To Blog or Not To Blog…

As our school year draws to a close, I’m thinking more and more about whether or not to continue blogging about it next year. Because we were studying astronomy and had internet for the first time ever, it seemed a perfect complement to our studies. But next year our focus is on birds and other creatures that hatch from eggs and all the high tech accoutrements don’t seem as fitting to the subject. So here are the pros and cons of blogging our school year. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Pros
1. The state of Hawaii requires me to keep a record of what we’re doing anyway so why not do it on-line?
2. We live really far away from family so this has been a great way for the grandparents and other family members to keep tabs on what we’re doing with our days.
3. Since we don’t allow video/computer games, assigning our older boys the “Friday’s Factoid” was a great way to get them comfortable using a keyboard/computer.
4. It was super encouraging connecting with other believers and homeschoolers in the blogging community. 3 other blogs I discovered through this process that I highly recommend to others are parablesofthesky, ihavenogreaterjoy, and hiseternalworld.
5. I loved sending our weekly memory verses and hymns out into cyber space with the prayer that they might be used to encourage others. According to our stats God was Made Known in this small way in 57 countries around the world. How cool is that!

Cons
1. Internet is expensive here!
2. It creates a strange sense of vulnerability giving strangers such a close look at our daily lives.
3. Blogging takes up precious minutes of my day that will probably be pretty full with Baby Boy #5 due in August!

So what do you all think? Is it worth the time and expense? Is it time to call it quits?

Friday’s Factoid 32 (by Titus and Joel)

We are studying about astronauts. There are astronauts in space right now on the International Space Station. We have seen it flying over Hawaii. You can see it fly over your house too if you look it up on the internet (Joel 7 1/2).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The astronauts in space are mostly doing science experiments. We did more science experiments this week too. We learned about a law called inertia and how fire needs oxygen and how heated up air particles can make things move (Titus, 9).

Teacher’s Two-Cents (by Mom)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

To kick off our space travel and technology unit, we took a little field trip to see our neighbors, Dick and Linda. Dick is a retired helicopter pilot and therefore, the closest thing to an astronaut in our neighborhood. And according to my boys, helicopters are almost as cool as rockets and definitely worth learning a thing or two about. So armed with a page full of questions and empty tummies (gotta have room for Linda’s yummy homemade cookies), we headed next door for a lesson in “lift.” This is the second time we have done an interview/lesson with one of our elderly neighbors and it is a practice we will definitely be continuing. Not only do our boys gain valuable information, the older folks seem to genuinely enjoy being put in the spot light for a while and having their wealth of knowledge and wisdom tapped. Next time you are tempted to just Google a subject for answers, think first if there isn’t some older person in your life who might be an “expert” in that field. I guarantee you’ll walk away richer and wiser for the experience and you’ll leave someone else feeling a little more valued. That’s way more than an hour spent surfing the web could ever offer.
(For more on building relationships with seniors click here).

Friday’s Factoid 31 (by Titus, Joel, and Nate)

We started learning about space travel. We learned about rockets and the Space Race with Russia. Russia sent a little dog named Laika into space in a rocket and everyone loved Laika but Laika died because the Russians didn’t know very much about staying alive in space (Joel, 7 1/2).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


We did lots of science experiments this week. We turned water upside down and it didn’t spill and we tried to drink water through straws with one straw in the cup and one straw not in the cup. That doesn’t work at all. We hung balls from a string and blew in between them and they banged together instead of blowing apart (Nate, 6).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Yesterday was a Solar Eclipse. We used special glasses to watch it and we made a special viewing box that made a picture of the sun on a screen so it wouldn’t hurt our eyes (by Titus, 9).