Homeschooling

The Butterfly House

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J+M+J

Today, our family went to a class for some homeschoolers at our local butterfly house. It has been many years since I have been to the butterfly house, and I was looking forward to going there. No butterflies landed on me, but I didn’t care, because many posed nicely for my camera. Here are the pictures

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Alexander is holding a butterfly chart in his hands. If you look closely, you will see that there is a butterfly on his right shoulder.

Alexander is holding a butterfly chart in his hands. If you look closely, you will see that there is a butterfly on his right shoulder.

 

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This is a White Kite butterfly that I found coming out of its chrysalis. In this first picture, it has just cracked the chrysalis skin.

This is a White Kite butterfly that I found coming out of its chrysalis. In this first picture, it has just cracked the chrysalis skin.

Now it is a little farther out of its shell.

Now it is a little farther out of its shell.

Finally, after a tremendous amount of squirming, the butterfly manages to escape its chrysalis. Its abdomen is filled with fluid that it will pump into its currently wet and crumpled wings. Then it will be prepared to soar!

Finally, after a tremendous amount of squirming, the butterfly manages to escape its chrysalis. Its abdomen is filled with fluid that it will pump into its currently wet and crumpled wings. Then it will be prepared to soar!

This is a butterfly which has recently emerged from is chrysalis. He wants out of the glass box that holds the chrysalids.

This is a butterfly which has recently emerged from is chrysalis. He wants out of the glass box that holds the chrysalids.

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This is a gorgeous Blue Morpho butterfly

This is a gorgeous Blue Morpho butterfly

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This is an Owl Butterfly, which gets its name from the eye spots on the outside of its wing

This rude little butterfly is standing on an Owl Butterfly at the fruit dish.

This rude little butterfly is standing on an Owl Butterfly at the fruit dish.

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Goodbye to Bees

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J+M+J

St. Margaret’s annual spelling bee was today. Unfortunately, it was my last. If I had won the oral spell down I would have been able to go on to the city bee, but alas, I have been mispronouncing the word hamster all my life, which caused me to spell it h-a-m-p-s-t-e-r.

This is the word list for the written portion of the bee:
baton
gestapo
pollimer (polymer)
spherical
autopsy
hydralic, (hydraulic)
finale
physique
rhetoric
platou (plateau)
shrapinal (shrapnel)
angstrum (angstrom)
susceptible
tritium
segue (pronounced segway)
idiom
harpsichord
cauliflower
charlotton (charlatan)
archipelago
quiche
camouflage
Fahrenheit
sasparilla (sarsaparilla)
dashund (dachshund)

The written spelling bee went much better for me, as usual. I won, with 17 out of 25 words correct. I have won first in the written section five times, and second once. I have only gotten first in the oral bee once, and I also got third place once. That one time I won in 6th grade enabled me to go the the city bee, where I tied for fourth out of ninety three 5th-8th graders. I won a two foot tall trophy.

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My last geography bee was on Dec. 2. It takes two wrong questions to get out, and I didn’t know what state had Myrtle Bay in it (South Carolina), or where General Lee had surrendered to General Grant, (Virginia). I won last year, and went to the state bee where I answered five out of eight questions right.

Here is a picture of the medals and ribbons I have won in the past:

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Drama Camp

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J+M+J

Drama camp takes place every year at the beginning of June. Over a hundred homeschooled children meet from nine to eleven for four-to-five days, depending on the age of the child, and rehearse plays. This year, I was in a play about St. Genesius of Rome, the patron saint of actors. He was an actor in the emperor’s band of actors, until, that is, it was found out he became a Christian and was beheaded. The play was a play within a play, so at times the actors were rehearsing the play of Saint Genesius, and at other times, the director, who was played by me, was talking to them about how the play could be better. I successfully avoided getting a bad case of the vomiting sickness going around the house (everyone but me and Dad got it bad) and was able to be in the play on friday night. Everything went really well, and I spoke loud enough that everyone could hear me in the back row. That can be difficult because the acoustics aren’t very good in the school gym where we perform the play. I was very thankful that I was able to avoid the sickness and take part in the eighth annual drama camp.

Dance Rehearsals

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Well, I am both happy and sad to end this week. With two dress rehearsals, two recitals, and a friend’s recital to watch, I have been busily occupied, and it is always nice to have a little break. I am sad to be done with ballet for this school year, sad to be done with this year’s dance that I shall no dance again, and sad that I will not wear my costumes again. But next week, next week is the Homeschool Drama Camp, and I am looking forward to prepare a play for my parents to see. Tomorrow is June, and Summer’s beginning.

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Geography Bee Test Results

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In late November, there was a geography bee, which I won. Because I won, in early January, I took a test to see if I qualified to get into the state Geography Bee. 5,500 winners of school level bees across South Dakota took this same test. Out of that number, 93 children got to to the South Dakota state bee. I was one of those 93. April fourth I go to Brookings, SD (about one hour from Sioux Falls) to participate in the South Dakota State Bee.

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Cancelations

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Today my science and literature classes were canceled because of the snow, which is not coming down very hard. Many people have to drive in from other towns and the country. I suppose the road conditions are worse for them.

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Catch-up

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I haven’t blogged for a few weeks, so I’ll just catch up in this post.

Early January, I’m pretty sure we had the January thaw. The January thaw is a warmer period in early January for the great plains region (in other areas it comes later in the month) that usually follows very cold weather.

