A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Homeschooling

Our World Is Relative

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Some ideas are difficult to truly understand, the Theory of Relativity is one of them. Julia Sook takes this theory and breaks it down into an easily understood scientific Fact. Our World is Relative is an excellent picture book helping readers understand Einstein’s theory easily.

Our World is Relative

What I Am Reviewing

Our World Is Relative.
Julia Sooy
Molly Walsh (illustrator)
Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan
Received: ARC copy, trade paperback
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.
32 pages, 4-8 years,
Picture book, Math, Science,
Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein

Size, speed, weight, direction, distance
We think of space and time as fixed and measurable.
But these measurements – our experience of space and time – they are relative.
Our world is relative.
With simple, engaging text and vibrant art imbued with light and movement, Our World Is Relative offers a child’s-eye view of time, space, and the vast role that relativity plays in comprehending our world. It’s an introduction to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, perfect for any curious young scientist.

Our World is Relative

The Details

Molly Walsh does a wonderful job of illustrating how easily one’s perspective influences how one sees the world. She helps young children see, along side the simple language written by Julia Sook, how relativity matters.

An inch can be small, or an inch can be large. A ruler is 12 inches, but in space can be shorter. We move through time going forward, but it can appear to be going backwards. Depending ENTIRELY on our perspective.

Everything we see around us is relative. A difficult concept perhaps for young children to understand. Through excellent illustrations and careful word usage Ms. Sook brings the Theory of Relativity to life.

Our World is Relative

My Recommendation

To be honest I find this a hard one.. Often when I look at picture books I try to think of them as bedtime or cuddle time books. I don’t see this book in that light.

However, picture books are so much more than that. I remember attending a conference where one of the speakers recommended that regardless of the age level you are teaching, go to picture books first.

Authors of picture books are forced to explain concepts in simple terms. That very requirement makes picture books an excellent resource for understanding difficult material. This picture book does it well with the Theory of Relativity. Not your normal fodder for kindergarten, but definitely worth looking at for various age levels.

On that level, this book is worth looking at. For helping students break down the concept of relativity in a way easily grasped.

Our World is Relative
disclosure

The Scoop on Poop!

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A surprising thing happens when you raise animals. They produce manure. I KNOW! It’s so shocking. And rabbits well.. they produce WAY more then you’d think they should. Want to know the scoop on poop? Read on eh?

the scoop on poop

And unsurprisingly maybe, monitoring their output is actually kinda important! It tells you a lot about a bunnies health. The scoop is all on poop when it comes to bunnies. IN FACT I have a bunny right now that I’m fussing with.

Treble, tricolour holland lop female

Miss Treble is a three year old bunny that is new to my herd. Her previous owner had to downsize so I took her and two herdmates under my wing.

A buck Max gave me two hard days but then came around. A doe Aida didn’t even blink for the first few days though tonight she’s snubbed her pellets (she’s a two year old). But Treble.. she’s a special case. Doesn’t want to drink from a bottle and a bowl is scarce tolerated. Doesn’t like my pellets and thinks mixed grain is questionable. BUT she will lick water off her coat if I give her a soaking AND she thinks leaf lettuce and dandelion flowers are to die for… so I have a fighting chance! One of these days this feisty doe will come around. In the meantime… I poop watch!

Scoop on poop
The above graphic is courtesty of LagoLearn. https://www.facebook.com/lagolearn/posts/2077529252544862?

The poops she is having right now are Stasis Faeces… hard small dry poops. At least she is still pooping! When they stop, it’s not a good thing.

Hormonal Links & Poop

On facebook this morning I talked about FlamesLight, she’s getting a tad bit too big for her britches (picking on her littermates) so it was time for her to get a cage to her own. 

broken tort holland lop female

I think she’s a bit hormonal, she’s having abnormal caecotrophs right now.  Does often have that when they are hormonal (having babies, due to breed, maturing etc).   They are messy and rather ick,  Ick with a bossy teenager means a cage all their own otherwise I end up with three young does covered in ick.  BLECH!

 Anyways, what do you do with all this lovely manure?

