Unit Study: Patience

The next Unit Study we did was on Patience.  First we learned about Photosynthesis, and the Oxygen-Carbon Dioxide Cycle of Plants.  

For their exam, the extra credit question was to write the chemical reaction for Photosynthesis.  Jacob got it exactly correct.  Apparently, he takes after his father, who has always been good at that sort of thing (He also understood it and could explain it all perfectly).

We looked at a leaf under a microscope (the one we got for Christmas) and were able to see the different parts of the leaf up close.  We also wrote papers on plant protection and how plants use different methods to attract or keep away bugs.  We watched a documentary on Neflix (also available on YouTube) called "What Plants Talk About" and it was VERY interesting.  It talks about how plants help each other to survive and how plants actually can talk to each other in ways.  There is a forest where the forest is so dense that the sun never reaches the ground, so in order for seedlings to grow, the "mother" plants share their glucose so that their seedlings can actually grow.  The whole system works together to help each other flourish.

Next, we discussed a section on cooking and talked about yeast.  We made bread and pretzels.  

Naturally, Meagan made hers with flair!  If you don't know what this is, don't feel bad.  It's the cutie mark for Rainbow Dash, one of the ponies from My Little Pony.

The pretzels were cheesy garlic and the bread was honey bread.  The pretzels were made with the supervision and assistance of a master chef (One of Sarah's best friends), but the bread was made with Meagan teaching Jacob since Sarah had already taught Meagan.  This gave her a chance to be the "teacher" for a change.

We also did an experiment where we captured the Carbon Dioxide gas that is emitted from yeast as it reacts with sugar and used it to inflate a balloon.

Then we started talking about molds, fungus, and bacteria.  We have a friend who has Celiac's disease.  We discussed how any kind of gluten reacts differently in her body than in that of a healthy human body.  We talked about Alexander Fleming and the discovery of penicillin.  We talked about the different kinds of microorganisms.  First we talked about bacteria and how it is essential in our bodies. They help break down food, release nutrients, and recycle dead plants and animals into useful chemical compounds for living plants and animals.  Without them, we would not be able to effectively digest food.  One of the things that I learned (and Josh too) is that E. Coli can already be found in the human intestinal tract.  The danger is not in the bacteria but in the location.  It is only a problem when it leaves the intestines and enters another part of the body (for instance, the stomach or blood).  Bacteria form the majority of the biomass found on earth, which means that the total mass of all the bacteria found on earth is greater than the total mass of any other single species.  Next, we talked about fungi (yeast falls under this category).  Next, we talked about protozoans.  They live in water.  They can produce their own food (which makes them a plant) or they can consume other food sources (which makes them an animal).  Jacob describes this as being a "planimal".  Last, we talked about algae (of which seaweed is one type).

We were going to go into human development, but we started going to a new co-op (see the post on that HERE) and picked up where they were.  Because of that, these unit study style posts are going to shift in their format/frequency/content a little bit.  Change, though, is often a good thing, and we're hoping that this is no exception.

- Sarah                         

A new homeschool Co-op

My sister has been trying to tell me how cool Latter-Day Learning is and I finally listened. The other great thing about this curriculum is that a bunch of local LDS friends get together twice a week to help our kids learn together. I decided to try it out and the kids thought it was a great fit.

Our first time joining was for a field trip to the planetarium (Jacob was so thrilled). These are not all of the kids but some of them. All the moms take turns teaching, and each of us teach a specific topic. Next year I will be teaching science to the older kids. We try and split them the best we can according to their developmental stages. The great thing too is that two of the families live two doors down from each other and so one house is used for the younger and the other house is used for the older. It really is set up the perfect way. There are about seven families that come, with more coming next year.

