Blog, She Wrote

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2013-02-24T12:45:00.003-08:00

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CurrClick Science Fair!

2013-02-20T11:06:00.001-08:00

It's CurrClick Science Fair season! For just $7.00, you can join one of three science teams and get mentoring while you work on your science fair projects. Each team has four meetings before the videos of your project are due on April 15th.

If you visit iHomeschool Network, you can download a free science fair booklet from CurrClick. What a fun way to participate in a science fair for a nominal cost.

Want to join us?

This post contains affiliate information. If you choose to purchase participation in the CurrClick science fair through this link, you'll be supporting Blog, She Wrote. Thank you!

Chickadees in Chalk Pastels

2013-02-12T18:55:00.004-08:00

We took the time this week to work on a new art project. Besides the need to get some new art time in, our powder room needed a new round of art to adorn its walls!

Our family always enjoys working with Hodgepodge Mom's pastel art tutorials and this time I pulled out her new ebook- A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels. It's pretty easy to have everyone at the table with our supplies out, including my laptop, to learn a new project.

We're off to a great start!

We consulted our field guide for some details and our feeder has been fairly busy with chickadees recently. You can almost always catch them at the feeder when you walk by our french doors. I love to combine art with nature study- what better way for our Creator to speak to us than through His creation. Make the time! It always brings a measure of peace to our day.

Not bad E14!

Art is so effortful for E14...yet I always love his work in chalks.

A nice plump chickadee drawn by I10!

This is the sweetest bird by J7! I love his lines. And look at that painterly effect!

Isn't it lovely? R12 loves to chalk and made several more besides this one- she always chalks on long after the lesson is finished!

R12's finished chickadee on display in funky bathroom lighting...

A gift which will be sent along to its destination shortly

All four are displayed in our powder room where guests can enjoy them too!

The best part about chalk pastels is their forgiving nature. They can a little messy, but it doesn't last long and the results are always worth the effort.

My new favorite way to enjoy our children's artwork is to put it up around our home. Seeing their finished, framed work on our walls always brings a smile to my face. These four framed pieces are on the wall in our powder room which is delightful even to guests when they see it. I like to keep spare dollar store frames handy for gift giving and to rotate out and around the artwork. Thank you to Tricia and Nana for sharing this medium and all the lessons with us!

A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels
A full school year of chalk pastel art lessons. Lucia Hames, Nana to the Hodgepodge family, teaches forty-five lessons. Her simple instructions will have you creating masterpiece drawings in no time.

Please know this is an affiliate link. If you purchase this item, you'll be supporting Blog, She Wrote. Thank you!

Making a Zine {Artist Style}

2013-02-08T19:48:00.004-08:00

Recently while traveling through my Twitter feed full of Project Based Homeschool moms I came across the recommendation or maybe just casual mention of the book Whatcha Mean What's a Zine? I checked to see if our library had it and reserved my copy. Like many books that are a huge success at our house, I simply bring them home and lay them out and watch the magic happen. Passersby will notice them conspicuously placed on the coffee table or I will point out that I picked out a book for a child and sure enough it's a hit.

Such was the case with this book and R12 has been making Zines regularly since. At first her Zine was daily, but she has settled nicely into an every other day publication. Before the first issue, she was dropping hints all day that her Zine was going to debut at dinner time. Since then we all look forward to seeing her latest creation at the dinner table.

Photo Credits: R12

Her Zine is called The Artist's Palette and features the same cover and sleeve- the little sleeve has the issue number on it and keeps the pages together.

She creates all sorts of art inside each issue either drawing, collaging, or mixing her media. Her attention to detail is impeccable and it's so fun to see what she will do with each issue.

At the time of this photo, she had 9 issues but has since published the tenth. The Groundhog Day issue is a special issue with double the pages. I need to ask R12 for some extra photos of this one. She did such a great job with the whole thing.

Tonight J7 asked her where the Zine was and she had to quickly think about whether or not today was a Zine day. It wasn't. But we eagerly await the release of the next issue.

Zines (think maga-ZINE) aren't just for art. You can put anything in a Zine and R12 has been trying to get her brothers into it- we're hoping it catches on a little, but for now we'll enjoy The Artist's Palette.

I love to watch as our children get older all the things they will pour themselves into. Feel free to drop a comment and tell us some of things your children enjoy!

Math Minute {Practicing Place Value}

2013-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Two things coincided to make me buy Monopoly Millionaire recently...first, lots of moms were talking about playing it with their homeschooled kids because it must have been a hot game this Christmas. Secondly, I10 was having trouble with place value in large numbers.

So, I thought...why not try to play and we can talk about numbers in the hundreds of thousands with zeros all over the middle! That will help.

