Math is fun and so are caterpillars!!

Last week we finished off our first math block and I'd say it went very well. It was tough, though, because I was teaching two different subjects to two different kids. The days went a little longer than the block before, but all in all I think the schedule worked out fine.

Eden and I worked mainly on review for Algebra going over fractions, area, obtuse and acute angles etc. I teach her the lesson and then she reviews it the next day by doing several of the problems on scratch paper and then transferring them neatly and decoratively into her main lesson book. She also writes any vocabulary words that come up in our lessons into her lesson book. We cover three algebra lessons a day in her book by teaching it in blocks this way and it really sticks. It never stops amazing me how much better their retention is by teaching this way. This week we have moved onto the total surface area of a right solid and I'm sure many other fun things to figure out. I'm loving the algebra. I was never good at it in school, but I really seem to understand it now and what I don't understand I've had a great time trying to figure it out. It probably helps that I'm not under a deadline to turn in my homework or cram for a test. :-)

Working on the board is so much more fun than doing problems in a notebook any day!

Joey and I finished up his sundial last week during our study of time for our math block. We had school at night last Thursday and talked about how the Egyptians told time back when Moses was alive. We set up our sundial as best we could since we couldn't see the north star. We got up the next day to watch the sun rise. I made homemade hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream. It was chilly, but we had a lot of fun just hanging out in our pj's talking about what our day would be like and our upcoming weekend. Once the sun rose and we were able to get a shadow from the sundial we began marking off the time with a glass stone and I would write the time in chalk so we could look at it again another day and see if the time stayed the same. It didn't.

Here is our sundial. Joey decided to decorate the dough I made to put the stick in with some of the glass stones. Very pretty!

Eden and Joey sit on the little bench sharing a blanket while drinking their hot chocolate as we wait for the sun to rise.

The babies weather the cold wind blowing in the morning. where's our hats Mom!!!

Who needs a hat? Not me!!! I've got my nice soft blanket and my sissy by my side.

Can you say "sleepy"?

The first signs of light!

Up comes the sun!

Even brighter still!

When I got home from work last night I found that we had adopted a furry little critter. He doesn't have a name yet from what I understand so we'll just refer to him as the caterpillar. The kids found him outside while they were playing. At first he was in a plastic storage container with just some grass and one rose petal. I guess we woke him from his slumber when I got home and wanted to see him because while I was looking for ideas on what to feed him Jerod held him and then put him back into his box where he quickly began to munch through the rose petal. Hmmmm, I thought....."Go get some more rose branches and make sure they have flowers on them" I told Jerod "because he has to stay fed and alive until May before we'll see a cocoon out of him."



Here is some information I found about our new friend:

• Ecpantheria scriboni (His formal name) caterpillars, which are densely coated with coarse black setae (hairs) of equal lengths, curl up in a ball when disturbed, revealing bright red inter segmental rings. The small circles surrounding the spiracles are also red.




• Woolly bear or fuzzy bear caterpillars are often found in the fall after they have left their food plants in search of a dark and sheltered spot where they can hibernate as larvae for the winter. When spring brings its warm sunshine, the caterpillars again become active, feeding for a brief time and then fashioning cocoons out of silk and body hairs.
  Tiger moths usually emerge from cocoons two to three weeks later.
• The caterpillars feed on a variety of food plants including forest trees, shrubs and low growing plants. Hibernation is usually over in northern portions of scribonia's range in May. The caterpillars feed briefly, spin their cocoons and then emerge a few weeks later as adult moths.

Very interesting huh? Well I think that this is quite a bit to absorb for one blog and I think I've covered it all. Let's keep our fingers crossed that our furry friend makes it through the winter and we get to see him turn into a beautiful moth.