We have been attending for a few weeks now and really enjoy seeing friends and learning more not only about history, science, literature, and geography but about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

-Sarah   

Attentiveness Unit Study

Our next unit for Homeschooling has been Attentiveness.  The theme is paying attention to detail and observing the world around us.  For the first section in this unit, we studied the ear.  The kids discovered the parts of the ear, and how they work to help the brain interpret sound waves.  Inside your ear, you have short hairs and long hairs.  Shorter hairs pick up the high pitched sounds because the amplitude of the wave is able to reach them better, and the taller hairs pick up the lower pitched sounds with their reduced wavelength.  Sound is directed by the cartilage in the outer ear into the ear canal where it strikes the ear drum vibrating it at the frequency of the instigating sound wave.  The ear drum, in turn, causes the hammer, anvil, and stapes to vibrate at that frequency.  These vibrate the air in the cochlea at that same frequency.  It is there that the hairs of different lengths pick up the frequency and transmit through the auditory nerves to the brain.

We talked about causes of deafness and then we talked about Helen Keller and watched the Miracle Worker which the kids really enjoyed.  We played different memory games to help with concentration.  For their writing assignment for deafness, we had them make up an advertisement for hearing aids so that they had to investigate how hearing aids worked so that they could convince people to buy them.

We discussed Alexander Graham Bell and his contribution of the invention of the telephone.  We discussed sonar and how ships and bats use sound to navigate obstacles.  We discussed the story of the Greek Nymph Echo which deals with how we hear echoes.  Then we began a discussion of musical instruments and orchestra and went to our friend Ellie's house.  She pulled apart her piano, violin, and marimba and we discussed the different parts of each and what they did.  We discussed different percussion instruments as well.  Then we talked about orchestras and how and why they are set up in a specific way.

We talked about rhythm and tempo in music as well as music dynamics.  Throughout this whole portion of the unit, we introduced them to different, well-known classical symphonies and talked about different composers.  Meagan's favorite of the new music she had never heard previously was "1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky, and Jacob's was "Bolera" by Ravel.

The next section we covered was the eye.  The kids learned the parts of the eye and how they function to help the brain interpret light waves.  The rods on the sides of an eye see only black and white, and the cones in front see colors.  Jacob really enjoyed finding the blind spot in each eye and how the iris reacts to changes in light intensity.  For Meagan's writing project, we discussed myopia (near-sightedness, or the inability to see objects that are far away) and hyperopia (far-sightedness, or the inability to see objects that are close).  For Jacob's writing project, he compared the eye location of several types of animals and the pros and cons of each.  We talked about glaucoma, cataracts, and night-blindness.

For the last section, we discussed tracking.  We talked about Lewis and Clark's journey with Sacajawea (or the Corps of Discovery Expedition) to survey the land purchased by Thomas Jefferson known as the Louisiana Purchase.  We discussed the Louisiana purchase, and why it was made.  We talked about who it was purchased from and what we hoped to gain.  We talked about the Mormon Pioneers that crossed the Great Plains to Salt Lake City.  We plotted them on the map of the continental US with string. 

We discussed how these explorers and pioneers survived during their treks.  We called in the wilderness expert (Grandpa Stumm) and talked with him about bears.  He talked about how you hunt them & how bears live.  We had them each make a fictional "Explorer's Journal"

Jacob's journal is called "My Research About the Mokele Mbembe".  It is the lore of the last living dinosaur and is from the Congo.  He wrote about trying to find out the truth of the legend.  Meagan's is called "The Ghost of Union Bay" and is the legend of a haunted island and her attempt to discover why it is haunted.

We discussed a little bit about the War of 1812 and why it happened.  We discussed England's trade embargo of our goods via shipping, the impressment of merchant sailors into the Royal English Navy, their support of the Indian tribes against American expansion, and the American interest in annexing British territory.  We discussed the Star Spangled Banner and it's origin in Fort McHenry and Francis Scott Key's observations there.

Meagan's favorite things this unit were the memory games and guessing the orchestral piece from hearing a part of it.  Jacob's was studying the eye and how it works.

Next up: Patience.  Stay tuned for gardening, growth, and more!

- Josh & Sarah