Live and Learn Farm

The Ship’s Journey, a poem

By: Gage5 Comments

We are studying Paths of Exploration this summer.  We are in Columbus, Unit 1, Lesson 2.  As part of the enrichment study for this unit, my mom gave me the assignment of writing a poem about ships. So here is The Ship’s Journey, a poem I wrote for this assignment. I hope you like it! 

Cropped Sailing Ships (c.1886-1890) - Constantinos Volanakis

The Ship’s Journey By Gage Corlew

 

A ship at sea has a destiny,

whether It is to China or Italy.

A ship has no home,

it shall mostly roam.

From sea to sea they sail,

steering clear of strong gales.

 

A port sees many of these,

they sail in on the breeze.

Many travel to the Indies for trade,

of clothes from Persia, for emeralds or jade.

Many have dreamed of riches from the sea,

though very few find the mysterious key.

 

The ship’s sailors being so brave,

bob fearlessly on the waves.

And see so many beautiful views,

when out on a sunset cruise.

As the new day dawns,

They rise with stretches and yawns.

 

A boat at bay,

has a place to stay.

A ship at sea,

is almost completely free.

A ship at dock,

Will be still as a rock.

 

Many people who love the sea,

have a common silent plea…

of sailing away, 

for fun and adventures on the high sea!

 

 

 

 

Meet Nipper and Cuddles

By: Gage4 Comments

Barred Rock Cochin Bantam

Good afternoon! Today I’d like you to meet Nipper and Cuddles. They are some of my Barred Rock Cochin Bantams. Nipper is one of the most friendly chickens I have, other than… well he IS the most friendly chicken we have! He is a Big cockerel (a young rooster) compared to the other cockerels in his pin, and he has almost mastered his crow! He is quite young to have a crow that is as good as his is.  Nipper is very high on my ladies’ list of their favorite cockerels, probably 2nd, but at least 3rd. He is very protective of the ladies too! When I went out to get some pictures of him, he ran up to the door to greet me and see what was going on. Sometimes he and Rocky have crowing contests to see who is Boss. Rocky is our Rhode Island Red Rooster in the neighboring pen. But you can never tell who wins because they never get tired. His favorite lady is Cuddles, the deep black Barred Rock Cochin Bantam. I can regularly see him and her resting under their favorite maple sapling clucking to each other softly.

Barred Rock Cochin Bantam

Nipper will sometimes play hide ‘n seek with the other chickens and me. He likes to act like the boss around the ladies and will walk around kinda’ like he is patrolling the area. Sometimes he will leave bread scraps for the others and just eat the normal food. Other times he will bring some scraps to the ladies. When it is time to put themselves up in the evening, he starts crowing saying BED TIME!!! And in the morning he does the opposite, MORNING TIME!!! Nipper is my second favorite cockerel we have, and my favorite is… well that is another post. 

See ya soon!

We are linking up with some great blog hops.  Be sure to check them out and say hey!  

The Chicken Chick

Hip Homeschool Moms Contributor

By: Trish Corlew6 Comments

HHM

 

I am so excited to announce that I have been invited to be a part of Hip Homeschool Moms as a regular contributor!  If you are not familiar with Hip Homeschool Moms, you need to go visit their site and get to know them!  They are a great community of ladies dedicated to connecting homeschool moms for encouragement, information, friendship and fun! They have an extremely active Facebook page (28,000+ members) and an equally active website.  You will find weekly featured team contributor, weekly guest bloggers, weekly linkups, weekly giveaways, reviews, and much more!

What an honor to be included with an amazing line up of bloggers. I am humbled to have even been considered for this opportunity, especially when you look at the talented ladies they have!  This gifted team of contributors write articles that appear on their website and on Facebook and are 100% focused on homeschooling. The articles focus on helping us with resources, ideas, motivation, inspiration, sometimes encouraging us to take time to laugh and enjoy life and other times reminding us of the seriousness of our task at hand. When in a community with so many wonderful moms, it helps me realize we all have the same goal, to give our children the absolute best education we can with a strong moral foundation, we just travel different paths to accomplish the goal.  And, in the process, we should encourage each other to be the best we can be with the skills and talents God has given us.

