monday found us working with chemistry. elements and the periodic symbols. to make compound reactions easier to understand... i listed about 12 different chemicals and other liquids and had tommie read a chart, which described what elements each one was made from. then he took a toothpick and a designated jelly bean: carbon was a black jelly bean, a red jelly bean was hydrogen, an aqua jelly bean was oxygen, etc. and threaded the jelly bean through the toothpick. he made a little color chart and affixed it to the poster board for easy reading. this gave him a clearer picture of how elements make up atoms. and, yes... we filled our cheeks with these yummy jelly belly's!

i found this book: -standardized minds- at our local library. the book interests me, because i stuggle with society's idea of intelligence...and for the most part of my life, i agree with the author... that standardized testing is an unhealthy obsession. starting while our kids are babies. if you'd like to read more, click here........

i thought i'd share some of the living books, that we've been using last week and this week. most came from the library.. others came from thrift shops.

i confess, we're not a poetry kind of family. but, i do think it's important to at least introduce and at least "try." that said, i found a beautiful picture book about walt whitman. it has been wonderful for history... touches on abraham lincoln and the civil war.. plus there are plenty of poems in the back-- which tommie's used for copywork.

another book that has been leading us on tons of rabbit trails, is the book, "on this day." found at a thrift shop for a dollar. it's a day by day look on historical events that happened hundreds of years ago... to present. it led us to the berlin wall today. and tomorrow, will take us to sotherby's auction house to view van goh's iris' painting.

science has never been more fun... then with living books. maybe it's because i'm not very smart in this area... and the children's books are on my level!

At our homeschool co-op, I teach a class called Night at the Museum... based on characters in the movies. There isn't really a curriculum... so I just sort of make my own up. Last Friday, our class was based on Teddy Roosevelt. I printed up lots and lots of facts about him... then on a heavy poster board, the children designed their own board games. Well.... let me tell you.... the kids LOVED doing this.... many of the kids wrote on each square like my sample above and below... but I also typed up the facts for them to cut out and paste on any square then wanted. They were instructed to use as many facts as they could... so they could learn more. I also included spaces titled: The White House (a few squares would say go to the White House or Panama Canal), and of course, "go back to start, your turn, roll again, etc."

I can imagine.... this would work well with any famous historical person or scientist. It's a very good learning tool!

i've been using only living books for homeschooling this year. our library seems to have lots of fresh new releases.


one book, which i picked up is "amazing science discoveries CHEMISTRY." (sorry, blogger isn't letting me add a picture of the cover.) but.. ispn is 9781596042018



we're just taking a couple of pages a day.. diving into the topic and either making little posters or doing a suggested experiment. this week, we learned how powerful our stomach acids are... so strong they can burn through a rock. we made toffee out of sugar and learned to six elements of our body.

some of the living books which i've picked up are of a secular point of view. that's okay with us... it's a good time to implement the literary point of "hyperbole." and discuss our point of view.

more often then not... we unintentionally forget to incorporate art into our homeschool. on wednesday of this week... i didn't forget.

i pulled out our oil pastels and we both drew pictures of an autumn scene. very simple. with clean lines. afterwards, we dipped q-tips in baby oil and rubbed the color until it was smooth. all i can say is yowza! what a new addiction! i loved doing this... working with oil pastels has never been so fun!

try it! i promise you will love the results. i'm teaching a 1st grade literature class and the kids will be drawing still life and using this method. it's dreamy!

i just love using the REAL resources i have on hand to create real life education. you know, i despise workbooks. just can't hardly deal with them anymore. that said... let's get real and flip open a recipe book.

i had my son divide his paper into 3 parts, with the headlines: double, triple and quadruple. next i had him add and figure fractions and measurements of this recipe. and rename the fraction if possible. and while he was at it...i had him brush up on abbreviations. and add up serving sizes.

this was much better for "us" then workbook pages that just have problems on it. and we both love the real life application!