My 10-year-old son made a Roman sculpture with white self-hardening clay. I took pictures of each stage of his work:
Archive for the ‘Homeschooling’ Category
Roman Sculpture
Thursday, May 26th, 2011Rummy Roots Card Game
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Rummy Roots is a card game where your children can learn Greek and Latin root words. In the pre-Rummy Roots game, you match the English word to the Greek or Latin word. It’s like a go-fish game. In the real Rummy Roots card game, you join two or more Greek or Latin roots together to form English words. This is a lot harder and wasn’t as fun for my kids as the easier version of the game.
My 10-year-old son was the only one that liked the real Rummy Roots game better than the easier version, so if you have high school students, you can probably skip to the real game and be fine. This game would definitely help in building vocabulary for reading comprehension as well as improve SAT scores.
Colosseum Bricks: A Disaster
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
Don’t buy the Colosseum bricks that I showed you on my Ancient Rome Unit Study YouTube video. They’re totally stupid. I don’t know how the manufacturer expects children to use them. They are lightweight like styrofoam, and they are supposed to be attached by hot glue. But hot glue melts the bricks slightly, and it’s too thick to look good. It is severely frustrating, because the bricks don’t stick together properly. You have to cut them into triangles with a sharp knife to make wedges. Really? Children are supposed to wield a sharp knife to make wedges out of styrofoam?! And then they’re supposed to not burn themselves with the hot glue gun that’s a bazzillion degrees? Okay…
Since my 10-year-old son screamed, “Mom! It’s impossible to make a Colosseum with these bricks! Can I make a castle instead?”
I said, “Sure.”
My children made castles and other structures (without sharp knives and burning equipment) and later knocked them down with only a slight gust of wind.
I just wanted everyone to know that I give this product a thumbs down. Really down. Like, my thumb is almost touching the floor; it’s that low…
Instead, maybe people can use wooden blocks, but you need a lot. This is what I recommend. Grab the phone and call a homeschool family. Ask them, “Do you own a set of wooden blocks?”
If the person says, “No,” then you say, “Never mind. Have a good day.” Hang up. (When I’ve done this to people, they call me back, laughing, asking for an explanation…)
On the other hand, if the person says, “Why, yes. We DO own a set of wooden blocks.” Then you say, “Come on over with your blocks, and we can build the Colosseum of Rome. Wouldn’t that be grand?”
In which case they will answer, “What a fabulous idea. I’ll be right over…”
You must call several homeschool families, depending on how large you want your Colosseum to be. Watch out, since blocks are hard, and the Colosseum is tall. Anyone who doesn’t want a bloody foot should exit the room. Yes, maybe we should let teenagers do this…
Here Kitty, Kitty…
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
Do you wonder what it would be like to have an exotic animal as a pet? I always toyed with the idea of having a pet jaguar, my favorite animal. (I could keep it in the basement with any unruly children, you know.) Well, Cat Tales Zoo is full of large cats that used to be the pets of actual (eccentric) people. The tour guide tells you stories about each feline, how many people they’ve killed, and how they came to be in a zoo.
They start by showing you the smallest wild cats, and you think, “Oh, they couldn’t hurt a fly.” Come to find out they’ve killed people. But as I stood there with my children, listening to the tour guide, I thought to myself, “These don’t look like ferocious felines at all. They’re lazing about like they’re on sedatives. They can hardly bother to yawn at you.”
So the sign saying, “Don’t Run: You Look Like Food” seemed like overkill to me.
A lion with a big fluffy mane was sleeping in his outhouse. Yes, it smelled like an outhouse but was more like a broken-down shed. He couldn’t bother to say hello. Later on, however, when we were on our way to the gift shop, we saw the lion step out and make his debut. He lazily walked about and let the tour guide rub him under the chin. “A little to the left…” he seemed to be saying.
The food for the large cats is kept in food lockers. One of the lockers said, “Other Meat: Unattended Children.” The tour guide tried to convince us that no actual children were in the meat locker. You could almost hear her laughing diabolically behind the scenes as she went to feed the animals.
On the way out, I saw two bird feeders inside one of the enclosed areas with a large cat. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor birdies. Fresh meat, you know. “Here, birdie, birdie… The big kitty won’t eat you…”
