Today’s outdoor education class:

CELC students design and carve letterboxing stamps with Lucy Meigs of Everyone Outside.

Cover book

Read pp 280 – 281; do p. 281 Exercises # 1 and # 2

Sentences must be written or typed;  answers only do not build skill and understanding and do not provide enough of a resource when preparing for chapter tests

Cover textbook

+ Read pp 322 – 323

+ Do Exer # 1 and Exer #2

Sentences must be written or typed; only answers do not build skill and understanding and do not provide enough of a resource when preparing for chapter tests

Cover book

Read pp 362 – 363

Do Exercise #1

Sentences must be written or typed; only answers do not build skill and understanding and do not provide enough of a resource when preparing for chapter tests

- J.S., CELC student

Brett Leckey, a 10-year old who initiated his own project devoted to LifeStraw®, also spoke about his fundraising efforts to better peoples’ lives throughout the world. Following the presentation, students attended a water science class entitled The Magic of Microscopy.

CELC students’ impressions about the event:

Millions of children gone everyday due to waterborne sickness.  The trees that fell one by one to make a fire for boiling water.  There was little hope for Kenya until the Vestergaard Frandsen company made a creation that won many awards, including 2000’s best invention.

This lifesaver is called LifeStraw®.  It is a straw about the length of a pencil and the width of your thumb.  LifeStraw® filters 99.9% of the viruses and bacteria.  All you need to do is put the LifeStraw® in contaminated water and suck; all the sickness gets stuck in the filtration system and clean water comes into your mouth.  This invention has helped the forest because the people of Kenya no longer have to boil water; it most likely saved people from getting sick and so it is a win-win on all sides.

- N.M., CELC student

I was amazed at how much I learned today.  It was really cool to be able to look through a microscope for the first time.  I never knew that there could be so many little organisms in just three drops of lake water.

We got to look at plant and animal samples under the microscope, such as fern leaf, fish scale and mammal lung.  I found it fascinating how the samples were dyed so that they could be seen better with the microscope.

The water that we looked at was from the Mill River, near the Whitney Water Center.  The water had so many plants and animals in it.  I enjoyed learning about water.

- J.S., CELC student

Connecticut Experiential Learning Center (CELC) is host for the National Geography Bee for all Connecticut homeschoolers.

On Monday, 23 January 2012 nine students took their places on the stage of the auditorium of the James Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford, Connecticut.  These students have all been working to prepare for the day’s event – The National Geographic Geography Bee!

After the preliminary round containing seven questions to determine which four would be moving on, there was a tie for the third finalist and third-place winner.  The tie-breaking round commenced, followed by a final championship round, which ultimately determined our 2012 Bee champion!  

Willow Coleman of Guilford is this year’s winner.  Willow will now take a written exam that could qualify her for the state competition, which will be held at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain 30 March 2012. The National competition follows thereafter in May in Washington, D.C.

Students were all very pleased and proud to have been a part of this Geography Bee, now a CELC tradition, and are already preparing for the 2013 Bee!

The noise of the chickens bounce back and forth through my skull.The  rising smell sends me into NOT the best state, as I clear away the chicken dung from the ground. The fire wood still needs to be brought to the house by “mule”, so that’s where I’m off to next.

Crooked wood under my feet requires me to hold onto the top of the “mule”, as a quick jolt sends a trail of gas behind us. Sore legs and arms flop down into the leather seats as the ignition starts, and we drive away, back toward HQ.

- written by N. M., CELC student

I shared my passion with CELC in two different ways.  One was a short computer presentation, and the other was going on a hike and to the beach to take photographs.  Those are two very different ways of teaching people something, and I believe they both work very well.

As we started on our hike, someone pointed out a deer on a nearby marshy island.  It was quietly eating grass and weeds, maybe a hundred yards away.  That was quite a start to our hike.  As we walked along, people took pictures of mountain laurel groves and of new buds on a pine tree.  One friend of mine found a beautiful, multicolored fall leaf to take a picture of.  As the hike progressed further, I could tell that everybody was really enjoying themselves.

Next, we headed to a small, quiet beach that I call Trolley Beach.  Everyone went out on the large pile of boulders sticking into the water.  Some people took pictures of interesting textures and pattern in the rocks, while others found patient hermit crabs to be the better subject for their photographs.  We ended these several hours of fun and adventures with a CELC group photo where everyone was “hidden” amongst the rocks.                W.C. – CELC student