My Twins

JohnDavid and Bethany, 13½ years old.

sMiLeS,

17-month-old twins...

L♥ve it! 


Oh, and my twins are 13.  Sometimes I think they still sound like this, haha!  =D   
They do get along great, though.

sMiLeS,

Biology, Module 11, The Invertebrates of Kingdom Animalia

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M11
Videos, etc, for M11

In this module, we learned about animals that have no backbone - li'l squishy fellas!  =)
Some not so squishy, and some protected by an exoskeleton to protect their squishy li'l body. 
Well... some invertebrates have a big squishy body.

Exo- like exit - gives you an idea that the exoskeleton must be on the outside.  And it is!  Insects have an exoskeleton to protect them.  That is why they crunch if you step on 'em!  (ugh!)
Other invertebrates are worms, snails, crayfish (crawdads), shrimp, and more.
In the kingdom Animalia, there are way more invertebrates than there are vertebrates.  In fact, all the phyla in kingdom Animalia except one are invertebrates!  That's quite a few!

We also learned whether these various organisms had radial symmetry, bilateral symmetry, or spherical symmetry. 

• Spherical symmetry is when an organism can be cut into two identical halves by any cut that runs through its center.  A ball has spherical symmetry.  That's easy, right?
• Radial symmetry is when an organism can be cut into two identical halves by any longitudinal cut through its center.  This might be from the top, any cut.  Like an oatmeal box can be cut from the top by any cut, front to back, right to left, or diagonal, etc., running straight down through the center.
• Bilateral symmetry is when an organism can be cut into two identical halves by a single longitudinal cut (only one option, not "any longitudinal cut" as in radial symmetry) along its center which divides it into right and left halves.

  

Phylum Porifera:  The Sponges
What?  A sponge is alive? 
Yes!  It meets the 4 criteria for life.
Though they're animals and not plants, they can't think; they have no internal organs, no blood, no eyes, or ears, but can reproduce, digest food, and protect themselves.
If you have a sponge from the ocean, it is no longer living.  It would need to stay in the ocean in its environment to be able to eat and stay alive.
♦ See more beautiful sea sponges.
The name of this phylum, Porifera, makes me think of perforate.  Something that is perforated has holes, and so do sponges.  That's how I can remember that sponges are in phylum Porifera.  =)
Sponges have no symmetry.

Phylum Cnidaria

sea anemone

Jellyfish, sea anemones, coral, hydra...
What is a hydra?  See that picture up there?  Picture a?  That is a hydra.  It has radial symmetry.  A jellyfish also has radial symmetry.  So does a sea anemone.  You know, the plant-looking thing in the ocean (that is not a plant) on Finding Nemo.
All members of this phylum have radial symmetry.  They have tentacles which catch prey by releasing nematocysts, small capsules that contain a toxin that is injected into prey or predators. 
This toxin can cause stinging or even paralysis.
The hydra's nematocysts are triggered by a pressure-sensitive device, but those of the sea anemone are not.  The sea anemone will only sting if it senses a specific chemical.  That is why it does not sting the clownfish that lives within and near it.

The nematocysts in some jellyfish are very toxic, and can even be fatal, like the box jellyfish.  

I have seen jellyfish before in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  It was so warm and we loved it, but because of the mild stings of the softball sized jellyfish, my friend and I didn't stay in long.
Some jellyfish are quite large, and look kind of scary!   




Phylum Annelida

Feather-Duster worm

Who comes up with these names anyway?  
Phylum Annelida has only one kind of worm, the segmented worm.
So right away, you may think of an earthworm.  Yes, that is the most common and familiar type of segmented worm.  Another one is the leech.  Also, among the segmented worms is a Christmas tree worm and even a feather-duster worm!
We aren't doing any dissections this year, but we did study the innards of the earthworm, and even looked at some really clear pictures online.
All these have bilateral symmetry.

Phylum Platyhelminthes:  The Planarian
A planarian is more commonly called a flatworm.  It's not exactly flat, but it isn't shaped like a cylinder like most other worms.  The most amazing thing about planarians is their ability to reproduce not only sexually, but asexually by regeneration.  They tear themselves apart on purpose in order to do this!  The two halves will then regenerate its missing half to make two complete planarians.
Other worms in this phylum are tapeworms and flukes.  All these have bilateral symmetry.

Phylum Nematoda
These are often called round worms.  They are not round like a ball, but their bodies are cylinder-shaped, but are much smaller than segmented worms.  The members of phylum Nematoda have bilateral symmetry.  These kinds of worms are found in many different environments.  Many are parasitic, and can cause diseases and permanent damage to organs.  In some cases, they are fatal.

