Fun Fridays are Back

We have not done Fun Fridays, in a very long time.  We are halfway through our school year, and I decided we could do Fun Fridays.  What is Fun Friday?  Well, if we are not doing a field trip, it means we are doing some more fun and leisurely assignments at home.  I like it to be creative, and also to get some things done that maybe there isn't enough time for during the week, like DJ walking to the Barber to get his hair cut, lol.  It also gives us time to do experiments, and research.  DJ has to do labs for Biology, and since some of the Marine Biology experiments fit Biology, and didn't get done last year, we are doing them this year.  Once my roses have some nice buds on them, we are going to do a Hybrid experiment.  I will share all that, when we do it.  Yesterday, we did an experiment for Annelids, it was real simple, but they got the right idea.

DJ's Art project, he has two, both have to do with the upcoming 4H fair.  He is doing a cover design, and a wood burning project.  Caitlin will be making a matching painted paw print shirt, to go with her pants, for the fair, and she still has to pick a photograph.  Speaking of photographs we saw our first Monarch caterpillar of the year, this week, and it made a chrysalis already.  So, we will be watching that.  I told Caitlin if she wanted to do Art on Fun Friday, that she had to pick an artist she wanted to study, and learn about.  She chose Robert Bateman Wildlife Artist.  She drew, and then used colored pencils to complete her first remake of his Lynx painting.  He really does beautiful work.  She will have to do writing assignments, along with art for her projects. 

The new SAT, is interesting, lol.  There are actually five sections, with the essay writing now optional.  I don't know why anyone would not do that part.  Even if you got a low score, it will still boost your overall score.  DJ is very strong in writing, so it will work well for him.  We took a practice SAT, full exam, he took the old version at the end of last summer.  We did not do the essay part, because it is self graded, right now, until it goes live in March.  He actually improved quite a bit on the Reading, which was already pretty good, and the Math, which is his weakest are, he improved 30 points.  Heads up there is a lot of Geometry.  So, if you have not started Geometry yet, which we had not, you might want to.  So, for now Business Math will be awarded to him a half credit, he started Geometry, and will work through the rest of this year on that, and finishing up Algebra 1.  That way when he takes the actual SAT, at the end of this school year, hopefully we will get a real good idea of where he is.  He will be at the end of 10th grade.  The SAT, can be taken as many times as you want to pay for it.  Colleges only get the highest score you get.  So, there is always room for improvement. 

Properties of Sand and Horseshoe Crabs Field Trip to Cedar Key

Today was our last Earth Kids meeting, for this school year. Next year, I have made some changes. Most lessons and activities will be online on Facebook, and once in a while a field trip. I have many reasons for making this decision.

Today, we headed out to Cedar Key, a tiny resort town on the Gulf about an hour from our home. The weather was breezy and warm, then the breeze left and it was just hot, lol. We studied Horseshoe Crabs, which surprisingly we did not see any. We always see Horseshoe Crabs at Cedar Key. The tide was coming in when we got there, and usually we are there at low tide, so that might have something to do with it. The kids also did an experiment on the properties of sand. That was very interesting. It was to complete DJ's Marine Biology project book, for 4H, but I decided to make it a group project too. Then the kids get to chill, swim, look for shells, or just walk the beach. Another thing we found, that we have never found at Cedar Key, are small perfectly polished and smooth white rocks. We have been to Cedar Key lots of times and never seen these particular type of rocks there.

All in all it was a beautiful day.

2nd Chrysalis Hatched and A New Week

The second Monarch chrysalis has hatched and will be ready for release tomorrow.  The first one didn't want to leave.  We took it outside and it just sat there.  So, we put it on a flower, and it just sat there, for hours.  It was gonna get cold again that night, so we brought it back in the house.  Three days later and it was ready to go.  Our Milkweed plants suffered great damage from the freezing temps, so I hope they can come back when it warms up. 

Last week, due to some illness and events of life, we did not do a ton of school, but we will get back on track this week.  Actually this week, is a week of more life learning, than textbook learning.  We need to prepare for County Events, which is next Sat, for 4H.  Then on Tues we have our Earth Kids meeting that had to be delayed twice in Jan, grocery shopping, and the Medieval Fair is on Friday.  It is finally supposed to warm up just in time for the Fair.  So, this week won't be a lot of textbook work.  We are planning a vacation later in the year, so the Medieval Fair will be the last field trip probably for this year.  We need to save a lot of money, plus much needed house repairs have to be done this year.  So, field trips, and paid trips will be rare.  We will be doing a monthly trail walk and picnic to local springs, but they are cheap to get into.

A Separate Peace, Romeo and Juliet, Martin Luther King Jr, and the Winter Olympics

Our school week was shortened, due to one of the kids feeling ill yesterday.  Today, DJ and I will be watching, A Separate Peace, then Math and Spelling.  Caitlin will finish her next friendly letter, Math, Science, Reading and Spelling.  Our Earth Kids meeting was postponed, for today, due to a scheduling conflict. 

Next week, we are switching things up a bit.  Monday we are taking a field trip, our final visit to Bush Gardens.  Then we start a Martin Luther King Jr, unit study, and our new Geography game, which we only got in once this week.  Learning via games is especially fun, and a nice way to learn.  If you missed the states Geography game post, you can find it in my archives.  I will have the virtual states up soon.  I am about halfway through with that.  We won't start that, until the kids have mastered the Geography part of the game.  DJ, and I, will also begin reading Romeo and Juliet next week.  We will read, and also listen to the book.  I chose this method, because sometimes Shakespeare is hard to understand.  I read Romeo and Juliet in high school, but that was a real long time ago.  Over the weekend I will share all the links to all these, and some Winter Olympics lessons too.  Feb will be a different month for us.  We will get in as much as we can, plus do Olympics studies as well. 

The end of this second grading period is Jan 31st which is also the date of the Medieval Fair.  Boy, that is a busy weekend, but more on that later.