Rabbit Manure Compost

rabbit manure compost

I have the best garden dirt EVER.  It grows well, holds water decently, and is a lovely dark healthy soil due to all the rabbit waste in it.  Each spring I empty my compost/manure bins into my gardens and cover it up with dirt from last year.  Over the summer the worms break it down nicely into a rich compost. It feeds the roots of my plants and helps them grow.  If you want to know the specifics of rabbit manure this post or this one would be helpful. It’s good you know, to have the scoop on poop!

Others in this Series

ABC blogging

Letter M Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.

Elon Musk

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Occasionally I get a review book in the elicits a response from my 13 year old. Elon Musk: a Mission to Save the World is one such book. Crammed full of pictures and interesting tidbits we learn the story of Elon Musk’s life.

Elon Musk: a Mission to Save the World

What I Am Reviewing

Elon Musk: a Mission to Save the World.
Anna Crowley Redding
Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan
256 pages, middle school, trade paperback
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.
young adult non-fiction, Elon Musk, entrepreneur,
outer space, rockets, business, biography

Elon Musk is the visionary behind SpaceX and CEO of the electric car company Tesla. He is working on unique and daring improvements to both public transit and solar energy. And then, there’s his highly-publicized plans for colonizing Mars. . . 
But behind the mind-blowing headlines and legendary drive is the story of a bullied and beaten school boy, who through creativity and determination decided to rewrite his story and find his own way to make the world a better place. And to do so with a sense of fun and style.
From hosting raves to pay for college to re-writing the rules on space travel, Elon Musk has always gone his own way. 

Elon Musk: a Mission to Save the World

The Details

To be honest, I had no clue who Elon Musk was (much to my son’s horror). He then proceeded to tell me all about SpaceX, colonizing Mars, and much much more. My son gave me so much information you’d think he’d been listening to videos about him. 🙂 He still plans to read the book!

Anyways, you will find images crammed on to almost every page of this tome. I received an ARC version so some looked a bit grainey, I imagine this will be cleaned up for the jacketed hardcover that is due to be released.

Elon Musk: a Mission to Save the World

I am currently about 1/2 way through but just had to tell you how much I am enjoying this book. It has been very interesting watching his determination and following how his mind works. Determination to succeed seems to be built into his bones. It was great to see the family connectedness between two brothers as they each pursued their own paths in life.

Throughout each chaper (15 in total) are spotlights, road trip alerts, take away armour, bookshelf and many other tidbits. Occasionally a warning would be found such as don’t talk to Elon Musk about capacitors unless you want to know WAY more then you originally planned.

Elon Musk: a Mission to Save the World

Interspersed are dark pages which highlight different members of the Musk family. We learn the Kimball loves food and cooked for the firefighters who responded to 911. Justine (his ex-wife) writes sci-fi novels. Each member has a page devoted to them.

Recommendation

The easy reading style combined with loads of images and highly informational text makes this a good read for anyone middle school and up. Learn the life story and see the determination to succeed in one boy from Africa who made his way in the United States (travelling via Canada) .

For my son to willingly add Elon Musk to his reading pile speaks highly of his motivation! 🙂

disclosure

Four Considerations when combining work and homeschool

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As moms (and dads) we have to make choices in our daily activities.  What will we do on a given is influenced by a variety of factors in our lives. What our families are engaged in, the weather, commitments we have made, and more.  When we work as well as homeschool, sometimes making it all fit together relatively smoothly can be a challenge.  

Four Considerations when combining work and homeschool

I’ve talked in the past about how you balance work with homeschooling, giving you a snap shot of a week in my life. Today I would rather focus on how you make it work for you. Steps that you can take to cut out a life that is workable for you and your family.

Prioritize

Hubby often asks me “what are your plans for the day?”  That simple question helps me to prioritize my day.  It brings to mind the most important event of the day whether that be a dinner out, a mystery shop to do, a doctor’s appointment to keep or an afternoon at the library getting blog posts and/or reviews written. 

Not everyone has a helpful hubby though, or perhaps they’d rather not depend on their spouse that way.  🙂   That’s where planners and schedulers can be a person’s best friend.  Even with my hubby’s help, I rely on google calendar to help me track distant events.   

