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Field Trip: Fort York

12/1/2016

 
Oh how I enjoyed this field trip.   We all did.  The cannons, the stories, the walking around.  This was a great field trip that I would happily do again.   Fort York is a great story about the people at the start of Canada as a country.
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I have to admit, I took so many pictures here it's hard to choose which pictures to share with you all.  :)   When we arrived we were greeted by a friendly lady who gave the boys an activity/remembrance token for coming, she directed us to an information area and told us about a movie that they played.
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We first took in the museum information area.   There we saw the first stamps of Canada, the coins, learned about First Nation involvement, learned how both sides of the War of 1812 declared they were winners because neither side lost.
After this we took in the movie.   It was played over three screens and was quite interesting, giving us lots of information.   This led us to part three of the museum, a walk through history.  I thought this section really well done.
This walk through history led us to the pathway that led to the restored Fort York.  Some buildings were erected from stones found, others were built according to original specs.    Almost all held artifacts, and each building had an introductory plaque at the entrance.
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Isn't this tree magnificent?
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The boys thought it would be fun to pose in the guard house.
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Hmm.. let's see what else can I share with you?
We saw the stark difference between the enlisted men and the officers quarters.   I found it quite amazing in fact...
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enlisted men bunks and eating area.
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Officers room and eating area.
Different buildings were dedicated to different pieces of information, from seeing how the officers and soldiers lived, to observing the placement of cannons, learning about the different weapons and uniforms, and bugle calls all had meaning as well.
One of the things that happened in the battle at Fort York was when they blew up the magazine, it killed so many of the attacking Americans, the devastation was so sudden.  One of the last areas we visited walked us through the attack and blow up of the magazine. They couldn't let all that gunshot end up in enemy hands.   

I appreciated reading the first hand reports of the men involved.
One of the last places we visited was the well.    My son was so disappointed as the well didn't work.   It was sealed off. 
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And check out this beautiful tree!!!   Yes, the colours were changing and this tree was just so very lovely I couldn't pass it up
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I hope you enjoyed this brief look at Fort York.  There is so much yet I could show you but why would you have a reason to go visit it yourself?   We did a self-guided tour and it was interesting and great exercise transversing the yards.
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Price to get in:
Adults: $9.00

Seniors (65+): $5.50
Youth (13–18 yrs.): $5.50
Children (6–12 yrs.): $4.25

Hours of operation vary, so check the website before you go.

Review: LearnBop for Families, by LearnBop

6/22/2016

 
I THINK... We have discovered our new Math Program, created by LearnBop, says mom quietly to herself, as she listens to her boy asking questions and figuring out what he knows and doesn't know in a new math program.  As much as he struggles, he ACTIVELY learning... and I think FINALLY a program has been made that is testing my son's mettle and he's learning.. and I couldn't be more pleased.

The math program?   LearnBop for Families.  My family received a years single subscription..which means my son can use it under his name, and I can use it under my name.  
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Now I have to admit, my son has a love-hate relationship with LearnBop.  He really does.  He loves to do it, but he hates that it teaches him differently than he has learned in the past, but ... that VERY DIFFERENCE is what makes it work for him.

"MOM!   Why does it teach me this way?    Don't they know that I learned it this way?" (and then he proceeds to teach me how he learned it) and in the process proves to me and to LearnBop that he does indeed know his stuff.  And then he smiles.. oh my boy he smiles... and it is GOOD.  :)

What is LearnBop?
LearnBop for Families is an adaptive online math program offering an annual subscription for up to four students.  It gives parents the ability to select the level for each student and monitor their individual progress.  You can get a single student version or the family version. 

It is a self-paced program that works for Grades 3-8 along with high school Algebra 1, Algebra II, and Geometry.

LearnBop offers warm-ups, in-lesson videos, and practice questions which are called “bops.”  Each student has a roadmap that they follow.

This multi-student subscription is available for $199.95 annually or $19.95 monthly.  There is also an option for a single student plan for $149.95 annually or $14.95 monthly.

