Detective Science

Here is another great book that I have decided to use for our Mystery/Detective unit. These are science experiments based on solving a crime or mystery. We won't do all of them, but I will pick and choose a few that I know the boys will like. Here are some of the topics covered in the book: fingerprints, cloth and paper fibers, blood identification, ink identification, teeth impressions, DNA testing, handwriting analysis.

Check out my other posts about our mystery/detective unit.

Homeschool Wisdom

This past Monday and Tuesday I went to our homeschool curriculum fair. Although I wasn't able to go to as many workshops as I normally do, I did glean what I could from the three workshops that I attended. Some of the concepts were familiar while others were brand-new. Here is what I came away with...
Time and Home Management
This workshop was done by Nancy Bjorkman of Heppner's Legacy Homeschool Resources. She gave lots of tidbits of information on how to make life run more smoothly. The one that I thought was most valuable was that we really teach the 4 R's....Relationships, Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic. Relationships go above all else. What does it matter if your child is really smart if he or she can't interact appropriately with others and build lasting relationships? Nancy also gave some practical tips to keep a household running smoothly...one of the big things that she talked about was food preparation. "Your freezer is your friend!" is her motto. This only validated what my friend (who by the way was with me at this workshop) and I have been doing these past nine months in bulk cooking and freezing. She gave us a few resources to check into to help us along the way....Freezer Cooking Manual (30 Day Gourmet) and the Mastercook CD. I still need to look into these to see if it will be beneficial for us to use these products to plan our cooking adventures.
Homeschooling the Gifted Child
This workshop was given by Mr. Howe of Moving Beyond the Page. I was really interested in this one because we suspect that we have a gifted child. Now before you think that I am being arrogant, I have to say that the opposite is the case. Having a gifted child is not a bed of roses. They are very challenging to raise and oftentimes our gifted one stretches me beyond my limits. I went to this workshop out of desperation. Mr. Howe's talk did confirm for me some of the challenges that we have been going through are related to giftedness. He gave tips on how to manage it all...for example, when explaining a math problem give your child several different methods for solving the problem and then let him choose what works best for him. That way you avoid the questioning of authority that is typically in gifted kids.
What's After 8th? (Grade, that is!)
Tammy Duby of Tobin's Lab presented this workshop and it was my favorite. I still have a couple more years before high school hits us, but I thought this might give me some ideas to think about to get ready for it. Here are some of the resources that she mentioned as being invaluable to pulling together high school. I have not looked into all of this yet, but will soon.
Sr. High: A Home Designed Form+U+La by Barb Shelton
Chalk Dust has an excellent Math Prep DVD set for getting ready for the SAT. They also sell 10 REAL SAT's. Taking the SAT's will increase a student's score.
Driver-Ed-In-A-Box
Thomas Edison College You can do correspondence and CLEP testing to get your college degree.
CLEP Testing Earn college credit by testing instead of taking the class! (I did this in high school. It was so worth it!!)
One last tip: 30-40 minutes of homeschool high school work is like 50-60 minutes of public school (Being a former high school teacher, I can testify to the truth of this! So much time is wasted in public school.)

So I have a lot of resources to look into over the next few weeks!

Awesome 100% Whole Wheat Bread

I have been searching for a whole wheat bread recipe that would consistently work and create nice soft bread. Well, I think I have finally found it!!!!! A few weeks ago a friend of mine told me the trick of making sure that the water you use in your bread is extra hot (around 120 degrees). This greatly improved the rising capability of the dough. She also told me to mix the bread in my Kitchen Aid (unfortunately I still don't have a Bosch) for about 10 minutes before adding the last bit of flour. Both these methods greatly improve the bread's texture.

Just last week I found a recipe on Everyday Food Storage that has worked every time for me in making bread! You need some slightly different ingredients to make this work...maybe some things you haven't thought of putting in bread dough before....vital wheat gluten (I have been using this for years), potato flakes, and vinegar! These are basically dough enhancers....the gluten makes the dough stronger so that it will hold together. The potato flakes prevent the bubbles created by the yeast from popping, and the vinegar strengthens the bubbles. Check out this page...you will see a bread handout that you can download and print. In there on the first page is the EZ Whole Wheat Bread recipe that has worked so well for me.

