The Rubber Band Band

We taped the kids trying to sing "This Land is Your Land" with rubber band guitars way back in August, before we started our official curriculum. Since I just figured out how to retrieve these videos, I am posting it now!

Huyler's Bridge Crossing

We went to Lynx Lake the other day for a bird watching assignment. (More on that later) I took this video of Huyler doing a trick I did long ago at the Redwood Forrest. I'm pretty sure our old home movies have a clip of me doing this. I remember thinking I was hot stuff! My phone only takes 30 second clips though, I guess, so it cut off me telling the story to Huyler.

The 100 Party!!!

Our 100th day of school we added the last number to our 100 chart and the last straw to the cup! Then we each contributed 100 of something to the festivities—Sticker collection books from Mom, marbles from Augie,
colored tissue paper from Ardara, and poker chips from Huyler. We divvied up 100 cereal balls and 100 mini marshmallows and got to work on a 100-piece puzzle!

Well, we can count to 100 now, can you?

Star Student Awards and the Red Goblet

"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so.”
- Prov. 3:27

When the school year started off, I had the great idea to fill a treasure box with little prizes, like you get at the doctor’s office, to motivate the kids to pay attention, work hard and be “Star Students”. This lasted the whole first semester. The only problem was that their focus was SO intent on the star student awards that it was a horrible disaster when they didn’t actually earn the award. They would have a fidgety, complaining day of school and then expect the award at the end of the day. But it was really too much when they started complaining about their awards not being good enough and fighting over who should get what, etc. I did away with the Star Student Award Box, and told them I expected them to perform well out of their own desire to learn instead of the desire for a prize. Amazingly, it worked! But I missed having a way to really honor their achievements. Then I read about an old custom called the Red Plate, where a red plate is placed at someone’s dinner setting when they have any achievement to honor. Since we already have red dinnerware, I chose a red plastic goblet from the seasonal patio section at the grocery store. It has been fun to put it at someone’s dinner plate and have everyone guessing WHY they got it. It also has them going out of their way to be extra helpful for me! Even Daddy got the Red Goblet the other day for getting out his bike, his bike pump and the kids’ bikes and just riding around our lane with the kids for a couple of hours while I got some quiet time!

X is for FoX

For the week on Foxes we spent a lot of time reading fables. We did learn about actual foxes too, but I think our main reason for studying foxes was to learn that God’s Word makes us wiser than our enemies. The fox in old fables is always crafty and sly, just like we are told the devil is. The only way to get wisdom that overcomes the lies of the Devil is to read God’s Word. Because /X/ is the final sound in the word fox, rather than the beginning sound, we used that as an opportunity to learn more about rhyming. We played some rhyming games and wrote poetry. We also talked about how the letter X doesn’t make the sound /ehcks/ but just the sound /cks/. This is why there are so few words that start with x, and when they do, it sounds more like /z/ than /x/. We took careful notice of words like “exercise” and “excited” that seem to start with the /x/ sound, but actually start with the short /e/ sound, just like “elephant” did. For fun fox activities, we sang “A-hunting we will go” marching in a circle, Elmer Fudd style, and when we came to the part that says, “We’ll catch a fox inside a box, and then we’ll let him go” we would catch one person, like you do in London Bridges, and then let them go. We also made a comparison chart of dogs and foxes, to see how they are different (one is wild and the other one is tame, etc.) We gathered pictures of animals and classified them by different habitats they live in. We tried to make up our own fox fable that would teach a good lesson. Make sure to visit Ardara and Huyler's blogs to read the kids’ own fables. A really easy memory verse to learn for this chapter, was Psalm 119:98 “Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.”

F is for Frog

Frogs are always a fun subject. Huyler was disappointed that we didn’t dissect a frog. (I’m saving that for Junior High years at least!) Instead we studied about the life cycle of a frog. Eggs, tadpoles, froglets and frogs. We learned about different kinds of frogs, like poison dart frogs, goliath frogs, bullfrogs, dwarf frogs and tree frogs. We learned how they eat with long, sticky tongues, how they breathe through their mouth and through their skin. We learned that they have to stay damp to be able to breathe through their skin. We learned about their diet of bugs and minnows. We learned about the different sounds that different frogs make, from chirping to croaking, and how this attracts a mate for the frogs. We found some funny frog jokes (see the back page). And we wrote a story book. We modeled it from the old classic “Over In The Meadow”. But ours is called “Over In The Pond”. We had to come up with pond animals and rhymes that would fit and still be sort of accurate about the various animals. It took us a whole school day just to do five! Here is a slide show of it.

