Monday, April 13, 2015

Science of sound, and Guests

I am committed to writing in this blog every week again. So here it goes.

Science. I've started my science class again. We are studying sound. My first week was a bit crazy. It was at my house, and no one was watching the babies, and Dustin was on a business call, and we had an excited new group of kids, and well....we didn't get through all the material I wanted to teach.

I'm pretty sure that everyone came away knowing that sound was vibrations though, and that was a start.


The next week went a lot more smoothly. We went to my sister in laws. We continued to learn about sound waves including how sound waves move through air, water, and solids. I think the most impressive experiment was when you take a metal hanger and put string to the ends and put the string around your fingers and stick your fingers in your ears and then knock the hanger. It sounds like a church bell.


My teenage nephew, Dailin, helped us make "oobleck" that we made move with sound. It's so fun that he has a natural love for science and is our guest helper.

And last week was our concluding sound lesson. As part of that, we made our own symphony. Before we made our own instruments, we studied real instruments.


We made our symphony out of cups of rice for maracas, straws for pan flutes, straws for woodwinds, and boxes with rubber bands for the strings instruments. It was quite the loud not-so-harmonious group.


As for history..ummm...well, let me tell you a story. A stressed out homeschool mom was talking to her husband. She was saying how she didn't want to be overwhelmed. He asked her what was one thing that she could not do so she wouldn't be overwhelmed. She said history, but than said how much she loved history and all the projects.

He than said "Honestly, listening to 'Story of the World' a couple of times is going to be just as effective or more effective than all those crafts." The housewife was both annoyed at him and felt relived by him.

SO! We have been listening to "Story of the World." :)  I'm not saying we won't be doing the odd craft here and there and researching with library books. I'm not saying I won't ever be in full force again. But I have two babies, and a bit of post partum crazy brain, and stress about teaching reading, and well---I need a break.



We are still learning the history timeline song for the portion of time that we are supposed to be studying this year. That counts for something, Right?

And of course we natural do crafts.

Maxwell continues with his obsession over dragons, and has improved his drawings:


And we made easter eggs covered in marbled nail polish.



Now on to a math update.

Hyrum is doing great. I was so happy the other day when he got a rather complex concept right rather quickly. I Talked to Dustin and said "Yes he had trouble with the English name of numbers, but that doesn't mean he doesn't understand concepts. Look how he gasped the concept of the number nine borrowing one unit from the ones place. This make the ones go down and the tens go up." And Dustin said "This is what I'm talking about. You need to focus on these things. You need to record the successes. Remember this." Well-this is me remembering this.


I especially like the 38+9 answer where he even added the arrows, which proves he understands the concept. And I took this a week ago. Now he's doing problems like 39+8 and understands that you use the same logic. LOVE IT!

Maxwell is doing great too. Have I ever told you how much he loves the game "corners?" It's a game that we played to learn how to add and subtract 5s, 10s, and 15s and also what numbers make up 5, 10, and 15. This is a really easy concept, and Maxwell doesn't really need the review, but he begs to play it every now and then as a treat.


Now Hyrum is learning these concepts, and we all play.

Daniel is learning how to tell time. Hyrum is too in fact. I feel that in order for Hyrum to memorize where the 15 minute, the 30 minute and the 45 minutes are, I need to make him a movie. Daniel's not to that point yet. He's just learning the hours and half hours.


Really though, this week has been basically our spring break. We've had guests staying with us. Guests with 6 kids who have never been to the island before. We've been busy having fun. Math was still accomplished. Maxwell reading his books has been done....most days, but other than than, it's been all hands on adventuring.


I feel like I need to brag just a little so that if any of my friends read this, that they will realize how awesome it would be to visit us too, and COME AND VISIT!!!

So the first place we went to was Fisherman's Wharf where we looked at the quaint house boats and fed the wild otters and SEALS (Dustin and I had a bet to see who was right-I thought they were sea lions, he thought they were seals and the looser had to lick a raw fish--I licked the fish)



Then we went to China Town and ate duck and bought YUMMY candy.



Then we explored the inner harbour.


The following days we went to an AWESOME beach and went beach combing.


And went to a waterfall


We also went to a gorgeous park with gardens, ponds, and petting zoos.


And then we went on hikes by a river with stunning views of nature in it's grand beauty.


Yah, and that's just a piece of what is available here. Paradise people. PARADISE. Come on, you know you miss us.

Having our guests here, I've taken a break from Barton reading. We needed it. BTW I've looked into what's available here in Victoria. There are a couple tutors. Guess which program they use?  Yep. Barton.

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