Odyssey of the Mind "Surprise Party"

Since our Odyssey team worked so hard on their Surprise Party skit, we though a little celebrating was in order. And it was so fun to have our post-tournament celebration party be a surprise for them. We met at a local park for some playground time, then called them over to the pavilion for their surprise party, complete with snacks, cake and a pinata. After meeting for the past several months only for practices, it was great for them to have some time to just play and have fun!

It's been wonderful to see the friendships the kids have developed through Odyssey. We've just put plans in place for next year, including the addition of a new team. Most of our existing team will move on to Division 1 competition, and our new Primary team will be comprised of younger siblings and a few new members. Can't wait to get started!

2010 Winter Olympics

So somehow in the middle of Odyssey coaching, duathlon training (kids), half marathon training (me), our winter bellydance halfa and a zillion new work projects, I thought a co-op on the Winter Olympics would be a good idea. Which of course, it was until I had to actually sit down and do it.

I cheated a bit by putting the field trip first. Last Monday, we visited the Ice Den at the RDV Sportsplex to learn about figure skating, ice hockey and speed skating before taking to the ice ourselves. We had a great time, and it bought me another week to do the work!

As always, I learned a lot myself when planning the co-op. To be honest, last week I had no idea there was an Olympic sport called Skeleton! Despite my recent time shortage, I loved putting it all together and planning some fun activities for the kids.

We'll see a timeline of Olympic history, learn about Olympic symbols and make a Venn diagram comparing ancient to modern Olympic games. Then, we'll dive into learning about the winter sports, color the Olympic rings and make our own gold medals (while listening the Olympic Fanfare, of course).

Tomorrow is the big day, but I'm putting the materials up in the download section now. Feel free to use them to complement your own Olympic studies - and be sure to check out the Canada unit to go with it.

The Art of Illustration - Part 2

Our wonderful series on children's book illustrators continued this week with a co-op on author / illustrator Maurice Sendak, best known for the children's book Where the Wild Things Are. After enjoying some stories, the kids put pen to paper to create their own "wild things". In Sendak style, they outlined their subjects in black ink, then filled them in with color and used lines to create texture in their backgrounds.

Thanksgiving Food Drive

The end of our Thanksgiving series also marked the end of our food drive. I so wish I'd taken a picture of our donations before dropping them off! We were able to contribute two very large, very full Rubbermaid tubs of food to help The Sharing Center support Central Florida families this Thanksgiving. It was so great to see so many families work together to make this happen, as well as a very nice tie in with our studies for the kids.

Thanksgiving Potluck

Our latest unit study with SLC wrapped up this week with a really nice Thanksgiving potluck. Many families showed up to share a meal together, and the kids enjoyed just playing at the park for a change. After learning about the Pilgrims, Native American Indians and the Thanksgiving holiday, this was a great way to end our study!

Charting Our Progress

As part of our Early America co-op series this month, we've been collecting food items for The Sharing Center. During this week's class, we inventoried the food collected during our food drive and charted the donations on a bar graph.

Since it's been a while since we used this fun graphing site, we decided to take a look at how the same data would look in different graph forms. Here are our results:

Bar graph:



















Pie Chart:



















Line Graph:



















Area Graph:

Learning about the First Thanksgiving

This week's co-op was the last in our series on early America. After learning about the Pilgrim's voyage and the Native American way of life, our last class focused on the first Thanksgiving - with discussion on whether or not it was really the first Thanksgiving.

After reading a book about what we typically learn of as the first Thanksgiving, we discussed how giving thanks for the harvest had been widely celebrated in many cultures for many years - and also how it wasn't until Abraham Lincoln that Thanksgiving actually became a national holiday in America.

Next we learned how the first Thanksgiving compared to our modern Thanksgiving celebration by working on a Venn diagram. The kids were given 11 items, and we discussed whether they pertained to the first Thanksgiving, modern Thanksgiving or both.

With the diagrams complete, we talked about how the Pilgrims struggled when they first arrived in America - but with help from the Indians, they were able to learn how to grow enough food to survive. We then discussed how there are people living in our country today that don't have enough to eat - but with a little help, they will be able to provide for themselves once again. Then, we reviewed the food donations we've been collecting for The Sharing Center and created bar graphs to show how much of each different item we've collected.

Our next book was one of our all-time favorites - I'm Thankful Each Day. Noah really wanted to help me teach the co-op, so he participated by reading this book to the group. Afterwards, we discussed what each of us was thankful for and make "thankful tree" placemats. The kids wrote things they were thankful for on colored leaves, glued them to a tree trunk template and laminated it to be used as a placemat.
















Before everyone left, we shared a modern treat that we learned actually came from the Native Americans - candy corn. Recipe can be found here.

Discovering Medieval Times

The kids in our homeschool group were transformed into lords and ladies last week in preparation for our trip to the Renaissance Faire. On Monday, we had a special co-op for the kids to make their costumes, and they turned out amazing! Friday morning we headed out to the faire, where we watched craftsmen and artisans from the period, took in a jousting match and had our names written in calligraphy.

