Notable Noah~ Braces

The time has come for Noah to get braces.  He is not too happy about it.  That is why I had to wait almost two weeks to get this picture! 
I think the only thing he likes about it is the fact that he can change the colors on the braces every month when he goes to get them checked.  We had our second visit yesterday, so guess what colors he chose?  Christmas colors…  He told me he had to “festify” his teeth.  Aside from the fact that he now bites his cheek A LOT when eating, he is getting used to the idea that he has braces. 
The first night he had them on, he told me he wished he could take them off at night when he was sleeping, you know, like he can take his glasses off. 
See those headphones? Yeah, he wears them all the time now.  In order for Noah to calm down (especially when they put the braces on) I had him listen to a book on his ipod.  And…once he starts listening to a book he listens until it is finished. 

Mummies

In the past few weeks we have studied Egypt.  It has been a lot of fun, in fact I have learned quite a lot of things myself.  Mostly about the Egyptian gods. 
It is not uncommon to hear this while Noah is reading…”That is interesting!”, or “That is just so fascinating!”  He makes me smile with his many interests. 
We tried something that I don’t think worked out quite like I intended, but Noah had a great time doing it.  He wanted me to make him a mummy – minus the pulling out the guts and brain and stuff.  (his words)



We used a roll of paper we hand on hand.  I just wrapped him up in it.
Amongst the many books we read on the subject, we also watched this youtube video on mummification.

Noah got a real kick out of this mummification song. 

Let the Science Experiments begin ~ Density

Noah has many science experiments to do this year.  He loves them all!  In fact, it is safe to say that Science is his favorite subject. 
The first experiment was on atoms and density.  He was surprised to find out his hypothesis was a little off. 

Reading the instructions carefully  is very important! 

The instructions called for safety glasses, and these “spy glasses”  were the only ones we had! 
  For this experiment he was to have the water level at equal levels.  One jar with cold water, and one jar with boiling water.  Then, put one drop of your choice of color food coloring in each jar.  What was he testing??  This…

He is funny.  He thinks he looks like a mad scientist in this picture.  But, as you can see, to Noah the results were impressive!
He’s admiring his work…and waiting for something else to happen. 

Sturbridge Village

We decided to visit Old Sturbridge Village, for our first field trip of the year.  It was busier than the previous times we had visited, but it was a free day.  It wasn't overwhelming, like I thought it would be, but it was hot!

Noah found out that the seats in the schoolrooms in the 1800's were not comfortable!

Not overly happy, that I asked him to pause talking for a second while I took this picture.  He was telling me about drying herbs he saw in the house behind him, and wanted me to go see!  He knows I like to dry herbs too!

Carding wool

Resting in the shade on a "rock chair" he was excited to discover!

Reading List for Fifth Grade

This is the reading list we are starting with.  The PLAN is for him to read one book (at least) every two weeks, or less.  We are starting with Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling.  Noah will read this on my Kindle Fire.
So here it is …
Captains Courageous  by Rudyard Kipling
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis (the whole series)
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Because of Winn- Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Noah’s 2012-2013 schoolbooks

