SELF-RELIANCE

Our focus this summer is self-reliance.  As we have been discussing and implementing this, it's been interesting.  A few things I have noticed and some things I hope to accomplish.

confidence- they discover what they are capable of instead of relying on me
willingness to help- they are starting to realize that it takes a lot of work to keep things going, they have asked me more what they can do to help
pride in a job well done
learn important life skills
good quantity time with the kids- this is important to build communication and trust while working together.

I read a quote that said that life is 90% maintenance.  This seems to be true.  One of my major goals as a parent is to raise my children to be responsible, hard working members of society.  To reach this goal, they need to learn to work and accomplish things themselves.

I've found that I am managing too much of their lives.  There are many things that they should be managing on their own.  They know that during church or family prayers they should sit quietly and participate.  I am constantly reminding them.  I need  to give them the tools to do these things themselves. This is where we started.

Summer School: Body Systems

Every week this summer we chose a body system to draw and discuss.  I would draw a body outline on each poster and give them to the kids.  I drew on and labeled a poster along with them.

Systems
external parts
skeletal
digestive & urinary
muscle
circulatory & respiratory
nervous
immune
auditory & vocal
review

Reasons
The writing was good for writing practice of course.
The drawing was good for spacial awareness.
The content was interesting, educational and fun.  The kids have enjoyed know what is going on in their bodies.  Some of the simplest things I told them, amazed them!

Week 1- External Parts

Labeled

head, nose, mouth, hands, knees, legs, etc

Week 2- Skeletal System

Labeled

skull, scapula, humorus, radius, ulna, phalanges, ribs, sternum, clavicle, pelvis, femur, patella, tibia, fiblula, phalanges

Week 3- Digestive & Urinary Systems

Labeled

Digestive:  esophogus, stomach, small intestine, large intenstine

Urinary: kidneys, pancreas, ureter, bladder, urethra

Week 4- Muscle System

I drew a front and back

Labeled

Front:  bicep, deltoid, quadricep, abdominals

Back:  tricep, trapezius, lats, gluteus maximus, hamstring, gastrocnemius

Week 5- Circulatory & Respiratory Systems

Labeled

Circulatory:  heart, veins, arteries

Respiratory:  trachea, nose mouth, trachea, lungs

Week 6- Nervous System

Labeled

CNS- brain spinal cord
PNS- extremeties
ANS- organs

Week 7- Immune System

Uncle Ross taught this.  They drew diagrams instead of a body.

Labeled

skin, sleep, exercise, H2O, virus protection, b-cell, macrophage, t-cell, memory cells

Week 8- Auditory & Vocal Systems

Labeled

Vocal:  vocal cords, windpipe, foodpipe, hyoid bone, sound vibrations, tongue, lips

Auditory:  outer ear, inner eat, eardrum, cochlea, sound waves  

Week 9- Review

I drew eight boxes on each poster.  We wrote a few things in each box to review.

External- protection, beauty

Skeletal- strength, protection, structure

Digestive & Urinary- a place for food to go, use our food & water, gets rid of waste

Muscle- movement, strength

Nervous- feel things, movement, response

Circulatory- delivery of nutrients & oxygen, gets rid of waste

Immune- attacks germs, health

Auditory & Vocal- communicate, enjoyment

Building Houses

What we did

Song
The Wise Man and the Foolish Man
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=281&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=281&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Noah taught today.  He drew pictures for the song and taught us the hand motions.

Building a House
-The kids dumped out and sorted the blocks
-they drew a plan for constructing a house
-we talked about building a solid foundation
-they worked together to build the house, they ran into a few unexpected problems, but solved them
-the house looked great!  They were proud of it.  I was proud of them.

Boats

What we did

Song
A sailor went to sea, sea, sea
To see what he could see, see, see
But all that he could see, see, see
Was the bottom of the big blue sea, sea, sea

We did a hand-clap along with the song

Math & Science
Float or Sink?
-we made charts to record our data
-each of the kids chose 2 objects, we took them to the bathtub and tested what could float or sink
-they recorded their findings in one of three categories:  float, neither float nor sink, & sink

Made Sailboats
-they followed instructions to make paper sailboats.  They were kind of tricky, but they did a good job.  Ezra wanted to make one on his own and made several more after we finished.

Please and Thank You

What we did

Poem
Learning
Judith Viorst
I'm learning to say thank you
I'm learning to say please
I'm learning to use Kleenex
Not my sweater when I sneeze
I'm learning not to dribble
I'm learning not to slurp
I'm learning, though it sometimes hurts me
Not to burp
I'm learning to chew softer
When I eat corn on the cob
I'm learning that it's much
Much easier to be a slob
http://www.brownielocks.com/childrenspoems.html

Writing
-write times when you say please and thank you

Game
-please and thank you game- Simon Says but when you say thank you, they stop

Story
"Please Please" Alicia Aspinwall
-if they forget to say please, they have to say it twice

Build-A-Bear Birthdays

The past two years we have celebrated the Build-A-Bears birthday. It's a good opportunity for the kids to plan and organize an event.



writing assignments
-make invitations
-make birthday cards for the bears
-make lists of games and food
-drew pictures of their bears

games
-kids organize and choose the games, we played Crazy 8s, Old Maid, musical chairs, and duck duck goose.



other
-jumped on the tramp with their bears
-made their own pizzas
-made bear cakes to match each of the bears
-watched Toy Story 3

Dump Tour

My kids are in love with the garbage man. Last week he was here to pick up our garbage and I brought out the wrong can. I asked him if he could wait while I got the other one. He said yes and dumped it for us. The kids had been watching out the window and came running outside. They said, "Was that so cool to talk to the garbage man?" I said, "Yea!" He's basically a celebrity around here, so a trip to the dump was a great place to go.

tour vests on


grass clippings and wood


writing assignment
I had the kids draw pictures and explain to me where garbage goes. They drew our garbage can, the garbage truck, the dump, the semi, and the landfill

We learned
-each garbage truck has to come and dump the garbage four times a day.
-four semis carry the garbage out to the landfill every day
-the trucks are weighed before entering the dump, this is how they determine how much to charge residents
-we are not required to recycle, but should
-paint cans, computers, tires, metal, and car oil and encouraged to bring and recycle ourselves
-grass clippings and wood are broken down and shipped off to be made into compost