Science: Geology

Here is a list of books we used in our unit on Geology. I used the Geology badge in American Heritage Girls as our outline, so I'll reference the requirements, just in case your daughter is an Explorer in AHG, also.

Identify 10 rocks (requirement #8)

• Can You Find These Rocks? by Carmen Bredeson
• Rock Study: A Guide to Looking at Rocks by Steven M. Hoffman

Do a Perc Test (requirement #9)
Learn about the water cycle (requirement #10)

• The How and Why Book of Weather by George Bonsall --pages 23 - 25
• Understanding Cycles and Systems by Andrew Solway -- pages 14 - 15

Grow crystals (option #11)

• Here's the recipe we used 

Learn about sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks (option #12)

•  How do Water and Wind Change Rock?: a Look at Sedimentary Rock by Ellen Lawrence
• Baking and Crushing: a Look at Metamorphic Rock by Ellen Lawrence
• How do Volcanoes Make Rock?: a Look at Igneous Rock by Ellen Lawrence
• These books are park of the Rock-ology: the Hard Facts about Rocks series. I would highly recommend reading all the books in the series. They are easy reads with lots of photos and other illustrations.
• The Beauty & Mystery of Water by Hans Walter Silvester -- lots of pictures to look at and marvel over

Learn about caves, etc. (options #13)

• Exploring Caves by Melody S. Mis
• The Science of a Sinkhole by Robin Koontz
• Caves and Caverns by Gail Gibbons
• Caves: Mysteries Beneath Our Feet by David L. Harrison
• Into the Earth: the Story of Caves by Meredith Costain
• Caves by Marcia Zappa
• The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully
• Virtual tours of caves/caverns
• Ohio Caverns
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Lascaux Caves

Here are some other books that may enhance your geology unit.

• How Do People Use Rocks?  by Ellen Lawrence
• What are Rocks Made Of? by Ellen Lawrence
• Crystals by Richard and Louise Spilsbury
• Landslides, Slumps, & Creep by Peter Goodwin
• Investigating the Rock Cycle by Mary Lindeen
• Erosion and Weathering by Willa Dee
• Earth Evidence by Michael Martin
• Erosion: Changing Earth's Surface by Robin Koontz

Science Ideas

I'm starting a list of books that I think would be great to use for science.

• 50 Gardening Projects for Kids by Clare Bradley
• Understanding Cycles and Systems by Andrew Solway

Fifth Grade, History, Set Four

We covered 1957 - 1967.

• Vietnam War
• Tough Choices by Nancy Antle -- this is in the Once Upon America series
• The Vietnam War by Michael Burgan -- an interactive modern history adventure
• Sing for Your Father, Su Phan by Stella Pevsner 
• The Vietnam War by Tom Streissguth -- we did not read the whole thing, because I felt the interactive book had covered most of it
• Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam by Walter Dean Myers -- a picture book that portrays the uncertainty of knowing who was the enemy 
• Civil Rights
• Riding to Washington by Gwenyth Swain -- a picture book about the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech.
• The Bus Ride That Changed History by Pamela Duncan Edwards -- a picture book about Rosa Parks, the bus boycott, and the supreme court ruling
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have A Dream Speech in Translation by Leslie J. Holland -- because the speech is so long, we mostly just read the translation
• As Fast As Words Could Fly by Pamela M. Tuck -- picture book about desegregation 
• Who Was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? by Bonnie Bader -- I had K. read this book on her own because she really likes this series
• Mayfield Crossing by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson -- this is a really good book. It is about prejudice, desegregation, baseball, and is very well written and was enjoyed by both student and parents.
• Witness to Freedom by Belinda Rochelle -- we started reading this book before, and I wanted to read the whole thing, but we didn't get to it
• What Was Your Dream, Dr. King? by Mary Kay Carson
• Life in the Time of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement by Terri DeGezelle
• The Passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Xina M. Uhl
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Jason Skog 
• Space Race
• Godspeed, John Glenn by Richard Hilliard -- picture book about John Glenn, the space race, NASA, and more
• NASA by Marcia Zappa -- the history of NASA
• The Race to the Moon by Allison Lassieur -- this in an interactive history adventure
• John Glenn, Young Astronaut by Michael Burgan -- this is in the Childhoods of Famous Americans series
• Race to the Moon by Steve Parker
• Alan Shepard by Tamra B. Orr 
• Thurgood Marshall
• A Picture Book of Thurgood Marshall by David A. Adler -- this is another really well written and illustrated book in Adler's Picture Book Biography series