New "Gardening" Concept

This post was posted on another website several months ago that I was asked to write for...I thought this would be an appropriate time to share it here.

I must admit that I can’t take credit for the following idea. A dear friend and fellow homeschool mom taught me this lesson several months ago. I am grateful to her for her wise words in this facet of “gardening”.
We are all imperfect parents…hence our need for a Perfect Heavenly Father. We make mistakes with our children day in and day out. And though we may strive to become better parents, we won’t totally perfect our skills this side of heaven. Therefore, we need to pray for crop failure! Pray for those seeds of bitterness, fear, anger, jealousy, dysfunction, etc. that we may plant in our children’s lives to fail miserably in their growth. Pray that all our mistakes that we make, all the weaknesses we display will not take root. Pray that our children may look to the true Vine so that they “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 3:18) This is my daily prayer….that all my shortcomings will produce only crop failures in my kids.

More Great Mystery/History Books

Julie from Our Faith-Filled Days reminded me of these great mystery books about events in history. Check them out!

SpellQuizzer

We recently have started using SpellQuizzer with our regular spelling curriculum, Spelling Power. SpellQuizzer isn't a spelling curriculum, but rather a spelling software to help quiz kids on their spelling words. You can use SpellQuizzer with any spelling curriculum. Basically, you download the program and then create your spelling lists that you want your child to work on. You do this by typing in the word and recording in your own voice the word along with a sentence that uses that word. A child can then practice their words by listening to you say the word and sentence and then he/she types in the word. SpellQuizzer lets the child know if they spelled it right and shows them the correct spelling if it wasn't spelled right. It will then automatically retest the words that he missed.

There are some nice features to SpellQuizzer than I have come to appreciate. One is that as I create my lists and have mistyped something the program will let me know. The program recognizes both US and UK English spellings. I have loved the fact that I can make my recordings humorous and enjoyable for my son. Since I am recording the words and sentences I can relate them to his life and what we have been doing lately. I have read that you can also share your spelling lists with other SpellQuizzer users. Although I haven't done this yet, I can see where this would be a benefit to a busy mom. Moms could share the work of creating lists. There are also downloadable spelling lists that you can use. See here. The other feature that I like is that SpellQuizzer automatically will show my son the correct spelling of a word he missed. I love the fact that I am not having to be the one to point out his mistakes and correct him each time! SpellQuizzer has also been a time saver for me...my older son can work on spelling without me while I work with his younger brother.

I found the instructions and tips in the program useful and easy to understand. I had no problems setting everything up and getting it all to work. I really appreciate a program that is so easy to use. You will need a microphone for the program in order to record, but I was able to pick one up for under $10.


I am thinking that there may even be other possible uses for SpellQuizzer like quizzing my kids on science vocabulary. I can record a definition and they can type in their one word answers. We are doing zoology next year so that might be extremely helpful to quiz them with SpellQuizzer. We are definitely going to explore this option next school year!

You can download SpellQuizzer for $29.95 at the SpellQuizzer site. There is also a page on how SpellQuizzer can work for homeschoolers. Check it out!

Mystery Meal Menu

See my previous post below about our mystery/detective unit that we will be doing. Here is the menu that I will do for the boys for our meal. Not the most nutritious meal and not stuff we would normally eat, but this is for fun! Some of the names the kids probably won't get (like "bovine"), but it will be an opportunity to increase their vocabulary and knowledge.

napkin-crumb catcher
spoon-The Big Dipper
fork-that thing in the road or I might call it "Neptune's Trident
knife-the pride of Switzerland (like a Swiss Army knife, get it?)
Coke-bubbly brownie
Caesar salad-Roman mix-up
croutons-little blocks
dressing-pants and shirt
cucumber slices-lily pads
cheese Bagel Bites-dairy donuts
pepperoni Bagel Bites-dotted donuts
icecream sandwich-arctic bovine burger

