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Boston Museum of Science | Field Trip | Homeschooling

October 12, 2010 By Laura 3 Comments

One of our first field trips of this new homeschool year, was to the Boston Museum of Science!

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{JM, O & S} are at that age now, where I knew they would really benefit from going, on an educational level. {A}, of course, has been an appropriate age for some time, and she found many areas of interest that she enjoyed learning more about.

We left home early in the morning. I have to add, that I had decided I was not going to lug my big camera equipment around…because that was one of the reasons why we got {A} the Canon point and shoot for her birthday, right? But I have to tell you…it was hard! I felt like I was leaving one of my children behind! I was walking to the car in the drive-way as we left, asking myself…can I really do this? I made myself leave it home, and I worked on learning how to work this little thing better. And I’m still working on it. I’m an all manual girl for sure.

Anyway, we were there until late afternoon. This museum really is a place where you could spend at least2, maybe even 3 days at, to really enjoy it to the fullest, and not miss anything. Thankfully, we live close enough that we’ll be going again soon. The planetarium here at the Boston Science Museum, is currently under construction until early 2011. So we’ll be returning to see that when it re-opens. Especially because the little ones are studying Astronomy this year. But we certainly filled our day taking in all we could, enjoyed every moment expanding our knowledge on a variety of subjects, and having fun while we learned!

This very large scale grasshopper model displayed the internal parts of the insect, and their function. It was interesting to see the muscles of their legs, which are quite powerful in relation to their size. They can jump up to 20 times the length of their own body.

A real highlight of our trip, was this educational exhibit on electricity. The scientist was extremely knowledgeable and held our attention for sure. His ‘science lab’ was intriguing, as he explained a variety of facts.

We were often advised to protect our ears for certain demonstrations where the electrical currents were very loud. The kids were getting a little upset with me, because I kept uncovering my ears in order to take photos. But I got a shot with an electrical current like I wanted! Cool, huh?

These 2 guys were sure they were stronger than a AA batteries. But this demonstration proved them wrong. They were sorry they volunteered their manhood strengths, because the magnetic force that was created here, won in the end.

I was talking to my cousin’s middle school boy this past weekend (smart little fella), who took a field trip here when he was in 5th grade. He mentioned one of the highlights for his class was the electricity demonstration here too. They saw a couple different demos than we did this day.

The kids very all excited for this space exhibit, since they are currently learning all about astronomy. So this area in the following photos was very educational for them, and really brought to life so much of what they have been studying.

Inside the spaceship capsule, watching an educational video about the space shuttle.

This contraption was something else. There was so much it did. Engineering at it’s best. It was so much fun to watch it work.

As we looked at it, and watched the intricate and clever functions of it all, I thought to myself, “I can see {JM} building something like this, someday.”

No sooner did I think that, did he ask me to take his photo in front of it. He was grinning from ear to ear, and I could see his wheels turning. I think he was inspired.

I loved this wall.
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But this was the highlight of the trip, for ME, at the Boston Museum of Science! When I ever came around the corner, and saw this…..my heart was all a-flutter!….

boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-17 An old school house! I know they around here and there..like at Sturbridge Village, my cousin reminded me. I haven’t been there since I was very little, and I don’t remember anything there. (That’s another planned trip for us!). But I was very excited to be able to see this one, and GO IN!!

I was smitten, with every nook, cranny, and detail.

And I couldn’t resist playing teacher!

Thankfully I even had willing students, to play along and amuse me!! Their clothing was all wrong, but I didn’t care.

So was mine. But I was having fun. Michael was taking photos of my antics, left and right. I was glad I had on one on his shirt for this shot….so no one could see my mom jeans. ; )

Just kidding.

boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-24 {O}, pretending to write.
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-25 Check out the desk. Michael reminded me that we have an old school desk his parents gave him, when they moved from this area some years ago. I forgot about that!! I’m going to find it, and maybe bring it upstairs and put it in our school room. : )
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-26 THERE’S the pencil sharpener I remember.
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-28 I didn’t easily leave the school house area! As we stepped out and I looked at it from a little ways, I started to have crazy thoughts. Out loud. Like…”You know Michael, I bet you could build me one of these fairly easily.” And to my surprise, he didn’t even chuckle. He asked me where we would put it. Huh. Oh…..I guess I’ll find a spot then!
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boston-museum-of-science-field-trip-29 I loved this display. It slowly turned.

