study time

I am very busy in my life right now, so please excuse me for not visiting more often. This week so far, I have cleaned my house, done laundry, cooked dinners, made lunches, worked 8 hours at the child care center, worked 4 1/2 hours for Dillon's school, interviewed for a scrapbook store job, studied for my Praxis test, read all my new student orientation materials, chauffeured children to and from school, swimming lessons, ballet, soccer, etc. Just a few things really.

So as I am studying for my Praxis exam, (it is a test you need to take in order to get your Colorado teaching license), and I am relearning all sorts of things! There are 4 sections to these tests, math, literacy, science and social studies. So far I have only gotten to the literacy and science sections. The study guide only tells you what subjects are on the test. You then need to look up information on the subject, so it is more intensive than you would originally think.

In the science section, which I am working on right now, I am relearning all about weathering verses erosion, volcanos and earthquakes, the layers of the atmosphere, structure and properties of the oceans, currents, waves and tides, the "water cycle", and the origin of the Earth. And that just scratches the surface of that section.

I am finding all this amazingly interesting! I love to learn new things, and even though all this is not new to me, going back to look at all this again is really fun. Keep in mind that we are talking elementary education. This is not indepth study. Talking about the weather cycle means knowing evaporation, precipation, infiltration and runoff. The cloud types: stratus, cirrus, and cumulus and what that means. Very basic stuff. But basic doesn't always mean easy.

Some of this stuff we could come up with as basic knowledge. I asked several people what they thought the answer to this question was... "Why do monuments in Egypt last for thousands of years, while the same monuments transported to northern climates deteriorate very quickly?" ... and almost everyone gave the same answer... Dry verses wet climates, so the weathering would be quite different. I am not sure yet if this is the right answer, but it is in the weathering section of the study guide.
I am also assuming that most people know that the tides are caused by the pull of the moon and sun, but at what time do the high/low tides have the greatest difference? During the full and new moon cycles, when the earth, sun and moon are all aline.

So last night I was working on Earth history: Origin of the Earth, Paleontology, The rock record, Geologic time scale. I had a hard time with this. I can't tell how deep into this section I need to dive. Do I need to know more than the Earth is 4.6 billion years old? Do I need to know more than that Paleontology is the study of pre-historic life forms on Earth? And what the heck is "the rock record"? If you can answer that you will get a prize! Help a girl out, would you?

I'm off to study again.