I have several Monopoly purists in the house, but this is a quick game to play and fits the bill for practicing with large numbers.

We've been working with place value in long division problems and that throws my fifth grader for a loop sometimes...the quotient with the zeroes in the middle. You know the ones.

Here are a few other resources for place value fun:

Interactive Math Journal- this is a nice little notebooking packet for math journaling. She has some place value activities in here.

Family Math- has several games involving place value and estimating, money, and digit value

Math on the Level- Money & Decimals Manual has a lot of ideas for teaching students large number place value.

Do you have any ideas for teaching large number place value? Feel free to share them in the comments below!

Groundhog Day {A Quick Stop}

2013-02-02T10:14:00.002-08:00

Happy Groundhog Day! Did you hear the news? Spring is right around the corner!

I'm in the middle of working on a math post, but I couldn't resist sharing the fun moment we had this morning when it was time to find out what Punxsutawney Phil predicted for the remainder of winter. I had reminded the kids that February 2nd was coming right up and we'd have to find out whether or not the groundhog would see his shadow. My kids are a bit beyond the age to really do up a big unit on the little holiday with printables and crafts, but it's still fun to mark the seasonal transitions and to acknowledge the day on the calendar. Besides, I do still have a second grader and Groundhog Day is just a fun time.

R12 has been working on making Zines after reading the book Watcha Mean What's a Zine? She publishes a new edition every other day and it's just plain fabulous. Today a special Groundhog Day edition is due out and to greet us at the breakfast table were Groundhog finger puppets on the napkin holder. We are all waiting with great anticipation the release of the special edition!

Photo Credit: accu-weather.com

In the meantime, what's a homeschooler like me to do when you want to find out what happened to groundhog Phil without all the printed materials and rather on the fly after her kids show some interest? We turn to the internet- of course! I regularly read the CNN homepage along with The Washington Post and I knew both would have some headlines regarding Phil.

The Washington Post had a great article from Accu Weather which is so worth reading aloud to your children. In it, there is a brief historical reference to the origin of the holiday along with some weather facts- it's a humorous and informative article.

Visit the Official website of Punxsutawney Phil and you can read about the history of the day and all about the Inner Circle who are the royal protectors of Phil the groundhog.

For a real kick, click on the Groundhog Day live stream at the top of the page and you'll see video from 7:35 this morning. You would not believe the crowd there today- seriously go and look! You can see the members of the Inner Circle arrive and the handlers take Phil out of his den to make his proclamation.

Among the highlights of these impromptu moments were noticing Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel on stage with the other members of the Inner Circle- wearing a top hat but in place of the black wool overcoat was the tell-tale blue LLBean Weather Channel parka whipping out his iPhone to get a picture of Phil and his handlers. The other was E14 standing in the background saying, "This has to be the craziest little American holiday there is." Indeed!

The point of this blog post? To remind my readers that not everything in the life of a homeschooler has to be formal with printed materials and notebooked items. Sometimes it's ok just to recognize a special day with some fun learning together and following links. Didn't get a chance to make that groundhog puppet? Who cares! Just get to the moment- and follow a little treasure hunt of links on the topic.

I'll be sure to share R's special edition Zine (along with her others) and that math post is coming right up. I just couldn't resist the chance to share a little easy holiday fun today!

Spring's just around the corner!

Advanced Algebra {High School Math Update}

2013-01-27T13:09:00.003-08:00

In an effort to keep everyone in the high school loop, I thought I'd share an update on what's happening with E's work this year. I've noticed that bloggers sometimes shy away from showcasing the homeschooled high schooler and I know that it is always encouraging to read about what other homeschool high schools look like. So, here goes:

E14 has been using Life of Fred exclusively for his math instruction for two years now. Before that, we'd done some Fractions and Decimals and Percents, but that was in conjunction with Math on the Level and the Fred Pre-algebra books all with the focus on preparing for algebra.

E14 began Algebra I half way or more through 7th grade using Saxon, but we began Beginning Algebra in 8th grade to see if that would be a better fit. Essentially, he was fatiguing when doing the chapters with 30 problems. It made sense to make the switch to see if we could increase accuracy and endurance by using Fred. We met with big success.

Fred accelerates concepts faster than the traditional algebra counterparts and E was performing with great accuracy very consistently. That's a win!

So, he started Advanced Algebra last spring in March of 2012 when E was in 8th grade. Heading into February he has about 4 weeks to go until he completes Advanced Algebra and he'll begin Geometry.

How does a math lesson work for this 9th grade Advanced Algebra student?

He reads each lesson on his own in the Home Companion and references the Fred text as it tells him to. Then he does the problem set. For those of you familiar with Fred, there are more problems at the higher levels. He does between 10-15 or more problems a day. My job is to check in with him and see how he did with the lesson and to check for the dreaded "show your work" format.

