First Day of School

With the older kids back in school it makes it a lot easier to organize and do activities with my little girls.  We do things all the time, but it can be a challenge to manage everyone at the same time especially since they are at such different levels.  Today though was the start of a great home school year at home too!

We started out with this Alphabet Cookie Game... C can identify some letters, and we worked on the others, as well as their sounds and words that start with each letter.

After that we stuck with the alphabet theme and got our wiggles out before lunch by going through the alphabet and doing actions for animals for each letter.  This was a lot of fun, and we ended up with a herd of zebra heading to the bathroom to wash up for lunch.

C was done with lunch before her younger sister, so she helped in the kitchen baking brownies for a special first day of school, after school snack.  Once those were in the oven it was on to reading time.  It was nice to be able to sit on the couch and read Dr. Seuss' There's a Wocket in my Pocket without interruptions form older kids who needed something!

I then put on a reading learning DVD for them while I got caught up with the lunch and brownie making dishes, and got some laundry started.  Now it's time for some coloring pages, and then we're heading to pick up the older kids from school!

I'm hoping I can find some time soon to go back and blog about some of the things we did at the end of summer.  We had an awesome astronomy lesson linked to out visit to the Lowell Observatory that we called a Star Party, and had a really fun time learning more about that.. I still have some activities left from that that I'm looking forward to getting done soon with the kids as well!

End of Summer Catch Up

The older kids are starting back to school in a week... do you think we've gotten around to going that Jello cell model yet?  Of course not!  But there is still hope to get it done in the next few days, right?!  Although we haven't gotten this specific project done, we have completed a lot of awesome stuff this summer, so I thought I'd do a quick recap of the things that we HAVE done!

All three older kids did 8 weeks of swim classes this summer.  There was a lot of improvement in their swimming ability through this process, and the youngest was even able to attend a 2 week set of parent/tot classes.  We also took to kids to watch their first race (my first triathalon) and they were very excited, and are inspired to participate as well.  They have actually participated in a Girl Scout 5k the past two years, but that didn't seem like as big a deal to them as going to see a "real" race.  The junior race starts at age 7, so we've told the that if their swimming in strong enough, once they are old enough this is a possibility.  I love that we are fostering such a great love of athletics with them.  They have also participated in fitness activities at home, and the oldest loves creating fitness routines.

We completed the summer reading program through the public library.  Each of the kids set a goal of 50 books.  Catie was very excited to get her first library card, and to finally be able to participate in this.  Adam passed his goal, but a few books, and Reagan was close to doubling hers.  Adam has been progressing with his chapter book reading and is finishing the summer with The Indian in the Cupboard series.  It took over a year of convincing, but we finally got Reagan to start reading the Harry Potter books.  She read the first one in under 24 hours and is well into the second half of book two now.  Her goal is to read all of them by the end of the school year.. I don't doubt she will.

We took an awesome family camping trip up to Flagstaff, and were able to get a lot of educational time in while we were having a great time as a family.

Putrefied Forest

 First we took a day trip form there out to Petrified Forest NP.  The older kids have already completed the Jr. Ranger program here, and the younger ones aren't yet old enough.  We found out about a new program though where the kids were able to become Jr. Paleontologists!  While there we visited the Painted Desert Inn, Route 66, and Newspaper Rock.  The Painted Desert Inn isn't the most spectacular of stops, but it had new meaning for us this time as we were just finishing reading the novel When Molly Was a Harvey Girl as a family, and this was a Harvey House.  We were able to visit the dining room, the counter, and the kitchen!

Reagan with the Pluto Telescope

The next day we went to visit the Lowell Observatory.  We visited during the day and went on two tours, getting to learn about the original telescope that started the observatory, and the Pluto scope that was used to take the photos that were used to discover Pluto.  We also got to learn about and see the spectrograph that was used to make the discovery that the universe is expanding!  We were also able to attend the Great Balls of Fire exhibit that they currently have there, and learn about comments and meteorites.  After going back to camp to watch The Magic School Bus in space, and for a nice big meal and some naps, and running around at the playground, we returned to the Lowell for the night program!  We got to actually look through the 117 year old telescope that was the first one there!  We also got to view Saturn and a binary star system through other smaller telescopes that were set up.  We returned a few nights later for the evening programs again, and since it was overcast we went to an interactive mini planetarium show, and spent more time learning in depth about comments and meteors at the exhibit.  The kids were very excited about this whole experience, and it has inspired more fun since we've been home.

