NEW School Desks

We've been experimenting with different desks that we have in the house to use for school.  Now that Lilly is a 'serious student' this is a more important piece to the puzzle.  Criteria: good working space, appropriate height, drawers/storage, and fits well in our front/office/school room.  While browsing in IKEA a couple of times, a desk (x2) has caught my eye.  I told Matt I would earn some money to pay for the desks and then I could get them when I was in Tempe for Micah's BizTown activities.  Throughout the last month I have sold some furniture items on Craigslist, gotten a birthday gift card, and organized the garage for an upcoming yard sale.  With all of that - I had enough by Monday October 21st - yesterday.  They were built and set up by this morning!  Hooray!!!!  There will be lots of learning, creating, and discussing going on at these desks.  (A special thanks to Dave & Julie Rich for my IKEA gift card.)

Energy

Today for science we learned about energy - what makes things go.  Other key words were:  force, push, pull, and gravity.  Within our examples we talked about, and made, windmills.  We got some instructions from "Aunt Annie", and then experimented with them.  Micah & Lilly put them in front of the fan, rotating them to see if it mattered what direction the wind came from.  Then they ran down the hall, took put his on his bike and Lilly put hers on her scooter.  Those windmills were turning fast!!

Spirit Bear

We found the movie 'Spirit Bear' at the library and watched it this weekend.
Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story is a 2005 independent Canadian film based on the real life campaign by Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson to save the habitat of the Kermode bear.  A great story of a young boy's perseverance, the Native American history of the bear, and friendship.
We then went online to research more about it and what's happening today.

The Moffats



Our second audio book, in the car, was the Moffats by Eleanor Estes in 1941.  While talking with a literary friend we found out there are more to this series.  Hooray!  This sweet little family is a paradigm of old-fashioned family fun. Four children and a hard-working widowed mother live together on New Dollar Street in the village of Cranbury. Their seemingly quiet lives are studded with almost daily unexpected adventures, with droll results.

Synopsis:
Meet the Moffats. There is Sylvie, the oldest, the cleverest, and-most days at least-the responsible one; Joey, who though only twelve is the man of the house...sometimes; Janey, who has a terrific upside-down way of looking at the world; and Rufus, who may be the littlest but always gets in the biggest trouble.
Even the most ordinary Moffat day is packed with extraordinary fun. Only a Moffat could get locked in a bread box all afternoon, or dance with a dog in front of the whole town, or hitch a ride on a boxcar during kindergarten recess. And only a Moffat could turn mistakes and mischief into hilarious one-of-a-kind adventure.

Nature Walk

We have been studying plants, their parts, and the jobs God gave them.  While Micah was beginning football practice, Lilly and I went on a nature walk.  We spotted varieties of trees and bushes, collected leaves, and seeds.  On the back side of the park we saw an owl in a tree.  Oh, it was an amazing sight.  (Lilly had Nibbles in her hands and we stood very careful so the owl wouldn't think Nibbles was real.)  We didn't have a camera, but Lilly said "wow mom, God gave us a Falcon, a butterfly, and now an owl.  Isn't that cool?"  Here are some pictures of a few of our plant finds.

Jamestown & Pocahontas

We spent some extra time on Captain John Smith and his influence with the settlement of Jamestown, named after King James, and his friendship with Pocahontas.  A favorite fact:  Pocahontas is a nickname from her father meaning "naughty one", when she was baptized in England they named her Rebecca.  (Lilly loved this!)  Lilly is our Rebecca/Pocahontas.  hehe!
Micah read The True Story of Pocahontas by Lucille Recht Penner and I read What's So Great About ...? Pocahontas by Susan Sales Harkins & William H. Harkins.

We are now beginning Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla.  This will transition us into our week of Native Americans.  He also meets Captain John Smith.

Sailing the seas

For two weeks we have been learning the dates & routes of various 'early explorers' - from Leif Ericsson 'the Viking' to Henry Hudson from England.  In between were Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Ponce de Leon, Hernando de Soto, Ferdinand Magellan, Pedro Menendez, Vasco Balboa, Sir Walter Raleigh and John Smith.
We read a couple of fun chapter books:

• Pedro's Journal by Pam Conrad.  It was about a young boy hired on as Christopher Columbus' ship boy and the journey from August 3, 1492 - February 14, 1493.
• Who Was Ferdinand Magellan? by Sydelle Kramer.  This goes through the struggles of being given the opportunity to pursue his God-given dreams to find a route around the world.

During this time we created ships and sailed them across the Atlantic Ocean.  It was also fun to tell the kids I had been to St. Augustine, Florida where the very first settlement was built.