Journey to Excellence

Well after a pretty quiet and sickly kind of week last week, we hit it hard this week! Brynne started the next phase of her The Secret Garden unit by studying plants. We did an overview of the parts of a plant, learned more deeply about seeds and roots, and then ended our week with a study of The Lorax in honor of Earth Day. The basis to our study is "Sue's Free Plant Unit Study" (under Science Freebies) by Funtastic Unit Studies . It is a free download and is excellent for Brynne's age group (probably age 5-9 or so). It was definitely my Favorite Resource this week. To learn the general parts of a plant, we relied on the book Parts of Plants by Wiley Blevins. It is simple, has great illustrations, and was something that Brynne could read in one short setting. Brynne made a flower with all it's parts using tissue paper for the flowers and seeds, a brown pipe cleaner for the stem, green construction paper for the leaves, and tan yarn for the roots. ...

Dawson has been working on a fermentation experiment for the past 10 days. I have often received the ziplock bag from a neighbor with an alcohol-smelling concoction and a 10 day plan for turning it into Amish Friendship Bread. We usually save a cup of the start, giving the remainder away to friends (thus the FRIENDSHIP part of the bread), and keep it going for a couple of rounds. But then we either get tired of it or accidentally miss a day or two of the instructions, so end up throwing it away. And then later I will get a hankerin' for some Amish Friendship Bread, but no start to start it with. Enter the Fermentation Experiment . We found a recipe for the Amish Friendship Bread Starter . The purpose of this recipe is to get the proper fermentation going to successfully bake the bread. The " fermentation of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeast ... is the fundamental step to making bread dough. Before most bread doughs get baked, they require time to rise. Thi...

In learning about Fermentation today, Dawson really got into Louis Pasteur and said that he thought he was really cool. Of course, as a homeschool mom, my thought was, "Well, then let's not move forward and, instead, study him some more." I mean, if your child shows an interest in something, especially a microbiologist, don't you just want to park there for a while? But, I don't have any direction on a lesson plan. DOES ANYONE HAVE A GREAT LESSON PLAN ON LOUIS PASTEUR , OR IDEAS FOR HOW I COULD BUILD ONE? I do not want to waste this awesome opportunity.

Although this is not a typical "Science Sunday" type of post, I will be linking up at Adventures in Mommydom anyway, just in case someone reading through her link ups has a question about how to do a literature based High School Biology course. You never know who might be searching. Also, if you would like some great Science projects and ideas for younger kids, go there now! There is always some great stuff! We skipped Science this week and will be doing a double dose next week. But, I have been working diligently on preparing Dawson's first week of High School Biology using The Way Life Works as our main text. You can go here to read why we have decided to change our curriculum, and here to read why we have chosen The Way Life Works . I found a couple of great resources this weekend, others who have forged the path before me. I am thankful for what I have found. I am also very excited about this new path we are taking! Week 1 ~ Introduction Day 1 Read pg. x-...

That is the name of the main "text" we will be using for Biology. I checked it out from the library today (to make sure it's what I want before I purchase it), and at first glance it looks excellent! The book is a collaboration of Mahlon Hoagland, M.D., a molecular biologist, and Bert Dodson, a freelance illustrator. In the Author's Notes they say, "The scientist wants to leave the reader with a feeling of awe and pride in the achievements of scientific exploration, in the human potential or ever deeper understanding. The artist, on the other hand, sees the possibility that an appreciation for our oneness with the living world can guide our individual actions as we shape our collective future. We hope our readers will be moved by both." This is the essence of a Living Book! One of the first illustrations is of Russian nesting dolls being used to demonstrate that atoms (the smallest doll) fit into simple molecules (the next size doll) that fit into c...

I can't even believe the following words are getting ready to come out of my mouth be written in this post. I feel like a traitor, like I have no business homeschooling with this attitude. I know that many will just not even believe I feel this way. Ok. Are you ready. Here goes. Dawson and I hate Apologia! I know! The shame! I have heard nothing but good things about it, so we purchased Exploring Creation with Biology , with the companion cd and slide set. I poured over other blogs, read suggestions, came up with a doable schedule. We started with Module 14 so that we would actually have leaves to do the leaf study. Dawson trudged through the reading and assignments and experiments. He even attempted to have a good attitude about it. Then I had him do the Study Guide to prepare for the test. And I told him he could take this first test as an open-book so that he could see how the Study Guide related to the test. And then when I looked at the test this morning a...