Right now he uses his Galaxy Player Real Calc app for a scientific calculator. I recognize that before he takes any college entrance exams, he will need to make friends with a graphing calculator. Mine is a bit old at this point so we'll probably seek out something newer and more battery friendly than the TI-86 that I have.

What happens if there is a problem? Generally speaking I will help him by going through the problem and helping him to see where his mistake might be. If we can't beast through it, then we bring Dan in. Usually that clears things right up and we can continue.

One of my favorite things about a family using Fred math is all the story sharing that happens around the table. High school Fred is no exception. E often shares funny stories about what's happening in his Fred books and the younger kids can share too. We have a whole body of knowledge and story line to match which makes it a lot of fun. None of can wait till E takes Calculus and we find out why Fred is a 5yr teaching math at Kittens University!

Next up is Geometry and I'd better get that order in soon since he'll be ready to begin in just a month!

Project time {Making an App}

2013-01-20T05:54:00.001-08:00

Knowing how much E14 likes to fiddle with programming and try out some things and knowing that he now has his own Samsung Galaxy Player (an Android version of the iPod Touch for all you iThings folks), I suggested he try his hand at making an app.

I also hinted that a certain Homeschool Blogger might enjoy having an app for her blog...

After looking around at many different app makers, he found apps bar which is pretty much the only site he found that didn't charge to submit the app. He had made the app on two other sites which claimed to be free, but when he clicked submit, it revealed the membership fee requirement. Of course, the paid sites are much better because they allow you to make more things (like games) and put more into your app, but it comes with a cost.

The results are pretty cool! He actually ended up making one for Blog, She Wrote and Miss Bliss- they were given to us as Christmas presents. If you load the app on your device, it will give you some options for navigating the blog. For example, you can go to the blog or you can check new content only. There's even a button that will take you to my social media sites.

With apps bar you build the app and submit it. Then they check it through and make sure it all works. They approve it and send you the link where you download the app on to your device. The downside is the menu of choices for what you can put in the app is rather limited, but they are adding more.

If you want the app available in the Google Play store, you pay a one time fee of $25 and you can make your app available for the masses. Otherwise, you can send the link to those you know who want the app.

So, you know...if you want a Blog, She Wrote (or the Miss Bliss) app just let me know!

Catapult Contest!

2013-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hold a contest:

To throw a “regulation” paper ball a distance. Set up a measuring tape or multiple yard/meter sticks and have line judges watch when the ball hits the ground. A whole host of scientific data analysis can crop up out of this part of the activity. You can perform several trials and even have a discussion on the purpose of trials and what constitutes enough trials. Students can do some statistics to see the reliability of each machine (mean, median, mode).

A regulation ball can be decided upon and made. This reduces the number of variables the machines have to deal with if they are all throwing the same type ball.

There really are a lot of learning opportunities in just letting a unit or investigation grow out of something your kids get excited about. Don’t be afraid to just drop what you are doing and get on the floor to figure things out with your kids. Our kids had a great time watching the building and performance of these huge machines over Thanksgiving. It was really amazing to watch all the work that goes into winning this contest! The kids asked a lot of good questions and got me thinking.

One of the best things about this is being willing to say yes when the kids ask if they can do it themselves. Plenty of information is a few clicks away and it doesn’t cost anything to begin a process and learn with your kids.

Thanks for joining in for the catapult fun! May your homeschool days be filled with adventures and exploration!

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Join the iHN in their five day Hopscotch Series to see what other members are sharing this week!

Catapult Physics!

2013-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Physics:

Simple Machines- this is a great chance to discuss simple machines but in particular, the lever. Catapults and trebuchets use a lever to do work. Students can research the different classes of levers and see how changing the placement of the fulcrum changes the performance of their machine.

Similar to the mechanics of the machines, how does the machine do the work? They all transfer large amounts of potential energy into kinetic energy. Some do it more efficiently than others.

Which one works best?
How can you test it?
Make the hypothesis and make plans to build the machine so you can test it!

For older students, there are all sorts of calculations you can do on the energy efficiency of the machines. In a quick search, I found a website dedicated to Experiments with Trebuchets. The author, Mr. Bullock, gives plenty of instructions and advice on building the trebuchets and has an entire section on the math. All the variables are listed in working out the formula for the Energy Efficiency which is the Kinetic Energy/Potential Energy. Of course you’d need to derive the numbers for Kinetic and Potential Energy which would be great fun using the list of variables provided. I may not be right on target with my answers, but admittedly I have a curiosity about physics and math so this is something I’d encourage my older children to try!

Again, this unit study isn't about exhausting all the planning tools you have. It's about getting your students excited about an exploration and not worrying if everything is in place first. It's about a quick web search and doing and having fun.

