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                        

Christmas 2014

There are just so many good things about living in a house instead of an apartment that it is hard to enumerate them all upon command.  We stumbled into another one this month, however: The ability to put up all of our Christmas decorations, including our full-size tree.

Here are some other photos of decorations that we put up this year.  Some of which we were able to do in past years and others not (due to the confined space).

We actually have a fireplace with a MANTLE that we can put decorations on, and so our nativity went there this year.  Did we mention we LOVE living in a house?

We discovered, though, that with the nativity in this location, at about 9:30 AM every morning, the light shines just perfectly through the window so that it can illuminate the baby Jesus.  The following is a close-up picture, but the light exposure was not right to catch the awesome light display.

And now, the obligatory kids gift pictures...

For Jacob, a Minecraft shirt (so he is now Powered by Redstone), a series of Minecraft "manuals", a Captain Underpants book, a telescope, some space-themed wall hangings for his room, a nerf gun, and a set of head lamps for those nighttime exploring expeditions.

For Meagan, the latest Rick Riordan book, a microscope, a shirt, a dress, some nail polish, a trading card game, and a quilt (made by Grandma Walles)

This Christmas has been one of focusing on others.  We went to Tent City here in Lubbock to help other members in our ward feed the homeless and it was a fantastic opportunity to teach about service and the true meaning of Christmas with Matthew 25 as a text.  We were able to pass on the tradition of the 12 days of Christmas that we were introduced to last year to another family.  We went caroling with our Bishop and his family (in the rain no less) to bring some Christmas cheer to some of the members in our congregation.  We have read Christmas stories, spent more time together as a family, and in general focused (as much as possible) less on material gifts and more on things that actually matter.  As a result, the feeling in our home this Christmas has been one of more peace, more love, and closer to our Savior than in past Christmases.  I think, that this is going to be a goal for us for next year to try and repeat and improve upon.  I am grateful that we had the experiences we did and that we could share them with our children.  Hopefully, like Dickens said of Scrooge, we can learn to keep Christmas throughout all the year.

- Josh                                

Breakin' the law! (With permission, of course)

The last 18 months have been torture for Sarah.  Ever since our trek through life has led us to Texas, she has been missing her family.  They live so far away...except for her youngest sister, Elizabeth, who is currently serving a mission in Dallas, TX for our church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).  This is something that I did as well, though I served in California with the hispanic migrant workers.  For the time that we serve, however, as a general rule, there is no contact outside of letters and packages with family and friends (with exceptions for calls to parents on Mother's Day and Christmas) in order to allow the missionary to focus their entire effort on the work of the Lord.

Once in a while, however, the person who directs the work in that area (the Mission President) will make an exception.  A missionary has one day in a week, called preparation day, where they do mundane work (such as laundry, house cleaning, shopping, etc...) in order to allow them to focus on their primary work of preaching the gospel the other 6.  Today, was Elizabeth's last P-day (preparation day) in her mission prior to going home.  With her Mission President's permission, we made the trek down to Dallas to visit her for a few hours.

For those of you not familiar with Texas geography, Texas might as well be a country in itself it is so big, geographically.  The trip was a 6-hour drive, one-way from Lubbock to Dallas, and that's not even close to a "cross-state" drive.  The trek started at 5:45 in the morning.  We arrived at about 12:15 and as it was lunch time, we took Elizabeth and her companion to a Japanese Restaurant that they had wanted to go to but were unable to the time that they tried (it was closed).

Liz, adventurous soul that she is, opted to try all kinds of different varieties of Sushi... which my daughter promptly offered to help her with.  Yes, Meagan likes raw fish.  Thank you, Caprock Ward Young Men and Young Women.   You've corrupted my daughter... 

I on the other hand, am not so adventurous, though it's not from lack of trying, as I did, many years ago with a good friend who is also a sushi-lover.  No, it was not Sarah.  She still hates fish even when it's cooked.  I WILL break her of that one day, however...  I have an eternity to work at it.  Muah ha ha...

