Autumn Fun!

My two oldest belong to book clubs.  This helps encourage them in their reading.  My oldest is reading the Hank Zipzer books in his book club.  The last book they read was “The Day of the Iguana.

I know that the iguana didn't actually lay her eggs in the cable box but since Hank and his friends thought she did at first, my friend made made the cake that way.

A different view of the cake

On October 23rd we picked pumpkins with friends and then took them back to my house to decorate.

We picked our pumpkins at Weavers Orchard.  They also bottle their own apple cider.  We asked them if they would give us a tour while we where they and they graciously agreed to give us a spontaneous tour.  They were not making the cider at the moment but told us all the steps they go through and showed us the equipment.

The round disc shaped things below the belt are the scales.

Looking into the room that the cider press is in.

Our guide is showing us where the cider is bottled and explaining how it's done.

The tank that holds the cider

The boys decorated the pumpkins that they picked out. After the tour, all three families came back to my house to decorate pumpkins and make autumn place mats.

This week we studied the brain and the nervous system.  Part of our study was to dissect a sheep brain.  My boys are very hands on and do learn better when they can make or do something rather than sit down and do workbook pages.  So I like to make learning hands-on as much as I can.

checking out the brain

dissecting it

studying it

I pretty much let them dissect the brain on their own and cut it how they wanted to.  It was really interesting to listen to their observations and discussion.  They were able to figure out many of the various parts of the brain without my input.

We had a History party on October 30th.  The boys picked a time period and dressed up like someone from that period.  We then made food and chose games to go with that time period.

My colonist, pirate, knight, and Susquehannock brave.

The Kingdom Learners gang

In case you were wondering if I joined the boys in dressing for the occasion. Yes, I did! I dressed up as a Susquehannock native.

Playing blind man’s bluff.

Practicing for the 3 legged race. We had an uneven number so the older boys did it "four legged"

I didn’t get pictures of the meal.  I was too busy helping the children and then eating it to think about getting pictures but it was delicious!

Fun at the Franklin Institute

We headed to the Franklin Institute on this rainy Friday to top off our heart study by walking through the heart there. The boys had a blast! Again, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

The boys are "blood" traveling through the heart.

Posing outside the heart

Flowing through an artery.

exploring an artery and learning how plague can be damaging.

Looking at various kinds of brains and learning how the brain works.

DT in front of the display explaining how white and red blood cells work.

JM standing in front of the display that shows brain sizes from a tiny mouse to the huge blue whale.

getting ready to board the air force plane

JT in the pilot's seat

DA and JM checking out the plane

DT in the pilot's seat

JT Making paper

Lego model of Philadelphia

climbing the wall

Hanging out.

Surf's up dude!

DA practicing his surfing moves

DT and DA using the force of their weight to lift them up in their seats.

© by PeacefulMeadows

Philly, Sheep, Walnuts, Apples, and Birthdays

A lot has happened since I last posted. I guess I’ll just use pictures to tell our story again.

Petra Homeschool Support Group field trip to Philadelphia on September 29th:

Independence Hall

Independence Hall

Inside the Independence Hall court room in Philadelphia

Independence Hall - Chair where George Washington sat. This is where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Congress Hall

Inside Congress Hall

Upstairs in Congress Hall

Revolutionary War

In front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Our Liberty

The Liberty Bell

JM in front of the Liberty Bell

Elfreth’s Alley

We went to Elfreth's Alley

Elfreth Alley

I love this picture! Dh and the boys walking down Elfreth's Alley.

I loved this quaint street. I felt like I went back in time.

First Bank of the United States

Independence Living History Center Archaeology Laboratory

We stumbled into the Independence Living History Center Archaeology Laboratory and had fun looking around.

Tedious, tedious work.

The Irish Memorial

Irish Memorial

The Irish Memorial

Penn’s Landing

I love tugs so I just had to take a picture of this tug boat.

Dissection Fun October 5th
We studied the respiratory system in Konos and as part of that study we dissected a sheep pluck. The boys loved it.

During our studies of the respiratory system, we dissected a sheep's pluck. (Trachea, Lungs, and Heart) I was disappointed that it didn't come with instructions so we just cut away at it.

What is this?

Dissecting the lung.

Look at this heart mom!

DT getting ready to dissect the trachea.