Tomorrow, we'll have a contest to see which catapult performs the best!
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Join the iHN in their five day Hopscotch Series to see what other members are sharing this week!

Build a Catapult!

2013-01-16T05:36:00.002-08:00

Build It:

Find and use materials to build a mock up of the machine. So far, my kids have been successful with a LEGO catapult and have discussed how they could use the LEGO NXT (or EV3 which was just released) kit to make another type of machine called a centrifugal- which needs a motor. Of course you can find kits to build catapults and trebuchets (this one is picture above).

An old “standby” I have used often (as a classroom teacher as well) is the shoebox catapult.

For shoebox catapults you’ll need:

a shoebox
pencils (or other strong stick)
masking tape
rubber bands
egg carton cups

I’d love to tell you more, but then that would take away the opportunity to figure it out! Remember, part of this unit study is just to let your kids explore and discover. Feel free to give pointers or ask questions of your student to help them along. Have the kids plan and make sketches. In my classroom days, I gave a recipe for how to build it and the kids did the work. How much more valuable to design it on their own!

Have fun with the building process- you can choose to give a parameter of time or you can simply let the process run out. Tomorrow, we'll talk about the physics of siege engines. Join me!

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Join the iHN in their five day Hopscotch Series to see what other members are sharing this week!

The Mechanics of a Catapult {Day 2}

2013-01-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

The rock hills, taken and shaped by hard work,

Are made to soar forward from the sling of a machine;

Through wind and clouds they ride upon their way,

Like Meteors they thunder through space

- Unknown Chinese Poet, 1300

Mechanics:

How are the machines constructed?

What materials can we use for our model for it to function properly?

How does the machine work?

One resource we love at our house is The Art of the Catapult by William Gurstelle. It's a fun source of history and mechanics all rolled into one.

One of the pleasures of this unit study is to allow your children to immerse themselves in discovery. While they might enjoy some mentoring, don't feel like you need to micromanage this study.

The next step is for them to build their own, so they have some fun motivation for finding out more about catapult construction. There are many online resources only a Google search away for detailed pictures, plans, and descriptions for catapults. Students can make sketches and make plans for materials they have around the house which would be suitable for creating their own catapult.

Reading and understanding how the machines work, will give students ideas on what materials to use and how to put them together. Enjoy this day of discovery!

Join me tomorrow and we'll find out more about building these machines.

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Join the iHN in their five day Hopscotch Series to see what other members are sharing this week!

Catapults {A Five Day Unit Study}

2013-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

After an inspiring two days of TV fun with the World Champion Punkin Chunkin on the Science Channel, my kids and I decided it might be fun to learn more about the machines these teams used to hurl their orange fruits- with the idea that we’d hurl something of our own, of course.

So, a rather impromptu unit on the physics and history of siege warfare machines was born!

Much of the design of this unit goes along with my “Science as Investigation” approach. The ideas that follow came out of a desire to dive right in and explore. Sometimes you don’t need the perfect curriculum or the perfect materials. You just need a question to be answered or something you want to figure out.

This unit will attempt to answer the question: What were these machines and how were they used? Who used them? How do they work? Can we build one? And how will it perform?

Day 1's Topic?

Types of Siege Machines:

Catapults- research the different kinds of catapults and how they operated. When and how were they used? (I was able to find torsion and Roman models in my brief search)

Trebuchets- research the various models of trebuchets including the modern, “fixed axel” trebuchet which drops the counterweight straight down using the potential more efficiently. Trebuchets differ from catapults because they use a counterweight to throw the arm and hurl the object.

Without much preparation on your part, just send the kids off to see what they can find out. No special notebook pages necessary! Have them jot down their list on a sheet of notebook paper and make some sketches.

Join me tomorrow and we'll find out more about these machines and how we'll put that information to work later in the week.

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Join the iHN in their five day Hopscotch Series to see what other members are sharing this week!

The Auto Flusher: A Moment in {UN}Schooling

2013-01-06T19:51:00.000-08:00

How do you homeschool a young inventor? You give him plenty of time for inventing!

I always knew J7 was going to be a little more independent and a little more challenging to homeschool. He always has a plan. Early on I thought it was a toddler thing, but as he's grown the challenge continues. He is always thinking about his next big invention or idea. He's not necessarily trying to be difficult. He's simply entrenched in his busy, thinking world. This is a kid who told me straight out, "Mommy, this is AMERICA. I can do math the way I want!"- when I told him he ought to align his math problem a little differently. He wants to have a go on his own even if it means having to back track. Most of the time though, things turn out just fine and he's learned extra things along the way.