Behind it was a whole room of taxidermied animals! As we explained to {JM, O & S} about what taxidermy is, the process, and when and why it is done, they were wide-eyed!! We couldn’t help but laugh. I remember being about their age, and trying to wrap my brain around it all, when I learned this little fact of life, too. They were so cute.

{A} knew about taxidermy, but she said she found seeing the stuffed animals here very interesting anyway, because it gave her an accurate scale of the size of the animals. For example, we saw a Grizzly Bear and a Black Bear side-by-side, and she was surprised to see how much larger the Black Bear was. She always assumed Grizzly Bears were the larger.

It was a great trip, to a really great museum, for all of us. We look forward to returning there within this school year again, to see the planetarium, and have another day studying the world of science (all of God’s Creation), history, mathematics and social studies.

Have you ever visited the Boston Museum of Science? If so, what part of your visit did you like best?

Thanks for reading along and following some of our home schooling adventures we chronicle here. We’re glad you stopped by.

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1st Day of School, & Some Old Time Schoolhouse Additions

September 21, 2010 By Laura 8 Comments

Every year on our first day of school, I take the kid’s school photos. It’s amazing to see how much they change from year to year. Or even from the beginning of the year, to the end! But I don’t take school photos like this at the end of the year. I only take the school one’s at the beginning, and always in the same spot, right here in our school room.

In past year’s, I’ve shown the previous year’s with the present in this First Day of School post. But not this year. Just because I don’t feel like digging them up. : D

Here’s this year’s anyway.

{A}; 8th / 9th Grade
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{JM}; 3rd Grade
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{O}; 3rd Grade
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{S}; 3rd Grade
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Also usually on the first day, I take other first day of school photos. Just sort of a peek inside of our first day, and the typical agenda. Like planting our faces in the middle of each new book, and taking big deep sniffs.

We can’t help ourselves. We all love the smell of new books.

I think it’s genetic.

But I also usually photograph the kids as they do their school work.

But I didn’t take any more photos that first day, this year either. Why? Because we were really into all of our new stuff, and enjoying every minute of it! The kids seriously love their schooling. And the first day is like…Christmas or something to them. They can hardly fall asleep the night before. This past year, we pretty much schooled through the summer. But they still really got all excited about the first day of the new school year, anyway, with all of the new curriculum and supplies.

I totally get it!! I’m just always a little surprised they do, too.

So, since I didn’t have any more photos of our first day to share, I thought I would share some photos of a couple of new and, to me, very exciting additions to our school room:

old-typewriter

You know our friends, Dr. O and Mrs. O, that we have talked a bit about? Well, Mrs. O asked if we’d like this typewriter she wanted to get rid of. She wanted it out of her house….no need for it, and thought maybe we’d like it, or would like to try and sell it, or whatever.

Now, you all may or may not know how much I love old stuff like this. But I don’t think she does. I guess it was just my lucky day! So I said all casual-like, “Sure, we’ll take it. I’m sure we’ll figure out something to do with it.”

But inside, I was doing the happy-dance!!

It’s a 1939 L.C. Smith Super Speed.

Look at those keys!! Why do I love this stuff so much??

I don’t know. I just do.

I had fun taking detail shots of it too.

This is the little lever, you can switch, to type in black or red.
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It makes me happy, just seeing it sitting there. I don’t know if I’ll always leave it here, in the school room. But it’s where it will be for now. It seems to fit right in.

Another little feature I am all excited about, is a hand crank pencil sharpener. As it should be!!

Just who is the lazy one that came up with an electric pencil sharpener? I mean, really.

I wish this one was truly old, like the typewriter. But it’s clearly not, as you can see by the big, unnecessary logo.

I got it at Staples. But honestly….I was surprised I could find one at all.

I’m getting a school house bell next.

We finally found a good place for this other cork board of ours. Suspended in the big triple window that looks out to pretty much nothing good to see. I have to point out {JM}’s ‘pencil’ you see hanging there. It’s a dowel, he carved and painted, to look like a pencil. The other end has an eraser too. That boy is something else. He just makes me smile, with this stuff he does.

That’s all for this post in Home Schooling, although there is some more exciting things coming right up here too! Awesome field trip this week!

In the meantime, how is everyone’s kid’s school year going for you all so far? (Yes, you.) Are they all in the swing of a school time schedule? Anything new and exciting this year to share? It’s always fun and inspiring to hear from others about their kid’s school happenings, so feel free to share, or leave us a link!

