Science, week 12 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Extreme Weather. We had our weather grand finale today! Students pieced together 2-liter bottles to make water tornadoes, and we made lightening with balloons and a light bulb! Both were a great hit with the students. In retrospect, one balloon and a volunteer would have been more orderly than one balloon for each student. Imagine! 20 students each with a balloon in a small room! They enjoyed it.

Now we shall enjoy a long break to re-organize supplies and energies before we meet again in January. A Blessed Advent to all!
Alecia Rolling
*A CSH Science Curriculum Activity.

Art, Week 12 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Nine-Patch Blocks finished. Today, the children who had not finished their nine-patch blocks worked on sewing patches together, while those who had finished worked on a Saint Nicholas Coin Pouch for the Feast of Saint Nicholas! The students greatly enjoyed putting their new sewing skills to good use on a new project, and there was some chatter about what the pouches would be used for. Perhaps, they will brainstorm new projects to do at home, since we are now finished with sewing.*

This project developed by Mrs. Rolling.

Science, week 11 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Science: More Wind Factors. This week we did an experiment to understand convection and its effect on wind. Below is a video of an experiment you can do at home or allow your students to watch (provided by Ward's Natural Science).

Art, week 11 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Art: Quilting. Several students returned this week with finished nine-patch blocks! They worked on reinforcing their seams to get rid of any holes while the rest of the class continued to work on their blocks. I have been most impressed by two of our younger students in the class (ages 4 1/2 and 5 1/2). They had almost finished their block before we left today, and they were sewing very nicely. Hopefully, this is encouragement for some of our older students.*

What is the benefit in sewing a nine-patch block? Firstly, the students have been so excited about this project because they realize this is not just an activity to keep them busy, but they are making a real thing, a blanket to be used by some child somewhere. They look at the seams in their clothes and realize they, too, can make clothes, socks, dresses for dolls, even priestly vestments! They are learning a real job. This means a great deal to young children (to learn to do adult things and to learn to build useful things), and this gift of the child should never be devalued, lest they stop wishing to become adults. To help them understand more fully the nature of their job, I recommend reminding your children that needles are tools and as such should be treated with special care. They would never play with Dad's chainsaw! The same rule applies to very small tools.

Secondly, the hand-eye coordination that is needed to sew helps the child with the virtues of patience and fortitude. This is a difficult task especially for our youngest students, and they must sit quietly and focus on their task if they wish to do well.

Finally, for those of you who prefer the mundane argument over one of idealism, sewing will also improve the fine motor skills needed for writing.

Completed 9-Patch Blocks are due next week.

God Bless Your Sewing this Week!
Alecia Rolling

Art: Quilting Kits

What is in our quilting kits?

• 9 pre-cut fabric squares
• large eye-hole hand needle
• fabric holder for needle
• 1 spool of thread (25 yards)
• instructions

All materials were bought locally. The needles came in packs of 12 with a variety of sizes. The largest needles were given to the youngest boys and girls. For thread, I bought two "sewing traveling kits", each containing 12 spools of thread. This was the cheapest option. The patches were made from scratch fabric that I had lying around. The student's name was taped to a plastic zip-lock bag for keeping materials separate at home as well as in Catholic Schoolhouse.
All together for 24 students the cost came to $6!

*This project developed by Mrs. Rolling.

Art, week 10 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Art: Quilting Like the Pioneers. The next three weeks in art class, we will be working on a 9 Patch Block quilt. Each child received a quilting kit with instructions, and they were introduced today to sewing basics and to quilting. We discussed how the pioneers made their quilts from left over fabric and from old clothes. The children are sewing the quilt by hand just like the pioneers! This activity was a huge hit. All of the children worked very diligently and were excited to finish their blocks at home. Although I have set aside 3 weeks for quilting, I have a hunch most children will finish within two weeks! Here are some links to help you, parents, as you help your children:

• How to Sew By Hand
• How to stitch a 9 Patch Block
• Hooked on Needles: Disappearing 9 Patch blocks

*Art project developed by Mrs. Rolling.

Science: Making Rain. This week we learned about the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation. We used a large glass jar filled partly with hot water and a large glass bowl filled with ice to create "rain". We also put food coloring in the water to see if the condensed water would contain color. The rest of the time we talked about different ways of filtering water, so we can drink it. Science project provided by the CSH Science Curriculum.

See you next week!
Alecia Rolling

Art & Science, week 9 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Art: A Nature Sketch (of sorts).

