An answer about Science and Scouts

LimeGreen's Mom wrote:

I am amazed at the size of your cub pack!! How do you do it? My son's pack
is about 23 registered and 20 coming out on a cub night, and that is a
VERY healthy well attended group where we live. There is just too much
competition with other activities now and the numbers in scouting have gone
down(in Canada).
On another note, I am going through science curriculum
choices and I noticed you went from Singapore to Science Explorer and wondered
if you could tell me your opinion on the programs and why the switch to
Explorer.......and how easy it is to run the labs in both Singapore and
Explorer.
Thanks Zillions,
Robin

Robin,
We're actually not that huge for a pack in this area. There are several with over 100 Cubbies in them. There are 22 packs in our county, one for each elementary school and 2 LDS packs. We have about 20 to 25% participation in most schools. This area is very big on Scouting and I am so fortunate to have the District headquarters and Scout Store about 20 minutes from my house. It sure makes things easier for me. That said, sports are also big in the area which is big competition for Scouting. I just let parents know that it's okay to miss a scout event every now and then. I would rather have the boys in the scouting program than not. If they have to miss meetings for a month due to soccer practice, then Mom and Dad can work on achievements at home.

As for Science,
I use the Singapore Science through 5th grade and then switch over to Science Explorer. I don't have any experience with the middle and high school Singapore Science texts, but I'm sure they are good. I already owned the Science Explorer books and I enjoy them. Of course, every year is different and I may change my mind by the time the younger two get to middle school. But it works for now.

I use Singapore Science for 1st-5th because I think that's the time to teach scientific thinking and how to process and inter-relate information. Singapore is excellent for that. I like that scientific process and reasoning is the emphasis instead of science facts.
For middle school, kids are ready for a more meaty program. They can handle the vocabulary and the heavy science facts. That's when I switch to Science Explorer. I know that it is completely opposite of the Classical education model but it's just my experience from teaching public school, homeschoolers, and my own kids.

As far as running labs, I don't have any problem. But, big caveat here, I have a lot of equipment in my house....even before I started homeschooling.
Space is always an issue because we have to live in this house and I don't have a dedicated homeschool space. But there is always something growing over in a corner and you should check the food containers to make sure the contents are edible and not part of an experiment. (I have some eggs de-calcifying in the fridge at this moment for an osmosis experiment.)

In both programs, it is easy to substitute materials and the experiments themselves are not difficult to perform. Singapore is harder to schedule but easier to use. Science Explorer is easier to schedule but you'll have to write your own tests.

Neither is as easy as BJU or Apologia where everything is all scheduled, planned, and you can buy a materials kit.
But they are both excellent for those looking for a secular science text.

I hope that helps.

A bit of knitting and a lot of corn

I've decided that since this my blog, I'm going to post what I want on it. Which means I'm going to talk about my 4 boys, life in the Army and occasionally I'll talk about why I think home education is great and a little bit of my knitting. I'm also going to continue to delete the cowardly anonymous comments.
Really, if you're going to post nasty comments about a 6-year-old child, at least put on your big girl panties and put your name on your nastiness.

So I knit some stuff.
Actually, I knit a lot of stuff but I've only taken pictures of a couple of lacy things.

Hi ya'll! Here's my first bit of lace. I had never knit a shawl before. Hats, socks, scarves...I even knit a sweater. (It was kind of a cheater sweater. I'll drag out some photos later on.) This particular shawl was great for me because I knit it with sock yarn. And it was ridiculously easy. Other than that, I can't tell you anything else. I can't remember the pattern, the yarn color, or what size needles I used.

Here's my second piece of lace. I can tell you more about this one.

The red yarn is Socks that Rock (Brick) that was double stranded. The multi-color is Noro Iro in some unknown colorway. The pattern is from the Fall issue of Knitty, Colonnade. I knit the red for a few extra rows and knit the multicolor for a few extra rows. I also added extra toggle buttons and totally skipped that i-cord stuff. (The thing has holes in it for the buttons. Why make more.) I wanted this to be more of a poncho than shawl. I figure it will be nice on those "too warm for a coat" days. I totally love it and I'm really glad that I finally found a use for all that Iro.

And what have the boys been up to?

(See, I do discipline them.) We headed out to the Corn Maze with a couple of the cousins. There was much corn, lots of stuff to play on, and many, many little critters to hold and pet.

All the boys want ZD to build a "Corn" box for them to play in.
Matty wants us to install the zip line that we own but is still sitting in a box in the garage.

The oldest one has embraced his naturally curly hair and started using my shampoo. (ZD says he looks like he has a perm.)
Sammy....well, he's being the bold, grab-life-by-the-horns kids that he's always been.

And Anders has decided that he wants to be a farmer. (Good thing we have a farm for him) He has a special affinity to pigs and chickens.

Much fun was had by all.

It's been a few months so it must be time to go camping again.

Yep, We're packing up all the Zoo gear and heading 14 miles up the road to camp at the Lake. Just me, ZD, the boys and 116 other folks from our Cub Pack. And I'm in charge of this little dog and pony show.
Actually, this is my second time camping this month. I'm sure getting my money's worth out of all those supplies.

This camp out is our annual fall camp. With so many participants, we've elected to do our own instead of going to the district sponsored event.

I'm get a little woozy thinking about where I'm going to put all the tents and how much food to buy for the Saturday night dinner. (Which thankfully, I do not have to cook.) We're having spooky games, finishing the Leave No Trace award, having some den time, and eating a criminal number of s'mores.
And just for fun, we're bringing a half-dozen Boy Scouts along to camp with the Webelos II's. They are camping as a patrol and cooking their own meals in a their own little camping areas. The Scouts a little nervous and wildly excited about the whole idea. The parents are just nervous.
We're kind of in denial about the fact that these boys will be full-fledged Boy Scouts in just a few more months. For most of them, this will be their first time they've camped in a tent without Mom or Dad.

I'm packing everything that might be remotely useful. Even the microwave for popcorn. We're Cubbies....we don't have to rough it.