Happy 8th Birthday!

          Happy 8th Birthday, Sarah!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday...a day late!

Yesterday, this little guy turned 5 years old.  He is super sweet and caring.  

We were hosting the Landry Academy Welding 2-day intensive yesterday so we were a little bit busy.  However, one of my good friends, Angela, picked up my 7 children who weren't in the class and took them back to her house with her 8 children.  Then, my other good friend, Candi, brought her 8 kids over so they could have a birthday lunch celebration for him before they all headed to choir.  Here's pics from their celebration:

Then, Angela brought us a party in a bag (dinner plus another cookie cake) since I had class from 9 am to 5 pm that day.  It was wonderful!!!

Needless to say, Isaac had a fun day celebrating all day.  Thank you so much to my special friends, Angela and Candi, for making his day super special!!!

     HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, ISAAC!!! 

We all love you very much:)

Capital Park Museum

For February, my older 7 children went to the Capital Park Museum downtown Baton Rouge while I stayed home with my littles along with some of my friends littles while they took my children.  Mrs. Dee taught the children about Primary and Secondary sources regarding research.  After their time in the classroom, they children went out in the museum to search and fill-out their papers using the info they learned.

Landry Academy 2-Day Chemistry Intensive

After the Biology intensive, we hosted the Landry Academy 2-day Chemistry Lab Intensive for Louisiana.   Once again, it was a wonderful experience.  This was a smaller class but still fantastic.

Cade, Ian, and Tate participated in the class too.  Miss Brittany was the teacher for this class too.  She has such a passion for science and teaching our young people.  Not to mention, she was a homeschooler too.

Here's what they covered in this intensive:

• Introduction to Scientific Thinking
• Producing a college-quality lab report
• Chromatography
• Electrochemistry
• Separation of mixtures
• Titration
• Density
• Temperature, Solubility, and Bonding
• Kinetics
• Colligative Properties
• Redox Reactions
• Solubility Rules
• Atomic Structure and Chemical Measurement
• Specific Heat
• Equilibrium
• Ideal Gas Law
• Students will learn how to prepare and critique college-quality lab reports
• Students will record their experiment data, graphs, etc. in their lab manual 

Landry Academy 2-Day Biology Lab Intensive

In February, we had the opportunity to host the Landry Academy 2-day Lab Intensive for the Louisiana.  Landy Academy has teachers that travel the country teaching these classes to homeschoolers in each state.  We had 24 students from all over Louisiana and some for Mississippi.

Our boys, Cade, Ian, and Tate, were able to participate in this class this year.  I highly recommend their classes.  Their teacher, Miss Brittany, was awesome!!

Here's some of  the things they cover in class:
Autopsy style dissections of sheep (similar to human):
-Pregnant uterus (usually done in college level anatomy labs)
-fetal pig dissection
-cow eye
Diffusion and osmosis
Acid / base assessments will be performed
Metric applications to Biology and medicine
DNA extraction and isolation
Enzymes
Blood typing Rh Factor determination
Hematocrit level
Comparison of healthy and smoker's lungs to investigate anatomical and physiological differences
Students will eat ice cream, candy, etc. for breakfast to produce a "glucose load challenge" to help them understand the pancreas, glucose absorption, diabetes, normal and abnormal glucose response curves, and the production and function of insulin (usually done in college level anatomy labs)
Microscope use, preparation of a wet mount, and simple staining
Phenylthiocarbamide to study genetics
Pulmonary (lung) function tests on each student. (usually done in college level anatomy labs)
Preparation of college-quality lab reports
Graphing

Bluebonnet Swamp Field Trip

In January, we enjoyed an adventure in the swamp with our group, Bayou Cajun Homeschoolers.   The day we went it felt like "swampy" weather due to the time of the year.  The kids enjoyed an educational lesson on reptiles, looking around the educational building at all of the snakes, frogs, baby gators, and other swamp animals, along with a guide tour around their trails at the BREC Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.

Catching Up 2015 Field Trips

Life just seems to stay extra busy so I have little time to blog these days.  Though we are busy, we are all doing very well and thriving.  Hope y'all are all doing well, too.

I'm trying to catch up by posting the last few field trips from 2015.  Enjoy the slide shows!

October ~ LSU FETI (Fire and Emergency   Institute)

November ~ BCH Annual Thanksgiving Celebration

December ~  LIGO

Moms Christmas Gathering