Today we finally started on what will be a whirlwind Geology unit by studying plate tectonics and the Earth's composition. We covered quite a bit, because I made a spur of the moment decision to go on a field trip this weekend and wanted to make sure we got through the necessary material in time!

For starters, we read Chapter 1 from The Geology Book by Dr. John Morris. We used an orange to further discuss the Earth's interior layers, did this composition lesson and then completed this handout.

Next, we read from the highly informative booklet that came with our Thames & Kosmos Earthquakes & Volcanoes Kit. We completed the tectonic plate puzzle included in the kit:

And we learned how plates pull and slide, creating volcanic eruptions, mountain ranges (the frosting didn't work so well!)...

and earthquakes:

We built this Geoblox earthquake model (discovered via Restoration Place) and the "Earthquakes & Volcanoes" model globe project - showing the world's volcanic regions:

We learned about the Pacific Ring of Fire, and lastly, discussed seismographs, the Richter scale and the Mercalli scale. Tonight we will be watching IMAX: Ring of Fire; some additional ideas and resources I've collected are listed below.

Teaching Resources

• Geologic and Paleontologic Cook Book: Edible goodies for teaching & fun; from the University of Kentucky.
• Earth Science Teaching Resources: From Science-Teachers.com
• The Earth's Structure: Complete 4th grade unit on the earth's composition, earthquakes and volcanoes; from Core Knowledge.
• Shake, Rattle and Roll: Complete 6th grade unit on earthquakes; from Core Knowledge.
• Compositon of the Earth's Crust: A wonderful lesson plan to introduce the eight basic elements that make up the earth's crust.

Other fun projects:

• Layer Cake Geology
• Plate Tectonics with an Orange
• Gelatin Experiment (Conducted over 4 days):
  A. Make and pour the red gelatin in a glass pan. This represents the core (outer and
  inner) of the earth. Refrigerate.
  B. Add a layer of orange gelatin. Represents the hot liquid that can melt rocks.
  (mantle) Refrigerate.
  C. Add a layer of lime gelatin with chopped fruit. Represents soil, mud, and rocks in
  the crust. Refrigerate.
  D. On the fourth day, review the experiment/layers and eat it.
  
• Milk Chocolate Movement: Using any type of candy bar that has several layers, take a plastic knife and make 2-3 cracks across the middle of the candy bar. The cracked chocolate layer represents the plates of the earth’s lithosphere. Stretch the candy bar, pulling it apart just a little. The exposed caramel represents the new material that rises to form new crust (divergence). Then, push the candy bar back together. Add pressure to form “mountains”. Then, slide one chocolate “plate” beneath another (convergence). Continue to push and pull to observe the movements of the plates and the effects this has on the surface of the earth. Have students draw/record their observations on the “Milk Chocolate Movement” worksheet.

Apparently our archaeology unit paid off, because yesterday afternoon Elon proudly presented me with a number of "artifacts" they'd found while digging. We carefully cleaned them and then analyzed the finds. First, there was a heavily corroded piece of metal with a hole at one end (we're not sure what it is), a pottery shard, a fragment of brick or stone with the number "24" stamped on it and lastly a black cylinder of unknown origin (we tested it and it's not metal, but it seems too light to be stone). The kids had a lot of fun guessing where the items had come from and how old they might be, they're also quite eager to see if they'll find anything else!

These two were the favorites:

Due to some unseasonably warm weather (and even a cold day, today), the boys have been working in earnest at their dig site. The initial hole gained a roof and a new trench/tunnel was dug, connecting to the original site. Today an "escape hatch" was added, just in case any part of the entrance should collapse while they're in the main room. The boys love it underground and swear that it's quite warm and cozy (they now understand why some animals burrow!).

Yes I know, I know, I can barely keep our plans for this year straight and already I'm worried about what comes next! However, I really think I've got this year worked out in a manner that I'm pleased with (finally!), so I thought I'd go ahead & share my plans for the future. Granted they may ever-so-slightly change at any given moment, but I'm equally passionate about our next course of study, so I know that we will get to it when we're through with Sonlighters Core 6 [Ancient history through the Reformation].

Incidentally, I've done the math and even with my plans to slow down on Core 6, I've estimated that we'll be finished by the end of December, 2009. That allows us 10 additional weeks for "extras," time to finish up our other curricula for the year and enables us to start our new school year in January (though hopefully I'll be in India during the first part of January, so we'll see). For some reason, this pleases me tremendously!

Now the natural progression of things would be to continue on with Core 7 [World History 2]. However, much of that material can be picked up as we study U.S. History, so I'm not going to worry about it immediately. Instead, we'll focus on Core 5 [The Eastern Hemisphere]...except that I will likely re-work this into a study of Geography and World Cultures, with heavy emphasis on the oft-neglected Eastern Hemisphere.

First, the basics...for Language Arts, we'll continue with Rod & Staff English (grammar), Living Memory (memory work), Sonlight (dictation), ? spelling and Handwriting Without Tears. For reading, we will use either CLE or Sonlight's Readers and for writing, IEW's Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales.

For Logic, we will use Grid Perplexors, or something of that nature and for Math, Singapore.. For Latin, we will continue with Latina Christiana and Ludere Latine. I may also persuade my husband to teach us Hindi, or enroll the children in an Arabic class at the local Islamic Society (we had a Muslim exchange student last Fall and they expressed an interest in this).

Science is currently an unknown, but will most likely be Classical Astronomy and Sonlight Science 5 (depending on changes made in the upcoming catalog.)

We'll continue with Time for Kids (4-6) and add TFK Around the World for Current Events.