It was a rainy day, and our location does not allow for outdoor play or excursions very easily. Given these two factors, we sketched a still-life of plants instead. The students were surprisingly quiet and focused during this week's art lesson, and all the students produced wonderful pieces of art. I did forget to take pictures, however, so we shall have to do with an image by John James Audubon. This was our last week to study Audubon's Birds of North America. *Project developed by Mrs. Rolling. 

Science: Why is the sky blue?

Continuing with our study of weather, today we did a CSH experiment to help explain why the sky is blue. Using a clear 2-liter soda bottle, water, milk, and a flashlight, we were able to imitate the earth's atmosphere as light passes through it. To our amazement we saw different colors as more and more milk was added to the water! In the end, we had blue and purple, so we discussed the varying lengths of color and how colors scatter when they run into particles. This seemed quite the difficult concept for most students to grasp, but the experiment, I think, brought the idea to life. For more ideas on similar experiments you can do at home, visit this website: Science Made Simple: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html#PROJECTS

See you next week!

Alecia Rolling

St. Philippine qoutes for your homeschool...

Quotes from St. Philippine Duchesne:

"Learn to let others do their share of the work. Things may be done less well, but you will have more peace of soul and health of body. And what temporal interest should we not sacrifice in order to gain these blessings?"

...." the dear Lord has favored us with a share of His cross. The greatest and undoubtedly the hardest to bear is the lack of success in our work here. If a saint had been in charge, all would have gone well. "

"You may dazzle the mind with a thousand brilliant discoveries of natural science; you may open new worlds of knowledge which were never dreamed of before; yet, if you have not developed in the soul of the pupil strong habits of virtue which will sustain her in the struggle of life, you have not educated her, but only put in her hand a powerful instrument of self-destruction."

"Humility is the virtue that requires the greatest amount of effort."

St. Philippine Duchesne

Peace of Christ to ALL

Art & Science, week 8 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Art: Texture Study and A Duck. This week in art we learned more about texture, how artists create suggested texture not actual texture. Students used broken, paperless crayons to rub on paper with bark and leaves underneath. After practicing this for a time, they took a clean piece of paper and attempted to create the suggested texture of a pond or swamp. Finally, they drew a duck on their pond with oil pastels. Many students had their own ideas as well! *A CSH Art Curriculum Activity.

Science: Weather. This week in science we learned about how the earth's rotation affects the direction of wind and global wind patterns. We attempted an experiment similar to the one here. Older students drew the wind patterns on a blank globe. For more ideas, visit this website: DLESE Teaching Boxes.

See you next week!
Alecia Rolling

Weather Observation, weeks 7-12

During this second quarter at Catholic Schoolhouse, we will be observing the weather. Some of our families are very young, the oldest child only being 5-7 years of age. Here are some tips for observing the weather with younger children:

1. Keep the activity age appropriate. If your oldest is 5 years of age, consider using this as an opportunity to learn about the calendar, days of the week, and months. Have your child draw a picture of what the weather looks like: a sun, a cloud, a sun covered slightly by a cloud, a cloud with rain, etc.
2. Keep it fun! If it is too stressful for your family to record the weather everyday, decide to check the weather four days of the week.
3. Check out books from the library about weather! This is a great time to read books about storms and winter storms and the like.
4. Here are some free weather coloring pages as well:

• Free Coloring Pages
• Educational Coloring Pages
• Autumn Coloring Pages

If you just do a Google search, you will find many more coloring page options for the weather! Have fun!
*Project developed by Mrs. Rolling.

"Wow, I didn't know it would look like that! It is my favorite kind to catch!"  -Allen   

Some of our butterflies have been hatching...

"Wow I really like it, and I really want to keep it and what does it eat?  Does it eat butterflies?"  -John  Now we will have some research to see if it is a butterfly or a moth.

More about your state... A couple of weeks ago we had visited the grandparents, and saw an old rock quarry where some of the rock was obtained to build the Capitol.  It is way back in their developement "Aquia Harbor".  It was shipped upstream all the way to DC, from Stafford, VA.

Just thought this was a great picture from Alaska, where one of my siblings lives with her 8 kids.  Since we are studying the states maybe it applies. 

We are made to know, love and serve God in this world and the next.....

St Rose Philippine Duchesne  known as "The woman who prays always",  Pray for us!

Our class is improving all around and moving forward with steam now.  We enjoyed some poems the children memorized for presentations this week.  Projection of voice and slow effective pauses, will be our focus for the next presentations.  Perhaps allowing them to "be the teacher" would be an interesting twist on your homeschool this week!

