Tuesday bowling this week
March 2, Tuesday Bowling this week.
Editor was ill and the other members moved the date to this
Tuesday. Everybody met at the alley and we bowled three different
games. Played for hours, ate nachos and lost quarters in the arcade.
Great, wholesome entertainment.
Editor Excuses
Spring has definitely arrived with the allergies. According to my
mailing from Allegra, it is time to take my medicine because the grass
and mold spores are here. Noticed, maybe next year, they can mail the
letter ten days ahead of time. The teens planted my bulbs and we are
keeping our eyes out for daffodils, tulips and my favorite allium.
Close to the onion family, this blue flower grows in a globe on the
top of a stalk and for some reason appeals to my senses.
Rite of Spring
We lived in Oklahoma and the neighbor who was Cherokee would take her
daughter and a basket around the neighborhood about now. She picked
the spring onion and cooked scrambled eggs with onion. The Indians
would have loose teeth by this time of year and the onion was the
first welcome green vegetable.
They also served a grape dumpling. We
make that with grape jelly. This was a traditional mother-daughter
field trip.
Kathy went to the yard and pulled a lot of the onions out
of the duck fertilizer, washed it and brought it to me. The mucous
from bronchitis seems to be loosened with the onion and I started the
spiral up from the illness with this wild onion and some Kyolic garlic.
It brought back the memory of Donna and Wendy harvesting the wild
onion.
When eggs hatch, The babies grow
The three huge ducks are quite well and very large. We
thought about buying some more ducks and chicken eggs to hatch. Mercer
Farms for ducks and Eggbid for eggs. This is the time of year for
raising the ducks and chickens. We love to go out and pet our big
ducks.
Leo, formerly Lilo opens his bead and wags his tail and allows
some petting. Pepper and Stitch are doing fine.The deck raised ducks
continue to swim in the kiddie pool and grow to proportions no one can
believe.
We also recommend McMurray Farms for eggs and chicks.
For those youth who would like to learn about this ancient sport of kings.
Falcon Hunt This was the week-end for the Virginia Falconry Meet in
Winchester. Jeff took Kathy and Oleg over to beat the bushes for
rabbits. The kids came back with some great stories of meeting
falconers and their birds. Ask them what happened and ask about the
photos.The falconers recommends Huntley meadows and volunteering there.
http://vafalconry.swva.net/
Co-operative Learning
Every Wednesday Algebra for the teens. Language arts-writing a short
story. 10-12 Math for the kids, Spelling Lapbooks-We will discuss the
next options and sign-up sheet will be available on the second Tuesday
at 4-H Meeting. We are going to look at the history of life on earth
from the Big Bang to the first writings in Sumeria. We will play a
game of Civilization to determine the course of life at the end of
this event.
4-H Both of our meetings this month feature days to enjoy the sunshine.
The Mom's may have cabin fever.We should find some time for the
return of play dates for the younger crowd.We could romp in the sun.
4-H March 9, 2004
Rocket Day If the weather doesn't permit going to Lee park to set
rockets off, we will watch October Sky. Last year, we had quite a
wonderful day with setting rockets off at the park. We should bring
snacks, water, and expect the children to run all over the hills recovering
spent rockets.
Soda and vinegar rocket contest for the up to 11 years old group
Make or buy rockets and use with adult supervision up to 18 years old
Fathers and mothers have the incendiary devices and make the rules for who
lights the rockets. Like some research on mass and load and trajectory.
Mars landers welcome. Bring your robots.
Wal-Mart for Estes rockets and Discovery.com.
4-H
March 23 Bike Safety Day Let's clean, oil and look at our bikes. Check
them over at Suzanne's house at 11:00. The teens can ride to the Bike
trail and go three miles.
The younger children will ride in the driveway. V's will you give
a demonstration of unicycle riding, please? We will talk about Bike safety
and bring snacks and water to drink. This should be an exceptional nice day
in spring.
April is Science Fair month. We will talk about some of our past experiments
and past Science Fairs. We would like to have the children start their thinking
caps, and get in the Science mood. Janice Van Cleve has several books on great
experiments. I know we have two worm farms going right this minute and hope
we have interest in conservation, water ponds, growing and raising culture. We
encourage every one to participate and look forward to some really interesting
projects.
General Homeschooling 'Rules'
Rules for homeschooling
Thanks to the VA Eclectic homeshooling list for the link to
Military Homeschooler for the following rules:
- Rule #1: Tightwad
Hold onto your wallet. Before you sign on the dotted line check
around. "Canned" curricula or "schools-in-a-box" sometimes act as if
'one size fits all' and one size often does not. Sometimes you will
find elements within a curriculum that either do not work well with
your child or are things you find discomforting. Also, what works with
one child doesn't always work with another. Do what feels best but be
a careful shopper.
