A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

affiliate

Do it Different Fridays: 3D puzzle of Notre Dame

By 10 Comments

Notre Dame took 200 years to complete, started in 1163 by Bishop Maurice de Sully.   It was finally completed in 1345 It was built in the gothic style.  The whole town seemed to get involved in the building, from the finances needed, to labour, to expertise in design and what not.  It has become an icon of Paris. 


Some facts about Notre Dame:

  • .1160 Maurice de Sully (named Bishop of Paris) orders the original cathedral demolished.
  • 1163 Cornerstone laid for Notre-Dame de Paris; construction begins.
  • 1182 Apse and choir completed.
  • 1196 Bishop Maurice de Sully dies.
  • c.1200 Work begins on western facade.
  • 1208 Bishop Eudes de Sully dies. Nave vaults nearing completion.
  • 1225 Western facade completed.
  • 1250 Western towers and north rose window completed.
  • c.1245–1260s Transepts remodelled in the Rayonnant style by Jean de Chelles then Pierre de Montreuil
  • 1270  the Parisians watched over the body of the King, Saint Louis, who died in Tunis;
  • 1250–1345 Remaining elements completed.
  • 1302 King Philip the Fair opened the first Estates General of the Kingdom of France
  • 1572, it was here that King Henry IV married Marguerite de Valois
  • 1594 King Henry IV converted to Catholicism 
  • 1804 it is where Pope Pius VII crowned Napoleon I Emperor of the French
  • it was also at Notre-Dame that the Te Deum was sung at the end of the First and Second World Wars;

It is located on a small island called the Ile de la Cite in the middle of river Seine.

Notre Dame Cathedral which can also be called “our lady” is still in use
today by the Roman Catholic Church for Sunday mass and it is the seat
of the Archbishop of Paris. A notable and distinct historical artefact
which is very popular today is the famous bell that has been
redesigned to ring automatically. Any visitor to the bell tower should
be prepared to climb the 140 steps staircase, if desirous of seeing the
historical bell or have a glimpse of the city of Paris.

 Also inside the Notre Dame Cathedral, among so many historical
artefacts, is the notable 17th century organ with all of its parts still
functional.

We learned a few things about Notre Dame and then we built it.  🙂   NO.. not the actual building took 200 years remember  🙂 but a 3-D puzzle of it.

We made this puzzle:

 I liked how the pieces were clearly marked, and made on sturdy material. They were easy to punch out and match with the clearly marked directions.

 
Do you see how clear the instructions are?   My son found them very easy to follow, and even corrected my decisions a couple of times.   His only complaint about putting together this puzzle was that some of the slots for sliding the pieces together are a bit too small, but they were easily made bigger using the utensil it comes with.
 Putting the puzzle together.
It was a lot of fun putting this together with my lad, even though at times, my somewhat ill lad would get impatient with the finickiness of some of the pieces.
It was a good way for us to connect again after weeks of illness and kinda just doing our own thing.
 Once again I thought about Educents and how it’s having a sale this weekend and thought I’d see what they had about Notre Dame and France.  It would appear that they  have some 74 products you can choose from.  Going to link up a couple just so you can see what they have.  These are affiliate links that just help support us.
France Close Reading
France Symbols
Bastille Day
France My book

Homeschool Coffee Break

STEM: Light Up Planetarium

By 7 Comments

Since battling illness is the name of the game in this house lately, today I decided to switch things up for the lad.

“Do your reading and then we’ll work on a couple of your boxes okay?”   says I.

“GREAT MOM” was the enthusiastic response.  (good to have enthusiasm again)  🙂

Over the past year we’ve been working with kiwi crates, I decided to bump up the the tinker crates, and Light Up Planterium is the first one we received.     Below you will see my son unpacking the box.  It comes in the mail addressed to him.

 
Tinker Creates is a great way to teach and entertain youth from 9-16 years old.   I discovered that the instructions are different, they came as a fold out page rather than a booklet. 

My son had absolutely no problem following the instructions and figuring out where he wanted to go.  He was able to easily look ahead and problem solve before reaching the next stage as needed.

HA!!!   I made my first ever presentation, cool eh?

One thing I couldn’t figure out how to show you was how neat all those pin holes stars look against a dark ceiling.  Just couldn’t get a good shot regardless of what I did with the camera.

But seriously, tinker crates are a great deal of fun and you can take the learning from them into so many different directions.  Do them as is or put them into a small unit study.  We’re studying astronomy this year so this box was an excellent fit.  You can order individual crates from Kiwi Crates from what I recall, so give them a look see and figure out what you can use with your students.  🙂 

Fascinating Fungi

By 2 Comments

 Affiliate links may be used in this post that help to support us.  Thank you.

One of the things that I like to do when out for a walk, particularly if I have my camera is to stop and take pictures of fungi.

My boys shake their heads at me and keep walking, they simply don’t understand why I wouldn’t rather take pictures of birds and what not.   But Fungi are cool, they are helpful decomposers of the plant world. 

Most of the fungi I find are this lovely white/beige colour.   Aren’t they gorgeous?   Just look at all the variety in them, from rounded shapes, to rosettes or jutting out like mini shelves.   They are fascinating to me.   🙂

Imagine my delight when  I spotted this beauty.   It’s orange!   Every fungus on the tree was this same shade of orange.   I showed it to my lad when I got home and asked “What do you think makes it that orange colour mom?   I’ve never seen one like this before.”

I have to tell you that I don’t know a whole lot about fungi, I just know they are helpful plants that are often overlooked.     They come in a variety of shapes and sizes.   Some…are edible, others will kill you.   Others are so small you wouldn’t even know they were there.  

Once when we were camping we learned about a fungus that lives inside of plants and is able to figure out the shortest distance between points.   If you had the time and patience, you could map out a number of landmarks, lay out oatmeal in that pattern and that fungus will figure out the best route for you.   Amazing eh?   They are apparently using that to figure out the best ways to lay down a subway system.   Go figure.

Did you know that fungi are not plants nor are they animals.  They have a classification all their own. They are highly variable in their appearance and action. 

I love how you can find one all by itself, just doing its thing, and at other times you see so many of them, you can hardly see the wood it’s growing on.    Such variety in what seems an insignificant organism.  They just delight me.

So I heard that Educents was going to have a sale and they sent me a reminder that I have a credit with them and that perhaps I might want to use it up.   This made me wonder… might they have information about fungi?

And look.. THEY DO!!!

They have this bacteria and fungi kit. Young
Scientists of all ages will be fascinated by growing bacteria and fungi
of all colors and textures in Petridishes. They will discover how
antibiotics cure disease. Students finish the kit by “waking”the common
fungus called yeast.

Or check out this product: Germs and Fungus Lessons and Experiments.  Learn how to prevent the spread of germs.  Describe the various shapes of fungi and more. 

Oh Ick.  Gives students a chance to do science, including observing fungi growing as they make a mold zoo.   Not only that, there are 114 science experiments to be found at your fingertips, so even if you aren’t fascinated by fungi, you are bound to find something that intrigues you.  🙂

Just think of the fun one could have working with fungi, growing it, examining, watching it and most importantly…learning about it.   And Educents will give you a discount to do so.  Cool eh?

If you are  first time member did you know you get a discount on your first order?   You can find out the details for that RIGHT HERE. 

For all other discount options, see the image below.