last week, we did a fun experiment on flashlight batteries! actually, i picked up a science fair book and this ideas was in it. we gathered several different D batteries and stuffed them in flashlights... turned them on and monitored them! we had energizer, duracell, dollar general and another-which i can't recall. duracell won! it lasted over 28 hours! if you don't want to invest in different batteries.... maybe you could ask the grandparents or supportive neighbors or friends?

one day last week, i required tommie to make crock-pot potato soup for school lessons. i figured that if the public school kids have home-ec or should i say, "intro to culinary arts"... which is in fact, a real 9th grade class that my niece is taking and getting high school credit for... well then what's wrong with having tommie start his day off preparing good homemade food for the family? and especially all homegrown! i printed this recipe off: really easy crockpot soup! and it really was excellent! and he was most proud! it was nice for me, too... since i didn't have to do anything!

here's a good deal i found... although it's located in the city south of us... i'm still going to take advantage of it on my way home from our homeschool co-op! hungry howies pizza. medium. one topping. $3.99. i plan to freeze a couple slices in a ziplock baggy and pull out for school lunches. you know, being the school cook and all... i'm always looking for variety at a good price.

we're almost wrapped up with our robert fulton unit study... it's been very interesting and we've pulled in quite a few rabbit trails. i think i'll share a few non-traditional techniques we've implemented to make learning fun:

i had tommie plan and organize narration using a video camera. well, it was looking like he was having so much fun, i thought i'd join in. he was robert fulton and i was robert livingston, signer of the declaration of independence.

for one chapter of reading comp, he had to compile a newspaper headline and details.

a mind-map outline, which i learned at the writing workshop.

i pulled out our physics workshop set and for a half an hour each day (he wishes longer) he works with building and designing different machines. this is the same package that my high school nephew used for physics. so, i don't feel guilty whatsoever, having tommie plunked down on the living room floor creating.

i created a river treasure hunt: for geography, since we learned about Robert Fulton.

i set aside one day and we learned about napoleon boneparte.... since this was part of the era. it's true, i didn't know a thing about him. except he was some french guy. now, i know 5 fast facts! yeah, me.

a chapter in the robert fulton book, touched on profits and losses. and other common sense math... which i think public and parochial schools don't offer.

instead of the traditional schooly-type vocabulary lessons, you know, the kind where you look up words, write them down, study them and get quizzed on them, i thought with this unit, we'd do "hand's-on vocabulary." where, he explains a word to me, or i to him and we either discuss or act it out... or both. very fun and much easier to retain.

last week at the handwriting workshop i attended... a fellow homeschool mom shared a bright idea with me for handwriting with my reluctant writer...

it was such an amusing success, i thought i'd share it with you! it's creative writing at it's best!

here's what you do:

each of us wrote out any 5 words on pieces of paper... so we had a total of ten words.... we flipped them in the middle of the table and "had to make a story up using the words!" on friday i had my husband throw in 5 words, too. then tommie and i set off to write!

an idea for the words we worked with were: napoleon bonaparte, payloader, potato chip, pepper, dog, horse tail, courthouse, dentist, siene river, barn, mother and more.

my reluctant writer... who usually moans, groans and complains about handwriting.... actually honkered down and never looked up. what a blessing.

i plan to ask relatives and friends to write down 5 words for us... just to mix things up!

i hope you try it with your kids, too! it's loads of fun.

we've been starting our lessons with science projects! this one was a huge success! fill a saucer (bowl) with 4 tablespoons of water. light a piece of paper, drop it in a glass jar and flip it upside down in the bowl of water..... the water is sucked into the jar and not even one droplet of water will remain in the saucer/bowl! it even makes a slurping noise! the fire is desperate for oxygen!

i went to a homeschool writing workshop on monday night. a homeschool graduate and english major gave the mini seminar. it was awe inspiring and thought-provoking. all in a good way. it may not have impressed those who homeschool in a formal way... or those who simulate school at home or those who are workbook driven, drill and kill, or for those who teach for the test... but for me and our child-led unschooling it validated my definition of education. hold your tomatoes.... but, the words "school is an artificial learning environment," echoes and echoes again... in my head. that said, i had tommie do his math lesson (a scavenger hunt all over the property) outside today! all the while i picked beans and broccoli and he breathed the fresh air.

best deal math

aside from our horizon's 6th grade math everyday, i've set up a real life math station... we call it applied math. yesterday and the day before... it was "best deal".... i made three different scenario's, problems and put a matchbox car on top of each paper. here's an example that was on one paper (obviously the others had different figures.)

$18,488.32 cost of the new car you want to buy

$ 3,288.99 trade-in

$ 920.00 taxes, title and tabs

Figure each problem and come up with the best deal. My son LOVED this! That's why we did it two days in a row! I loved it because it is a life skill... we're always trying to figure out the best deals, aren't we?