 So glad that Sarah was able to see her sister again before she flew home. 

One last picture before the trek home.  I was good...Liz only got a handshake from me even though there were hugs from everyone else.  Another long drive back put us back at home right about midnight, with the next day being a work day.  Needless to say, I was kinda tired, but it was definitely worth it.

- Josh                            

Cub Scouts

Sarah was called this year as the ward Webelos leader.  Our son happens to be a Webelos scout, so that works out kind of well...  For one of the activities this month, since it is December, Sarah decided to make a Christmas tree ornament.  Sarah found the concept for the ornament on Pinterest, her current idea organizational tool.  You can see it HERE.  Armed with hot glue guns, felt, and markers, the kids tackled the project.  Much fun was had, and afterwards, many Christmas-y Rice Crispy Treats were eaten. 

Lots of good kids, having a good time.  What could be better than that?

- Josh                                        

Classification Unit

As part of our organization trait unit study, we did a section on animal, plant, and rock classification.  The first part of the unit was on animals.  For one of the activities, King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti.  No, we do not personally know any regents, however, this one can be used as a mnemonic device to remember the classification parts of all animals (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species).  We learned about the 5 characteristics that an animal must have to be classified:

1. Must have many cells
2. Cannot make it's own food
3. Must have eukaryotic cells (they have a true nucleus)
4. It must move about
5. It must digest food

We went deeper and talked about the 9 different Phyla of animals

1. Porifera (sponges)
2. Cnidarians (jellyfish, coral, anemonea)
3. Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
4. Nematoda (roundworms)
5. Annelida (segmented worms)
6. Mollusca (clams, oyster, squid)
7. Arthropoda (insects, spider, lobster)
8. Echinodermata (starfish, sand dollar)
9. Chordata (vetrabrea)

Then we talked about all the different areas and aspects of each of those 9 Phyla. We talked about how they were different from each other.  We talked about specific animals and fish.  We would look at pictures or go on walks and look for animals and the kids would classify them.  We discussed how the animal classification system came to be with it's origin in Aristotle, through LaMarck, and finally to our current system started by Linnaeus.  We even classified stuffed animals.

For plant classification, we started with flowers and what each of the different parts were and the 5 sections of a tree which are:

1. Heartwood
2. Sapwood
3. Cambium
4. Phloem (Inner Bark)
5. Outer Bark

This is a poster that I made to help the kids review that material.

We talked about vascular v. non-vascular (water distribution systems) and gymnosperms (no flower) v. angiosperms (flower).  Then we went into leaves and their classification.  There are three types of leaf edges:

1. Lobed
2. Serrated
3. Smooth (or Entire)

There are also two types of leaves (simple and compound).  Then we talked about how there are two types of veins a leaf can have: parallel (moncot) and palmate (dicot).


Then we went to the Lubbock Memorial Arboretum and collected plant specimens.  Once home, the kids created posters displaying their specimens and the classification characteristics of each specimen.

I had never thought the kids would be excited to learn such things, but on one of our later trips to the Public Library for more source material, the kids were pointing out the leaves on the trees in the Library yard and talking about their characteristics, completely un-coaxed by me.  It impressed me how I didn't have to quiz them, they were applying the learning all on their own.  It's not much, but it was one of those moments you look for as a teacher to tell whether your students are "getting it".

For the rocks portion of our study, we talked about igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and the difference between rocks and minerals.  We discussed mineral properties which are:

• Luster
• Streak
• Hardness
• Cleavage

We discussed Mohs hardness scale.  We went into the layers of the earth's crust and finally the rock cycle (shown below).

Luckily, we have a son who likes to collect rocks, so I was able to go into his collection and pull out samples to use to teach with and for the kids to examine and classify.

With me being the perfectionist that I am, I wanted to make sure that they were indeed learning the concepts that I was presenting so when I tested them, I did so several grade levels above where they are in order to see if they had picked up the advanced concepts that we had discussed.  The kids both exceeded all expectations.

We also incorporated other subjects into our study.  For example, during the plant unit, I had the kids write a persuasive letter to a deciduous tree to try and convince it to not lose it's leaves in the winter.  We also did a celery experiment where we put a celery stalk in water with food dye and watched the progress as the celery "drank" the colored water and how it changed.  In our rock unit, the kids did an oral presentation about a specific type of rock, and Meagan created a song to help us learn about rose quartz.  In the animals unit, the kids wrote a fictional story about animals.

The kids learned a lot of information, and even now (a month later), they still seem to retain much of that information.  I truly believe that it is due to the hands-on approach we are taking with their schooling rather than just learning from books and paper.  They get out and actively engage with the world around them and it helps them to remember and appropriately apply the information that they have learned.  Even though they still frustrate me with the frequency which they are unable to focus to my standards, I am incredibly proud of them and the work they are doing.

- Sarah                                

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving this year was a blast.  We spent it (along with the other days I had off) as a family hanging out together.  Dinner was of the traditional fare: turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole (more on this below), cranberry sauce, rolls, frog-eye salad (also more on this below), along with 3 kinds of pie.  Our close friends, Heath and Nicole and their two wonderful kids came over to help us devour the feast.  Despite our attempt to keep the meal somewhat subdued by beginning with each of us sharing what we were thankful for, at the end of the night, some of us (I'm looking at you, kids) were completely incapable of taking a decent picture.

Games were played, rug rats were chased, and laughs were had.  I was reminded once again how blessed we are to have friends good enough to consider as family.

*For those of you who may not know what frog-eye salad is, I'll tell you.  Frog-eye salad is a fruit pasta dish made with Acini de Pepe, pineapple, mandarin oranges, peaches, etc... (basically whatever kind of fruit you like, but the pineapple is important).  It is something I had never heard of until I married Sarah but her family has it every year at least at Thanksgiving and often at Christmas as well.  If you're interested, I can probably get you the recipe.

*As far as the green bean casserole goes, we have perfected the dish this year.  For all our lives, both my wife and I have been "traditional" green bean casserole people.  You make it with green beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk, pepper, and fried onions.  This year, we added something and it revolutionized this dish.  Drumroll please............

Crumbled Bacon.

Yes, for all those out there who already know the power of bacon, this is probably not a surprise.  We had never thought of it, however, and it changed this dish for us forever.  We will never be making it without bacon again if we can help it.  It.  Is.  THAT.  Good.

Anyway, we are thankful for all of you and hope that this past year has given you much for which to be thankful and that you are able to realize as we do that all those blessings come from Him to whom we give thanks.

- Josh                                         

Texas Snow

So when you think of Texas and weather you might endure there, one doesn't really come to the conclusion of the word SNOW. Well on rare occasions it gets cold enough for the wonderful beauty of snow to grace our presence right here in west Texas.

When snow comes, one must stop all things and go out to play in it before it melts away (which it usually does within hours).

It may not look like much, but to us it is. We take what we are given and love it. 

So the kids started out in the backyard and really wanted to make a snowman this year because we really haven't been able to since we moved to Texas.

Since we didn't have enough snow in the backyard we brought our starting forms of a snowman to the front yard to finish the work on good ole Frosty.

Now our Frosty may not be very big for those of you who have ever built a snowman before, but we sure had fun getting every bit of snow we could to make ours.

What snow man is not complete without a hat, scarf, eyes and carrot nose?  Although we didn't have any carrots at the time, I did have a bag of vegi straws (which are chip like, and have a variety of vegetable flavors but are in the shape of a straw). So I gave the kids a carrot flavored straw and they used it for Frosty's nose. We decided to leave our Frosty in the backyard, which we thought would keep it safe.  Well...we were wrong. Within seconds, our lovely dog Shadow smelled the food on its face and ate poor Frosty's nose.

The kids had a blast and really enjoyed having their own backyard to play in.....especially when it snows!!

- Sarah