- Rule #2: Chill
Homeschooling is flexible. If whatever you're doing doesn't work you
don't have to answer to a bureaucracy before you make a change. It's
your decision how to proceed.
- Rule #3: Deep-6
If whatever you're using isn't working cut your losses. You won't get
your money back by continuing to use something that isn't working and
you and you kids will feel stressed. Yes, there is something to be
said for finishing what you start (another reason to check around
before you buy), but if what you're using truly isn't working - dump
it. You can save your finished/discarded materials for sale at support
group curriculum sales. Just because it didn't work for you doesn't
mean it won't work for someone else.
- Rule #4: One Right Way
There is "one right way to homeschool" but it varies from person to
person and from interest to interest.
- Rule #5: Choice
Remember that homeschooling is a continuing choice. You have the
freedom to continue to choose to homeschool or to make another choice.
- Rule #6: Private or Public?
Be aware that enrolling your child in online public charter schools
will return your child to the public education sector. Instead of
homeschooling you will be enrolling in a public school home-study
program. This isn't to say that this is a wrong choice just be aware
of all the ins and outs of the program you are considering so you can
make an informed choice.
- Rule #7: Survival
If you have a good babysitter or co-op friend for babysitting, send
her home with wine or chocolates after babysitting. It can't hurt.
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Science books
(from posting on VA Eclectic)
- Albert, Burton. Journey of the Nightly Jaguar.
Atheneum, 1996.
- Ancona, George. Turtle Watch. Macmillan, 1987.
- Archambault, John. The Birth of a Whale. Silver Press,
1996.
- Arnosky, J. I See Animals Hiding. Scholastic, 1995.
- Asch, Frank. Water. Harcourt Brace, 1996.
- Bash, Barbara. Shadows of Night: The Hidden World of
the Little Brown Bat.
- Sierra Club Books, 1993. Describes the life of the
brown bat in text and
illustrations.
- Bischoff-Miersch, Andrea and Michael. Do You Know the
Difference?
NorthSouth,
1995.
- Brandenburg, Jim. To the Top of the World: Adventures
with Arctic Wolves.
New
York: Walker, 1993.
- Brenner, Barbara and Garelick, May. The Tremendous
Tree Book. Boyds Mills
Press, 1992.
- Brooks, Bruce. Making Sense: Animal Communication and
Perception. Farrar,
Straus, Geroux, 1993.
- Brown, Mary Barrett. Wings Along the Waterway.
Orchard, 1992.
- Browne, Phillippa-Alys. African Animals ABC. Sierra
Books, 1995.
- Carrick, Carol. Whaling Days. Clarion, 1993.
- Casey, D. Weather Everywhere. Photographs by J.
Gilmore. Macmillan, 1995.
- Cohen, Caron. Where's the Fly? Morrow, 1996.
- Cole, Joanna. A Cat's Body. Photographs by Jerome
Wexler. New York: Morrow,
1982.
Cole, Joanna. A Frog's Body. Photographs by Jerome
Wexler. New York: Morrow,
1980.
- Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks.
Illustrated by Bruce
Degen. New York: Scholastic, 1986. (Also many other
books in this series.)
- Cole, J. The Magic School Bus in the Time of the
Dinosaurs. Illus. by B.
Degen. Scholastic, 1994.
- Cone, Molly. Come Back, Salmon. Sierra Club Books,
1992.
- Cone, Molly. Squishy, Misty, Damp & Muddy: The
Inbetween World of Wetlands.
Sierra Club, 1996.
- Demuth, Patricia. Cradles In the Trees. Macmillan,
1994.
- Dewey, Jennifer Owings. Wildlife Rescue: The Work of
Dr. Kathleen Ramsay.
Boyds Mills, 1994.
- Dodson, Peter. An Alphabet of Dinosaurs. Paintings by
W. D. Barlowe.
Scholastic, 1995.
- Dorres, A. Elephant Families. (Let's Read-and-Find-Out
Science-Stage 2).
HarperCollins, 1994.
- Dotlich, Rebecca. Sweet Dreams of the Wild: Poems for
Bedtime. Boyds Mills,
1996.
- Duffy, Dee Dee. Forest Tracks. Boyds Mills Press,
1996.
- Ehlert, Lois. Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf. Harcourt Brace,
1991.
- Esbensen, Barbara. Echoes for the Eye: Poems to
Celebrate Patterns in
Nature.
HarperCollins, 1996.
- Ganeri, Anita. Animals In Disguise. Simon & Schuster,
1995.
