It’s coming this weekend! Are you ready?
1 Chronicles 16:34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
- A husband who plans in advance to take a half day off from work, just to be with me on my birthday.
- For internet home school friends that I have never met in person, but are willing to go out of their way to help me.
- The Robins visiting our yard.
- Clean clothes.
This is an exciting module in this science book, because we start dissecting. WooHoo!
The first half of this module is all about invertebrates. Spineless creatures. :)
First up were sponges. Very interesting. I had a hard time finding a handout with the sponge anatomy. I wished the book had a diagram of the sponge anatomy, I think it would have been helpful. I ended up handing out this , just for the students information. The only thing they really needed to know was:
- Epidermis
- Collar Cell (choanocytes)
- amoebocytes
- spicules
The prepared slide we had a look at was colorful. We were able to see the spicules very clearly. The students were to look for and identify the spicules shaped like needles, jack (multipronged), and barbed. We had a difficult time finding a barbed one.
Our favorite thing to talk about was the planaria. The students were really surprised this flatworm was able to regenerate any part and that they reproduced by simply tearing themselves in half. If I had planned carefully, I would have ordered live planaria to experiment with. Next year, I hope to be better prepared, because there is nothing like seeing these flatworms grown another head.
Since I didn’t have a live specimen, I found this wonderful video of a decapitated flatworm. It shows over several days what it looks like as it regenerates its head. Amazing. It makes you sit back and be in awe of God’s creation.
Next Tuesday we will be dissecting the worm. I am so looking forward to it. Be prepared to see gut pictures next week!
Want to see what else we have done in this class? Go to the Apologia Biology tab at the top of this page or click here.
For the girls:
- Princess in Love by Meg Cabot
- Tennyson by Christopher Ricks
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
- The House At Riverton by Kate Morton
For Sir Son:
- Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting book
- All Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting DVDs (Art History for Sir Son. It’s killing him)
- John Adams DVD (U.S. History. Watched Part 1 last night. Interesting.)
For Me:
- Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (I haven’t had five minutes to read it yet)
- Couture Crochet Workshop by Lily M. Chin
Have anything good from your library?
but someone has to play with it.
When I was growing up with my two sisters, Leasa and Dava, we lived on a farm. There are several things on the farm we had plenty of, space and mud. We played all over our land and all over the neighbors’ lands, we didn’t care. We also played with the mud.
Out back we had an old meat house that was no longer in use and we used it as our bakery. The three of us were chefs and made enormous mud cakes. Several layers! Mine were always the best, of course. We would raise them up high so all could admire them. So many ooos and awwwws. :D Once I lifted my seven layer beauty up to be admired and when I brought it back down, the top layer was gone! It stuck to the ceiling. lol We pried it off and put it back in its place of glory.
Want to know what made our mud cakes so admired by all (all were just the three of us)? It was the real chicken eggs we used to make our mix. That’s right, a good baker knows to use fresh ingredients in their cakes. We stopped using real chicken eggs, when we cracked open a rotten one. A good baker also knows when to stop using real eggs. 
Yes, we love mud.
Fast forward many few years, to when I had a 20 month old #1 Pea. She was outside playing, in the mud of course. I had to bring her in to change her diaper. She was angry. She wiggled and squirmed and finally said, “I UNT DIRT!”.
Fast forward many a few more years to when #1 Pea is ten. TEN! She still loves her dirt.
She makes things with it. Like mud huts.
Mud eggs, but I’m sure she would use real eggs if we had the chickens.
She even has her sister involved. This is a mud cake and cookies.
Not only did #1 Pea get her sister in on this dirty job, she also has the neighborhood friends involved. I know the mom just loves me.
Since we no longer live on a farm, where is all this mud coming from? From our front yard, of course!
This is all my sisters’ fault!
Here is it February 1st. This is how I did on my 101 goals in 1001 days, for the month of January. Pitiful; just pitiful!
Spiritual Goals:
- Nothing, nada, noodle. :(
Personal Goals:
- loose 30 pounds. (-3)
- Drink 64 ounces of water a day. (I’ve missed a few days on this one)
- Think seriously about quiting blogging. (still thinking)
Family Goals
- Go on a date with Sir Husband at least once per month. (2 dates)
- Have family game night at least twice per month. (had movie nights)
Homeschool Goals
- Organize High School Credits and get everything written down on a form. (almost done)
Outreach Goals
- Bake bread for a neighbor/family once a month. (4 times)
- Send words of blessings to facilitator at co-op regularly. (on going)
Crafty Goals
- Get back into crocheting and bother Sheri again.