We also made our own “FROG FACT BOOKS” where we illustrated several facts we had learned about frogs.

Our lesson to learn from frogs is to use our tongues wisely. Just as a frog waits until the exact right moment to snap up bugs, we should wait and consider how to use our tongues the best we can.

B is for Butterfly

The first week of March was on butterflies. We learned about the life cycle of a butterfly. We acted out their life cycle by hiding under a plastic box for “egg”, crawling on a green blanket on our bellies for “caterpillar”, wrapping up in a blanket for “chrysalis” and then wearing wings made from grocery sacks for “butterfly”. We did crafts showing the four stages of their life cycle, and we learned all about what they eat, how long they live and so forth. We learned about tropical butterflies, their different wing shapes and patterns, their mimicry, and their predators. I ordered a dozen butterfly eggs from a butterfly farm in Florida. They hatched and the caterpillars wouldn’t eat anything I had for them! So they all died. So, we went hiking in the Watson Woods Riparian Habitat and found another caterpillar. He was lethargic, but did eat and poop regularly. We waited for him to make a chrysalis and become a butterfly. We named him “Blackout” because he is black and the butterflies we saw in the Watson Woods were also mostly black. But now we think perhaps he is a grub. Oops! We also drew pictures of Monarch Butterflies, trying to get the markings just right.
Our Bible lesson for this week was from the teaching on regeneration in the New testament. “God can make me new” became our motto with verses like “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!” 2 Cor. 5:17

Rare Mummified Dinosaur Uncovered

I think its funny that in spite of the evidence that this dinosaur was covered rapidly (hello, think major flooding) to create its fossilized skin, the scientists INSIST it is 65 million years old. When will they learn?

Rare mummified dinosaur uncovered
Duckbilled Edmontosaurus covered by fossilized skin that is as hard as iron
By Blake Nicholson
The Associated Press
updated 8:06 a.m. MT, Tues., March. 18, 2008

BISMARCK, North Dakota - Using tiny brushes and chisels, workers picking at a big greenish-black rock in the basement of North Dakota's state museum are meticulously uncovering something amazing: a nearly complete dinosaur, skin and all.
Unlike almost every other dinosaur fossil ever found, the Edmontosaurus named Dakota, a duckbilled dinosaur unearthed in southwestern North Dakota in 2004, is covered by fossilized skin that is hard as iron. It's among just a few mummified dinosaurs in the world, say the researchers who are slowly freeing it from a 65-million-year-old rock tomb.
"This is the closest many people will ever get to seeing what large parts of a dinosaur actually looked like, in the flesh," said Phillip Manning, a paleontologist at Manchester University in England, a member of the international team researching Dakota.
"This is not the usual disjointed sentence or fragment of a word that the fossil records offer up as evidence of past life. This is a full chapter."
Animal tissue typically decomposes quickly after death. Researchers say Dakota must have been buried rapidly and in just the right environment for the skin to be preserved.
"The process of decay was overtaken by that of fossilization, preserving many of the soft-tissue structures," Manning said.
read the whole article here

School Outings

We went to the library one day and did our studies in a study room while Daddy worked at home. Convenient!

Alex did his science fair project on Diamonds and we got to go to the fair. It set our minds a reeling.

We got to go to the Phoenix Zoo on the Saturday after we finished wild animals. Zebras, kangaroos, elephants... but no penguins.

Why Tax Credits Are Wrong for Homeschoolers

by Valorie Delp

Qualified educators currently can claim $250 on qualified purchases from the IRS. Most homeschoolers spend at least that on curriculum per year so why not give us a $250 tax credit too? I could use that money!

Who Defines a Home Educator?

I think I'm pretty safe on this one. You see, I'm sure I'm a home educator. I have curriculum. I have paperwork. I have my little teacher's card from HSLDA and most reasonable businesses give me their teacher discount. New York State requires so much paperwork that I can use any of the paperwork that I turn in to 'prove' that I'm teaching.

My friends in Connecticut or New Jersey though, they don't have any requirements. What would they use to prove that they're home educators? Their child's portfolios? And what about my unschooling friends? Because their educational philosophy disagrees with mine--do they not count as home educators?

