Monday Park Schooling, Tuesday Science, Thursday Theater and Friday Science

Tuesday is our Mad Science class. No photos, because I forgot to pull out the camera... This week's topic was nutrition. The kids talked about the food groups, portion sizes, what calories are (a calorie is the amount of energy it takes to heat up water by one degree) and digestion. They saw a demo of how to determine the amount of calories in a sample (which involved burning marshmallows). After class, Mikro and I read a bunch of books on nutrition in the library. I was really happy to have my messages about healthy eating and the necessity for variety in one's diet reinforced by someone outside the family. Sometimes I think Mikro gets it in his head that I am telling him this stuff just because my mission in life is to make him eat broccoli... I'm hoping that he'll be little more interested in expanding his repertoire of foods, now that he knows it isn't just mom who thinks this a good idea...



We did our park schooling on Monday this week (because Dad took the day off, and we took advantage of the opportunity to have a family picnic in the park, do some school work, and some nature study)... So Wednesday we stayed home and read a bunch of library books on different biomes. But here are some park pictures from Monday...













Thursday, I worked on my annoying New York homeschool paperwork. We did some more science reading, and then headed into the city for a show at the New Victory Theater. "Zoo Zoo" was wonderful. It's really hard to describe, though. There are many vignettes of animal locomotion-- fireflies buzzing about, an insect larva, a snake or earthworm, polar bears lumbering on stage and coming off stage and interacting with front row audience members, penguins playing musical chairs, frogs, and many more creatures, moving in graceful ways, some mimic-ing life, and some rather unexpected. And there are some objects that move, too-- there are dancing accordians and large boulders that dance. Mikro absolutely loved the show. I am so glad we didn't let the predicted bad weather deter us.

Friday was science at SMLI. The scheduled topic was paleontology, and since that is Mikro's hoped for career, we had to go, even though a nor'easter was predicted.



The kids looked at amber, a t-rex claw, fossilized teeth, etc. They talked about how fossils are formed, and looked at dinosaurs like icthyornis, allosaurus and others on a computer. I'm not sure how much, if any, of this was new to Paleogeek Boy, but he sure enjoyed it! They built a paper dinosaur by combining bits and pieces. It was cold and damp and windy, so no fun exploring nature. We rushed home to beat the coming storm.

Wednesday Parkschooling: Math and History

I'm trying to make Wednesdays park day around here. Yesterday, we headed up to our secluded table near the nature center and did some math, and some reading about ancient China.

We started out making up problems about birds, and nests and eggs, since they were all around to inspire us. Of course, talk of nests and eggs led Paleo Boy off on his usual tangent, and things evolved (devolved?) into dinosaur math.

Here's an example of what we were doing:

Fifteen pairs of oviraptors each make a nest and lay 6 eggs. In three of the nests, 2 eggs get broken. In 4 of the nests, a troodon comes along and steals one egg.

How many eggs were laid?
How many eggs hatched?
After the hatching, how many oviraptors were there, all together?

He managed this without yet knowing multiplication, by figuring out that ten nests with 6 eggs is the same as 6 tens, or sixty; and the other five nests would have half as many eggs (thirty), so there were 90 eggs laid.

Then he subtracted out the losses, and remembered to double the 15 (adult pairs) and add it on to get his total number of dinos.

I was really pleased at his understanding of how to work the problem. He still doesn't have his math facts down cold, but he knows how to figure things out, and I think that is a vastly more important skill...

He did not want to stop doing math!

But eventually, we moved on to history, and read a couple of books about Ancient China. One was a fairly detailed biography of Confucius. It was fun to watch Mikro actually make connections between Confucius' teachings and Jesus' "Do unto others..", and the Declaration of Independence -- before the book pointed them out! This is really the boy's strength. He sees connections, and synthesizes things together. Watching him learn is really a treat. I wouldn't miss this homeschool journey for anything!

We had a picnic lunch, and after we were done with the academics for the day, Mikro met a new friend and played tag and dinosaurs and raced around the playground. He had a great time, and had to be pried away to go pick up Dad from the train station...

Can you believe I forgot to take a single photo?

Last Day of Not Back to School Week

We started off our day watching a DVD series called "The Silk Road." Mikro really liked the desert caravan with camels episode. We ran to the library and returned some books we had finished, and picked up a huge pile on birds, especially birds of prey. Seems he knows what he woud like to study next, when we finish our marine biology unit. Then we were back at the park again, under the gazebo on another grey day. Math, grammar, science and some just for fun reading. We watched the squirrels and sparrows, ate a picnic lunch, and headed off to the playground after we finished our book work. Mikro met a boy whose family just moved to our area, and they had fun racing around while his parents and I chatted. We took a walk by the beach, and Mikro found a tiny little crab, which he picked up, examined, and then let go. I can't believe how fast that little thing scurried under a rock.

It was a good day, even though my back was utterly miserable, and I had considered staying home. Glad we got out instead.

More Not Back to School Week at the Park

Another day of learning in the great outdoors. Today was chilly and windy and threatening rain, though it looked fine when we left the house... So of course we had no jackets. Thankfully, I had long pants for Mikro in the car, and he pulled them on over his shorts. I wrapped him in a beach towel, and me in our picnic blanket, and we sat in the gazebo, to protect the books in the event it rained. It never did. Mikro got in some running around, and jumping up to try to touch the willow tree branches. He has a thing for willows. He says they are friends. He also loves oaks, for the acorns... (I'm partial to birches, myself.)

And we read books about barracudas and herons, did some math and grammar, read a book of riddles, and watched sparrows shelter from the wind under the picnic tables. Then we went to the playground. Later at home, we did some googling on herons. They are one of Mikro's favorite birds. Didn't see any today, but one went over our heads yesterday, and we saw them flying over the river all summer.



We ran into a couple who had talked to someone at the Nature Center today, and they told us they are doing rennovations. So hopefully things will improve soon, and they will start doing programs again... I'm glad to know what is happening there.

Park Schooling

Mikro enjoyed our Not Back to School Day yesterday so much, that he begged me to extend the festivities to the entire week. So today we were back at the park. The nature center was closed and almost all of the bird feeders are gone. I hope the county isn't thinking of saving money by closing it. It is one of our very favorite places, and was a vital part of Mikro's homeschooling up till now... There is a lone picnic table up there, and it makes a good place to do our learning.

We watched a woodpecker, starlings and what may have been killdeer (though they were too distant to conclusively i.d.) today, and read a bunch of stories from Ancient China, and more marine biology. Mikro learned to put things in alphabetical order, practiced his lowercase writing, and did some math. Then we took a walk along the shores of the Hudson River, and got sprayed with water from waves breaking on the seawall. It was amazingly windy, and the kite surfers were out. They are so much fun to watch. I wish I wasn't such a mess physically and could learn to do that. Awhile ago, I talked to them, and found out you need to have a good back to do it. That rules me out. Watching them take flight and soar over the waves, then splash down and surf away, makes it look like such a blast. It was too windy for the geese and the ducks. They all clambered out of the water and sheltered in a windbreak provided by the seawall...

Before heading to the park, we returned a few library books and took out lots more, and even returned a bunch of bottles to the supermarket for some extra pocket change. Usually we just put them out for the recycling pickup, but this month we are broke enough to need the couple of dollars... I'm glad our park only charges parking fees during the summer busy season...