Phylum Mollusca

Sounds like mollusks, doesn't it?  That gives you a clue about this phylum.  There are many organisms in this phylum, including mollusks, clams, snails, oysters, and squid.
They have several mutual characteristics, the most common being a shell.  We studied the snail and learned that is has one foot!  I would never have called the part of the snail that is used for movement a foot.

Who knew that invertebrates were so diverse?
God is indeed the Creator of all things.

sMiLeS,

My Favorite Block of Wood

My Dad made me this block of wood when I began homeschooling 12 years ago.
It is a very useful 8 x 5.5 x 1.5 block of wood.

This is what it can do:

For kids to copy and label.

Yes, I used a ruler.  =D

The dry erase board props up books so kids can copy & label drawings.

Isn't my Dad really smart!?!  =)

The block of wood, the clipboard, and the dry erase board all store neatly on a bookshelf.
I have a rolling bookshelf that I pull over to the table during lesson planning or during school, so it's handy to grab my block of wood at any time I need it.

In case you are interested:
►I got my dry erase board at dryerase.com.  I've had it for about 10 years, I think.  Check out the FAQ's!
►Here's how to solve that algebra problem (videos #1, 2, & 3 teach Solving by Graphing).
►The block of wood measures 8 x 5.5 inches.  It is about 1.5 inches thick.  The back of the slot is about 1.25 inches from the edge and is about 3/16 of an inch wide.  It's at a 70º angle.  (or 110º, depending on which way you look at it.) 
At the front of the slot, there is a little of the edge cut off so the top of the opening is wider, making it easier to slide in the board.

Several years before he gave me mine, my Dad had made a bunch of these blocks of wood when my Mom was teaching a computer class at the Christian school I had attended.  She used the blocks of wood and clipboards to hold a brief typing assignment the students had to do immediately upon entering class.  I think it was usually something like a verse from Proverbs and an inspirational saying.  After being typed, it had to be printed with their name on it and placed in their folder.  No goofing off; just straight to their assignment.  If all assignments (not just the initial typing one) for the week were in their folders and accounted for, on Friday there was some free time for games.
My Mom is smart, too!  =)

sMiLeS,

Homeschooler's Resources on facebook

You can now follow Homeschooler's Resources on facebook.
Each time I post to Homeschooler's Resources, I'll also post the link on facebook.

sMiLeS,

Gymnopédie No. 1

JohnDavid is learning to play this song.  =)  It is on our keyboard, and the beginning sounds like the theme from the movie Up.  He heard it and started learning to play it.  His piano teacher found out, and since we have the music book that came with our keyboard, she has assigned it to him.  He is doing a pretty awesome job!  I'll have to sneak and video him after he learns the rest of it.  =D

Gymnopédie No. 1, the first of the three Gymnopédies compositions written in 1888 by French
composer and pianist, Erik Satie (1866-1925).


sMiLeS,

Happy Pi Day!

Pi day is March 14.
3.14
Pi  

Would you share some Pi with me?  =)

Pi (3.14) is used to find the circumference or area of a circle.
Pie is round, like a circle, but Pi are square.  πr² 
To find the area of a circle, use πr² (3.14 x radius x radius).
To find the circumference of a circle, use πd (3.14 x diameter).

The original recipe for Pi is 22/7, and no one has ever found the last digit of pi.  So it is an irrational number.
But an extremely smart person might be alleged to have discovered the last digit of Pi!  =)

Here is just a small slice of Pi.
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781...

But that's not the whole Pi!
To see more Pi, like the first 100,000 digits, click here.
Here's the history of making Pi.

Playing with Pi -- what it sounds like:

►Explanation by Lars Erickson who composed and performed the Pi Symphony in 1992.
How Lars Erickson perfected his Pi in calculus class.

Don't worry, there is plenty of yummy Pi to go around.
No one has ever gotten the last slice yet.  =D

sMiLeS,

My daughter's Biology book...

Hee hee!  This is what I found in Rebekah's Biology book.
I guess we can safely say she will not be taking Advanced Biology or Marine Biology...

Oh, and I have no more Post-it Notes left, either.

sMiLeS,

Biology, Module 10, Ecology

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M10
Videos, etc, for M10 

Ecology is "the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings."   Plants (producers) supply food for animals (consumers).  There are primary consumers that only eat plants, secondary consumers that eat the animals that eat plants, and tertiary consumers that eat animals that eat other animals.
You may remember that all food chains begin with a green plant.
Well, there are also food webs.  A food web, when drawn on a diagram, looks just like that -- a web.  Some animals can be more than one type of consumer.  A hawk is a tertiary consumer because it will eat a snake that eats mice.  But a hawk is also a secondary consumer because it will also eat mice.

