Is birdwatching part of your nature study? The ‘birders’ in your family may enjoy the livestream presentations put on by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Tonight’s presentation is about birds of the Mono Lake basin. You can get livestream information HERE.
The Cornell Lab hosts a seminar one Monday a month, a tradition established decades ago by Lab founder Dr. Arthur Allen. Speakers include Cornell Lab staff, book authors, and distinguished scientists from around the world. Past seminars are archived online. Archives can be found HERE.
NOTE: Keep in mind that some presenters may not cherish the account of Creation found in the Bible as SDA homeschoolers do.
This conference will be live-streamed Nov. 12-16th. One of the seminars sounds like it may be of interest to many AHE readers: “Back to School: The ABCs of Agriculture in Childhood Education” presented by Joshua White.
To find out more and sign up for the free livestream of this conference, click HERE.
…don’t always turn out to be the best unit studies. The topic for my 3rd grader’s unit study this month was trees & leaves. I collected stacks of library books and filled a 3 prong folder with interesting information and activities. We were going to have a good time! Although we did collect leaves and acorns, and set up two science experiments – the unit study was a dud. We both just couldn’t get into it.
Our chromatography experiment with various colored leaves.
You know what? In 11 years of homeschooling, this is not the first time this has happened. Nor will it be the last. Not every lesson I plan is going to result in academic fireworks. When I realized that his interest was flagging, I didn’t push the subject, I just let it go. Why force an 8yo boy to learn about trees? Because it’s written in ink on my plan book? Nah, it’s not that serious. Really, it isn’t. I’m quite sure the topic will come up again in the future. There’s so much in the world to learn about, why drag our heels in simple and compound leaves?
New homeschooling parents, I share this especially because I want you to know it is okay to fail sometimes. To have lessons that don’t work out. You are not a lousy homeschooling parent and the world will not collapse. It is really is okay. So we didn’t learn as much about tree rings as I had planned, BUT we did discover a few pecans on our tree that the squirrels missed, and which oak in our yard has the largest acorns. Best of all, we learned that time spent nature together is never wasted.
A partial solar eclipse viewable in most of North America will occur on Thursday, October 23rd. How much of the eclipse that you will be able to see will depend on whether you are on the western or eastern side of North America. This ScienceAtNasa video explains:
Those of you outside of North America- don’t feel left out- a total solar eclipse visible from Greenland, Iceland, Europe, North Africa, and northwestern Asia will occur on March 20, 2015.
We invite you to visit our Phonics Fun Pinterest board, where several of our AHE parents pin ideas to make teaching and learning to read well more enjoyable.
October 31st is a great day for a one-day unit study. Why? That is the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenburg in 1517. Many Christian homeschoolers take this day (or longer!) to consider the Protestant Reformation. There are lots of excellent resources available – we are sharing these ideas with you now to help you plan ahead for a study of church history.
A unit study featuring apples as the subject can be both fun and tasty! Resources for apple-themed unit studies abound- check out these five links to get you started.
The Cornell Lab hosts a seminar one Monday a month, a tradition established decades ago by Lab founder Dr. Arthur Allen. Speakers include Cornell Lab staff, book authors, and distinguished scientists from around the world. Past seminars are archived online. Archives can be found HERE.
The Adventist Home Educator 