We will be starting school for this year on August 27th.  Yes, later than usual, because I have jury duty.  (Which makes Noah really excited that he can wait an extra week.)  However, he has been warned that this year he has PLENTY of work to do.  (He is not too happy about that)  But, I know he will do fine.  We are also trying something new to us, and he get his whole week’s work at one time, and can CHOOSE when he wants to do it.  It has to be done by the due date , and properly!  I, obviously, will still teach him the new stuff, I just won’t be hounding him each day to finish his work.  All in the continuing process of raising a child to be independent. 
So here it is our curriculum for Noah’s fifth grade year…. 
MATH ~ I have decided to change what we have been doing (Christian Light).  While I loved it while we were doing it, he was beginning to be bored with this program, and I can’t have that!  So, we are doing BJU Press Math 6.  Yes, I know he is doing “sixth grade”, but he is ready.
GRAMMAR ~ I am changing this subject too, for the same reasons as Math.  He would breeze through the Christian Light books and I would never have to explain anything.  Again, one of the reasons I homeschool him  is so that he is challenged, so BJU Press English 5 it is. 
SPELLING ~  We are continuing on with Spell to Write and Read.  We started this last year, and it works great. 
VOCABULARY ~ During this year homeschool conference, I sat in a workshop by Judith Darling.  She recommended Vocabulary Workshop by Sadlier-Oxford, so we are giving that a try.   
HISTORY ~  Continuing with Tapestry of Grace we are going through Year 1.  This will cover the Ancient world from Creation to the fall of Rome. 
SCIENCE ~ I am taking a big chance in Science this year, and jumping him up to what most consider science for 7-8th grade.  I believe he will handle it well.  In keeping with MY (and his) for him to graduate early, he needs to begin this year by doing this book.  He LOVES Apologia science so I forsee no problem.  It is his favorite subject.  We are doing Exploring Creation through General Science.
CREATIVE WRITING ~ One page creative writing due at the end of each week.  In addition to the Jump In writing book.
GEOGRAPHY ~ I have searched and searched for a geography program I liked.  I found it this year at the homeschool conference.  I was not surprised when I turned the book over to find out who published ~ Apologia.   It is called Around the World in 180 days.
LATIN ~ Continuing on same as last year, we are sticking with Visual Latin.  Absolutely Awesome. We just download the lesson onto the ipod and away he learns.  Check out the site, you can see a whole lesson!
SPANISH ~ Rosetta Stone.  What can I say we have been doing this for 21/2 years now. Hopefully, he will finish this year.  But, he likes Latin better than Spanish. 
ART ~ We are going to try and have him work on pastel drawing this year, through the info we get from this blog.  Hodgepodge.  They have awesome ideas.
GYM ~  Mostly we are going to work on Nutrition, Endurance, and swimming. 
BIBLE ~ He is going to have a verse (or few) a week to memorize.  Because memorizing is good for the brain, memorizing the Bible is perfect. 
TYPING ~  Mavis Beacon, and some other technology stuff. 
READING ~  I will post a list of the books I have him reading this year later.  The first book will be Captains Courageous. 
After Christmas, Noah will be doing basic electronics, and making an oscilloscope.  Honestly, I don’t even know what that is, but the course teacher will help him!  He will be taking this course through this company, Applied Inspirations.

Vacations and birthdays

In the last couple weeks we have been on vacation, been to interesting attractions, and had a couple of birthdays.

Here are the pictures (some of them anyway)

First of all, while in Ohio, I took Noah over to the Wolf Park in Indianapolis.  It was a beautiful day.  We went specifically for a wolves birthday party!  It was very cool!  The look on Noah’s face was priceless!  He says he likes wolves even better than before.  If that is even possible.

 

Now for Peter’s birthday, we went to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. 

Noah waving his banner for his knight!

Raising his cup for honor…

Peter and Noah at Medieval Times. 

This is Noah, on his 10th birthday.  Playing his new skylander.

He wanted a picture of what this guy could do.  :) 

Heading out to his game. 

He is once again playing baseball.  He was not happy that he had to play on his birthday.  He kind of lost some enthusiam for the game when he had a odd accident in which he hit the ball into his face, while up at bat. 

Titanic

This coming April 15th, is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  We are going to do a unit study on the the Titanic.  One because it’s history, and Noah likes history, and he likes learning about the Titanic. 
There are so many things to study and learn about the Titanic that even you will be learning something.  Which is another reason we will be doing a study on the Titanic –it interests me also.  Besides, this time of year, we all start to get a bit antsy for things other than our same old/same old work. 

Picture of newspaper article from 1912 – from titanticuniverse.com website

A really good website I found for a good listing of Titanic websites is Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day.
There are articles to read, even some sites with interactive stuff!
Titanicuniverse.com is also a good site.
BOOKS:
Here is a list of books on the Titanic -
Voyage on the Great Titanic by Ellen Emerson White
Remembering the Titanic by Frieda Wishinsky
I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis
Titanic (DK Eyewitness book) by Simon Adams
The kid’s guide to the Titanic by Sean Price
Ghosts of the Titanic by Julie Lawson
The incredible quest to find the Titanic by Bradford Matsen
Check your local library for many more titles!
There are also History channel documentaries on the Titanic. 
Netflix also has many titles on the Titanic.