• John F. Kennedy
• The Brothers Kennedy by Kathleen Krull -- a picture book with a lot of information about the Kennedy brothers, Joe, John, Robert, and Edward
•  John F. Kennedy by Mike Venezia -- these books are always full of good information and enjoyable to read
• Who Was John F. Kennedy? by Yona Zeldis McDonough -- K. enjoys this series, so I had her read it on her own
• Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy by Doreen Rappaport -- another picture book, but I thought we had read enough about him, so we skipped this one
• The Cuban Missile Crisis by Gary Jeffrey -- this is a "graphic" history
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Lyndon B. Johnson by Mike Venezia -- interesting to read about his life
• Lady Bird Johnson by Joanne Mattern

• Other events
• Miranda Rights
•  Miranda v. Arizona by Michael Burgan -- I read the first part of the book, then told K. about the issue and how it came about that they always read the person their rights on Adam-12.
• The Beatles
• The Beatles by Mike Venezia -- good book to learn how this music group came to be and became famous
• Escape from Alcatraz
• Breakout!: Escape from Alcatraz by Lori Naskins -- this is a Step Into Reading book, so is well illustrated, easy to read, and interesting
• Super Bowl
• Super Bowl by James Buckley, Jr. -- we read the parts about the beginning of the Super Bowl
• The 1960s: Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan -- these books are always good to page through. Usually we have already covered everything in them, but sometimes there is something we haven't read about.

Fifith Grade, History, Set Three

In this Set, we are covering 1945 to 1956.

A Child's History of the World, chapters 88 - 90

Topics and the books we used (or may use at another time):

• Philippines Independence
• All About the Philippines by Gidget Roceles Jimenez -- pages 8 and 9
• Jackie Robinson
• Who Was Jackie Robinson? by Gail Herman
• Jackie Robinson by Josh Gregory -- this is in the A True Book series; we didn't read it because the book in the Who Was...? series covered his life thoroughly.
• The Roswell Incident
• UFOs by Judith Herbst -- only read the section about the Roswell Incident
• The CIA
• The CIA by Brendan January -- read about why the CIA was started
• Truman Doctrine
• Harry S. Truman by Jim Hardgrove -- we read only that pages about the Truman Doctrine
• Invention of the Polaroid Camera 
• Edwin Land: Photographic Pioneer -- actually read most of this book. After he invents the Polaroid camera, he goes on to other things, but we stopped there.

• Truman/Dewey Election Upset
• Harry S. Truman by Heidi M.D. Elston -- pages 24 and 25

• Cold War
• The Alger Hiss Trial by Doreen Rappaport -- saving this for high school
• Candy Bomber by Michael O. Tunnell -- also for high school
• Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Theis Raaven -- very good picture book story.
• The Berlin Airlift by Michael Burgan -- did not read all of this. It seemed we were repeating ourselves.
• A Night Divided by Jennifer a. Nielsen -- I read this, it is scary in some places and sad in others, but is very good. Saving it for high school.
• Korean War
• The Korean War: An Interactive Modern History Adventure by Michael Burgan -- very good

• Civil Rights Movement
• Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights by Belinda Rochelle -- I highly recommend this book. We did not get all of it read, so we are continuing it in Set 4.
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka by Sharon J. Wilson -- covered in Witnesses to Freedom, so didn't read this book

• Peanuts Comic Strip
• Charles Schulz by Jim Whiting

• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• A Picture Book of Dwight David Eisenhower by David A. Adler
• Dwight D. Eisenhower by Mike Venezia 
• Polio
• Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine by Salvatore Tocci -- maybe in high school
• Close to Home: A Story of the Polio Epicemic by Lydia Weaver -- good book. This is in the Once Upon America series.
•  McDonald's
• Brands we Know: McDonald's by Sara Green -- this book has more about the McDonalds brothers.
• Ray Kroc: McDonald's Restaurants Builder by Joanne Mattern
• First Kidney Transplant
• Joseph E. Murray and the Story of the First Human Kidney Transplant by Joanne Mattern -- we read snippets from this book
• Interstate Highways
• Just Fine the Way They Are by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge -- picture book about the growth from dirt roads to interstate highways in the U.S.

The Present Moment - April, 2016

The mind would rather fret about the future or pine over the past -- so the mind can cling to its own illusion of control. But the current moment? It cannot be controlled.

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional

Our God is the great I AM. God in the present moment.

