Homeschool Resources: Apologia Science

I have not been shy about admitting my deficiency in the realm of science.  That's my husband's strong suit, not mine.  So, you can probably imagine that teaching science to my kids is, well, somewhat intimidating.  How do I deal with this?  I just try to be completely open and honest about what I know, which is to say very little, and what I don't know, which is to say a whole lot. 

Being a non-science person, though, I found the idea of choosing a science curriculum overwhelming.  Fortunately, my husband was willing and eager to help me.  Something that is important to me in teaching science is that we worship the Creator as we study his marvelous creation.  Apologia Science helps us do just that.  From beginning to end, it is evident that the author loves God and his creation.  While it appears that you can begin wherever you want in this science curriculum (zoology, astronomy. botany, anatomy), we chose to start with Zoology 1, which covers flying creatures, including birds, bats, insects, butterflies and moths. 

The material includes a schedule which you can follow to complete the Zoology 1 course in 28 weeks, although you by no means need to follow this schedule.  Each chapter is packed with information about flying creatures as well as hands-on projects and experiments.  Creation Confirmations or things that we observe in flying creatures that evidence that they have been designed by an Intelligent Creator are included throughout the text.

I recommend purchasing the notebooking journal along with the text.  It has pages for students to write down important information from the chapter as well as record the results from their science projects and experiments.  There are even places for the students to draw pictures!  For each chapter, the notebook includes review questions, a crossword puzzle and copywork (a Bible verse that relates to the topic of that chapter) also.  Plus, there is a mini-book for the student to complete for each chapter.  The mini-book activities combine creativity with review and have been a lot of fun for Mary, as have the crossword puzzles.  She gets that from Gramps.

How do we use this curriculum?  We pretty much follow the suggested schedule.  I read the appropriate section aloud to Mary.  We take frequent breaks to discuss things that we found really interesting and record them (sometimes Mary wants to do this and sometimes I write what she dictates).  Usually, I can just let her loose with the copywork, review questions, crossword puzzle and mini-book activity, but sometimes we work on those things together because we enjoy working together.  We honestly haven't completed every experiment because, well, it was really difficult to do that with Matthew and Jonathan, but we are planning to complete the experiments in the spring.

I really love this curriculum and am definitely planning on continuing on with Zoology 2.  The author communicates her love for God and his creation on every page and writes in such a way that excites the reader, too!  This book has inspired us in many ways.  We now enjoy identifying the birds that come to our bird feeder, looking for eggs on the underside of leaves and even watching ant behavior (from a distance--they are fire ants after all)!

Life Has Gotten Significantly More Complicated

Life in the Mobley home has gotten significantly more complicated!  These boys are on the move and get into lots and lots of trouble in a hurry.  They each get around in ways that could be characterized as non-traditional, inefficient, different, unique, unusual or novel!  No matter what word you use to describe it, they clearly can go from point A to point B.

Jonathan reminds me of a seal.  He pushes himself up on his hands.  Then, he proceeds to lifts one hand, then the other back and forth for a while.  Then, he does a big push up and lunges himself forward, flops on his belly and repeats this action until he gets where he wants to be. 

Matthew is a bit more complex.  He can only operate in reverse.  Instead of being discouraged by his inability, he clearly makes the most of his ability.  If he wants to get to something in front of him, he turns himself halfway around, moves backward and turns himself around again.  

While neither one can get anywhere too quickly, they are both so delighted with their newfound mobility.  Fortunately, I have two excellent gatekeepers:)

Picture Books We Love: Green Eggs and Ham

Some of you may have been wondering when I was going to get around to a Dr. Seuss book.  I LOVE reading Dr. Seuss' books to my kids.  They enjoy the rhymes so much and the whimsical illustrations, too!  We have many, many, many Dr. Seuss books and I was delighted to find Green Eggs and Ham in a stack of books that a friend gave us a while back.  I don't know if I can pick one of Dr. Seuss' books to be my favorite, but this one has a special place in my heart because I remember reading it over and over as a child.

Sam tries to offer green eggs and ham to Mr. No Name and simply will not take no for an answer.  He persists in offering them in different ways, like on a boat or in a tree or with a mouse.  Finally, just to get Sam to stop pestering him, Mr. No Name tries them and finds that he does like them!  I thought after reading this book that I would try to get more veges into my kids by making green eggs, a.k.a. spinach quiche.  It didn't go over very well, but we still love reading this book!  When my kids are leery of trying something new, I remind them of Mr. No Name, who thought he would not like green eggs and ham but found out he did.  Sometimes it helps; sometimes it doesn't.

Do Cats Go To Heaven?

