Spontaneous Science Lesson

How my kids and I survived a Tornado:

So, it's been a crazy day all around. I'm hosting a Tastefully Simple party tomorrow for my clients so I've gone through every inch of my house cleaning it all up - even the closets, which any homeschooler will tell you ends up a catch all of homeschooling miscellany.

First thing this morning we did grocery shopping (our usual Friday morning event) then I had to train a client. Then I had to return $26 in bottles & cans (like a years worth..lol)...then our drier died it's slow agonizing death, so I had to drag all our laundry and 2 kids to the laundromat. I tried to get my DH to get a ride home from a friend but, no, I had to stuff all the now clean clothes in to the trunk so I could have both front seats clear for the adults.

They'd been warning of severe thunderstorms all day...it was humid as heck. As we got on the highway to go get hubby I could see a cloud of utter blackness coming in our direction from the west. Now, we live in Connecticut, so there aren't tornado's here. Maybe an F1 at most every couple of years.

As a homeschooler, every unusual occurrence is an opportunity for learning. So, I'm pointing out the different types of clouds. The front of the storm was clearly delineatedin the distance. I'm explaining the clearly visible line between the low and high pressure fronts meeting - producing the storm at it's point of intersection (I took a year of meteorology as a part of my Geology double major). I'm also pointing out the cumulo-nimbus clouds that produce severe thunderstorms and the kids eagerly watched lightening streak in the distance while we baked in the sun, in bumper to bumper traffic...while I pray we're not stuck in said traffic when the storm hits. I even discussed safe places to go if a hurricane or tornado strikes - how if we're on the road the safest place is lying perfectly flat in a ditch, or at home it's under the stairs or in the basement away from windows.

It begins to rain as the sky darkens.

We pull into the parking lot of my hubby's office and I leave him a voice mail that we made it a couple of minutes early. (I can't just walk into his office as you need an electronic key to open the door). As we sit in our usual spot wind gusts begin. Sheeting the rain against the car. The kids begin to get nervous (as did I).

After maybe 45 seconds of darkness, wind and rain the air pressure in the car plummeted - I thought my ears would bleed from the pressure. I decided we'd wait for dad under the car port on the other side of the building (it's reserved parking for the big wigs but they usually aren't there). I had made it maybe 20 yards when quarter sized hail erupted from the sky. Visibility turned to near zero as I tried to navigate around the building. Wind gusts of up to 70 mph battering the car. I keep talking calmly as the kids are no longer enjoying the spontaneous science lesson (and I worry that the windshield will shatter at any moment). We barely made it into the car port without crashing into the pylons (as I couldn't see them until I almost hit one).
Once we're under the car port I turn off the car and my 5 y/o rockets out of his car seat into my lap - completely terrified. The huge air conditioning unit across the drive is visibly rattling. The wind getting much much worse, hail still plummeting.

At this point I begin to worry that the tunneling effect of the carport will just make us more of a target if any of the trees or the blasted air-conditioning unit are tossed around.

So, I give into the kids terrified yearning to get inside...I wasn't even sure if the back door didn't also require a key card...but the cell service had shut down by that point, so I told the kids we were going to run the 8 feet or so to the back door. My 7 y/o opened the door for all of a second before slamming it screaming in terror. I couldn't possibly carry both kids, so I told them to come on, and we ran into the building.

Some idiot (thank all the Gods) had propped open both of the back doors so for a few minutes we stood in the basement watching the sky open up. When the trees in front of us began cracking in half I took them into the stairwell and up the one flight to the lobby, where my hubby was frantically pacing staring out the front of the building, believing we were caught somewhere in the storm as we weren't parked in our usual spot. The power had gone out in his building apparently while I was battling the hail. Which is why none of the calls to his office were answered and he didn't get my message on his cell phone before cell service cut off.

Maybe 5 minutes later it was all over, only still raining. The kids had barely stopped screaming at that point - my 5 y/o telling everyone in my DH's office to run fast before the flood starts. (Huh? lol) He nervously, repeatedly checked the skylights from the stairwell where I kept them - asking repeatedly if they would break.

Our usual 10 minute drive home turned into a 70 minute drive in circles. Almost every back road around his office was blocked off with downed trees and power lines. The highway was at a dead stop since the 2 interstates in our area also had trees scattered across the road (completely blocking access to one of our main state highways).

I still can't believe it! Sure it was only a micro-burst, but I have a whole new respect for anyone who lives in tornado alley. I'll take a blizzardor hurricane over that any day!!!! I think the most amazing part was seeing the utter destruction of nature and property all around my husband's work, none of the street lights working, practically being able to draw the path of the storm from the destruction alone...then driving down our street - about 15 miles away from my husbands work - and not a single leaf had been blown off of a single tree. Apparently just a normal storm had passed over our house while Mother Nature wreaked havoc in the next town over. What an amazingly powerful thing nature is!!!

Here's some pic's of where we were:
Slide Shows
http://www.wfsb.com/slideshow/news/19873659/detail.html
http://www.wfsb.com/slideshow/weather/19874145/detail.html
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Wicked_Weather_In_Wethersfield_Hartford.html

My Favorite Math Resources (or some anyway)

• Cool Games and such http://www.westlake.k12.oh.us/HollyLaneTeachers/Butcher/links.htm


• http://newtoncountyschools.org/oakhill/teacher_links.htm#math
• http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/ekowalcz/math/elementary_web_sites.htm
• http://www.internet4classrooms.com/math_elem.htm
• http://www.sd104.s-cook.k12.il.us/mathlinks.htm
• http://www.bham.wednet.edu/departments/currdept/familymathresources.htm
• http://www.ettcnsc.org/Instructional_resources/math/es_math_links.htm

My Favorite Early/Fluent Reading Resources (or some anyway)

• http://www.polk-fl.net/staff/resources/ese/resources.htm This has some great resources for phonics and language arts.