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So how does this challenging program push my boy?  
Let me walk you through a lesson.
My son sets himself up on my laptop and his tablet.  Sometimes MilkyWay (his pet mouse) joins him for a lesson.
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My techie kid much prefers using the tablet to do his math figuring rather than "wasting paper".  He doesn't understand why I work better using paper and pencil.  I figure if he's happy, it's all good though my scrap paper pile definitely isn't shrinking that quickly....
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LearnBop works on a system of roadmaps.  My son is using grade five.  He's completed 2 of 13 roadmaps.   For this lesson he's working through Add/Subtract Fractions with Unlike Denominators.   When working through a unit, you are first given some warm up questions which introduce questions and concepts that will be covered in the unit.   My son is NOT thrilled with his marks in the warm up section but has learned they are only there to get his brain working about the next math area.
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Each unit follows the same format.   Watch three videos, watch a fourth if you want to, and solve some Bops.  Bops are questions about the topic at hand.   They are very specific to topic.
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The amount of Bops needed varies we have found.   At first my lad was distressed by this, thinking the program was lying, until we realized that the end goal of LearnBop for Families was for the students to reach a 90% grade.
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This means if you choose not to watch the videos (which counts as part of your grade) then you get to do more questions (more Bops) as a result, so it was a bit of a toss up and meant my son had decisions to make.   Most often he chose to watch less videos and do more questions.   You can get a higher grade if you watch the optional video as well.

The bops are presented in different ways.  The ones I saw always came as word problems, but the solution was answered in different ways.   Sometimes as a multiple choice, sometimes as a click and drag, and other times as a write it in.
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One thing my lad struggled with in this lesson was the need to not only have the smallest fraction, but the larger fraction that the small fraction would come from.   My lad didn't understand as every time he's worked on fractions before the smallest fraction was always correct and anything else was wrong.    We eventually decided it was a training tool, another way for students to see that large or small it was the same number (which made sense to us).   It's just another way to appreciate how a program makes you think the answer through.  

Another training tool is how they handle missed questions.   On the occasion that my son either misunderstood the question or filled in an answer in the incorrect order, he would be bumped to the option of restarting the question OR to work through the question one step at a time.   This ensures that the student understands all the incremental parts to the question and working through the answer.
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Seeing this screen always elicited a YAY!!!   from my lad. "Yay, mom!   I did it!" along with a smile and then he was off to do his daily reading.  :)   Tis a good thing to see a lad happy about math.

LearnBop has a few other aspects to it that I wanted to talk to you about.
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Learning accomplishments and recent progress.   As a mom, I found this helpful, my son was somewhat less than enthused.  :)  He's just glad to work through and learn different math items (and to show me that he knows them).  And this online math tutor did an excellent job of showing him this.
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This is something my son and I discovered today and that he really likes.  :)   It tells him what is next on the agenda... decimal place.  "MOM!!!   I know that!   That will be an easy lesson to do.   Do you think they will show me a different way to do it this time?   Or will they show me the way I already know?" 

"I guess we will wait and see eh?"   That's the only response I could make.

When I signed up for this review I did so thinking that I would be working with LearnBop as well.   I wasn't sure how my lad would take to it and was prepared to pick up the slack and do a higher grade math myself, but my lad eagerly dug into this wonderful on-line math program 4 days a week with the exception of a week that he was at day camp and even then he fit in two days!  

Needless to say, I haven't spent a lot of time using LearnBop for Families.  I could have used my dashboard to work on lessons, but chose not to as it very much became my son's math program as we'll be using it through the rest of the summer.   (or until the 13 units are done).  Then if he chooses to, we'll move up to grade six.

So we liked LearnBop for Families, if you want to see what others of the crew thought, click on the link below.
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Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LearnBop
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LearnBop @LearnBop
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Working and the Homeschool Life

3/29/2016

 
Today is day two in the five day blog hop.  And I have to admit I really waffled on what to write about today.   Music?  Faith?   Life happens?   Work?

I finally settled on work.
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I touched yesterday on the fact that my hubby is a pastor.   We are part of a small congregation in central Ontario.  We do okay, but not as great as we'd like financially so due to my love of critters I have a small business running a rabbitry.

It's called AT Home Pets.   I raise and sell rabbits and guinea pigs.   It's a lot of work to care for them.  I help my son raise mice.

