Building Bridges

A social studies, geography, math, (and more) unit.

Our social studies article for this week, Building Bridges of Hope, was cut from Parade magazine, the little insert that comes in many Sunday newspapers.


In it we read about Ken Frantz and his organization, Bridges to Prosperity, that travels the world building (what else?) bridges in key places.  The bridges built by Frantz's organization allow people in remote and poor areas to more easily access medical help, trade, and other necessities.  These bridges literally change lives.


These bridges also provided a week full of stuff for us to learn!


Some of the following ideas we have already done, others we will do as we finish out our week.  Still others would be ideal for older kids or a longer, more intensive unit.


Science /  Math:
In addition to the Parade article and the Bridges to Prosperity website, we also checked out a bridge book from our library.  It gives a beginning look at bridge types and the science behind their construction.
Search Amazon.com for bridges


We worked on building our own bridges the high-tech way after downloading free bridge design software from West Point.  It's a little advanced for Dale, but he thinks it's fun anyway.  Who am I kidding?  It's over my head and I still think it's fun.  I'm determined to build a bridge that won't collapse!  This software would be great for a highschooler or anyone interested in engineering.  The website even offers an annual bridge-building contest!


After reading the bridge book and practicing with the software, I'm planning on getting out our wooden blocks this afternoon to see what kind of bridges we can build with them, too.


Geography
For geography, I printed a world map (with countries).  Together we read the article through again and identified each country in which Bridges to Prosperity has built a bridge.  Consulting our jumbo world atlas, we colored the countries with bridges on our map.  We also used this time to discuss the continents.


Missions
Next we will research and find out what missionaries our denomination has in each of those countries.  We will take a moment to mark them on our map and pray for them.


Writing
If Dale was a little older, I would have him write a story from the viewpoint of a village child, telling the excitement of the bridge builders coming or how he will be able to use the bridge in his own life.  Or maybe a news story about bridge built by Bridges to Prosperity (you can read about all their bridges on their website).


History
This unit would be great to learn about historic bridges in the US or around the world.  There are so many out there!


Art
To finish up our mini-unit on bridges, I'm thinking we will choose a picture of a bridge (either one from Bridges to Prosperity or a famous one) and draw it, adding in materials like toothpicks, string, etc to create the bridges.


I know we have only scratched the surface of what could be done with a unit on bridges.  We may have to visit the topic again someday!  If so, this website is full of lesson plan links and ideas, or a simple google search pulls up a multitude of ideas!


What bridge ideas have I missed?  Do you have any favorite unit studies?

I would've blogged today....

...but I had a nap instead.


I'm not usually a napper, but I couldn't resist.  Two of my three were asleep, and it was raining.


It hasn't rained in weeks!  And to make it even better, the rain was punctuated with occasional faint rumbles of thunder.  Mmmm....


It was a nice nap.


Speaking of naps...


This little guy likes his two-a-day naps.  This is how he woke up from one earlier this week:

See that hand print right under his chin?  I wonder if that hand was tingly when he woke up.


Are you a napper?  How do you like yours?

It was an all-American birthday...

... if only we'd had apple pie!


We're all big into baseball around here these days, and none of us more than Dale.


He chose a baseball / Texas Rangers theme for his birthday party this year.  Once I talked him out of a stadium and into a baseball instead, this cake was one of the easiest birthday cakes I've made yet!  And I've made.... (counting up on my fingers...) ...9.

Weeks before the big day, Dale designed his cake himself.  After I showed him pictures of baseball cakes and the Texas Rangers emblem, he drew how he wanted his cake.  I was very happy with how it came out!  Just for grins, I also made baseball cupcakes, topping some with T's and a few with some of our favorite players' numbers.


Speaking of cupcakes, this is how Alan's cupcakes look when he is done with them:

Okay, back to the party:


Getting into the theme of things, I set the table with all the baseball stuff we had around the house: some of the boys' toys, a book we happened to have out from the library, and even some peanuts and cracker jacks sunflower seeds!

