Yep, we took a field trip to the winery!

     So, during our hands-on week is a built-in day for a field trip. We turned one day into our science day. The kids started out the day creating floods in a bottle. They collected dirt, rocks, leaves, vines, berries and other items in nature and shoved them into a water bottle. They shook them up and then left the bottles' contents to settle over the course of two days. Then we went on a field trip to the Oakford Winery. 

     What does this have to do with Creation and the Flood, you may wonder? Well, Noah established the very first vineyard. Of course, he even used the grapes to make wine.  

     We learned about the process of planting, harvesting and pressing grapes to make wine. The owners kindly gave the kids a tour of the distillery. It was pretty interesting. And then they went out to the vineyard to observe. 

     It's pretty amazing the amount of grapes that can grow in a small area! We learned that the big barrel where the juice is squeezed from the grape can hold four tons of grapes!!

     The kids all carefully squeezed a grape from a bunch that had fallen to the ground to see what it felt like and how much juice was inside the small fruit. 

     Two days later, we took a look at the bottles. What we observe is cavitation, the interaction of water and air that has the consequence of forces on dirt, rocks, leaves and such. Rapid pressure changes can create cavities and voids. The idea is that perhaps the Flood is scientifically responsible for the creation of topography like the Grand Canyon. It was clear that the dirt and other elements did not settle symmetrically. The contents were seemingly random. There were little hills and divots in the dirt, rather than a flat line of dirt settled across the bottom. The greenery was quite random. The water became purple from berries that were put inside and would likely "stain" some nearby rocks, etc. What do you think?

A trip to the zoo

     We did not exactly pick the best day for the zoo. But it was the most convenient, in order to spend some time with my sister, who was in town with her baby, and the whole family.   So, we spent a ridiculous amount of money on rain ponchos. The kids looked like little minions. Abby wasn't a happy camper at first, as she suddenly had to look just like everyone else. I tried to tie fringes on her poncho hem so hers could be unique. What a character she is! Ry was having a great time running behind statues, bushes and trash cans pretending he was being chased by a "bad guy," while we waited in the rain for the family to join us. 

     While this wasn't a homeschool field trip, it fit perfectly into our study of creation. We got to think about Adam naming the animals and Noah putting them on the ark two-by-two. The timing couldn't have been better! 

     Our first stop was the children's zoo, which has an indoor area. We marveled at the jellyfish, which according to the science of evolution date back to 500 million years ago. One of Abby's library books on inventions recently indicated that man existed 1.4 million years before "inventing" fire. I really had to laugh out loud at that concept. But I suppose if you buy into the idea that we evolve from brain-less jellyfish, it might have taken us 1.4 million years to figure out how to make a fire. Personally, it's absolutely crazy to think that a brain would be evolving for that long to figure out something so primitive. I cannot imagine survival as a species in this "state" of evolution. 

     The kids pet guinea pigs, watched the naked mole rats and played "I spy" with animals in some of the enclosures. This guy was way at the top of his enclosure and hard to spot!

     This trip to St. Louis Zoo was our first chance to see the new Sea Lion Experience. We were VERY EXCITED to check this out, and it proved pretty fascinating and worthwhile! 

     It appeared that the sea lions couldn't swim in the space above the tunnel, so we were surprised when they were suddenly above us. 

     

 We were also surprised to learn that they swim with their eyes closed, even around all the obstacles/rocks in the water. They never appeared to open their eyes!

     Naturally the highlight was a fun day spent with family, enjoying each other's company and getting on one another's nerves with the unrelenting jabs. The grandparents got to spend Grandparents Day with all five of their grandchildren. The best part was squeezing Reese. The worst was our good-bye. :-( 

The first two weeks

     Well, easier said than done, right? 

     Homeschool actually didn't start off too bad. Everyone was excited. Everyone was eager to jump right in. Everyone did more work than they had to. 

     But that was just the first two days. 

     After that, the excitement wore off and the crabby attitudes ensued. Well, one crabby attitude entered the picture. 

     Homeschool has been a breeze for Abby. Her creative mind is just taking off in every direction, soaking in the projects that encompass writing, music, art, movement, reading and research. 

     Ry, on the other hand, just wants a checklist. A worksheet. A list of assignments. Please help this boy. He can't handle all the open-endedness of homeschool. 

     And that's why I think homeschool is perfect for him, too. He does not really know how to be creative and how to love learning. All he knows how to do is finish an assignment. He loves to just know what needs to get done and do it. 

     Our schedule is set up with the backbone of homeschool using Diana Waring's history curriculum. Each unit is designed to be four weeks (though we might stretch them to five). Each week is different. Each day is unique. The reason is to incorporate all the learning styles.  

     We are beginning week four in unit one: Creation and the Flood. 

     During week one, we read. A lot. And listened. A lot. I think this week should be spread into two weeks. It's a ton of reading and listening at their ages. We didn't do even one-third of it, but honestly, a lot of the articles are written at an adult level. As we read, we explored all the angles of creation and the flood — including religion, evolution, the Ice Age, inventions, science, philosophy, math, music, etc.

     During week two, the theme was research. They made their own timelines, using reasoning skills. We talked about what a thesis is, and then they wrote a thesis and 6-10 supporting statements for their project. They both decided to turn their thesis into a song. Abby composed a piece about creation on the piano. Ryker wrote lyrics to a song about creation for young children.  

     

     Here is Abby playing her song. She really took the concept of research seriously. I challenged her to write her song "in reverse." This meant my non-music reading kid set out to find out how to read and write music. She used the Internet, a keyboard and music paper. She put her song on paper! 

     Here is Ryker singing/leading his song. We all participated in singing, as it had an echo component to it where we joined in on the second round of each verse. Well done, Ryker! 

     Week three is all hands-on activities.....