Outside The Box

This Blog Is Merging

2007-08-22T15:10:00.000-04:00

Because of recent changes to Blogger, our three blogs are migrating and merging.

So as time makes avail, things have been manually moved over. TOTAL PAIN. But the only way to do it at this point.

All signs now point in the direction of www.ourgoldenapples.com.

See you there! :)

September is Flying By

2005-09-26T20:25:00.000-04:00

Finally we have caught up with our school work since our vacation in Colorado. I can't imagine how hard the catching up would have been, had we not been doing a majority of it while on vacation. I wasn't able to blog much at all last week. This weeks schedule feels like a breeze. And I find that for today, all I want to do is spit out a summary of how this last week and today have gone.

The kids are still both enjoying doing Phonics work using Starfall.com. Grace loves knowing that there are more levels to read once she completes level two. Her reading has taken off so much, that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to read to her, as she looks at the written pages. I'll be reading on one side of the page, and she'll interrupt me to mention that she knows that this sentence on the other page says "such-and-such". You can really hear the pride she is taking in discovering a whole new world of language. On the same note, Jack, is begging to do more phonics later in the day after he is done, and he's been running around the house singing the "A" song from Starfall.com. In fact, all of us have been roaming the house singing the "A" song.

I've been looking at our handicrafts line in the schedule and it has been shamefully running on empty over the last few weeks. Everytime Grace spots me working on curtains, she reminds me that she wants to continue putting her stuffed animal (green fleece dog) together. So today she enjoyed marking all of the circles found on her pattern with thread, so that we can remove the pattern from the cut out fabric next. Jack has decided he wants to make a stuffed animal too...I'm not quite sure how to work this as I would be the one doing everything (hopefully just a phase).

Jack's copywork is progressing wonderfully. I've been having him challenge himself by writing at least two letters freehand after he practices two letters from his dry erase book. He knows the strokes, but he hates not being perfect. It is a really uncomfortable feeling for him, but he's doing great...he just doesn't think so when he compares his freehand to his letters that have been copied over.

The leaves are falling, and the school signs also show that our term is half way through. Grace and I have almost finished Ben Franklin's biography, and we are closing in on Pagoo. It is a reminder that I need to step it up with our artist, Renoir, as we have done very little since the puzzle.

On The Alpaca Farm in Colorado

2005-09-06T10:22:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling over vacation in Colorado has gone surprisingly well. I'm glad we brought a small stack of our materials.

Grace is loving Grandma & Grandpa's alpaca farm. If you can't find her in the house, it is because she is out with the alpacas. Yesterday, she spent a good portion of time out in the barn with her grandparents as she got to watch and help with weighing and inspecting the baby crias, and feeding the alpacas. Here is a picture of our "Alpaca Whisperer" in the paddocks:

Jack has enjoyed fast rides in the Gator to and from the barn, and the freedom to just wander. The farm is full of new bugs and sounds of new birds. The weather has been absolutely perfect for toodling around the farm.

Our First Challenge: Vacation

2005-08-30T21:43:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow the family heads out for a 10 day vacation to visit family in Colorado. And I'm facing a dilemma - to bring the studies or not to bring the studies. My desire is to bring the studies with, as the kids act amazingly better when they have school in their day, and some semblance of routine. The other half of me says..."It is vacation. Let them vacate too." And they will, as schooling really is only 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours a day.

I think the schooling argument in my head has won. So I'm packing up our school work. I've printed up maps for them to follow as we fly out (they love maps). And we'll be going bonkers with Nature Study as grandma and grandpa own an alpaca farm, with at least four young cria on the ground to watch frollick, and kitties in the barn. Plus, the grandparents bought a boat, so "Hello, Freshwater Fish nature study!" We'll see how the whole thing goes.

Perhaps the more accurate question is, "Can Amorette stay focused for an hour teaching the kids, when those beautiful Rocky Mountains are calling my name?!"

Allow Me To Humor You

2005-08-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

August is almost over, and as I sat and reflected today about how well our first month back to school has gone, I had to chuckle at a few moments that come to mind that were good ideas gone bad. As I look at the titles of my August posts....there is a bigger untold picture.

Salt & Corn Meal Pies: They are fun, and they do keep the kids busy. But leave the kids for too long unsupervised with the stuff and they can be dangerous. This month Jack and Grace decided to DUMP their cornmeal pies down the heating vent. Luckily our vent does not go straight down, but has an elbow in it, so I tried my best to vacuum most of it up. However, there is now a constant film of cornmeal dust on every flat surface in the playroom since the remaining cornmeal residue floats up out of the air vent every time the air conditioning turns on.