Hip Homeschool Moms

I hope you will enjoy this wonderful resource as much as I have already! I look forward to seeing many familiar faces and meeting lots of new friends on my new adventure with Hip Homeschool Moms! I will still be writing here as much as always, maybe more with all this inspiration 🙂 

Until next time….

POE Columbus Lesson 1 Parts 4 and 5

By: Trish Corlew2 Comments

POE Columbus

 

DisclosureAs you know we started Paths of Exploration by Trail Guide to Learning for our summer all-inclusive curriculum experiment.  This post relates to POE Columbus Lesson 1 Parts 4 and 5.  If you missed the other posts, jump over to the search box and type in Paths of Exploration, there are many posts on this topic now.  So, I have been determined to stick to the curriculum as written (just augmenting by adding the hands-on aspects), but I have made some decisions.  So much of this curriculum (in my opinion) is lower elementary level and my boys are just not loving the level of review that it is requiring for us to do all facets of the curriculum.  We will be skipping the parts that are review and just focusing on the new aspects (all of the history and geography pieces).  And we will be adding in the Middle School Supplement.  So there will still be a ton to talk about, but we will not be doing the lower elementary aspects, except I will still add hands-on activities.  If you have questions or want an activity to augment a concept and I have not listed it, please leave a comment or email me, I will gladly help you identify one!  

Since we covered the last two parts of Lesson 1 today, I’ll discuss both in this post. This section will be about Part 4.   

Section A. Copywork/Dictation.  It is continuing the dictation of the original poem “A Journey of Adventure” written by the authors. We will not be doing this piece of the curriculum. I think it is a very valuable piece of the curriculum and if your children have not had experience here, it is something I would do. And, if we were not doing this as our summer / early fall curriculum, we would be doing this section.   

Section B: Reader. Focuses on  “Language Skills”.  Obviously, we are still doing the readers, but since we are planning to do a lesson a week, we’ll probably go ahead and read the entire scheduled reading for the entire lesson instead of three – six pages at a time. I have my boys take turns reading aloud from Meet Christopher Columbus and I read Christopher Columbus.  

Meet Christopher Columbus

Meet Christopher Columbus

Section C: Read-Aloud and Discussion. Focuses on “Language Skills”.  

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Section D: Word Study. Part 4 focuses on rereading the sections read in the read aloud and identifying syllables.  We will not be doing this section until it catches up with the boys’ skills.  

Section E:  Geography.  Focusing on “History and Thinking Skills”. In Part 4, this section seemed like we were repeating what we had already covered.  Maybe because I had added so much to the curriculum to augment it in earlier lessons of Part 1.  So we did not do this section since we already had covered this material.  

Goode map

We did a fabulous activity creating an orange globe.  We discussed the various projections of the globe, identified the equator and the Prime Meridian and reviewed longitude and latitude, plus much more.  I’ll post a link here once I finish the post.  I just haven’t had a chance to finish writing it.  

Section F:  Writing.  With a focus on Thinking Skills, Art, and Language Skills.  Again, this focused on mapping and writing about a trip…. which we just did in the previous part, so we did not do this section.  It really felt very much like review.  

Section G: Independent Reading.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we modified this reading section a bit so the boys will The World of Columbusfocus their reading on anything about Christopher Columbus for 30 minutes a day. I wrote a post to share what our library resources we have, you can find it here.  I have since added a fabulous book that has not been added to our library list yet.  The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster.  This author has written many books (I purchased several used in a lot on ebay).  I stumbled upon these when reading somebody’s discussion of the Beautiful Feet History curriculum.  These readers are a core part of BF History.  We just love them.  The summary of the book from Amazon reads:

This is the story of a wonderful, changing, reawakening world the world of the Renaissance and Reformation. Measured by the lifetime of Columbus and his sons, this book spans the years from 1451-1539. With Columbus as the central figure of this narrative, readers will also learn the fascinating stories of Prince Henry the Navigator, Ivan III of Russia, Gutenberg, Queen Isabella, Leonardo da Vinci, Mohammed II, the African ruler Nomi Mansa, Martin Luther, Erasmus, Albrecht Dürer, Copernicus, Michaelangelo and many others. Told in Foster’s engaging and winsome style enhanced by her helpful chronologies and timelines, readers will learn of the religious, cultural and scientific changes that ushered in a new frontier of exploration and discovery.

