weekly wrap up 9/29/17--plant and animal cell models

Another week gone and I am still adjusting to being the mother of a public high schooler.  I had no idea how many half days and full days off kids get from school.  Once a month there is a teacher work day that the kids get a full dayoff and there are also one or two late start days that I still don't really understand why they are needed.  Firedrake is settling down in school with the changes that we made two weeks ago and seems to be getting the hang of being one foot in the door of public school and one foot in homeschooling.

MarioFan has been working on building and understanding the parts of an animal and plant cell.  Again thanks to the wonderful internet I was able to find a great project we could do at home.  I got the idea from this site!  My daughter had done the edible plant and animal cell in the past so I was looking for something different for my son.

All the directions to build these models is on the listed site above.   First we had to paint 

Then we used crafty foam, pink duct tape, construction paper, beads and  other things I found in my art supply drawer to use as the cell parts.

plant cell completed minus the labels

working on the animal cell

The final models labeled and completed--as we built these models we continued to talk about what each cell part did.   I think MarioFan has it down after all this work.

At coop my son and his friend are doing three classes together.  The boys are working on the same Literature program and art program so we are finding a spare room and teaching the boys together and the Moms are sharing the load of lesson planning!

This week in Literature we are learning about plot lines and how a story progresses while reading the story Rikki Tikki Tavi.  The boys are using the Lightening Literature program.

After reading the story and discussing it the boys watch the 30 min film we found at the library as a treat:)

For art we are using the Meet the Masters program and the first artiest we learned about was Grant Wood and the boys completed two art projects.  One was based on the program and the other was fun and based on the painting American Gothic:)!

We are so lucky to be able to use one of the empty classrooms for our lessons. :)

The boys did two projects.  One that was the Meet the Masters art technique and the other was recreating their own American Gothic:)

MarioFan is not a huge fan of art usually but he had some fun with these simple projects.

That is our week in a nutshell.  Keeping busy as usual :)

Weekly Wrap up 9/22/17 School progress

We are in the full brute of school and everyone is getting use to their schedules.  We have our days filled and most of our evenings are filled with extracurricular activities.  Here is an update on what we all are doing

Firedrake is struggling to mange Public School, where she is only going part time.  It has proven to be a bit harder adjustment then any of us realized.  Luckily the school is really trying hard to help her and she is doing well in her classes.  She is finding the number of kids, there are over 30 kids in one of her classes, and in the hallways a bit overwhelming.  She is also used to having more involvement in topic discussions and more give and take in lectures so being talked at instead of more active participation is proving a bit unnerving for her.  Firedrake participated in her first intruder alert drill and fire drill of the school year.  Both experiences caused her great anxiety, but it is unfortunately the world we live in today.

We made the decision drop creative writing class and have a study hall period so that she could make use of the Math ACLAB.  She found the creative writing class repetitive of what she already knows and lost interest in the class.  We figured spending extra time in the Math ACLAB was a better use of her time although there is no credit earned for that period.  But since she earned credits in 8th grade we are still on track for graduating:).

My husband has taking on teaching Geoscience and teaching mapping skills.

lab work this week was learning how to use open street maps and how to input data

Next looking how this can be use world wide.  Part of my husband interests and job lies in this area so he was happy to teach it to our daughter and she thought it was neat!

MarioFan has begun his world history book and I found an amazing resource for putting together a notebook timeline.  We have never done a timeline before as it always seem like too much work to me.  But this site has put it all together and even better it is completely FREE!  Check out Raising a Self Reliant Child blog!  If you are a Christian homeschooler you might want to skip the first few pages!

We are reviewing the history of mankind and the great migration theories.

We plan to add to our timeline after reading our history book.   

For the past two weeks we learned about the hunter gather tribes of early man and I was able to remind our son that we were lucky enough to visit one of the last remaining hunter gathering tribes in Africa when we took a trip to Tanzania.  Please visit this post to read up on our adventure in Tanzania (2012) with the Hadzabe tribe!  I still remember it very foundly, plus MarioFan is so little in those pictures!

In science we are digging more into what is a cell and the parts of a cell.  Our first lab experiment was learning about osmosis and the cell wall and membrane.

