Nature Club - Worm Charming Edition

Nature study has always been a big part of our homeschool.  And in my opinion the best way to study nature is to spend time outdoors.  We're very fortunate in that within seconds of walking out our door we can be in the woods surrounded by nature.  But even so, we still participate in a nature club with a couple of other homeschooling families.  Mostly we go to a local county park/campground, but we've also explored fields and vernal pools at the homes of the nature club families.

Of course, I like to keep things simple, so I pick a topic relative to the time of year and then decide on an activity to do.  We like to keep our formal part of nature club to 30 minutes and then let the kids have lots of time to explore the crayfish in the river or play on the playground before having a light snack.

I chose WORMS as our late May topic and we did a really fun activity.

WORM CHARMING or WORM FIDDLING

Basically you need two strong sticks about 15 inches long.  Stick one in the ground about halfway.  Use the other stick to vigorously rub the vertical stick in a back and forth manner as if playing the fiddle.  In time, worms should start to appear at the top of the soil.  We were all amazed this actually worked.  Everyone was a bit skeptical.

Ta Da!  A worm appeared.

After charming enough worms, I gave the kids a paper plate to use as an observation tray and a homemade worksheet.  They placed their worms and a cup of soil on the plate, made observations and then answered the questions.

Once they finished up we gathered for a short discussion, returned the worms to home and headed off to play.  This was a really fun activity, one that older and younger kids alike enjoyed.

Commemorating the 7 Sorrows of Mary

Like I said before, I like to keep it simple when it comes to living the liturgical year.  Yesterday, September 15, was the day the Church remembers the 7 sorrows of Mary.  These are sorrowful events in Mary's life, each one involving her son, Jesus.  Any mother of boys knows they can cause much sorrow.  Things haven't changed much in the last 2000 years, have they?  Anyway, I grabbed whatever kids were close by and we talked about the sorrowful events and then I made cards with pictures depicting the events for them to put in chronological order.  They nailed it!  Then we prayed a Hail Mary for each event and a Glory Be and I reminded them to think of others' sorrows before dwelling on their own.  That was it and they were off and runnin' again.

Sam hung around for a bit longer so I had him order the cards again just to be sure he wasn't relying on his older siblings' knowledge.  I copied the page of pictures from  A Year With God:  Celebrating the Liturgical Year (page 200).

Over the years I've stopped over thinking our liturgical year activities and stopped trying to make them perfect, beautiful moments.  I think it's more important to just grab the kids and go for it.  I'm not trying to make them into theologians, but introduce them to the beauty of faith, saints, scripture, and religious art.

Fried Potatoes - The Easy Way

We are a household of fried potato lovers.  Boiling up potatoes ahead of time in preparation for having fried potatoes doesn't seem that complicated.  And it's not.  The problem is now that homeschool is back in session, watching the pot of boiling potatoes so it doesn't boil over or the potatoes don't get over-cooked wastes precious minutes that should be used teaching reading and math lessons.

So I came up with a simple way to cook the potatoes that doesn't require me to hang out in the kitchen when I should really be attending to lessons.  I use my crockpot!

Step 1 - Wash potatoes
Step 2 - Slice potatoes in quarters the long way
Step 3 - Place in crockpot, drizzle with olive oil (about 1-2 T.), sprinkle with Kosher salt

 Step 4 - Cook on high for about 3 hours, stir once half way through

Here they are getting nicely done, cook time depends on the heat of your crockpot

Step 5 - Refrigerate until cool.

Step 6 - Slice as you wish, heat cast iron skillet on medium, melt butter, add potatoes and fry until desired crispness.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

A Few Tips

I make 5 pounds of potatoes, if you are making less, crockpot cooking time will decrease.

I get this started in the early morning so that I can get them in the refrigerator before lunch, then they have enough time to cool before making them for supper.

If fried potatoes aren't your thing, then serve the cooked potatoes as is with any toppings you like.  I'm thinking a taco potato bar would be a quick and easy lunch.  Serve the potatoes with any leftover taco meat, nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, and sour cream.  Or how about loaded "baked" potato bar.  Serve with diced bacon, sliced green onions, shredded cheddar cheese or pepper jack, butter, and sour cream.  Oh, now I'm getting hungry.

Homeschooling the Senior Year

Emily is a senior this year.  We've been doing this homeschooling thing since she was in kindergarten.  I still remember sitting on our old green couch with her and the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book stretched across our laps.  Most of our lessons were interrupted because of her hot feet or need for another drink of water or another trip to the bathroom or she wanted the curtains closed or she wanted a light on or, or, or, or.  You get the picture?  

With perseverance from both of us she learned to read and so much more.  I often field questions about homeschooling and once they find out I have highschoolers the questions just pour in.

Is that legal? 

 Why yes it is.

Doesn't she want to be with her friends? 