Only at the present moment can I come into the presence of God. Only at the present moment can I teach my child. Only at the present moment can I submit to His will. Only at the present moment can I give thanks. Only at the present moment can I slow down and savor my blessings. Only at the present moment can I be faithful. Only at the present moment can I build my cathedral.

I want to encourage you to not rush or merely get through your day, just checking things off your list, but to live in the present moment. Savor each moment. You are building a cathedral.

Embracing His Instructions - February, 2016

We have just completed the first week of our new school year. (Fifth grade. Where does the time go?) We had a lovely first day. On day two, however, K. became belligerent during Bible and then decided she was not going to do her math. This was not the way I had planned my day.

I am being reminded in Sarah Mackenzie's book, Teaching From Rest, that "whatever that intrusion into your grand plan for the day is, it's also an opportunity to enter into rest."

I should not expect the day to go as I have planned. I should expect that we will experience struggles with her studies and antagonistic attitudes, after all, I am teaching K. new things and we are both sinful humans.

When things don't go as I have planned, it isn't a stumbling block in the schedule, it is God imparting the instructions for the day.

When I embrace those instructions, knowing we are right where He wants us, I experience unshakable peace (rest), and am able to give K. the love she needs and guide her with grace.

However, when I fight His instructions, bulldozing over my daughter to get to my grand plan so I can check off the lessons for the day, I crush her spirit and miss teachable moments. After all, God does not ask me to check off everything on my to-do list. He asks me to be faithful.

I pray you will embrace His instructions for you and each of your school days and experience His unshakable peace as you are faithful to Him.

Fifth Grade, History, Set Two

This Set, we are covering World War II. Here is a list of books we read, books I really wanted to read, and books that would have been nice to read, if we'd had the time.

Basic Information on the war:

• A Child's History of the World -- chapters 86 and 87
• An Interactive History Adventure Series
• World War II Infantrymen by Steven Otfinoski
• World War II by Elizabeth Raum
• World War II on the Home Front by Martin Gitlin
• World War II Spies by Michael Burgan
• World War II Pilots by Michael Burgan
• World War II Naval Forces by Elizabeth Raum

People:

•  Who Was Winston Churchill? by Ellen Labrecque
• Franklin and Winston: A Christmas That Changed the World by Douglas Wood -- picture book style with lots of good information
• War Dogs: Churchill & Rufus by Kathryn Selbert -- picture book style book that takes you through the war with Churchill and his dog.
• Douglas MacArthur by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson -- History Makers Bios Series; this was the first book we had read in this series, and I really liked it. The author presented his life story with a lot of detail without getting bogged down or boring.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower by Elaine Marie Alphin and Arthur B. Alphin -- also a History Makers Bios Series
• Harry S. Truman: Thirty-third President by Mike Venezia

Japanese Internment and Racial Discrimination

• Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss
• Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban
• Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling

Books we didn't get to, but I really wanted to:

• Pearl Harbor by Andrew Santella
• Why Did the Whole World Go to War? and other questions about . . . World War II by Martin W. Sandler
• World War II: Early Battles by John Hamilton
• The Great Depression and World War II: 1929 - 1945 by Susan E. Hamen
• World War II by Sean Connolly -- Witness to History series
• Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serraillier
• A Father's Promise by Donna Lynn Hess

Other books we didn't read:

• Hiroshima: The Shadow of the Bomb by Richard Tames
• Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Man Called Ike by Jean Darby
• World at War: Battle of Okinawa by R. Conrad Stein
• Dead in the Water by Chris Lynch -- historical fiction dealing with racial discrimination
• European Land Battles 1944-1945 by Trevor Nevitt Dupuy
• Blitzkrieg by Wallace Black
• Along the Tracks by Tamar Bergman -- Jewish family fleeing Nazis
• Behind Barbed Wire by Lila Perl
• The Tuskegee Airmen by Philip Brooks

Fifth Grade, History, Set One

Here is a list of books and videos we used or will use when we visit this time period again.

