Homeschool conference giveaway

If you haven't heard of this by now get out from under that rock and check it out. Heidi from Review's by Heidi is giving away 5 tickets to go to this wonderful conference. This conference sounds so wonderful and the best part is you don't even have to leave your home and find daycare for your children or any of that. It's a virtual conference. How cool is that. You can check out more of it here
http://www.hotmconference.com/
And of course if you would like to enter Heidi's contest here is the link for that as well.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ReviewsbyHeidi/
Wish you guys lots of good luck.
Vanessa

Tybee Island

I just thought this was plain cute. There were little turtle statues all over the island. It was cute. I don't believe I got a picture of them though.

Tybee beach

Colin having a blast with some minnows and small clams.

Conner trying to get the hang of the boogie board. He had a really good time with it. He ventured some into trying to surf along the incoming waves ,I forgot what it was called, and he never did get the hang of it although he probably would have given just a few more days at the beach.

Austin comes in for a bit of suntanning. He tried the surfing too and fell and his back hurt for a few days. But he did try again after that.

What a great little place to find. It was either this beach community or Myrtle beach. I found all those tall skyscraper type hotels on Myrtle beach a bit "not what I have in mind for a beach". Then I happened upon this little community. It was just great. They don't have a wal-mart and we only saw one fast food joint. I think they are trying to preserve the island and not have it as commercialized. I loved that. There were still a million people there during the weekend we went but the beach is just so big that there is so much room.

The boys immediately head out into the water coming in only when we call them. Although Austin did come in once or twice to lay out in the sun-not that he needed it. I tried to talk them into building a sand castle but after being left to do it on my own it was just not as much fun. They tried boogie boarding and surfing along the incoming tide very close to the beach. It was quite hard and although they got much better at it they still didn't quite get it. I'm sure if we had spent just another week at the beach(alone) then they would have it down.

We walked along the beach and had sort of a school session, not really but now come to think of it yes it was. We talked about the tide going out and how far it had gone that it revealed a sandbar. How the sandbar had all these ripples and how the ocean current had formed them. We walked out quite a ways and lucked out and found several animals. We found a urchin(dead unfortunately) a sand dollar (dead also, fortunately for Austin who kept it). Chris showed them how to find sea snails which they did for about 45 min, I still can't believe they kept interest in that so long. Chris also showed them something else. Have you ever seen those holes in the beach close to the water and sometimes they sort of bubble???I never thought about it but apparently there are small little clams in there. So the boys dig and dig, they get quite good, and find the clams. Then Chris shows them something else that had me just dumbstruck. It was sooooo cool- I am such a big kid. If you put these little clams, no bigger then say your finger nail, you put them on the wet sand sort of sitting up and wait. It is the most bizarre thing. After a bit the little clam starts to shake and ,here is the craziest part, it shakes and that creates a hole and it disappears into the sand. How cool is that. Please stop laughing at me, okay it does sound ridiculous that I could be so astounded at such a simple thing and here my hubby says I'm expensive. The boys and I had the best time finding these clams, poor clams, and digging them up so we could see them dig/shake/rattle and roll(lol) their way back into the sand. This honestly kept us occupied for over an hour.

At one point we do head to the Marine Science Center. They have hands on exhibits. They do alot with the Loggerhead Turtles that nest there.The kids get to hold all sorts of neat stuff and they love it. They hold a sea star, sand dollar, horseshoe crab, hermit crab, sea snail among other things. They get to see several different turtles and what was once made with them back when it was still legal to kill them. The Center isn't all that big and it's right in front of the pier at the beach. But it is such an important resource. It helps find the nest of the loggerhead turtles and protects them. There are no lights allowed on the beach past 9 at night so the females coming on shore to lay their eggs will not be scared away.

We did walk down the pier and it was cool. People fish from there although it seems the fish aren't biting. The pier has several different concession stands and is really cute. The beach has lifeguards , which we assumed were paid by the community which was in turn getting that money from the revenue of the parking. It was $3 for I think 4 hours but hey I don't mind when I see life guards and good streets and a quaint community.

So many ideas came to from just going to the beach. WE could study any of the numerous animals/marine life we found and saw. We could look at the beach and its ecosystem or the tides and temperatures and such. What about the lighthouses?? that would be fun as well.

