Our Unit Study of Trees–Part 1–Coniferous

Recently I was introduced to a great new method of homeschooling that really seemed right for my kids. It’s all about getting outside and doing a lot more hands-on stuff instead of just studying dry old textbooks and doing a lot of filling in the blanks.

So far it has really worked with our family so I wanted to share some of what we are doing. Today was the first day of our study of trees so I thought it was a great day to start.

It began with a discussion of the two different types of trees – Coniferous and Deciduous. We then began looking in our yard for Coniferous trees and, thanks to buying a house on a very wooded lot, we found three totally distinct types of evergreens. We took some pictures and gathered some samples and this is what we found on our first day then we ran inside to identify the three trees. After some searching we found this wonderful site that helped us ID what we had found - http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/tree-key/ . It took us a while to ID the Hemlock but we finally did using some other websites.

All in all we had a great first day and are looking forward to tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Eastern Hemlock

Eastern Red Cedar

Eastern White Pine

Keep checking back for some pictures of our lapbook (Jacob) and notebook (Joshua) and, of course, pictures of deciduous trees. Sometime in the future I will reveal more about the inspiration for our new study as well. Until then, maybe this will inspire you to get out and explore!

SmartKidz Media Library for Homeschoolers–A Schoolhouse Review Crew Review

 

Ladies and gentleman! Boys and girls! Step right up to the one. . .the only. . .SmartKids Media three ring circus. Featuring SmartKids Media and their wonderful online program SmartKidz Media Library for Homeschoolers as the producers; Joshua and Jacob as the performers; and me, Tim, as the ringmaster reviewing this wonderful homeschool resource.

Now, don’t get me wrong folks. SmartKids Media Library for Homeschoolers is nothing like a regular circus. This program is very well organized and there are no tricks, however, it is entertaining, does include animals and there are some funny elements. SmartKids Media Library for Homeschoolers is exactly as it’s name implies – a Media Library for Homeschoolers! But it’s much more!

Let me explain by announcing what is in each ring of my imaginary review circus.

 

In the center ring we have the wonderful, entertaining, and educational SmartKids Media – Family Media video and music library.

Jacob has loved the Animals and Wildlife collections. He has watched all of the Animal Journey series and many of the others. The Animal Journey series talks about amazing ways that animals migrate and even talks about the ways plants travel and grow in odd places. He has learned so much. He is looking forward to watching some of the Magic of Nature and Animal Babies videos. There are so many animal and nature videos to choose from!

Joshua, of course, loves all of the country videos. He has viewed many of the Travel and Adventure: Worldwide Discover videos that talk about different countries. He has even listened to some of the musical albums from the Music and Fine Arts sections. There are a lot of albums from countries from around the world. Russia has been his favorite so far (does that surprise anyone that knows Joshua?). What he is really looking forward to watching are the new history videos that just came out such as the series on World War 2 and the series on The Cold War. Oh, and we can’t wait for the U.S. History videos that are supposed to be coming out in the next month or so.
 

 

And then theirs Dad – you didn’t know that I was a performer in this circus also did you. Ah, but yes I am and there are many, many, things for adults as well. The cooking videos, for example, are what I am looking forward to perusing. And, of course, being a music major in college, I love the classical music albums that are available. Oh, and the relaxation music really helps me when I need to calm down. I have also enjoyed the Jazz and Blues Classics Collections. There’s also the section that combines famous paintings and artwork with the music of some of the great composers. And I haven’t even touched the science videos or the exercise videos yet! There are so many videos and musical selections to choose from (over 150) with more being added all of the time.

And that’s not all! Remember, this is a three ring circus review, not just a one ring circus! SmartKids Media Library for Homeschoolers has so much more to offer than just videos and musical albums.

 

In the ring to the left we have:

The Animated Ebook Collection – full of animated ebooks for mostly preschoolers and early elementary children. There’s the Aesop Fables collection and the Mother Goose collection as well as some song collections and even some Reading Readiness, Science and Bible Collection ebooks and some just plain fun ebooks.

The Baby Signs Collection – has videos on how to teach your baby sign language and some videos that help with potty training.

The My Animal Family Collection – has Video Storybooks, Fun Facts and Story Songs that are completely separate and different than the super animal videos that I talked about before.

The Quick Find Study Guides – are magnificent! These aren’t just small study guides either. They are full fledged guides for all kinds of Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts Topics (accounting and foreign language study guides are coming soon). The topics go from elementary to high school level.

And of course if we have a ring to the left we have to have a ring to the right! It features the following:

The Early Learning for Special Needs Section – is for kids who have disabilities or other special needs. It is designed to help children meet different goals and includes title such as “What is Money”, “What do We See on the Farm”, “Handwashing”, “Taking a Bus”, “Taking a Train” and books on different holidays, sequencing and many, many more topics. Most books include two levels – a “Hear the Book” level and an “Interactive” level.

The Living Skills Section – is being developed and coming soon!

The Ready, Set, Sing – section has all kinds of songs geared toward preschool and elementary kids to get them singing and having fun.

