Monday Musings on the Creator in Me

I set this to post automatically, but for some reason it didn't -- and I didn't notice! Sorry if you missed me ;)

The theme at Homeschool Blogger (HSB) this week is "Teaching Science." While I've always loved learning about most things, I've never been what you'd describe as "strong" in science -- I guess cuz I'm more of a word girl. But over the years of homeschooling, I have come to love some of the "natural" and even "creative" ways we can learn about the world in which we live -- which is really what science is all about. According to sciencemadesimple.com, "The word science comes from the Latin 'scientia,' meaning knowledge. . . . According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is 'knowledge attained through study or practice,' or 'knowledge covering general truths . . . concerned with the physical world.'" That's pretty easy to apply in everyday life! The physical world is God's creation, and any of our interactions with it furthers our knowledge and understanding of it.

One of our favourite ways to acquire knowledge of  our world is by caring for pets. While our menagerie is dwindling a bit, our grandest total of non-human inhabitants included a dog, a ferret, two hermit crabs, and eight rabbits, six of which were babies that we witnessed being born. We now have a dog, a cat, one hermit crab, and two rabbits, one of whom is our "special needs baby" because she was born with malformed legs and bad eyes. Let me introduce you to some of the critters we've loved and learned from here at Learners 4Life Academy . . .

Nikita is our latest addition to the family -- a 6 year old cat that we adopted from someone who couldn't any longer give her the attention she craves:

Our sweet ferret, Merlin, who died last Monday, on Thanksgiving weekend:

Caspian (Prince of Narnia), our 6 year-old golden doodle:

Some of our baby bunnies from the spring:

One of the babies, Honey-Bunny (aka Legolas) all grown up:

Now if we could only make these two friends:

The fact that all of these pictures were taken by children demonstrates that these animals are not just pets that share our home -- they're specimens for investigation. These critters are under constant scrutiny, and are therefore a source of information and knowledge -- outside of all that is to be learned by caring for them (which of course involves research about what food they thrive upon, how to care for their ailments as naturally as possible, and how to keep them as healthy and happy as possible). Have you thought about all the scientific things you can learn from your pets?

While it's wonderful to have these domestic animals to teach us, we also enjoy studying the fauna and flora of the natural world around us outside. We are blessed to live near a couple of conservation areas that enable us to study land and water animals at our leisure, so we often take our nature journals with us and document our observations. Sometimes, we even have the thrill of feeding birds right out of our hands! (Sorry, I didn't actually get a good picture of that.)

Besides benefiting physically from the fresh air and exercise we get from these outings (another scientific concept we can explore), we learn first-hand about plants and animals in their natural environment. Any questions we generate as we're observing and noting can then be answered by researching when we get back home. When I consider that during my elementary education, such excursions were considered rare and special "field trips," I feel blessed to be able to offer my children these learning opportunities on a regular basis. They can be "real scientists" virtually in our own backyard! Are there any special natural settings that you go to study the world around you? (The local zoo is another favourite of ours -- though it's not entirely "natural".)What kinds of things do you learn there?

Our kitchen provides lots of other opportunities for learning about science -- apart from all the experiments we conduct there for more formal science lessons. While we work together on all kinds of culinary creations, we learn about the impact of heat on raw foods, enjoying mini-explosions of things like cranberries cooking in a big pot:

And of course, we see liquids turning to solids when we cook eggs -- to go along with our reading of DS3's current favourite book -- Green Eggs and Ham ("I do like them, Sam I Am!" he announced -- once we convinced him to try them.):

 

When DS11 concocts his own version of chicken noodle soup, we learn about absorption as hard, dry noodles gradually soak up liquid and become soft and chewy:

There are chemical reactions to be observed as we put milk in our tomato soup -- with and without the dash of baking soda to keep the milk from curdling -- and the lack thereof when we forget to put the yeast in our batch of bread, or the baking powder in our coffee cake. What are some of your favourite lessons learned in the kitchen about the science of our everyday  lives?

Sometimes homeschoolers get hung up on curriculum, and worry that they're not doing enough bookish learning (and I'm guilty of that myself), especially about subjects like science. But the longer I travel on this journey, the more I realize that the organic learning we do in the course of living our lives is the more authentic learning -- the learning that will last a life time.

