Great site for learning about money

I'm loving this website!

http://www.abcya.com/learning_coins.htm

Nate has been gung-ho about learning coins using this site. It's also lots of built-in math, of course.

Science experiment: pumpkins

I got this experiment idea from our charter school email list. It was perfect--easy, low maintenance, few supplies, and not too long.

 Learning About Density and forming a hypothesis

Before the experiment: Use your science book, dictionary, or the Internet to answer the following questions.
1. What is density?
2. What is weight?
3. What is a hypothesis?
4. Why do things float or sink in water?

 Objective: In this activity, students will learn about density and forming a hypothesis.

Materials for Activity:
Measuring tape
Bathroom scale
Bathtub
Water
Pumpkins of various sizes (at least 3)

Procedure:
1. Make predictions (hypothesize) of the circumference and weight and record on the data sheet. Use the measuring tape and scale to measure the circumference and weight of each of the three pumpkins and record results.
2. Based on the information you’ve gathered so far, make a prediction about whether the pumpkins will float or sink, and record the hypothesis on the data sheet.
3. Place each pumpkin in water and record results.
4. Hypothesize whether additional items (like rocks) will sink or float. Place the additional items in the water and record results.

Data (make a chart with a column for each of these areas):
Item
Hypothesis of Circumference
Actual Circumference
Hypothesis of Weight
Actual Weight
Hypothesis: Float or not
Results

Results: 
1. Were your hypotheses correct or not? ______________________________________________________
2. What did you learn about the density of pumpkins? ______________________________________________________
3. Where were the stems of the pumpkins when they were in the water? ______________________________________________________
4. Did the size of the pumpkins affect this? ______________________________________________________
5. What did you notice between the buoyancy of pumpkins and other fruits and vegetables? What is your reasoning? ______________________________________________________

Weekly planning

I created a spreadsheet for my weekly planning. Once Nate completes an assignment, I make the text green; if we didn't get to it, I put it in grey. We'll see if this system becomes too cumbersome, but so far I like keeping the detailed records in one place.

First day

Today was our first day of homeschooling, and it went very well. In fact, it went very quickly--maybe too quickly for Nate's liking. I hadn't planned too much since I wanted to ease into the new routine, but even what I had planned didn't take as long as I thought it would. Nate ended up doing two lessons from his math book (Singapore Math 1A--now we're up to Lesson 5), the first lesson in the English/grammar book (Shurley English Year 1), read one chapter from the fiction book he's reading (Boxcar Children), and completed one worksheet I created on vowels and consonants (shown below--feel free to use it). Tomorrow I'm also adding a couple of things from other subjects (we are going to make a flower/leaf press for science; begin talking about liberty and freedom before doing some U.S. history; and start learning about the instrument groups in the orchestra for music). Yay for an easy start!

Workbox system

As we are gearing up to start the school year, I got a bit more organized by implementing this basic workbox system (idea originally given to me by my friend Suzanne). (There is a whole seminar, book, etc. that goes along with this, but I'm just using the basic idea.)

Here's the idea:

I divide each day's work into small chunks. I put everything Nate needs for his first chunk into the first box: for example, a pencil, eraser, math text, and math workbook marked with which page(s) to complete. He takes the box with him to the table and completes that work. Then he puts everything back into the box, brings it back to the shelf, and puts it back on with "Done!" facing out. Then he moves on to box 2.




In box 3, I will put in a kitchen timer in addition to the box 3 work. Once he's done with the work, he can set the timer for 10 minutes of free play. Then he'll start on box 4, moving the timer down to box 6 to use it again then.

I figure some (most?) days won't fill all 12 boxes, and some days I'll put a "fun" assignment in a box. Other days, we won't be home at all. But from everything I've read, this is a very kid-friendly, mom-friendly homeschooling solution!

this is the last time i am writeting i want to go to Virginia. love nate.

First sewing project

To kick off our summer and our unofficial entry into the world of homeschooling, Nate and I completed his first sewing project today: a cover for his homeschooling binder. He picked the fabric last week, and today we made a paper pattern for how we wanted the cover to end up, measured the pattern, and then added for seam allowance to get our measurements for cutting the fabric.




This was a perfect first project, since it involved just one piece of fabric cut into a rectangle. First I had Nate sit with me and help guide the fabric while I ran the machine. Then it was his turn.




Here he is in action:



Not bad! ;)