(Annual) Farm & Food Open House

Farm & Food Open House, Saturday, September 8th, 2007, Farm Tours 10 am - 4 pm.

labels: done, weekend, annual

Math League

Math League Homeschool Contests

Each year The Math League sponsors contests for grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Algebra Course 1, and High School. By popular demand, Math League's Math Contests are now available for homeschoolers.

Environmental Education

"Close enough" to me in Northern NJ:

1. Schiff Nature Preserve's (Mendham, NJ)
   
2. Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center, Chatham, NJ (Morris County Parks)
3. Pyramid Mountain, Boonton, NJ (Morris County Parks)
   
4. Raptor Trust, Millington, NJ
5. Closter Nature Center, Closter, NJ
   
6. Science Barge, NYC
7. selected Liberty Science Center events
8. Aquarium, Camden, NJ
   
9. Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Whippany/Morristown, NJ
10. (not as environmental) Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ

Morris Museum (Morristown) is offered Project WET class for educators on March 29th, 2008, 9:30 - 3:30, $30. Register with them.

Schiff Nature Preserve's (Mendham, NJ) programs include:
Homeschool environmental education starting in early December, Spring, and September. Classes Mondays or Fridays from 12:45-2:15. Rain or shine, each 1 1/2 hour class will focus on a specific theme and include a combination of hikes, games, crafts, and outdoor and indoor activities. They have a 3 or 4 year cycle of classes. $25 per child per semester for Schiff members and $50 per child for nonmembers. Winter Topic: Food Webs, Animal Signs & Tracking, and Animal Territories.
Individual sessions for all are also scheduled year-round.

Pyramid Mountain Programs are on the parks calendar and sent as a pdf file via email. Homeschool classes and hikes and sessions for all ages. You may want to join their mailing list.

• Homeschool Science: Nature's Classroom: three times a year, Fall session 5 weeks, Tuesday or Thursday), Winter session (4 weeks, Thursdays). “Fun-filled science classes for ages 8-12.”
  >http://gryphonacademy.blogspot.com/2007/08/pyramid-mt-natures-classroom-fall.html
  http://gryphonacademy.blogspot.com/2008/01/pyramid-mt-natures-classroom-spring_13.html
  
  
• PSA - Other programs.

Great Swamp Programs are on the parks calendar and sent as a pdf file via email. You may want to join their mailing list to learn details of their Mommy & Me hikes, Homeschool Science for 4 - 6 year olds, Scavenger Hunts, family events, Maple Sugar Festival, Hikes and Education programs.

Science Barge in NYC, is a sustainable urban farm designed by New York Sun Works, an environmental nonprofit organization, powered by solar, wind, and biofuels, and irrigated by rainwater and purified river water. You can visit and they have an "active public education program, with school groups from all 5 boroughs of New York City visiting during the week, and the general public on weekends." (For groups, they are booking about a year away!)

Educator discounts

You should be able to get discounts at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Kinkos, A. C. Moore, Jo Anns, and office depot as a home schooler or as an educator. You would get a card from them that you have to show when you make homeschool related purchases. At Barnes & Noble many items are excluded, including text books. At Borders you have to sign your name and address every time you us it.

Thursday, September 13th, Kinkos is letting teachers laminate for free - get your coupon from their website.

12:34 5/6/7

We remembered the day - but missed the shirt. There are a whole bunch of 1234567 shirts over at Cartesian Bear Designs but even they can't ship the day that I see them! I have heard only good things about them and what they can do.

We better prepare now for June 7th of next year when it will be: 23:45 6/7/8

NY Philharmonic School Day Concerts - Art of Listening - 2008

NY Philharmonic Orchestra School Day Concerts
Avery Fisher Hall--Lincoln Center
$6 per seat

Elementary School Concerts (grades 4-6)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 10:30-11:30am, 12:00-1:00pm

Middle and High School Concert (grades 7-12)
Thursday, May 1, 2008, 10:30-11:30am , 12:00-1:00pm

Order form: Print it and return it to the Education Department as quickly as possible. This popular program books quickly.

THE ART OF LISTENING
How do we get inside the complex sound world of orchestral music? In a lively, interactive concert, students will learn a range of strategies — following narrative, identifying instruments, tracking melodic variation, seeking out composers' intentions — and apply these ideas as they hear thrilling performances by the full New York Philharmonic.

Delta David Gier, conductor
Theodore Wiprud, host

Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet (selections)
Bernstein, Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (selections)
Very Young Composers, Suite of New Works
(music composed by 5th graders in the Philharmonic’s
Very Young Composers Program — April 30 only)
Ives, Variations on America

At four one-hour concerts — two for Elementary students and two for Middle and High School students — Avery Fisher Hall is filled with the buzz of students, all listening to some of the world's most exciting music.

Water Cycle Sites

Windows to the Universe has Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced entries

Hands on Experiments

Gorgeous Snowflake Closeups