Once you know the main event you can then plan around it, making room for family and health concerns and allowing room for work and play. 

On SchoolhouseTeachers.com you can find a variety of planners to assist you.  Planners for highschool and mom, as well as schedule makers, calendars, record-keeping and more. 

may schoolhouseteachers.com ad

Remember that work is work

I know, it seems weird to say that.  One of things I’ve learned is, if I don’t remember that work is work I can put it off or not treat it with the importance that I should.  

Do you ever have that?  Especially if your work is home-based.  That need to remember you have a job that actually NEEDS to get done.  Yes, the freedom of working from home means you have that freedom to work around family needs.  BUT you still have a job right?  🙂

You are presumably being paid to do it, so you aught to therefore, treat it like it is important.  

Family time is important

Whether you work or out of the home spending with our families is important. Adding homeschooling to the mix, particularly if you have littles, and it can be difficult. I remember well the busyness of my lad, learning how to include him so that I could get my paid work done.

Yet it is ever so important to maintain your family time.   This time of bonding, and building bridges forms foundational skills for a lifetime of working with and living with others.  It also teaches your children that life isn’t just about work, but also about maintaining family connections as well.

Four Considerations when combining work and homeschool

Important items to remember

  • School at home doesn’t take as long as school at well… school. 🙂 Teaching smaller classes makes the teaching time shorter.
  • Work doesn’t have to happen 9-5. It can happen anytime, and get this… so can school!
  • Other people can teach your children as well. Tutors, online classes, in person classes, the sky’s the limit!
  • You can find your individual way to homeschool. There are many different ways to educate your children, so you don’t have to copy your neighbour. You can find your own effective way.
  • Creativity and good planning can make anything happen.
  • Remember, unless you are a single parent, you have a spouse who can help you educate your children as well. Use them! 🙂

Leaping Lagomorphs

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Leaping Lagomorphs (also known as hares and rabbits) is the topic of the blogging through the alphabet challenge. This week the letter is L.

I first learned of rabbit hopping as a sport about five years ago now? i was preparing a rabbit class for some homeschoolers and was looking for activities one could do with their pet rabbit. Rabbit hopping came up as one of the options. Later at one of the rabbit club shows, the 4-H kids put on an agility rabbit demonstration. I learned how to start training a rabbit to do rabbit hopping.

Leaping Lagomorphs

Rabbit hopping, Rabbit jumping, or rabbit agility (different names for different folks) was started in Sweden. It gradually made it’s way across Europe, coming the North America in 2001.

I am by no means an expert on rabbit hopping, so don’t get mad if I’m wrong in some of my facts. My understanding is there are different levels. You start at beginner and then, as your rabbit succeeds, you move on to the next level. Levels get more difficult as you work your way up.

From what I understand there are a number of different ways your rabbit can compete beyond the levels.

Rabbit Hopping events:

  • A straight line of jumps.
  • A twisty line of jumps.
  • A line of jumps and obstacles.
  • High Jump
  • Long jump

How to Train

First you need to get your rabbit used to hopping just on the mat provided for them. They wear a harness and you gently guide them. You may or may not want to pointer train them first. Then you add the jump standard without a bar and gradually increase the difficulty and the type of obstacle.

All that remains after you have solid training is to take your rabbit out to show and see how he does with the stress of competition.

In Canada there is the rabbit hopping club (website and facebook).

In the United States there is the American Hopping Association.

Others in this Series

Letter L Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.

Poison Gas in World War 1

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Did you know that France was actually the first company to use poison gas in World War 1? I didn’t either. Learn more amazing facts in the video below.

Welcome to Our study of Poison Gas of World War 1.

poison Gas of world war 1

My son has been longing to tackle this topic but I deliberately held it off until the nicer weather. I’ve been imagining my son wanting to make smoke bombs and what not to test wind patterns. Nice weather makes that a whole lot easier to do eh? 🙂

BUT on to our study. We watched a number of videos. 🙂

Types of gas used

  • tear gas – not truly dangerous, more of a nuisance
  • chlorine gas – burning eyes, nose, mouth
  • phosgene gas, sometimes mixed with chlorine gas killed 85% of all gases used.
  • mustard gas – the most painful of all gases

Learning about Chlorine gas

Phosgene gas. 85% of all people who died from Chemical warfare died from this gas. Freshly mown gas smell. 80,000 people.