The first problem with accepting tax credits is that it necessarily means that the government must define who is a home educator and who is not. Do you really want that? It would likely mean federalized paper work, specific type of record keeping, and a set course of instruction. . .which brings me to my next point. To be honest, I don't see how the federal government could possibly require more paperwork than I already do, but most homeschoolers in other states could not say the same thing. Chances are good that if you're reading this, a tax credit would increase your paperwork, and probably substantially.

Who Defines What Qualified Expenses Are?

Having the government define what my qualified expenses are for home schooling makes me squeamish to be honest. I don't want the government involved in my home schooling--period. While I'm sure I could prove I'm a home educator I'm less sure that my curriculum would be approved, as it's decidedly Christian. And people who use Bob Jones or Abeka….they could forget about being approved, as that curriculum is all from one view point. Do you want government approved curriculum? If you do, you might want to consider sending your kids to public school. That's fine by me. . .it's your choice. But I don't want the government letting me know whether or not phonics is okay and what I'm allowed to teach in science.

And let's talk about other 'curricular' items. I know a family who decided to put a chicken coop in their backyard. I can see how that's home schooling. . .do they get a tax credit for that or does that not count? What about my kids' classes that they take at the Y? Do those count? Those are on their IHIPs. And again, our unschooling friends who don't use any curriculum. What could their qualified expenses be?

Accepting the tax credit means that the federal government will have to define who is a home educator and what is a qualified expense. It might not seem that complicated on the outset. But remember that it's the state government, and not the federal government that currently decides on state education laws. Shifting the power to define who we are and what we teach will not only increase government control in home schools, but it could easily infringe on the rights of parents to teach their own children at home. I know personally, I cannot support increased government involvement in home schooling and so I'm happy to forgo a tax credit.

Special Request

I mentioned in the Barometer that I have started some speech therapy with Huyler. Let me explain. Huyler has been an avid finger sucker since he was a baby. He still is. We have tried to break the habit, but to no avail. Anyway, it seems like Huyler’s inability to say his /R/ sounds may be partially due to this habit. But now Augie, who has never sucked his fingers, is having the same problem! Is he learning it from Huyler? I don’t really know! So, I hunted around a little to try to find some speech therapy techniques to use in helping him say it properly. There wasn’t a whole lot available without spending lots of money. I found some articles on teaching English as a second language to Japanese people, who often confuse /R/ and /L/ sounds. I’m using that information to try to teach him the proper tongue position for /R/, but the problem is, he doesn’t confuse it with /L/, but with /W/. I know this is a really common speech impediment, so there must be something more specific to his needs out there. I thought I would just ask each of you to keep your eyes peeled for materials, articles or techniques that could help us out. You got to feel for the kid, when he can’t even pronounce his own name properly!

More Precious Than Silver

Here are Huyler and Ardara singing along with Satellite Soul on "More Precious Than Silver". Again, I looked up the signs for the words on ASLpro.com so there may be a better way to do the song in sign, but I love how much heart the kids put into this. Maybe some day they will be able to tell a deaf person about the Lord from learning all these signs.

J is for Jewels

For our week on Jewels, we started off by learning about Jewels—how they are formed, how they are mined, and how they are cut to catch light so they will sparkle. We learned about some interesting things like the work of a “lapidary”, the UN warning against buying “blood diamonds” used to fund wars, and about making synthetic diamonds in a laboratory. According to Alex’s science fair project, they are now making diamonds out of peanut butter! We also got to see a real emerald, a real garnet, and a real opal that Grandpa Mark sent us. One day, we examined my diamond ring, and looked for the tiny flaw in it with a magnifying glass. Huyler found it but Ardara had to be shown. We read a book called “A Cache of Jewels” to learn about collective nouns, or words that describe a collection of things (school of fish, kindle of kittens, etc.) We also used little jewels to do some of the math worksheets that Grandpa John passed on to us from his horde of teaching materials (notice the collective noun). We made jewel necklaces out of colored straws. We made crowns out of foil. And most importantly we made rock candy! Our parallel lesson was that Jesus is more valuable than anything else. Our next post will be a video of the kids signing “More Precious Than Silver” and doing the sign language with it. One more rare rock we read about this week was meteors /meteorites.

