Homework in the...

Gryffindor Common Room, anyone?

In Pictures

Studying Math & Geometry Concepts

Spread out the Presidents Timeline on Election Day

Adding to the History Timeline in the Sunroom/School Room

Christmas Craft - Middle School

Christmas Craft - Preschool

Bead Snowflakes

Chilly morning at Peregrin House

More Earth Science

It has been nearly 4 weeks since Mane's grandma, my mother, passed away. Last week we gently began turning our minds back toward school here at Peregrin House. The return to something solid and normal, like earth science, has been helpful. Our minds needed some direction and focus, and what better to focus on than good, solid earth...or maybe major catastrophes like earthquakes and volcanoes...depending on how you want to look at it...

Mane is working on a project mapping where earthquakes happen in the world every day, looking for a predictable pattern, and observing the relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes. (Find the Musical Plates project here: Musical Plates: A Study of Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics.) She started by writing her hypothesis regarding these things in her science notebook. Then she learned how to look up the USGS website where earthquakes are mapped as they happen and how to set parameters for which earthquakes she wanted to appear on the map (those that happened that day between the magnitudes of 4.0 and 10.0). She's practicing using latitude and longitude degrees to mark the earthquakes on the large map. Then she's checking her location against the listed location of the earthquake online!

 After learning about how earthquakes are measured, she and her friend built a seismograph together on Tuesday this week (instructions here):

 And then the lovely ladies went to the sunroom to make potions...

The year of Earth Science

We decided at this beginning of this school year that this would be the year to study Earth Science. In our earlier years of homeschooling, we've taken a very eclectic and practical approach to science, addressing science as it appears in every day life and in our other studies. This year, we've decided to dig deeper into one particular field of science. Earth Science is our choice!

So far, we've read books from the library:

Made a Plate Techtonics Model:

 Made a paper puzzle of the continents to see how they might have fit together as Pangea, Laurasia & Gondwanaland:

 And watched Amazing Earth: Catastrophic Past:

Mane took notes while watching the Amazing Earth movie, too, and I was astonished! I have never taught her to take notes, but I told her I'd be taking notes while we were watching. She sat down with paper & pencil next to me and scribbled down facts throughout the movie. This is suck an important skill, and I'm glad to see her beginning to practice it now!

Rosh Hashanah

We picked organic apples with some homeschool-y friends on Friday and then spent the afternoon canning 42 pints of applesauce!

Today, Mane and I spent the day preparing our Rosh Hashanah table and discussing the meaning of the holiday, which officially began last night and continues until sundown tomorrow (since the Jewish calendar begins the day at sundown). It is the Jewish New Year. It is celebrated with harvest fruits, firstfruits. The apples are dipped in honey and eaten with a prayer asking for a sweet and happy year to come.

We took a lot of time to talk about why the Jewish calendar is different from the Gregorian calendar (and what is the Gregorian calendar?!), and how time is marked by the sun, the moon & the rotation of the earth. We read about Teshuvah, and the idea that Rosh Hashanah is a time to let go of the mistakes from the past year and turn toward a fresh new year, how grace is for all people. Mane made a New Year's poster, learned a little Hebrew, and helped make the apple candle holders & the apple honey pot. 

When I got home from work we lit the candles, offered prayers & blessings and then dipped our apples in honey...

Family Story

We spent spring break with my mom, who was on her 3rd of 4 rounds of chemotherapy. She taught Mane to customize clipboards:

 

 

And then Mane read stories to Grandma when she was tired at night...

 

We went for a walk (run?) at the nearby county park while Grandma took a nap in the afternoon...

 

And observed all the signs of early spring here in MN...

 

We had a little science lesson about Fens...

 

And we spent hours and hours talking about family history with Grandma. We dragged out the binders Grandma has full of information on hers and Grandpa's families. We started those binders back when I was in 4th grade! We looked at old birth, marriage & baptism certificates, letters from WWII, newspaper clippings, and photos. And we took Mane to visit the cemetery where Grandma's parents are buried, along with 2 of Grandma's siblings, an aunt & uncle, and my cousin's husband. We took photos of the gravestones to add to our family history binder.

 

I have a feeling that Mane will remember this spring break for a very long time. She flew kites with Mango, got a remote controlled helicopter delivered to Grandma & Grandpa's P.O. Box in their little town, ran around outside A LOT, listened to stories, camped out in the living room, did craft projects, invented new games, crocheted, went to bed early, got up early... I'm glad we have the freedom and flexibility to take off and spend a week with Grandma!

Life Lessons

The last few months have brought us:

Visits to the library that made us feel like we were in the Griffindor Common Room...

 

Two visits to the History Center for the 1968 Exhibit (one on our own & one with Mango and the grandparents, who felt that there should be chairs for them to sit in and be part of the display also)...

 

A trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art with friends to celebrate The Year of the Dragon...

An afternoon at the FIRST Robotics Competition...

...And a whole lot of experience working with people and businesses! Mane has accompanied me to my place of employment, where I was the temporary manager while the owners were out of town for a month. She learned to greet people, make polite conversation, attend to small requests, and anticipate the needs of both the employees and the customers. She was a great help, and this was a fantastic opportunity for her to learn what the management of a small business looks like. She was right there with me while I was answering calls, scheduling appointments, ordering supplies, cleaning, organizing, and problem-solving!

Mane has also launched her own small business designing and building custom computers for people. She and Mango have built her website over the last several months, and last night they delivered her first computer to her first customer! It took them about 2 weeks to work with their client, set the budget, research the component options, order the parts, and build the computer.  Mane explained the various internal components of a computer to me yesterday. Mango supervised the building of the computer, but she did all the work herself.  

Mitochondria

Mane has been learning about the organelles of a cell: the smaller organs within cells. We started out talking about body systems and then worked our way backwards: body systems are made up of organs, organs are made up of cells, cells are made up of organelles. The other night she & Mango had a long talk about mitochondria:

 

She's working on a chart of organelles. The next step with be to make a clay model of a cell!

We found this game for learning about organelles:  The Incredible Megacell. Mane gave the gave a 4 out of 10 for fun and interest. I'd give it about the same. It was fine to do once, and she did learn some things from it, but it does the same thing over and over once you've played it once. It wasn't a bad way to continue our conversation about organelles, though. A comic strip for science class? Hey, who can complain?

Handcraft

Shorty before Christmas, Mane's crocheting abilities really took off. She'd been finger crocheting chains for a few years already...chains that grew so long that they could be stretched round and round the house, I'm sure. But this year, she persevered and learned to make rows. Having mastered rows, she was able to make rectangles, fold them over, and sew up the sides to make purses!

Currently, she's working on a dishcloth:

She's also been using the round knitting loom for hat-making:

Alongside those handcrafting skills, she's been acquiring screen skills, learning to email and to navigate her own online photo album. She also learned to look up video instructions for making more crafts (screen skills merge with handcrafting skills)! She found the instructions, followed them, and made this traditional Polish Christmas star with absolutely NO help from me:

Stella comes home!!

On December 19th, Flat Stella came home:

Stella had been in Montana, with our good friend, Anika:

Together, they went to Anika's favorite coffee shop...

They spent some time in the snow:

...and climbed a frozen waterfall:

She came home with a new winter coat, which sent Mane scurrying to make one for Stanley, too! 

...and Mane also set to work filling their Christmas stockings!

Stella came home with a nearly full journal, lots of other photos, AND an email address! She had such a fantastic adventure! Thanks, Anika!!

Once they were back together again, Stanley & Stella had a blast lighting Hanukkah & Advent candles with us, playing dreidel, and eating pistachios from the Christmas Goat!