I hope you all have a Blessed All-Saints day off! 

Art & Science, week 7 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

ART ~ How to Draw a Duck: These next three weeks we will be exploring artwork by John James Audubon. To begin this three-week focus, we learned how to draw a duck. I demonstrated how to draw a duck with some basic shapes that the children know, then I let them try with their pencils. Once they had drawn with pencils for a while, I gave them colored pencils to work with as well. The children seemed to enjoy this activity a great deal, proudly drawing in the duck's environment as Audubon does in his artwork.
*A CSH Art Curriculum Activity.

SCIENCE ~ Cloud Formation. During this second quarter, we will be exploring weather. This week students made a weather observation station by gluing a weather observation chart to one of our recycled insect boards. Families are to record local weather for six weeks with the instruments they have at home (thermometer, rain gauge, barometer, etc.). We also did an experiment to discover what three ingredients go into cloud formation! You can go to this website for more activities and ideas to try at home: Counting on Clouds.


See you next week!
Alecia Rolling

A Great Resource for Science!

Many of you parents have asked about a good source from which to buy science supplies, so here it is: Home Science Tools. Per Catholic Schoolhouse's recommendation, I ordered our owl pellets and magnifying glasses from this company, and you all know how good the supplies were! You do not need to order in bulk. This company is designed for the homeschooler and offers reasonably priced materials in small quantities. They also sell science curricula at fair prices, often even cheaper than Amazon.

To the right is a Science Kit for the Real Science 4 Kids curriculum. You can also find science kits for Apologia and other popular homeschool science programs!

Alecia Rolling

My kids and I also found this Thomas Cole picture that we liked, and read a bit about him on the internet.  This was very enlightening, even for me, as I had never before heard of him.  I do reccomend this activity if you have some that are old enouph to appreciate art. 

Our homeschool has been slow this week as we always have times of slacking off a bit.  The kids have been creating a maze in the basement and using all the toys and furniture to do so.  I find it fascinating to see what they can accomplish when they work together.  I love that we are all learning to work together as parents too as we create a maze of learning activities for our children. 

Art & Science Displays: Weeks 4-6

Here are pictures of the displays we had in art and science for weeks 4-6. In art we were looking at Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School for inspiration, and in science we finished zoology by looking at birds, insects, and crustaceans. I do try to provide plenty for students to look at, but it is the case that there is not much time for students to hang around and explore the displays. They are more in the children's periphery, but hopefully this is enough to inspire!



















*This displays were provided by Mrs. Rolling.

Art & Science, week 6 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Art: Cut-Paper Landscape

This week we ended our time with the Hudson River School with a landscape study. The students cut out shapes from scrap paper to form a landscape. Then, they used oil pastels to add trees and anything else they felt inspired to add.
For the confederates' class, I pre-cut the paper, so they could focus on gluing and painting. This was more of a time constraint issue than anything else. Consider giving your children paper and scissors this week to see what they create!
For those interested, I bought our oil pastels and pencil sharpeners from Cheap Joe's Art Stuff, a trusted art supplier from my art school days!
*A CSH Art Curriculum Suggestion.
Science: Crustacean Dissection
In science this week, we finished zoology and our first quarter. We looked at roly-polies (pill bugs) under magnifying glasses, and we discussed how pill bugs differ from insects. This was a relaxed week in science. For those of you who have missed science some this quarter, consider looking at Home Science Tools for supplies and more ideas! A CSH Science Curriculum Activity.
See you next week!

Alecia Rolling

Art & Science, week 5 at Catholic Schoolhouse

Art: A Peaceful Tree. This week students learned how to draw a tree, a project very fitting for the autumnal season as trees are very prominent in the landscape this month. I used the instructions from the Catholic Schoolhouse Art curriculum, Year One. The students enjoyed talking about peaceful, sad, and angry trees and how to make their trees express moods. As a practice in cutting, the students had to cut a circle around their tree before matting it. The circle was pre-drawn for them. This was most challenging for our Kindergarterners, but the extra scissors practice will pay off in future art classes. Sent Home With: Artwork in Portfolio.

Science: Caterpillar Life Cycle & Insects Magnified. This week in science I had to be a little creative. Since we are still waiting on a shipment of oil pastels, I had to find a project for the butterfly life cycle that would involve hole-punched, black construction paper and hemp strings (materials I had prepared for last week's art class but could not use). I found the right project online here: Backyard Butterflies. You can visit this website for more activities if your children are interested!

