WOW For Dissection Day

The EDISON Homeschool Science Club is pictured below during an afternoon lab program on Thursday, December 16 dissection of a cow eye.

Road Tripping for Books

All homeschoolers know that you can never have enough bookshelves.  We proved that adage once again this month by gathering up some good friends, and traveling to the 42nd annual Children's Literature Festival on the UCM campus.  There's nothing like a day of listening to creative people and talented writers talk about their life's work.  We were inspired, entertained, and educated in countless ways.  Most of all, the kids came home ready to read, write, and research.  Here's Adam's report about the authors who we met:

Gary Blackwood did The Shakespeare Stealer, Shakespeare’s Scribe, and Shakespeare’s Spy. He also did The Great Race, Wild Timothy, and Second Sight. The Shakespeare Stealer is about this kid trying to steal the play “Hamlet” from Shakespeare . I loved the talk. He talked about publishing the book and so much more. He said don’t judge the book by its cover. He fenced to show us the types of swords and based it on Zorro.


Gloria Skurzynski talked about endangered animals and rocket history. She writes the mysteries in our National Parks series. In each book there is an animal. She took a card of my dad’s and probably will go there to write a book.


Patricia Hermes wrote Joshua’s Oregon Trail. She is funny. She based a book on “I’m going to pulverize you William.” She heard it from a little girl chasing her little brother.


A. LaFaye wrote Worth and much more. She had pets, went to school with a nice teacher, but had mean classmates. The “A” stands for Alexandra.

Performance Reviews by Adam DeBacker, age 12

Performed at Springfield Little Theater
February 18, 2010

I loved The King and I.   I loved the songs.  I think that the King, played by Derrick D. King, was great.  Derrick is a big man and can sing very well.  His wife and son are played by Kim Snyder and Maceo Cortezz  and are great performers and singers.  I do like the songs, especially Whistle a Happy Tune and Getting to Know You.

It takes place in Siam.  Siam is now Thailand and is a country in Asia.  King Mongkut and Anna Leonowens are their real names. Anna was an Englishwoman. She had a son named Louis. Anna got married to Tom and Tom died. Anna and Louis went to Siam and taught the King’s children. The King did stuff pretty harsh. Like at the end, after they danced, the king’s guards came in with a princess who had run away with her boyfriend. The King got a whip and tried to whip her, but he didn’t. Anna got to him. They fell in love and he didn’t want to do that.

To learn more about the real story behind The King and I, click here:
History of the real Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut

The Springfield Symphony, February 13

I loved the symphony.  It played Loves Greetings and Tristan And Isolde.  Leah Hamilton Jenkins sang El Amor Brujo mezzo soprano.  But Leah didn't have a microphone and she sang against the symphony and it was loud.  Hachen Zhang plays piano.  He performed Beethoven and Mozart and Hayden's music at age 5 in concert.  And he studied music at age 3, and he is the youngest person in history to win the Van Cliburn Competition at age 19.  He is still performing.  He is standing in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's footsteps.

A Theatrical Analysis by Adam DeBacker, age 11: Macbeth and Scrooge

**Mom's note to readers:  The week of December 1, we attended two theatrical performances in the area. They were Macbeth, a contemporary production of the Shakespeare play at Missouri State University and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens at the Vandivort Center Theater.  The following are Adam's thoughts about the two stories.

There were two guys: Macbeth and Scrooge.  Macbeth was haunted by three witches, and Scrooge was haunted by ghosts and each of them found their destiny.  Macbeth killed King Duncan and also killed Macduff's family.  Macbeth's wife died, and Macbeth  and Macduff fought it over.  Macbeth's head was in a sack.  Scrooge, on the other hand, was haunted and after the ghosts came  Scrooge was nice.  He gave Bob Cratchit a raise.  He did everything right and shaped up.    -Adam DeBacker  12/7/09

Athleticism, Theater, and Comedy

I saw the Harlem Globetrotters on January 21, 2010 at JQH Arena.  There are a lot of players.  I think the coaches are good trainers, and there are a lot of legends.  There is a mascot called Globie, and honorary means that even though they didn't win, they still got it from being admired.  They did basketball, and they did do tricks with the ball.  They de-pantsed people and took off all of the clothes.  That includes shirt, pants, and underpants.  They threw water on the referees. The Globetroters formed in 1926.  It was creaed by Abe Saperstin in Chicago, Illinois.  Brother Bones whistled a version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" as the theme song.

- Adam DeBacker, newly age 12