Mystery/Detective Unit Study

We are about finished with our Beyond Five in a Row unit on Helen Keller. So I asked the boys what they were interested in studying. Noah said, "Animals", which is what we are doing for science next year. Zach said he wanted to study mysteries or detectives. So I decided that for the rest of the school year we would do a unit on mysteries! This is going to be so much fun!
Here is what I have in store for the boys. First of all, our read aloud is going to be The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Here is a brief summary from Wikipedia:
Sixteen individuals, of all ages, races, and socioeconomic classes, most of whom live or work in the Sunset Towers apartment building, are summoned to the reading of the will of wealthy industrialist Samuel W. Westing. The will is in the form of a puzzle, dividing up the sixteen heirs into eight pairs, giving each pair a unique set of clues, and challenging the heirs to solve the mystery of which of the sixteen of them killed Westing; whoever solves the mystery will inherit Westing's $200,000,000 fortune. Friendships between the sixteen heirs are made, broken, and mended as each pair attempts to pursue the solution in their own way. To add to the mayhem, there are occasional bombs set by an unidentified heir. As the participants' wild accusations fly, only one heir keeps a cool head and solves the puzzle.
I have heard a lot of great things about this book. I can't wait to read it. We will keep a detective's log to try to figure out who committed the crime.We are also going to read about some mysteries in history using a book from National Geographic (see below). I don't think we will read all of them. My goal is to focus on Stonehenge, El Dorado, the lost colony of Roanoke, and maybe the shooting of JFK.

Another fun book that we are going to use is Art Fraud Detective by Anna Nilsen. In this book you have to look at original paintings by great artist like Van Gogh and then examine the paintings in the fictional art museum in the book to see if you can spot the forged paintings. I have been looking through this book and love it! It gets kids to really look at great art and the details of famous paintings. There are two other books in the series, The Great Art Scandal and Art Auction Mystery. I am going to try to get my hands on those if I can. One of the fun activities we are going to do is a mystery meal! I am really excited about this! Have you ever done a mystery meal? Basically you are given a menu and all the foods are given a different name. The new name has clues to what the items are. You are then required to write down what items you want for each course (we will probably do three courses). The items are then served to you according to your choices that you wrote down. Because you really don't know what all the items are you may come up with some interesting courses! For example, you may get dessert first. You may not have any utensils to eat with (the utensils are on the menu too.). It should be fun. Check back later...I will be posting our mystery meal menu! But, shhhh, don't tell the kids!

Tips for Making Cinnamon Rolls

We love cinnamon rolls here. I have to admit though I don't make them often because they are labor intensive. And I haven't made them recently because I am trying to reduce my sugar intake. I just made a batch and did reduce the brown sugar filling a bit and used agave nectar in the dough. We normally skip the icing altogether. The one thing I have learned is to make them in the evening. Let the dough rise and shape the cinnamon rolls. Put them in the pan you are going to bake them in and then stick them in the fridge. In the morning take them out about 30 minutes before baking them. That way you don't have to get up so early to make great cinnamon rolls. I recently found on Everyday Food Storage a video with great ideas for making cinnamon rolls. The two tips that I came away and have tried is making the filling into paste instead of spreading butter and then sprinkling the brown sugar and cinnamon on the dough, and using dental floss to cut your cinnamon rolls. YES, dental floss!!!!!! It works really well! The rolls look so amazing when you cut the dough with dental floss! So check out the video!

Declaration of Independence Ideas

We are currently rowing, The Hatmaker's Sign which is a Five in a Row unit. This is a story within a story. It is actually a story by Ben Franklin that he used to encourage Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Here are some fun online activities about the Declaration...

*Sign YOUR name to the Declaration!

*Read more about the signers and see their signatures up close. This is helpful to us because I was trying to show the boys the signature of William Williams who is a possible ancestor of ours.

