09.23.06
Posted in Books at 11:10 am by Meg
Study questions.
Short Answers
- What 4 things do all insects have?
- Are all bees the same?
- What are some social insects?
- What do some people need to have in case of bee stings?
- What do guard bees do?
- What do bees collect from the flowers?
- How do bees help the flowers?
- What are pheromones?
- What are the 3 types of bees in a honeybee hive?
- Why do bees “dance”?
- How do bees make combs?
- How do bees make honey?
- What makes the queen special?
- What does metamorphosis mean?
- What happens when there are more than 2 queens in a hive?
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09.22.06
Posted in Books at 11:09 am by Meg
Study questions.
True or False
If it is false, please explain why.
1. Plant roots eat hamburgers and French fries.
2. About ½ of your body is water.
3. Water can be found only as a solid and liquid in nature.
4. When something evaporates it changes from a solid to a liquid.
5. Since it’s closer to the sun, when you rise up in the air it becomes warmer.
6. When water evaporates it is gone forever.
7. Most water is fresh and drinkable.
8. If water looks clear, I can drink it.
9. A lot of water is lost through leaks in water systems.
Short Answers
10. Where does the water we drink come from? Mountain reservoir, river, lakes or wells
11. What is a reservoir?
12. Is purified water drinkable?
13. What are impurities?
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09.21.06
Posted in Books at 11:09 am by Meg
Study questions.
True or False
If false, explain how to make it true.
- ______The solar system is only the sun and the nine planets.
- ______The orbit of a planet is always changing.
- ______Spaceships need rockets to get away from the earth’s pull.
- ______Larger planets usually have less gravity.
- ______It’s hard to move around in space.
- ______The moon is very bright and warm like the sun because it’s burning like the sun.
- ______The moon does not orbit the sun.
- ______Our sun is different than the stars we see in the sky.
- ______The sun is smaller than the earth.
- ______The heat from the sun heats all the planets, even far off Pluto.
- ______Venus is completely covered in fluffy white clouds like on earth.
- ______The clouds keep it cool on Venus with many rainstorms.
- ______The channels in the ground on Mars may have been rivers in the past, but there is no liquid water now.
- ______Mars is gray from all the dust on it.
- ______Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are not very close to the sun.
- ______There isn’t anything in between all the planets.
- ______Jupiter has a large red spot on its surface caused by a huge storm.
- ______Saturn’s rings are solid, like a hula-hoop around it.
- ______Uranus is tipped over on its side.
- ______Pluto used to be a moon.
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Posted in Books at 11:09 am by Meg
I just recently had a friend ask me for these, so as I pulled them up to print, I dumped them into draft posts. I thought they might be handy for someone else, so I’m sharing them.
I developed these sheets when Girl was little. I wanted to have her doing something that was science oriented, but didn’t want it to be very formal. She enjoyed the books and we would discuss them after she had read each one.
These sheets were meant as a guide for our discussions and not as an assigned worksheet. Our talks would often get sidetracked into tangents, but it did give me a way to make sure we had covered any main points.
BTW, these are from the orginal series of books by Joanna Cole and not all the knock-offs that came out later.
I’ll have them set up to post one a day for the next few days.
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09.20.06
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 12:43 pm by Meg
or HOT Fest! - A new secular conference for homeschooled teens aged 13 to 19.
I wish I had looked at a calendar before I suggested to Boy that he might want to go. It’s a Sunday, and while that wouldn’t be a problem for us, it’s also the day of the all-important parents’ meeting before he starts drivers’ ed the next night. Now we’ll have to see what will work.
‘Cause this looks right his alley. Here’s the schedule for the afternoon:
1:00 Registration
1:15-2:00 Ice Breaker Games
2:00 - 6:00 Activities - role playing, sword play, video games, card and board games, crafts (chain maille), physical activities (dodge ball, etc.), dance instruction (hip hop, etc)
6:00 - 7:00 Italian Dinner Buffet - Italian beef, vegetarian mostaccioli, coleslaw, garden salad, rolls, soup, cookies, coffee, tea, and sodas
7:00 - 9:00 Supervised Waterpark or Continued Activities
9:00 - Midnight - Dance with a DJ
The girls could play in the waterpark all day (though I expect Girl will be trying to claim another year older so she can go.)
so, drivers’ ed on one hand or play with other homeschoolers on the other. hmmm
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09.18.06
Posted in Books at 10:15 am by Meg
Here’s the top ten challenged books of 2005:
- “It’s Perfectly Normal” for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;
- “Forever” by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;
- “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
- “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
- “Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;
- “Detour for Emmy” by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;
- “What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;
- Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
- “Crazy Lady!” by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language; and
- “It’s So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.
Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the Alice series of books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.
According to Judith F. Krug, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five likely remain unreported.
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 405 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. The majority of challenges are reported by public libraries, schools and school libraries.
I find it more interesting to see what’s no longer on the list, rather than what is. But it still amazes me that people are motivated enough to make a written challenge. Can’t they just pay attention to what their own kids are reading?
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09.13.06
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 12:52 pm by Meg
I occasionally have friends ask me ‘But what do you do for you?’ and it always stops me. It shouldn’t, but it always seems to imply that I should not get anything out of the stuff that I do with the kids and for our family.
When it comes from non-homeschooling friends (like it did the other day) I realize that it, in part, comes from no appreciation of what homeschooling is and how it happens. But I’ve also had a couple of homeschooling friends throw that one at me, and for them, I’m at a loss how to answer.