I am also in the process of learning to make worksheets and curriculum.   I made my first  this week.  The goal is to hone my skills and eventually start to sell them.  I was talking with my lad about this last night about how I am going to hire him to help me create graphics for this endeavor.   He thought that was a great idea.  :)
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click image to go post.
The question is of course, since you might be thinking, so what.. you have a business, big yip.  What does that have to do with homeschooling?  

I mention all this because like may people in the world it is sometimes a struggle to make ends meet.   To purchase curriculum, to buy supplies, and clothe children.    My hubbies work provides for necessities in life like shelter, food, medical issues, gas and such things.

My business stuff provides for curricula, clothes for me and the lad, treats "just because" and so forth.   Without my income it would be a LOT more difficult to manage the other necessities in life.. like food... we like eat.  :)

Working with animals as a business has provided me with
1. opportunities to teach my son good animal husbandry skills.   Healthy animals make for easier to care for critters, easier to find them homes, better food sources for animals that need them.. remember he raises mice.. his biggest buyer is the local raptor rescue.  He gives them a discount because they help birds of prey get healthy after running into trouble.   He's had to help me think through the type of bedding we use, housing issues, what colours to pursue and such like.
2. opportunities to learn good customer service.    How to be nice with people, friendly, help them discover the joys of owning a pet mouse, to figure out what size of mouse their snake can eat, and so forth.   To write good animal care sheets for the rabbits and guinea pigs and to continually learn so that one can properly educate people when they ask questions.
3. opportunities to do real life math.  If 10 mice cost "X" amount and the guy asks for a deal, what are you willing to do?   Are you going to ask him to buy two more and throw one in for free?   Will you say no?   What if they want free delivery on top of that?     He's learning that good customer service doesn't mean saying yes to every request.    I thought I would need to teach him to save for a rainy day... but this boy is a natural money saver.   He weighs out his purchases carefully which is really nice to see.  He hates that I make him pay part of the mouse food bill but it's part of having them right?  He gets the income, shouldn't he bear part of the price or raising them?
4. opportunities to deal with the less than polite people.  Granted I've shielded him from most of this, but he sees how some people react to the selling of rabbits and guinea pigs (and to a certain extent the mice).   Animal Rights Activists aren't the funnest people to deal with, and he's seen how I've learned to be protective of where I live and how we do things.
5. Opportunities to teach others about animals we know and love.  It amazes me how often people will leap into something without first doing their research.     Selling animals allows us to interact with people, teaching them how to care for their animal, what should and shouldn't be done and guiding them to good sources for information.   There is so much misinformation out there about how to care for animals it's great to guide people to reliable sources.
6. Opportunities to learn time management.   It's not always easy.   Currently I am dealing with a person who wants to buy an animal on Sunday afternoon.   I don't do business on Sundays until after 6 p.m.  This individual is struggling to work around that and it's hard to stand firm.. but family and God is important you know?   It's hard to work around homeschooling needs, family needs, faith issues  in a "we want what we want when we want it NOW" society.   Sometimes it means lost sales which used to be upsetting until we learned this.. the instant gratification people won't have done their research and do we really want our animals going to people who are like that?   Teaching that long term perspective has been eye-opening for my lad.
7. Opportunities to learn new skills. Whether it's learning how to put together worksheets or curricula, or finding out the latest research on mites in guinea pigs, or how to deal with malocclusion in rabbits, finding out what threatens birds of prey... there are always ways to think and improve and do what needs to be done.  Right now we are dealing with a rat problem which with the help of the internet, friends, neighbours and other business people we WILL tackle and keep our animals safe from harm.  We are happy to live and let live, but causing harm has repercussions.
8. Opportunity to be your own boss.  I HATE, yes indeed I will freely admit it.  I hate to be ordered around.   I love being able to be responsible for my own decisions and the running of my own business.  Being told what I can and cannot do irritates me to no end.   So working a job for someone else gives me added stress (which if I have to I deal with) but the freedom of choosing what I feed, how I care, and such like.. I love that freedom.   I disliked working a 9-5 job and dealing with the politics and rivalries you get in a workplace.  Here... the rabbits don't argue with me.. they may stomp their feet for "FOOD NOW!  ME FIRST!!" but they don't talk back or jockey for importance.  Most customers are easy to work with and doing this is a joy.
For my other posts in this five days of tips for homeschool parents see below
The Importance of Family.