Embossing: While we did have trays underneath all of our embossing projects, at one point, Grace must have moved her paper off the tray, heating off the lovely finish on our Pottery Barn kids table. There is now, and forever will be, a melted patch of finish on the top of the table.

The 10 Gallon Bug Tank: Remember our last additions? The grasshopper and the cockroach. I'm not sure anyone noticed, but I never mentioned the release of the cockroach. That is because I didn't. The thought of locating and trying to catch the two inch giant, just didn't go over well with me at the time of the release date for all of the bugs. So...yep...the poor ugly giant cockroach is still somewhere in that tank, probably dead. I still can't make myself look for it.

The Perfect Day

2005-08-24T15:52:00.000-04:00

I think I actually experienced it.

Jack: Jack was on Mach 5 asking to do this and that with me...all things I thought were way over his head. But he really surprised me today. Today, he seemed to have grown up overnight.

He wanted to do Time and Money cards that I have for Grace. He loves the colors and different watch faces, and the pictures of toys and items with money beside them. Jack can tell whole hour time on a face clock, but today he wouldn't allow me to skip any of the cards. And here is my little 3 year old saying out loud to himself, "The little hand is between the 3 and the 4, almost at the 4, but not quite. And the big hand is down at the 6, so it is three-six."

With coins, I decided to just have him identify the types of coins on the card and tell me what they were and how many of each. He was a champ!

Then he was bringing me his Bible. Twilight zone!!!

Grace: Had zero complaints throughout her morning. But it was the afternoon that tickled me. She came running in the house yelling, "Mom, you've got to come outside, I have something really cool to show you." Once I was outside, she wanted to make sure I heard the crickets in the summer heat. Then we rounded the corner of the deck, and she wanted me to noticed how we were getting closer. She led me to the rose bush, where lo-and-behold was a green cricket you wouldn't have ever seen had you not been listening for it. She was so excited that she had tracked this cricket down with her ears.

Then later, I hear Jack and Grace both in the playroom talking about their wooden birdhouses they decorated in the winter term. Cleaning in the other room, I asked what they were doing, and they emphatically shouted, "We are getting our birdhouses ready!". Ready?? I had to look. Sure enough, they were stuffing the little entrance hole with pine straw and string.

It has been just one of those good days. Even the sink is clean, table cloth changed, and the floor vacuumed.

Sur La Terrace Complete

2005-08-15T16:09:00.000-04:00

It was a dark and stormy evening, and Ken obsessed over the rest of the puzzle until it was complete.

We are short three pieces. A big let down. We're pretty sure we were witnesses to one more Maggie snack due to a puzzle piece falling on the floor. This is very frustrating knowledge considering the last three puzzles have been incomplete due to Maggie snacks. (Learn about our previous puzzle caper.) And we were SO much more careful too!

You Silly Tufted Titmouse

2005-08-14T16:01:00.000-04:00

As I was finishing up some e-mail on the our bed, the kids climbed up and snuggled around me asking to "do birds". Of course ,the first thing Jack wanted to view was his favorite online video clip of the Ivory Gull - which we did. (See below for a link, if you haven't seen it). Then I headed over to our Backyard Habitat log and quizzed the kids on which bird were which, while we listened to bird songs. Jack can immediately identify by site a Tufted Titmouse as he beat his sister to it, and Grace nailed each of my 5-6 bird quizzes! One of our most favorite affectionate phrases to each other in the family is..."You silly tufted titmouse!".

I Am The Ultimate Dork Mom

2005-08-11T20:17:00.000-04:00

My children have the ultimate Dork Mom. I can prove it to you.

For my birthday (I'll be 32), I asked for a microscope. How dorky is that??? What's even dorkier, is that I think this could be the best birthday gift ever! My birthday isn't until September, but since this was going to be a major science apparatus for our Fish & Crustacean study, I got to open it last night.

This microscope is a techno-geek dream. If there are any other techno-geek moms, first I'd love to hear from you, and second, if you don't already have this, you've got to get it. I'm referring to the DM-52 Digital Microscope. This is the answer to the age old problem of young children and microscope viewing. Plug this puppy into your laptop or computer and you've got an instant big screen look at whatever is on the slide - perfect clarity.

Not only that, but you can capture the image and save it as a .jpg on your computer for printing later. You can even create video.

