New Elementary Anatomy/Physiology Course

For those of you looking for the absolute best elementary science courses, Apologia has them. They are the Young Explorer series written by Jeannie Fulbright. We have gone through 2 of them so far and will start our 3rd in May. They are just awesome and teach science in a way that is exciting and easy to do. Jeannie has written each book prayerfully and each one is from a young earth creationist point of view. Recently Jeannie announced that a new book would be out soon, Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology. Below is her description of the course as posted on the Elementary Apologia Yahoo group. I also recently posted a story about the beginnings of this book. If you haven't read it, here is the link: http://ghomeschool.blogspot.com/search/label/anatomy

God created humans in His image, and endowed us with a desire to learn about Him, about our world, and about ourselves. Studying God’s most marvelous and chief creation with Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology will give you and your students insight into God’s nature, imparting a greater appreciation of His amazing and miraculous handiwork. Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology is the sixth bookin the Young Explorer Series. Using the Charlotte Mason methodology, this elementary-level science curriculum gives students an introduction to the fascinating design of the human body. After briefly reviewing the history of the man’s attempts to understand the human body, students are taught about the highly complex, all-important cell. The book then discusses the main systems of the human body, discussing in detail the Skeletal, Muscular, Digestive, Respiratory, and Circulatory Systems as well as several others. The book culminates by tying it all together with the study ofGrowth and Development. Procreation is addressed in terms of DNA and genes.Throughout the book, students will have a wonderful time as they explore and learn with activities, projects and demonstrations that illustrate the concepts learned. They will dissect a chicken wing to learn about bones and ligaments, create a camera box to learn about vision, find their own arteries, veins and capillaries, build a stethoscope, investigate the genetics of inheritance, test their muscle strength, explore the five senses and much, much more.Throughout the course, students will enjoy adding illustrations of organs to their human body poster. They will also complete engaging and fun notebooking assignments to reinforce what they’ve learned.Throughout this fascinating field of study, you and your students will know that we are indeed, “Fearfully and wonderfully made,”

Jeannie

Snow Day!!!

Something Fishy

For Christmas, my friend gave me a fish tank. She had gotten a newer, bigger one, so I got her smaller one. I was pretty excited. I had had fish before, but I had never been able to keep them. I never knew how. Well, now I do, thanks to my friend. I have learned so much. First we got 2 albino catfish. They are cute and very active. They are always searching for food.

At the same time we also got 4 tiny little neon Tetras. They were also cool. There colors were amazing. However, they all died. Two got sucked to the filter intake and 2 just died. I think the last one died from a broken heart. He lost all his friends. So today, after checking all the chemical stuff in the tank and finding it fine, we got 5 new fish. We replaced the tiny Tetras with some bigger Bloodfin Tetras. They are white with red on their fins, ie bloodfin. They are very active also. They have no trouble with the filter intake. The picture below doesn't do them justice. It is hard to take a picture of fast moving fish from outside the tank.

Then we got one of my favorites, a Betta. Several months ago we rescued one from one of those tiny bowls at Wally World. He was red and we called him Red. He was beautiful, but we killed him due to ignorance. He is now fertilizing our apple tree. We loved Red and he was a beautiful fish, so we got another one. This one is blue. We call him Blue Ribbons. He looks like blue ribbons in the water when he swims. He is so cute, for a fish. He seems happy. I hope he makes a bubble nest soon. Red always made a bubble nest. That meant he was happy.

We will see how long we can keep these fish. I am very much a novice, but I have been researching and am learning. I'll keep you posted.

Kim

Christmas Fashion Show

Our Jesse Tree

Well, Christmas is over now and it is time to take down the decorations (at least it is at our house). As I was taking down the tree, I decided to take a picture of our other tree, our Jesse Tree. What is a Jesse Tree? There are several different answers to that, but the one I like the most is that it is based on Isaiah 11:1 - "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots" and is a way of teaching the Old Testament background for the Messiah, and showing how all of God's promises have been fulfilled. The Advent season is a wonderful time to reaffirm God's faithfulness, and the lessons of the Jesse tree help do so. I wanted each ornament on our tree to point to Jesus. That is a hard lesson. Some were rather easy, but some required much more thought and prayer. In the end it was a beautiful tree. My daughter loved the tree more than the regular tree. Each night(or every few nights, as the schedule permits) we would put on an ornament (or ornaments) and read out of the Bible and a bible story book. The story book took a long story and made it very short while keeping the main idea. We usually only read selected verses from the Bible, but sometimes the entire story came from it exclusively. This is a tradition we will keep and each year we will learn more and understand more as God opens our mind to his wisdom. Our list of ornaments came from http://ourjessetree.blogspot.com/ This lady has completely laid out the entire calendar with pictures of her ornaments. They are great ornaments, but you won't get them all in one year. It will take years of collecting to get them and that is great. It keeps our minds on the real reason for Christmas, Christ. Several ornaments you can make and we did. I did change one of her ornaments this year. Next year I might change more. I am seriously considering purchasing the devotional book from http://www.jesse-trees.com/devotional-book.html They also sell ornament kits, but they are pricey. I like the idea of making/collecting our own over the years. We printed out our own on cardstock as we needed them and just hung them with a hook. You can google Jesse tree ornaments and get lots of picture ideas.

Gymnastics Funmeet

Gymnastics Funmeet

Tyler "competed" in his first ever Gymnastics funmeet. He did quite well for to have only taken lesson for 3 months. There were 4 categories. He got a ribbon in each and a trophy at the end. We are so proud of him!!!

Singing Sweeties!!!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Well, my friend, Amanda, is a genius!!!!! She took her video camera to Bible Study this week and captured the above video of our kids singing. They did awesome, even when the cd skipped. Thanks, Amanda, for sharing with us. Enjoy!!