You will find other members of the TOS crew participating in this five day blog hop.   The whole list can be found here, or you can start with the folks listed below.
Dawn @ Double O Farms Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool Debbie @ Debbie's Homeschool Corner Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook Diana @ Busy Homeschool Days Diana @ Homeschool Review Elyse @ Oiralinde: Eternal Song Emilee @ Pea of Sweetness Erin @ For Him and My Family Jen @ Chestnut Grove Academy
5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents
Follow Every Bed of Roses's board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. on Pinterest.

Digging Deeper in Learning

2/21/2016

 
My lad and I continue reading through a variety of books at night.  
Currently we are reading about temperate forests, a novel (just finished Weekends with Max and his Dad), my boy's read out-loud book (Currently learning about zebras), Mammals and a book on railroads.

Sometimes we read about items that spur on our interest.  Tonight we had to look up what the oldest trees were and discovered that most old trees are from the conifer family.  The oldest being over 5,000 years old, this news stunned my my lad.

We have also recently learned about Caracals and the 8th wonder of the world (built in Canada.. a railroad bridge).   Both of these items intrigued us, so I told the lad I'd research them a bit and see what else we can learn.
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First up, the Caracal.   For those of you who don't know, a caracal is a type of wild cat. Check out the sheer beauty of these cats. 
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click on image to go to source: zoological society
Caracals are a wild cat living in Africa and Asia.  They eat a variety of local game such as Hyraxes, medium-sized antelope and deer, birds of all sizes, rodents, and reptiles.   In our mammals book we learned that they eat A LOT of birds, to the extent of killing ostriches. It is a very versatile and agile hunter and the size of the animal does not deter it from using it as a food source.  It prefers to live in dry woodland and savannah.   

Even though it has ear tufts like the lynx, the caracal is most closely related to the serval and the African golden cat. Other than it's facial markings, the Caracal is a reddish brown cat with no other markings.

The agility of these cats has had them trained by nobility to be personal hunting animals.   You can see the caracal's agility in the video below.

Next we move along to a bridge in Canada.
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Click on image to go to source: History of Victoria Bridge
Once known as the Eighth Wonder of the World the Victoria Tubular Bridge was built in 1859 over the St. Lawrence River at Montreal.

In it's day the bridge was considered an engineering marvel.   It's an industrial bridge, not designed to be pretty in any way.  As such, it is still in use today... still providing safety for rail cars trundling over the river.
Originally designed for rail traffic, it confounded all the skeptics … and there were many of them in 1850 who doubted that a structure this size could be successfully built..... Whatever the cost, this city surrounded by water had to be linked to the vast U.S. market. The Grand Trunk Railway launched a gigantic construction project, and the celebrated engineer Robert Stephenson drew up the plans for a tubular structure made of riveted iron plates.

Be Creative Every Day

2/20/2016

 
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I love this quote from Art Before Breakfast, by Danny Gregory.
Aha!   Calling All Kids.   When you were little, you made art all the time.  Remember?   Crayons, finger paint, poster paint, chalk, papier-mache, playdoh.You sang, you danced, you dressed up.   Your imagination was your constant companion.   And all your friends shared in your art.   You lived in an artist's cooperative.

Everyone around you was supportive.   Mom, Dad, teachers celebrated your work, saved it, pinned it up, stuck it on the fridge.  You were a star.

Why does that have to be just a distant memory?   Why can't you have that same spirit of creativity, brave exploration, open-eyed wonder... even for just 10 minutes a day?

That little artist is still in there, inside you.  Get that kid some crayons.

This book was my inspiration for a change in our schooling days.   Having a creative lad, who plays and builds paper craft toys regularly, who uses them to help learn math and play games, who extensively borrows my tablet to use different drawing apps made the change all the easier.

Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays I set the timer for 15 minutes and we "do art".   We get our inspiration from a number of different sources, but predominately from the books below.
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My son doesn't like to write in books (or draw for that matter).   So all we use these books for is ideas.    Using art sketch paper gives us more room to draw and and detail.  My boy using a full sheet and me using a half sheet.
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from 642 Places To Draw
My son's favourite Idea book is the 642 places to draw book.   It is simply a bunch of blank pages with ideas printed in the upper corner of each section.    We simply leaf through the pages until we hit one that intrigues.   This one was "draw a greenhouse with exotic plants"
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my son's exotic specimens
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a more conventional greenhouse
My son had a whole lot of fun with this and drew on it over the course of 45 minutes.  (he just couldn't stop after 15 minutes so continued to draw while I read out-loud to him).
I have to admit, some of the idea presented to us make my lad scoff.   The idea of drawing what he had for lunch... he just really can't see the point of it.     Whereas a windy day has the lad grinning at the possibilities...
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from doodle your day
Other ideas intrigue him... but "they don't leave enough room for me to draw what I want mom!"   This is why using a sketchbook is so handy.   Inspiration doesn't have to be limited by lack of room.  :)
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from pocketdoodles for Christmas
I have to admit, it's simply fun to draw.   I don't much care WHAT I draw, as long as I have an idea of what to do.   (I know.. sometimes I'm limited)    It's actually rather neat some of the ideas presented to us.   LIke the fun of drawing the home of a hobbit. :)
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my efforts
I love how we inspire each other to try new things.   I love the stories he comes up with to go with his drawings... because being creative in one way helps us be creative in other ways as well.  :)
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my son's efforts
The Art Before Breakfast is a rather neat book.   It talks about all the different ways you can do art, as well as talking about different art techniques.   It shows options for how to encourage doing art spontaneously ... draw your children, draw your pet, draw your morning coffee, draw the stranger or a friend, draw the animals that you see and more.   Just draw, and draw some more.      Then to make sure you don't get stuck in a rut draw with something unusual like lipstick, mud or a paintbrush.
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There are so many ways to draw, so many things to see and do and recreate.

For 15 minutes every day... just draw.

I have found it makes for a more settled boy if I give him time to just create, and because we have these lovely books for inspiration it takes the pressure off of having to come up with ideas on our own.

All these lovely books were sent out to me by Raincoast books.  
Product Details:
PocketDoodles for Christmas.  By Anita Wood.  
642 Places to draw.  Published by Chronicle books.
Art Before Breakfast.   by Danny Gregory.
Doodle Your Day.   By Anita Wood.
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Pastels, Nova Scotia and John Constable

1/29/2016

 
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Fridays are a day to celebrate being Canadian, to follow our hearts when it comes to our schooling, so sometimes our math gets done and sometimes... we explore the world.   As I type this my son is having fun with a fan, string and paper.     Observing air movement while having fun.   It's all good.    He just asked "MOM!   Can this be our science today???"       I told him I would think about it.  :) 

Before he did that though we spent time reading books (currently going through four books) and continuing our Nova Scotia studies.

We also like to do art on Fridays, and if we can find a way to combine the two so much the better.   I originally wanted to do an abstract art but my lad simply couldn't wrap his head around that.  So we switched to pastels.

I gave my son a choice he could draw free hand or use a colouring sheet... He chose the colouring sheet.   He did a good job eh?    Took us a bit of time to determine the angle it was taken from... pretty sure from the water side.   He had fun experimenting with the pastels.   It was our first go with them.
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I chose to work on a free hand style of Peggy's Cove. 
Query.. How DOES on draw white so you can see it against a white background????   I chose to outline with black so it was visible but that's not really true to life.   It came out kinda looking like a silo but I have no clue about how to draw edges with white and doing black lines just seemed wrong... So it is what it is eh?   :)
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As we coloured and talked we watched a variety of videos.   From learning about the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, to how to shuck a scallop... did you know that parts of a scallop are poisonous???   This video was so interesting for my lad he actually STOPPED talking to watch it...and almost forgot to do his art as well.    He thought it funny that Canada's oldest recognized flag became Canada's youngest flag.  :)
We got our inspiration to do pastels from this handy little art book we keep around. 

John Constable was an artist who loved doing pictures of the English Countryside.   His paintings had a lot of sky in them.   The art lesson connected his love of sky to using pastels to get shade and variations in landscapes by smudging the pastels together.    I practiced this with the ground and a bit with the sky, the lad practiced this with blending the greys into his rocks.

Do take a look at the website linked above.. some of his works are just simply  gorgeous.  This one with the stormy sky really caught our eyes.
Virtual Fridge Link Up

Math Game: Greater than, less than

1/26/2016

 
Every week my son and I play a math game.     We're adding some fun to our math and solidifying skills that sometimes my lad seems shaky on even though he knows them.   So have fun and practice them I thought.