Mustard Gas. Though in this video the creator was wrong in stating that the Germans started the poison gas attacks. They did grab onto the idea rather firmly though. Mustard gas was named for its yellow-brown colour and mustard smell. It was a nasty gas which didn’t dissipate easily and would sink to lower levels and stuck around for years. Exposure to skin contact leads to blistering and burns. It could be very disfiguring.

Learning about the disfigurement of mustard gas led us to learn about Anna Coleman Watts/Ladd and her work making masks for these poor soldiers.

Videos My Son Picked:

This only the first half of this video is on poison gas.

The history of Fritz Haber. Haber was a Jewish German Chemist who thought that chemical warfare would end the war more quickly. Even though it didn’t. He never apologized for his work or actions. As a Jew he was later unwelcome in Hitler’s Germany. He died in Switzerland from a heart attack. He found himself unwelcome in many places due to his work in chemical warfare.

Small box Respirator. This video led us to learn more about the small box respirator through the Canadian War Museum. I think, Lieutenant Dockar, a Canadian, wrote this article. We learned a good bit reading that article. Close up’s of the SBR can be found here.

Reading

The lad did some reading from various books and downloaded product.

Other posts about world  war one

Choosing Rabbits to Keep

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One of the challenges in having a rabbitry is deciding who you will keep and who will not keep.  Sometimes it’s very easy, but other times it is very challenging.   How one makes a decision depends on several factors and is affected by your over arching goal for your rabbits.   This post is all about choosing rabbits to keep in your herd.

choosing rabbit to keep

People keep rabbits for all sorts of reasons. Homesteading, showing, companion animals, pets, or as livestock. The reason you keep will change what you look for in your animals.

Why Is It Important?

It is important to keep your end goal in mind or you will end up sabotaging your own efforts. When I started raising rabbits as an adult I took my time to talk to old time rabbit raisers. They all told me “breed for what you want” and “what you breed you get”.

So if you want calm tempered rabbits (great for anyone) then don’t breed the nicely typed doe that bites you. Or if you want typey rabbits good for the show room don’t keep the poorly typed rabbit that just happens to be colour you want. If your focus in on feeding your family from the profits of your rabbit sales: show, fur, pet, companion don’t keep rabbits that don’t meet your market goals. Meat rabbits need to be as meaty as possible and need to be able to reproduce without tearing your hand off in the process … don’t keep the rabbits that do not meet your long-term criteria.

Different Styles of Keeping Rabbits

Show rabbit fanciers will focus on the rabbits they have meeting the standard for their breed. A good breeder will look first at type (how well the rabbit meets the standard) and second at colour, temperament, etc. If you have the body you need, you can get the colour you want down the road. Mind, you also need to have an animal you can handle because rabbits who bite the judge get kicked out of the competition.

A homesteader will most likely look at temperament and how well the rabbit produces what they need. Meat, wool, companionship etc. Whatever their goal is will be their primary focus. In this video below an unexpected reason was the fact that rabbits are (for the most part) quiet.

Companion animal seller, Pet rabbit seller. Should look first at health and temperament, and then at colour, type, and all other considerations.

Pet people (so people who just happen to have two random rabbits) will often just breed two rabbits together and keep any offspring they can’t sell or whatever bunny makes them the happiest. I’ve been there and done that it’s totally a way to do things. 🙂

Livestock. Just like with the homesteader the person breeding rabbits to be livestock will breed for animals that grow quickest, produce the best final result and are easy to handle. The video below speaks to what you want to look for in a meat rabbit. I do disagree with him that you need to start with purebred stock. The advantage to purebred is you know what is behind the rabbit. BUT meat rabbits, bred for their meat only, are often built differently than a show rabbit is. So look for what you need in a meat animal and start with good stock that will give you what you want.

Others in this Series

Letter K Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.