Now that he's in second grade, I've learned a trick or two in working with this fierce independence. I try to remember that he doesn't always have to do things my way. Academically speaking this is very true and it does carry over to other areas of life if we aren't talking about items of safety. There are non-negotiables. However, most of the time I try to give J7 choices along the way and to choose the "mountains I will die on" very carefully.

Such was the case one day about a month or so ago when I could see J7 needed a break from the ordinary (if a typical school day here could be called ordinary). I knew he'd be engaged in a project if I gave him permission to go and invent. And that's just what I did.

I gave him some parameters this time (though not always) - I told him to get to know our home LEGO NEXT kit and to go and invent something cool and show it to me. I reminded him of the available resources as I let him loose for the afternoon. That was it. The rest was up to him.

He ended up making an automatic toilet flusher like the ones in public restrooms. The ones that always seem to flush too soon and strike fear into the hearts of small children the world over. Dan had been preparing some videos to share at a First LEGO League (FLL) event and found one with a flusher. He showed it to the kids briefly- all of a couple minutes. J7 recalled the video and set out to make his own- with no instruction.

The results are in the video below. It's only a few minutes long and worth the time to see his brain in action! It's not a very elegant robot, but the programming is right on the mark. Listen carefully as the ultrasonic sensor waits 15 seconds after J7 gets up to say thank you and move the motor arm. And his use of the word, "basically".

The amazing part is that he figured out how to use the ultrasonic sensor and program the wait blocks with the NXT software so that it would sense the movement and then wait before saying thank you and moving the motor. Pretty slick for age 7. He is so ready for First LEGO League!

Channeling this boy's energy takes a lot of time. I'm excited to learn more about Project Based Homeschooling so that I can record and help him to record all this crazy learning he does. I bought the Kindle version and I've been pouring through it. I am happy to report we do a lot of this in our homeschool already, but it's been exciting to learn more about facilitating all this stuff and how to record it well.

Who's Who and What Did They Do? {Biography Fun}

2013-01-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

Some of you might remember that I have a year round pencil shaped tree in the house which I decorate to match the season. When the kids were younger, they were plain decor items which were seasonally appropriate. Now that they are older, I like to put things on the tree that let us do some extra investigating whether that be one illustrator or artist, an author, or a combination of people.

This month I decided to print out items that represent authors, composers, and artists with a birthday in December or January.

I use Literature for Lively Lessons as a great starting point for finding people with birthdays each month. This book has a pretty comprehensive list for famous people of all sorts including authors, artists, composers, historical figures, and even some scientists. However, the internet is a treasure trove of information of this sort so feel free to strike out and search on your own!

The next step is to use the internet for snagging pictures and facts about the people you choose- sometimes I focus on one person and sometimes a set of people. Once you have the facts and pictures, it's time to print and pull out the laminator!

In addition to the facts, I like to give the kids assignments to go along with the items on the tree. Here are a few examples:

Find out where an author was born
What else the person has written or painted or composed
Tell a special fact about the person not found on the tree (I usually leave something fun out that they will certainly find in their own reserach)
Listen to a particular song or set of songs a composer has written
Try out art in the style of an artist on the tree

For December, 2012 and January, 2013 our featured folks are: Jan Brett, Mozart, Beethoven, Henri Matisse, Rudyard Kipling, and Arthur Ransome.

E14 did some research for me and found the photos (I consider my pencil tree fair use in terms of copyright). Some of the assignments on this month's tree include:

Read Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling (which I have downloaded on my Kindle for the kids)
Try out some collage with Henri Matisse (along with some FIAR reminders for a book in the same style)
Listen to music by Mozart and Beethoven
Read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
Make gingerbread cookies
Read Swallowdale together- we are enjoying read alouds with tales of the Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

At first friends and guests doubted my pencil tree. I simply have a fondness for evergreens and Christmas tree lights and felt sure I could make it happen year round. Then one day I had a brilliant notion to use it as a another way for my kids to do art/nature/composer studies.

Not many people ask about it anymore...except to see what's on the tree when they visit!

And already my kids have been visiting the tree and peeking at what they'll have a chance to do when there is time for reading and projecting.

Miss Bliss Blog Has Moved!

2012-12-26T19:41:00.001-08:00

I should have been more timely with the announcement...

R12's blog, Miss Bliss, has a new url. She is still blogging under my profile given her age, but I wanted to take my name out of the url so that her new business cards wouldn't be so confusing!

Miss Bliss: http://missblisscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

You can also find the Miss Bliss button and link in my lefthand sidebar- you know...just in case clicking now isn't timely for you.

If you've never been over to visit R's blog, please take a moment and hop over. She blogs about sewing and dolls mostly. I'm still working on the frequency of her posts, but currently she blogs in spurts. She has gobs of content, but her creative self doesn't always want to take the time to share it.