The game we played this week was a greater than/less than game. 
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I read about it being played a couple of different ways and I'll get to those later, but this is how we played.  

Two pieces of scrap paper.. if playing a lot you could easily make up a wipe off board but for a quick game, scrap paper, a pencil and different dice are all that is needed.

We played with two dice each.

Set up the game as follows

___ ___ ___ >  ___ ___ ___ > ___ ___ ___

___ ___ ___ < ___ ___ ___ < ___ ___ ___


Nine spaces to fill in each line.
Two die each, the total must be used up.  You have a choice... add them and use the total OR use each number separately, do not use any number higher than 9.

Fill in the blanks.

You can add an optional challenge of who can make the highest number of the greater than and who can make the lowest number in the lesser thans.
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You can help with the memory if desired by adding an error to show the biggest to smallest direction (we did this for the first round just to get our brains on the right path).   We played several rounds, some competitively and others not so much.

There are a variety of ways to play.
1. one die each
2. no number used twice in the same number set
3. see who gets the better number in each of the nine sections
4. whatever other twist you want to add in... :)   it's all good.

It was a great way to do quick mental math as it's a fast moving game so you don't want to waste your time either.      It's great for a variety of ages, you can make it harder or easier depending on the participants.. I plan to play it another day with two and three digits numbers where multiplication is the rule rather than addition.  :)    Would be fun to add the twist of .. you can add OR subtract.  :)   Wouldn't that be a fun twist?
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My son had a variety of helpers who kept interrupting the game and as soon as it was over crowded around to offer congratulations and to try play the game for themselves.   They had quite the conversation about it.  :)
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Learning greater than and less than.   With KHAN academy.   Worksheets.

M is Moving Fireheart

1/24/2016

 
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The Old Tank
This tank was simply getting too small for him.. he was as long as the tank and simply wasn't going anything anymore.   And since lately he's eating really really well and growing better because of it, so new digs were getting imperative.   I wondered about getting him a new tank when hubby said HEY!   Why don't you use one of the big tanks we have in the basement.  
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The New Tank
The only real expense we'll have with the new tank will be buying a filter for the pond and I needed to get a reptile lid.   It cost a fair bit more than i would have preferred, but one does what one needs to do eh?   The wood stumps came from our Christmas tree, the rocks from and old rock garden we had, and Fireheart's hidey hole is an overturned in/out tray.
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I am feeling a tad annoyed because my lad asked me to take a couple videos of Fireheart enjoying his new set up and they seem to have completely disappeared so I'll just have to get you some still shots.

it's amazing the difference it has made.   Fireheart, a garter snake, normally spent ALL his time (unless hungry) hiding under his yellow water bowl.

NOW we'll see him sitting next to his logs.
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Checking out his mini pond.  Garter snakes are one of the few snakes the regularly eat fish.   Once we get a filter in it, we'll be moving his fish into the pool so he can snack whenever he feels the urge.    We get him minnows from the pet store and not small goldfish since overtime goldfish can make a snake unhealthy.   My son has a tank of guppies in the basement that we hope will soon over populate thus negating the need to buy minnows from the store.
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We built him a burrow as that's what snakes like.   We made it in such a way that we can still see him.   It's actually quite fascinating...he sits there watching us almost as much as my lad sits watching him.   

It's rather neat with the new bigger tank.  There are distinct warmer and cooler spots so he will come out more and bask in the heat and then retreat to a cooler more "hidey" area.   Then come out again and move around.  Often after he eats we'll see him basking under the heat lamp.   My hubby postulates that it helps with the digestion.
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We have successfully transitioned Fireheart onto eating mice.  it is not a normal part of a wild garter snakes diet (they mostly eat toads, worms, snails, slugs and the like).   But with the judicious use of worms and baby mice we got him transitioned.  He doesn't need the worm scent anymore to have a mouse meal.   it's a better diet for them to be on mice when in captivity... means their poops are firmer, there are less parasites, and it a more complete meal which means a healthier snake.
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I have to admit, we only give him one at time, and if I, or the lad am foolish, we have two cats who find themselves VERY intrigued by Firehearts diet.   Our next goal is to get him eating dead mice... but we haven't quite gotten him to that stage yet.  I need to, along with my lad, do some research about how one does such a transition.
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My son plans to give Fireheart's old tank to his toads.   I told him it'll need a good clean and we'll add a debris section so he can run crickets in with his toads and an area where they can eat and grow and the toads can help themselves to a meal whenever a cricket is silly enough to wander in front of them.    Currently the toads enjoy mealworms for their lunch.
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To learn more about garter snakes check out these links below:
garter snake info.
reptiles.
PDF on caring for garter snake.
Take care of g.S.

