Lunar Eclipse, 2010

The December 2010 lunar eclipse occurred on December 21, coinciding with the date of the December solstice. It was visible in its entirety as a total lunar eclipse in North and South America, Iceland, the British Isles and northern Scandinavia.

from Wikipedia.com

The boys were up way past their bedtime. Despite the cold, they and the cats, enjoyed the waiting.

from Wikipedia.com
(Sequence is in 15 minute increments, with 5 minute increments up until totality)
from http://i.imgur.com

Sunday's visit with natural history

"Science has the power to illuminate, but not to solve the deeper problems of mankind. For always after knowledge come choice and action. Both of them intensely personal."

MathFun: estimating and measuring volume

His finds.

The Seasons Song

Counting by Fives song

Counting by Threes song

Counting by Twos song

After School Archery Program

MAC & Senior Center, Edmond

Inside the MAC Center

rec room inside the MAC center

receiving instruction on proper form

testing the compound bow

waiting his turn

Archery ranges have whistle commands that help maintain order among the archers. Here are some of the whistle commands. These girls call them "tweets".

• Two tweets: archers may approach the shooting line.
• One tweet: archers may begin shooting.
• Three tweets: archers may retrieve their arrows.
• Four or more tweets: All archers must stop shooting immediately and put their arrows away.

TWEET!

Luke

Aiden and his friend, Luke, are participating in the after-school archery program at our local parks and rec center. They both have experience with shooting recurve bows. They are receiving detailed instruction on safety, regulations, and proper form when shooting. They had their first tries with a compound bow yesterday. Although Aiden is confident in shooting, he actually saw his weaknesses yesterday and came home with some homework. This one-month program will prove useful in solidifying the safety rules and empowering him with more experience. I can't wait to witness the growth!

the afternoon routine

preparing for his daily cycling trek around the field house

preparing for team practices
Aiden is up against a lot of weight when wrestling with Dad.

The boys enjoy the weekday visits to the gym. When they, themselves, are not training, the facility and beautiful AC grounds are a giant playground for boys. They enjoy riding their new bikes, dribbling a basketball, kicking the soccer ball, or grabbing the hockey sticks to play. We are thankful to have access to such a nice gym facility...all at the grand small price of...FREE.

What a blessing (and facilitator of good habits).

More than PIANO lessons...

Aiden playing the new drum.

And trying an antique snare from the 1940's.

She's working on Brendan...our little percussionist.

Her 3:30 student didn't have lessons today, so Mrs. S. gave the boys a real treat. For twenty minutes, she showed them various drums and let them have their try... She's really expanding, upon their foundation, a love for music in both of them!

The music in him...

Aiden's new piano teacher is wonderful. He's had two teachers prior to this one, each possessing their own strengths and ways of reaching him.

We are looking forward to many more lessons with Mrs. S. She's a gifted teacher. She and her husband are both very talented musicians. Her husband owns his own recording studio and is a musician/technician/teacher with years of experience.

She's been very careful in re-establishing and reviewing proper form and technique, and she's also introduced to him music composition, assigning him this week to complete a song they've been working on together. She's definitely reaching deep within him to find his musical strengths and abilities, of which I am confident she will nurture and wonderfully develop over time.

I snapped a photo of Aiden and Mrs. S. at the close of his lesson yesterday. She's done this with him at the end of each lesson. She will play a lively marching song on the piano, giving Aiden the opportunity to find the rhythm and drum along. It's been a revealing demonstration of his ability to find the rhythm, as well as a wonderful exercise for his keeping a steady tempo. I LOVE the way he lights up when they do these activities together.

He's very impressed with her already, and once again, his passion for music has been re-ignited.

"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul."
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

post taken from July 28, 2010

Guess which one he drew for Mom?