 Absolutely, however, homeschooling has afforded her the opportunity to make friends in many ways, so most of her friends don't go to our district's high school.  I'd also like to think that some of her best friends are her siblings.

How do you know all the material?

I don't.  Homeschooling has taught Emily to be a self-directed learner.  She knows how to read over the material and ask necessary questions as needed.  We use the library and Google a lot.

What about MATH?

Yeah, what about it?  She does it, I help her, sometimes we learn together.  (I also love math)

Will she get a diploma?

She will get a diploma that I create.  Her transcripts will also be created by me.  Her grade point is calculated by me.  With the growing number of kids graduating from homeschool, colleges have adapted their admission requirements to allow homeschoolers to apply without any troubles.  Emily took the ACT, she has plenty of references, she can write a mean essay and her transcript is detailed.

Those are the biggies.  If you have others, I'd love to answer them in the comments or on FB.  Today I'd like to share the curriculum choices for Emily's senior year of homeschool.

This is what Emily's desk looked like on the first day of school this year.  She really likes history and it looks like she's planning on accomplishing that first.

This year I made up a printable checklist in order to keep track of all her school work.  She follows along day by day checking off each assignment as it's finished.

This crate on her desk holds all her materials.  

RELIGION
She's teaching the 2nd grade First Communion Prep class at our parish.

MATH
Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2 - this is a computer based program with automatic correction.  If she gets a problem wrong she can immediately watch the problem worked out by the teacher.  The immediate feedback helps correct the student's thinking helping them to get the next problems correct.  This has been a great program for Emily.  The teaching is very thorough and the lecture portion can be viewed as many times as needed to learn the material.  Emily has done Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 and Geometry

ENGLISH
Easy Grammar Ultimate Series:  Grade 12 - Easy Grammar is an awesome series.  It teaches prepositions first and instructs the student to always cross off prepositional phrases before looking for other parts of speech.  Once the prepositional phrases are crossed off there are less choices for direct objects or subjective complements.

Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course Level C - Mr. Pudewa is the great teacher responsible for this writing course.  The DVD's are interesting to watch and Mr. Pudewa's instruction makes the writing process simple.

SCIENCE
Barron's E-Z Anatomy and Physiology - I chose this for her because she's planning on studying Animal Science at the college level.  However, I could not find a course specifically targeting animals, so I decided this was the next best option.

HISTORY
A Literature Approach to U.S. and World History: From the Civil War to Vietnam -  this is a two-year course.  It involves a ton of reading, includes suggested movies and study questions.

HEALTH
Starline Press Health - this program is a workbook style curriculum including 5 units, each one in a separate workbook. It's very straight forward:  read, questions, review, test.

SPANISH 3 - She takes this at a nearby high school.

VIOLIN - She takes private lessons and plays in the orchestra at the high school.

So this is how it looks to homeschool a senior in high school.  Fun.  Lot's of fun.  And hardwork.

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3 Easy Steps to Put the White Back into Dairy Show Whites

We've just finished the animal showing portion of our local fair.  Emily shows dairy, which includes cows, heifers, and calves.  Amber showed our POA, Pearl, for the first time.  It's a lot of work for the kids and parents, but the lessons learned make it worth it.  Of course the trophies, ribbons, and fair premiums are appreciated as well.  

But speaking of lessons learned, I've learned a few tricks over the years about laundering dairy show whites.  Would someone please tell me why all white clothing is the uniform of choice for dairy showing?  Don't they know cow poop splatters in every direction when it hits the ground.  Anyway, I'm sure my opinion (they should wear greenish, brownish show clothes) isn't going to change the minds of the national dairy showing committee, if there even is one.  

First off this isn't the best example of dirty because they are Emily's showmanship pants.  They don't wear these very long and work extra hard to stay clean because part of the judging is based on the showman's appearance.  But you can see a few manure stains on the pant leg.  They sometimes have to lean on the animal so the backside of the show pants are usually quite dingy.

First step is to soak the pants in Clorox 2.  I fill the sink with hot water and pour in about 1/3 cup of Clorox 2.  I let the pants soak for at least 24 hours, swishing them around a couple of times.

After they've soaked, I search out any stains and apply a liberal amount of OxiClean Max Force Gel Stick.  I'm not normally brand loyal, but in this case, stick with the brand.

  

 I use a bristled scrub brush and vigorously brush in a back and forth motion over the stain.

I let the OxiClean work in for about 20 minutes and then transfer to the washing machine.  Add the recommended amount of (any brand) laundry soap and about 1/4 cup bleach.  I set my washer to the "whites" setting and launder.  It's amazing how they return to their original whiteness.

Now, this pair of show whites is not the ones pictured above.  These were much dirtier than those and look how clean they are.  The pockets are nice and clean.  The bottom hemline is ultra white.  Ready for next year.

And since show whites are kind of boring blog fare, here's a picture of Emily with Margret.

Linking up with Works For Me Wednesday and Raising Homemakers.

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