I have started calling books like this Historiction.  Historical but within a fictional story.  Think about all the great Henty Books that are exactly this same formula.  My boys seem to love them so that is another book that is part of their 30 minute reading options.  

Part 5 was the catch-up section for Lesson 1.  We did pull out our globe and trace where Marco Polo had traveled.  We did not review the spelling words because we had already changed them 🙂  My boys LOVED doing the Word Search!  Here is an interactive one online (not the one from the curriculum)  We even did some of the artwork… although my boys took Art 1 this past year and they actually drew a still life of a fruit bowl!  So, drawing bugs and flowers with smiley faces was WAY below their capability too!  LOL!  But we did draw them and giggled our way through it.  These are not the drawings from the curriculum, but I love these.  I love teaching the boys how to draw an object, broken down in steps.  I think I love it so much because then I can draw too 🙂  

In Part 5 of Lesson 1 we find where the Enrichment Activities are located. NOW we are getting to some meat!  

IEW Review1.  Study the country of Spain. My two oldest sons decided to each write a five paragraph IEW essay on this subject. As a mom that loves to write, I LOVED hearing that!  We studied IEW this past year and I can not say enough good things about this curriculum! It is money well spent!! They have a 100% money back guarantee so if you don’t like it (even after teaching the entire course) return it for a full refund. You just can’t beat that guarantee. And just as an FYI, I am not affiliated with IEW in anyway nor do I receive compensation from them or free curriculum (Although I would LOVE to change that)!  🙂 I just love their curriculum! You can see my review I wrote about our IEW experience here.  

2.  Learn about Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.  My youngest son is writing a five paragraph IEW essay on this topic.  

3.  Eat Your Way Around the World is focusing on Spain! We will always be doing these!  WeEat Your Way around the World will blog about them as we cook them. 

4.  This was yet another “plan a trip” discussion. I can see doing these for a very visual person, creating a travel brochure or something like that might be a lot of fun. Although, none of my boys chose to do this activity.  

I hope I have not confused you too much! We will continue to augment the lessons and we are excited about moving at a faster pace! That is one of the many luxuries of homeschooling, we can adjust to fit the needs of our children!  

Until next time…

 

How to Make Homemade Blackberry Jelly

By: Trish Corlew6 Comments

affiliate photo

We planted blackberry bushes 5 years ago and this year they have produced a bumper crop!  We have already picked five gallons of berries and there are that many plus much more still on the bushes!  I made blackberry jelly with my sister-in-law last year, and our boys just loved it!  So, I knew I was going to be making jelly this year, but I’ve never made it on my own.  So, as the name of our blog implies, we learn by doing around here, so today, hubby and I made 21+ pints of blackberry jelly in six batches.  Since hubby manned the juicer, I guess I wasn’t completely on my own, but I was the primary and he was the assistant, LOL!  So here’s how to make homemade blackberry jelly!

 

How to make homemade blackberry jelly

We started with 5 gallons of blackberries that we have been picking over the course of a week and putting in our refrigerator to keep.  We juiced all 5 gallons of berries and they produced about 24 cups of blackberry juice. To juice the blackberries, we used our KitchenAid Mixer. The KitchenAid Mixer has an attachment that is specifically for juicing. I know lots of folks buy a separate juicer, but I like to really get the full use of our kitchen equipment, especially ones that you invest in like a KitchenAid!! Besides, you can spend as much on a juicer as we did on our mixer! We even grind wheat with an attachment to this mixer!  It is simply a workhorse and worth every dime you pay for them! We did have to clean out the juice attachment once while processing the 5 gallons of blackberries. But that was not much work at all.  

(Note to self:  I really should not call the by-product of juicing “waste” because we feed it to our chickens and they were some kinda’ happy to get blackberries!)  