We were back outside the next day with a visit to Sunset Crater NM (where we have also previously completed the Jr. Ranger Program) where we hiked a cinder cone.  The trail was only 1 mile long, but was quite steep, and all three older kids walked the entire way.  This was a big hike for Catie, and she was very proud of herself for making it.  The other older kids were great at encouraging her, and making sure we all made it to the top and back together!




Our last day we spent visiting some museums.  First we visited the Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, where we got to tour the historic home, and learn about the family's contributions to the Flagstaff community, life at the time, and the arts and crafts architecture movement.  We loved this tour, and exploring the grounds.  We made in through both the interior and exterior tours just before a thunderstorm!  After this we headed over the the Flagstaff Pioneer History Museum (sadly, not really recommended) where we were able to view a decade by decade history museum, some pioneer cabins, and a train.  The best parts of this stop were getting to board the train caboose, and the furnished cabin we were able to walk through.  The cabin was used at the same time the Riordan Mansion as built, so it gave us a great comparison about how different people lived at the same point in history.

Coming up I plan to blog about summer scout stuff, our studies since we have returned from this trip, including a Star Party we had last night.  I'm also planning to blog about the book we read as a family over on my book blog, so you can look for that too. :)

Hisat' Sinom Where did the Sinagua Go?

Final ethnography project for my anthropology class this semester! :)

Graduating!

I still have a couple more projects to finalize, but I'll be graduating in just 8 days!  The following week Adam graduates from Kindergarten.  Looking forward to a fun, active, and education summer break, and lots of posts about our adventures!

Sonoran Pronghorn

Sonoran Pronghorn
Antilocarpra americana sonoriensis

Information Sources:

Pronghorn. National Wildlife Federation. http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wildlife-library/mammals/pronghorn.aspx. Accessed 2 May, 2013.

Fact Sheet: Sonoran Pronghorn. Defenders of Wildlife. http://www.defenders.org/sonoran-pronghorn/basic-facts. Accessed 2 May, 2013.
Sonoran Pronghorn Antelope. Pima County website. http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/species/fsheets/sp.html. Accessed 2 May, 2013.

Unit Paper 4- Human Impacts on the Earth

The Unit Paper 4- Human Impacts on the Earth

Humans do not exist in a vacuum.  This semester my biology 156 class has focused on the basics of the human system and how it functions.  However, we are part of a much larger system within which we function, as do countless other animals and plants.  The final unit paper for my 156 class asks that I consider what my world view philosophy is.  This is very much along the lines of the 105 class I have also been taking this semester!

For this paper we were first asked to consider three world views, and which one we felt fit our own ideas the best.  The three world outlooks are planetary management worldview, stewardship worldview, and environmental wisdom worldview.  Planetary management worldview is the idea that we are separate from, and in charge of nature.  Stewardship worldview is similar in that it puts humans as in charge of the world, but sets them more as caretakers, whose responsibility it is to act as shepherds.  Finally, environmental wisdom worldview suggests that we are included in nature, and must engage as sustainable users of the resources we share.  I tend to favor environmental wisdom as the best course to follow.  Although there are areas where I feel we need stewardship to try and repair problems that were previously caused by human activities, the best way to move forwards seems to be one where we don't put humans as dictators of nature.  It is our responsibility to live as sustainably as possible, not our place to exploit the Earth or to decide which other living things should live or die as a species.  Over the history of the Earth many, many species have come and gone, and knowing this is seems ignorant to think that our one species can, or even should, save every other species that happens to coexist with us at this time.