Aiden's recent artwork reflects his opinion of the differences between how men and women think...or at least, the type of artwork they appreciate...
RAINBOWS & FLOWERS vs. Indians and Tomahawks

Refining their hunting skills

"a rifle... its usefulness depends upon the
character of the user."
~T. Roosevelt

Hunting & Survival Training

Learning their knots

Matthew has begun teaching Aiden survival skills as part of his daily training. The first of these skills is the ability to tie knots for different purposes. Last night's lesson: the square knot.

Continuing with survival training, Aiden learned a second
knot last night: the rewoven figure-of-eight.

more rifle practice

Men trained in arms from their infancy, and animated by the love of liberty, will afford neither a cheap or easy conquest.
-- From the Declaration of the Continental Congress, July 1775

Amidst the mess of remodeling...

...these boys stick together. Nothing interrupts the fun they have together.

Brendan likes to watch Aiden as he works on his language or music theory
programs. By watching, he is picking up the language...and rolling his R's
quite nicely.

Brendan is always game for storytime.

taken from WFS Sept. 2, 2010

It's Wrestling Season!

I want to see you game, boys, I want to see you brave
and manly, and I also want to see you gentle and tender.
~T. Roosevelt

Since his dad took him to wrestling sign-ups and bought him his new wrestling shoes, Aiden has a new-found resolve to become stronger and has shown great strides in his motivation to exercise alongside Dad. He realizes wrestling will present challenges with strength and ability, and he's ready to refine himself. (Hopefully the zeal remains constant.)

Wrestling will present opportunities for growth in agility and strength, but most importantly, it will allow for opportunities to handle victory, accept defeat...and a self-mastery that will prove important in all areas of his youthful life...

We can all be thankful for such opportunities.

The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats. ~T. Roosevelt

What DYLAN is doing: 1st grade, week one

Week ONE spelling words:
that
tack
rack
pack
lack
crack
snack
track
quack
stack

Others will be tested on these words (those who have not mastered the words above):
at
can
cat
back
dad
am
bat
mad
ran
sack

They are also doing simple math (single digit adding, greater than/less
than) and rhyming words.

I just wanted to give you an update on the first full week of school and what they are starting on.

posted by ERICA...

1st Grade Curriculum

	A	B	C
1	Subject	Resource or Activity	Schedule
2	Reading	Library Books	Well Trained Mind, pg. 95-96
3
4	Grammer	English For the Thoughtful Child
5
6	Spelling	Spelling Workout Books A - B
7
8	Writing	Scripture Writing
9		Letter Writing
10		Drawing
11		HandWriting with a Simplified Alphabet
12
13	Math	Saxon Math
14		Saxon Math Manipulatives
15		Mathemagics Pnemonics
16
17	History	Genesis to Judges, Historical Timeline
18
19
20
21	Physical Fitness and Skills	Gymnastic and weight training
22		Re-curve Bow Practice
23		Knots
24		Wrestling
25		Fencing
26
27
28
29	Music	Piano Training
30		Ricci's Music Drills
31		Music Ace
32
33	Science	Well Trained Mind, Page 169 to 179
34		Body, Animals, Plants, Natural World
35
36	Arabic	Rosetta Stone
37
38	Religion	Memory Verses

Saxon Math (use of manipulatives)

"The difference between young children and us is that we can switch freely from the manipulative mode of thinking to other modes we have learned to use. But very young children can't switch. They are tied to the manipulative mode."

-Ruth Beechik, An Easy Start to Arithmetic

While working to aid my children in understanding math concepts, my understanding and appreciation for manipulatives has grown exponentially. I originally thought manipulatives were simply objects which children (students) used to count or see three dimensional figures. I assumed they were to be used as a last resort, used only when they failed to grasp a particular math concept.

excerpts below from
Math Education: Manipulatives http://heatherpitcher.blogspot.com/

A mathematical manipulative is “an object which is designed so that the student can learn some mathematical concept by manipulating it” (Wikipedia, 2006). Students can use objects as counters, play with geometrical shapes to form other shapes, can build models to understand three dimensional figures, etc. In the manipulation of these materials, students are able to learn abstract concepts in concrete, hands on ways. These materials make even the most difficult mathematical concepts easier to understand for the student (Uttal, Scudder & DeLoache, 1997).