The Fun Zone – section has games, riddles and puzzles that your children can enjoy.
As you can see, there is so much to do with the SmartKidz Media Library for Homeschoolers that we have only touched on all that they have in the few short weeks that we have had this to review. Even if we could have watched and seen it all, they are constantly coming out with more things and developing more things. We are loving this and are so glad that we have it for a year to use! You really need to check this out. We have really enjoyed it!

To get to the SmartKidz Media website, just click on any of the highlighted links in this review. To see what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought click on the banner below. Happy watching…reading…game playing…puzzling…listening…oh, just HAPPY HOMESCHOOLING!


   

God’s Creation is, Indeed, Very Good–Scripture Sunday

 

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:31 (NASB)

I’ve been coming to Tennessee since 1983 and my second year here I was introduced to a beautiful lake situated on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky. Dale Hollow Lake has got to be one of the most beautiful lakes that I have ever seen. I love going to one of it’s many docks or someplace else on it’s 620 miles of shoreline and just enjoying God’s creation.

Today, after our morning services, our church went to the lake for a baptism, picnic and swimming. As usual, I marveled at God’s beautiful creation. God’s creation is, indeed, very good.

Thank you, Lord, for your creation. Thank you for making beautiful things like flowers, trees, lakes, water, and  all of your creation for us to enjoy. We praise you, God, for how wonderful your creation is.

Amen

Cades Cove and Pigeon Forge With Three Unique and Crazy Boys

I have written numerous posts about how we like to turn any time into an adventurous time with our kids. Any trip, even a trip to run errands, can be a field trip where a learning experience can happen. On this particular day journey we experienced three things: History, Nature and Engineering Ingenuity.  Have fun reading and remember that you can turn any trip into a learning experience too! 

We are very blessed to have Sarah's mom live close to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Oak Ridge is a unique town in and of itself, but is also very close to Knoxville and, of course, The Great Smokey Mountains National Park and the tourist towns near to it.

We love going to the Smokeys, especially to Cades Cove and today was a beautiful day to go. It also was a day ripe with opportunity for each one of the boys to show their unique personalities and their favorite things.

Joshua went through a short stage where he was fascinated with cemeteries - especially old cemeteries. Well, he has since moved on to other fascinations, but, as with most aspergers kids, once they've had an interest in something, the interest never totally goes away. We've explored the old graveyards in the cove before, but, today, he wanted to stop by one again. No one else wanted to explore, so it was a great occasion for just Joshua and me to spend some time together. I was amazed at the little things he remembers. As we were walking he mentioned that one of the graves up ahead has a picture of the person buried there on the grave marker. Sure enough, a few steps more and we saw it. He was very pensive and a bit sad as we looked at the head stones. He seemed to spot every marker where a child was buried. One section was especially somber as there were two tombstones side by side. One was for a baby girl born in September of 1916 and died two months later in November. The other was for a baby boy, brother of the little girl. He was born October of 1917 and died January 1, 1918. Two years in a row a mother gave birth to a baby only to lose the child a few months later.  Joshua and I had an interesting discussion about how hard life was back in those times for people who lived in the cove. It wasn't necessarily a depressing and morbid time that we spent walking, just a time for each of us to be together and reflect together. It was a good and special time.



A few miles further down the road we stopped at one of our favorite places - The Cades Cove Visitors Center. Although we knew it was Saturday, we had forgotten how much weekend activity there is at this beautiful spot that contains an old mill, forge, a settlers cabin and other historic buildings as well as the Visitors Center and shop. Today they were also having a lot of demonstrations and nature classes. We were blessed to make it just in time for the "WILD Program" which is a short talk on the wild things in the park. First a ranger talked about what the National Park Service was all about then another ranger set out several pelts and furs from animals found in The Great Smokey Mountains National Park. As she talked about each animal and pelt, all three boys were fascinated (as was I) but Jacob was especially enthralled. He is our resident animal enthusiast. Afterward, the ranger invited us up to touch the furs and ask questions. We were even permitted to try on the fox fur which, although from the park, was almost 100 years old and originally made to be a ladies stole. Later, Jacob wanted me to ask one of the workers how to become a National Park Ranger and then I bought a Junior Ranger Program book from the shop so that he could work on the requirements to become a Junior Ranger. Hmm. . .my son the National Park Ranger. . .I kind of like the sound of that.

As we were finishing the Cades Cove Loop the topic of discussion turned to what to do next. The day was still young so we decided to drive through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. When we mentioned Pigeon Forge, John Allen's ears perked up. Somehow, John Allen has become a fan of the Animal Planet television show "Tanked" where a group of aquarium builders are hired by different individuals or businesses to build a custom aquarium. John Allen remembered one show in particular where they were hired to build a special fish tank for the Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge and asked if we could stop by. So, off we went trying to find the dinner theater. We drove through part of Pigeon Forge and then Gatlinburg and finally decided to look the address up on my phone and plug it into the GPS. Soon, amongst great excitement from the boys, we arrived. The outside is fascinating by itself with live animals, porches with rocking chairs, and an outhouse that talks to you as you look in, but, then, you arrive in the lobby/gift shop area, and there stands the tank. It is shaped as a giant moonshine jug. All three, but especially John Allen, were thrilled to actually see a tank that was designed and built by the Tanked builders. Hey, I even thought it was pretty cool!