Beach

http://www.tybeemarinescience.org/

Tybee Marine science center

http://www.wetlandsinstitute.org/education/teacher/Beach_Exploration.pdf

Lesson plan for the beach

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/SEAGRANT/bmpm/coastal_ecosystems.html

Lesson plans based from hawaii beach, looks like upper level

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/14/g68/beachshark.html

National geographic lesson plan for going to the beach, shark related

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Ocean/

A to Z Ocean theme lesson plans. there are several different ones here at a few different levels encompasing all sorts of things ocean related.

http://www.teachingheart.net/beachteach.html

A fantastic resource for beach related things. Very well put together. The time it took I can only imagine.

http://search.enchantedlearning.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/search?key=beach

Enchanted learning- great stuff find what you want. I love this site.

http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit85/lesson1.html

Why we should clean the beach lesson plan, real cute has some virtues we can teach to our children

Loggerhead turtles

http://www.kiawahturtles.com/Loggerhead%20Facts/Lifecycle.htm

A bit about loggerhead turtles

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/seaturtle/

Great info and links about loggerhead turtles and other turtles as well. There is a wealth of info here.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/turtle/Seaturtlecoloring.shtml

Enchanted learning label of a sea turtle

http://savannahnow.com/node/361547

Scroll down and click on the interactive video, it has terms and it is very neat

Dolphins

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/unitssubjsci/p/sealesson6.htm

A whole lesson plan made by Beverly Hernandez. It's got really good stuff here

http://teacher.scholastic.com/dolphin/weblinks.htm

Some really great links to discover about dolphins and whales

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/dolphins.shtml

Enchanted learning dolphin stuff

I could go on and on but I'm sure you would be bored stiff, that is if you are still here. Anyway there is all sorts of great information out there. If you have found some outstanding stuff relating to anything here please let me know in the comments section and I will take a look.

Vanessa

Homeschool planner give away

At the homeschool lounge one of my friends noted this and so I am passing it on, Hurry the contest ends soon. I love these things. Thanks Angela and the Old schoolhouse.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/byourlove1
Vanessa

Ft. Sumter

My boys and I at the entrance of Ft. Sumter.
A galley of cannons

Father's Day took us to Ft. Sumter National Monument. Being on vacation I actually forgot till we got on the ferry, oops. Chris didn't seem to mind although I know he would have loved to go sunning on the beach. He seemed to enjoy the Ft. as well. The Ft. is in the middle of Charleston Harbor and is only accessible by boat. Before taking the ferry we visited the Visitor Education Center which has great interpretive displays and a great little shop. There is also the Aquarium right next door, but we did not have time for it. It took only about 15 min to get to the Ft. while we enjoyed the scenery of Charleston Harbor. The Ft. surrendered shortly after being attacked, about 34 hrs.It is bigger than Ft. Pulaski and has a museum on the grounds. You can see for miles from the top. There is officer's quarters they re-created and looked quite sparse.( gosh I sound so snobby). It's a beautiful Island. They still have several of the spots where cannons were fired and lodged or left a big dent in the fort. It truly transpires you back to that time.

You get a limited amount of time due to having to take the ferry there and back. Although 2 hrs seems like forever when you are walking the perimeter of the fort from the top and going through the museum that talks about the history of the fort it seems as though it took just minutes. It went very fast.

We rented John Adams from blockbuster. HBO made it and it is quite terrific. Be cautious though because there is nudity, it was made by HBO after all. If I had been taught history through this type of breathtaking film I would probably have had a lot more interest in the subject. As it stands I am intrigued by the films. The first one is leading up to and the writing of the Constitution. I think it would make an wonderful addition to any Revolutionary War history class/unit.

http://www.nps.gov/fosu/

Main website for ft.

http://www.nps.gov/fosu/forteachers/curriculummaterials.htm

Curriculum

http://www.charlestonscrealestate.us/

Web cams of Ft. Sumter and Charleston

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/battle-fort-sumter.htm

Great resource for a few different wars including the civil war

http://www.civilwarhome.com/ftsumter.htm

Has detailed official records and a breakdown of events.

http://www.tulane.edu/~sumter/

Vanessa

The 1st step is admitting you have a problem

Okay, okay I admit it. I am addicted. It's horrible. I can't help it. I know it and yet I can't seem to control myself. My name is Vanessa and I am a Photoholic. (head hanging in shame) yes, I took just shy of 400, ahem, 550 pictures on my two week vacation and I'm looking at my camera ready for more. lol.
Really though, that is alot of pictures and on the days my dh got the camera there was alot less snapping. The deal is that I had yrs of bad pictures when my boys were smaller and I think I am trying to make up for it. I figure I take at least two pictures of the same thing and if one doesn't turn out than I still have a back up copy. Seems reasonalbe right? Except then I get them all home and I love them all with very few exceptions.
So it would seem that I need two albums to cover one vacation. How crazy is that?? No I will definetly have to pare them down so i can fit them into one album. I think one album is sufficient for one vacation. Don't you?
Yes we went to many places and had plenty of photo opportunities but going through that many pictures has been a bit overwhelming. I love them all and have plenty of ideas surging through me ready to takle the huge task before me. I just hope my surge doesn't fall short of at least 80% complete.
How many pictures do you take when you are out an about, on vacation or at a special event? I tend to take on average of 70 pictures. My love of scrapbooking has geared me to look at pictures in a very different light then I used to. I look at thing and picture how I would do a layout and a title all right there in that snap of the photo. Then silly me I take months to get to those picture by which point I am struggling to figure out a title. Although I do have to admit that thinking about the layout has helped immensly since I find that fairly easy. I always keep in mind the odd number of photo's looks more pleasing on a page and that you want some standing and some sideways (the picture at different angles).
What are some of your addictions?? Go on you know of at least one, fess up.

