Learning about Leaves

Cool, crisp mornings,
Warm, sun-kissed afternoons,
The taste of pumpkin, the scent of spice,
And bright colored leaves dancing in the branches...

It must be Fall.

This week my children and I studied leaves.

We went for a walk and collected leaves.

We made leaf rubbings and leaf bookmarks...
and today we read the book, Why Do Leaves Change Color, written by Betsy Maestro.

Then I gave my son this test to reinforce what he learned as we read the book together.

You are welcome to use the test for your own personal educational purposes.
You may not redistribute it or use it for any commercial purpose.

Here is the answer key.

Happy Autumn!

Learning with Dad

My husband and I determined early on that I am not qualified to teach our kids science unsupervised. I think we realized this one day when we had a discussion about thunder and lightning. Let's just say the look on my husband's face was priceless; it was one of those, "I would like to think you are kidding...but I know you're not" sort of looks. He was baffled by my scientific intelligence - or lack thereof.

There is a responsibility, I think, in choosing to home school, to asses our own academic strengths and weaknesses and to recognize when we are unable to adequately teach a subject on our own and could use a little [or a lot of] help. At that point there are a variety of options; rely on a curriculum, find a tutor, join with other home school parents and help each other out.

Thankfully, my husband was always very interested in science and applied himself to studying it in school. So, when it comes to all things biological, chemical or otherwise over my head...he picks up the slack and does an excellent job of it! This is important, especially since our son, like his father, has lots of scientific questions, and enjoys learning about the whys and what's of the world around him. Some questions I can answer...others, well, to be honest, I've never even considered before. I realize that I just take many things for granted. For instance: why does water boil? My answer: "Uh, cuz it gets hot?" Der.

I'd never really thought about it. It just does.

I'm really glad that other people think about things differently than I do and have noticed and taken the time to study these kinds of questions...and find some answers.

My husband is back in school and often shares with me information he is learning in his classes. As an adult, I have a whole new appreciation for science. As a believer in God, I have an even greater appreciation for the amazing and intricate details of life, and the mysteries we still have yet to uncover.

However, my appreciation for it and ability to teach it are not equal.

So...

My husband has done a few projects with our kids over the last few weeks.

They made a volcano...
[I lost the pictures of their eruptions though...sad!]

They planted a garden:

[I watched. I also kill plants...not intentionally...but inevitably, they always end up dying in my care.]

 These are cacti they planted last year...

And here are their little plants beginning to grow!

A Garden in January

At any given moment, my daughter views life in one of two seasons. It is either a "grass time" or "snow time".  Although it is still January, there is not much snow on the ground right now...just patches of accumulated drifts or plow piles here and there that have all but dwindled entirely. 

With melting snow comes excitement and anticipation of the looming springtime.  [Or "grass time", as my sweet girl would say...] And my children have begun preparing for warmer weather. 

This is our paper garden:

Our paper garden, from left to right they planted: apples, watermelon, cauliflower, cantaloupe, bananas, and broccoli.

Complete with a variety of fruits and vegetables, this little plot has yielded many a crop to my imaginative little ones.  Occasionally I am offered a half a watermelon, or maybe a head of cauliflower.  A tiny hand extends to me what would appear to be nothing, but is indeed a very thoughtful gift, and I bend down and nibble the invisible food "Mmmm"-ing and "Ahhhhh"-ing until those innocent faces are beaming with pride.  I can hardly wait to see their excitement when we plant our real seeds this "grass time"! 

My son used a ruler to draw rows to plant his harvest in.  He chose which plants to sow and cut out his own shapes from construction paper, and then glued his plants in the rows. 

After each row was "planted", he created a dimensional label for that row, marking what food had been planted there. 

So, if you need a project to keep your little ones busy while they are cooped up in "snow time"...maybe try planting a paper garden and have some fun pretending its "grass time".

Meet Helen & Henry

We have houseguests...

well...sort of.

[Be warned...you may want to skip this post if you are squeamish about creepy crawlies.]

Meet Helen...

...and Henry...

...our "pet" spiders. 

They are really more like captured invaders with a doomed fate...but I call them pets for the kids sake.  Ha! 

I found Helen dangling from the ceiling in the stairway as I was descending the stairs into our living room...eeeeeek!!! Mid-air spiders are quite unwelcome around here! Since she had a bulb shape and I was unsure of what type of spider she was, I decided I must capture her and find out.  Of course she showed up midday while my husband was away at work - boo - so I grabbed a pair of rubber gloves and the nearest jar and with trembling hands I bravely faced the threatening intruder. [See what a big baby I am?!]

Helen

 Helen is a much bigger spider than Henry.  I found Henry shortly after Helen had been captured.  Henry was playing dead on a plastic storage bin...I almost just brushed him off, sure he was long gone...but my wimpy-ness won over and I shook the bin a bit just to be sure.  I'm glad I did, because he was very much alive after all!  So I grabbed Helen's jar and with a burst of adrenaline, opened the top and scooped Henry into the jar with her.  Then I watched...wondering if they would get along or fight or notice one another.

