A Net in Time

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Homeschooling

Crafty Ideas From Nature

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crafty ideas from nature

Crafty Ideas from Nature is a paperback book that gives you more than 30 crafts you can make with nature as a focus.  MOST of the art projects use items you can easily collect from nature.  A few of the art projects are things you can use to decorate trees, represent nature, or are games you can play. Another in the series is crafty ideas from junk.  These books give loads of ideas to help children express their creativity in a wide variety of ways.

crafty ideas from nature

Each project is laden with pictures walking your through the steps.  Each project has a handy materials list. While this list doesn’t give you exact quantities, it gives the needed information.

crafty ideas from nature

Some of the projects are floral cat, candy cone, leaf printing, snowstorm, dried leaf owl, and feather headdress.  There are many others.   A good variety of crafts that cover a variety of age ranges, but generally I’d say from age 8 and up for most of them.

My Thoughts:

Crafty Ideas from Nature gives some great ideas to help children express their creativity using what they find in the great outdoors.  It would be an excellent addition to any nature study that you engage your students in. The ideas presented lend themselves to a variety of crafts and should stimulate your ideas, as well as ideas in the children around you. 

crafty ideas from nature

 

Crafty Ideas from Nature
Myrna Daitz
Shirley Williams
Exley Giftbooks
softcover, 48 pages

Click on image to go to Amazon.

George Berkeley, Philosopher

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Born in Ireland, George Berkeley had a strong desire to found a seminary in Bermuda. He never achieved his end but he did serve within the church as Bishop of Cloyne.  He was an empiricist like John Locke, but he came to difference conclusions. 

george berkeley

Like all empiricists, George Berkeley saw experience as the primary way to attain knowledge.   He decided that what we perceive are ideas not the things in and of themselves. This thought pattern is called: Everything is an idea and not a physical thing. 

The progression of his thought goes as follows

  • all knowledge comes from perception
  • what we perceive are ideas, not things in themselves
  • a thing in itself must lie in outside experience
  • so the world consists only of ideas
  • and minds that perceive those ideas
  • A thing only exists in so far as it perceives OR is perceived.

It is not that he denies the existence of the external world but believes that the only way to gain knowledge is through experience, and experience comes only from our perceptions.  Since all our perceptions are merely ideas, we have no way to prove that anything more exists than ideas.

The question arises then.  If I stop observing things, or if I am no longer being perceived, do I disappear?   Berkeley’s response to this is that God perceives everything all the time.  Therefore, since God perceived things all the time, nothing ever disappears.

Quote by George Berkeley

None of us though share the same mind, hence why people perceive the world around us differently.   My idea of what an pumpkin looks like isn’t exactly the same as how someone else sees a pumpkin, and definitely not the same way God would see that pumpkin.  So the only way that I know that something exists is if I personally see it, which means only I can cause changes to the physical world around me. Which means I need to have the idea to do so, and since I can’t come up with ideas on my own, I need to rely on someone who perceives everything.  Ergo I must rely on God (since he is the only one who can perceive everything) to supply with the idea to change the physical world around me. 

Did he find truth?

Isn’t it interesting that Berkeley is aware of God’s eye being on us all the time.  That he perceives us all the time.  So a tree can fall in the forest (or a sparrow can lose a feather) God perceives, and therefore it happens.  And then the idea that everything is immaterial, only ideas, and it’s ideas supplied by God that change the world.  Isn’t that just a fascinating notion.

I see these ideas that Berkeley had and I think he is trying to show the dichotomy of faith.  As Christians we know that God knows everything.  He knows our past and our future.  He gives us freewill to act, but he also knows that actions we will take before we even know we are going to take them.  How does one truly explain this?  Is Berkeley somewhat close?   I don’t know. 

In seeing the reliance we must have in God and how that would shape our perceptions of it, I see that as spot on.  Really.  Not necessarily the everything is an idea part, but that firm reliance on God to shape our thoughts, feelings and perceptions about that which is around us.   I find myself intrigued. I can see his struggle to understand it and to think deeply upon it. 

To go to my worksheet on George Berkeley, click here or on the image below

George Berkeley questions

 

World’s Strangest….

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There are times, dear readers, I wish you could be a fly on the wall when certain books come into the house.  Normally my lad couldn’t really care as he knows I’ll tell him what I think once I’ve looked through them.  BUT the books I have for you today grabbed his interest from the time they fell out of the package.    Lonely Planet kids has four books in the series World’s Strangest.  We have predators, ocean beasts, places and creepy-crawlies.  Can you guess, dear readers, which one he gravitated to?

world's strangest

YES You are totally correct.  Creepy-Crawlies is it.  Why… well you know … ANTS.   Ants were mentioned in a book AND they were ACCURATE!!!  He was delighted and then found the quizzes… can I tell you something… IF YOU ARE TIRED>>> DO NOT LET YOU CHILDREN QUIZ you… unless you want them chortling with glee when you flub up.  🙂   It was okay though…I got him back later by quizzing him on Ocean beasts… which had him grabbing up the book and learning more for himself.   FUN!  Who wouldn’t want books like this in your house?  🙂

What you get:

Each book is laid out in the same manner.  The Top 40 as ranked by Lonely Planet experts are talked about.  Five strangest and then a quiz. Loads of colourful pictures and interesting tidbits.  Each book closes with a glossary.

