Sunbonnet

For fun Friday she made a sunbonnet using a tutorial we found here. Great step by step guide. I guess kiddo has a big head though, if we make them again we'll be adjusting the pattern to make it a little bigger.

Sutter's Fort

We took a trip to Sutter's Fort today as part of our Gold Rush thematic. As usual I enjoyed it far more than she did. I think the candle maker's shop is neat. Look at the size of the bellows!

Blacksmith

Candlemakers

At the well

At the gate

Loom and spinning wheel

Anatomy Basics

Long story short, I got lazy. Halfway through planning my Mexico unit life happened and the unit got put on a shelf. I love it when life happens, doubly so when its fun family things! Perhaps next summer.

Instead you get pictures of our fun filled week learning anatomy sparked by Pintrest. 

I drew half of the skeleton and she mirrored it then labeled her half.

I amazed her with an explanation of why bones round by standing the heaviest book in the house on a rolled up piece of paper.

 We further discussed bones, marrow, cartilage, and meat using a chicken leg.

I drew all of the organs and she colored and she placed them. One system at a time starting with the digestive.

She said that the small and large intestine looked a brown sugar toaster pastry. She looked horrified when I said it would probably be very chewy and thought this because I've had tripe.

I explained how our hippocampus is the learning center and how our amygdala hijacks our brain for fight or flight mode when we are scared. That's why its a terrible idea to yell or threaten someone when you're trying to get them to understand something.






While it was completely off the cuff this week, there was still a lot of learning and fun happening, which in my opinion are the most important things of homeschooling.

Tomorrow we'll have some fun watching the Magic School Bus "For Lunch" we've seen it a dozen times, but its always fun to watch.

Next week we're having a well timed discussion about puberty (gulp), but nothing that will be posted here.

Resources: An older college Anatomy and Physiology text book, my notes from pysch 1010 (explanation of Princess Neuron and Glia the Nurse) http://kidshealth.org/kid, google image search, and youtube for things like how the heart works and neurotransmitter animations. I'm super helpful, right?

Space Unit Study in Action

 Overall the space unit went very well. The free software program from NASA entertained kiddo for hours and she still asks to use it.

Some of the websites for the Zathura activity were no longer working, but if you search for the subject on the NASA website, it was easy to fin the necessary information.








Here are the Galex Galaxies that we both made. Note: Don't hang the used-too-much-glitter-glue ones on the wall until entirely, completely, undoubtedly, dry. Or you get drippy galaxies.

Ah, cereal and schoolwork, best part of homeschool, eh? I am proud of her tackling the algebra that was really above her level. It took a bit longer but once she understood the formula she knocked them out easily.






                                                       Space Party really took off!

Moon pizzas, garlic stars, potato asteroids, sunny bars, astro ice cream and milky ways. Tang to drink.

                                                                                                                              

 The Black Hole Adventure game was pretty fun, I pasted it to a board so we can use it many more times over the years.

Star gazing using a star chart and my phone with a star gazing app.  She was scared to get on the roof but as you can see, she was fine.

Astronaut ice cream. It tasted a lot better than we expected it. Mint Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip are pictured.

1849 California Gold Rush Thematic Unit

I created 5 downloadable worksheets and a sample flier for our"trip". Have I ever mentioned how much I love the free educational materials on the internet?

Day 1	Math	-General Goods Word Problems worksheet
	Language Arts	·         Receive flier and journal. ·         Decide how you will travel to California and explain why. *Do LA first today*
	Science	Lesson on mining
Day 2	Math	·           Worksheet ·         http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/grade_4.php
	LA	·         Journal entry editing
	History/ Social Studies	·         James Marshall discovery and spread of news. Discuss why Sutter did not want the news to spread. Discuss Sam Brannan’s business sense.
Day 3	Math	·        Worksheet ·         http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/grade_4.php
	LA	·         The 6 Cs of Primary Source Analysis
	Science	·         Hydraulic mining and the effects Link broken
Day 4	Math	·         Travel times, then and now. Calculate time from San Francisco to Coloma by foot and horse vs train and car now.
	LA	·         Writing prompt "What job would you choose if you lived here in 1849"
	History	·         Use Hangtown (Placerville) to discuss the lack of government law enforcement. ·          Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of vigilantism. Use Batman and Anonymous as examples.
Day 5	Art	·         Sun bonnets
	Movie	·         PBS The Gold Rush
Day 6	Math	·         Ciphering Lesson Link broken
	LA	·         Prefix Game Link broken
	History	·         Timeline puzzle. Print the timeline (Resources link at the top, then timeline) and cut into strips.
Day 7	Math	·       Worksheet ·         http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/grade_4.php
	LA	·         Strike it Rich game
	Science	·         All about Au worksheet
Day 8	Math	·         Theres gold in them thar hills worksheet
	LA	·         Homonym worksheet ·         Gold Rush Cross Word
	History	·         Anti-Chinese history
Day 9	Math	·           Worksheet ·         http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/grade_4.php
	LA	·         Name your own Boomtown. Create a flier to entice prospectors to visit your town. HINT: Services such as hotels, laundry, and dining!
	Science	·         Density experiment
Day 10	Trip	·         Camping in Coloma