1920s

• The 1920s: Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan -- excellent way to have an overview of the decade 
• Amendments: 18th, 19th: The Constitutional Amendments by William Loren Katz -- I'm still thinking of buying my own copy of this book. It gives such a good synopsis of each amendment.
• The History of Radio by Joanne Mattern -- interesting and well written; because we were learning about the invention of radio, we only read the parts of the book that pertained to that subject
• Inventing the Radio by Marianne Fedunkiw -- we did not get to this book, but it looks like it has more detail, so I plan to use it when K. is older
• Warren G. Harding: Twenty-Ninth President by Mike Venezia -- good book
• The Story of The Teapot Dome Scandal by Jim Hargrove -- we did not read this book; I decided that for 5th grade, we had read enough about the scandals in the book about President Harding
• Calvin Coolidge: Thirtieth President by Mike Venezia
• The Scopes Trial by Arthur Blake -- I really like how this book was written. It was an easy read for me (about an hour), then I told K. about it. The author did a good job of handling the subject objectively.
• Inherit the Wind movie about The Scopes Trial -- This movie is not factual, but is interesting.
• Charles Lindbergh by Lucile Davis -- good book. Touched on controversies, but did not go in depth
• The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull -- excellent book with lots of illustrations
• The Television by Richard and Louise Spilsbury
• The Jazz Singer
• Herbert Hoover: Thirty-First President by Mike Venezia
• The Wall Street Crash: October 29, 1929 by Alex Woolf -- I only read the parts about the crash because we have other books that cover The Great Depression and The New Deal.

1930s

• The 1930s: Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan
• The Empire State Building by Lisa Bullard -- good with lots of photos
• Building the Empire State Building: An Interactive Engineering Adventure by Allison Lassieur -- we really enjoyed this book. It has three story paths, and we read all three. I was going to stop with two, but K. asked if we were going to read the third.
• Amelia Earhart
• Amelia Earhart by Tamra B. Orr
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom by Kathleen Kudlinski
• A Boy Named FDR by Kathleen Krull
• First Dog Fala by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk
• Franklin D. Roosevelt: Thirty-Second President by Mike Venezia
• Amendments: 20th, 21st
• The Constitutional Amendments by William Loren Katz
• New Deal
• Climbing Out of the Great Depression by Sean Price
• Dust Bowl
• Angels in the Dust by Margot Theis Raven
• Voices of the Dust Bowl by Sherry Garland
• Survival in the Storm by Katelan Janke
• Social Security Act
• Social Security Act by Richard Worth
• Hindenburg Disaster
• The Hindenburg by Marc Tyler Nobleman
• Golden Gate Bridge
• The Golden Gate Bridge by Jeffrey Zuehlke
• The War of the Worlds
• We listened to the original broadcast on You Tube
• The War of the Worlds adapted by Kathryn Lay

Keepers of the Springs - December, 2015

I've been reading the book, Mr. Jones, Meet the Master, which is a collection of Peter Marshall's sermons and prayers. Near the end of the book is a sermon titled "Keepers of the Springs". I don't know exactly when this sermon was given, but it was before 1949. Below are a couple paragraphs, which I thought quite interesting and appropriate for us as homeschoolers.

Let us not fool ourselves--without Christianity, without Christian education, without the principles of Christ inculcated into young life, we are simply rearing pagans. Physically, they will be perfect. Intellectually, they will be brilliant. But spiritually, they will be pagan. Let us not fool ourselves. The school is making no attempt to teach the principles of Christ. The Church alone cannot do it. They can never be taught to a child unless the mother herself knows them and practices them every day.

The twentieth-century challenge to motherhood--when it is all boiled down--is that mothers will have an experience of God...a reality which they can pass on to their children.

Isn't this why we homeschool? To persistently instruct our children in the principles of Christ. But, as Peter Marshall points out, I cannot pass on to my children what I do not experience, know, and practice.

Sitting down and reading the Bible, praying, praising God -- that's the easy part. Living it, practicing it, having our mothering and teaching transformed by it -- that's hard, but that is what we pass on to our children.

Doing Irrational Things - October, 2015

Last night while we were doing the dishes, Kim asked if we could "keep listening to the tape of that lady." I had started listening to a series of cassette tapes from a Sally Clarkson conference. I was rather surprised, but pleased that she was interested in listening to Sally talking about godly motherhood.

One thing Sally said on that tape was, "Faith is what ignites us to be able to do irrational things."

How many things are you going to do today that, from the world's view, are irrational?

• homeschool
• care for aged parents
• disciple our children 24/7
• live on one income
• honor our spouse
• I'm sure you could add to the list.

Why do we do these irrational things? Because we have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe, Who tells me that He will

• equip me for the tasks of each day
• faithfully supply our needs
• provide me with the strength for each day
• impart His wisdom to me
• show me new mercies every morning
• make my labor not be in vain

and, by faith, I believe Him.