To take it one step further, we served up traditional ball-park food: nachos and hot dogs.


And the whole time, I had this song running through my head:

Morning and Evening

Every day for three weeks I headed out for an early morning bike ride with either my sister, my dad, or both.  Each day started the same way, with a sleepy case of the I-don't-want-to's that dissipated instantly when bike tires met pavement.  It's hard to stay grumpy watching the sunrise while you generate your own morning breeze.


There is something peaceful and almost secretive in being out to watch the world wake up.  Neighborhoods are mostly still and quiet, but there are exceptions at every turn: the early morning walkers, the first few drivers heading to work, and surely, the dogs.  Always the dogs.  Giving excited barks, friendly wags of the tail, some of the calmer breeds even giving a seeming nod of the head in greeting as they go about their own beginning-of-day duties.  Still, there were a few times even the most diligent and energetic watch dogs only peeped through one sleepy eye as we passed by.


Soon a later-each-day sunrise met with an earlier start to the day because of school schedules, and early morning rides were no longer feasible.


Temperatures were still a soaring 100+ in the evenings, so bicycles sat untouched for a week or more.


Finally we had a break in the weather, and highs only reached into the chilly low 90's.  The first opportunity we had, my sister and I hopped on our bikes for an evening ride.


After a morning habit, cycling through town observing the end of the day was a flip-flop.  


The air didn't have that early crisp-cool to it.  Instead it was an odd mix, still carrying the heavy heat of the day, but with a cooler breeze around the edges.  Even if that cool breeze was only generated by the speed of our ride.


Although we definitely saw more cars than on an early ride, there still weren't an awfully lot of people out.  I imagined them all back home for the day, work-day finished, errands done, time to wind down before starting over again tomorrow.  


The smells were different too.  Dinner-time smells.  Laundry smells.  Smells of home and families.


Even though there was still at least an hour of daylight left, many of our dog friends seemed to have given up and packed it in for the day.  The ride was relatively bark-free.


Was it hard to get out of bed all those mornings and force my body to get busy pedaling, balancing, keeping up?  Definitely.  But I was always glad I did, and I was surprised to find I missed those rides.

Can I exhale yet?

Approximately 26 hours ago (2pm Wednesday), I noticed our air conditioning had stopped blowing cool air.

We evacuated to my parent's house and called the repairman.

Approximately 22 hours ago, Dale threw up.

We evacuated back to our own house (where the air was blowing cool again) and left Alan with my parents.

Approximately 19 hours ago Dale perked up in a fabulous recovery and went to bed feeling just fine.

Alan still got to spend the night with Mimi & Gramps.

Approximately 12 hours ago (4am Thursday) our a/c stopped blowing cool air again.

Good thing we hadn't canceled that repairman just yet.

Approximately 7 hours ago Alan came home just in time to start school.

He never showed a sign of whatever it was that made Dale sick.

Approximately 6 hours ago the repairman came.

For no more than the cost of a service call he got us up and running again, cooler than ever.

Confused yet?  Me too!  I'm joyful over how everything has worked out (isn't God good?!) and cautiously peeping around the corner to see what's coming next!  

Happy Birthday, Dale!

7 Years

He challenges me to do more, and be more, and stretch myself a little further every single day.  I consider myself blessed to spend my days in his company.  Happy Birthday, buddy!

Day in the Life

It's the final week of the Heart of the Matter Not Back to School Blog Hop, and we're sharing a sample day from our homeschool lives.  


Here is how a typical day is supposed to go:
6:00 - Mama is up, preparing for the day.
7:30 - Boys up, eat breakfast, get dressed
8:00 - Red Zone (tidy-up, clean-up)
9:00 - Dale: Bible
9:20 - Dale: Phonics / Spelling
9:30 - Dale: Handwriting
9:45 - Dale: Mon/Wed/Fri - Speech, Tue/Thur - Typing
10:00 - Both: Outside playtime
10:30 - Both: Snack
10:45 - Dale: Math
11:00 - Dale: Mon/Tue/Wed : Science, Thur - Other
11:30 - Dale: Put away school stuff, Play with Tyler if he is awake. Alan: Help Mama make lunch
12:00 - Lunch
12:30 - Red zone
1:00 - Social Studies
1:30 - Dale: Finish any leftover schoolwork, read. Alan: Nap
3:00 - Play


(I schedule Alan's activities in different orders, depending on which boy needs the most help from me with any given assignment.)