Ken and I sat for the better part of almost two hours looking through slides last night. (I'm not the only techno-geek)

This was well worth the investment, and I can't say enough about the freebies the vendor throws in! Visit http://www.microscopeworld.com

Pagoo: Plankton (Chapter 1-2)

2005-08-09T20:45:00.000-04:00

This evening, Grace and I started the story of "Pagoo". We read through chapters 1 and 2 and I can tell this one is going to quickly become a favorite for both of us. Pagoo will be our third Holling C. Holling book this year. We can't seem to get enough of them.

The first and second chapter cover the topic of how a baby crab falls under the larger and often ill-fated category of plankton at the bottom of the food chain, feeding upon algae and diadom. Holling's illustrations are beautifully done, but I'd like to be able to supplement our readings and go beyond illustration with a living book that is so heavy in biology.

Below are a few links to real photos of crab zoea, diagrams and coloring sheets you might find useful:

Microscope Slide of Crab Zoea
Animated Crab Zoea & Megalops
Common Copepods & Plankton (advanced coloring sheets including crab zoea)
Guide Sheet for 4 Plankton (elementary coloring sheet including crab)

The Night Before Kindergarten...

2005-08-07T21:07:00.000-04:00

It is safe to say that there is heavy anticipation for Monday morning in the house. And I am pleased that we were able to successfully achieve it - thanks to a little idea from Dad.

Throughout the county, children will be hopping on school buses and heading for their first day to school. For kindergarten, this is an especially important and excitedly nervous moment. I really wanted Grace to be able to share some of that excitement with her own school aged friends, which is why we decided to take a two week break from school and begin the new term when school started in the county.

What helped to achieve the excitement though, was while Grace and Jack could see what new purchases Mommy was pulling out of packages and boxes for the new term, they could not handle or play with them. And in the mornings, when Mom and Dad were still asleep, the playroom has been locked, to prevent any temptation to take a closer look. This has become the equivalent of putting a bunch of slowly unwrapped Christmas presents under the tree and not allowing the children to touch or play with them. Just look, drool and dream.

Grace's last words tonight in bed were, "I can't wait until I can play with all of the new school stuff tomorrow." I can't wait either.

Talent on Display

2005-08-03T18:01:00.000-04:00

In two days Grace has proved herself to be an unbelievable bug catcher. She doesn't own a net. Just her bare hands or the cup off the top of her new bug box. Yesterday she caught a Silver Streaked Skipper, and today after a 10 minute search she came back to display her dragonfly.

The bugbox was a worthy purchase. For $6.00, it allows the child to look at both the top and the bottom of the bug at a magnified level.

How Many Species Can Live In One Tank?

2005-07-31T17:49:00.000-04:00

After searching for more food for the mantis, we've added a large grasshopper and a large cockroach. Yes a roach. This has added even more excitement around the tank.

Are They Fighting or Mating?

2005-07-30T17:43:00.000-04:00

With our school studies in recess over the last week, the hullaballo has been over our big bug tank. The two praying mantis are checked frequently, as we watch them catch their prey. What we are also noticing, is that they are beginning to interact with each other.

It is a slow approach, but gradually one will approach another. Once we did see what seemed to be an attack when one mantis got too close to the other. However, after more research, I'm beginning to think we have a male and female, and what we are seeing is possibly the initial signs of courtship.

The Mantis Like Our Bug Menu

2005-07-28T14:00:00.000-04:00

Today was interesting. After doing a quick drop of an assortment of beetles plucked from our Lamb's Ear, I thought I would check this morning and see if there was any evidence of a feast. I turned on the light for the bug tank and discovered one of the praying mantis already in mid feast. We all had the opportunity to watch the mantis dine on a beetle.

Then later this afternoon we collected a new round of gourmet beetles, and we were witnesses to a quick kill by by one of the mantis. Just prior to the drop we also saw a little bit of rivalry between the two mantis. Hopefully, the large assortment of food will break them up as one seems to be eating while the other hasn't had any luck - at least none we've seen.

A Special Visit

2005-07-28T13:24:00.000-04:00

We have been longing for caterpillar and butterfly sightings all summer, but have never been blessed with more than a glimpse or a quick flitter of one passing quickly by. Today made it all worth it as we watched a very busy Eastern Tiger Swallowtail visit our verbena patches in the garden for 10-15 minutes. The butterfly cared very little about how close we were able to get to it (demonstrated by Grace), as it worked diligently hitting every flower in the patch.

What a great blessing!

Add 2 Praying Mantis to Our List of Pets

2005-07-26T23:42:00.000-04:00

In a desperate effort to get myself and the kids out in this stifling heat, we all headed out to the flower garden with our clippers to deadhead the stalks of our bee balm, lambs ear and daylillies. I've been staring at the remains for weeks, but couldn't bear the thought of going out in the strong heat of day with this pregnancy.

