Sunset

Yesterday, while driving home in the evening, the following conversation ensued:

DS1: The sun is setting in the west. (As we are driving into the setting sun.)
Mom: Yes, it is.
DS1: Why does the sun set in the west?
Dad: Because it comes up in the east.
DS1: The sun doesn't move, the earth moves.
(Mom pumps her fist "Yes!" and grins from ear to ear. )
Mom: It looks like the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west because of the way the earth rotates.
DS1: Like this? (As he makes a fist and twists his wrist to rotate his hand.)
Dad: Yes, like that.
DS1: So why does the earth turn and go around the sun?
Dad: That's just what they do.
DS1: But why?
Mom: (Hmmm?) Because that's how God made the sun and earth to work together.
Mom considers getting a flashlight and basketball when arriving home and experimenting, but it's well past bedtime (and people are yawning) so Dad talks her into doing it some other time.

I wish I had a more detailed explanation for him, but now my 5 yr old son knows as much about the relative movement of the sun and the earth as I do.

Adventures in Odyssey

For future reference: Adventures in Odyssey, Whit's End, website. They have podcasts of the radio shows. I'll need to figure out how to listen to a podcast, first, though.

Science

A couple of weeks ago I ordered Sonlight's K level science from another homeschooler. It came last week, but we waited to open it until tonight. My purchase included the instructor's guide, activity worksheets, Usborne's Science Activites Vol. 2 book (experiments), SL's non-consumable science supply kit (used several years), the K science kit, and Sonlight's Discover and Do DVD of all of the experiments in the book. DH and the boys watched the DVD introduction and several experiments in the "Science with air" and "Science in the kitchen" sections. DS1 and DH were both very engrossed in the DVD. It looks very fun! I think DH will want to do this part of our homeschooling. :-)

Here is another good experiment website that was recommended on the SL forums:
Easy Science Experiment Projects at Steve Spangler Science

Wikki Stix

DS1 discovered our Wikki Stix today. I bought them at the homeschool convention last year. I tried to get him to play with them once last summer, but he didn't like how sticky they felt. So they have been sitting on top of the divider between the living room and the dining room since then. Today we're making flowers, faces, letters, and silly shapes.

Mazes

DS1 found our bag of goodies from last month's convention. We bought two Kumon maze workbooks, one for him (Amazing Mazes) and one for DS2 (My Book of Easy Mazes). DS1 enjoys mazes and practically wouldn't stop when it was time for dinner. He did the first 24 mazes and the last 3 (of 80). After dinner, DS2 did the first 12 in his book. I tried to get him to use a pincer grip, but he preferred a fist. We tried a stubby crayon, but even though he held it right, it didn't work as well as a pencil. Next time I'll try to find a very very short pencil to help work on his grip.

Schools Are For Fish

I first saw Jason Holm's artwork and sense of humor when a friend posted this link http://www.venamous.net/socialization.jpg to our local yahoo homeschooling group back in April. Now he has a domain, weekly comic Schools Are For Fish, and sells stuff with the "Fishy" comics. I intend to buy a shirt with the "Homeschooling" half of the "Socialization" comic http://www.inflatablestudios.com/saff01.htm (it's called Style B).

I've been thinking about this for several weeks, but I couldn't remember the guy's name, or his domain name. So I searched for the cartoon. I finally found the black and white version several places, with links to his Geocities page. That got me his a first name (but it was Jay, not Jason). After seeing the cartoon again, I searched with different terms and finally found Inflatables Studios. So now I'm blogging it, so I won't lose it again. It's a great comic! He has missed a couple of Mondays (the most recent is June 25), so I hope he is able to continue producing it.

Stories on CD

Jim Weiss, at Greathall Productions, was recommended to me for audio stories for bedtime. DS1 is usually ready for sleep much sooner than DS2, and I asked my Sonlight-forum friends for help. There are many recordings of classic stories and two that look great for bedtime for us. Hopefully I can try them out from the library first.

Tracking

I've purchased Homeschool Tracker Plus. I've also set up our first school year, as DS1's kindergarten year, starting July 1, 2007, ending June 30, 2008. I am keeping these records just for us, we don't have to show anybody anything. He doesn't even have to enroll in school until he is 7, and I don't have to register our homeschool (oops, "unaccredited private school") until that year also. It's for the "box checker" in me, and to remind me and show DH that we aren't "just playing" all year. (Not that playing is bad, we will play a lot, but he's not sold on unschooling, and I have spent lots of money on books, so I want to keep track of the fact that we actually read them.)

Maybe between this blog, my other blog for my boys, and HST, I'll have enough descriptions and pictures of activities and learning that I'll be satisfied. I go back and forth between wondering why I want to keep track and wanting to savor and save every memory of everything they do. That's part of why I go for so long between posts here, too, I suppose. Then when I do post, I can't decide between trying to catch up and just talking about today (or this week). So I'm going to compromise this time; here is a list of Life and Learning that I remember from the last month:
* fireworks tonight to celebrate the country's birthday
* making friends at the park on Monday
* meeting our new pastor last Wednesday
* DS1 asking why we didn't drink the juice like Jesus did after reading the Bible story about The Last Supper
* DS1 can do 6 somersaults in a row
* playing in the pool in my sister's backyard
* vacation to Colorado
* driving through Greensburg, KS, which was practically flattened by a tornado on May 4, 2007
* Cave of the Winds (with DS1 wearing his headlamp)
* Santa's Workshop at North Pole, CO
* Hiking the Alluvial Fan trail in RMNP
* DS1 & DH hiking the Toll Memorial trail at Rock Cut on Trail Ridge Road
* the beaver talk
* DS1 doing the giant trampoline / bungee jumping thing (and DS2 almost doing it... twice)
* the rocket park in Burlington, CO on the way home
* DS2 got another haircut, short like DS1's this time
* playing in the rain and sand at a park with Steph's kids
* going for a walk around the block, in the rain, barefoot, with umbrellas (that were often not covering us)
* DS2 missing YEA! and wanting to wear his YEA! shirt and "go to YEA!" to see his friends
* getting compliments on their manners because they say "please" and "thank you" readily
* DS2 choosing The Lost Sheep as his Bible story and DS1 choosing "the next one after last night's" every night for a week
* finishing the New Testament and starting at the beginning of the Old Testament
* vacation Bible school - Avalanche Ranch
* listening to the Avalance Ranch CD all the way home from CO, for 2 days