Rocks: Up Close and Personal

Our enthusiasm for the study of rocks--not the sexiest sounding subject for most of us--has been bumped up several notches by incorporating the fun, hands-on ideas from the Outdoor Hour Challenges for January. This time it was to study them up close. You know, REAL close. Magnifying glass close!

The Collection. Penny and nail for testing hardness.

Mei had gathered several rocks from walks in our area as per the previous challenges' instructions. But we were doubly prepared because of our field trip last summer to Penn's Cave! Penn's Cave, located in the middle of Pennsylvania near State College, is notable for being "America's Only All-Water Cavern."

But not only do you traverse the cavern by BOAT, you also are treated to a mini-museum of the history and geology of the area, a wildlife park, and a HUGE gift shop. If you're ever in the region, go. It was there that I picked out several samples of minerals as a surprise for my (doubtful) future gemologist .

Now to the Study. After each of us chose a rock we dug out all of our magnification tools, pencils, colored pencils, our printables, and our new nature notebooks (Vol. 2!). Our preferred tool was the
Carson MM-24 MicroBrite Pocket Microscope

Carson Microbrite

With its built-in light and 20x-40x zoom, we really could get in close on our subjects. And for its modest price, we can bring it with us into the field. We used the Outdoor Hour Challenge grid from the January Newsletter as a kind of Bingo card, crossing out the squares that held descriptive terms of our chosen specimen. Then we began drawing.

You can see how bright the Microbrite really is. Lives up to its name!

Drawing rocks is challenging. There is no recognizable form that simplifies the result for an amateur artist like there would be for, say, a cat. This is a GOOD thing actually because it demands careful observation! No symbolic marks on paper like triangle ears and whiskers.

A sample of Purple Mica and the drawing

But we gained heightened appreciation for scientific illustrators when we tackled that magnified view. Holey, moley, was it hard!!

Step 1: Zero in on an interesting feature. Hold the scope there. Slip.Whoops. Relocate. Hold again.

Step 2: Draw. Oh, yeah.You have to do that with one eye cuz the other one is on the 'scope. Whoops.Relocate. Hold. Draw.
And back-and-forth with one eye on the rock and the other on the drawing. Impossible, really. So we fell back on blind contour drawing, an artist's method whereby your pencil follows the edge that your eyes are looking at without YOU looking at your pencil. Then we finished the drawings with our colored pencils and some memory!

So now when we see those minutely detailed, worthy-of-framing studies by professional scientific illustrators of the past, we will be in greater awe of their persistence. And in sympathy of the eyestrain!

Mei's Purple Mica

Mom's Granite/Quartz combo

Hook up with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletters at  Handbook of Nature Study and check out other rock-ologists discoveries! Got any great rock-gathering sources? Tell Mother All About It!

Rose Garden in Winter

My name is Leslie and I am an addict.

Of perfectionism.

I have spent too too TOO many hours perfecting the look and feel that I want to express on this blog. To the point that I finally went too too TOO far by attempting to upload a custom font to Blogger (the nerve). Not only did I spend several hours following the very well-defined steps by Kevin and Amanda on their uber-cute blog only to have my font conversion efforts thwarted by some Microsoft "we don't recognize the program that created this" gar-bage [insert French accent here], but then all Hades let loose and suddenly a new background that I only temporarily tried on took possession of my blog and wouldn't let go its grip.

It was more HOURS. I had so run out of ideas that I was ready to create a whole new blog and import. But I didn't trust that THAT would work either. And the repercussions were too horrible to consider.

Finally I offered up a prayer. Why is it that we (or at least I) turn to prayer as a LAST resort rather than a FIRST one?

Within a few minutes, I had a new stratagem, was led to new links, found this much-more perfect background than I was previously using (which, HORRORS, had not matched the shade of blue-green in my banner), AND discovered the why of the other resurfacing background. All within fifteen minutes of a feeble prayer.

Don't believe? Try it yourself sometime. Just don't wait hours.
So a BIG thanks to my Lord and Savior and a shout-out to The Background/Graphics Fairy for my rose garden in the depths of my winter of discontent.

P.S. So whaddaya think of my blog anyway? Tell Mother All About It!