To all the readers of Miss Bliss, R12 thanks you! And thank you to Elizabeth who pointed out to me that some might be missing the blog- since I was delayed in announcing the change.

One Year Adventure Novel {Review} at Curriculum Choice

2012-12-20T06:17:00.001-08:00

I was asked last summer to join the Curriculum Choice team and I'm pretty excited about the chance to offer reviews of programs and resources we already use without necessarily posting here at Blog, She Wrote. I've only done two so far, but today my newest one is up.

Enjoy a look at One Year Adventure Novel which is E14's writing program. It's been a delightful experience for our family and our other children are looking forward to their chance at novel writing!

So, jump over and see how things are going with One Year Adventure Novel!

How to Make a Good Graph

2012-12-18T10:36:00.002-08:00

There are some pretty basic guidelines when it comes to constructing graphs and it would be a good idea to make sure your kids know them too.

The first step is to determine which graph is appropriate for your data set. Will you make a bar graph? A line graph? A circle graph? Each type of graph presents information in a different way.

Line Graphs:

Depict data when you want to see a relationship between two criteria- if you want to see if one variable increases or decreases as a result of a particular factor.
To determine the relationship, you look at the line to see if the trend is up or down or neutral. It can be up and down as well. The direction of the slope will tell you something about the trend in the data.
They can show data over a period of time.
These graphs can accommodate more than one set of data- you can make the lines different colors and do some comparing.

Bar Graphs:

Bar graphs are used to show sets of data.
This is the graph to use when you have qualitative data to represent. Qualitative data is that which cannot be measured- so types of candy, books read, fish in the fish tank, etc. On the x axis you'd name the categories rather than making a scale of numbers.
They can be made vertically or horizontally.
Easily used in lots of subject areas because of the categories.

Circle Graphs:

Represent a total amount or 100%
The circle is divided into parts and works well when your data is broken down into percentages or fractions as they compare parts to the whole.
This one is only used with you are graphing parts of data that make up a whole.

Every graph has to have a few things to be sure it is a well constructed graph and can be easily interpreted.

Title- let the readers know what is depicted in the graph
Label the x and y axis with the data set name and the units if there are any
Evenly distribute the scale- make sure your graph begins at zero (most of the time) and counts away by a consistent amount. This is tricky sometimes to make sure you choose the right scale for your data set and sometimes is difficult for kids. A broken scale skews the data and can be misleading.
Use a ruler! I would like to think this goes without saying, but neatly drawn lines is important in presentation and scale.
Use color- graphs are visual representations and as such should be visually pleasing and eye catching.

Once your students are proficient at graph construction, you might consider ways to use technology to make a graph. The basics are still necessary so I think it's good practice for kids to be able to make a hand drawn graph first.

They can use a data spreadsheet (like Excel) to make their data charts and from there choose a graph they want to generate from that data.

Now that you've made a good graph, there are a lot more ways to manipulate data (in the good way) to draw conclusions and make confident statements about what we are studying. I'll be sure to share those soon!

Candy Graphing

2012-12-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

At long last I have a few thoughts to share on our Halloween candy graphs! This is a classic assignment and one that isn't too difficult to pull off. Here are a few details:

Have kids sort and tally their candy stash- no Halloween for your family? How about taking a poll on people's favorite candy? Tally up the results.
Data chart- kids can design their own which is a great learning experience. What kind of chart will best hold the data? How can I organize the information so it's easy to use later? J7 wrote his out by himself and then used Excel to make a chart on the computer.
Trade the candy- because...well...you know. You have to leave time now that's all out there in the open.
Eat a little.
Graph the results- now we thought it would be great to use the candy wrappers in the graph. Splendid idea, but then we needed to wait long enough so that the kids had eaten enough that we had enough different wrappers. Downside: this delayed the follow up of the assignment and the graphs were huge. Upside: how cool are the graphs?
As part of graphing, the kids will determine which graph is best. More on this in the next post- How to Make a Great Graph!

We had to make sure we had all the elements of a great graph which I'll share with you in the next post. If the student didn't have the wrapper they needed, they drew them on their own.

The kids chose a bar graph to represent their data which was a good choice. In this case we aren't looking to see a relationship between the two variables in our data set. We just wanted to visualize which candy we had the most of. Graphs are used to present data in different ways so which graph you use depends on what you are trying to convey.

They enjoyed this math classic and it launched us into a week of graphing exercises. Meanwhile, E14 has started graphing conic sections in Advanced Algebra. Isn't it fun when a family math plan comes together?