Lapbooks and Unit Studies.
Homeschool share.
imam's homeschool.
LaToya.
A moment in our world.
Middle school lapbook.
Free unit study snakes.

I'll be linking up this week with blogging through the alphabet.
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A Skeever or a Bandicoot???

1/11/2016

 
Tonight while reading from our mammals book we were learning about the Bandicoot.   My son, as soon as he saw the picture said "It's a SKEEVER!   Look Mom!!!  It's a skeever".
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So what do you think?  Is he right???

Long nose, long tail, the ability to hop out at you, omnivorous, rat like... He might be on to something here....

Just so you know .. a skeever is a pesky animal in a game called Skyrim.  They are called "large rat like creatures".   They have a tendency to leap out at unsuspecting heros and attack them.   They eat everything.

It caused him to be quite interested in learning more about the Bandicoot..

The Bandicoot is a marsupial living in Australia and New Guinea.   It is a small to medium sized animal that eats insects, earthworms, insect larvae, and spiders (including the venomous funnel web spider) as well as tubers and fungi.  They also nibble on fruits, berries, nuts, seeds, eggs and even small rodents when they are in search of food.

The whole eating spiders thing... alarmed my lad...he'd rather they didn't do that... though I happen to be glad that something eats very venomous spiders.  :)

There are about 20 species of them roaming their area of the world.

They are a small animal, so they are as much prey as they are predator so tend to live in places with plenty of hiding spots.  They grow quickly upon gaining maturity.    Males tending to be bigger than the females. 

They make people think of rats (and bandicoot means pig-rat) because of their long, pointed heads and compact bodies followed by a long thin tail.  Unlike rats though, they average size about the same as a rabbit, and use their hind legs to hop around.   They are generally a nocturnal animal, living up to three years in the wild, and up to seven in captivity.   They make a nest in a thicket that only one adult occupies at a time.

Bandicoots live alone except during mating  which can happen all year round.  Females can have their first litter at 4-5 months old, gestation is only 12 days and since they are marsupials the young are carried in a pouch. Their gestation period is the shortest known of any mammal.  They normally have 2-3 litters per year.   Each litter will have 2-7 young.


Some bandicoots are on the endangered list due to habitat loss and the introduction of cats and other small animal predators.

Digitigrade or Plantigrade...what are you?

1/4/2016

 
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I don't know about you but one of the things I love about the educating at home life is learning with my son.  I love it!   :)

Currently we are reading a book about mammals.
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Every day we read one small section and it's amazing what we learn.   The other day we came across two words we had never heard before   Plantigrade and Digitigrade.

plan·ti·grade      ˈplan(t)əˌɡrād/   
adjective: plantigrade
  1. (of a mammal) walking on the soles of the feet, like a human or a bear.

dig·i·ti·grade ˈdijədəɡrād/  
adjective: digitigrade
  1. (of a mammal) walking on its toes and not touching the ground with its heels, as a dog, cat, or rodent.
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Click image to go to source: Forgeworld
And then when you go look up more information on it and you learn even more information like..unguligrade.   Who would have known?   Or that gamers who build there own stuff actually study these terms.  :)    My lad was fascinated.   Certainly makes it meaningful for him though, to see that adults learn these things so they can make their game materials more meaningful.

Unguligrades are mammals with hooves, both single hooved like horses and donkeys as well as double hooved like deer and cattle.

Plantigrades include a remarkable number of mammals.   They walk on their whole foot.  So bears, humans, hedgehogs, rabbits and kangeroos are included in this group.

Digitigrades walk on their toes.  So animals such as dogs, cats and the like.
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One of our digitigrades that resides in our house and helps us study. :)
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