Menu Plan Monday: Baby, It Got Cold Outside

The Mid-Atlantic has so far been granted another mild winter. Last year our total snowfall was not even memorable (really! I can't even find records!). Along with that it was also easy on the bundling up. This winter was proving to be  the same except for that Christmas Eve Mixed Blessing that created a White Christmas morning, but a treacherous drive for services the night before. Then the other little one that popped up on our way to the ER for my snapped metatarsal. Glad we avoided another accident in the hospital parking lot!!

The Black Horse Troop of Culver. Our nephew is in the second row!

    This past Sunday and Monday were just what the White House ordered for the Presidential Inaugural: mostly above average temps and sunny skies. The parade that included our nephew was pulled off without a security or meteorological hitch! But come Tuesday, WHAM! Party's O-VER! Highs in the 20's and lows in the teens.
     So let's have some warm-up food from 5Dinners1Hour.com to take away the chill! Then  find more ideas to fight the chill at Organizing Junkie!

Monday

Herbed Pork Chops
Broccoli
Carrots (I like to add a splash of orange juice and a tablespoon of honey during cooking)

 

Tuesday

Black Bean Stuffed Peppers
Green Salad with avocado

Wednesday

Oven Fried Tilapia
Brown Rice (they'll eat it-or anything-with soy sauce)
Green Beans

 

Thursday

Slow-Cooked Honey Sesame Chicken
Sugar Snap Peas
Green Salad with mandarin oranges and almonds

Friday (Ice and snow may be on the menu too...)

LO Buffet

Saturday

Spicy Steak Bites
Mashed Potatoes
Asparagus Spears (frozen. A cold snap in CA has sent fresh through the roof. Be warned)

Sunday

DITK: Dad's in the Kitchen!


Got Menu? Tell Mother all about it! Comments warm ME up every time!
    

Menu Plan Monday: Hail to the Chief (and Chef)

   Regardless of political leanings, you still have to feel proud and blessed to live in a country that has peaceful elections every four years. We sometimes even take it for granted until we see headlines of the violence in many countries that blows-up just to put the people's choice in office. So this week, let's celebrate that fact and show honor to our great nation on the 20th.
   Here's how we're doing it.

The Black Horse Troop of Culver Academy in 1913

   My middle brother's fam is coming East to watch their son, a member of the prestigious Black Horse Troop of Culver Military Academy, ride in the Inaugural Parade!!  And it's especially special because it is exactly 100 years since the first time they rode back in (quick, do the math) 1913. And he is LEADING the troop. I think he might even get to doff his cap or salute or whatever when they pass the President. And if that wasn't enough, my youngest brother's son's Boy Scout Troop has been selected out of all the troops in his region of New Jersey to provide community service at the parade.  So my family is representing quite well, thank you.
   But the broken foot thing prevents me from watching live curb-side with them. You can imagine the scene: crowds are huge, you have to get there hours in advance, and then stand, stand, STAND in the cold.  Looks like I'll be watching on TV like everyone else across the nation and around the world like I've always done. Maybe 2016? Nah, they'll all be grown up.
    Now on to the eats.
    Continuing with the 5Dinners1Hour.com. plan, I can easily whip out this menu.  I looked over the weeks from both the January list and some from previous months that I have paid for--weeks that I haven't used for one reason or another--and settled on TWO week's worth of menu-planning. I'm only gonna list one here now. You'll have to come on back next week for the other one! Oh, snap!
     Not surprisingly, I'm utilizing any and all shop-by-internet advantages I can find. My biggest groan right now is imagining thump-da-thumping with cane in hand through miles of grocery aisles while somehow also maneuvering a cart and then laoding and off-loading those bags. I hat doing it on TWO feet, much less one-and-a-half. So to avoid that, I am brushing off my dusty grocery-delivery account. I use Peapod by Giant for my service. (available in Maryland and PA; there are others out there.) Between the clearly written list on 5Dinners1Hour and the simplicity of the on-line browsing at Peapod, I can have two weeks worth of food picked out in less time than it takes me to drive to the brick-and-mortar store and back. Which is only fifteen minutes away. Clicked on yesterday, delivered to my counter-top today. And yes, you can use your coupons. Sweet.
    Now for the menu:

Monday

Leftovers to clean out for my 5Dinner cooking today

Tuesday

Roasted Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta
Mixed vegetables
Jasmine rice

Wednesday

Almond Crusted Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Sugar snap peas

Thursday

Slow-cooked beef stew
Green Salad
Whole Wheat dinner rolls

Friday

Date night (The youth group is going snow tubing at Ski Roundtop! )

Saturday 

DITK (Dad In The Kitchen!)