Vanessa

Ft. Pulaski

On Cockspur Island in Georgia is Ft. Pulaski. Built to guard the river approaches to Savannah Georgia. 30 hours after being attacked by American forces the commander of Ft. Pulaski surrendered. After that Savannah was easy to take.


This Fort is just outside of Tybee Island and it is a great place to visit and partook a big part in history. We drove here and the boys really enjoyed seeing it. The best part was when they had a show with musket firings . It was really interesting to watch not to mention loud. The fort isn't all that big and they have places they recreated to look like what it might have back in those times.



http://www.nps.gov/fopu/

The fort website
http://www.nps.gov/fopu/forteachers/war-for-freedom.htm

A curriculum based on the importance of the fort
http://www.eparks.com/store/
Parks web based store (love it)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Pulaski
Great facts and pictures of the fort and its historical importance
http://fortpulaski.areaparks.com/parkinfo.html?pid=3933
Some info on the animals and such at the Island. Click on the Teacher link it has suggested reading and such there. Really nice addition to studying this place
http://www.quantumtour.com/entity/pulaski/
Virtual tour of the Fort
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_nm/ga_pulas.htm
A great outline/timeline of events at the fort

What a neat place to visit and include in your curriculum. If you have any neat places you think I missed that relate please let me know.

Vanessa

I'm baaack

Well vacation is over and I am still finding myself tired. It's funny I went to Germany twice a few yrs back and the time difference didn't bother me one bit. Everyone was a bit astounded I could get acclimated so quickly. This time we only had a two hour change and here it is two days after coming home and I am finding myself tired in the morning. And I'm one of those absurd morning people. Guess my age is catching up to me, lol.

We had such a great time. We did almost everything on our list. The only thing we didn't get to do was to eat at "Lady and Sons". My little chef ,colin, would have loved it but we went there at lunch time and they were booked till 9:15 that evening. We were going to try again but opted to head over to Hilton Head Island instead.

I tell you vacation is the best starting point for ideas on the next school year, Everyone should do it. We went to so many places and we spent quite a bit of time with Chris's side of the family. My mind just went crazy for the things we could study based on this trip. I estimate it could potentially take half the yr if not the whole yr.

Favorites among our family were the Dolphin tour and the beach. My personal ones were the historical places like Ft. Sumnter, Ft. Pulaski, Charles towne landing and old historical savannah. The historical part of savannah just about had me in tears. It is beautiful and to think about the pride of workmanship that went into building and how long it took back then is just amazing. It reminded me so much of Germany with it's old buildings that you just can't help but be in awe of. I have never been that into history, all those boring history teachers in school killed it for me. It was just never that interesting but being there and seeing it gives me a different perspective and I apreciate what people did then and want to learn about them too. I guess being a hs'er is getting me to like some subjects I didn't before. The dolphin tour was really cool. After learning where we could find dolphin's I was a bit upset at the "tour". Did you know that to find dolphin's just find a shrimp boat, when they discard the unwanted stuff they caught the seagulls and dolphins swarm the boat getting their fill for the day.

We spent a good bit of time at the beach and the boys literally went in when we got there and came out when we had to leave. They are definetly beach babies. The thought that kept going through me was you can read about the beach and it's diverse ecosystem but there is nothing like acutally being there and experiencing it, and it sticks so much better. So even hanging out at the beach was very educational. We found shells, conk shells, sea snails, jelly fish, horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs and even a sand dollar.

I have a gazillion pictures and we had them all put on disk but for some reason when I downloaded them they duplicated and got all wierd. So I have a few fuzzy versions and like 5 copies of the nice one. It is taking forever for me to go through them and erase the ones I don't need so it will be easier for me to make a slideshow, that I hope to share soon.

Oh one more thing, my boys love the junior ranger program and did it at Ft. Sumnter. I learned that if you are not able to actually go to the park itself you can still participate in the junior ranger program. They have a web junior ranger program. I love this program and how lovely to find that we can go to the parks virtually. It will be a wonderful addition to our homeschool. We have done junior rangers for some yrs now but somehow I never saw they did it online, perhaps its a recent venture. Sometimes the best things seem to escape me somehow. http://64.78.32.69/webrangers/
After playing around a bit on the webrangers page it isn't designed as I thought. You don't go to each park you do activites based on people, history, parks, animals, nature, science and puzzles. You may learn about a few parks at once. It is still really neat plus as I learned at the Great Sand Dunes some parks have great curriculums if you visit the parks sites.
http://www.nps.gov/

Vanessa