*More detailed bios on the signers.

*Possible learning activities to do.

*The whole text of the Declaration.

Menu Planning and Bulk Cooking

I am set to bulk cook this coming Monday with a friend. We have been doing this since last fall and it has been the most wonderful experience. Sharing the workload, having social time, and then not having to cook much the rest of the month have been a blessing! I just realized though that I have several meals still in the freezer from previous months. So I need to get organized and we need to eat those meals first before we dive into the ones I will bring home on Monday. Kendra over at Aussie Pumpkin Patch has some real cute menu planners. Check them out (you can see an example above.) I am going to use them to be a bit more organized about using our meals.

This month we will be cooking our favorites instead of experimenting with new recipes. Here are our plans:

Chicken Parmesan

Bubble Up Pizza

Tortellini Soup

Spring Veggie Soup with Dumplings

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

Here are the recipes:

Bubble Up Pizza http://www.recipezaar.com/Bubble-Up-Pizza-My-Children-love-this-Recipe-44289

Chicken Parmesan (we just coated chicken breasts will beaten egg and then breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese and Italian spices, then baked in a pan with spaghetti sauce and a slice of mozzarella on the top of each breast.)

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

Spring Veggie Soup with Dumplings

Tortellini Soup

1 pkg mild Italian sausage

1 small bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed

5 cups broth

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup red wine

2 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes

1 (8oz) can tomato sauce

1 (8oz) pkg tortellini

2 small zucchini, sliced

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 T parsley

Parmesan cheese

Brown sausage with pepper, onion, and garlic. Drain grease. Add remaining ingredients except the zucchini and the tortellini. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min. Add in zukes and cook a few more minutes. Bag and freeze. When reading to serve, thaw and warm then add the tortellini and cook according to the instructions on the tortellini package. Serve parmesan on top.

Helen Keller and Reading

Today we read about how Helen Keller first learned to "read" letters and words. They were raised letters on the page. This was before she was taught braille. So I blindfolded one boy and the other created words out of raised letters from play dough. Here are the results:

The Five Senses-Helen Keller

We are currently studying Helen Keller using Beyond Five in a Row. The boys are really loving it. We have gone over the parts of an eye, what makes a person nearsighted vs. farsighted (which is a great lesson since both boys recently got glasses-They are both farsighted), the parts of an ear, and the five senses. We had a discussion about how other senses take over if you lose one or in Helen's case, two. Today we went over adjectives related to each of the five senses...we came up with words like acrid, furry, foul, rough, muffled, shrill, bitter, bright, etc.

Another activity we did was to pull verses related to the five senses...here are some of them:

Smell

"For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." II Corinthians 2:15

Sight

"But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge..." Psalms 141:8

Hearing

"Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live." Isaiah 55:3

Taste

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that takes refuge in him." Psalms 34:8

Touch

"Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8

Spring Cleaning Giveaway Winners!

Here are the winners for the Spring Cleaning Giveaway:



CarrieJoy-Pattern Blocks and Book AND Geoboards and Book

(I didn't hand pick the names. I used random.org and it picked CarrieJoy twice!)



Melanie-Grocery Cart Math



Leslie Nelsen-Cuisenaire Rods and Fraction Book



Tara (from "momteaches2")-Snap it up! Spelling game



Michele (Little Bit of This and That blog)-Word Study book



Congratulations to all that won!!!

Everyday Food Storage Book Giveaway!

Crystal over at Everyday Food Storage is doing a giveaway of her new book! I have gleaned so much information and recipes from her website since I found it a little over a month ago. Her information has been invaluable! Remember when I posted about Magic Mix...well I got the idea from her website. I have also been able to improve my bread making with some of her tips. I have been looking forward to this book which will be available for purchase on Wednesday on Amazon for $17.95. Crystal can explain best what her book includes...here is an excerpt from her blog...
What is included in I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage?
-A step by step training program for using your food storage every day in your own recipes. Think of me as your food storage personal trainer.
-Over 100 kitchen tested (and very delicious) recipes, including some not yet featured on my blog!
-Family Home Evening lessons to help get your entire family involved in planning your 3-month supply and helping you in the kitchen.
-Information on the what, where, and why’s of common food storage items.
-Practical tips for getting dinner on the table, picky eaters, grocery shopping, and more!