Sunday

Hoping to have a family dinner while all those celebrities are in town. In honor of refilling the Oval Office, we should at least have cherry pie!

What's on your menu? Anything patriotic? Find more menu ideas at Organizing Junkie and then get out those flags. Hail to the Chief (and all you chefs)!

Bird's-Eye View of the Week: Masterly Inactivity. Doctor's Orders!

If it weren't for the pain, I could get used to this house-bound thing.
   Our school week has been so relaxed. So easy. With my foot in a soft boot, and doctor's orders to stay off it, I am completely excused from spending valuable hours running us from activity to activity. This must be the ultimate Masterly Inactivity that Charlotte Mason advises.
   School takes place entirely from a big easy chair in the living room with sun pouring in from three sides. Hot tea in a Thermos, laptop on the ottoman, stacks of books on the floor and we are ready to go.The only thing to ice the cake would be if I could successfully build a fire.

Master Skylark. Scan for
 download to your device

  Our main focus this week has been making steady progress in the book, Master Skylark,  the tale of a country boy in Shakespeare's time, who runs away from home to London, not to join the circus, but the theater. He discovers, Dorothy-like, that there's no place like Stratford and his dear mother's arms. Along the way he is essentially abducted by Gaston Carew, a "master player" who makes many empty promises to let him go "tomorrow." Except, that day never comes because, in classic Shakespearean double-speak,  it never is Tomorrow, always Today! In fact the book is full of word-play, most of which goes right over Mei's head but nonetheless demonstrates, along with the thickly-spread descriptions of scenery, clothing, and action, the author's intelligent writing. It is another selection by Simply Charlotte Mason for Module 5 that Mei at first protested about because of its high literary style that includes heavy use of the Elizabethan tongue, but now begs to be read from. Fits in nicely with our affinity for Shakespeare and the theater too. (see our theater field trips!)       Available as a download to your device such as a Kindle or smart-phone with reader and appropriate for late-elementary through middle school.

Sample pages from the Atmosphere and Rock Lessons.

    The other subject that is commanding our attention is Science. I just am so pleased with Considering God's Creation .This publication, which has been around since the 90's, uses two books, one for me and one for thee (oops, can't lose that 16th century lingo!). It covers general science from a--Surprise!--creationist point of view following the seven days as laid out in Genesis. There are others that do that too, most notably Apologia's Exploring Creation and 106 Days of Creation. We tried Apologia last year with Day Six, Land Animals, but got so bogged down. There was just TOO MUCH of a good thing as far as we were concerned.
    Considering God's Creation is broken up into lots of short lessons with lots of hands-on stuff.Very easy to adapt to a multi-age setting or a co-op. There are extension ideas given with every lesson for deeper research for older students. The heart of it is the notebook that the student will create from the pages in the Student Book. It's all bound there with the mini-books ready to be filled in. I especially loved the solar system that hangs from a pop-up page! It also brings in other subjects from across the curriculum including Bible, music on a CD, vocabulary, and history lessons. A clever notebook page is entitled Science Detective, a fill-in-the blank form for researching those who have contributed to science in a notable way. Oral review questions and a crossword puzzle complete the units. For under $30, it has got to be the best science deal out there.

But the best part about our week of sofa rest has been seeing Mei involve herself in self-directed projects. She is currently making a 3-story dollhouse out of a large cardboard box. Today she is working out how to build staircases. I am totally uninvolved and she is totally loving it. Never would have happened if I was able to drive us to all the "important" stuff. Maybe I can keep on mastering masterly inactivity when I am more...active!

Cardboard townhouse.
Staircases ready to be installed.

   Have you ever taught more by NOT teaching? I need more ideas! Tell Mother all about it below and then head over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and see if anyone else mastered inactivity this week!

 

Considering God's Creation
by Eagle's Wings Ed