R is for Rock

I think we had the most contributions ever for the next two lessons. Grandpa Mark sent us the most awesome rock collection. We can’t wait to show it off to the boy next door who keeps his rock collection in a used pizza box. We also loved the presentation that Uncle Ammon sent about different kinds of rocks and how they are formed. It went perfectly with what we learned from library books and our curriculum. We spent our first day looking at these great collections, and read a book called “The Magic School bus Goes to the Middle of the Earth” in which we learned a bit more about how rocks are formed—from magma, heat, pressure and time, just like Ammon said! The second day, we went outside and collected rocks of our own. We tried to find varied shapes, sizes, textures and colors. Then we came inside and sorted them by color, by size, by texture, etc. The next day, we went back through them and sorted them by metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous. We also tried to grow our own crystal garden using salt, water and liquid bluing on sponges. I don’t know what we did wrong, but instead of growing up, like I have seen them do, they spread far and wide, all over the outside of the dish, the tray it was sitting on and even a little on the window sill! Yikes! But they did grow…

We also checked out a DVD of “Journey to the Center of the Earth” with Pat Boone. Classic.
Our lesson from the Bible was to “build our lives on the Rock,” Jesus Christ. We read the parable of the wise man and the foolish man. We even tried building with blocks on a big rock and in the soft dirt next to it and then flooding the houses with a whoosh of water. Sure enough, the house that wasn’t on the rock toppled and the house on the rock stood firm. We learned about builders using a “plumb line” to build their house, and using the same parable, we decided that the plumb line we follow for our lives should be God’s Word.

STOLEN!

Imagine our excitement when Monday morning we read the headlines of the huge art heist in Switzerland! The four paintings stolen at gunpoint were by Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet and were worth over $163 million!!! We looked up pictures of them online. One of them we had already looked at in our Impressionism lesson on Friday. We sure do hope they catch those bad guys before those paintings are sold on the black market or damaged!

Read More

But things really got out of hand when we finished our week on J is for Jewels and saw an article about a jewel heist! We are afraid to study anything else of value, for fear that there is some connection between our studies and the thefts. Could Ardara and Huyler be high-profile cat-burglars on the sly?????

Read More

Impressionism

During our first week of February we learned about Impressionist art. We read a book about artists like Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Cassatt and Van Gogh. We learned how they used broad brush-strokes, varied textures of paint and modern themes to create the impression of something, rather than a realistic image of the subject. Since this was also our week on Kangaroos, we read a book called “Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing”. So, our most contemporary experience was the idea of animals getting all tangled up or inconvenienced by their clothing. This birthed the concept for our art project. We decided to do a painting of an animal having some difficulty with an item of clothing, and to paint it in an Impressionist style. Ardara painted a monkey trying to wear overalls, but the strap was caught on a branch, so he couldn’t swing free. Huyler painted a bunny trying to get into a shirt (in the lower right). All the swipes and slashes across the page show the struggle this little bunny has had getting into a blouse that is much too big.

Z is for Zebra

Zebra week was just too fun. We learned about these ungulates (members of the horse family) from several library books. We were surprised at how big the plains zebras get—actually measuring 6 feet high at the shoulder! We looked at a picture of a zebra and drew the stripes on a blank zebra as closely as possible to the markings we observed. Then we painted tall, brown grass in front of them and saw how the stripes could be good camouflage for a zebra. This tied in our biblical lesson for the week, “I can’t hide anything from God.” We read Psalm 139, Psalm 33:13 and Hebrews 4:13 as some examples of how much God sees. We are so glad to know that our outer hurts and our inner feelings are all just as important to God, and he sees it all as plain as day, even if we keep it a secret from other people. We took a break on the 13th to make Valentines using some fun craft ideas from Anika. Then on Thursday, we went back to the concept of continents and countries. We practiced naming all seven continents and all 4 oceans. Then we made an awesome mural of Africa with pictures of many wild animals that are exclusive to Africa. We looked in an encyclopedia to figure out what part of the continent they would be found on. Like our ocean mural, this took a lot of work, but was also very fun and gratifying! Some other fun games we played were hide and seek and Wild Animal 20 questions, which Ardara is now addicted to. And we finished off the week and our entire wild animal section with a surprise trip to the Phoenix Zoo! See our School Outings post for photos.