- Gelman, Rita Goldman. Dawn to Dusk in the Galapagos.
Little, Brown, 1991.
- George, Jean. To Climb A Waterfall. Philomel, 1995.
- George, Jean. Everglades. HarperCollins, 1995.
- George, Jean. Look to the North: A Wolf Pup Diary.
HarperCollins, 1994.
- George, Lindsay. In the Snow: Who's Been Here? and In
the Woods: Who's Been
Here? Greenwillow, 1995.
- Gibbons, Gail. The Great St. Lawrence Seaway. New
York: Morrow, 1992.
- Gibbons, G. The Reasons for Seasons. Holiday House,
1995.
- Gibbons, G. Sea Turtles. Holiday House 1995.
- Gibbons, G. Spiders. New York: Holiday House, 1993.
- Guilbertson, Brenda. Into the Sea. Hold, 1996.
- Haddon, Mark. The Sea of Tranquility. HarperCollins,
1996.
- Jenkins, Priscilla Belz. A Nest Full of Eggs.
HarperCollins, 1995.
- Johnson, Jenny. Bugs: A Closer Look at the World's
Tiny Creatures. Reader's
Digest Kids, 1995.
- Kierein, T. Weather. Illus. by T. Buxton, National
Geographic Society, 1994.
- Kitchen, Bert. And So They Build. Candlewick, 12993.
- Lang, A. Eagles. Photographs by W. Lynch. Sierra Club,
1990.
- Lauber, P. Be a Friend to Trees. (Let's
Read-and-Find-Out Science-Stage 2).
Illus. by Holly Keller. HarperCollins, 1994.
- Lauber, Patricia. Fur, Feather, Flippers: How Animals
Live Where They Do.
Scholastic, 1994.
- Lauber, Patricia. The News About Dinosaurs. Bradbury
Press, 1989.
- Lauber, Patricia. Seeing Earth From Space. Orchard
Books, 1990.
- Lauber, Patricia. Summer of Fire: Yellowstone 1988.
Orchard, 1991.
- Lauber, Patricia. Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of
Mount St. Helens. New
York: Bradbury, 1986.
- Lavies, Bianca. Compost Critters. Dutton, 1993.
Leedy, Loreen. Postcards from Pluto: A Tour of the
Solar System.
- Lesser, Carolyn. Dig Hole, Soft Mole. Harcourt Brace,
1996.
- Locker, T. Seeing Science Through Art: Sky Tree.
HarperCollins, 1995.
- Locker, Thomas. Water Dance. Harcourt Brace, 1997.
- Luenn, Nancy. Squish! A Wetland Walk. Atheneum, 1994.
- Macaulay, David. The Way Things Work. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1988.
- MacDonald, Suse. Peck, Slither and Slide. Harcourt
Brace, 1997.
- Machotka, H. Terrific Tails. Morrow, 1994.
- Markle, Sandra. Science to the Rescue. Atheneum, 1994.
Marshall, Janet. Look Once, Look Twice. Ticknor &
Fields, 1995.
- Martin, Jacqueline. Watching the Willow Tree Loon.
Simon & Schuster, 1995.
- Matthews, D. Arctic Foxes. Photographs by D. Duravich
& N. Ovsyanikov. Simon
& Schuster, 1995.
- McMillan, Bruce. Nights of the Rufflings. Houghton
Mifflin, 1995.
- McMillan, Bruce. Puffins Climb, Puffins Rhyme.
Harcourt Brace, 1995.
- Micucci, Charles. The Life and Times of the Honeybee.
Ticknor & Fields,
1995.
- Moser, Barry. Fly: A Brief History of Flight
Illustrated. HarperCollins,
1993.
- Muzik, Katy. At Home On the Coral Reef. Watertown, MA:
Charlesbridge, 1992.
- Nail, Jim. Whose Tracks Are These? A Clue Book of
Familiar Forest Animals.
Roberts Rinehart, 1994.
- Paladino, Catherine. Land, Sea and Sky: Poems to
Celebrate the Earth. Little
Brown, 1993.
- Patent, D.H. Eagles of America. Photographs by W.
Muñoz. Holiday House,
1995.
- Pringle, L. Dinosaurs!. Illus. by C. Heyer. Boyds
Mills Press, 1995.
- Rotner, Shelley & Olivo, Richard. Close, Closer,
Closest. Atheneum, 1997.
- Ryder, Joanne. Jaguar In the Rainforest. William
Morrow, 1996.
- Ryder, Joanne. Shark In the Sea. William Morrow, 1997
(part of "Just For A
Day" series).
- Ryder, J. and Sonneborn, B. Without Words. Sierra
Club, 1995.