A project we will be doing after we have read and watched our fill of Titanic information – Noah will write a front page newspaper article on some aspect of interest to him about the Titanic. 

In Science this week

Currently, we are studying Apologia’s Exploring Creation in Botany.  I purposely waited until the Spring to do this book, with the intent of doing the planting projects.  As Noah read his lesson each day, he excitedly tells me each sentence.  Or it seems like it is every sentence!  But excitement in learning is a great thing. 
To begin learning about plants and how they grow.  We planted herbs.  He is so excited and can’t wait until they grow, because he has big plans to make herbal soap for gifts for his family! {So, if you are reading this, and are in his family…forget I said that :) }  We will also make some tea!

We have a total of four trying to grow.  They are thyme, cilantro, lemon balm, and spearmint.  It’s a good thing this is Noah’s project.  The poor plants may have a chance, considering I have no luck with growing plants!
This week we are learning about seeds.  He dissected a bean seed, and because they are slightly bigger, I used a kidney bean. 

After he split the kidney bean, he drew it and labeled it to put in his Science Notebook.

Notable Noah

It really doesn’t need words to say that Noah now needs glasses.  It really was inevitable, since just about his whole family wears them.  What the doctor was surprised about what that his left eye is twice as bad as his right eye!  Though, if you ask Noah about it, he will seem quite proud of this fact.  He doesn’t need them all the time, only when he has distances to see. 
Noah went around ALL DAY LONG exclaiming about how clear things were now. And saying, “My view with glasses off,(as he pulled them down to the tip of his nose), and now my view with glasses on.”    Really though, I am glad that he likes them. 

When he finds a book he likes

I am constantly on the lookout for books Noah will read.  For that my goto places are  the Sonlight website, the Well-Trained mind forum, and my local librarian – she’s great, and always has wonderful suggestions. 
Last Monday, I was studying the Sonlight list again.  (I do this often).  I noticed a book about dragons.  We all know that Noah loves Dragons.  This certainly had some possibilities.  It had some things going against it.  First, it was rated for 12 years plus. (on Amazon)  Though I knew he could read it.    Second, it was 288 pages.  If we got that in book form, he would let the size of the book, um, prevent him from reading it.  He’s just like that.
So, I knew how to get around that…  I put it on my Kindle Fire.  And it worked!  He hasn’t stopped reading it since –Every. Single. Spare. Moment. 

So this is what I see.  He tries to get out of schoolwork, by telling me he is reading, and that is part of school! 
I love it when he reads!  This is the book he is reading now. 

Plus, it’s a series. 

The Ultimate field trip

We have been waiting and saving for four years (at least) for this trip to Discovery Cove, Orlando, Florida. 
Ever since Noah found out a person could swim with dolphins he wanted to do it.  He and his grandma.  Good thing she wanted to, because swimming with dolphins was not really on my list of things to do.  :)  It is a good things Discovery Cove has plenty of things to do.  Though all we ended up doing the WHOLE day was snorkeling.  Again, putting my head UNDER the water and snorkeling was something I had to get over, but I did it!  And it was awesome.  There’s a whole world down there in the water.  Though it is a bit, um, worrisome, (to me, at least) when the sting rays would swim near and around you.  Some of them were big!
Where was Noah?  In the water, of course.  Noah and his Grandpa took off snorkeling having a great time. 
So, here are – a few – pictures of our trip.

Discovery Cove scenery

Where we did our snorkeling.

Noah in his wet suit and snorkeling gear
… his swim with the dolphins

one thing he didn’t like though was … kissing the dolphin! 

We were able to see many manatees.  A rare treat since it was cold in Fl.

Noah sitting 2 rows down so he can be in the splash zone
AND  he got wet!

His face says how excited he was to be splashed by Shamu.
Nothing like pretend parasailing
It was really quite windy there that day. Noah got a big kick out of what the wind was doing to his hair, he had me take a picture of it.


Tarzan, maybe??   I think he is speaking gorilla.  He tells me he knows how to speak it.  (only one sentence though)..  He is saying, “I’m stronger than you.”
       
At SeaWorld.

After all that water time, he could walk on the water at The Holy Land Experience.