K is for Kangaroo

Kangaroos are really special. We had no idea how many different kinds of Kangaroos there are. The ones we usually see in movies and on TV are Giant Red Kangaroos, but there are over 50 different kinds of kangaroos, and many other kinds of marsupials (animals with pouches). We learned about life cycles of the kangaroo—did you know that a baby kangaroo is only the size of the tip of your finger when born, and the little grub-like baby has to climb up its mother’s fur to crawl into her pouch? - and we learned about the way kangaroos eat, defend themselves, play, etc. One day we went outside with a measuring tape and took turns seeing how far we could hop. The farthest hop was Ardara with 4.5 feet. Then we measured 40 feet, the length of a single hop by a Giant Red Kangaroo! Pretty amazing. We watched videos of kangaroos boxing, playing on the beach and climbing in trees (a different species than the hopping kangaroos). We made kangaroo pouch pencil cups out of frozen juice cans (see our School outing post) We also discussed Australia—learning the difference between a country and a continent, and how Australia is BOTH, as well as being an island, which we learned the definition for. We made the chart of “Animals that Hop” which you see here. And our words to remember when we see a Joey tucked in a pouch are “God keeps me safe”.

High school calls all 2,550 students to detention

Just another reason I'm glad I home school...

PALM BAY — An accidental push of a button Friday had students at Palm Bay High questioning what they'd done wrong and parents plotting punishments.
Parents of all 2,550 students in the school received an automated call Friday reminding them that their student had to report for Saturday morning detention. Problem was, the message only should have gone to 16 homes.
"One of my friends texted me to ask if I had Saturday detention," said Robert Lenoci, 15, of Valkaria. The sophomore is going to the state science fair finals and hasn't been in trouble before.
"I looked and I had a message from mom. She was asking, 'What did you do?' It was pretty bad," he said.
Robert's mother calmed down after talking with other parents and learning something was amiss.
Amy Stewart said after the call that she confronted her son, Jimmy, and he pleaded innocent.
"He said he didn't do anything, but I took him Saturday morning anyway," she said. About 40 students showed up.
That's when Stewart and dozens of other parents learned of the glitch.
"I had yelled at him. I felt so bad, I took him out for breakfast," Stewart said.
Steve Muzzy, assistant superintendent for information technology, said the parent notification system purchased about six years ago from Synrevoice Technology of Canada averages 20,000 calls a week.
He said half are for student absences and the rest for things such as overdue library materials, school calendar events or for emergency communications.
"Very, very rarely do we run across any problems. This was an unfortunate human mistake," he said. School officials said an employee apparently selected the wrong field, sending the message to all students.
Principal John Thomas said by the time the error was discovered, it was 9:30 p.m. and too late to call everyone. But he did send an apology via the system during the weekend.
The 7 to 9 a.m. detention on Saturdays has been in place for some time, for such infractions as repeatedly being late for class. But the automated system has been used for notification for only about two months.
Stewart just wants to make sure there is no suspension on her son's school record.
"I would hope there wouldn't be," she said.

What about Socialization?!

Adapted from an article by Robin Sampson

If only homeschoolers had a nickel for every time they heard the question, "... but what about socialization?" That infamous socialization question, for any seasoned homeschooler, is quite a humorous one! Although non-homeschoolers worry that homeschooling may turn children into social misfits, we know that the opposite is true and that POSITIVE socialization is one of the best reasons to home school your children.

Most home school families I know are very active with other families. There are weekly field trips with support groups, twice-a-week church functions, scouts, choir, weekly skating parties, etc, etc.

But don’t take my word for it. Let us look at the home school statistics.

Studies Prove Homeschoolers Do Better Socially
Information gathered by the National Home Education Research Institute prove home school students have significantly higher self concepts than those in public schools.

Dr. Johnson (1991) concluded that home educators carefully address the socialization needs of their children in every area studied (i.e., personal identity, personal destiny, values and moral development, autonomy, relationships, sexuality, and social skills).
Studying actual observed behavior, Dr. Shyers (1992) found the home educated had significantly lower problem behavior scores than do their conventional school age mates. And the home educated have positive self-concepts.
Dr. Taylor (1986) found that the home educated have significantly higher self concepts than those in public schools.
The home schooled are well adjusted socially and emotionally like their private school comparison group. The home educated, however, are less peer dependent than the private school students (Delahooke, 1986).
Dr. Montgomery (1989) found that home schooled students are just as involved in out-of-school and extracurricular activities that predict leadership in adulthood as are those in the comparison private school (that was comprised of students more involved than those in public schools).
Home educated children are more mature and better socialized than are those sent to school, according to Thomas Smedley’s personal interaction and communications approach to understanding socialization.
Dr. Gary Knowles, of the University of Michigan, explored adults who were home educated. None were unemployed and none were on welfare, 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons, 79% said it helped them interact with individuals from different levels of society, and they strongly supported the home education method.