She is also doing a giveaway for six books if you get the word out on its release. Please see Everyday Food Storage for all the details!

Cool Tomb Cake

Candace at His Mercy is New has a great idea for a cake to do for Easter. Now I know that Easter is almost over, but I wanted to share her idea and have a link to it on my blog because next year I want to do this! We have done resurrection eggs, "empty tomb" cookies (a.k.a. Easter story cookies), and resurrection rolls, but never a tomb cake. Check out her blog to see a photo of her cake and some directions. Thanks, Candace, for the great idea!

Who Is The Real Architect and Artist??

It occurred to me that my blog name could really have two meanings. The architect and the artist originally referred to my two sons. One loves to build, has an analytical mind and can create interesting gadgets out of about anything you give him. The other loves to draw, color, and create but in a more artistic fashion.
Yesterday I realized that there is another Architect and Artist in my life, but in the form of one Person, my God and Savior. God describes Himself as the Architect through His Word. Here are a few examples:

"For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Hebrews 11:10

"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." Psalms 127:1

We, like God, need to be architects in our own lives and the lives of others...

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." Matthew 7:24

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." I Thessalonians 5:11

God is also an artist, greatly concerned with the beauty of things and people. Although His concept of beauty may be different from ours. Christ Himself was not beautiful physically yet His life created a beauty beyond belief.

"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2b and yet He was and is beautiful....

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." Psalms 27:4

He thinks that we are beautiful regardless of what we think of ourselves...

"The king is enthralled by your beauty." Psalms 45:11

And whatever is dished out to us, whatever is thrown our way, He will make into something beautiful.

"to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isaiah 61:3

What an amazing Architect and Artist we have!

Barn Night

Our church had a "barn night" at a local camp...here are a few pictures of the boys.

Homeschool Share Blast

Homeschool Share's contest is underway for 2009! What is Homeschool Share? It is a website in which homeschooling moms from around the world have submitted unit studies, lapbook projects, and other great resources that can be used by anyone for FREE! If you aren't familiar with all they provide check out their site. You can also find the items that I have written for Homeschool Share on my sidebar. If you click on the button in this post you will arrive at the contest details.

Seed Starters-Gardening Idea

I have already started the seeds that I need to for the year. Most of the stuff I grow gets directly seeded into the garden. But for my zucchini and peppers they get started ahead of time. I just ran across this blog and these instructions to make seed starters from toilet paper tubes. Kind of a cool idea! I will have to do this next year.

Helen Keller Unit

We will be starting out Beyond Five in a Row unit for Helen Keller soon. Here are some cool resources I found that we will use. Most of these have to do with blindness, the eye, and Braille.
Braille for the Sighted is an activity book to teach kids the basics of Braille. There are lots of puzzles and games to do to help kids become familiar with the Braille system.I bought this eye model from Rainbow Resource. We haven't tried to put it together yet. There are different pieces/layers that fit together. It also comes with a little book that gives more information about the eye and how it works. These models look so cool! There are several of them available. The company that makes them is Ein-O Science (Tedco Toys). Here are their anatomy models. Here are their cell models.

Here are some web resources that we will be using....

Braille Bug-This site has information on Braille, Helen Keller, and Louis Braille. There are online activities to learn more about Braille. And you can even order a free Braille alphabet card!

National Eye Institute-Wonderful eye diagram

Perkins School for the Blind-Where you can order informational packets

Some interesting visual perception exercises

During our study we will be using Study Starters which you can buy for $5. Study Starters are notebooking pages that you can use with any unit study. They are well worth the money. I am excited that I found these since they can be used with whatever you are studying!