Let me walk you through 

Each book is divided into four sections, each with their own quiz.

world's strangest

Each place or creature is given a two page spread with bright, highly engaging, full-colour images.   Bold text to help draw in the eye.

world's strangest

As you can see, each place or creature comes with a strangeometer score. 40 creatures or places in each book.   Each quiz asks 10 questions, not in the order they are presented in the book.  The answers are provided upside down in fine print. 

world's strangest

The books I received are: 

  • Ocean beasts: weird and wonderful creatures from the deep
  • Places: weird and wonderful corners of the Earth
  • Predators: weird and wonderful carnivorous animals
  • Creepy-crawlies: weird and wonderful hair-raising bugs

Each one was a treasure trove of 40 places or animals that are just odd, interesting, or wonderful.  Places like Christmas Island and the underwater post office.  Animals such as the trumpetfish, leafy seadragon, or japanese spider crab.  How about the cobra lily, trapdoor spider, exploding ant, or artic fox?   Interesting and sometimes obscure facts are brought to light, sure to delight your children from age 6 and up.

My Thoughts:

In case you couldn’t tell, I really like these four books.  I am tempted to use them to create small unit studies to help your student delve into the world’s strangest all the more.  🙂 (If only I could find the time).   The bright images with factoids make these books a delightful addition to your science library.  I urge you to check them out today. 

world's strangest

 

World’s Strangest ocean beasts
World’s Strangest places
World’s Strangest predators
World’s Strangest creepy-crawlies

Lonely Planet Kids
80 pages, 6-8 years,
Science, Geography, Biology, Elementary


disclosure

Country Study: Belgium

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The lad and I are making our way through Europe and the Great War.   Did you know that Germany attacked Belgium in order to attack France?  Poor little Belgium, sitting in the way.   Anyways, that led to Britain joining in the Battle, which of course led to all the nations connected to Britain joining in the battle as well. All because of how alliances played a role.  This makes the attack on Belgium an important consideration in the overall war. It behooves the lad and I to take a moment and learn a few things about Belgium.  This week we studied the country of Belgium.

belgium

Firms of Canada was a helpful site.  Giving us several maps to pour over as we learned the provinces or states of Belgium, saw drawings of how the Germans moved in and more.

I never realized how close Belgium and Holland were before.  I knew a lady in our church who had some difficulty (I don’t know what exactly) between Belgium and Holland and it caused her some hard times.  Being from Belgium and attending a Dutch based church (her husband was Dutch)… anyways, there were issues that I never really understood.  Seeing the proximity puts it into perspective.  Making me wonder if some of it was nationalism based.

belgium world war one

So what did we learn about Belgium.  My son being who he is ALWAYS turns to videos.  Whereas I, since I love to read, always turn to websites.  Makes for good learning opportunities as we each show the other what we’ve discovered. 🙂

I found this rather cool site with black and white photography of Belgium in the 1900’s.

I found this site on the culture of Belgium, it’s not specific to the early 1900’s but I found it difficult to find a good site that was specific to that time period. 

My lad found this video very interesting, giving him a different perspective on the German invasion of Belgium, while admitting to the terrible violence of the original invasion and balancing with other invasions.

I spent some looking for lapbooks/unit studies etc for Belgium specifically and couldn’t find a thing.  I did find a variety for generically studying Europe.

I did learn some traditional dishes: speculaas, Belgian waffles, croquettes, mussels and potato based dishes. 

This past Thursday night we did waffles for supper as part of our hands-on studying of the war.  We just used pancake mix to make them as we were in a bit of a rush.  The lad wants to remake them this next weekend to that Dad can experience Belgium with us. We will then make them from scratch and have fruit and whipped cream with them.

Belgian Waffles

50 Toys to Make

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50 Toys to make is an older book I pulled off my shelf the other day.  I’m still flirting with the idea of teaching a class for older children to make gifts for younger ones in their families.   Or even items that maybe I can make and sell as gifts. I dunno, mostly for a class idea though.  🙂  

50 Toys to Make

Anyways, it’s a good book filled with techniques and step by step instructions to help you (or a child) be successful.   Starting off with a page talking the different materials you’ll be using, with helpful hints.  For instance I learned when working with Balsa wood it’s a good idea to wear a mask since it produces a fine dust it’s best not to be breathing in. There were also equipment and technique pages as well.  These pages came with text and full colour images to help you see what is being discussed.

50 toys to makeOne of the things I really liked was the inclusion of templates printed on graph paper.  This makes it cost-effective to include in a book as well as making it easy to expand them as needed to make the project. 

