My son Bryan Evans (age 12) drew this diagram of the life cycle of a mushroom yesterday. You can read it better if you click on the picture, which will enlarge it. He created a much more interesting and colorful scene than the Apologia Biology book, and he added lively language. We are planning to go on a mushroom hike tomorrow as part of our study of mushrooms.
Archive for the ‘Science’ Category
Life Cycle of a Mushroom
Friday, October 19th, 2012Filming the Pond Unit Study
Thursday, October 18th, 2012
Last Saturday afternoon, I jumped onto the bed where my husband was taking a nap. “Carpe Diem!” I shouted. “The sun is shining, and it’s perfect for filming the Pond Unit Study. Can we go?”
“Get me some tea…” he groggily stated.
By the time we were backing out the driveway, dark clouds covered the sun, and it looked like it was going to storm. I looked down at all the gorgeous drawings my kids had made of microscopic creatures from the pond, and their sweet watercolor pictures of the pond itself. I didn’t want them to be ruined. My clip-on mic cost us $600. I didn’t want that ruined either. I looked nervously into the sky through the front windshield.
When we arrived at the pond, the wind started blowing all the papers. As my husband filmed, people gathered around just to watch, apparently entertained by me. I didn’t mind the audience. I’m a ham anyway. They asked me if they were going to be on YouTube. My husband laughed. My son Stephen asked if he could get another sample of the pond water, and I realized I needed to show the audience our handy-dandy pond-collecting contraption invented by my husband.
There was constant noise, so we had to keep stopping and starting over. A motorcycle started up every five minutes. Then I took a deep breath and nearly choked on an insect. And I was in a desperate hurry to film before an impending downpour.
You might be saying, why not film another time? Because next weekend I’m filming the mushroom hike and collecting video footage of all the mushroom activities we do. Since my sons are involved in flag football on Saturdays also, there is no other time to record. By the time my husband gets back from work on weekdays, it’s dark. Both of these unit studies are going into my Treasure Vault on November 1st, which only gives me five days to process the mushroom video footage. So no, there is no other time.
Then I found out my mic was on mute after half an hour of filming. Apparently my batteries were dead.
I looked up into the sky. “Lord, I know You want me to do this. You led me to do this unit study thing. I know You control the weather.” I felt discouraged as I went back to the car to change the batteries.
When I came back from the car, the sun was shining. The pond looked gorgeous with the beautiful autumn trees reflected in it. I was so happy. I pulled myself together to re-film the unit study.
People don’t realize how much work it is to film a video. I had accidentally left my notes at home, you know, my script, so I was doing it impromptu, hoping I covered all the transitions between the different video clips I had filmed over the last month. For example, I almost forgot to mention the coffee filter art we did to create that psychedelic-looking green algae called a Desmid.
Anyway, I now have the video footage, and it will probably take 2 to 3 hours to edit it because there are over 100 short video clips just for the Pond Unit Study. I will be adding it to my Unit Study Treasure Vault along with a Mushroom Unit Study on November 1st. On that day I’m also adding a video called “Feast of Tabernacles,” which was a super fun Bible unit study. My children enjoyed waving branches, building a simple tent-structure, and stomping on wheat that we collected from a wheat field. Yes, I’m filming my whole life right now and putting it into the Treasure Vault. That’s what I felt God leading me to do, and I will continue to follow where He leads!
Who Knew Biology Was So Funny?
Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
Biology humor is rampant in a homeschool that contains mostly boys. A few days before starting our Apologia Biology book, I wrote down the four criteria for life on a sheet of paper and taped it on the wall:
- “All life forms contain deoxyribonucleic acid, which is called DNA.
- All life forms have a method by which they extract energy from the surroundings and convert it into energy that sustains them.
- All life forms can sense changes in their surroundings and respond to those changes.
- All life forms reproduce.”
Without saying a word, my oldest two sons apparently looked at the page and learned it. On the day before starting biology, we were just finishing up dinner when I asked the children what makes something alive.
My 10-year-old son rattled off the four criteria for life word perfect, and my oldest son said the same thing in his own words.
“Nuclear acid?!” said my third son, giggling. “All living things have to have nuclear acid?!” Everyone started laughing.
“Deoxyribonucleic acid, you know, DNA.” I turned to my 7-year-old daughter and said, “Can you say ‘deoxyribonucleic acid’?”
“That word is too long,” stated my daughter matter-of-factly. So I broke the word down into syllables, and she said each syllable.
“What else do you think is necessary for something to be alive?” I asked the kids.
“All life forms must have boogers,” stated my third son, causing hilarity.
“But plants don’t have boogers, and plants are alive,” I stated calmly. The kids laughed so hard they nearly fell out of their chairs.
Inventors Notebook
Thursday, July 12th, 2012
This Inventors Notebook has a decorated cover with cut-out pictures that were glued to the front. Then the front was covered with packing tape to make the notebook durable. The title is prominent in bold letters, and the description was “Who, What, When, Where, and Why.” A table of contents is written on the inside cover.
This notebook has lots of pictures, writing, timelines, science, history, costumes, and hands-on activities. This was a first-grade homeschooled boy who put together this notebook. He dressed up in a bowler hat to represent life back in the 1900’s, when most inventors were inventing their hearts out. You can make some of these inventions yourself for a hands-on activity.
This family went to an art exhibit in our city. They saw life-sized Leonardo da Vinci contraptions everywhere that the kids could play with. Most of the inventions were put together with wood and canvas. The display was great! My own children enjoyed playing with the contraptions when we visited the museum.
Inventors Notebook (watch the video)
This Inventors Notebook is a great example of a project book which displayed all the ideas about inventions that this boy was learning about in his homeschooling unit study on inventors. The homeschool mom was inspired to do this Inventors Notebook with her son after taking my Journaling class at the homeschool conference last year.
Examples of Inventors Pages