I've only scratched the surface of the scientific learning that can go on while we go about our daily lives. What are some of the other ways we can attain knowledge -- or "general truths" -- about the world around us? Be creative in your thinking, and please leave a comment about it :)

Fibonacci Art

I mentioned that we've been listening to Jonathan Park CDs -- and we've been learning lots. One of the things that I don't remember ever learning about before was Fibonacci numbers. As Wikipedia explains, "By definition, the first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, and each remaining number is the sum of the previous two. Some sources omit the initial 0, instead beginning the sequence with two 1s." So, the sequence of numbers begins 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 . . . .

The cool thing is that this sequence of numbers creates design patterns, including what is referred to as "The Golden Spiral" and "The Golden Rectangle." I find myself fascinated by this, though I would not describe myself as mathematically inclined! LOL! What I find most amazing is how these patterns are reflected in nature -- from the  number of seeds in a sunflower, to the shape of a ram's horn, to the swirl of a storm cloud, to the design of a shell -- the list is long and lovely. To me this speaks volumes of a Divine Creator, a Master Artist. Such designs are not random; they are carefully crafted. I just think that's so awesome!

So, yesterday I tried my hand at conveying some of the beauty in this sequence of numbers. My work is simple and just barely scratches the surface of the study one could do of Fibonacci numbers. (A simple google search will reveal just how much there is to learn!) My hope is that you will be inspired to explore this amazing feature of creation yourself, and see the handiwork of a loving Creator.

Using boxes the sizes of the number sequence (ex. 1x1, 2x2, 3x3 . . .), I created a "Golden Rectangle" (13x21). I coloured in each box with water colour pencils, and then applied water and a Sharpie border. Then I used a Sharpie to create the "Golden Spiral" within the rectangle. I wanted to emphasize the numbers associated with the boxes (hence all the numbers). It all looked a little too plain for me (still does!), so I added some images of examples of the "Golden Spiral" in nature. DS11 would especially appreciate the fiddlehead (not!).

One of the websites I visited pointed to some of the flowers that reflect the Fibonacci sequence. I thought that was really neat, so I created another "Golden Rectangle" with the images of flowers whose number of petals fit into the sequence.

I'm just amazed at the lack of randomness these little bits of creation exhibit! Is there anything that you've learned or discovered that just says, "There IS a God!" to you?

Loving Learning

We awoke to a beautiful, sunshiny day this morning, and I decided it was time to do some creative learning outdoors with my youngest daughter, who feels most comfortable moving and making noise outside anyway.

First, though, she had to spend some time with the bunnies. She couldn't quite understand why I didn't want her to drink any more of her tea after she'd let them lick the spoon -- even though she'd let them lick the handle end of the spoon while she used the other end :)

Once we were outside, we did some math --

And some spelling . . . I took a little video of her hopping to spell out words, but I can't figure out how to upload it! :(

Wait -- I managed to put it at the bottom of this post. I'll have to learn how to manipulate video in here!

Some copy work:

Some reading on the porch, with "The Beast" (aka "Prince Caspian") listening nearby --

And some impromptu science, in which she was trying to determine why one wheel on her bike spun on its own for longer than another. ("And how does that wheel spin by itself, anyway??") In the spirit of creativity, I decided to try capturing the moment in the reflection of the van --

My little one said it was soooooooo much fun doing her independent work this way -- and wonders if we can do it again tomorrow:)

Are there any fun ways that your children learn important stuff?

Bring Spring Inside

Do you have strong memory connections to seasonal things? One childhood memory I have is of my mother collecting branches of pussy willows and forsythia in the spring to decorate a table here or there. The other day, while out for our "Morning Glory Walk," my littles and I came across some pussy willows at the park. They immediately thought of doing disection science experiments; I thought of my mother, and bringing spring into the house.

Here are the scientists exploring creation:

(Safety goggles are very important for such endeavours ;)

Here is my bit of beauty:

(BTW -- There's the lovely quilt I told you about in another post that my dear friend Susan made for us:)

I also put a smaller sprig on my kitchen table, but I had trouble getting a good photo with all the light from the walk-out. You get the idea though, right? ;)

How do you enjoy spring inside?