And as usual, I am full of ideas for history and geography...beginning, of course, with Sonlight Core 5. First, we will not be using the core "as is," because I seriously dislike Sonlight's entire approach to the study -- "Encounter the mysterious Eastern Hemisphere. A place where 90% of the world's unevangelized people live... I'm sorry, but I find that very condescending. Thus we will not be utilizing any of the missionary stories or the "Unreached Peoples" DVD. However, there appear to be many wonderful books in the core that can be used with some careful pre-reading.

We'll also be subscribing to Faces (People, Places & Cultures), another wonderful magazine from Cobblestone Publishing and utilizing the Trail Guide to World Geography curriculum (I really want them to have a good overview of world geography before we move on to U.S. History). We'll supplement this with Geography Through Art and Art From Many Hands as well as books from these lists (to replace the Sonlight books we won't be reading, plus the usual for extra reading):

• Living Books for World Geography from Home School Favorites
• Growing Up Around the World: Books as Passports to Global Understanding for Children in the U.S. from the American Library Association
• Supplementing Sonlight SL-5 from Paula's Archive
• Amazon Listmania! Core 5 Supplements
• Middle East Resources
  
• China Resources
  
• Japan Resources
  
• Russia Resources
  

I already have a huge stash of books on India that will be useful since we won't be getting to them this year, and also the DVD of the excellent new PBS documentary, The Story of India -- Have I mentioned how much I love all things India?! Other specific books will include:

• Hear the Voice of the Griot! A Guide to African Geography, History and Culture by Betty K. Staley
• Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel
• Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel
  

I may also have the kids keep a scrapbook of their "travels" around the world throughout the year. I'm thinking Art and Music will be very similar to this year...we'll study the specific styles of art and music from each region that we learn about, naturally with lots of hands-on projects.

For quite awhile now I've been searching for a music history and appreciation program that includes music prior to the Baroque period (after all, music has existed from the earliest times!). While a few contain cursory information on the Middle Ages and Renaissance, none appear to delve into the amount of detail I require, so I've decided to pull something together myself (we're all quite passionate about music, otherwise I probably wouldn't bother!).

For starters, I purchased the HarperCollins College Outline History of Western Music by Hugh H. Miller and A Student's Guide to Music History by R.J. Stove. I may also read The Rise of Music in the Ancient World: East and West and the Norton classics: Medieval Music and Anthology of Renaissance Music (to myself, of course, if I can find the time!). While I don't plan to get super technical with the kids, I would like them to know - at minimum - the main themes, historical context and identifying styles of each period. Essentials of Music is a useful resource for this as well. If I can find enough material, I'd also like to cover non-Western music (Indian, Persian, Asian and Islamic music, for example) - however, that will require much more research!

After spending some time on Amazon, here is the 'starter' list I came up with, though I'm sure it could use some fine tuning:

• Music of the Ancient Sumerians, Egyptians and Greeks by Ensemble De Organographia
• Music of Ancient Rome by Synaulia
• Hymns from the Vedas and Upanishads, Vedic Chants by Jitendra Abhisheki
• Edda - An Icelandic Saga - Myths From Medieval Iceland / Sequentia by Icelandic Anonymous
• Music of the Crusades by Geoffrey Shaw
• The Fall of Constantinople
• The Glory of Byzantium
• From Byzantium to Andalusia: Medieval Music and Poetry
• Hildegard von Bingen: Symphoniae (Spiritual Songs) by Sequentia
• Early Music Festival / David Munrow, Early Music Consort by Francesco Landini
• Music of the Gothic Era
• Love's Illusion, Music From The Montpellier Codex by Anonymous 4 (13th century)
• The Lily and the Lamb: Chant and Polyphony from Medieval England by Anonymous 4 (13th century)
• An English Ladymass: Medieval Chant and Polyphony by Anonymous 4 (13th and 14th century)
• The Black Madonna Pilgrim Songs from the Monastery of Montserrat (1400-1420) by Ensemble Unicorn
• Codex Faenza: Instrumental Music of the Early 15th Century by Ensemble Unicorn
• A Feast of Songs: Holiday Music from the Middle Ages by Barry and Beth Hall
• Sinners and Saints: The Ultimate Medieval and Renaissance Music Collection by Philip Pickett and the New London Consort
• Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance by David Munrow
• Isabel I: Reina de Castilla (15th century)
• Spanish Music of Travel and Discovery by Waverly Consort (15th century)
• Carnevale! by Ensemble De Organographia (16th century Italian carnival music)
• William Byrd: Second Service and Consort Anthems by Choir of Magdalen College Oxford (16th century)
• Armada: Music from the Courts of England and Spain
• Music of the Middle Ages (OR) Terres Turquoises by Constantinople
• Early Venetian Lute Music

Several of the above CD's are published by Naxos, which has a great Early Music Collection. Since I'm only personally familiar with the Anonymous 4 selections (which are beautiful!), I tried to choose only those that appeared historically accurate and had very positive reviews. I've ordered a few CD's to get started, so we'll see how it goes! My plan is to spend about 30 minutes per week on a formal lesson, but we'll play the CD's quite frequently during reading and at other quiet times.

One day last summer, the boys announced that they were bored (as usual), so my husband jokingly told them to go dig a hole. Naturally, they headed out to our back field and did exactly that. Six months later, they're still digging...

Note the walls, reinforced with sheet metal (they also lay metal over the top when not digging, to protect the "mine" from rain and snow):

By now it's probably pretty obvious that our Valentine's Day Party didn't go exactly as I'd planned. In typical fashion, I tried to do entirely too much and it took way longer than expected. Since I almost always do this (without trying of course), I don't know why the results still surprise me!

Nevertheless, after two days of preparation, we did have a little party Saturday evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. We had a nice candle lit dinner, followed by goodie bags of candy and loads of baked treats...we only got one craft accomplished, but in the end that was fine since we were all quite worn out!