Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Love this blog

My parents were telling me about some lady on Fox & Friends this morning that was making some out-of-this-world sounding cinnamon buns.  Anyway, lo and behold she is also a homeschooler.  I checked out her blog and this little quote caught my eye. 

Lots of people support our decision to homeschool.  Some are quietly guarded. Others think we're mentally ill. I vacillate between all three myself.

-Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman
 Well said.



Sunday, February 14, 2010

100th Day Revisited - 2010 Edition

Well, it is that time of year again.  Here's a quick run down of our Hundred day activities.  I have a wonderful neighbor whose daughter is in the girls' dance class that used to teach 1st grade.  She so graciously let me borrow her "box" of 100 day magic.  Thanks Michelle!

We started the morning with our calendar activities.


Last day of the US puzzle and the unifix hundred line.
 

First thing, we read the 100th Psalm

Then, we read some cute books that I had checked out of the library. 
Centipede's 100 Shoes by Tony Ross and  Emily's first 100 Days of School by Rosemary Wells

Then it was on to our first set of activities.  What can you do in 100 seconds?

How many bunnies can you color?
 


How many sets of 10 hearts can you circle?

How tall of a tower can you build?

How many hearts can you cut from squares of paper?
Now here's where the Industrial Engineer in me just couldn't let this one rest.  I asked them if they thought they could do it faster and how.  Ms. Priss immediately suggested that one of them do the folding and the other do the cutting (Mommy was beaming).
Look how many more there were!!!  17 to be exact (as opposed to their combined total of 11 from before our little job analysis).  I even helped them figure out their time per heart.  Hey, Ms. Priss utilized her new divistion skills here.
How many jelly beans can you eat in 100 seconds?  (the caveat was they had to completely chew and swallow one before eating another.

How many staples can you staple in 100 seconds?


100 pieces of snack mix.
 

Then we were on to some fun stuff.  We determined weight and volume of 100 things...  I intended to have them graph these but by this time we were kind of running out of steam.

First the counting....

100 Nerds, teddy grahams, pompoms, marshmallows, m&m's (peanut AND plain)


100 droplets of water and 100 tablespoons of water



Next the measuring and weighing (which I guess you could still technically classify as measuring)...

Weighing 100 tablespoons of water...

The total volume of 100 tablespoons...

Weighing the pompoms...

the marshmallows, nerds, teddy grahams, and m&m's...




now to determine the volumes

 

 

Notice we changed measuring vessels for more accurate results and/or for verification purposes.  All VERY official stuff here. 

In case you're interested in our results...

Item (100 of…) Weight (grams) Volume unit of measure
Peanut m&m's 283 2.75 c
Regular m&m's 95 0.5 c
Marshmallows 65 1.25 c
Teddy Grahams 67 1 c
Pom Poms 25 3 c
Nerds 20 1 Tbsp
Drops of Water 3 1 tsp
teaspoons of Water 567 2.5 c



Then it was outside for a little vitamin D for our mad scientists.  They ran approximately 100 yds to the corner (and back)...I believe 3 times.  Mommy didn't.  She was on the porch with the camera.


And last but not least, our hundred glasses (from last year) but this time with a twist... with 100 googly eyes.
Hope you enjoyed our 100 day.  It was 100 total immersion for us.


Friday, February 12, 2010

Call to Dunkirk

Recently I have had several Christians ask me and in their questioning seem somewhat skeptical about our decision and practice of homeschooling.  One even told me flat out that SHE WAS AGAINST IT.  I really have not experienced this much until now and am a little bit taken aback by this Christian response.  This little video sums it up, pretty much...





...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.  -1 Peter 3:15