The Sure-Jell directions as well as our Ball Canning Recipe Book both were VERY emphatic about not making a double batch and that the measurements needed to be exact, so I ended up making six individual batches of blackberry jelly.   

Ingredients per batch (Use precise measurements):

3 3/4 cups of Blackberry JuiceBlackberry Jelly Ingredients

4 1/2 cups of Sugar

1 Box of Dry Pectin

1/2 Teaspoon of Unsalted Butter

 

Equipment needed:

7 Half-Pint Jars or 3 Pint Jars and 1 Half-Pint Jar

Lids and Rings for Jars 

6-8 Quart Stainless Steel Pot (to cook Jelly) NOTE: I found this great deal on Amazon!! 

Small Stainless Steel Saucepan (to keep lids in hot water)

Large Pot for Water Bath for Canning

Jar Tongs

Ladle

Jar Funnel

2 Measuring Cups (One for Dry and one for Wet ingredients)

Knife (to cut butter)

Wash Cloth (to wipe jar tops after filling so lids can seal)

Magnetic Wand (to retrieve lids from hot water)

 

Directions:

Step One.  Wash jars, lids and rings in warm soapy water and rinse well.

Step Two.  Put Jars in large canning pot for the water bath to get them hot and lids in the smaller pot to keep them hot.  

Step Three.  Pour 3 3/4 cups of Juice in Stainless Steel pot and add 1/2 teaspoon of butter and one package of dry pectin and cook on high stirring constantly.

Step Four.  Once Juice has reached a boil that you can’t stir back down, add sugar, stirring in one cup at a time, but being quick about it!  Let boil for one minute.

Step Five.  Move juice off heat.  Using the jar tongs, retrieve all the jars from the water bath (draining them back in the pot as you go).  Get funnel in the first jar and ladle in the jelly.  Move as quickly as possible.  

Step Six.  Wipe the rim of the jar and place the lid and ring on.  Tighten down rings and move to filling the next jar.  

Step Seven.  Once all the jars are filled and closed, using the jar tongs, place the jars back into the canning pot water bath.  Bring to a boil.  

Step Eight.  Boil for five minutes and remove from water using the jar tongs.  

Step Nine.  Let sit undisturbed for 24 hours.  

Over the next 30 minutes or so, be listening for the “pop” of the lids to show that they sealed correctly.  Once the jars have cooled, you can check to see if they are sealed by pressing in the center of the lid gently. If the lid pops up and down (making a popping sound), the jar is not sealed. But, if you put the jar in the refrigerator immediately you can still eat this jelly.

Just so you know, it gets quite hectic once you put the jelly on the stove to boil.  From that point until the jars are filled and back in the water bath, it is pretty non-stop action. It is not hard to make jelly and it doesn’t take long to get a routine going, but having an extra set of hands really helps during these steps.  I’m pretty sure I would not recommend doing six batches one after the other, but this project is off my list now!  I love marking things off my to do list!  Plus this is a pretty messy process (notice the spill beside the juice in the picture above).  So, I wanted to process all the blackberry juice we had already made.  We had to clorox our white counter-tops to get all the blackberry stains off after I finished!  

Blackberry Jelly 21 Pints

Cost breakdown per batch:

We already had all the equipment, so those items are not considered in the cost analysis.  For one gallon of blackberries, expect to get approximately 3.5 pints of jelly.  

Blackberries – $0.00

Sugar $1.61

Dry-Pectin $2.50

Butter $0.05

Jars $5.00

Equals about $2.62 per pint…. and it’s homemade! Gotta’ love it!   

So, now that I am an expert at this whole making jelly thing, I figured I needed to write a post to teach you how to make homemade blackberry jelly too!  LOL!  Honestly, my boys said it’s better than Aunt Neal’s jelly (don’t tell her that though).  So, even though I may be a newbie, I was a successful one!   PS… that is quite the compliment, it’s hard to top Aunt Neal at anything, much less at cooking!  

