Monday Musings... Blogging Blues...

I was just reading a post by a friend, and it got me thinking. Am I a total flake? I know we jump all over the place with what we're using/studying/learning about. And looking over my own blog for the year, yes, I feel flaky.

I think I need to change things up a bit here... no more "I think we're going to try this, or use that" posts. And for a while, I don't think I'll bother with end of the week reports, which have been a drag to write lately anyhow, since they seem so mundane and somewhat repetitive. Instead I think I'll focus on what we are doing, what we are accomplishing... the things we're having fun with, and of course, the occasional struggle.

So, that said, here are some highlights from yesterday's homeschooling!

I bumped The Girl up another book in the Explode the Code series, even though we are nowhere near done with the last one. Why? Because at this point, it was all review, and she needs to keep moving forward. More than that, she is ready to move forward, so we are, at long, looooong last, tackling long vowel sounds. Phew!

Image courtesy of City Talk morning paper

We loved reading about the similarities in chimpanzees and humans in The Early Human World. The Girl says this is her "favorite history book ever!" and The Boy loves many things about it: it explains the roots of words like anthropology, paleontology, and much more; the sidebar bits about people like Jane Goodall and Charles Darwin; and he says he is "learning a lot!"


We also had fun with Life of Fred, both Apples and Fractions. The Boy only missed 4 out of 16 words in his spelling pre-test, and then he wrote some very silly sentences for nouns in Writing Skills.

And some other highlights from the day:

image courtesy of cookinggodsway.com

The Girl helped me make some delicious whole-grain blueberry-banana muffins for today's breakfast. She is getting very confident with measuring! M said they are so good that they don't even need butter, and from him, that's a huge compliment, considering he would butter everything if he could... which reminds me of a Simpsons clip...

image courtesy of google images

  "You butter that bacon, boy!" (as ordered by Homer Simpson)

We also spent a good hour or so working out in the front yard, deadheading all the plants now that fall is really here, prepping for the winter. We need to start picking our olives soon too - there are many ripe ones already! We're going to use a regular Greek brining technique for half, and do a dry salt cure with the rest. The Girl picked all the last of the French lavender for sachets, and The Boy hauled the wheelbarrow full of chopped-down plants back and forth to the compost heap.

I also made roasted eggplant for soup (and plan to finish making the soup today), and got a chicken bone broth going in the crockpot for tonight's chicken-barley-veggie soup. Definitely soup/stew/chili season here!

image courtesy of allseasoncyclists

The Boy is designing a scooter for himself, with a little input from M. They have plans afoot to head off to the recycle station at the county dump for parts. They're also working on rebuilding a bike that someone gave us, as The Boy (now 5' 3 1/2"!!!) has outgrown his old bicycle.

So all in all, it was a good and productive day. Hoping for a few more of those this week!

Sunday Smatterings... Physics First?

The Boy has a deep interest in physics, an interest we have not explored nearly enough. In all my recent research, I keep coming across the same idea... that a study of physics should precede studies of biology and chemistry, rather than occupying last place in a student's science rotation.

Why? (the following is excerpted from Reasons to Teach Physics Before Biology and Chemistry)

• Physics is a more concrete science that encourages exploration and improves oral and written communication skills. (source)

• Students who take physics first are more likely to continue in science, enrolling in rigorous levels of chemistry and biology. (source)

• "In studying physics, students study algebra simultaneously, motivating them with a sense of the power of mathematics." (source)

• "Physics begins with everyday phenomena requiring few new words: motion, velocity, acceleration, falling objects, a sense of gravity as a force, and some new concepts, e.g. mass, momentum, and energy, but with crisp definitions." (source)

Of course, much of this is in reference to high school aged students, which I don't have... yet. But why not physics first for a middle school student? The Well Trained Mind advocates a 4 year cycle: biology; earth/space; chemistry; physics. I am looking at turning this on its head, more or less: physics, then chemistry, followed by biology and anatomy, and then earth/space.

Of course there is, conversely, the idea of intertwining the threads of science, which is posited in Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, a book I dearly love, but have yet to implement well. I was actually just looking over my flow charts for volumes 1-2, and though about trying to rearrange them so that we immerse ourselves a little more in each thread/topic, rather than skipping around. Hmmmm.....

I think for now, we'll work through this book (which has some chemistry too - bonus!)...

And I may add in some information from this, which happens to be one of The Boy's all time favorite books...

We'll give the "Physics First" argument a good trial, and then go from there!