Sewing Camp {October}

2012-12-03T19:45:00.002-08:00

After some time off, we started up with Sewing Camp again. Sewing Camp (or more accurately Sewing Club but you cannot deny the fun at camp so I like the kitschy name) is a group of girls and their moms who gather together to sew- we sew fun things which teach a new skill or practice an old one. We all pitch in to pick projects and patterns and help the girls to work. We also make our own sometimes for more practice for ourselves. The best part of Sewing Camp, besides sewing with friends, is the cost. This is a materials and time only venture. And so worth our effort!

In October, we worked on the girls' patchwork tiered skirts from last summer. Some of the girls had to add some length, but in general it went very well.

This project lent itself very well to using a serger. Finished seams are so fun to make with a serger! We just finished Sewing Camp December (postponed from November) so I thought I'd better finally post about October.

R12 needs to add in her elastic waistband and she'll be modeling her creation soon. This month we worked on sewing caddies. We're hoping for an extra meeting over the holidays. She spent today working on a related project while the machine was still on our school table.

It's been enjoyable watching how independent the girls have become over the last year. We have some plans to make a batik among other fun adventures and we like to have the girls give input to project ideas. The most difficult part? Getting all the tastes and talents to agree on the next project!

Quilting Unit Study

2012-11-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

Some of you may recall that I put together a Quilting Unit Study for R12 this year. The other half of her year will be spent with Above and Beyond Five in a Row- Hitty the First Hundred Years. This unit study has a few pieces to it and we've adjusted things as we've gone along, but so far it's been a great study.

One of R12's classes at co-op this semester was Machine Quilting. We have a bunch of very creative moms who love to teach sewing, crafting, and all sorts of things. It's always a treat to take one of these classes.

She chose to make her nine-patch quilt from batik scraps. We've been collecting from the local reuse sewing shop and she used a length from JoAnn's for the plain squares.

R12 laid this out to make a choice on the final two rows to be sewn together. We did make a change so the royal blue square would be split up from the other two bold squares in the same column. Can you see the change below? Great move!

R12's quilt on display at co-op night last week.

Aren't they all lovely?

What else is happening in our Quilting Study?

We are taking the Craftsy class Re-Piecing the Past with Kaye England- this one fits in perfectly of our study of history with quilting. We are making 12 traditional quilt blocks which are inspired by the stories of strong women from the Civil War era. If you've never tried out Craftsy, I recommend the classes highly. You get video instruction from great crafters and designers from the comfort of your home and working space. They are available to watch any time and you never lose access to the classes! I always wait for a sale. Often you can get the classes you want for $19.99.
Biographies- another piece to the unit study is to read about women from the past and learn about who they were and what life was like back then. As many times as R12 has read the Little House books and despite her general knowledge of Laura Ingalls Wilder, we found some books she has not read about Ms. Wilder and she is anxious to read them. We'll keep moving along reading about different women like Harriet Beecher Stowe and others.
History- R12 actually worked on finding out when quilts as we know them started to rise in popularity and it was interesting to learn that early on only wealthy people had them (how often do we associate the quilts we imagine with wealth) because poor people used their fabric scraps for patching another clothing necessities.

Along the way I'm sure we'll discover some new goals. I have been reading with great interest Project Based Learning by Lori Pickert. I'm excited to put some of the newer ideas for me to use in our projects. As I read, I am delighted to realize that we already have so many of the pieces of a great project based learning home. R12's Quilting Study is just one of the many vibrant activities we have going on right now.

I have a lot of homeschooling moments to post here on Blog, She Wrote. Stay tuned for some more updates!

Handmade Dulcimer

2012-11-24T20:56:00.002-08:00

We just finished up our homeschool co-op for this fall semester. We attend a co-op on Monday afternoon from 1-3 for ten weeks each semester. We have lots of enrichment classes to choose from and this fall we offered a Dulcimer class.

The kids got to make a dulcimer from a kit- a few critical things were done and sent with the kits given the age of the kids who chose to take the class and the rest the kids all did themselves. I10 adored this class and he is super excited to have his own handmade instrument.

Our pastor taught the class and while they were building, he talked to them about the history of the dulcimer and how it's played.

They spent 9 weeks building it and one week learning to play and they played on our co-op night for the crowd. They sounded great.

I10 thought it would be fun to share with my blog readers and I agreed. He's got a few errant notes in there, but this is the first instrument he's played. I think he did pretty well!

Enjoy!

Plan to Eat {Black Friday Weekend Sale}

2012-11-23T21:39:00.004-08:00

As you may know, Blog, She Wrote is not an affiliate heavy blog. However, I can't help but share about services and products I use and love. Plan to Eat is one of them.

Honestly, Plan to Eat has revolutionized my life. In the meal planning sort of way.

Sure, I've done a lot of meal planning over my last (one month shy) of 17 years of marriage. I had to step things up as the kids came along. I can pick a good recipe for the right night of the week based on schedules. But something would break down when it came to translating the recipes I'd chosen into an accurate shopping list.