Additional information link    http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-goldrush.html

Outer Space Unity Study

This summer we are going places with our lessons. I asked the kiddo to come up with three places anywhere in time and space and I would create our lesson plans around it with two weeks per place and one week of holiday. She chose Outer Space, Mexico, and the 1849 Gold Rush.

Our normal routine is to do Math and Language Arts Monday through Thursday, Science on Mondays and Wednesdays,History/Social Studies on Tuesdays and Thursday. On Fridays we do electives. I just finished planning out our space weeks, I am really thankful to NASA for all of their wonderfully free teaching materials. I only had to create a couple worksheets and prompts.

Here is the unit in action!

June 4th-15th Out Space Lesson Plan

Day 1	Math	Workbook 1 Comparing size and distance Virtual field trip homepage, software and workbook downloads: http://quest.nasa.gov/vft/          1-3            Additional conversion examples
	Language Arts	·         Creative writing: My Trip to Outer Space -What items would you need to take and why? - What would you bring back?
	Science	·         Lesson on the effects of space travel on the human body http://education.jsc.nasa.gov/explorers/p3.html ·         Leg Up work sheet/activity http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/146855main_Get_A_Leg_Up_Student.pdf
Day 2	Math	·         Workbook pages 4-7
	LA	·         4 panel comic about landing on another planet. -Which planet? - What do you see and what do you think about it? -Dialogue between self and space creatures using complete and correct sentences.
	History/ Social Studies	·          Discuss previous knowledge of the first moon walk. Who, when, etc ·         Watch lunar landing  http://youtu.be/sTBIr65cL_E ·         Discuss the purpose and significance of Apollo XI http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo11/index.html http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/as11/a11facts.htm ·         Study lunar map and discuss latitude and longitude. -Locate landing sites on map http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/landsites.htm
Day 3	Math	·         Workbook pages 8-11
	LA	·         Root Words Worksheet and chart      https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cJJU8WCm9ZpW5WiahAc8mYhsh283WIRpo-H509KEaoI/
	Science	·         Discuss the purpose of  mining in outer space http://education.jsc.nasa.gov/explorers/p7.html ·         Moon mining activity http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Moon_Mining_Activity.html
Day 4	Math	·         Workbook pages 12-15
	LA	·         Compose a puppet play from alien perspective landing on Earth.        Three to five characters
	History	·         Archeoastronomy- Discuss how people have studied space throughout time http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Earth/AncientAstronomy.html
Day 5	Art Project	·         Galex Galaxies ·         Puppets to be used next week
	Movie	·         Carl Sagan- Cosmos Episode 9 http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Cosmos/70224651?trkid=2361637
Day 6	Math	·         Workbook pages 16-20
	LA	·         Creative writing: Newly Inhabitable Planet Discovered! -Tell where it is -Describe planetary features -Describe life forms! -Tell about its star(s) and other neighborhood planets/moons, if any.
	Science	·         Comets vs. Meteors worksheet  and web activity http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/136688main_Zathura_Activity_3-5.pdf
Day 7	Math	·         Workbook pages 21-26
	LA	·         Perform puppet play
	History	·         Medieval astronomy http://kids.librarypoint.org/early_astronomers
Day 8	Math	·         Workbook pages 27-31
	LA	·         Diamante space poem
	Science	·         Tide worksheet http://www.education.com/files/227401_227500/227478/how-tides-work.pdf
Day 9	Math	·         Workbook pages  32-39
	LA	·         Proofreading exercise       https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PA8NIXqPKL2OIXHNMWcGqODr5HF9_afqIDFH4rOq7OI/ ·         Word play worksheet http://sciencespot.net/Media/A%20TO%20Z%20PUZZLE.pdf
	History	Search for current space events and discuss
Day 10	Movie	·         Steven Hawking http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Into_the_Universe_with_Stephen_Hawking/70211618?trkid=4785815
	End party	·         Star gaze  from our space ship (tent) using the SkyMap application. ·         Themed food and drinks ·         Astronaut ice cream and tang ·         Asteroid mashed potatoes http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/asteroid-potatoes/en/ ·         Black hole board game http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-hole-boardgame/