Manipulatives have been around for many years. One of the early versions of a manipulative, the abacus, can be dated back to 300 B.C. (About, 2005). This abacus, known as the Salamis Tablet, was used by Babylonians and was discovered in 1846 (About, 2005). Manipulatives have developed greatly from this early counting device.

A new push for the use of manipulatives occurred in the 19^th century when Pestalozzi lobbied for their use, eventually making manipulatives part of the mathematics curriculum in the 1930’s (Sowell, 1989). In the 1960’s, another resurgence of the use of manipulatives occurred, with a focus on the use of concrete objects and pictorial representations to help children better understand abstract mathematical ideas (Sowell, 1989). Now, manipulatives are available in almost every classroom around the world.

As previously stated, “manipulatives help children visualize abstract mathematical ideas (Heuser, 2000, p. 288). Students are able to use hands-on activities to create a knowledge base for mathematical thinking, allowing a greater understanding of the nature of mathematics, and some of its basic concepts, at an earlier age (McCarty, 1998). This is based on the findings of people such as Piaget, who helped prove that young children at the Primary and Elementary grades think at the concrete level. Therefore, the use of concrete objects in teaching abstract ideas would bring these abstract ideas down to the students’ concrete level, making problems tangible and tractable for these young learners (Uttal, Scudder & DeLoache, 1997).

The value of mathematical manipulatives can also be seen in the work of Driscoll, Sowell, and Suydam, who all discovered that students who use manipulatives outperform students who do not use them (Clements and McMillen, 1996). And this is not just true of students at the concrete level of thinking; students in all grade and ability levels, as well as students working in many topics, benefit from the use of manipulatives (Clements and McMillen, 1996). In the Driscoll, Sowell and Suydam study, retention and problem solving test scores were also improved if the students were exposed to manipulatives, and “attitudes toward mathematics [were] improved when students are instructed with concrete materials by teachers knowledgeable about their use” (Clements and McMillen, 1996, p. 270).

The Saxon Math program provides and develops its early curriculum around the use of manipulatives to teach math concepts. It is very careful to form a tangible connection between the manipulatives and the numbers, encouraging MEANINGFUL comprehension, rather than a rote learning. The program allows the child to engage with the manipulatives DURING the lesson. Yet AFTER the manipulatives are put away, the child must reflect on their learning and connect the manipulative with the mathematical concept being addressed. This is done through the worksheets (a morning worksheet and an afternoon worksheet) provided for each lesson.

Since beginning the Saxon Math program, Aiden has truly embraced and become more excited about math. Much of the manipulative use is just fun repetition at this point, as many of the concepts have been introduced to him over the course of the last two years. Yet, in contrast to years past, I DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE the value of manipulatives in early math.

In her book, An Easy Start in Arithmetic, Ruth Beechick discusses the different attitudes we need to be aware of when we teach math, the different ways children "see" math, and what we can do to promote effective learning in the early years. It was in this short BOOKLET that I came to the realization that there are different modes of thinking about arithmetic. Young children use the manipulative mode of thinking. Ruth Beechik says, "the difference between young children and us is that we can switch freely from the manipulative mode of thinking to other modes we have learned to use. But very young children can't switch. They are tied to the manipulative mode. They must become proficient in this mode as a preparation for other modes to follow. This thinking--this experience with objects--is the foundation upon which all later arithmetic understandings are built. THUS, we much teach young children in the manipulative mode." She believes that the failure to start them in this mode is the greatest single cause of children's arithmetic difficulties and anxieties.

So, math has become the hot subject in the McCarty household. And I have to give the credit to the curriculum switch and Saxon's fun use of manipulatives. (I realize, though, that Saxon isn't the only curriculum that applies the use of manipulatives.) For today, more linking towers and fun with geometric shapes.

3
2
1...Math!