Food Preservation

March had us exploring the world of food preservation.  Terri had the girls hopping all evening long preserving both fruits and vegetables.  They made strawberry freezer jam as well as freezing some veggies and fruit.  We also had two dehydrators that were used to preserve more fruits and veggies.  The girls did all their own cutting and mixing.  It was a very busy, fun evening.

Opening hymn

Talking about food preservation

Preparing red peppers

cutting cantaloupe

carrots

Strawberries

Cooking is fun!

What was your favorite food to preserve? Have you enjoyed any of the goodies you packed away?  Did it taste the way you thought it would?

Sewing

"She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple." Proverbs 31:22

This month we took on the challenge of the sewing badge!  Jenni did a fabulous job leading the girls in sewing their own pajama bottoms using, gasp,sewing machines as well as hand sewing pin cushions.  The girls were busy, busy, busy the entire evening and all of them completed their projects, eventually. 

I have no pictures of this evening.  If someone who took pictures wants to send them my way, I’ll add them in.

Now that you all have learned to sew, have you sewn anything else?  Share with us what you’ve been doing.  If you have a picture, send that to me through email and I’ll add it in.  

Geneaology

This month we focused on where we came from.  Lori led us in a discussion on why it’s important know where we come from.  Learning about our ancestors can be interesting and fun endeavor that leads us to many discoveries about ourselves. 

The girls each gathered information about their families and created a brief synopsis about their family.

Neighbors

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself…" Mark 12:31

December’s meeting was all about being a good neighbor.  After our opening,

 which included an impromptu piano playing of our hymn by Emily, 

Megan led the girls in a discussion of what God says about how we should treat others and how in particular we should treat our neighbors.  

We are to be a light and shinning example of Christ’s love to everyone we come in contact with, even when it’s hard. 

After discussing what it is to be a good neighbor, the girls got busy decorating Christmas Cookies to take around to their neighbors.

The girls were challenged to be extra friendly to those who haven’t been nice to them as well as to those who are friendly back.  Not always an easy task to follow.  Share how you did with your challenge!  Was it easy or hard?  How did the person react?  Did it make a difference in your relationship?

Croquet

What a fun night we had tonight.  Those of you who weren’t able to come, you were missed and we hope you all feel better soon.

We started off our meeting going over our verse, purpose, goal and we even got part of the song in.  We then talked about our hymn, It is Well with My Soul.  We went through each stanza, line by line, talking about what it means and what a wonderful gift Christ has given us, he will never leave us.  No matter what life throws our way, It is Well with Our Souls!  Sammie shared with us what the author, Horatio Spafford, experienced that prompted him to write the hymn.  Such a tragic accident to lose all his children on what was supposed to be a fun trip.

After talking about our hymn Mrs. McDaniel took over and shared about the history of croquet.  We all learned it is a really old sport, dating back to the 14th Century and was originally called Pall Mall.  When the french took over the game they changed the name,  Paille Maille, to Croquet and that name has stuck ever since.  We also learned that the shopping center "malls" come from the original Pall Mall which were the covered courts in which they played.  Really fascinating history.  Thanks Diane for sharing with us.

After the history and a brief run down on what to do, the girls hit the yard to learn how to play croquet, as they played.    The girls did great and were cheering each other on.  So proud of their sportsmanship.  The eventual winners were Tessa and Emily.  Anna and Peter were second.  Hannah came in third.  Sammie and Elizabeth were fourth with Rebecca coming in right behind them.  Great job to everyone and a big thanks to Diane for teaching us how to play.

Astronomy

It was great seeing everyone again after the summer break.  We welcomed our new members, Tessa and her mom Diane.  We are so happy to have you both in our group.  Rachel and Suzanne, we missed you both!  Hope to see you next month.

"Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!" Job 22:12

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?"
"Knowest thou the ordinances of Heaven?" Job 38:31-33

After reciting our purpose, verse and goal we sang our hymn for this month, How Great Thou Art.  You all did a great job singing along w/ the CD, even though the singer was a little low for everyone! LOL  Keep listening to the CD you took home so next month we can try to sing the song w/o the CD. 

We learned how to read a starmap, talked about the North Star or Polaris, named the planets as we looked at great images from NASA then we went outside!  We took our red filtered lights, so we didn’t lose our night vision w/ bright white lights, and our starmaps and headed into the darkened backyard.

Fortunately, the moon hadn’t risen yet, so we had a pretty good sky for this area.  There were some clouds around the horizon as well as a lot of light pollution, but a good portion of the sky was unobstructed.