Knight Noah was armed with his camera since there is a photojournalism assignment that goes along with our studies. Since I'm not sure we'll get to it in a timely manner (trying to wrap up our Thanksgiving and USA units and sneak in a study on US currency before we leave for our trip to DC), I wanted to post a few of his shots here. That boy has serious skills with the camera (it helps when your Grandma is a photographer!)

Bringing Tricks and Treats to the Ronald McDonald House

Our homeschool group coordinated two events for the Ronald McDonald House this week with one group participating in their Fall Festival on Thursday and another hosting Share a Meal on Halloween night. We chose to go on Halloween since we thought it might be a hard night for them to get volunteers on a holiday.

In case you're not familiar with Ronald McDonald House, they provide families with children in local hospitals with affordable accommodations within walking distance of the hospital. We've had quite a few friends use their facilities and have seen first-hand what a wonderful resource they provide to families during difficult times.

We try to participate in Share a Meal a few times a year, bringing dinner for the families currently staying at the house. Last night, five SLC families cooked up a dinner of chili, cornbread, salad and cookies - along with some Halloween "treats" of course. And my little magician (Noah) was happy to provide the "tricks".

It was a full house, and we enjoyed talking to the families - many of whom came in costume. It was definitely the highlight of our very happy Halloween!

Homemade Candy Corn

Today, we tried out a candy corn recipe in preparation for an upcoming co-op. I was surprised to learn (from our Hands of a Child "Thanksgiving" project pack) that candy corn was actually a treat enjoyed by Native Americans.

In talking about the first Thanksgiving, they say:

"Another thing that may have been served is candy corn. Yes, candy corn! This sweet was a treat that was eaten by Native Americans. There are some differences in the recipes of modern-day candy corn and the candy corn that the Indians made, but the taste is very much the same."

I was hoping the "dough" would stay pliable enough that I could make it in advance and let the kids make their own candy corn in class. But, it hardens (to rock-like consistency) very quickly so they will have to be premade.

They turned out pretty well, and the kids love them. Of course, they've never had candy corn before so they have no frame of reference. And it's pretty much pure sugar, so what's not to like?

Here's their recipe:

Candy Corn (a modern version)

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup white corn syrup (I used agave nectar instead)
1/3 cup butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup powdered milk food coloring (optional) (after re-reading the directions, I think this is supposed to be two separate items: 1) 1/3 cup powdered milk and 2) food coloring (optional). I didn't use either.)

Combine sugar, butter and corn syrup in pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn head to low, and boil 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add vanilla. In separate dish, combine powdered sugar, sald and powdered milk. Add all at once to the mixture in the pan. add food coloring, if desired. Stir until cool enough to handle. Shape into triangular pieces.

Native American Indians Co-op

Our series on early America continued this week with a class on Native American Indians. After studying the Pilgrims last week, the kids learned why Indians were called "Indians" and got a glimpse of what life was like in an Indian tribe.

As a craft, they kids designed and created their own totem poles. This afternoon, Noah and I dug into some of the take-home materials, completing a word search and learning about the pictographs many different tribes used to communicate with each other. Noah then spent a good hour telling stories with the pictographs.

Later this week we'll be making a tepee craft I found on Enchanted Learning, then it's off to the library to pick up books to prepare for my upcoming co-op on The First Thanksgiving.

Learning About the Pilgrims

We're fortunate to have a great unit study going on with SLC right now - one class each on the Pilgrims, Native American Indians and first Thanksgiving. The fourth week we'll have a potluck Thanksgiving celebration at a local park. At each event, we're collecting food donations for the Sharing Center to help with their needs for the holiday.

This week, the series kicked off with a great class on the Pilgrims. The kids learned when and why the Pilgrims came to America, the conditions they faced on their voyage and the challenges that met them when they arrived here. The craft entailed drawing a map that showed the route the Pilgrims sailed and sculpting a model Mayflower complete with paper sails. Both kids loved the project and came home full of info about the Pilgrims and their journey.

The Art of Illustration

Today's co-op with SLC featured the artwork of Eric Carle, author and illustrator of many popular children's books including The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We'd studied illustrations by Jerry Pinkney at the Orlando Museum of Art this summer, so it was nice for the kids to focus on illustrations done in such a different style.

After finding out that Carle began his career as an illustrator before moving on to authoring his own books, we learned a little about his technique. He actually paints on pieces of tissue paper, sketches an image on tracing paper and cuts shapes out of the painted tissue paper to fit the image. I had no idea that his artwork was based on this type of collage.

After enjoying a few books, the kids each got to create their own Carle-style collage. Ava picked a flamingo (and obviously got the bulk of the help from Mommy), and Noah tackled his raccoon completely on his own.

This class was the first in a series of children's book illustrators, so we're looking forward to seeing and trying out a new style next month!

Photo & Video of Our Plant Science Experiments

We wrapped up our plants / gardening unit study with SLC on Monday and will be continuing lots of learning on this theme throughout the fall. Noah visited the garden shop with me over the weekend, and we transplanted some of our new seedlings. Today we'll be harvesting eggplant, trimming the herbs and checking on all our new additions.