• http://www.jordan.k12.ut.us/oes/readingcorner/readinghelps.html



• http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/two_vowels_qt.html NOTHING BEATS Between The Lions, my kids love the show, and I love the lessons!



• http://classroom.kleinisd.net/webs/dapierce/reading_and_fluency_strategies.htm



• http://www.mrsalphabet.com/links.html (preschool)



• http://teacherweb.com/TN/RutlandElementarySchool/MrsHodge/uh6.stm


• http://pr003.k12.sd.us/reiterwebpage/Reading%20Standards.htm


• article for parents http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/literacy/em_lit2.html


• http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/teachers/worksheets.html


• http://newtoncountyschools.org/oakhill/teacher_links.htm#Language_Arts
  

Dinosaurs Combo Book

For now through the first 1/2 of the summer we're learning all about the ocean (see earlier posts) but the second 1/2 of the summer is dedicated to Dinosaurs...so here's some of what we'll be usin (in another Combo book).

So, I'm thinking the chapters of our combo book will be as follows:

• Dinosaurs - general info like definitions of a dinosaur, timeline, life in those time periods -how it differed, world geography of the time (placement of the continents) dino families (how they're catagorized) etc
• Paleantology - a few notable scientists, what is paleantology, tools of the trade, most popular places, etc.
• Earliest Animals - these would really be the precursurs to dino's in the Precambrian and Paleozoic periods.
• Dino's of the Triassic*
• Dino's of the Jurassic*
• Dino's of the Crestaceous*
• Evolution (descendants of the dinosaurs)
  *The Dino's sections will be broken into Producers (plant life), Primary Consumers (eat consumers - aka herbivors), Secondary Consumers (eat primary consumers - aka omnivors) and Tertiary Consumers (eat secondary consumers - aka carnivors)

Printables:

• kaboose printables
• Dltk-Kids crafts & printables
• Enchanted Learning Dio-Templates
• Learning Page
• AtoZ teacher Stuff
• Sr. Richard Owens
• Teacher Vision
• We need to also study Roy Chapmen Andrews
• Paleantologists
• Further Enchanted Learning
• Fossils
• CurriClick
• About Homeschooling
• Print activities
• ABC Teach
• Kids Domain
• Free Stuff 4 Kids
• Crafts
• Activities
• Kid Sparkz
• Kids Soup
• clip art

Connecticut's New Science Center

Well, Connecticut's new Science Center opened yesturday and (for the first time) we paid the full amount for a year membership. It was the best $100 I've ever spent. This center has 6 stories, each story is broken into 2 with each 1/2 dedicated to a different form of science. One was for Sports and Human Movement science, another was for Sound and Light; yet another was dedicated to earth studies (geology, the Connecticut river, and energy conservation); one was on Forces (gravity and magnets), it was AWESOME!!! We watched a 3D movie on Dinosaurs and a 4D program on Energy conservation. The kids learned a lot and had fun since the entire place was made up of hands on projects and experiments.

The Space Room

The Human Body & Sports Mechanics room

Out To-Go Bags

Jeez, I hate Grocery Shopping Day!Because my fam only has 1 car, on days that I need it, I have to drive my husband to work at 7am (I'm soooo NOT a morning person). Then I have to go to the bank. Then, generally, the kids beg for a doughnut. Only then can I meet my dad at the various stores. Do all the shopping. Go home to put away the groceries. Have lunch. Then wait an hour or so to go pick up my hubby from work. That's on Thursday. Then on Friday, I have to repeat the experience. See, I'm really, really cheap....so that means shopping at a minimum of 4 different stores to get the best prices...then there's also the coupon clipping and circular perusing....ugh...This also means that every 2 weeks Thursday and Friday are a little pressed for time & stress, making HS a bit more of a challenge.

So, I bring our to-go bags. These have lessons they are capable of completing while in the car...no it's probably not as good as having my full attention on the lesson, but it's the best way of not skipping days for our family.

Our To-Go bags include:
Writting Lessons (a writing notebook for each child with the page prepared for the words or letters we're working on)
Coloring pages: I'm slightly obsessive, I admit it, so I prepare a folder each week that contains coloring pages, connect-the-dots, etc that have to do with the lessons we've been covering.
Simple Worksheets: Lets face it in the car the handwritting suffers, so I add a few simple math, history, geography, etc worksheets to the folder.
Writing Utencils: Crayons, Markers, Colored Pencils a Pencil and an Eraser all erasable (no use destroying the interior of my new car).
Clip Board: Makes writing on laps easier
Small books (1 for each child)

more on the 50 States

For our state-by-state lapbooks, I went to homeschoolshare.com and printed some of their Choose-A-Country Lapbook From their list (which, granted, is for global geography, and we're working on state-to-state) I printed the following (which, believe it or not, was only about 1/2 of what they had offered for countries):
People: name, population, history
Geography Tab: highest & lowest point, area & bodies of water
Borders Matchbooks: water border and land border (for state border or ocean border)
Famous Person Accordian: which we printed 3 per state
Capital Matchbook
Major Industries Flip Book
Can You Believe It? : which we printed 2 for cool facts

Then I searched on Ask.com for pictures of the state bird, state tree, state bug, and history of the state flag. I also got most of the state information from www.netstate.com/

Using the blank templates from www.homeschoolhelperonline.com I used the following:
Flag Shapes - to color in the state flag
Native Info - this is a little flip book on who the native inhabitants of the state were and what happened to them after European colonization.
I'll uplead the pic as soon as I find the cord to my digital camera (grr...lol)