The crafts are divided into four sections to make it easier to find what you are looking for:

  • The Nursery
  • Early Learning 
  • Dolls, puppets and soft toys
  • Games and Outdoor fun

Each project comes with a materials list as well as step by step instructions to easily complete the project.

50 toys to makeSome of the projects are making a flower power cushion, a jack in the box, Activity blanket, sunny flower blackboard, rag doll, and character Skittles.  So many projects… so little time!  All kinds of ways to make like fun and interesting for children. 

My thoughts:

I like this book. 🙂  If I didn’t it wouldn’t still be on my shelf after my massive cull in the spring!   I love the step by step instructions which make it easy, even for me to complete the projects.   The variety in the 50 projects presented keeps me interested, I never thought of making a game out of old pop bottles before. Did you?

50 Toys to Make, book cover

 

 

50 Toys to Make: Fun & Practical projects to make for babies and children.
Petra Boash
Acropolis Books
Hardcover, 96 pages
Toys, DIY, crafts

Record Keeping Worries

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Did you know that I have a boy in grade 8?   I KNOW… it’s been an amazing journey that we’ve been on for the past 8-9 years, learning and growing together.  As he gets closer to grade nine (gasp) I start to wonder about keeping grades and records and have to admit.. I haven’t a clue.  Beyond making tests and marking them, just how does one keep grades?

How does one mark a project?  How does one judge if a student has passed a keyboarding class?  I don’t know! 

I’ve been doing some research (not much at this point to be honest) I still don’t know much.. so why am I even writing this post eh?  To share my lack of knowledge?

Well not really.

Record keeping worries, text over open books

Reassurance

I just want to talk to moms (or dads) out there who are in the same boat that I am in.   My goal is to ease hearts as mine have been.

I was talking to the highschool guidance counsellor two weeks ago and asked her how they handle it when a student comes in when records haven’t been kept well.  “Oh, we just figure it out”.  To my quizzical look, she continued “We had a student come into grade 10 just this past week, no records for anything up til this point.   We talked with her, figured out where she was at and we have the ability to just plug the details in.   We can adjust as we see how she does at grade level as well”.

You know what that did?  WOW.. it eased my heart.   To know that I don’t have to panic if I don’t have it all figured out by next September.  And honestly WHY should I panic?  Having or not having grades for grade nine is not the end of the world.  Colleges/universities aren’t going to hold it against him?

Support is Available

I also know this… there is a HUGE support community out there for homeschoolers.  On-line or in person.  

In-person, some of my options are:

  • One of the curriculum supply places will be doing a “going into highschool seminar” in a few weeks so I can take advantage of that.
  • I can go to a spring homeschooling conference and someone there will be doing a highschool workshop.  (at least there has always been one every other conference).
  • Talk to those who have gone on before
  • Talk to the library about resources they might have on hand

On-line I can

  • Research how to do it via the world wide web
  • Talk to the local homeschooling community
  • Go to forums and ask questions
  • Talk to people connected with the Homeschool Review Crew
  • Talk to individuals I’ve gotten to know in the homeschool community like Kym, Lori, and Carol.  
  • Reach out on social media.

Please do share, I really do want to know what my options are.  Even to learn HOW to grade.  My lad is good at letting me know what he does know, but that doesn’t always tell me what he remembers long term you know?  I can see how he puts his research skills together, but I can’t always judge how well he sees the bigger picture. 

Your turn

How about you? What ways can you learn about grades and record keeping for YOUR highschool student?   What have you learned works for keeping good records of your students’ activities?  Share, help me out eh?   You are part of my community!

This post has been linked with the Homeschool Review Crew Round up.  You can find it here. 

keeping records

Writer Revise

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writer revise

You have written a story, a poem, a non-fiction piece.   It’s a fine piece of work for a blog, book or magazine article. It’s done. OR… is it?

Have you stopped to read it over?  Or to change the odd word here or there?  Have you double-checked your spelling?  What about that sentence there, is it reading the way you want it to?  Have it all tidied up?  EXCELLENT!

But is it really the way you want it to read? Is it the best you can make it be?

For anything

Ask yourself these questions

  • Am I clear about what I am writing about?
  • Have I written with my audience in mind, answering their questions?
  • Am I writing in a manner appropriate for the topic at hand?
  • Did I make sure I included supporting examples and details??

For Poetry

Ask yourself the following

  • Have I removed excess clichés?  Can my images stand for themselves?
  • Have I channeled emotions through the five senses?  for instance…how can you show love or hatred through your senses? 
  • Have I used strong verbs and concrete nouns?  Making your words seem more in the moment.
  • Have I cut, compressed and condensed everything I can?  The more tighter you make your words, the more pungent your words will be.
  • What have you risked? What has inspired you from recent reads? Can you emulate what you like?

Revision is merely the act of making what you have to say better.  It’s not taking away your voice or the natural feel of what you write. All revision is, is answering questions to make what you say more clear to those reading your words.  That’s worth the time don’t you think?