We first found The Big Dipper as it’s handle arched over the Carob tree.  From the Big Dipper we used the pointer stars to find the Little Dipper.  Unfortunately, the only part of the Little Dipper that we could really see well was Polaris.  Which is a good star to find and one of the requirements for the badge!  From the Little Dipper we followed the northern sky to the east until the large W was seen.  The W was on it’s side and resemebled a 3 more than a W, but we all knew that was the great, beautiful Queen, Cassiopeia, another requirement for our badge.  Perseus was lost in the light pollution but we did find Pegasus, the great winged horse looking suspiciously like a baseball diamond.    Hanging onto Pegasus we saw some of Andromeda, the beautiful princess who was just saved from the horrible sea monster by her hero, Perseus.  Down along one of the lines that make up Andromeda you’ll find M31, which is Messier object 31 or the 31st deep sky object that was classified.  M31 is also known as the Andromeda Galaxy.  The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest galaxy to us and is a spiraling galaxy, like our own Milky Way.  I couldn’t find a public domain picture but here’s a link to a picture you can check out.

The Andromeda Galaxy

We also looked at the Zenith, or the very center of the sky.  We saw The Summer Triangle, made up of the 1st magnitude stars, Vega, Deneb and Altair.  In The Summer Triangle we picked out the constellation, Cygnus, the beautiful swan w/ his wings outstretched.  A couple others also found Delphinus and Lyra.

We then looked over to the Southern sky.  Low on the horizon we found the Teapot, also known as Sagittarius.  I mentioned the Trifid Nebula, which is an area of star formation.  The Trifid Nebula is located just above the spout of the teapot, right where the steam would be if it were set on the stovetop.  Away from light pollution you can see the the Trifid Nebula with just your eyes, it would look like a wispy cloud (or steam).  Here are some NASA images (aren’t they cool):

The Center of the Trifed Nebula

An area of star formation

Right next to Sagittarius (to the west) is Scorpius, the gigantic scorpion residing in the southern summer sky!  I pointed out Antares, a reddish first magnitude star, which is said to be the heart of the scorpion.

In the western sky a bright star was pointed out.  That star is the first magnitude star, Arcturus, which is located in the constellation, Bootes.  An easy way to find and remember several constellations in this area is to find the big dipper handle.  Follow the handle from the bowl to the tip of the handle and "arc to Arcturus", now you’re in Bootes, the protector of the Great Bear (The Big Dipper is just a small portion of the constellation Ursa Major).  Draw a line from Arcturus towards the zenith and you’ll see another bright star.  Not quite as bright as Arcturus but brighter than the majority of stars in that area.  That star is located in the constellation Corona Borealis, or The Northern Crown.  This constellation looks like a smiley face, or a skate board ramp.  If you use Corona Borealis as a skateboard ramp towards the zenith (away from Arcturus), you’ll jump right into the middle of Hercules!  Hercules looks like a lot like an open book or a butterfly.  There are several deep sky objects in Hercules.  M13 is known as the Hercules Cluster.  It’s a globular cluster of stars.  You can check out a picture and some info here.

Have the girls go outside and find the constellations as much as possible.  The more they look for them the easier they will find them.  Have them share what they have found with other members of your family! 

We almost completed the badge.  There are just a couple of things left for the girls to do on their own.  The Moon Phase worksheet I handed out is not a requirement.  That was just something for them to do if they wanted to.

Requirements for the Astronomy Badge:

• Read a book about Astronomy
• Name the planets – finished
• Name the planets from smallest to largest
• Find and identify the constellation The Big Dipper – finished
• Find and identify the constellation The Little Dipper – finished
• Find and identify the North Star – finished
• Find Cassiopeia – finished
• Find another constellation that may only be up at a certain time of the year – we found a bunch and will continue to throughout the year.
• Demonstrate how to tell directions from the sky – face the north star.  Using Polaris as the top of your circle, go clockwise around and don’t forget to Never Eat Slimy Worms!
• Try to find either Jupiter, Venus or Mars (find all if you’re able but only one is required) – finished, we found Jupiter.

Pictures, pictures, everybody loves pictures!

Some of us went to the Stargazing Party put on by the Phoenix Astronomical Society the next evening.  They had their telescopes set up to view the moons of Jupiter.  There was also a man with his collection of meteorites.  Very cool.   For those who went to the Star Party, leave a comment and share what you learned and what you liked best!  (those who didn’t go to the party, leave a comment and let us know what constellations you’ve been looking at and which one is your favorite).  The astronomical society has star parties every second Thursday of the month.  They are free to the public and are a great family outing.  Just a reminder, they are scientists and you will be hearing things that may not jive with your views of how life, the earth, the universe, etc. came into existence.  We used our experience as a great discussion on our drive home. 

Our next unofficial meeting will be on September 21st from 2-4ish.  Come hang out and play at our house. 

See you next month, at my home, where Diane will be teaching Croquet!

Welcome Back!

I’m looking forward to another great year as we learn new skills, grow closer as a group and deepen our relationship with Christ.

We have another fun and exciting year ahead of us.  Here is the line up for the year!

Linda

Diane

Jenni

Megan

Lori

Terri

Suzanne
Jen