Your Kids Might Dig This, Too! | Archeology Digging Fun for Kids | Homeschooling

May 22, 2010 By Laura 2 Comments

If your kids love archeology, digging in the dirt, or finding treasured, they are really going to dig this!
(This post contains an affiliate link.)

My cousin and her daughter (my God daughter) came down a couple of months ago, for a girl’s overnight with myself and my own 2 girls, and so thoughtfully, she had brought some great gifts for the kids! It was so sweet. It was unexpected and unnecessary, but I do love gifts that are both project-like, fun and educational.

This is one of those gifts,…. which was for {JM}: Dig & Play Treasure Island.

Some may not think of it as educational, initially, but many of us homeschoolers, tend to quickly identify the learning aspects that are truly in just about anything, and everything.

Dig and Play Treasure Island brings out the excavator in your child. The kit contains a plaster block, which contains buried treasures and coins. Using the specially designed digging tool, they must dig at the plaster little by little, to find the treasures.

It takes hard work, determination and ambition, but is ultimately rewarding. To me, this helps instill the life lessons, that nothing worth having, comes easy. What’s more, {JM} spent hours having fun, was excited about what he had found, and inspired to keep going to see what else was still yet to be discovered.

By reading and following the directions (such a necessary skill in life), {JM} learned that wetting the plaster, would make the digging easier, because the plaster would soften. (Science).

Soon he could see the edge of something! He dug more ambitiously around the treasure, so that he could get it out.

Gold and silver coin treasures were being exhumed all over the place. Because the plaster digging was a dusty job, {JM} wore a face mask that Daddy had on hand. But a bandana would do as well.

{JM} also learned that the more water he sprayed on the plaster, the easier the job got!

What’s this? It looks like a treasure chest! He wondered what was inside.

Wow!! Look at the beautiful gems! And a die?

Dig and Play Treasure Island, also comes with a game board. and game directions. Game pieces are also exhumed while digging in the plaster block.

So once the digging is all done, the fun doesn’t end!
What a great gift idea, for your kids, or other kids in your life.

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Earth Day 2010

April 24, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

A few years back, we decided to invest some ‘extra’ personal efforts of our own, on Earth Day, to help preserve and protect our environment.

It has become a tradition of ours, every year since. Somehow, we’ve been blessed with perfect weather to revel in every year on April 22, as well. This year was no exception.

Typically, our Earth Day starts with heading out into our neighborhood in the late morning, with our poke sticks and big trash barrel on wheels, to clean up all of the litter we can find.

As we work our way down the side roads, people drive slowly by, and smile at us, through their puzzled expressions. As if they are thinking, “What on earth, are they all doing?” (No pun intended. lol). Some actually roll down their windows, and ask us out loud. Others get it right away and already know and say, “Are you cleaning up because it is Earth Day?”….to which all the kids say in unison, “Yesssss.” And they usually say something like, “That’s so niiiiice. Thank you.” And again in unison they say, “You’re welcommmme.”

It’s downright sad, to easily find all we do.

We know some escaped the back of a truck on the way to the dump, or blew off someone’s deck by accident, etc.

We also know how many people just carelessly toss out their vehicle window, anything they are done with.

We love the part where we get to our beach.

We don’t find a whole lot of trash on the shore, but some. There are often adults, settled with their chairs and blankets at the beach, on (school) days as warm and fine as these. So most of them strike up a conversation with us. They first group thought we were a real crew, hired to clean up the beach, because of their colored shirts. But the kids explained, they were trying to wear “Earth Day colors”. Then they got it…”Ohhhh. It’s Earth Day….that’s right.”

I know the awareness of Earth Day has slowly grown since the 1960’s. But it seems we have a ways to go! For ALL to be aware not only of Earth Day, it’s history and purpose, but to contribute to it’s success every day of the year, through our daily habits. That’s the goal.

For us, our rituals of global love include not only cleaning up, to beautify our environment….

….but appreciating the beauty and Creation by God already all around us. Like this huge sea snail I spotted in the rocks, left behind by the receding tide, as we made or way down the shoreline. O.k., ‘beauty’ may be a stretch, for a sea snail. Sure, in it’s shell, it verges on pretty.

But I am quite sure, out of it’s shell, it’s about as ugly and nasty as the dickens.

The kids studied the sea snail meticulously….

