge bubbles and creases.


My son and I worked on this project for over two hours start to finish.

Isn't it pretty? Even on a rainy day it brought some nice color into our room.

Sketch Tuesday: Paperwork

I really like the way you all had your own idea of what "shiny" meant and then sketched it. I appreciate all the sketches this week and I hope you had fun making them.

Here is your slideshow: Shiny!

This week's assignment, due Monday, October 19th: Sketch Something Made of Paper or Cardboard.

Make your sketch and send it in by Monday, October 19th and it will be included in the slideshow on Tuesday morning . All sketchers are welcome. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Literature Terms-My Little Reminders

As we go through our literature readings each week, I want to have a way to remember the terms and concepts that are on our "to do" list for the year. I came up with a method a few years back and it is still a great way to review and cement ideas as we go through our weekly literature assignments. I also love that it is relatively painless and inexpensive, as well as quick and easy.

I take a set of 3" by 5" cards and write down the literary terms that I would like to cover for the year. I keep the cards in a box or you can hole punch and put them on a ring. I like to move the completed cards to a separate section and only use them for review. Some cards stay in the current section for the complete school year. We are working on finding the theme in our literature this year so the "theme" card will stay in the front.

As we go through the week's reading, I pull out several of the cards and keep them in mind when we have our literature discussions. Tapestry of Grace uses "story analysis" and weaves it into their plans, but I want to review more often than it comes up in the TOG plans.

Here are some of the cards we have used over the years.

Beginning Cards:
Fiction/Non-fiction
Alliteration
Characters
Metaphor
Simile
Onomatopoeia
Rhyme
Rhythm
Stanza
Main Idea
Legend/Myth/Folk Tale/Fable/Tall tale
Setting
Plot
Personification
Figure of speech
Description

Next step:
Conflict
Imagery
Suspense
Symbol
Point of view (first person, third person, etc)
Irony
Foreshadowing
Flashback
Allusion
Biography/Autobiography
Dialogue
Novel
Prose

Our new high school level cards:
Paraphrase
Dialect
Tone
Theme
Short Story
Essay
Drama
Mood
Poetry/free verse/limerick
Tragedy/Comedy/Historical play


How do we use the cards? After pulling a few cards each week to keep in mind, I ask the boys to watch out for examples of the concepts in their reading. For instance, if we were working on metaphors, they might keep track of a few that they come across in their weekly work. If the book we are reading is a biography, we might talk about point of view, setting, dialogue , or mood. Shakespearean plays give us the opportunity to discuss which category of play we are reading, rhyme, characters, dialect, or irony.

Another way I weave the literature terms into our work is to have the boys include examples in their own writing. I might ask them to include a metaphor in their writing or to write from a certain point of view. This way they are not only able to find examples in their literature but also cement the idea by incorporating the concepts into their own writing. I love that.

If you have younger children, you can use the cards as a reminder to yourself and as you cover each idea, make a little pencil check in the corner to keep track of which cards you have shared so far. It is a visual reminder as you work through your school year.

We start each year with a quick review of the terms we know and I add in a few new ones to work on, keeping track as we work through the weeks.

If you are a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, you can intertwine these literary terms into your narration assignments. An example might be for your student to narrate some dialogue for the current literature book or to narrate the setting of the book with a drawing. You can be as creative as you would like using the cards and terms.

Hope this helps someone or sparks an idea of your own. You can actually use this idea for other subjects as well and I found it a lifesaver when I had three homeschoolers working on different grade levels.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

First Quarter Complete! High School Continues

We had a busy three weeks since I have done a Weekly Wrap-Up. We finished the first quarter of our school term. My the time flies!

Generally, everything we started with at the beginning of the year is still in place as far as courses and books. What has changed is our schedule and how we approach the overall idea of our day. In the past, I have tried to keep our academics so that the boys will finish by 1:30 and then have the afternoon for projects and electives.