Until next time…

Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

By: Trish Corlewcomment

Amazon Prime 30 day Free Trial

Disclosure

Most of my readers know that I am a complete book-a-holic. As a matter of fact, my used book store on Amazon is named “TN Book-A-Holic”! So it’s official!! I am addicted to books (and especially curriculum)!  My FAVORITE book store is Amazon by far!  I have been a prime member for 5+ years because not only am I a book-a-holic, I am also impatient to get what I just bought 🙂  With Amazon Prime, I get my books (or toys, groceries, music, houseware items, etc.) in two days!  Recently they have added so many new benefits to the membership that I am just starting to really take advantage of them myself.  Amazon lists the benefits as follows:

  • FREE Two-Day Shipping on eligible items. Note: If the item you’re ordering is out of stock or unavailable to ship, we’ll get it to you two days after it’s back in stock. Remember to check the cut-off time shown on the detail page. Items are delivered every day but Sunday, and orders over $1300 may require a signature.
  • FREE Standard Shipping on eligible items.
  • FREE No Rush Shipping (typical delivery one week after placing an order).  Note: You may receive promotional credit for selecting No-Rush Shipping. Credit will be automatically applied to your Amazon.com account once the first package from a No-Rush Shipping-eligible order ships. You’ll receive an e-mail as soon as the credit is available. You may select No-Rush Shipping as many times as it’s offered to you, but you won’t be eligible for the credit if you cancel your No-Rush Shipping order or return items from it.
  • Shipping Upgrades to expedite delivery.
  • Free Prime Instant Video access for paid or free trial members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Note: Instant Video isn’t available to customers receiving free Amazon Prime shipping benefits through Amazon Student, Amazon Mom, or as guests of another membership.
  • Kindle Owners’ Lending Library access to members in the U.S. For more information, go to Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
    Note: Customers in a paid membership, free trial or receiving a free month of Prime benefits with a Kindle Fire activation are eligible. The Kindle device must be associated with the Prime account that’s eligible for the benefit.

The two benefits I personally am most excited about are the Kindle Lending Library and the Instant Video Access. We bought the boys used Kindles this year and we are already using them in our homeschool classroom all the time.  If you are a regular reader, you probably saw the POE post where I purchased Meet Christopher Columbus as a Kindle version for our read alouds!   Kindles themselves are already saving us a bunch of money on books!  But now with the lending library… we should see even bigger savings! The Instant Video Access is great to view videos in our homeschool (and family time). We canceled our cable earlier this year and bought Roku. So with the Roku and this Instant Video access… we have cable replaced very inexpensively!  

 

Amazon Prime Free Trial

 

Interested in checking it out for yourself?  Amazon is having a promotion where you can get an Amazon Prime 30-Day free trial to see if you think it is worth the $79 a year.  For us, we know it has saved us money… but you get to evaluate it for yourself.   Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies!  If you are like us, every dime we can save is important right now!  

Until next time…

Sandpaper Land and Water Study

By: Trish Corlew7 Comments

Sandpaper Land and Water Forms

As part of our Paths of Exploration Columbus Unit, we circled back around and reviewed our land and water lessons.  Educational research indicates that children tend to retain information better when it is presented different ways and using multiple senses.  This is an example of how a Montessori education does just that.  This is a traditional Montessori Activity Sandpaper Land and Water forms.  This sandpaper activity is considered a sensorial activity.  InfoMontessori.com explains sensorial works well and will be beneficial for the basis of our sandpaper land and water study:

The purpose and aim of Sensorial work is for the child to acquire clear, conscious, information and to be able to then make classifications in his environment. Montessori believed that sensorial experiences began at birth. Through his senses, the child studies his environment. Through this study, the child then begins to understand his environment. The child, to Montessori, is a “sensorial explorer”.

Through work with the sensorial materials, the child is given the keys to classifying the things around him, which leads to the child making his own experiences in his environment. Through the classification, the child is also offered the first steps in organizing his intelligence, which then leads to his adapting to his environment.

It is not very difficult to make your own sandpaper land and water forms using sandpaper you purchase from a hardware store and foam board from a craft store… I’m not so sure they would be less expensive, but I’m sure your children would have fun making them with you! 

Land and Water 3 Part Cards

These are three part cards that are an extension of the sanpaper land and water forms. I found these free downloads at The Helpful Garden Montessori and they are perfect for this work. I am always amazed and thankful when I realize how many of us are making these materials and willing to give them away!  What an absolute blessing!