We were all red faced and dripping with sweat when we made the discovery of two young praying mantis' moving along the daylillies. With a spare 10 gallon tank available, we decided to give the mantis' a luxury bug box, filled with rich soil, logs, sticks, grass, water, bee balm stalks and for fun...sand and shells. We'll probably release them in a week or two, but so far it has been a great education to watch their fascination behavior.

Now the hard part...finding food so they don't eat each other.

Let The Copywork Begin!

2005-07-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

Today Grace had her first set of two moths to identify. Once identified she then wrote the names of both moths on notebook paper which we cut out and placed in their respective places next to the moths in the riker mount.

It is coming together!

Experiencing Our First Transition in Studies

2005-04-23T00:47:00.000-04:00

I'm like a kid in a candy store. After our first trimester of homeschooling, things have gone wildly well. Without a doubt the Montessori and Charlotte Mason road has been a successful and alluring road. The kids have been chomping at the bit to begin our butterfly study, as they watch me pull out the library books, games, posters, stickers, cards, etc. We're still awaiting more boxes, and posters for some of our studies.

The last two days have been spent reorganizing and refreshing the room for the new term. Scrounging for lost game pieces under furniture, packing away our bird study items, and renewing our table trays with new Montessori oriented tasks. We're still not done. It never seems to end as the closet is still unwalkable after a few spills (courtesy of Gracie), and the giant heap on the rocker (courtesy me).

But we are almost there!

Butterfly Of The Day

2005-04-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

For this term I purchased a Fandex containing a large selection of Butterflies. Each card in the Fandex has a picture of a butterfly with a fair amount of interesting facts and information. For this exercise, I severed the plastic pin that holds the Fandex together so the cards could be removed individually.

The children are always keen on anything where they have a choice in the matter, so about twice a week we have a "Butterfly of Day", where Grace and Jack get to go through the butterflies and pick out which two butterflies they want to learn more about. We then sit down for 10 minutes and go through the fascinating facts about each butterfly picking out a couple of tidbits of info to hold on to (ie. this caterpillar is stinky, or this butterfly drinks from mud puddles). Then we add velcro to the back of the card and the kids get to post it on our double closet door in the playroom. For some reason, this is a really fun part of the activity.

After the two new butterflies, the kids enjoy getting quizzes on identifying the butterflies that are already on the board by the names I shout out.

This is definitely a two thumbs up activity that both Grace and Jack sit still for and remember!

Vultures

2005-02-19T18:14:00.000-05:00

On our way to church the family spotted a huge bird with an unbelievable wing span. It had just left a carcass in the road and retreated to a nearby tree. Ken slowed the car, and we were able to get a good look at a giant buzzard.

Name That Bird Day

2005-02-09T18:13:00.000-05:00

Today was impromptu test day, where Grace was tested on sight recognition and the names of some birds we have studied (and some we have not). Mom was very impressed! 40+ Bird cards were laid out before her, with over half of them being filler and decoy since we have not reviewed these as of yet. Grace successfully pegged and named 15 of the the 18 birds we have gone over heavily. This was good for mom, as now that we are in mid-trimester we can focus on the ones we haven't gone over, knowing Grace feels confident with naming the ones she sees in her backyard every day.

A New Find

2005-02-07T18:12:00.000-05:00

Grace is delighted to inform Mom that she has spotted a mourning dove in the back yard.

The Game Is On

2005-02-02T14:57:00.000-05:00

Degas Memory has become a household word. :) To make the teaching work, every time a wood card is flipped over I say the name of the painting, so Grace associates it with the painting on the card. Degas' thankfully is very simple in the naming of his paintings so this is an easy task.

The Dawn Of A New Game

2005-02-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

I've been searching for a way to nonchalantly introduce Grace to the paintings and the titles of Degas' work using a Montessori angle. Today, I figured it out. A hearty game of Degas' Memory. Using 2 sets of Degas stickers I purchased from Dover Publications and pressing them onto 2in x 3in. wooden rectangles I purchased from WoodWorks Etc. I instantly had what I wanted. There are 16 pairs of paintings.

Going into this I knew my 5 year old was a worthy opponent. All parents know that the one game their kids can fairly beat them in is usually a decent game of memory.Once it was ready, (takes minutes to put together), Grace and I were off in a heated challenge. She took to it like bread on butter and fairly beat me in a 3 game match. After which she was rewarded with what we affectionately call a "tickle hug".