- Sattler, Helen Ronly. The Book of North American Owls.
Clarion, 1995.
- Sayre, S.P. If You Should Hear a Honey Guide. Illus.
by S.D. Schindler.
Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
- Schertle, Alice. Advice for a Frog. Lothrop, Lee &
Shepard, 1995.
- Shannon, George. Tomorrow's Alphabet. Greenwillow,
1996.
- Silver, Donald. One Small Square of Arctic Tundra.
Freeman, 1994.
- Simon, Seymour. Earthquakes. Morrow Junior, 1991.
Simon, Seymour. Lightning. William Morrow, 1997 (Simon
also has many other
good books on various topics).
- Simon, Seymour. Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of
Animals and Plants.
Harcourt Brace, 1997.
- Simon, Seymour. Sharks. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
- Simon, Seymour. Wolves. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
- Singer, M. A Wasp is Not a Bee. Illus. by P. O'Brien.
Henry Holt, 1995.
Sis, Peter. Starry Messenger. Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1996.
- Sloan, P. & Sloan, S. Animal Homes. Sundance
Publishing, 1994.
- Smith, Sue. Exploring Saltwater Habitats.
Sneddon, Robert. Yuck! A Big Book of Little Horrors.
Simon & Schuster, 1996.
- Swanson, Diane. Safari Beneath the Sea: The Wonder
World of the North
Pacific
Coast. Photographs by the Royal British Columbia
Museum. San Francisco:
Sierra Club, 1994.
- Wright-Trierson, Virginia. A Desert Scrapbook. Simon &
Schuster, 1996.
- Yolen, Jane. Sea Watch. Philomel, 1996.
- Yolen, Jane. Water Music. Boyds Mills Press, 1995.
- Yolen, Jane. Welcome to the Sea of Sand. Putnam, 1996.
- Zoehfield, Kathleen. What's Alive? HarperCollins,
1995.
Recommended Series Books
- Eyewitness Books (Dorling Kindersley)
- First Discovery Books (Scholastic)
- Just For A Day (William Morrow)
- Inside Guides (Dorling Kindersley)
- Eyewitness Explorers (Dorling Kindersley)
- Eye Openers (Aladdin)
- See How They Grow (Lodestar)
- Animal Close Ups (Charles Bridge)
- Let's Read-And-Find-Out Science (HarperCollins)
Science and Biology Links
Testing
We are preparing to test the kids again this year. This evaluation will
be done in late April and early May. The tests will be administered
and they will be sent to the county by August 15 by certified letter.
Then when the county claims to have lost them, we have a receipt and a
copy to take back in like last year.The tests can be ordered from
different sites. The county sent a letter that they will not offer
testing to homeschoolers. This is an added expense. For our four, it
will cost about $150.We never took the offer up with the county.
We have downloaded the SOL's for each grade
level for the children to use to compare themselves to other students
in Math and Language Arts.We use this as a need to know.
Portfolio
A portfolio can also be used. One mother sent in a VHS of her
children engaged in activities.My portfolio was judged as insufficient
and the county put me on probation, we tested last year and the county
claimed to have lost the tests, we resubmitted the test scores and
were "approved" to homeschool again this year.One of the sixteen year
olds didn't want to be considered on probation and signed a letter to
drop out. She thinks this is the reason the county lost the paperwork.
VHS Promise to Deliver Copies of Performance
I owe each of the parents some copies of Shakespeare in the Park, a
scavenger hunt, the last book reports and one of these days, you will
have these in your hands.We intend to get some more blank tapes and run
these off for you all.
Editor's Note
I will have visitors in April and may not be available from April 14th
through April 18th. We will be touring Washington, DC. Let me know
if anybody wants to go. My nephew and his wife will be in town.It
will be the moonlight trip to the Capitol and the fifteen minute tour
of the monuments. The kids are left begging to let them see it again.
Remember, we never met a gift shop we didn't like. This does resemble
a fire drill, drive up to the site, no parking, drive around twice and
you better be ready to jump in the car for the next site or you get to
Metro home. Leaves them all tired at the end of the day. Then, Dad
takes them to someplace special like the restaurant where Jamie Lee
and the movie "True Lies" filmed.Well, sometimes they eat off carts on
the street and feed the hot dogs to the fat squirrels at the
Smithsonian. They never say it's boring.
Student Editor note:
Hi, this is Veronica, I am the Student Editor. I have been
homeschooled all my life, 14 years. I have five sisters, who are as
crazy as I am! We all made lap books concerning the Earth, recently.
I did one on Erosion. Water is the biggest cause of erosion, with
rivers, rain and snow moving tons of earth a day. I think we will
have a great new year!
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