I had fun putting together a puzzle that I got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Dykhius:

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The next week there was the spelling bee. I got second place in the written test and third place in the oral spell down. I got out on the word rebellion (I am really mad at myself) making the same mistake I made in the city spelling bee last year, not spelling it with two l’s.

Then I came down with the worst sore throat of my life. I had body aches, a headache, vomiting, a fever, and a horrible sore throat. I couldn’t even drink water! It turned out to be Strep Throat.

I got on an antibiotic and it went away in time for my grandparents on Dad’s side to come over. Dad made a big Chevy’s (a great mexican restaurant) dinner with salsa, corn pudding, churro beans, fajitas, and guacamole from recipes in the Chevy’s cookbook. It tasted great! We opened up presents and I got this to add to my mounted atlas moth:

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Geography Bee

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Today I won the geography bee! There were only five people I was competing against, but the questions were hard. I got three wrong, and I was asked around fourteen to fifteen. There were several questions I never thought I would get right. The first was, “Persian rugs are often decorated with flowers and ornate geometric designs. They originated in which present day country?” I knew that the empire of Persia turned into Iran, but I thought maybe the empire was so vast that it expanded over one of Iran’s neighbors, and that the rugs originated in that part of Persia. Iran was my best answer, though, and it was correct. The other question was more difficult, and I almost said the wrong answer. The question was, “India is bordered to the north by two landlocked countries. Name one of them.” I almost said China, but I remembered it wasn’t landlocked. Nepal was a tiny country that bordered China to the south, but did it border India? It did. The other answer I could have given was Bhohal, another tiny country, of which I have never heard.

To prepare for the bee, I played computer games on a site that I have in my blog roll. I practiced being able to see the outline of a state and knowing what state it was, and where it was at. That came in handy more than once, not only when we were given a map to answer questions about but being able to visualize the state in my head. I listened to a song that had all the capitals of the USA, but I never needed to know that. I studied rivers, lakes and mountains in the USA, and I used that twice. It is very hard to prepare for the bee, though, because the field of Geography is extremely broad.

Sometime between now and January I will take a test, and if I get higher than a certain score, I will go on to the state bee. I am reading lots of books on countries!

A+M+D+G

The All Saints Eve Party

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J+M+J

Each year on Halloween, Saint Margaret’s Fellowship hosts an All Saints Eve Party. Children dress up as a saint and play saint related games such as: St. Peter’s Fishing Hole, Saint Bingo, and St. Therese’s Rose Toss. There is also a parade of saints and a Litany of Saints where children say the name of their saint and everyone responds, pray for us.
This year, I was Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha. I made my own costume and Maria’s St. Joan of Arc costume and Alexander’s St. John the Baptist costume.
My friend Grace and I were in charge of Pin the Bread in St. Elizabeth’s Basket (inspired by the way St. Queen Elizabeth secretly took bread to the poor) and the Halo Toss. First I ran the bread game. The tape on the bread was so worn out it wouldn’t stick to the picture of St. Elizabeth, so I had to constantly grab the bread from all over the place along with tying the blindfold on. Then Grace and I switched, and I worked at replacing the heads and wings on the angels that wouldn’t stay until the party ended. It was fun work.

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St. Joan of Arc, ready to lift the siege of Orleans, crown her dauphin, and free France from the grip of the English!

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St. Tarcisius, zealously guarding the Blessed Sacrament from the Romans!

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“Make straight the way of the Lord!”

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St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the stormy river.

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Putting the blindfold on Alexander while Maria looks on.

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The pumpkin I carved all by myself picturing the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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Joseph investigates a wingless angel.

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Caught in the act of stealing the head!

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Miss Sarah

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Today I started my first job as a teacher.  I am in charge of non-syllabus science projects for Maria and John Paul.  My little pupils minded me quite well in our first session, though Maria made it clear when I told John something that she already knew that, and was bored (I am not even sure she did; Mom dosen’t think she did).  She got caught up in our class as we went along.

First I had Maria and John take a composition book and I wrote that it was their science journal on the front.  THen we began the ‘spearament’, as Johnny would say.  We unbent paper clips and rubbed them on a strong magnet until they were magnetized, then I explained to them that the atoms inside the paperclip, which had been unorganized in random fashion before stroking, were now lined up in neat rows. (I used a whiteboard to draw a model).  We then poked the magnet into a cork and floated it on water, and when it pointed north I told my pupils about the poles in the magnet.  Then we wrote a paragraph about the experiment and both little artists drew a picture of the atoms in the paper clip before and after it was magnetized.  They then glued them in their journals.  John narrated the whole thing fairly well to dad, who called from work to listen to John tell about it.

John and Maria are looking forward to having class next week.  I am planning on making lemon juice and baking sodamoving rockets and cars. I am keeping this a surprise.

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My Book is Done!

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J+M+J

 

Today I finished my book, The Tanaka Sisters.

 

Tanaka Sakura is a ten-year-old Japanese girl living in WWII. When a bomb is dropped on her house, killing their mother, Sakura and her four sisters must journey to an orphanage. But Sakura and her sisters will not be together for long. They will soon be adopted, each going to a different home.  Through it all, Sakura clings to her dream that they will one day be together again.

 

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Joseph’s Favorite Room.

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Today, thanks to a carpet cancellation, the carpet people came at eight o’ clock.   They finished installing it about ten thirty, then every child poured in to the room.  The baby gate was taken down with as much joy as the Wall of Berlin.  The most happy one was Joseph.  He has spent the time from when the door was taken down to now trying to get into the school room.  Now he happily joins the other children in playing on the fresh carpet.

 

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