Botany Experiment - Classification with LEGOS

We are thoroughly enjoying our Apologia Botany class. I am already trying to decide which class we want to do next, I am thinking about zoology or anatomy. LittleBits vote is all of them!

One of the exercise in the book is to do a taxonomy classification with shoes, we used Legos. Which of course, meant more fun and a longer time spent on the exercise. We started with a mnemonic phrase to help us remember the classifications: King Phillip Came Over For Great Steaks. Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species are the classifications used in taxonomy.


First we started with a small selection of Legos.



Then we divided by color




Next within each color group, we divided by number of dots and then size of lego.


We made a chart to show all the steps we used to classify the legos.

Molly the Owl and Counting to 1 Billion

We have the best time watching Molly the Owl on live stream with her eggs and now babies. You can watch Molly and the babies here:


http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox


Who says video games are just for fun or keep our children from learning. LittleBit has made it to over 1 billion points on LEGO Star Wars(Wii) and has learned to count to billions place because of it. Also, he has used his points to purchase a multiplier, he now get x384 multiplier for each stud he collects in the game. This has lead to a talk about multiplication and a basic lesson on how to multiple 2 numbers. He has the best time making up problems for me and Dad to do, thank goodness I remember my tables. He can not wait to learn how to multiply.

School Outside - Sidewalk Chalk Math

Spring has finally made an appearance here and we have been spending time outdoors enjoying the sunny weather. We have taken a few days from school just to play, a wonderful thing about homeschooling. Since we school through the summer, it is nice to be able to take time off for perfect outdoor weather.

Another great thing about homeschool is school outside! We have been doing math on the sidewalk with chalk, science and botany are easy to do outdoors, reading outside is always good.




We are working on our little garden, I will have pictures of our seedling pots we made up soon.

A proud moment for me, as we were making our seedling pots and I was putting them in a box, I asked LittleBit to count them for me. He started counting by 1s and then he switched and began counting by grouping. I was so happy to see all the math we are doing has been learned and applied to a real world application. Yea for Singapore math!

Curriculum Plans

I have been talking to a few home school moms about plans for next year. I have noticed an increase in talk on message boards and the home school chat on twitter next month is about curriculum. Is the spring air that makes us start thinking about the next school year? My hubby would say it is because I like buying books a little to much, he might be right:)

After all this talk of what curriculum are you thinking of, how much is your budget, what books did you hate, which ones do you love, etc... I sat down and made a list of what curriculum I wanted us to use next year. I was pleased with almost everything I used this year so it was easy for me to make a list.

The only book I still need to research is grammar. We are using First Language Lessons this year. It does not work for us real well, it is very repetitive and LittleBit does not care for repetitive work. I will say, it is easy to use, and there is little doubt he will remember everything he has learned. If I do not find a better option I will finish the book next year, I do already own it and that is good for the budget.

I have started a list of reference books I would like to add to our library. I am also looking for new and interesting reading material. Since he loves to read I want to encourage it and his interest in learning new things.

I think we will start some type of music lessons next fall, not sure which though. On top of TaeKwonDo, bug club, field trips etc. we will have more than enough to keep us busy.

Here is the list of curriculum I have made for next year. I hope to find some of the books at book sales and curriculum fairs. Although most can be purchased through Amazon.com for an excellent price and it ships right to your door, I love Amazon.com.

History - Story of the World 2 with activity book and maybe cds.
Math – Singapore Books 2A and 2B
Science – Apologia Science (not sure which one, either zoology or anatomy)
Spelling - Spelling Workout Book B/C
Geography – Galloping the Globe
Grammar - First Language Lessons?????
Bible – Lifepac Bible
Handwriting – A reason for Handwriting
Foreign Language - We will use live mocha again

Weekly Review - A trip to the Parthenon and Brain Blast

This week was a typical week for us but the end of the week was topped off with two fun activities. First we went to Brain Blast day at the Adventure Science Center. LittleBit got to hold a real human brain and a cow eyeball. He said, "it was totally gross and I loved it". He had the best time getting to do the experiments they had set up such as, finding your blind spot, depth perception, identifying objects with smell, tested his reflexes, etc. He got to see clear worms, and clear fish through a microscope.






We finished our study of Greece with a trip to see the Parthenon in Nashville. If you get a chance it is a great place to visit.