Not only are there free 3 part cards online, there are also lessons on how to present the material.  I found the explanation below at Montessori Teachers Collective.

LAND AND WATER FORM CARDS (Lesson Presentation)

Material: One set of cards of ten major geographical land and water forms. Ten land and water models.

Presentation: Invite a small group of children to join you. Have one child layout a mat, then have the children bring over all the land and water forms. The teacher shows the children where the Land and Water Form cards are kept and then brings them to the mat. Review the names and give a brief definition of each model. The teacher holds the cards. Show the children one card and ask a child which form it matches. Child places the card beside the form. Repeat for the other forms. Ask the children to name all the geographical forms they remember by pointing to the cards. Give a three period lesson for all the cards they do not know. Present three at a time, isolated at the bottom of the mat. Continue according to the children’s interest. Replace materials when finished.

Exercise 1 As in presentation, continue until children know all the forms using the cards only. Review cards previously learned.

Exercise 2: Children can draw their own land and water forms. They may label their drawing if appropriate and/or include the flora and fauna.

Purpose: To associate the three dimensional form with the pure concept presented on the card.

Age: 4+ years

Land and Water Definition CardsAnother extension of this work is teaching your children not only the name of the land or water form, but also the proper definition of them.   Again, I found the cards free!  This time from Montessori Materials.  

LAND AND WATER FORM DEFINITIONS (Lesson Presentation) 

Material: Outline maps large enough to show major land and water forms. Use one map for each set of forms. Two colored pencils brown or green for land, blue for water.

Presentation: Invite a child to join you. show the child where the outline maps are located. Start with the map of the world. Use one map for each land or water form. Decide which land or water form you are going to look for, i.e. island, and select the appropriate pencil crayon. Say that you are looking for all the major/large examples of islands. Child locates first example. Show how to color it in carefully. Child locates next example and colors it in. Have him point out the other examples which he will color in. Child proceeds for as long as he wishes. When finished, label the map according to its geographical form, i.e. Islands.

Exercise 1: As in presentation, repeat the process for all geographical forms.

Exercise 2: Child may use maps of continents or his own country, as long as he knows the appropriate language.

Purpose: Identifying major land and water forms world-wide.

Age: 4.5-5 years

DIY Land and Water TraysMany families make their own land and water form trays. These are usually plastic and some form of clay. Here is one set from Shannon’s Sharings and they are great!  These are  adding another dimension (water) to this already very tactile work. 

And, believe it or not, there are still more extensions to this one activity! One that I particularly love (and will be doing with the boys) is graham cracker land and water form snacks that Deb Chitwood presented on her website.  Just use food coloring with white icing to make the water and the brown of the graham crackers makes the land. So fun and yummy!  

Edible Land and Water Forms

 

Well, I hope have enjoyed seeing just one of the many reasons why we chose Montessori as the foundation  for our children’s education.  As they reach middle school and are abstract thinkers, their educational materials tend to be more traditional.  Although, as you see on my homeschool blog, we still lean heavily towards hands-on learning!  

Until next time… 

 

Paths of Exploration Columbus Lesson 1 Part 3

By: Trish Corlew5 Comments

POE Columbus Lesson 1 Part 3

 

Disclosure

As you know we started Paths of Exploration by Trail Guide to Learning for our summer all-inclusive curriculum experiment.  This post relates to Paths of Exploration Columbus Lesson 1 Part 3.  If you missed lesson 1, part 1, you can find it here. and Lesson 1, Part 2 you can find here.  Lesson 3 focuses heavily on map and globe work.  We loved Part 3.  So, lets jump into the lesson.

Section A. Copywork/Dictation.  Focuses on “Language Skills.  As in Part 1 and 2, it is from the original poem, A Journey of Adventure, written by the late Debbie Strayer.  Today we had two areas the boys wanted to explore on the globe:  Cathay and Venice.  We never did find what Cathay, but they did find Venice!  Both words ended up on their spelling list.  