Walnut Picking October 2nd
We picked up walnuts at my Aunt and Uncle’s farmette. We picked 25 bags the first day and 30 bags a week and a half later. They gave the walnut money to the boys.

Boys with the 25 bags of walnuts that they picked.

Apple Picking October 8th
We went to the Apple Orchard with Kingdom Learners and picked apples. We used them to make a cake and learned about growing Apples.

Picking Apples

Dissecting a Sheep’s Heart October 14, 2009
We just finished learning about the circulatory system so we dissected a sheep’s heart as a part of the study.

After studying the heart we dissected a sheep heart. This time we had instructions to follow unlike with the pluck so we could see the various parts of the heart better this time.

Even the little one's were involved.

After we were finished with the dissection, they cut it into pieces to see what they could see.

Happy 6th Birthday DA!

DA got Mr. Mouth for his birthday from JT and JM.

DA poses with JT and JM & the gift that they gave him.

DA with DT and the gift that DT gave him.

DA with the give DH and I gave him

DA's birthday cake

© by PeacefulMeadows

September Homeschooling Highlights

I haven’t kept up with my blog because I was busy trying to homeschool, finish gardening, and getting into a rhythm for this new school year. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Monarch chrysalis on the side of our house.

We checked on it every morning and one Sunday before church we saw that it was going to immerge. When we came home from church it was out drying off. It climbed onto my 10 yo's hand and took off from there.

We had four monarch caterpillars in our house at various times during September. Here is one of them.

We were able to watch this one immerge. It was really neat!

Time for the release.

10 yo releasing the Monarch.

It flew a bit and landed on our 8 yo's shorts.

Or 3 yo with one of the other Monarchs.

It walked up his arm onto his sholder. Then it walked onto his head. I didn't get a picture of it on it's head because it took off before I could snap the shot.

One of the high for the boys was an adolescent cat adopting us. She followed the dh and the boys home from one of their walks and decided to stay.

Our 5 yo with Shadow.

I am not a cat person because they eat bird and I love bird watching. But this cat is so sweet and wormed herself into my heart. At least until she kills a bird.

We started out our new school year by studying bees and got to watch a bee keeper collect his honey.

Getting the smoker ready.

Working with the smoker

Explaining how they collect honey.

8 yo in the bee suit.

10 yo wearing some netting.

5 yo in his bee garb.

Checking the hives.

Showing the honey cells.

3 yo in the bee suite.

10 yo in the bee suit.

We went back to the house of our friend who is also using the Konos curriculum and made honey yogurt smoothies, ate honey from a honeycomb, and did a bee craft. It is a day that the boys are not likely to forget!

yummy!

We checked out the library pass and went to the Landis Valley Museum.

Spinning wool into yarn.

The boys loved these cows because of their long horns.

This turkey followed us all around at the one barn. She walked along side each of the boys as she is doing in this picture and kept gobbling. She followed us up the lane to the barn, around and we looked in the barn and at the animals and then back down the lane. She always walked along side of one of the boys as she is doing in this picture and she was continuously gobbling. I was afraid that she would keep following us all around the museum so I firmly told her to go home. She stopped gobbling, turned around and went back to the barn. It was hilarious!

This Conestoga wagon was in the machine barn. After talking this picture the curator appeared and showed us around the museum. We were so blessed that he was there and took time out of his busy schedule to explain things to us and demonstrate some of the machines.

Another thing that we are doing this year is studying the Jewish holidays. We studied Rosh Hashana and Yom Kipper. We visited the Tabernacle replica at the Mennonite Information Center in Lancaster as part of our studies.

The lavar and the alter.

The sacrificial lamb and the scapgoat that carries the sins into the wilderness.

The boys and I infront of the mural.

We are now studying the human body. Last week we studied the digestive system. We made this dude.

Glueing the digestive organs in place.

Taping the intestines in place (we used wire for the large and small intestines.)

Labeling the organs

The finished dude. My 8 yo didn't make it into this picture for some reason.

My nine yo made his own copy of the digestive system and hung it on his bedroom door.

He put lots of detail into it and even drew the stomach juices.

As I was posting this, I realized that I don't have a picture of the finished product. I'll have to take a picture and post it here.

© by PeacefulMeadows

Douthat State Park, VA

We had fun camping with my family at Douthat State Park in VA.

The archeologists are collecting and studying artifacts.

The boys had fun playing Monopoly and the Farming Game.

Story time with Grandma.

© PeacefuMeadows