Our diabetic cat, Abraham, affectionately known as Abey, has taken a turn for the worse.  He has not eaten all day.  He has been lying around, moaning.  His eyes look funny and he moves very slowly.  He has not even made his mad dash for the running water.  All this made me think that it's time to prepare the girls for the possibility of his passing.

Mary's immediate reaction was, "If Abraham dies, can we please get a cat that looks just like him?"  Later, we were painting and she painted a cat with the caption, "Our cat Abraham."  Then, she asked me if we could keep the painting forever to remember Abraham.  Just when I was regretting my decision to prepare the girls for this future event, Mary asked, "Do cats go to heaven?"  So, I thought for a while and then concluded, "I don't know." I explained my thought process.  Cats do not have souls like humans do.  They do not have the ability to choose to obey or disobey God.  They follow their natural instinct, which is to always obey God.  So, God certainly won't punish them--that would be unjust.  On the other hand, I don't necessarily know that sinless cats will be in heaven either.  They may be or they may not be.  But, I believe that when we get to heaven, our eyes will be so transfixed by the beauty of the Lord that we won't notice the presence or absence of our furry friends:)

Enchilada Casserole Recipe

Years ago when we still lived in California, our church put together a book of crockpot recipes.  One of the recipes included was Enchilada Bake.  Of course, I can't seem to leave a recipe alone, so I have modified it over the years.  While I like my food spicy, my kids don't, so this recipe is very mild to suit their palates.  David and I like to add some spice to ours with hot sauce, salsa, or Tony's, whatever we have on hand.  If you like your food spicy (and don't have kids who prefer theirs mild), then you'll want to add more spice.  I make this often because everyone loves it!  Just posting this recipe is reminding me of all the yummy Mexican food we enjoyed in California.  I so wish we had a  Dos Coyotes here!!!

Ingredients:
1 lb. dry pinto beans, cooked
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 t. bottled minced garlic
1 lb. frozen corn
28 oz. canned diced tomatoes
1 t. chili powder
1 t. cumin powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
corn tortillas

1. Saute onion, green pepper and garlic.
2. Add corn, tomatoes, spices and cooked beans and heat.
3. Place 2-3 tortillas in bottom of crockpot (depending on size and shape of your crockpot).
4. Cover with a portion of bean mixture and a portion of cheese.
5. Repeat layers as many times as you like and add remaining cheese on top.
6.  Cook on low for 6 hours.

Making Up for Lost Time

I think my little guys with big heads are really trying to make up for lost time.  This is what they ate yesterday (in addition to nursing six times):

• 1/2 cup uncooked quick oats (cooked of course)
• 1 banana 
• 1 avocado
• 1 cup of tomato corn soup
• 1 piece of cheesy cornbread
• 2 egg yolks
• the leftover breakfast oatmeal~3/4 cups cooked (no honey of course)
• 4 oz. whole milk yogurt
• another cup of tomato corn soup
• another piece of cheesy cornbread
• some cheese cubes (Matthew was not a fan, so Jonathan ate all of it)
• another 4 oz. whole milk yogurt
• an inestimable quantity of apple sauce (added to oatmeal, avocado, yogurt, eggs...I know it  sounds really gross, but they love it!)

I don't know if increasing our grocery budget by $50 a month is going to be enough, but, honestly, that doesn't matter to me.  I am just so happy that these guys are gaining weight and seem like normal Mobley babies now!

Our Diabetic Cat

Meet our cat, Abraham!  Fairly recently, little Abey lost a lot of weight and became very lethargic.  I know, it's kind of funny to describe a cat as being lethargic, but he was.  I also noticed that we were going through a lot more cat litter than usual.  So, David took this little guy in to see the vet.  Turns out, this little guy has diabetes.  Who knew that cats could get diabetes?  And why doesn't our health insurance cover our cats???

So, what do you do for a cat with diabetes?  We give him insulin injections twice a day and feed him special prescription cat food designed for diabetic cats.  Since we have the two cats but only Abey has diabetes, we also have to be careful that he doesn't eat Sarah's food and that Sarah doesn't eat his food.  This has had a positive effect on both kitties because they eat less:)

The diabetes has had two other surprising effects on our furry friend.  First, he is drawn to running water.  OK, he has always had a strange affinity for running water, but we are talking drawn in the sense of addiction, like I will do anything to get that water.  Now, think about it.  When I run water to wash dishes, he meows and tries to jump into the sink.  He even jumped into the bathtub once, when it had water in it!

This little guy has also become a carnivore!  One day, the boys made a huge mess with the chicken they ate for lunch.  Before I was able to clean it up, the mess was gone!  Thanks, Abe, for lightening my load!  Not only that, but many a cockroach has met an untimely death in the clutches of Abraham!  Hooray for our diabetic cat!!!