So, how much did this fun filled day cost? Well, outside of the gas and the picnic lunch that we bought at a grocery store, it was absolutely free. NO! I take that back. I spent $2.50 on Jacob's Junior Ranger book. So, there you have it - $2.50! I think it was money well spent for a great day with Grandma, Sarah, and especially our Three Unique and Crazy Boys.

If you want to find out more about any of the places we visited and make some memories with your unique and crazy kids just click on the highlighted links above.

Have fun and leave a comment to tell me all about your special time!

This post is part of the following great blog hop from the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Please click on the banner to check out other great nature studies for your homeschool from other great Schoolhouse Review Crew bloggers.






I also participated in: 

Please click the above link and check them out!

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh my!

I grew up to love the outdoors. I still remember camping with my family and I remember my dad choosing to take the scenic route when we traveled. There were times when our whole vacation was planned around the outdoors (as well as history, another one of my loves, but that is for another post). When I was young my dream was to either become a forest ranger or a zoo keeper. I was very blessed to have been to able to visit numerous zoos and aquariums by the time I graduated from high school. Still today I love the outdoors.

That is one of the reasons why Sarah and I really enjoy taking our kids to places that help them to appreciate the outdoors and nature. Of course our missionary work with Christian camps promotes appreciation of God's creation, but also, like my parents, we take our kids to zoos and aquariums whenever we can. In fact, my kids have seen a whopping twelve zoos (that I can think of right now) and three aquariums. Maybe in a future post I will attempt to list them all. It would be fun to find the websites and have the boys rate their favorites.

Just this past Saturday we had the great pleasure of visiting Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC. Once again the boys loved it as did their parents since it was free! Yes, all of the Smithsonian's facilities (at least the ones I've been to), including their museums and the National Zoo don't cost a thing.

John Allen said that he liked the monkeys and gorillas.

Joshua said that he enjoyed the snakes and the poison dart frogs.

Jacob's favorites were the lions and tigers.

Sarah and I enjoy all animals and really delight in watching our boys light up when discovering new things.

There are a couple of minor things that I must warn you about though.

First there is not a lot of parking for the zoo and the parking is a little pricey at $22 for the day. When doing some research, though, I found a really neat website called Parking Panda. Parking Panda is a site where you can actually reserve a parking place and not have to worry about finding a place in a crowded parking lot. We reserved a parking place about three blocks away from the zoo entrance and the price was just $21 - cheaper than actually parking at the zoo.

Second, the food at the zoo was rather expensive. Really, though, it was comparable to the prices of food at most zoos or similar attractions. The usual offers were typical fast food items but I will say that the food was very good and, you make up for it by not having to pay an entrance fee for the zoo.

Finally, the zoo is built on the side of a hill. The entrance we went in just happened to be at the top of the hill. We didn't notice that we were going down hill because there were so many animal exhibits and buildings to go into. However, once we were down we had to go back up! There were more animals and exhibits on another path going up, so there was a lot of stopping and looking, but we were still tuckered out by the time we made it back to the top. Thankfully our car was parked down the other side of the hill, so it was downhill after we left the zoo.

With that being said, I would highly recommend Smithsonian's National Zoo. Anything that the Smithsonian does is top notch and their zoo is no exception. This is one of the best zoos that we have been to and remember, we have been to a lot! As mentioned before, the price of the parking and the price of food is really not an issue when you think that you would spend that much just on entrance fees of most zoos.

I would also recommend using Parking Panda. Although our parking place was three blocks away, having a reserved space relieved the stress of hoping there would be a space available and driving around looking for one when you arrived. It was simple to go to their website, choose a lot and use a major credit card to reserve a space. Your confirmation is either emailed or downloaded once the reservation is made. Different parking lots do it different ways, but we parked in a hotel parking garage and all we had to do was show our confirmation download to the valet parking attendant when we were ready to leave and he opened the gate for us. It really was painless.

Click on the links above, explore and have fun. We sure did!

This post is part of the following great blog hop from the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Please click on the banner to check out other great nature studies for your homeschool from other great Schoolhouse Review Crew bloggers.







Spring has Sprung in the Tinkel Yard!

Spring actually sprung a couple of months ago but I am just now getting around to posting about it. The Tinkel's love spring. Oh, we don't love the occasional severe storms that come along with spring, but we love the flora and the freshness of spring. We are, by no means, great horticulturists. In fact, there are sections of our yard that are quite overgrown and need to be "taken back". We do, however, enjoy buying new plants and tending to them. Every year we add at least one rose bush and several other plants, bulbs or trees so that we have things that sprout, grow and bloom all spring and summer and even into the fall. Below are some pictures of this years crop of beautiful flowers!