Posted by Cindy on November 30, 2009
November proved to be a great time of the year for a rock study! We learned about rocks and minerals, life under rocks and even had great luck finding fossils in rocks.
What are fossils? They’re remains of plant or animal life from the past. As the song from Buddy Davis from Answers in Genesis goes…”billions of dead things buried in rock layers, laid down by water, all over the earth.” Finding fossils is like a treasure hunt! Here in Central KY, we don’t have to go far to find wonderful fossil examples…
The shells are easy to see, but can you find the coral in the bottom right corner?
This picture is harder to see, but there are bone-like fossils in the middle and near the bottom.
The coral is easy to see in the middle of this picture!
I’d love to see pictures of fossils you find in rocks!
Below are some of the resources we used this month. December will be focusing on Animal Signs. I may or may not put up resources in the sidebar since December is such a busy month. If not, I’ll be sure to add Conifer resources in January!
Posted by Cindy on November 25, 2009
Too many people think I have this homeschooling thing all together. Ha! Remember when I promised you a copy of the test at the end of our simple machines unit? Well, not only did I never create or give a test, I also decided to ditch a couple of the planned lessons. Why? Because life got in the way and I’m ready for Thanksgiving break! 
Here are the last things we did…
This experiment determined which of the following materials provides for the least amount of friction when placed on a piece of scrap wood. (Everybody has an art table that they simply cover most days with a pretty tablecloth, right?)
And this challenge was to design a parachute that would allow for the most friction so our “little person” could arrive safely on the ground. Neither worked! We were supposed to have bowls, but since I wasn’t prepared, we tried to design our own. See, I’m tellin’ ya, that it’s not all peaches around here!
I think I’ll just quietly add the resources that have been in the sidebar and put simple machines behind us. We’ll get around to it again in four years, right??
Simple Machines
Simple Machine Lessons
Many Simple Machine Lessons and Units
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
Posted by Cindy on November 23, 2009
Our farm has a rich 1800′s history. And considering the arrowheads we find occasionally, probably a lot of prior history as well.
I’ve told you before about how we find 19th and 20th century garbage as we plow the garden every year. Near the garden spot once stood a large red brick home with a rock foundation, several fireplaces, a stately staircase and amazing trim work. The bricks were handmade from the clay on the farm – maybe by slaves, maybe by paid help? There was a basement with two small rooms with one window in each room, rock walls and a small fireplace for heat. These were undoubtedly quarters for some sort of house help.
Sadly, by the time we moved onto the farm, the once majestic show house was in far too desperate shape to save. This picture is actually the Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington. Although the house on our farm was not this majestic, it at least gives you an idea of the style since we never took a good picture of it before it’s demise. Shame on us!
As we tore down the house, we saved as many things as possible. The stone foundation became our fireplace and the poplar floor joists became our flooring. Many of the other materials like doors, fireplace mantles, windows and even the bricks have been sold to people who are reusing them in loving projects. We’ve saved some of those architectural pieces for ourselves (if we ever get around to doing interesting projects again.)
After reading a little of the history, I know you’ll find it just as exciting as me that there are remnants of a rock wall on the back of the farm. History claims that the rock walls in this area were built by migrant Irish workers who came to America because of the Irish Potato Famine. I’m just in awe every time I go back to see this wall that was built by such strong and courageous people so many years ago. Even if the rock wall has mostly been washed away and I’m only able to treasure about 20 feet of it!
Two other interesting historical finds on our farm and a neighboring farm…
A rock root cellar – the entrance is nearly caved-in.
A horse-drawn farm wagon that sadly sits below the ruble of a fallen barn.
I love learning the history of our farm, town, county and state. Just a little research will lead you to so many wonderful field trips, classes and other opportunities to learn about the history in your backyard!
Posted by Cindy on November 17, 2009
We started our short and sweet simple machines study yesterday. As an introduction to simple machines and for self-discovery of how machines work, I set up some little centers. The kiddos had to visit each center and complete a few thought-provoking questions about what they learned. Afterward, we talked about each machine type more thoroughly and thought about when, where and how we use simple/complex machines daily.
Center #1 – Levers
- We practiced using several levers like hammers (both ends) , can openers, bottle openers, nut crackers and paint can openers.
- We also experimented with the fulcrum of a lever placed in different spots to see at which point the lever was easiest to move and how much work the lever was able to do at each point.
Center #2 – Wedges
- We had a nail with a sharp end (wedge) and a nail with a blunt end and tried hammering both to see which wedge was easier to go through the wood.
Center #3 – Inclined Plane
- Using a stack of books with string tied around them, we pulled them up a simple ramp made from a piece of scrap wood, then we pulled the stack straight up into the air. Since we don’t own a spring scale, we tied a rubber band to the string and measured the stretch for each of the attempts to get the books to a certain level. Upon seeing that the rubber band didn’t stretch as far when the books were pulled up the ramp, we concluded that less force was necessary using the inclined plane as compared to pulling the books straight up. (Make sense??)
- Inclined planes were further studied as we took two screws – one with threads very close together and one with threads far apart – and noticed how many turns it took to get each in the wood. More turns were required for the closer threaded screw, but the job was much easier than the screw with threads far apart.
Center #4 – Wheel and Axle (along with Pulleys and Gears)
- Using the same rubber band trick as mentioned above, we determined whether or not less force was required to pull a piece of wood using wheels.
- For gears, we pulled out the gear set we have in our toy closet and closely observed how they work.
- For pulleys, we simply talked about how they work. My children are around pulleys all the time on the farm, so they were pretty familiar with their function. As a side note, you can find inexpensive pulleys for experiments at a tractor/farm supply store.
I had a discovery booklet made up with leading questions for each of the centers. Since I used so many ideas and clip art from various books I have around the house, I don’t feel comfortable placing the booklet on Homeschool Share. I will, however, plan to post the test I give at the end of the week. I’ll let you know when it’s up.
Posted by Cindy on November 13, 2009
I can’t believe we’ve knocked another unit out! I was somewhat dreading this unit because the topic seemed rather dry and dull, but I was in for a pleasant surprise once we dove in!!
The A Journey Through Learning lapbook was an outstanding spine. I had never used one of their lapbooks before, but it won’t be the last one! It was put together in a very organized, simple to implement way – refreshing!!
We also completed some of our own inventions using ideas from the Teacher Created Materials Inventions book. (You can find links to the books I’m mentioning below.) The kids LOVED creating their own inventions. I’ve put together a little slideshow of our lapbooks and inventions….
Below is the list of resources that have been in the sidebar. We read a few more great books from the library, too…Lights Out
,So You Want to Be An Inventor?
, I Is for Idea: An Inventions Alphabet, The Berenstain Bears Fly-It! Up, Up, and Away!
Inventors and Inventions
Lesson Idea Links from The Homeschool Mom
Lots of Links from About.com
Next stop, Simple Machines! You can find the resources for that unit in the sidebar very soon.