- Learn to crochet and knit socks. (in the process of learning to crochet socks)
- Crochet squares for cancer patients. (9 squares done, need to make 3 more)
- Block Tunisian Shawl done 1/1/2010
- Blog about said shawl
Psalm 100: 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
- Teenagers preaching the word of God.
- Sir Husband making lunch every Sunday.
- Sir Husband taking care of the family, while I am in bed with a sinus headache.
- My Biology class and the fun I can have with it.
What are you thankful for?
Back in June of 2008 my friend, Melanie, posted a review on Math-It. Math-It is an expensive program that teaches kids their math facts. I hate math facts. I hate teaching my kids math facts. They just don’t get it! So, I jumped on the bandwagon and purchased the Math-It.
I got it used at a really good price, around $40.00. The full price of $75.00 to $80.00 is ridiculous and nothing in that box is worth that much. However; if it works, then it is well worth the full price. 
I waited anxiously for the box. When it arrived, we started with the first section which is + 9s and then moved to + 8s. The first week went very well and the girls were learning their facts quickly. Starting the second week, I am reviewing the 9 and 8s. I was not happy. The girls were not learning their facts. Frustrated, I put the box away and we go back to flashcards.
I brought the box back out and have been using it with the girls all week. I now remember why I was frustrated with this program the first time. The girls are not learning their math facts quickly. They have to think every time I ask them an equation. Want to know what the problem is?
Above is the page for the + 9s, only six cards. Now look at that order. See the second digit is in numerical order. Yep, that is how my girls have learned to play this game. Forget the answer, just place the cards in numerical order and we’re good to go!
I started taking away the board and having them call out the answer after showing the cards. I already have flashcards, really nice flashcards. I don’t need more flashcards.
I don’t need this expensive game that just doesn’t work for our family. Therefore; it will be in the mail, Monday, to my friend Kristy. It might be just the right thing for her son.
If you’re thinking this is just a fluky thing, just remember it is math and math is a pattern. Here is the board with the doubles on it. See the pattern?
This goes to show that as homeschoolers, we do not have to use what everyone else is using. We have the privileged of saying no to one program and using another that suites our family. For us, we will be doing daily timed sheets with Hershey Kisses as a reward. Math + Chocolate = Smart kids + Happy momma. I hope. :D
The students seemed to like the frog, but not as much as I thought they would.
The legs were removed first. Below you can see what the inside looked like.
Each student picked the body part they wanted. This young man insisted on the head.
And this young lady wanted the middle, plus all the organs. She is eating the stomach and the intestines here. lol
Most of the fondant was peeled off and thrown away. Most of the rice krispies were consumed. Anything left over (very little) went home with one of the students.
It was a fun start to a boring science day. 
To celebrate the Biology class upcoming dissecting experiments, I decided to make this.
This is what I needed the fondant help for. It was easier than I thought. The frog did not come out as well as it did in my head, but it isn’t too bad for a beginner.
Some of you are probably thinking, “that is really disgusting”. I want to remind you that I lost 1st place in disgusting blog photos after Melanie revealed her real kids. Yep, you won’t complain about my photos again.
Cindy suggested I use Rice Krispies instead of a cake mix and I am so glad she did. It was easy to mold and I dyed it pink for an extra touch.
I let the krispie frog set for an hour or so and then put a thin layer of white store-bought icing, dyed pink. Hmmm, this dead pink frog is reminding me of Chocolatechic. Is this happening to anyone else?
When I had the time (LOL), I got out the Fondant to work with it. I added extra green dye, to get a nice dark green frog. For a while I thought I added too much and the frog would be black. I know dead dried up frogs turn black (I know this because I took a picture of one), but juicy dissectable frogs are still green. Yes, you needed to know that.
It all worked out and I had no problem transferring the fondant on top of the krispie frog. The powdery white stuff is powdered sugar.
I gently mold the fondant around the krispies, pulling here, tucking here, gasping there, saying NO DON”T DO THAT in another area. All in all, it turned out well.
Here I have taken a small amount of water on a brush, per Cindy’s instructions, and brushed over the fondant. It got rid of the powder and gave it a nice shinny look. I was pleased with it. Don’t look too closely at the feet, ok? I’m not an artist.
The frog needed to dry out some, so I left it for a couple of hours. I went back to the fondant and started making pieces-parts. I know it isn’t to scale, it is what it is. I have four very clean unused T-pins to place on the four corners of the skin that is cut open, but they are at the co-op. I’ll have to add those later.
I think the kids will like it.
Does anyone want a piece of this krispie frog? I hear frogs taste just like chickens. 