Plan to Eat makes it easy to plan meals and make lists. And it's very easy and intuitive to use.

First you import your recipes onto the web site. You can enter your favorites by hand and you can use the tool for your web browser to "grab" recipe from a website.
Once you have enough recipes to work with, you can drag them over and drop them into the planner which is a calendar you can view by week or month. The planner has spaces for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
As you fill your planner, it auto-populates your grocery list. GENIUS girls...pure genius.
If you have a mobile device, you can view your shopping list in the mobile view and as you walk around your favorite grocery store you can click away items that get in the cart. Swoon.
The shopping list also makes it easy to reference the recipe that goes with that list item- in case you ever wonder why in the world that thing is on your list. Check it to prove it. Yes, you really needed that obscure ingredient you can't imagine why you'd need!
You can also fill a pantry list- things you always want on the list or items you always want on your shelf.
Before I go to the store, I just check the list with what's on my shelf and remove anything I know I don't need.

The regular cost for Plan to Eat is $39.99 a year. You can also do a 30 Day trial to see how you like it. That's what I did and when Black Friday hit last year, I made it official. I haven't once thought it wasn't worth my time or membership fee. Plan to Eat has easily saved me money in not having to run out last minute because I was missing something crucial for a meal. I've been there too many times.

You can't miss with P lan to Eat and it easily saves me in well planned meals and shopping trips the cost of the membership even at full price. Especially with such a clean ad free site!

But here's the best part! Plan to Eat is having it's annual Black Friday Sale through the weekend and the cost is only $19.99 for the year!

The link above is an affiliate link. If you choose to try out Plan to Eat, I will get a small commission. Thank you!

Displayed Art

2012-11-22T17:28:00.002-08:00

As promised, here is a look at some ways we display our pastels around the house. In our old house we had one gallery in our dining room. At the new house I've had a grand time decorating and finding places for the kids' work to be displayed. How about a look?

This is my Creative Memories magnetic frame. I wanted it up on the wall, but my scrapbooking things were still packed. So, I made a collage with artwork and some watercolored paper behind it.

I love the way this arrangement turned out by the front door. The photograph is one my mom took (I switch out several of her photos throughout the seasons) and the next one is a frame I picked up and I put I10's pastel leaf in it. The color matches and it looks sweet- the dollar store wallie was a quick add-on.

The original gallery frames- this was a tough one, but I chose to put them on a wall in the kitchen that faces the door we use regularly. It's time to make some new art for these frames. I love that they are "floating frames" so it doesn't matter what size the paper is when you begin (as long as it isn't bigger!).

Remember these pastels? I put them all in the powder room with terrific results. At the time we didn't have more frames so R12 collected some twigs from the yard and we used twine to hang them on the wall. We thought it was lovely, but the wind created by closing the door made it hard for one in particular to stay on the wall!

This week I upgraded to dollar store frames. Even the second hand store over-charged for a used frame so I thought I'd try the dollar store. I bought a nice variety of frames to try. These frames replaced our twigs and twine. I'm looking forward to the Christmas project for the bathroom this month.

This one really makes me smile every time I'm at the kitchen sink! It happens to be just above our instant hot water faucet for tea and coffee. Another second hand frame, it adds such great dimension to the art that our children create.

The best part about decorating with the kids' artwork is that we get to decorate authentically and inexpensively. The children love that their work is there for others to see. It makes me smile to see the fruit of our work together throughout the house. It also makes our art studies and projects more meaningful.

Now that I've just posted about our fall artwork, it's time to get going on our Christmas projects so we can have a seasonal look about the house. I've received frequent compliments on the pieces of framed art we have scattered around the house. I encourage you to look for ways you can decorate using your children's art.

How do you display your kids' artwork in your homeschool?

Fun with Pastels

2012-11-17T19:56:00.004-08:00

Can you believe how quickly this season is passing? I've been trying to soak it in especially now that the sun is out more often than not lately. We've had a lot of gray and rain this autumn. In October we took some time to enjoy a chalk pastel project. Tricia over at Hodgepodge has a wonderful set of tutorials. I posted on the Blog, She Wrote facebook page about Tricia's free chalk pastel tutorials, but I wanted to be sure and share here on the blog as well.

One of our favorites from last year was the Apple or Pumpkin lesson. Since ours were still packed away and we wanted to decorate for the season, we made some more! And we tried the fall leaves.

The kids all tried several apples & pumpkins- a few tried leaves. Even E14, who doesn't particularly enjoy flexing his artistic muscles, enjoys chalk pastels.

R12 started making her own designs. She really lights up when I pull out the pastels.

Pastels are so fun to use and so forgiving! Next, I want to share what we did with some of these after we finished making them. The results were splendid so stay tuned!