Homeschooling Just Next Door

Studying the Weather

2015-03-19T17:09:00.001-04:00

Really, I had no idea how easy it was to study the weather. Since it is easy to observe and measure in a meaningful way it lends itself well to a hands on science unit. I found multiple ideas and activities to incorporate into our weather unit.

Main Resource
Our Weather and Water (God's Design for Heaven and Earth) - Using the sections on weather only, our weather unit lasted approximately 10 weeks. We covered topics like atmosphere, water cycle, clouds, precipitation, storms, and weather instruments.

Weather Instruments
These three weather instruments were easy to make from easily accessible supplies. My second grader learned how to tell wind direction with a wind vane, measure precipitation with a rain gauge, and determine wind speed (no/slow/fast) with an anemometer.

wind vane

rain gauge

anemometer (measures wind speed)

Other Activities
The weather instruments were the highlight of the unit for my son. However, he did enjoy the other activities as well.

Layers of the Atmosphere Worksheet - While studying the layers of the atmosphere, students in my co-op class drew various objects found within each atmospheric layer on a worksheet. For instance, precipitation was drawn in Troposphere, and the Northern/Southern Lights were drawn in the Thermosphere.
Water Cycle Lift the Flap Project - Inspired by this idea, I created a worksheet which followed the basic idea of this lift the flap water cycle.
Cold Air Activity - Using this activity, students learned about air pressure.
Cloud Examples - While studying cloud formation, students made their own cloud types out of cotton balls, which were glued to a piece of blue construction paper. (Idea found here.)
Cloud in a Jar
Rain in a Jar - This idea was found here.
Thunder Demonstration - By blowing up a small brown lunch bag and clutching the end shut, we formed a balloon shaped bag. Next we popped the bags. It sounded sharp, a bit like thunder.
Making Lightning - We tried several ways. This one seemed the most successful.
Tornado/Hurricane - Using two 2L bottles, a washer, loose glitter, water, and duct tape, we made a storm in a bottle. The students had a blast making the water tornado.
Weather Report - Each student was given a weather chart and asked to observe the weather for one week. We used these free ones.
Thermometers - This is one activity, we did not get around to! However, next time, I will be incorporating this homemade one.

Extra Books

Earth and Space: What Makes It Rain? by Susan Mayes and Sophy Tahta
It's Raining! by Gail Gibbons
Pink Snow and Other Weird Weather, by Jennifer Dussling
Kingfisher Readers: Weather, by Anita Ganeri
Extreme Weather, by Ann O. Squire
Little Cloud, by Eric Carle
The Cloud Book, by Tomie de Paola
Clouds, by Anne Rockwell
It's Snowing! by Gail Gibbons
Snow is Falling, by Franklyn M. Branley
Community Helpers: Meteorologists, by Sandra J. Christian, M.Ed.
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks, by Joanna Cole
Close to the Wind: The Beaufort Scale, by Peter Malone
National Geographic Kids: Storms, by Miriam Busch Goin
The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm: A Book about Weather, by Nancy White
Tornadoes, by Gail Gibbons
Twisters! by Lucille Recht Penner
Tornado Alert, by Franklyn M. Branley
Wild Weather: Tornadoes! by Lorraine Jean Hopping
Hurricanes, by Gail Gibbons
The Magic School Bus: Inside a Hurricane, by Joanna Cole

Simple Botany Experiments for Kids

2015-02-05T08:29:00.001-05:00

Admittedly, botany has grown on me (no pun intended). Each time I have taught a unit on botany, my intrigue has grown. Watching plants literally grow before your eyes, examining some of the individual parts up close, and learning how plants function has become a real interest of mine. As my interest piqued, so did my desire to foster a love of botany in my children.

One way I have employed is hands on learning. What follows is a listing of botany experiments and activities we have done (successfully, for the most part) in our own home.

Growing & Dissecting Seeds

Using dry kidney beans from the store, a snack-size plastic bag, water, and a paper towel, we were able to watch the beans sprout. These were hung with painter's tape on a wall.

Later, using some beans from the same bag, we soaked beans for a few nights in a bowl of water. Then, we cut open the beans to identify the different parts of a seed (seed coat, hilum, food supply, embryo)

Observing & Growing Roots

Aside from simple observations of fibrous and tap root systems, we like to observe roots forming.

Typically, we have some jar or bottle filled with water and a leaf clipping somewhere in our kitchen. It is an observation we continually try with varying success (all depends on the clipping and the type of plant).

However, for the first time, this year, we attempted to grow a plant from part of a carrot. It worked!

Observing Stems

This is another repeat experiment for us. In an effort to observe how stems help transport water and minerals, we placed a celery stalk in colored water. (We've found blue is the best color with clearest results.)

Observing & Studying Leaves

Leaves are one of the easiest parts of a plant to observe. On many nature walks, or even in our own backyard, we've discovered amazing leaves. In the past, we've collected, compared, measured, and pressed leaves.

Something new we tried this year was to remove chlorophyll from the leaves. It was autumn, and we could easily see the leaves losing their greenness.

Deciding to remove the chlorophyll was easy. Figuring out exactly how was harder. We tried several methods. The two that seemed to work best were a scratching method and a boiling procedure. For ideas on how to remove chlorophyll go here.

Dissecting Flowers

In a previous post, I shared how my co-op students fashioned paper flowers. This served as a review to the previous class, which was dissecting a flower.