…and had lengthy discussions about how interesting it was. And big! Then they decided it would be kind, to return the snail to it’s safe-haven home: the sea.

So that’s just what they did, even though it was a bit of a hike to the water line, as the tide was going out.

But the sea snail seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, or perhaps a thank you, as bubbles quickly rose from it’s shell, to the surface of the water.

Like any gorgeous weathered day around here by the shore, it’s hard not to feel so blessed, and amazed, at all God has created, for us. We sure do love it.

Soon, we headed home, ate some lunch, and later on, baked some Earth Day treats! Cupcakes.

The cupcakes were deviled food cake mix, aiming for an earthy color. Then we colored ‘whipped’ vanilla frosting from a can, and got creative. Going with the whipped was a wise choice. It was so easier to work with.

I do love the “EARTH” ones, that Michael/Daddy did.

Michael, {A} and I designed the rest.

These 2 were a couple of my favorites. By sight, and bite. : )

Our Earth Day has been as simple as this, but I have some bigger ideas for the future. We know many others do special things on Earth Day, and still others do nothing special, but are just good “earthlings” all year long. (And we appreciate that!) Did YOU or your kids do anything in particular, at home or at school, for more global awareness, appreciation or nurturing, on Earth Day?

Year round, we try to recycle, conserve energy (for our bills too, lol), reuse materials, and do other clean-ups on our street now and then, and we never, ever litter! (We also let anyone we see littering, really ‘have it’. “Excuse me. Pick that back up, please. NOW!!! <throat clear>. Thank you.”) Michael wants to put a rain barrel in the ground, to use for watering our gardens.

We hope you had a wonderful EARTH DAY!! Feel free to share with us anything about your day this year, or any and all tips or habits you use throughout the year, that benefits us all, as we preserve and protect the beauty of our world, together.

(P.S. After commenting, don’t forget to visit the Home Page! XO)

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Incubation and Embryology of the Chick | Chick Coloring

March 31, 2010 By Laura 7 Comments

Incubation and Embryology of the Chick | Chick Coloring

Although we have a small line-up of homeschooling posts about recent happenings coming your way, I’ve been inspired recently to take a little trip down our homeschooling memory lane, back to early 2007, when we did a study on chick embryology, incubated eggs and hatched chicks! At the time, the kids ages were 9, 4, 4, and4. So not only will you notice how young our kids look compared to today (now 12 and 7, respectively), but you’ll see how very unfinished our home was back then! Remember, Michael has been finishing all of the inside of our home himself. (With a little help and direction from me too.) As far as we have to go on this house, we can look at these photos and think, “We’ve come a long way, Baby!”

My brother, his wife, and their 2 kids, have a chicken coop, which began with an order of live chicks last year, I believe. But soon they will be receiving a batch of eggs, and will be incubating and hatching them themselves, for the first time. I am SO excited for them, and especially for my niece and nephew, to have this exciting experience! So much so, that we are itching to do it again ourselves all over again, since the our youngest kids are 3 years older now. The little ones would be able to get so much more out of the study and be a lot more hands-on, as {A} was for our first experience 3 years ago. It would be fun for the kids to compare notes with their cousins too. Nonetheless, with Easter coming in a few days as well, we thought it would be cute and fun to blog about our chicks. This experience in 2007, was ‘pre-blog’, so we never did get to share it with you all.

We picked up our order of 24 eggs from the Plymouth County 4-H on March 13 of that year. They have a wonderful Embryology Program, and supplied us with the eggs, an incubator (rented), a very informative book, a poster, and some feed.
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We got our eggs incubating right away. This process of incubation, to expected hatching would be about 21 days. The temperature of the inside of the developing eggs needed to be regulated at 100-101 degrees. So the goal of environmental temperature within the incubator, needed to stay within the 97-103 degree range. The humidity level was also a very important factor, and that was the hardest part for us!

{A}, being the oldest and the most appropriate age for this project at the time, was the most involved in the hands-on activities . She did most of the rotating duties, temperature checks, egg observations, and kept records on everything on a daily basis.

The eggs needed to be rotated 3 times a day. Therefore, we marked them with an X on one side of each egg, and an O on the other. (We had XO eggs! lol). They were each also numbered, 1-24. These markings helped us be assured that every egg was rotated every time.