Monday's class focused on osmosis and how plants use water. It was full of great experiments including the one pictured above that is a great way for the kids to see how plants transport water using their stems. Each child received a white flower in a cup of colored water. As the water is drawn up through the stem, the petals will turn the color of the water. Ava's flower is already starting to turn blue, but we're still waiting on Noah's to turn red. We did this experiment at home a year or so ago, and it took longer for the lighter colors to become visible.

Another experiment that the kids (and adults) all loved was the one in the video below. After explaining how a flower's petals close up when it doesn't have water and re-open when it receives water, the kids all colored their own paper flower, placed it in a shallow dish of water and . . . well, you'll see. It was pretty amazing!

My little botanists have loved learning more about plants, and we may follow up our studies with a field trip to EPCOT to see the hydroponic gardens sometime soon.

Plant / Gardening Co-op - Week 2

Week two of our plants / gardening series was once again a hit with Noah. He's been obsessed with Venus Fly Traps ever since he saw a video about them on NeoK12 (a great site with links to videos on many topics), so he was thrilled when he found out we were learning about different types of carnivorous plants.

The second topic for the day - hydroponics - included an activity in which the kids made their own hydroponic system for a pepper plant. Noah, of course was thrilled, since adding new plants to his garden is his main goal in life (at this moment, at least)!

Back at home, we've been observing our bean sprouts from class one. To be honest, we hadn't been tracking their growth in the log because it seemed like they were the same size (barely sprouting) for most of the week. Imagine our surprise when this one shot up over the course of one day!

We're also tending to our fall seedlings, harvesting a bumper crop of eggplant and looking forward to what we'll learn next week!

International Coastal Cleanup

Jim and the kids participated in the International Coastal Cleanup yesterday (I was having a "me day" - more on that later), joining people from around the world in removing trash from our beaches. Having already done a cleanup at Lake Ivanhoe earlier this summer, the kids were looking forward to helping out again - and really looking forward to playing at the beach with their friends afterwards.

The event was organized through our Community Service Club with SLC, so there was a special co-op earlier in the week for the kids to learn about the water cycle, ocean conservation and how pollution in the water affects us all. After that class, I took the kids for sushi and Noah left the restaurant picking up trash with his chopsticks. He was very excited to tell curious onlookers that he was saving the Earth and the sea animals!

Plant / Gardening Co-op

According to Noah, plants are his favorite things in the entire world. So you can imagine how excited we were to start the Plant / Gardening co-op with SLC this week - a four-class series led by two friends who are experts in this area.

The first class in the series focused on parts of the plant and their function. After becoming botanists for the day, the kids learned about how plants make their own food through photosynthesis using water, sunlight and air. Then, they got to observe real, live plants right down to the root and document their findings through drawing and writing.

They then prepared bean seeds for germination and will be observing them throughout the week. Take-home materials included a vocabulary list, photosynthesis worksheet and a log for documenting the growth of their bean sprout.

At home, we continued our studies with time in the garden, one of our favorite books (Oh Say Can You Seed from the Dr. Seuss Learning Library) and some online time watching time-lapse germination and videos on phytosynthesis and other plant-related topics at NeoK12. Thanks to one of their videos, Noah is now obsessed with adding a Venus Fly Trap to his ever-expanding garden.

Medieval Castles

Today we continued our study of Medieval Times with a class on castles and castle life. The kids received swords and princess hats to prepare themselves to become lords and ladies of the castle. After a story and short video on the features and functions of castles, the kids had a chance to make their own. Ours still needs the finishing touches (bricks and a drawbridge) but is turning out really cute!

While Noah was drawing the door and windows on the castle, Ava helped me cut strips of different colors of cellophane for our stained glass window. We made identical cutouts in two sheets of black cardstock, then glued the strips of colored cellophane in between. The end result looked fantastic!

While we're disappointed to be missing the final class in this series (about knights), we'll be enjoying our vacation and looking forward to diving into the makeup materials when we get home.

Medieval Times

Monday started a three-week unit with SLC on Medieval Times. This is a topic we've never touched on, so I was excited to dive in. The first class focused on the feudal system. The kids donned their crowns, learned about life in a Medieval village, watched a video and put together this super-cute craft.

Next week we'll be learning about castles and castle life, but we'll miss the final class in the series (about knights) since we'll be out of town that week. I thought about arranging a family date to Arabian Nights until I checked the prices online today (yikes - almost $70/adult!), so I think we'll make a trip to the library instead!

All Aboard for a Train Co-op

I still remember the day Noah's fascination with trains started. After his second birthday party, we opened gifts (which took ALL day since he wanted to play with each one before moving on to the next) and he pulled Thomas the Train from a bag.

That was pretty much it for the presents - and for all other toys for the next year! Even though he wasn't talking much at the time, he could tell you the difference between a steam and diesel engine within a few weeks. And although his passion for trains has cooled a little, they're still a favorite topic.

So you can imagine how excited we were for this week's SLC co-op on trains. We tooks a look at trains of the past, present and future and learned about train safety. Best of all, we made plans for our train field trip later this month; we'll be riding the Amtrak round trip from DeLand with a stop in Winer Park for playtime and a picnic.