There are many causes of the environmental problems that we see today.
1. Population Growth

One of the biggest concerns is population growth.  If human populations continue to grow and do not level off we will end up with a population larger than can be sustained by the resources available to us.  This is a natural occurrence  and happens in other animal and plant populations, but could be much more devastating in the human case.  Humans have the ability to monopolize resources and prevent others living things from having access to them in a way that most others do not.  This type of behavior would drastically reduce both biodiversity and population densities of other living things, and could spell disaster for many other Earth dwellers besides humans as well. 


2.  Resource Waste

Another major problem is resource management.  There are gross amounts of waste created by humans.  Not all of this is municipal waste that we tend to focus on.  In fact, most waste is industrial waste, and much of it could be reduced for greater efficiency, more sustainability, and lower cost energy and goods.  Current practices generate so much waste of energy and thus resources that well over half of the materials used in most production end up as waste.  This connects to the most raw elements included in industry.  If you consider the mining that is used to gather mineral resources etc, it's easy to see how this happens.  The primary focus here needs to be on decreasing industrial production waste and increasing efficiency.  One way that most people can address this though is through a program of recycling.  The term recycling has come to be a blanket term that people use for the reuse of any previously used item.  Actual recycling is the re-manufacture of resources into new products.  While recycling is good, and does help, the more ideal is reusing.  Reusing is often thought of as part of recycling, but it is separate, and is strictly the re-purposing of items for secondary use.  



3. Pollution

Pollution is one of the major problems that is causing some of the fastest changes in the world right now.  The good news about it is that since we have become more aware of the impacts that it can have we have been doing a lot to try and change the amount of impact that this is has on the Earth.  Pollution can be as complex as the  industrial wastes that are generated through the production process, or as simple as littering.  There needs to be a greater endeavor to make sure that what we are putting back into the environment is as clean as possible.  One of the challenges to this is that some countries are much more proactive about this than others.  Having clean waste coming out of factories can be very expensive to accomplish.  This drives businesses to move production to other countries where regulations are more lax.  This pollutes a different community in the short term, and simply means that world wide effects will stem from a different source.  People have adopted the NIMBY principle, and feel like as long as it is "not in my backyard" it is okay, but there is a growing movement that support NIABY instead "not in anyone's backyard."

4. Education


Many people are simply unaware of the impact that they are having on the world.  Many adopt an attitude that since they are one person, their impact is so small that it doesn't really matter one way or another.  But when everyone thinks in this manner, the results can be catastrophic.  Educating young people about how they can make a difference ensures that the next generation can take a more proactive role.  But it is important to make sure that we educate adults as well.  Everyone needs to be aware of the effects that we have on the Earth, and the different things that we can do to address them.  

Muir Woods,12-1012,  G. Whittaker

For our class we viewed a slideshow on this topic that included Environmental Pioneers.  If I were to research one of these people, I would want to study John Muir.  This past winter I took my kids to visit Muir Woods in California and they learned a little bit about him while we were there.  As a child I visited the woods as well as annual trips to Yosemite, a place with which he was very involved.  I think his cause was admirable, and his life living in nature was fascinating!  Although I have some general knowledge about him I have always wanted to learn more, and would love to read some of his own writings.

Cell Study Plan for Kids

I am blogging this info because I'm planning to work on some of these with my kids, specifically the oldest during the summer, and if I post them here A. I will be able to find all the resources again when I am ready, and B.They are all here for other people to use as well.

It started because I posted to Facebook about the science songs blog post I made a few days ago.  A friend recommended a Jello cell model project, so of course I had to google it!

The Jello cell takes this basic cell model

and uses food items as analog for the different organells.

This way the cell is large enough to investigate, dissect, and eat!  Food learning is always a win with kids, and it makes this project something that can be fun in different ways for various levels of learners.

I managed to find a whole lesson plan that includes this and is accessible to anyone here.
Included are the directions for the Jello cell, also found here, which ends up approximating the cell model above in this way:


And other activities including some conceptual worksheets and the lyrics to a cell rap that I was able to locate on YouTube



I'm really looking forward to being done with all of my school work this week so I have a chance to read through it all better and start planning this for after my kids get out of school in a couple weeks!