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Candling was a very interesting activity that was part of this project. This allowed the kids to observe the development of the chicks, without damaging them. This can be done on days 3,4,6,7,and 13. Michael created a make-shift ‘candle’ using a light projector we had.

By holding the egg to the light, we were able to look for developments and progress inside of the eggs.

In the period of time in days 11-14, we had the option of giving our chicks some COLOR. This is a completely safe and harmless procedure for the chicks!! If it was not, we wouldn’t have done it! To understand this process more thoroughly or to get directions, please see (and save) this link: Chickscope. Another great link is here. In brief, this is done by injecting harmless vegetable dyes, into the albumen area of the egg. This is a pinhole break through just the very surface of the egg shell, at a specific area of the egg. In the following days, as the chicks continue to develop and grow, the sac that contains the color is naturally broken, and the chick is surrounded by the fluid coloring. This results in temporarily colored chicks. Michael performed this procedure, while {A} observed and recorded data. Unfortunately, I was away these few days at a professional photographer’s conference. So there are no photos of this part of the study. But the results are coming up!

Throughout the day on March 1, we could hear faint peeps from within the eggs! Talk about excitement! The next day, the peeps were a little stronger. We knew the time was drawing near, as we were just about at day 21!

Sure enough, very late at night on March 3, as I was exhausted and headed to bed, I took a last peek into the incubator, and lo and behold, an egg was hatching! I was like, “Are you kidding me? They are going to start hatching NOW?! As I’m ready to go to sleep?”. It was like both of my own labors, that kicked in high gear, right as I was most exhausted and badly needing a good night of sleep. So of COURSE eggs would start hatching at this time.

Still, the anticipation and excitement perked me up a little. I got {A} up and, the little ones, one by one, to take a peek. I put them back to bed after a few minutes, but I kept watch for awhile longer. It looked like it was going to be a slow process, and so thankfully, unlike my own labors, I was able to go get some sleep.

Early the next morning, we had 2 hatched!

We could see that there was another, who had tried to break free of it’s shell, but never quite made it. We lost that one. But the 2 that successfully hatched seemed to be doing fine. One was a very dark color. He almost looked purple? Which was not a color we had used, so we were confused for a bit there. The other was green.

I was not able to take photos of the chicks very well, through the little cheap (no pun intended, lol) plexi-glass viewing windows, but they were sure fun to watch! They were flopping all over the place, and all over each other.

The kids were so tickled, watching for more activity with the other eggs, and watching the chicks that had been born.

In the end, we had only hatched 4 eggs. To truly learn from the study, and understand the developments of the embryos/chicks, it was necessary for someone to break open and study the eggs that had not hatched. I could not do it myself. Michael took that task on. He and {A} took those eggs up on the hill out back, and dug a big hole in the ground. Then {A} sat on a stump, with her back to her Daddy, while he dictated the number on each egg, and the stage of development, while she recorded the data in her notebook. Then Michael buried them.

What they found, was some eggs were never fertilized at all. Some barely started developing, and for some reason didn’t continue. Others were pretty much fully developed, but had never hatched. It was all natural outcomes. That was probably the only unpleasant and sad part of this experiment.

Soon, the chicks were able to be transferred to a big sanctuary (Michael built), where we could really observe and enjoy them.

Once our baby chicks dried off and got fuzzy, we realized our dark chick was not a colored chick, but a rooster!
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We also had a green one, a natural yellow one, and a pink one. One for each of the kids!! We did expect a higher hatching success rate, but we were glad to get some!

The funniest, and most entertaining thing about these chicks in their first few days, was just watching them gain their strength. They were so active one moment, and would suddenly just doze right off and plop where ever they were.

It was an absolute riot, to watch happen, over and over. Just look at these photos of them! A moment before, they were very energetic, then they would just wither into a nap, and the next moment be up and about again. We know some older folks, who do the same thing these days. ; )

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Soon, {A} was able to gently hold them one by one, although it was important to keep it fairly brief and keep them warm, and to always wash hands after wards! (The same was done handling the eggs.)

With each of the kids having their ‘own chick’, and knowing we wouldn’t be able to keep them much longer, I just knew a fun photo shoot, with the kids and the chicks in the studio, was in order!! So click on over to the Photography & Lettering section of this blog, to check out the portraits from that shoot, and find out the names of our chicks!! Not much to read in that post! I promise! Just photos to enjoy. See you there!!

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One of our first field trips of this new homeschool year, was to the Boston Museum of Science!

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