Homeschool Days: Glow Science

This week we attended Homeschool Day at our local science center. They performed engineering challenges! Activities included building with glow sticks, making glow slime, decoding blacklight secret messages, and making a glow-in-the-dark macaroni necklaces.

First/Second Grade

Well, I failed at my attempt to update more frequently. I am now into my second year of homeschooling. I concentrated more on reading and math last year so we've picked up where we left off.

We use a lot of supplementary books so I'll just list the major resources used. Math is the only subject in which I follow the sequence given. Mostly, I use workbooks as a guide of what to cover. I am currently using the following:

CTCMath

Health, Safety, and Manners 2

The Complete Book of Spanish, Grades 1 - 3

DK Workbooks: Geography, Second Grade

The Good & the Beautiful Language Arts & Literature (also covers writing, art, and geography)


Social Studies/History & Science mostly consists of topical studies using books, videos, games, projects, and field trips.

Field Trip: Publix

Yesterday we visited a local Publix grocery store for a “behind the scenes” tour.

The live lobsters in the meat department was a hit!

Florida Governor's Mansion

Friday we toured Florida Governor's Mansion. This is the second mansion constructed and is about 13,000 sq ft, situated on 4.9 acres. The first mansion was made of wood and therefore unsuitable for Florida's weather. We learned how the Governor’s Mansion is both a museum of Florida history and a residence for the Governor. Artifacts on display include the USS Florida Silver Punch Bowl, St. Augustine artifacts from the 14th-18th centuries, and undersea artifacts during Florida's Age of Exploration.

Living History - 1880s

Last week, we learned about farming in the present. This week, living history interpretation of an 1880s farm.

*Blacksmithing *Cooking in a farmhouse *Wood carving *Grinding sugar cane *Syrup making

Florida's Emergency Operations Center

Today we toured Florida's Emergency Operations Center. This Center is used whenever the Governor declares a disaster in Florida. On our guided tour, we learned about emergency management, meteorology, and weather safety.

White Oak Pastures

Last week we visited White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA - a 150 year old, multi-generational family farm. They are the only farm in the United States that has both beef and poultry abattoirs on the property. We observed the beef and poultry abattoirs, biddy and bunny barn, egg candling machine, greenhouses for potatoes, and 6 acre organic vegetable farm. After the tour, we enjoyed lunch at the White Oak Open Air Restaurant, featuring food grown and raised right on the farm. Monday - Saturday, the restaurant primarily feeds their 100+ employees.
And daddy joined us this time around. ;-)