What Does God’s Word Say About
Socialization?
The concept of separation from evil is fundamental to God’s relationship with His people. According to the Bible, separation has more than one dimension:
· Separating yourself morally and spiritually from sin and everything that is contrary to Jesus Christ and his word. (Ephesians 5:11)
· Drawing near to God in a close intimate fellowship through dedication, worship and service. (Psalm 4:3)
· Retaining a position in the world where we can serve as salt and light to unbelievers. (Matthew 5:13-16)

We are called to live lives of separation, protecting our children from the teachings and pitfalls of the world. And yet, we are called to train our children to love and reach out to the lost world around them. This requires a careful balance of preparing their hearts in the safety of their home, but also of providing them opportunities to interact with people from all walks of life. Because of the more frequent interaction they have with adults, homeschooled children are being socialized in the most relevant ways.

Cuisenaire Math Rods

For every letter we study, we do a page with math rods. The kids are asked to “Build the P with rods of all different colors.” and then “Which colors did you use?” or “Build the P with only one color” and so on. They then color the P where the rods are placed and cover each color with the single-unit white rods. In this way, they find the numeric value of each different color. This gives them practice with whole number addition and multiplication concepts. They are also learning that more than one number sentence for the same sum can be generated.

Penguins and Icebergs

This is a video of the kids playing in the bathtub with our homemade "icebergs". We froze water in ziploc baggies in various shapes. Then we cut the ziplocs away and dropped the ice in cold water. We used water balloons as "penguins" and let them slip around on the ice and slide into the water! We also watched some slide shows on youtube about icebergs. I'll add one of them next so you can see some cool pictures of icebergs that we liked a lot. Click here to see the page where we learned all our iceberg info. We actually learned a lot about icebergs, more than I put in the Barometer because of space issues! The videos on the web page are cool, but there are sooo many youtube videos about icebergs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7vZAJ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ8NkN...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcQeZLsqCQo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%20iIT5MLt7JOU

E is for Elephant

Our week on elephants was a lot of fun. We started out by reading a book called “Elefriends” that told about the sad plight of these huge animals being poached for their tusks. We learned how very smart and sensitive elephants are. We also learned that elephants remember other elephants for many years even if they don’t see them for a long time. They communicate with low rumbles that carry over many miles when they are not together! Because of the adage that “an elephant never forgets”, our biblical parallel was to always remember what God has done for us. We did some exercises in counting our blessings and remembering the times when God has answered our prayers. We studied the anatomy of elephants and the areas—Africa and India—where elephants are found. We watched videos of elephants on Youtube.com where we learned about the rarely observed jungle elephants that are very different from elephants on the savanna—their tusks grow straight forward to help them not get caught in the dense trees! We also learned about elephants that eat rocks rich in salt. They have actually grazed the same rocky area for a hundred or more years and created a huge cavern system! We wanted to visit a zoo this week, but it didn’t end up being a good week for it. We aren’t TOO disappointed because we have ridden elephants two years in a row at the Rennaissance Festival. So, we are waiting for warmer weather for a zoo day!


We watched lots of youtube videos of circus elephants doing tricks and then the kids pretended to be circus elephants in their masks. Ardara made peanuts out of paper (a time consuming project) and we did a circus show for Daddy. Click here for a slide show.

P is for Penguin

The final week of January, we took a trip to Antarctica to study Penguins. Okay, we didn’t really go to Antarctica, but it did snow again in Prescott! We learned about five different species of penguins: Gentoo, Macaroni, Adelie, Emperor and Chinstrap Penguins. Much of our focus, though, was on the Emperor penguin and the love shown within their family unit. We watched the March of the Penguins. Then we discussed how God wants us to show love to everyone, especially our family. We also learned about icebergs. We made our own miniature icebergs and floated them in the bathtub. For a cute video of this, see the next post. We got sick toward the end of the week, so we used our extra week of January for more art appreciation and penguin activities, including painting penguins and flashcards of types and locations of the world’s penguins.