Helen, who had given up hopes of escaping a few hours earlier, sat docile...entirely unconcerned with the new visitor - even as he scurried around trying to climb the glass, and sliding into her much larger frame.  Helen would just shift her legs around and turn her back to him and continue to stare longingly out the glass wall.  Henry was far more determined to free himself than she had been.  Henry began almost immediately to construct a web...and once Helen noticed, she seemed to become excited by the commotion and began to climb Henry's web too. 

Helen was named after the spider in

Margaret Bloy Graham's book, Be Nice to Spiders.

Henry was named to sound nice with Helen.

[Deep...I know....ha!]

After quite some investigation, J. and I determined that our little "friends" appeared to be of the Steatoda triangulosa family.

[like this guy...whose photographer took a much clearer image of him that I was able to with Helen & Henry...]

from eurospiders.com

From what I gathered, they are also called "False Widow Spiders", since their shape is very much like that of the famous Black Widow...or the lesser known Brown Widow spiders. 

So...my mind was put to ease a bit...and the kids have had a great time watching their - uh - "pets".  They have even "had dinner" with us. [Gross.] Now my big dilemma is how to dispose of them.  I'm afraid to even open the jar...

Oh well, maybe we will study them a bit longer.

[Ps - you can click on my images to see a larger view of our spiders...if you are brave enough...bwahahaha!]

Henry

Helen

Henry

[My husband advised that next time we don't name our captives. Good plan.]

Scarecrows, Pinecones and Pretty Handwriting

Here are a few photos of the Draw Write Now pages my 5 year old has been working on over the past several weeks.

a goose

pinecone

scarecrow [my personal favorite]

See...isn't he cute?!  :)

squirrel

Okay, so to be honest, this squirrel creeps me out just a little.  On the flip side, his handwriting is beautiful!  [We do need to work on the punctuation though.]

Crayola Coloring Pages

Alright...I have discovered a new favorite site.  [Ok, well, it's probably not my MOST favorite, but I'm pretty-much excited I found it.] 

 Crayola.  

Why did I not think to visit there before?  Silly me.  All you other moms are probably thinking, "Get with the program, woman!"  BUT...if you are like me and are usually one step behind, then maybe you will appreciate this post. 

Crayola.com offers over 1,000 free coloring pages to print.  You can also color them online.  [Their online coloring is actually kind of fun to play with].  In addition, students can design their own coloring pages to print.  AND...they add new images every month...supposedly.  I haven't known about the site long enough to investigate this, but I've been checking back often in hopes of finding more fun pages!

What I'm really excited about is that many of their pages are educational... 

They provide pages on Presidents of the United States, and Canadian Prime Ministers.

George Washington & Sir Mackenzie Bowell

I found pages with information about each state and images of the state flag and state birds, or flowers to color; as well as flashcards with the state outlines and capitals, along with other facts about each state.

Illinois coloring page & Illinois flashcard

AND, similar pages for nearly 200 different nations!

You probably can't see it, but the USA flag is a "color by number" drawing.

They also provide a world map of the 7 continents to complete and color.  Along with several pages of historical or famous geographic sites.

You can print out activity pages about Lewis & Clark, Charles Lindbergh, and other famous people.

Need an activity for anatomy? 

How about a diagram of the human eye, heart, organs, skeleton or cell?  

Hey - great news!  You can find them here.

[Can you tell I had fun finding all of these?]

I know it's not all 2 year old material here...but they also had lots of coloring pages for a younger age group too.

Some of my favorites are the "complete the picture" pages.  I love that the child's creativity is encouraged with many of the coloring pages Crayola provides on their site.

Stock the Grocery Store...

Create an invention...

Draw the creatures and plants that live in the water.

They have several math and numbers worksheets.  Like this one:

I found many cultural and historical activity pages.  These show your student how to make a sled dog mobile and a Viking ship and a Chinese lantern.

Crayola offers pages for every letter of the alphabet, with pictures to color that begin with that letter, and ideas of activities parents and teachers can do with students to help reinforce what they are learning.  Here is the "A" page:

Additionally, you can print handwriting practice sheets for both printing and cursive.

And they have lots and lots of just for fun pictures, many of which could be easily incorporated into a topical study...like a butterfly mask, when you're studying insects.  And they have several mini books to print, fold and color.   This book is about rhymes:

 You can find various charts, like this calendar template.

Your child might enjoy color by number pages, or dot to dot worksheets; word searches or other games, like shape and travel bingo. 

But one of our personal favorites:

...stand up animals.

My son made every single one they offered.  He loved it! 

[And my daughter even helped color the turtle.]

We made an alligator,

A cow,

A giraffe,

A horse,

A tiger,

And a turtle.

Here is an example of what these activity pages look like:

Now, go explore for yourself and find something creative to do with your kiddos.  :)