Christmas Eve Night / Christmas Day
It was cold, dark, & snowy. All the children headed to bed, some to read, some to actually sleep. I found two in the same (twin-size) bed, but decided to let them stay that way.
I wrapped the one present we have for each child from us and placed them around the base of the Christmas tree. I left the Christmas lights on when I went to bed, so St. Nicholas could find the chocolate chunk cookies & milk the children left out for him. I fed the baby, told Child #1 to turn out her light, and went to sleep myself.
The baby woke at 2 a.m. for a feeding. I checked the living room. Baby Jesus had arrived in our little creche scene. St. Nicholas had not yet arrived.
The baby was up again at 4 until around 4:30 (diaper change, food, burping, more food). Soon after, Child #2 appeared in my room to request that Child #3 be removed from her small bed. Transfer was completed and I assume St. Nicholas had arrived at the house by this point. I did not check the living room at this point because I figure Child #2 would have followed me and probably never gone back to sleep.
Child #1 was the first one up. Spouse’s work called at 7 a.m. to see if he could come in as one of the other guys couldn’t get out in the blizzard-like conditions. Spouse spent an hour attempting to get out onto a main road from our house. After digging himself out three times within two blocks, he returned in time to get ready to head to Mass. He called to let them know he couldn’t get out either, but they’d found two others that were going to try to make it in.
I confirmed with the phone message on our Church’s answering machine that services were still going to take place. It only took about thirty minutes to get everyone ready in all their snow gear and another ten to fifteen to walk the four blocks. During the time we were bundling up, the plow cleared half of our route. That was great since the stinging snow was hitting directly in our faces during that half of our trek. Children #1 & 2 walked. Children #3 & 4 were pulled in a sled. Child #5 was wrapped in one blanket and ’slung’ in my ring-sling. Then, I wrapped another warm blanket completely around said child to keep his head out of the blowing snow and wind.
We have a little more than a foot on the ground over the top of ice. More is coming down every hour. I’m glad we don’t have to go out.
Snow Days
Within the last few weeks, we’ve had several days of ice & snow that have caused the local schools to shut down. In fact, there was one week when we had mail delivery only three days out of six.
We continued to have school here on all those days. We had to reschedule a field trip because the place we were planning on going was closed due to the weather. So, we did a complete day of school that day, too.
We’re doing half-days this week and next (not including Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years). Math is every other day. Spelling is every day, although a shorter lesson each day. Science is every day (since we need to get through more lessons in that than any other subject).
Speaking of Science, we’ve had some fun experiments lately in our God’s Design for Chemistry book. We made whipped cream and butter one day when we were studying milk. We dissolved LifeSavers (TM) yesterday (cold water vs. room temperature water vs. hot water, crushed vs. whole, and still/moving tongue around in our mouths) as part of our lesson on ’solutions.’ We made mayonnaise today as part of our lesson on ’suspensions.’
The two kids took a quiz on Monday on mixtures, elements, and compounds. After they tried it by themselves, we used it as a review activity instead of a ‘grading opportunity.’ So they both got all the questions correct after going over everything three times.
The kids have gotten plenty of opportunity to go outside to play in the snow. They climb snowdrifts, throw snowballs, slide down various hills, play with the neighbor kids (who are out of school either on a snow day or for Christmas break), and get themselves cold & wet on a regular basis.
I found some snow pants for the older two at a local resale shop and had some just the right size for Child #3 already. Only Child #4 lacks them although he tends to stay out just as long no matter how cold & wet he is. The only time he comes to complain is if he lost a glove. It appears to be his Achilles ‘hand’ (so to speak).
Science . . . Again
As I continue in our science studies this year, I can’t help but think about next year. I already know I’m not going to continue to use God’s Design, even with the new (full color) design because the Physics level texts are too high level for my youngsters. (The Chemistry ones are too high level, IMO, and that was a mistake.) I was leaning toward Science in a Nutshell kits or TOPS. Then, I thought maybe I might just go ahead and break the bank with NOEO.
I revisited my curriculum post from almost a year ago. It reminded me of Pandia Press. I’m relooking at their Chemistry curriculum and wondering if it is too late to start over with their course.
(I’m only slightly joking.) I’m not ready to switch (yet), but I saw a sample page on their website about explaining states of matter and it seems to do a better job of speaking to my kid’s level. (It is designed for Grades 2+. God’s Design for Chemistry is designed for Grades 3+.)
But while I was there, I checked out the blog of Pandia’s owner. This blog piece caught my eye. It is a brief review of a speech given at a homeschool convention.
Many homeschool moms and I have discussed this topic. One of the homeschooling Yahoo groups I am on is currently discussing the problem of selecting a “good” science curriculum, especially for the high school level. I agree, in principle, with what she is saying. (I don’t agree with everything she says in the blog piece. I do agree with the basic premise.) It is hard to find a science (or history) curriculum that doesn’t have an “agenda.” I, too, would rather the agenda be front & center so I can either steer clear of it, embrace it (if that is what I wish), or Sharpie it out.
Science Quiz
After much deliberation, I choose to purchase Answers In Genesis’s God’s Design for Chemistry series for our science this year. As it is designed for Grades 3-8, it is a bit of a stretch for our young family. I figured my (young-for-her-grade) 3rd grader would grasp most of it and my first grader would be along for the ride. They both love experiments and the texts (Properties of Matter & Properties of Atoms & Molecules) have a fun activity or experiment almost every single lesson.
Both have really struggled grasping the concepts. I didn’t realize how much trouble they would have. The first quiz (Lessons 1-4 in Properties of Matter book) didn’t go the greatest. But the second was really dismal. The older child grasp the concepts as shown in the short answer portion of the quiz but doesn’t have a clue on the terminology. The younger child can figure out the terminology as shown by her fairly decent score in the matching portion of the quiz but doesn’t get the underlying concept.
But that’s not why I’m posting about this. I just wanted to share Child #2’s answer on one of the “short answer” questions because it had me rolling with laughter. I must set this up by saying that 1) we studied astronomy last year and 2) the chemistry text discussed the concept of buoyancy with examples of swimming in a pool filled with rubbing alcohol (where we would likely have issues staying afloat) and a pool filled with mercury (which would be a bad idea, obviously, but where we would easily stay afloat) due to the different material densities.
Quiz question: “If an object floats in one liquid but sinks in another, what does that tell you about the densities of the two liquids?”
Child #2 answer, “The one that sinks is probably rubbing alcohol and the other is probably Saturn or Uranus or something you can float on.”
[Obviously, she was trying to think of the word "mercury" and substituted names of two other planets instead.] Is this funny to anyone else or is it one of those “you had to be there” moments?
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