Section B: Reader. Focuses on  “Language Skills”.  There was more reading from our required books. Section B and Section C still seem very cumbersome and clumsy.  These sections seem redundant to me.  But, we will continue to do both through Columbus and re-evaluate before we hit Jamestown.  

Meet Christopher Columbus

Meet Christopher Columbus

 

 

Section C: Read-Aloud and Discussion. Focuses on “Language Skills”.  Today the boys discussed a section from our read aloud regarding what happened during a storm.  This

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

section asked for them to describe the storm.  Our Institute for Excellence in Writing really prepared them well for this section.  They are very familiar with “dressing up” a writing with descriptive adjectives. Again, There are two required reading books about Christopher Columbus. One is Meet Christopher Columbus and the other is Christopher Columbus.  

Section D: Word Study. Focuses on “Spelling, Phonics and Vocabulary”.  In this section, syllables were discussed.  They discussed some of the tried and true ways of identifying each syllable in a word, like clapping them out.  This is also how All About Spelling teaches syllable identification as well.  For those that love using hands-on learning to teach a concept, here are some free cards to print from Montessori For Learning to divide up words by their number of syllables. Have your students clap out the word.  I have to tell you, Paths of Exploration introduces a new way of teaching syllables to young students.  I haven’t seen it recommended by any other organization so I won’t share this technique in this post (you need to buy the curriculum because I would consider this proprietary information 🙂 ), but let me assure you it is really smart and so simple!

In this section the boys also reviewed what “re” means.  We discussed a section from our read aloud that used a “re” word and what the word meant.    

re equals again 

Section E:  Geography.  Focusing on “History and Thinking Skills”. Today we discussed Marco Polo and traced his land route to China.  We looked at the water routes to determine if the water routes were quicker or not to China.  This was a great way to help them actually use the globe to think.  We used it as an opportunity to discuss various ways of looking at routes and the various types of maps and globes.  We will be making a Goode’s Interrupted Projection Map using an orange next week.  Stayed tuned for that project, I will make a new post for it!  

 

Goode map

 

Section F:  Writing with a focus on “Language Skills and Writing”.  We discussed Journals and what journals are used for in relation to an explorer.  As part of their study, they had to write a journal entry for today.  I am actually thinking of adding this as a rest of the summer project.  They used to journal when they were little (I would write what they dictated to me about their day).  They still love going back and reading them.  I think I have talked myself into it!  

Section G: Independent Reading.  As we discussed in parts 1 and 2, we modified this a bit so the boys will focus their reading on anything about Christopher Columbus for 30 minutes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays. I wrote a post to share what our library resources are, you can find it here. I am adding our favorite map and globe books below. These books will be a part of what they will read during their independent reading times.  

Maps and Mapping                      Maps and Mapmaking

Mapping skills           How to draw maps and charts

Map Keys Rookie Read about Geography          Types of Maps Rookie Read About Geography

 

Looking at Maps and Globes Rookie Read about Geography

 

In this particular lesson POE did NOT teach some points that would have been very beneficial and go right along with this study, especially for young students. I’m going to list some items below that would be great to go with Part 3 since it is so Geography oriented with a focus on land and water. Pick and choose the works that work best for you and your homeschool.  These are the activities that we added to Part three, although most of these are review.  I’ll be creating a new post to show you how we used some of these:  

I hope pulling these books and the hands-on lessons together for each part of the Paths of Exploration lessons are a blessing for you and your children! If so, please leave a comment of encouragement. Sometimes, us bloggers feel like we are writing and nobody is reading it! So, it is really so nice to get comments that let us know you are reading what we post. If you have other suggestions on activities that you are using for this lesson, please let me know that too!

Until next time…

 

The Great Chicken Migration

By: Gage3 Comments

The Great Chicken Migration

Good Morning! Sorry I have not posted in a while. I am finishing up my Apologia General Science class, and I’ve been getting a little lazy this summer :P. Anyway, I’m trying to get back to blogging. But I have been working with the chicks, I just haven’t been writing about it!  Last Thursday we decided that it was time for the Great Chicken Migration, to move all 30 “babies” to our second chicken pen where the teenage chicks have been.  