We weighed each egg and documented it

Then measured the circumference of each egg

Then choose 6 different fluids in which to set the egg.   Originally  one of the liquids my son chose was milk, forgetting that this experiment was to take two weeks it got a bit smelly so after the first week we switch that egg to OJ:)

After the first week we re weighed the eggs and remeasured them documenting our results 

already noticing a difference in the eggs placed in more acidic liquid (7UP, vinegar and OJ)

After the second week we check and measured the eggs again and documented our results.

breaking open the eggs to look at the osmosis  that happened on the inside.  

Next MarioFan examined 5 different plant cells and animal cell slides and drew what he saw!

Next week we are making animal and plant cell models! and learning about all the parts of the cells!

Keeping busy as usual!  Full steam ahead!!

Weekly Wrap UP 9/15/17-- Japanese Festival at the Gardens

This past weekend was the Japanese Festival that is held yearly at our local botanical gardens.  I am told it is the second largest in the United states.  We try to go every year and we always learn something new in addition to seeing some of our favorite exhibits. 

I love the bonsai exhibit and enjoy seeing the many types and styles of the bonsai.  This one was label as over 65 years as a bonsai tree.

I just love the juxtaposition of the bleach branch with the green!  

I also drag my family to see the Ikebana exhibit

so many wonderful arrangements 

My husband wanted to see the Kendo martial arts demonstration.

Since Firedrake is learning Japanese she stopped by writing table and surprised the folks with her ability to write her name is Japanese!  My daughter as also surprised us at  the booths when she asked for prices in Japanese and understood their responses!  Tutoring is paying off:)

This year they had a place where kids could try on Kimonos's and Firedrake tried one on:)

pretty bow in the back!

Firedrake wanted to see the art form of Rakugo.  It is a 400 year old form of storytelling in Japan that she has read about.  It is a minimalistic performance art that features a single storyteller dressed in a kimono, kneeling on a cushion, using only a fan and a hand towel for props, to tell a comedic story.  

 For the first time this year they were having a tea demonstration in the auditorium.  My very dear husband stood in line for over an hour while I was at the storytelling location with the kids, so that we would be able to get in and get good seats to see it.   He was first in line so we got first row seating!!

They did a slide presentation that explained each step of the tea ceremony and what it means 

Next they brought out a professionals who went though the whole process.  

Since they were recreating a formal tea ceremony, very little communication is done by the host and her guests.  It is suppose to be an experience of peace and harmony for all.

It was very interesting to see how much time and effort goes into this ceremony.  Tea ceremonies can last 30 minutes or over four hours depending on the host, guests and the reason for the ceremony!

There last thing we saw on this day was the traditional Japanese dancers.  My daughters Japanese tutor is a member of this group so we stopped by to say Hi and watch the performance.

We spent nearly 6 hours at the festival and we still did not see everything that was there.  We find that is the case every year, hence the reason we keep going back and looking for new things to see and do:)

weekly wrap up 9/9/17 Parent's night out

My husband and I are firm believers in getting away and reconnecting as a couple.  Sometimes it is just sneaking away for a quick Sunday breakfast and then grocery shopping, other times we actually plan a real date!  We have a wonderful local botanical gardens that does lots of special events and recently it hosted a Garden glass glow.  We were able to get tickets on the very last weekend before the show ended.

I hadn't heard of this glass artist before.

Checking out my favorite part of the gardens before the tour begins after sun set.

This glass was all inside the Climatron and special lights were added to give off the beauty of the glass.  This artist uses slumping glass to create beautiful art work.  This exhibit focused on all things nature 

beautiful poppy flowers

picture did not do this justice but it was a raising phoenix bird

this water fall was at the back drop for a blue glass chandelier but again the picture does not do it justice.

Many of the glass exhibit had rotating color lights so  the glass changed color.  So pretty 

Seeing a up close sample of the butterfly for the next exhibit (see picture below)

butterfly tree

This piece was in the water which gave it a reflection making it look like it was a complete circle.  The garden dyed the water black for this exhibit

gorgeous ladies in a color fountain

I finally finished my latest glass piece.  Here it is before framing.

Here it is hanging in my bathroom window.  I added vinyl sheeting to cover the rest of the window for privacy.  I am very happy with it.

Now to find time to work on the next project:) in addition to all my other activities:)