Working thru the Considering God's Creation-unit 4, we came upon this activity for the Sedimentary/Metamorphic rock lesson. I have not done salt dough projects in a long time-so after making the dough-I had to research to see how long we needed to bake these babies [this info was sadly missing from the guide]. Well, after a small fire (a hot pad fell down outta my pile I had used to pull the parchment paper/dough off the cookie sheet to cook the underside. I didn't see it when I closed the door-luckily the hubby spotted a small flame rising from the bottom of the oven) and then forgetting about it b/cuz it takes oh, 4-5 ish hours on about 212 degrees to bake it right [yes, it is easy to forget, and then hubby jacked up the oven to get ready for dinner]-we ended up with a decent (albeit slightly toasted looking) project. [sheesh!] Let's just say this is one project we won't soon forget! LOL....it is a great way to illustrate the idea of what happens with sedimentary rocks and fossils.
We did shell impressions, Bud's hand print (sentimental value) and used a big plastic dino to make tracks and then used a rubbery dino to make a skeleton impression.
In case you want to try this yourself, you will need
1 cup of salt
1 cup of flour
and water to make it pliable
a cookie sheet and parchment paper if you don't want it sticking to the pan
items to make impressions
spread out to use, bake at 212-220 degrees for 4-5 hours until baked thru. Flip at least once 1/2 way thru to bake underside. I pulled the parchment paper with the goodies on it off the cookie sheet after it had baked for about 2-3 hours-it is safe to sit on the rack. Note to self: check for dropped hot pads. Cool-use for demos. :)
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As promised, here is what I have [sorta] planned for the boy's year. [Update: we did some of this but then mid-year I switched to Heart of Dakota's Creation to Christ...look for those posts to find out more about them. Regardless, I still love these products and highly recommend any of them]
Math:
We'll get to this soon, [Abeka Arithmetic 4] as we have a few things I held off from the 3rd year math because the child was not "getting" a few things and I simply didn't want to skim over it and then wait to see the fall out years down the road. So we're working through the few goodies we didn't get to (and we started the 3rd level in Jan. so we haven't had a lot of time to go thru it) and then the 4th level will be used.
I also use lots of hands on activities, file folders with games, flash cards, and more, to help him understand and retain these vital skills.
Science:
We are continuing to work through the Considering God's Creation science program. We just started the unit on the earth (discusses the atmosphere, core and more). We'll get into Rocks and Minerals soon and that should be fun (the boy loves rocks) and we'll finish it (with the body unit). Now this is best when supplemented with fun, hands-on activities and so I have a bunch of materials here and there and will order some fun kits soon. I will post once I have those. I love the mini-notebooking/lapbooking approach and it is short enough to maintain his interest without boring him with too many details (he's only 10-we have time to get "in depth" down the road).
Depending on how long it takes to work through it, we'll probably get back to our Apologia's Zoology 1: Flying Creatures on the Fifth Day. We started it but switched to the Astronomy one (which we completed this last spring). I wanted him to be old enough to truly get the material and he'll be ready for it this year. We'll lapbook many of these units too.
History:
We love history in this house, and since we just wrapped up the Beautiful Feet Books, Early American History-we wanted to carry on a bit to cover the Civil War (my son is interested in this stuff-yes, because of guns and wars and all things boys tend to like), and I want to touch on the expansion west. I had thought of using the new guide by BFB (Westward Expansion)-but it is just a bit too over his head at this point. So, because he loves to do hands-on things...I have been debating getting the Homeschool in the Woods two Time Traveler units on the Civil War and Early 19th Century. My quandary is that he is still working on fine tuning his reading skills and I wonder if this too may be over his skill levels-some of it anyhoo. So my history section is void right now. I am praying for wisdom and discernment as to what avenue to go. I wonder if I should hold off another year (from all this reading/writing stuff these programs require)....it's a tough call. I don't want to create a loathing for history, but I also don't want to not do anything...I do want to keep in the US right now (I move into Sonlight's Eastern History by 6th grade). Then we go back to Egyptian and early history. So-I have my history work cut out for me. Once I make a decision, I will let ya know.
Language Arts:
Yes, we are still using this [Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading]. Let me just say-when you are working with a child who struggles so with dyslexia...it takes a long time to get them where an "on track" kid is in regard to their reading skills/writing skills. It is the plain and simple truth. Thank God for homeschooling! We can take as long as our precious son needs to work on this skill. At his pace. He likes this program (and retains a lot of it-more than other ones I have tried) but it is huge and takes time. I lapsed over the summer due to some difficult, and trying issues that befell our family (not necessarily our immediate family-but family none the less). So we just did not get a chance to work on it like I had planned. I think though, in God's infinite wisdom-this was a good thing. The boy needed a rest and we are seeing things "connect" much better than we had earlier this year. Sometimes, it just takes longer. I have learned this by having not one, but three children struggle with reading/dyslexia issues. For those of you who have been blessed with children who do not struggle-thank GOD every day-because it is a huge and daunting (at times) path to walk. Not only for the ones trying to teach the subject (and I mean struggle with any core subject-not just reading) but it plays games with the child's self-esteem, confidence and more. So we plug along and pray, pray and give our child the time he needs to get this. I am also working with my friend, who recently took a course that now makes it so she can teach reading skills using that particular program (sorry cannot recall the name just now but will get that soon). SO with me and her piggy backing, working on it daily and with time-he'll get it and still retain a love for reading! Yes, it is possible folks-it just takes time. :)
He will also continue to finish his George Washington's copywork book, wrap up the Memoria Press copybook III. I have lots of times where we use copywork and dictation through out our studies-so he gets plenty of practice copying and transferring material to paper.
Added to this, is the continuing on with the next level of the Getty-Duby Italic Handwriting. We usually do this about 2-3x per week. I have used this program with all my kids and have seen they are retaining legible, lovely handwriting. It looks so close to print-making it a great choice for kids who have trouble reading different fonts/cursive.
Lapbooks:
Like I mentioned above, we'll do some lapbooking with the science, but also, I try to do a couple FIAR books and subjects the child enjoys. So far, we have been working on one about baseball (free components from Homeschool Helper), and I have not gotten to any more planning of what else we'll cover. Sad but true. I wanted to do the FIAR book 4 story: The Raft.[free from Homeschool Share]. But again-the summer flew by and other things took precedence, so we didn't get to it. I want to get it going as soon as we wrap up the baseball unit. While it is still nice out so he can build a raft to test float in the pond nearby. I also want to the Another Celebrated Dancing Bear (this is in 1st volume of the FIAR series) because I finally bought it and he has yet to hear it (the library could not get it for us)- and I love that story a lot! I have other reasons too-but that I guess, will have to wait til later and another post. Anyway-I have not sat down long enough to pick the FIAR books we'll cover this year, outside of the fore-mentioned ones. Will post once I have those figured out.
Bible:
As for Bible-we're wrapping up the Apologia Who is God? book and will continue on with their Who Am I? from the What We Believe series. I am also working through a product for a review and when that posts, I will let you know-
The rest of the typical subjects: Nature Study, Artist/Composer study and so forth are being finalized and figured out still. I did post who we'll be covering for the artists this year, on my CM Sampler blog. This post is long enough-so I will call it quits. Thanks for taking a peek at what we'll be covering this year for the elementary (4th grade-ish) boy.