The first two chicks were chosen:  Nipper (a barred rock cochin bantam) and Foghorn (a white frizzle) were placed in the coop. Nipper just walked out through the chicken Foghorndoor (see picture above), but Foghorn just looked out the door and there is where the problems started.  As we (Mom and my brothers) continued placing the chicks in the coop, they just piled up in there at the chicken door. We got one more chick to go out, Cuddles, a deep black Barred Rock Cochin Bantam girl… but all the rest just hung around inside the coop and at the door. Cuddles just trotted around the pen and ate some food and drank water.  So we started taking them out of the coop, dipping their beaks in the new water source and showing them the food. We got about half out when we started noticing the second problem.  

The teenage chicks were bullying the “babies”.  That was not going to work, so we moved the teenagers into the grown chickens’ pen where they are enjoying their new jungle. That night we had to corral half of the chicks back in the coop.  Why only half?  Because half of the chicks never even left the coop to begin with that day.  The chicks had no experience being put up at night, so we had to help them all learn to go in at night and come out during the day.  We had to pull two out of the little dog house we have in their pen.  I guess they were using it for shade or because it was not as crowded at the door to get in!  When we went out in the morning to let the chicks out, we found we had left one out all night long.  But thank God it was okay!!!!

SupermoonNow the chicks know the routine, they know where the food and water live, when to come out in the morning, when to put themselves up at night and how to get in the rafters!  They have not experienced any weather other than normal sunny days and moonlit nights so it will be a new experience when it rains!  And tonight may be the night… the forecast shows rain and a storm.  They did get to see the International Space Station fly over and they got to see the Super Moon too!!!

Well… I will keep you updated and I will keep posting pictures!!!  See Ya Soon!

Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 Psalm onenineTEEN Review

By: Chase3 Comments

Psalm onenineTEEN Reviews

Hello, I’m Chase, I’m thirteen years old and I am the latest contributor to our homeschool blog at Live and Learn Farm.  I am starting a new column called “Psalm onenineTeen Reviews”. I will be reading and reviewing books that are written for teens. My family and I are Messianic. We believe that we should live the whole bible just like Jesus did. So my reviews will be different, they will focus on how these books line up with our beliefs. Does the book help us walk out our faith in everyday life? Do they encourage us to live a more honorable life? Would I recommend them to my believing friends?

My first review is of a book by Richard Paul Evans.  Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 is about a teenage boy whoA Psalm onenine TEEN Review of The Prisoner of Cell 25 is transformed by a freak accident, giving him electrical powers. In the book, the boy, Michael Vey, is facing tough decisions around every corner. He has to  choose between doing what he knows is right or doing what is best for himself.   

Michael’s life has gone from weird to absolutely crazy… and now to unbelievably dangerous. When one of Michael’s friends accidentally falls into a trap and reveals vital information to the people who are searching for him, the real hunt begins. Michael and his friend, Ostin, need the help of someone they both hate, so they have to set aside their personal feelings and differences to work together. At first Michael and his friends have no clue who is hunting them nor why. However, the more the friends investigate, more puzzle pieces start falling into place, and everything becomes clear.   

To sum it up, Michael is on a quest to help his friends escape from their captors and shut down the people who kidnapped them for good. But what Michael doesn’t know is, he’s playing right into their hands, and soon, their captors’ mission will be complete.  

Now, I have to give you, the reader, a WARNING… The author has created a series that will cause severe addiction, uncontrollable cravings, and no desire to do anything but read all day! You’re always wondering what’s going to happen next, and this is true even through the end of the book. Once you’ve read the book, you’ll have to read the next, just because you want to know what happens.  

Some things I really like about this series are:

–   All the characters are always trying to help each other out.  
–  They never use any offensive language
–  They always have a good attitude.
–  The characters are easily identified as either good or bad.  
–  The good guys are good… willing to sacrifice everything to do the right thing.  

This book can be defined as a classic good versus evil novel.  Would I recommend this book to my believing friends?  Yes, definitely!  I read this book in less than 24 hours… it is THAT good!  

The next book in the series is Michael Vey: Rise of the Elgen.  I’ll write a review on this book soon.