Maybe I’m weird, but I’m learning and relearning stuff right along with the kids and even though Girl is using some of the same materials that Boy has used, I’m still making connections and picking up things that I missed the first (my schooling) and second time around. And on top of the ‘expected’ things, there are the directions that they lead me that I never would have gone myself.
One of the more obvious things right now is foreign languages. We’ve studied French now for a few years. I’m learning it with the kids, and while I’m sure I’ll never be truly fluent in it, I was able to go to a French website the other day and read it. Girl’s interest has also introduced me to Russian and now Japanese. Two languages that are so different, but I’m slowly acquiring them. It may not be something that I would do just for myself, but I’m enjoy having some understanding.
And all this leads me to the point of this post. This past week has been seen us dabbling in ‘new’ things and some of it has made me think about that innocent question.
First, it was the Shakespearean Drama class that Boy really wants. (Though we actually have had 2 classes at this point.) I’ve never taught drama, and while my parents started taking us to the university’s drama department’s performances while I was still in elementary school and I was in my high school’s drama club and active in the senior class play; I’ve never ’studied’ drama. (From drama club, I found out that I couldn’t act, but enjoyed working back stage.)
For Shakespeare, I studied the bare minimum in high school (maybe 3?). Though I enjoy seeing his plays on stage and have gone to the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, seen the free preformances in the park in Buffalo, and had tickets for the Rhode Island Shakespeare company while we were in Providence. I’m not a ‘Shakespeare Nut’ that knows all the plays and can recite lines from memory.
So, here I am leading more than a dozen kids through exercises using Shakespeare as a focus (mostly because if we actually stage one, the set can be minimal, and modern) and realizing that I’m loving it.
Boy asked me to do it. Does that mean that it doesn’t answer the ‘But what do you do for you?’ qestion? I’m getting just as much out of it. Food for thought.
And other new things:
Second - Girl had her first riding lesson. It didn’t go the best. She had trouble gripping with her knees and pointing her toes forward (too many years of dance probably) She ended up gripping with her lower leg, which goosed the horse (she was probably too sensitive for, at least, this beginning rider) and caused much too much miscommunication between them. I had already set up a second lesson, believing that only a single lesson isn’t a real chance to check it out. But Girls knows that it is either riding or dance (and not both) and I think she’s going to go back to dancing. The instructor wants to put her on a different horse next week, so I’m sure it will go better, but I expect that it is back to the dance studio after that. At least it will be warm and dry.
Third - I’m singing again. When you’re not part of a church it’s hard to find a choir to sing with. This area is big on barbershop, but I sang that years ago (before we were married) and while it was fun, I really didn’t want to do that again. I really don’t feel like I’m ‘good’ enough to sing with the formal choir at the state university, but I have missed it.
I had heard that the cooperative extension (4H) had a woman’s choir and I decided that if I’m not dancing this year because of my aging knees, I’m going to give it a try. Monday was our first practice, and I’m so happy that I didn’t chicken out. I know I was way off pitch as we sightread the music (I sing alto and so didn’t have the melody very much), but it was a great feeling.
Okay, that will work as answer to the question.
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09.11.06
Posted in Scholarships, Contests, Reading programs and the like, Books at 11:10 am by Meg
Complete entry form
READ. BE INSPIRED. WRITE BACK.
Author Roald Dahl once said that writing a book was like taking a journey. You knew where you wanted to go but you didn’t always know who you might meet or what you might experience along the way. Reading a book is also a journey. Where has a book taken YOU?
Have you wandered with J. D. Salinger through lonely streets in New York City? Did you trek back in time with Stephen Crane to crouch on a Civil War battlefield and understand, perhaps for the first time, fear? Maybe you stopped in the woods on a snowy evening with Robert Frost. Maybe your favorite voyage was to a fantastic place that exists only between the pages of book at 451degrees Fahrenheit!
LAL welcomes entries from all readers travelers! How can you enter? Select a book that took you on a surprising or inspiring journey. It might be a recent journey or one you remember from your childhood. Then write a personal letter to the author, explaining how
his or her work somehow changed your view of the world or yourself.
Do not summarize the book’s plot. After all, the author wrote the book and already knows what happened. What the author doesn¹t know is how the book affected YOU. Write honestly and in your own voice, as if you were having a conversation with the author. Those are the best letters to read and the most fun to write! The how-to-enter tips on the next page will help you write and prepare your letter for submission.
There are three competition levels, each based on grade level, starting with 4th graders.
STATE AWARDS
Judges for each participating state center for the book will select the top letters on each competition level to receive recognition. First-place winners will receive a cash award and a $50 Target GiftCard. The first-place winners in each state will then advance for national judging.
NATIONAL AWARDS
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select two letters on each competition level as National Winners. Target will send these six national winners and their (2) parents/guardians to Washington, DC, to attend the National Book Festival in Fall 2007 where they will read their letters during the Letters About Literature national awards presentation. Each national winner will also receive a $500 Target GiftCard.
DEADLINE
Submit your letters by December 8, 2006. State centers for the book will notify state winners in mid-March 2007 and national winners in mid-May 2007.
CONTACT
To receive via Email free teaching materials, including lesson plans,
blackline masters, assessment sheets and sample letters, contact the LAL national program director at: lettersaboutlit@epix.net
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