During the first co-op class on flowers, I taught the students the parts of a flower. Using a fill-in-the-blank worksheet and white board, the students learned various parts of the flower. We then spent the rest of the class dissecting real flowers (pictured above pre-dissection). We used information from here and here, but ultimately, I had to create our own hybrid documents and procedure tailored to our students. An alternative is a virtual lab found here or here.

Growing a Garden

One of the most simple botany activities to do is to grow something from a seed. For numerous years, we have grown, or attempted to grow, some of our own vegetables and spices. Our family has gained a better understanding of plants

Collecting & Pressing Flowers & Leaves

This is such an easy project to do with smaller children, but one that older students may enjoy as well. It is certainly one hands on activity we have done through the years multiple times.

Nature Walks & Backyard Observations

Having curious children is easy. Directing their curiosity toward creation is even easier. It seems to me, that children are naturally drawn to their natural surroundings. Whether a walk at a park, on a beach, in a woods, or in your own backyard, there is an interesting plant to be seen.

Fruit

Almost every year we go to the orchard and pick fruit. Though it is not our sole intention to study the fruit on the tree or vine, it is remarkable how much we observe about fruit during these visits. This year, as with most things plant related, we opted to dissect fruit. We cut apart bananas, apples, pineapples, and strawberries, all which we ate afterwards.

For more botany lesson ideas and activities:

Follow Dorie's board Botany on Pinterest.

Creatures We Encounter - Episode XIV

2015-01-19T06:05:00.000-05:00

What I love about these posts I call Creatures We Encounter is that for the most part the animals we observe are in or around our own yard. Have I ever mentioned we live in a suburban area? We could walk to the grocery store, an arcade, and an office supply store. Five restaurants are under a half mile from our home. It is suburban sprawl, which I never thought was ideal for finding fascinating creatures. I'm happy to be wrong.

Just the other day, one of my daughters and I sighted this bird from our dining room window. We quickly pulled out the binoculars and settled in to observe and possibly identify it.

We hoped the half dozen neighboring houses weren't watching us, because as we pointed the binoculars toward the trees above their houses, it completely looked like we were snooping and not bird watching...especially when I darted out the back door, pointed my camera in the direction of their houses, and snapped a few pictures of the bird.

What They Are Reading

2015-01-08T20:32:00.003-05:00

Every year in January, I like to share a snapshot look at what my children are currently reading. {Curious about the past years? Check here: 2012, 2013, and 2014} Without further adieu, this year's first books of the new year are...

I'm not really sure why I always present their books in age order starting with the oldest, but alas, so it is again this year. Our oldest, now in 10th grade (sigh audibly with me as I know too well how fast they grow!) is reading Buried Alive, by Jack Cuozzo for Biblical archaeology. For his literature class, he is tackling Don Quixote. {Want a fabulous picture book version for your younger student? Look here. We loved that version.}

For history studies, he just read the biography of Martin Luther called Here I Stand, by Roland Bainton. Aside from these required titles, he also is perusing The Shaping of Middle-Earth. Though he has a keen interest in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, I can't help wondering if he is brushing up on his trivia for his sister's soon to happen Lord of the Rings/Hobbit themed birthday party. That's right. The gal who had me tracking down Shakespeare two years ago, decided to go Tolkien this year. I'm currently trying to figure out how to make our living room a Hobbit home and our dining room a pub.

My Shakespeare/Tolkien lovin' 8th grade daughter is currently turning the pages of Beorn the Proud, by Madeleine Polland for history. For Biblical studies, she read The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey and for literature, she will immerse herself in a little Chaucer with The Canterbury Tales.

In some spare time, she wanted to read the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series because her cousin recommended it. I've already read them (so has our oldest). It was fun to discuss the books all three of us.

Our youngest daughter, who is in 6th grade, is currently reading Catherine Called Birdy for a supplement to her history lessons. For literature, she'll start the new year with Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne.

For fun, she has started reading Nancy Drew books. She's been reading them in order. This one is her current read. It is no. 10.

Our youngest son is reading aloud to me regularly from McGuffey readers. He is in the Eclectic Second Reader. For variety, he will begin reading from The Beginner's Bible.

Leisure reading has become a new past time for our youngest as he has grown quite proficient at reading. His latest library finds are Star Wars: Complete Vehicles and DK Eyewitness: Sharks. Both of these titles are from DK. Each one is filled with wonderful pictures and lots of text about two subjects he loves. Both books have captured his attention. He will sit for a long portion of time perusing one or both books.

As I am almost always reading aloud at least one book to our children, I thought I would include our current read alouds as well. The Magna Charta has been surprisingly clever and fun to read. I thought it would be drudgery, but am grateful to be proven wrong. I typically read two to three sections per day to our children. Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess is just as much fun the second time through as it was the first. This title I am reading to our youngest, who is in second grade, as part of his history lessons. We cover about a month's worth of time in Tobias' journal each day.

Creatures We Encounter - Episode XIII

2014-12-29T06:05:00.000-05:00

It all centered around the grill on the back patio during October. First our youngest discovered this critter.

After startling it in an attempt to touch its back, our boy followed it about the yard. He was determined, but unsuccessful. A lesson in agility, flight, and eluding a possible predator was experienced.

Later that month, we found this egg sac.

We soon found that momma spider was not far away.