This is still working for my youngest who is in 9th/10th grades. My older son who is in 11th grade has decided to step up his courses so that he will finish sooner so he can fit in a few extra things next year in his schedule. Now he isn't finishing his academics until around 3:00 PM each day. It is a long day but it is amazing what a difference an attitude shift makes because this is all his idea.


This does not mean we are not having time for fun.


We made pretzels from scratch last week as part of our study of Germany and Austria.


We are working on a huge robotics project from the Mayan Adventure book and we are going to actually make the complete set for this activity. It is going to be awesome.


The weather is changing and Mr. A is working diligently to get his snowboard ready for the first snow of the season. (I took this photo of him one night late....he was outside in the darkness waxing his board.)


We have been spending time with our nature study and the Outdoor Hour. We had an abundance of mushrooms one day and we decided to take a look at them under the microscope. The next time we find some big ones we are going to try our hand at spore prints.

Literature: Finished Pride and Prejudice and are now finishing up a quick read through of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare. We listened to it as an audio book and we watched the last half of the movie version together...what a hoot! Ben Kingsley as Feste was perfect. Next time we will be tackling a tough bit of Shakespeare as we try our hand at Hamlet.

Geography: We covered France, Germany/Austria/Poland, and then Russia in our geography studies. This week they have a final map test of European countries and capitals that they have been studying for the last eight weeks. We shifted our focus to current events and points of interest each week and it is going so much better. I borrowed some Fodor's travel books from the library for most of the countries and they come up with travel itineraries as part of their weekly work. This is *really fun*. I love seeing what the boys would do if we actually went to each country.
More Geography: We also spent quite a bit of time discussing more mature topics like: the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain, Communism, McCarthyism, fall of the Soviet Union, NATO, and WWII. The conversations were not of a historical nature but more of a "what did it feel like to live during that time" sort of talking. This was more personal and not so much about dates and facts like we would if we were studying this as part of a history course. The high school age is becoming a time for me to see into the hearts of these young men and to see how all we have done in the past is really connecting with them in a meaningful way. (Notebook pages from History Scholar.)

Extras: Two exciting things for Mr. A in the last few weeks. He signed up for Ground School, that's the classroom portion for getting your pilot's license. He is so jazzed! The other exciting and new plan for him is to start working on some special trumpet music and sit in with the local Swingmasters band. He has some work to do and a lot of confidence building but he is going to give it a shot. I *love* hearing the music and his playing along. Fun stuff.

Writing: I almost forget to share that we finished a three week assignment featuring Pride and Prejudice. This essay was a reach for them both but it turned out well. We are all getting better at using the IEW system for topics and themes that come up in our other schoolwork. As I work my way through the year I am keeping notes so I can eventually share how it all works together.

Physics: We have now officially crossed over the boundary into topics that boggle my mind. My son is understanding it just fine so I am sending a big hat tip to Apologia and their text. The solutions manual has been such a lifesaver over the last two weeks and its detailed solutions make helping my son, correcting his work, and preparing for the reviews and tests much more understandable to this non-physics mom.

One more fun thing that I want to share.

Our county opened a new section of our local biking trail and we took the opportunity last Friday to pedal all the way out to a fantastic viewpoint.


Here is the train bridge that they converted to a biking/walking/horse riding bridge. It is spectacular and the view is gorgeous.

Everything else is humming along and not much to note. The men in our family are planning a deep sea fishing trip a week from Monday. I will be staying at home and doing something fun that does not involve a smelly boat and rolling waves. :)

We have a big art project started but I will save that for another post. :)

Just an additional note for my fellow Charlotte Mason homeschoolers: I am dividing our year into traditional quarters for the first time in a long time. We are opting out of "term exams" but including the substance of what I would have put on an exam into our weekly discussions and narrations. It has become increasingly difficult for me to allow enough time for term exams as outlined in the CM volumes and for our family it works just as well to do things a little more traditionally. In reality, they are still getting the same exam questions but I am not saving them until the end but rather dividing them up into their week plans.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom