Death is a part of life and family is forever!

 After 10 weeks of email updates about the daily ups and downs of my grandpa's battle with his health he left his earthly body and went to be with Jesus. It was a Sunday morning and the nurse came to check on him. He was breathing calmly which she thought was odd considering his ongoing struggle to breath with a feeding tube. She left to check something out, came back in and he had passed. I quickly decided that going to say good-bye (for now) was something I just needed to do. So I drove 13 hours alone to Minnesota to say good-bye, cry, see my family, and think. There's only so many things a person can say when they lose someone they love, I think it's just something that needs to be resolved in our own hearts.

But I'd like to take a moment out of my crazy life to share my intimate resolve. Here's one thing I know about the man I called Grandpa. God used him in a invaluable way to plant a little seed inside me that eventually led me to Christ. You see I believe that as we walk along the path of life, God uses people to plant seeds of faith inside us that God uses to pull on our heart strings. Then other people come along a cultivate those seeds. And eventually we grow into a plant that requires pruning, water, and sunlight. But its those seeds that started the process. It may have happened as little kids in our Sunday school class or our college years when someone invited you to a Bible study. My grandpa planted a seed inside me when I heard him pray over dinner and I've never been the same since. It was the way he spoke so openly and honest as if Jesus was sitting right next to him and he knew he heard every word. So thanks Grandpa, I'm forever grateful for your faith!

Grace to You,
Jenna

Homeschool Math Blog Link!

A free math course for talented middle school students

The Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS) is offering a a series of online math courses for gifted/talented students titled Elements of Mathematics: Foundations.

The first of these, Operational Systems, will be FREE if you enroll before January 1, 2013!

What is it about?

Operational Systems course covers modular arithmetic using secret codes and online games. Learn about operational systems and their properties (commutativity, associativity, neutral elements, invertibility) by building interactive machines and evaluating non-numeric operations. Get a solid introduction to the concepts of least common multiple and greatest common divisor, as well as to the geometric notions of midpoint and reflection. 

It is a self-study online course, where suitably talented students are able to work independently and at their own pace while still developing a deep understanding of the material.

Elements of Mathematics: Foundations (EMF) is a series of courses designed for gifted, mathy middle school students, and it enables them to cover all of middle and high school math except calculus and much, much more by the time they finish middle school.

Here's some more information from the provider of these courses, The Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS):

• The EMF curriculum was designed from scratch specifically for talented children to leverage their advanced capacity for learning and to engage their unique ways of thinking.
   
• EMF provides a deep, intuitive, and lasting understanding of mathematics as a cohesive body of knowledge that opens the door to scientific discovery and technological advancement.
   
• EMF focuses on the powerful and elegant ideas of mathematics, the kind that talented children find deeply satisfying and inspiring.
   
• Motivated students can learn all of middle and high school math except calculus and much, much more by the time they finish middle school.
   
• EMF courses are modestly priced, and the first one is free for a limited time. 

And here is their flyer. Please read more about all this at www.elementsofmathematics.com

Even though my kids are much too young for this, its still something to think about and put on the back-burner, but if you're the parent of a middle school aged homeschooler then check this out!

Also check this blog! Homeschool Math Blog I really enjoy her posts and she does es a great job of making math fun and not so intimidating.

Jenna

 

Fire Unit Day 3: Fireman Hats

Every so often I get really courageous and try to come up with my own craft-sometimes it works out other times, um not so much. This one worked, well sorta. Maybe if my kids had tiny heads, haha.

Supplies:

• cardboard (we used a diaper box)
• Tacky glue
• Red tissue paper
• Recycled Cool Whip container or any kind of bowl
• Red, Yellow and Black construction paper
• Scissors
• black marker
• Pentagon shape from a puzzle or just draw one
• Imagination!

Start by cutting out one side of your cardboard box then use the outside edge of your Cool Whip container to draw rounded edges on all four sides of the cardboard. Cut the rounded corners.

Use the top of the container to trace a large circle in the center. Then cut out the circle.

After cutting the edges and center circle this is what you should end up with.

Use the piece of cardboard as a stencil and trace the design on the red and black construction paper. Then cut out the design on the paper and glue to the top and bottom of the cardboard stencil.

Place on top of black paper then trace. Repeat with red paper. Then have student cut out the tracings.

Glue the red to the top and black to the bottom.

Use the bottom of cool whip container to trace a circle on another piece of cardboard then cut out the circle. Set the circle aside for later.

Take the red tissue paper and set the cool whip container on top. Glue around inner base and fold in the tissue paper around the container. Add more glue on the overlapping tissue paper.

Hint: I doubled up the tissue paper to make it darker.

Take the small circular piece of cardboard add glue and press down inside the cool whip container to hold down the tissue paper.

Use a pentagon shape from a puzzle to trace out the badge, cut it out then write a FD (fire department) in bold black letters. Glue to the front of the tissue covered cool whip container or top of the hat.

Push the cool whip top of the hat through the hole of the brim. Then try it on!

As stated before, should've used a larger rimmed bowl. Next time, live and learn.

The Little Engineer got a kick out of his fireman hat.

Then we read the story~
Stay tuned for a post on Fire Unit day 4 Lab!
Jenna

Egypt Unit Study and Lapbook Day 3

Day 3: Pyramids

·     Build a pyramid out of sugar cubes (student can build whichever type they desire )

      Lap Book: Learn about the 4 Types of Pyramids, do activity (write in the names of the 4 types on the line then glue to lap book)

      Lap Book: Puzzle: color, laminate and cut puzzle then paper clip together so the pieces don’t get mixed up with other puzzle pieces, store in pocket.

   

First Quarter Reviews!

Science: Science Math Technology
My last post finished up our 8 week unit on Applied Science. It covered many early learner science topics. Some require a quick trip to the library for suggested reading. Others required getting creative with our house and finding ways to make a lab work. And still others required borrowing a few things like a microscope (from my in-laws :). After 8 weeks I'm pleased to say that integrating science into our full curriculum this year has been generally easy and pretty stress free. Also its a subject my boys love. Feel free to follow along with us and use this free curriculum SciMaTe. The biggest pros are that it's all pre-planned and not too complicated to teach-meaning you don't need a degree in biology, chemisty, physics,etc. The cons are that it does require a few expensive tools such as a microscope. However, many schools will allow you to borrow one of theirs or you can buy one on Amazon; just look at it as buying an investment in to your kids education.