Food Storage Made Easy Binder and Giveaway

The gals over at Food Storage Made Easy have just come up with a binder that helps guide anyone who wants to get started in food storage or organize their food storage. These binders look so helpful! Here is the link for more information. There you can watch a short video about the binders to learn more. They will go on sale on Thursday, April 9th for $17 in the form of an e-book. Check it out!

They are also doing a giveaway of the new binder if you blog about it.

Turkey Trouble

How would you like to meet him in a

dark alley?!

(Another photo courtesy of Dad. Thanks, Dad!)

More Amazing Photos from Dad

Dad's photos just amaze me! Here are a few more....the turkeys are from his yard! The boys always love seeing his pictures because they get to look at animals that we normally don't get to see here. You know the wildlife of South Dakota is just so different from here in Alaska. Believe it or not, moose are boring to my kids. You get that attitude when you see moose walking down your street several times a year! You can see more of his pictures at the bottom of my blog in the slideshow.

Storing bulk foods in smaller containers

I have recently started buying more and more food in bulk. This was becoming a problem because then I couldn't really store these items in the kitchen because the containers were so big. I was constantly going out to the garage for my big box of dry milk, for example. Well, I read a month or so ago about using canning jars and the plastic lids that you can buy for them nowadays. I am loving storing foods this way in my kitchen! This idea is not mine...I read about it here and here. I store dry milk, dry mixes, bacon bits, coffee, etc. in these jars. I put a piece of clear tape on the top of the lid and write with a Sharpie the contents of the jar. They all fit neatly in the cupboards and there is a little more organization to my shelves.

Spring Cleaning Giveaway!!!!

Please scroll down for new posts...This post will stay at the top for awhile.

I have done some cleaning in our schoolroom to make room for new curriculum for next year. My cleaning may possibly benefit you as I am giving away some of the curriculum that we are done with!

Here are the Contest Rules:

*Leave me a comment telling me which item # you would like to win and please include your email address so that I can contact you if you win.

*You can list more than one item that you would like to win. There is the possiblity that someone could win more than one item.

*To get an extra entry in the contest please post on your blog about my contest. Then come back and leave me another comment with the link to your post.

Here are the items:

1. Pattern block cards with a set of pattern blocks (not shown).

2. Intermediate Geoboard Activity Book for grades 4-6. Included will be two plastic geoboards and some rubber bands (not shown).
3. Grocery Cart Math...get math activities that your child can do while you are grocery shopping!

4. Fractions activity book for grades 4-6. Included is a set of cuisenaire rods to use with the book (not shown).

5. Snap It Up spelling game. Ages 6 and up.

6. Modern Curriculum Press Word Study Level D. This is a new workbook that has never been used.

You can enter the contest through April 14th. I will announce the winners and try to contact them on the 15th.

People of the Past-HOTM Meme

Here is the question for this week's Meme at Heart of the Matter...

When I think about the person of the past I’d most like to meet there are so many! I think top of my list is Jesus and from there… Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Joan of Arc, my great-great-great grandparents…I truly could go on and on. Who is the person of the past you would most like to meet?

There are so many people that I would love to meet that I can't pick just one! Here are a few...

Corrie Ten Boom who survived the Holocaust and showed the willingness to forgive her captors.

Abraham Lincoln...probably one of our best presidents.

My ancestors....who survived the Irish Potato Famine, Indian raids, and the untamed prairies of South Dakota!

There are many people who I would love to meet. There are so many fascinating stories in history of brave men and women. Too bad there isn't such a thing as time travel!

Passports to Use in Homeschooling

El Rincón Español has a post about using a fake passport as you "visit" different countries. This is a cool idea if you are studying different areas of the world. As you learn about each country you can provide your student with a passport stamp to say they have "visited" that country! I did this one year for a homeschool co-op class that I taught on Latin America and the kids really enjoyed it. Check out El Rincón Español (which is in English) for printable passports and stamps from countries around the world.