Unfortunately, we ran out of time to look at our insects under magnifying lenses. I was very impressed with the students' bug boards! Many children worked hard, finding exotic insects and displaying them beautifully with labels. Thank you parents for helping your children learn about insects and encouraging their excitement.

Sent Home With: Butterfly Life-Cycle Books.

See you next week!

Alecia Rolling

Art and Science Displays, weeks 1-3

In the art and science curricula by Catholic Schoolhouse, it is recommended that each tutor create displays for her classroom. We are encouraged to make it reminiscent of a museum display. Of course, each Catholic Schoolhouse group's budget varies, so each group is left to develop ideas of its own. Below are pictures of some of what I put together for art and science weeks 1-3. In general, I try to have books lying on the table that are about the topics we are studying, so parents can come up and read parts of the books aloud with the children.

At first, I thought this a great amount of work that would not be fully appreciated by the children, but this was an erroneous thought, indeed! The children surprise me each week with little facts they have gleaned from the displays. If you have the time and money in your group, it is certainly worth it.

*Displays provided by Mrs. Rolling. 

Week 4 - Yankees

We spoke about charity this week and how to practice this amongst class members.  We spoke about St. Elizabeth Anne Seton and how she modeled our psalm of the week,  and we spoke about perfect charity which is the Cross and we thought about how we can imitate Christ on the cross.  

We so strongly need charity in the coming weeks in order to help draw out some of our more internal students, who are somewhat inhibited by others joking and lauphter.  I did not ever consider this myself until it was brought to my attention by a parent.  I am learning the finer points of charity from our parent helpers.  Thank you! 

We also read about the Boston Tea Party and had a game of taxes that were unfairly taken by the students.  This was alot of fun! 

We are starting to diagram our parts of speech as this is a great visual aid for these less concrete concepts. 
We will continue to do this as we continue to learn parts of speech and how to use them. 

Another visual aid we are using is our hundreds chart.  I hope to print up more of these for home use so the children can see the patterns created by the skip counted numbers. 

I am very proud of our presentations these last two weeks as they were well prepared with notes and both creative and researched.  Good Job presenters! 

Art and Science, week 4 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Art: Line Study Inspired by Celtic Knots. Yes, we are studying Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School artists, but we are also working on the concept of "line". A great way to look at line, especially after looking at Native American art, is to look at Celtic art, which is full of zigzag, curvy, horizontal, and vertical lines and patterns. I introduced the art class to lines by having them look at Celtic knots, then we looked at Thomas Cole to see what kinds of lines he used and for what purposes. Finally, the children were introduced to drawing pencils of 5 various densities to do a line study of their own. Some students tried to do a Celtic knot, while others worked on landscapes and rocket ships. Sent Home With: Artwork and a portfolio to bring back each week.
*Art Activity developed by Mrs. Rolling.

Science: Owl Pellet Dissection Recommended by CSH. This was a great success! The children were excited to be zoologists, studying what owls eat. It became quite the detective hunt as children slowly tweezed away at their owl pellets for bones. Of all 9 pellets in the classroom, 8 pellets contained the remains of some kind of rodent, and 1 pellet contained the remains of a bird. The class concluded that owls must prefer to eat rodents over birds. A few of the groups even started to piece together rodent skeletons! Sent Home With: A Caterpillar Collecting Jar. Don't forget to bring the insect display boards to class next week!

See you next week!

~Alecia Rolling

Art & Science, week 3 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

Art: Inspired by Navajo Sand Painting. Wow! What a week! Sand in every corner, glue on every finger, and eyes intent on art! The sand art project suggested by Catholic Schoolhouse this week was quite the success. Things went more smoothly than I expected, and the children enjoyed the project more than I hoped. My little perfectionists were begging to take glue and sand home with them. What a joy!

Science: Zoology continued. Science was less successful. The 3D Ocean Bingo I had planned from the Catholic Schoolhouse curriculum unfortunately does not work as is for a large, mixed group of children. In retrospect, I should have sent the color pages home the week before to be colored and then brought back this week to be cut out and constructed. This would have allowed time to play bingo, too! Now we know for next time at least. The children did still enjoy coloring the various creatures of the deep, however, so it was not a useless day in science.

Pre-schoolers: "B" week

B is for Button,
St. Bernadette,
Be a Blessing,
and Bible!

