martinzoo

This is GB’s special way of studying. Here he is studying his weekly spelling words.

Somehow sitting in a swing, being outside, and being alone helps him to concentrate on what he is reading.

I say, “Whatever works!”

A diamante poem follows a very specific format – there are seven lines, and each line must have a specific number and type of words. When it’s finished, the poem will be in the shape of a diamond.

Line 1= Topic (noun)
Line 2 = Two describing words (adjectives)
Line 3 = Three action words (-ing verbs)
Line 4 = Four words: (nouns) the first two words relate to line 1 and the last two words relate to line 7
Line 5 = Three action words for the ending noun (-ing verbs)
Line 6 = Two words to describe ending noun (adjectives)
Line 7 = Ending noun (opposite of Line 1)

GB wrote this diamante poem today.

*                                 War

*                      Violent, Destructive

*               Killing, Fighting, Shooting

*         Battle,     Gun,     People,     Home

*              Hoping, Working, Talking

*                        Secure, Calm

*                               Peace

GB and I were totally focused on our Language Arts day. He had a spelling test, got new words for next week, learned about writing for the reader, and took a chapter test.

96%, thank you very much!

We also did some work in his Getty & Dubay Handwriting book.

And he did some more Complete-a-Sketch.

It was all going normally for a Language Arts day.

Until this guy walked across the floor and FREAKED me out!

Once suitably contained, we were able to observe him in relative safety. We quickly identified him as a wolf spider (Because we’ve seen them lots of times before). Then we pulled out the books and magazines we have that deal with arachnids. And we checked on our trusty computer. GB’s best moment of the day was when I screachingly yelled at  told him to NOT tilt the container so much. Good Lord! My heart!

Under our stereoscope, we noticed the joints on him.  Each joint looked like an open wound. And the stereoscope was really able to show off how much dust and debris he had gathered from my floor. I guess I need to vacuum again.

In this picture you can see the front part of his body, called the cephalothorax and the pedipalp, which is alongside his jaw and is used to hold his prey while he bites it with his fangs. Ugh!

A wolf spider has eight legs, which we all know about. But upon further research GB and I learned that they also have eight, yes EIGHT, eyes. This is why you can’t sneak up on the critters. The set furthest back, on top, sees UP. The set to the side sees SIDEWAYS, and the four in the front see FORWARDS. The picture above was taken with MY camera, and edited with numbers to show you the eyes. Seriously grossing myself out right now.

Funnily enough, I had a conversation just last week about wolf spiders with one of the moms in my homeschool group. I told her that I thought wolf spiders (because that’s all I ever see in this house) had been getting in GB’s bed and biting him during the night. And she insisted that that could not be true because wolf spiders were non-aggressive and harmless.

Harmless! OMG! How can you say that a spider is harmless? Don’t heart attacks count as harmful?

So while we were doing our research on the wee arachnid, I thought I’d look up some facts on it’s  toxicity. And I quote from this site:

Venom toxicity - the bite of the Wolf Spider is poisonous but not lethal. Although non-aggressive, they bite freely if provoked and should be considered dangerous to humans. The bite may be very painful. First aid and medical attention should be sought as soon as possible, particularly as to children or the elderly.

And more from this site:

Even though the wolf spider is poisonous, its venom is not lethal. The wolf spider is not known to be aggressive; however, they will bite if they feel like they are in harm or danger. They also move extremely fast when they are disturbed. If bitten by a wolf spider, the wound should not be bandaged but an ice pack should be placed on the bite so that the swelling will go down. And if necessary the victim should avoid any movement if at all possible. It is extremely important that one sees medical attention if bitten by a wolf spider or any other spider.

And from our own Virginia Cooperative Extension office:

Most homeowners have misconceptions about spiders-they are pictured to be poisonous (even deadly), and likely to attack at any time. Wrong. The only dangerous spiders we have in Virginia are the brown recluse spider and the black widow spider.

So she was kind of right, they do refer to it as harmless and non-aggressive.

BUT …… If it bites, and injects a venom……. that could be cause for medical attention………. when it is provoked….. like, say, rolling over on it while you sleep………… I think *I’ll* call that a BAD, harmful, agressive spider. I don’t like ones with fangs!

It can stay outside.

Which is exactly where this guy is going. Because GB would never allow me my first inclination, which is to squish.

So I guess we had a tiny little unit study today, impromptu. I suppose it was kinda cool.

No mommies were harmed in today’s studies.

The Iditarod began yesterday. And GB and I have been more into the race this year than we even were last year. Probably because we know more about it than we used to.

This morning I needed some time to myself to get some household stuff done. I had to cut and wash the dog’s hair (HUGE chore) and do bunches of laundry and floor stuff. So I made today be a “Grab bag Monday.” GB always enjoys this concept. I just put a bunch of activities on pieces of paper and he pulls one out and does it. I had different colors to signify ‘before lunch’ and ‘after lunch.’

Before lunch, this is what he was able to do:

• Gather his laundry for me to wash
• Play Ghost Blasters for 20 minutes, working on multiples of 6
• Feed the skink, the toads, and the hamster, and make sure everybody has water
• Give the dog a hug and a biscuit
• Do one History lesson
• fill up the bird feeders
• Play spelling bee with this week’s words
• Nature ~ Go out in the yard and look for:
  1. new buds on tree branches
  2. evidence of new grass growth
  3. three different birds that you can identify yourself

After lunch he:

• Worked on Journey North worksheets (it’s time to start noticing the patterns of the mystery classes.
• Take quiz in History
• Do one Language Arts lesson
• For the Iditarod, play the Kid’s Polar Challenge
• Research Alaskan Malamutes
• Find out the weather at the next checkpoint (Rainy Pass) and post to Jeff King to warn him. (GB took this to heart and also researched the geography of the checkpoint, finding out that it is one of the most dangerous passages on the whole route. So he warned about that, too. )
• Check musher standings for everybody’s musher in our family. Mark the musher tracking sheet, and mark the map. So far, everybody’s musher is doing great except mine. I picked Anne Capistrant, because she’s a homeschooling mom. But if I was a homeschooling mom- Hey! I am a homeschooling mom! - I’d go at my own pace and just be happy to finish, and then glow in the accomplishment. But that’s me………
• Make a marshmallow igloo

And because he’s a little boy, and it was too irresistible, he had to get some teeny, tiny figures for the igloo………. And THEN they had to be eaten by the terrible T-Rex!

He thought this was TERRIBLY funny, and wanted to know, “Is it gonna be on the blog?”

Um, ……. of course!

We have the coolest game built into the Language Arts program we bought. It has this cute little spelling bee each week. And GB enjoys it each week. For one thing, he’s a pretty good speller. But he loves the graphics and always feels competitive towards the game.

Can you tell how he was doing this week?

Now that’s a triumphant smile!

Spelling words this week: celebration, centuries, certain, characters, decorate, different, generous, index, Jerusalem, known, Nativity, paragraphs, popular, possibly, scheme, selection, shepherds, St. Nicholas, usually.

Spelling grade for this week: 100 = A+