We had planned to do a food web in class (I was gonna copy Michelle), and everyone was bringing stuffed animals that belonged to their younger siblings.  But due to illness (mine), we were unable to meet, and I had the kids do their own food webs at home and send me pictures.

I thought this was a clever use of a little sister's toys!

Animals and plants in a certain environment make up an ecosystem.  An ecosystem is categorized by climate, animals, and plant life.

We learned about different kinds of symmetry, and I had also planned to copy Michelle in this fun experiment, We Are Not Created Equal, but we didn't get to have our class.  (I rely on her posts, can you tell???)  =)
I guess I could always use photos I already have and bisect my student's faces, lol.  =D

sMiLeS,

Just Hanging Out...

sMiLeS,

History Pen Letters

Last year, my oldest daughter Rebekah had a really cool idea!  She loves history, and one of her main interests is the Civil War.
Her Cousin A is interested in it too, so last year they started writing letters to each other, pretending to be someone from history.
They each chose a historical last name, but not necessarily one from the Civil War time period.  For example, Rebekah chose Rolfe.  They weren't really trying to include exact details, but just having fun.
They dated their letters with the current day's date, but with 1861 instead of 2010 (although they did write 2010 somewhere else on the letter.  I thought this was good so later they could remember what year it really was and how old the girls were.)
They "live" in different places, so that they would have a reason to write letters.
In their letters they are married and have children.  They write about their families and occasionally  historical events that occurred during the Civil War.  Mostly it is for fun, so there's not too much of this in each letter.  =)
Sometimes it's more hysterical than historical.  =D

Once they were both expecting, and thought it hilarious!
The letters are sometimes funny, or not always about things that are historical, but they're having a good time. I am not directing this in any way, and just let them have fun with it.  It was their idea, after all.  =)
They may do some research however, just when they want to know something for a particular letter, so they're learning a little bit here and there.
My daughter has a "husband" in the war, and she writes about him being gone, and where he is, and a little about the battles.
Once my niece was in the middle of writing a letter to Rebekah and her writing got faint and illegible as she wrote, "I can't see" and the pen trailed off...
Then the writing on the paper changes styles and it's her husband writing (later) to my daughter telling that Cousin A had fainted and that the doctor came.  This was during her "pregnancy."
I thought that was clever how she did that in the letter! 
The girls are making copies of each other's letters to put them all in order in clear sleeves in a binder.  They have enjoyed reading back over them.

I got to thinking about how a group might do this for
educational purposes, and I decided to put my ideas here.
If it was a group of kids rather than just two individuals, I wasn't sure about how to decide who would answer whose letter... and some kids might be close friends, and others kind of be left out of all the action.  So maybe they could have a buddy for a few weeks, then switch up each time they move on to a different time frame.
It only needs to contain just a couple of real facts, and the rest could just be made up about their own "life."
I'm thinking this will work well with American History, as it can be more ongoing, being that it is typically studied for a year.  But other specific historical eras may lend themselves to this type of study as well.
 
But they should brainstorm and write down a "profile" of their character to begin with. 
This will end up being a history lesson in itself! 

Rebekah said the hardest thing is keeping the characters' ages, kids, and other details straight. It's a lot like writing a book.
Each "character" needs a profile so details will not mistakenly get "changed" from one letter to the next. Each child should keep their own profile handy, as well as a list of things s/he "learns" about her historical buddy.
What kind of family? middle class? poor?  Jew?
What kind of occupation? Shipping?  printer?  businessman?  laborer?  watchmaker?
Also, she said the setting needs to be clarified, as in what time period.  Clothing and customs could be studied a bit. 
Also, where does each character live? It will obviously need to be in different places because they are writing letters.  What kinds of day-to-day things they write about will depend on their location.  Talk about hardships or accomplishments of the time.

This should probably be done like writing... after brainstorming and figuring out a few things for profiles, let it "rest" a couple of days before going back to it.
Assign some easy children's books to read, even for older kids, so they can get an overview of what time period they are studying.
Copies should be made of the profiles for at least one main person to keep; someone who could help with assignment suggestions if some are having a harder time figuring out what their type of character would do/see every day.  As their character develops new facts about themselves, these should be added to the profiles.  Things like an injury, moving, getting a dog, etc.  Just anything, really, that should be kept in mind.
(A blog would be an excellent place to keep ongoing updated material like this!  For assignments, too.)

You could assign the dates each week, like the month of July, 1776, or preceding months. That would be a huge one!  
Or July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.  What would one have heard in the news about it?
This would obviously be a one-time assignment, and not ongoing.
Before beginning the assignment each week, let the kids discuss where they live and what was going on at that place during the time assigned. They could write down a few notes to research at home.
They could just mention a few details of what happened in their town, etc. and ask a few questions to the one they're writing to.