Here is how our plans played out last week, the first Thursday of our new year:


6:45 - Boys start waking up.  Why?  Why, children?  You are supposed to be sleeping for at least another half hour.  I need to shower before I see your smiling faces.  And pray.  I must pray before I see any not-smiling faces!


7:15 - Off to an early start, we have oatmeal.  Daddy is home - his day is starting unusally late because of a meeting.  He heads out the door right after breakfast.


7:45 - With things moving so quickly, Dale and Alan play outside while I give Tyler a bath.


8:00 - Morning Red Zone.  It's Alan's potty day!  Oh, the joy.  My boys love their turn to clean the potty.


9:00 - In spite of the fact that we just straightened the entire house, Alan's watercolor picture from yesterday is missing.  And I need it for him to glue some cotton balls on.  Now.  I suspect it's either been thrown away or is lost in the growing mound of things that need filing that has accumulated this our first school week.  I finally give up.  I need an attitude adjustment.  I wouldn't allow this from the boys.  Big breath, and we move along with Dale's Bible lesson.  Alan has already begun to amuse himself with other things.  We are now running behind on our schedule.  Somewhere in all this Tyler screams in his bed for several minutes, protesting naptime.  He finally gives up and goes to sleep.


9:25 - Dale begins a phonics worksheet and Alan and I play Boggle Jr.  Dale has been promised he can join us when his worksheet is done.  Worksheet finished in record time, we play Boggle together.  With slight adjustment for age level, this is beneficial to both of them.  Yay!


9:40 - Dale moves on to handwriting copywork: a letter to friends he dictated on Monday and has been copying all week.  Again, I dangle something fun to keep him moving: typing is next, and he can get to it when the letter is finished.  Meanwhile,  Alan and I sing the Months of the Year and Days of the Week songs, sing and clap this week's nursery rhyme, and read today's Bible story.


9:55 - Still running behind schedule, Dale begins typing while Alan and I head outside to gather a few things for our next activity.  1 stick, 2 leaves, and 3 blades of grass later we are inside matching up numbers to growing things.


10:15 - The boys head out for a little fresh air, and hopefully run off some energy while they're out there.  A mama can hope, anyway. ;)


10:30 - Chocolate pudding for a snack, a special treat, thanks to Alan's next activity....


10:45 - I set Alan up to fingerpaint and practice forming the number '3' with .... chocolate pudding.  Dale gets going on Singapore Math.


Tyler wakes up from his nap.


11:00 - We continue our art lesson from yesterday, lines as an element of art.  We read Mirette on the Highwire and The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses and notice all the examples of lines in the artwork.  We then make our own diagonal line pictures.


11:40 - Early lunch. Ravioli for the boys.  Odds and ends for me. 


The boys play for a while, then we do our Afternoon Red Zone.  Time to empty the can again!


1:00 - We settle in to celebrate National Aviation Day.  Dale has been reading about the Wright Brothers, so he tells us a thing or two about them, then we read about another early airplane inventor.  This one in France.  We follow this with a How Airplanes Are Made video. 


1:40 - Tyler is really really needing a nursing and a nap, but I manage to squeeze in one more book about flying before tucking Alan, and then Tyler, into bed for a nap.


1:55 - Sit down, take a big breath.  I check email.  Dale reads.  I do some planning for school.


2:55 - I enlist Dale to help me do a quick pick-up in the living room, and then I take pictures of my living room for the open house post.


4:00 - Blog post is up.  Tyler is up.  Time to wake Alan up and cook up something for supper!  Before I know it, the evening is spent, and we fall into bed for a good night's sleep before it is time to get up and do it all again!