Science

I love science and so does John...I thought I would be this magnificent science teacher when I started this homeschooling adventure and I am when I get my act together BUT hands on science and experiments take planning, extra supplies, money, and cause boomerang errands (errands outside of the norm for small things that you don't have lying around the house already).  So I found myself lacking and scrambling.  One of my favorite things about the co-op we do is that there is a science experiment or presentation every week...most of the time it is super hands and someone else does the boomerang errands! 

This past week the science memory work was to memorize the parts of a plant...so in co-op they went over the parts of a plant and then took these leaves, that had been boiled in lye soap, and brushed them clean to expose and examine the skeleton of the leaf. 

 John Daniel's Class working hard brushing and cleaning their leaves

The 7 classifications of living things....graduated circles to identify each one.  Each kid chose and animal to classify.  John Daniel chose the King Cobra and Emily chose the jaguar.

This lady came from St. Fancis Wildlife Refuge to share her animals at our co-op.  She brought a great horned owl, red tail hawk, and a barn owl....all predator birds...They were amazing!

She did an hour lecture for all the classes, let them ask questions, and see the animals.  She also brought some snakes and a flying squirrel.

JD's class learning how to dissect a crayfish....these boys loved it!

The tutor showed them how to find all the parts of the crayfish...they even figured out if it was male or female.

Emily loved the smell of it!

JD's class found the brain, the liver, the stomach....incredible!

We went seining at the St. Marks lighthouse....

And found all kinds of creatures.

The FSU Marine Biology Professor and students came to our Co-op with huge touch tanks.  They let the kids touch and hold the sea creatures. 

They learned all about the sea life big and small....

They had this really cool magnifying computer...the student put a starfish under it in a bowl and you could see the tentacles moving...the finest details of it! 

These are Buss Beetles.....we had 100 at co-op this day.  Each class took 3-4 beetles and experimented on how much weight they could pull.  They attached fishing line around their heads that were attached to a plate.  They added metal washers to see how much weight they could pull.  Some of the beetles pulled up to 34 washers!

It was all done in a very humane way of course:)

Age of opportunity

These very important preteen...tween years...I hear the disgust in many parent's voices as they discuss their child going into puberty and those "volatile" teen years.  I've decided I do not want to think like that....THIS IS AN AGE OF OPPORTUNITY!  This is the age where I will get to see if all the things that I've tried to instill into her mind and heart have stuck...the prayers, the bible lessons, the scripture, the love...I get to let her go just a little to see her spread her wings...to see her put on a little independence.  I'm excited or at least that is what I am going to keep telling myself...more on this later (I'm reading a book on this subject right now)...but Emily and her sweet friends did just what I'm talking about...they spread their wings just a bit and soared in my book. 

Emily and her sweet friends created a BFF club...you know how girls love clubs.  So far, they have had a bake sale, gone to lunch together, earned money to buy items from the Samaritan's Purse catalogue, and had a couple of BFF meetings.  They also, with the help of the mommies, are doing a Bible Study together on friendship.  They each take one verse a week and look it up, write down what they found about being a good friend and bad friend from the scripture, pray about, journal about it, etc and then get together once a month to discuss it. 

One of the moms saw a need on FB for an orphanage in Haiti where the orphans were sleeping on the concrete due to lack of beds/cots.  The Hope 2 Haiti organization was trying to raise money to buy yoga mats  until money could be raised to buy cots.  She took the idea to the girls and we all came up with doing a bake sale on a game day.  Two of the moms took 6 girls to the stadium for a roving bake sale.  The girls all made baked goods and signs for advertisement.  They walked up and down the street asking tailgaters to buy baked goods to raise money for the orphanage.  We all happen to know the CEO of the Hope 2 Haiti organization and know that the money will go straight to the orphanage. 

They were confident, kind, and courteous as they sold baked goods.

Not once did they ask to keep any of the money for themselves. 

In the end they raised $343.10!!! 

I cannot tell you how proud I am of these sweet friends!  I am blessed that my daughter has so many wonderful friends.

This is the first Bible Study meeting last week.  They were all so grown up and serious talking about what they learned in their Bible Study.  None of them have ever been in a peer group Bible Study type environment where participation is pretty much required.  I facilitated the group this time.  The moms will take turns just trying to help them learn how the give and take of a discussion works.  We discussed the difference of being empathetic and sympathetic, the picture of the intermittent raging river and how we want to be constant friends, we dove deep into guarding our mouth and what damage the tongue can do.  It was really pretty deep and so so so worth reading in the Bible about.  They shared prayer requests and vowed to pray for one another.  Our main goal is to help them relate to one another spiritually while sticking to scripture and self evaluation.  I was so proud to be able to sit at that table full of such precious girls....