A note about boys:  They probably would not want to write letters.  Some girls may not either.  So maybe they could pretend to write for a newspaper, or to be a spy who is finding out information from the enemy. 

I'm sure there are many more ideas, and can get quite specific.  I guess if a co-op or group wanted to do this, they would need to also brainstorm and find more new ideas and discard others.
The beauty of homeschooling.  =)

sMiLeS,

Thanksgiving Football, 2010

I don't know why I never added these pics at Thanksgiving!
It is the kids' and Dads' tradition to have a football game every Thanksgiving.  The big kids play football, the Dads quarterback, and the little kids run around.  =)

These girls only wear mascara BELOW their eyes!  lol

Run, JohnDavid!

I like this one!

Kicking a Puff Mushroom

Bethany caught it!

Rebekah caught this one!   AND Bethany's arm, haha!

Nice catch!

She actually caught this one! 

Rebekah -- Umm.... why are you hugging me in the middle of the game??

Bethany -- To keep you from going after the ball!  😂

sMiLeS,

"5 before lunch"

Would you like a method that will get kids to go on to another subject even if you're busy with his/her sibling?
I mean, if Mama is helping one child, and it's taking a bit, and is not available when you get stuck on #11, um...  you do not have to sit staring at #11 or daydreaming for 10 minutes.  Please can you go do typing or silent reading?  Or times tables?  Or even listen to Bible online?  
Or maybe Mama isn't looking, so you go into a sibling's room and then the two of you goof off...
10 minutes here and there can quickly add up to an hour or more.....

Well, that has not been happening here for awhile (not too much anyway). 😁

I decided to assign point values for each subject, depending on how long it should take to complete.
The kids have to get 5 points before lunch, and if they're done early, they get to take break/lunch early.
If they somehow have not gotten 5 points, they still get lunch, but not quite as much break as they would have.

We usually start around 9:00, and have at least a 1-hour break/lunch around 12:00 if necessary, but usually before.
(My kids are all teens, so they can go longer w/out a break than little ones can.)
As soon as they get 5 points, they can take break early if they wish, and still have break until 1:00.
They usually get to 5 points before 12. 😊

If they only have a little left, they might decide to work a little longer, or break only for lunch, knowing they can have a longer afternoon. Sometimes they start school early if they are planning to go somewhere w/ Grandma or cousins, etc.

I give 1 point for subjects that take around a half hour, give or take. The kids don't really know my system, so they don't argue if they think something should be worth more. They do see that harder subjects have more points.  They don't read my blog. 😁

So spelling, typing for 15 minutes, and silent reading (for dyslexic ds) are each ½ point.
History is 1 point per lesson for the twins (they do a block schedule and do 2 lessons a day), English is 1, math is 1½, Bible is usually 1, Dd16's Biology is 1 or more, Spanish is 1, Practicing piano is 1, etc.
Remember though, these are not all exactly half an hour.

Also for one child, practicing piano for X number of minutes is worse than practicing a song X number of times.  Once we switched, it was much easier.
Sometimes I change the number of times depending on the difficulty.

Sometimes it takes them a little longer for a subject, but unless it is obviously harder, I don't change the point value.  Occasionally if 2 or 3 subjects all seem to be just a little longer, I might grace them an extra ½ point completed.
Sometimes math is super easy, and I change it to 1, but they know this ahead. But only if it's really super easy. I try not to lower points if possible. Don't want to discourage them if they think they're nearly finished, then have an extra ½ point to make up.
►(I remember the story of a lady whose kids got up early, worked hard and got their work done early nearly every day. Another hs mom observed and suggested they do more work since they were able to get it all done so early. Um... way to unmotivate them??)
If it's harder, I'll change math to a 2. Usually it stays at 1½, though.
(But not if they take an hour and a half because they like to talk a lot. lol.)

We do kind of have a schedule of what order we do them in, but if something gets off a little (disruptions, etc.) they know they can fill in with another subject and still get their required amount done before lunch.
No one is sitting waiting, because they know they get their break as soon as they get 5 points.

This just helps keep things moving along.

And a subject is not DONE until all work is corrected, and I say it is done.
It has to be crossed off MY copy of their weekly schedule. 😊
And after lunch, the "light at the end of the tunnel" (or any activity they plan to do) encourages them to finish up. 

One other thing:  I've learned that doing math first causes it to take longer.
What?
Yep, it really does.  Math is The Dreaded Subject.
The long school day looms ahead, stretching out into infinityyyyyyy.....  "And this is just my FIRST subject??? sigh....."
So we do it last before lunch.  Remember that light at the end of the tunnel!
And after lunch, depending on the child, any other Dreaded Subject is last as well.

sMiLeS,