Art & Science: Week 2 with Catholic Schoolhouse Curriculum

The second week of art and science went much more smoothly than the first week. We have 23 students at the Tour Guide level, and they range in age from 4 years old to 12 years old. Needless to say, having 23 young people in a small space with paint and glue can be quite challenging. Thankfully, there are at least three other mothers pitching in!

Art: Inspired by Native Americans. The first three weeks of Year One Art at Catholic Schoolhouse focus on Native American art, so we have been working on pottery. This week we painted the pots we made last week with air-dry clay by Crayola. We used turquoise, yellow, and brown acrylic paints. Of course, the little ones mixed all the colors, but these colors when mixed made a lovely jade. An easy project that could be done at home, but with set up and clean up, a project most moms (myself included) usually neglect.

Science: Exploring God's Creation. The first quarter of Year One Science at Catholic Schoolhouse focuses on zoology. We studied mammals the first week and then moved into amphibians and reptiles this week. As a fun project, Catholic Schoolhouse has students color a paper chameleon to match its habitat. This project was borrowed from the popular homeschool science website: ReptilesAlive.com. Even the older students were challenged to camouflage their chameleons perfectly.

Personal Note: Something I love about Catholic Schoolhouse's science curriculum so far is that it borrows ideas from bloggers across the web and helps us use the ideas in a 30-minute window during our homeschool co-op. In addition, as a mother of very young children still, I am learning about many resources to use later on in my own homeschool. This is invaluable to me.

Preschoolers- Letter A: Craft Time

After learning about the letter "A" and coloring the corresponding coloring pages, we gathered at the tables for our craft.

 This week we made apple prints. I cut an apple in half, gave one half to each child, and let them paint the apples with a paintbrush and then make prints on paper. 

We used red, green and yellow paint, discussing how these are the typical colors for apples. The kids really concentrated on their work. 

After making the apple prints, some kids went on to paint the paper with the paintbrush. I let them do this since they enjoyed it so much. 

One of the students really got into painting the apple, and wanted to keep the apple afterwards. I thought that was really cute. Everyone is their own artist! 

Because the children are so young, I'm keeping the crafts very simple. 

It's really more about the process at this age. (At least in my opinion! Hopefully the parents will agree).

Preschoolers- Letter A

 Each child in the preschool has their own color that I used for their name tag. I also found color-your-own-stickers at the Dollar Tree and colored one for each student using their color. For example: Dick was blue, his name tag said DICK in blue letters and he had a blue race car sticker. Jane was pink, her name tag said JANE in pink letters and she had a pink butterfly sticker, and so on. (these are not real names of children in the classroom).
I placed the sticker on the right hand of each child. Their name tags had been placed on the floor in a circle. I directed the children to find the name tag that matched the color of their sticker. Then I asked them to have a seat after they found it. The kids did a great job finding their matching color!
After all children found their name tag, I taught the children how to say hello in Latin. Salve, Salvete (plural). Then we made the Sign of the Cross, making sure they used their right hand, which had the sticker on it. We said a short prayer (Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you. Save souls.) and ended with the Sign of the Cross.
Then I pointed to a piece of poster board that had stickers on it that matched the stickers on the children's hands. The first color was red. So I asked the children, "What color is this?" They answer red. Then I asked, "Who has the red fire truck sticker?" The red child raises his hand and I direct him to come up to the poster board and place his name tag next to the sticker. (The name tags have velcro on the back) Then we sing the "Name" song, which is sung to the tune of "Bingo Was His Name-O". But instead of spelling bingo, I spell out the child's name. This can get tricky with kids who have really long names! :) As I spell out the child's name, I point to the letters on his/her name tag.
Then we move on to our letter of the day. We started out by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. We will read this at the beginning of each class. You know how kids love to read the same book over and over again and this book is really fun to read! :) After that, we sing the ABC song, then repeat, this time stopping at the letter we will be learning. Since this was our first day, we learned about the letter A. We sang a song about how you always start at the top when writing your letters. I got this song from the Handwriting Without Tears preschool CD. Then I wrote a big A and a little a on my little dry erase board. I also passed around a sandpaper A for the children to trace with their fingers and then we "built" and A using the wooden pieces from Handwriting Without Tears. I also told them that every letter makes a sound and that A says "Ah" as in "Apple".
We also discussed how important it is to "Always Ask" permission before taking something that isn't ours or before going somewhere. I got these adorable coloring pages from a blogger named Kimberlee and they were drawn by one of her talented children.
Then we talked about St. Agnes and how her name means lamb like the Agnus Dei. I found a beautiful coloring page of St. Agnes from another blog.
I'll be back to tell you more about our day!