Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Rain, rain, whatevs.

We've definitely been keeping busy here at the Super Awesome School! Rainy days kept us inside for a while, but we still found plenty to do!

We've been studying the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and other coastal peoples. It rains a lot where they live, too! We had fun making these beautiful totem poles.



We also made chilkat blankets (using craft foam instead of mountain goat wool!) We learned that the Salish people kept a special breed of white, fluffy dog for its wool.



And here are our coppers! Super drew the face of the lightning snake...



...and Dude gave his a bear face.



Coppers were a sign of prosperity. If a chief wanted to show his wealth, he might break a beautiful copper, challenging a rival chief to do the same.



We also enjoyed this book plus a huge stack of library books that I returned only three days overdue (except for the one I found under the couch yesterday.)



We haven't done any hands-on math lately--we're too busy practicing skills on IXL. We just joined up and the kids are really motivated by earning the little cyber-prizes and certificates.

We're also practicing math with lots of games! Mythmatical Battles is still Dude's favorite. Super prefers Roll-n-Multiply. And we all love chicken foot...



The kids did go a little stir crazy and combined bowling with remote control cars.



Nana has an October birthday, so Dude made her an amazing pop-up card...



...and Super drew one of her favorite cervidae. (Super loves using the Latin classifying terms. I frequently have to ask her to speak English!)



Not much nature study during these soggy days. We did get to observe this lovely lady, who stayed dry on the front porch.



When the rain finally went away, it was time to carve pumpkins! We had a couple of friends over for a pumpkin party. Dad toasted the seeds with a bit of cayenne pepper!



Then, we had to get outside and enjoy the sunshine!





There are still a few pretty leaves, but many trees are looking bare.



This crab apple tree is spectacular!



Hope you're enjoying the best of this beautiful season!

6 comments:

Karen said...

Oh, there is so much I want to say about this post!

First of all, my 10-year-old's favorite math game is Mythmatical Battles, and it's one of my favorites too.

I am putting the book about Canada on our library list - seems like required reading for someone, like myself, who until a decade or so ago was actually Canadian!

I have an aunt who lived for several years on Victoria Island, and learned a lot about the native people there. The totem poles you guys made look very realistic! If a tad smaller :-)

We had a praying mantis on our front porch a few weeks ago! Aren't they just amazing?

And, those crab apples make great jelly... perhaps it's time to figure out the whole 'making jelly' thing :-)
Which of course, if you do that, your first order of business is to make darned sure that they are really crab apples - do you know for sure? I mean, they look like crab apples, but be safe and find out without at doubt first.

We just had our first hard frost, it was late this year - so we had zinnias and cherry tomatoes right up until Halloween. Ain't fall grand?

Thanks for this post :-)

candyn said...

What a wonderful and colorful post! Your days are so full! I love the projects you've been doing and how you share them. So inspiring! I'm going to have to check out the IXL site. My kids love computer learning sites but I haven't found anything new online for awhile.

The Adventurer said...

Love the fall colors. it is my favorite time of the year. I passed on a blog award to you Check out my blog for details. Have fun with it:)

Sparklee said...

Aaw, thanks! I'll check it out now!

Sparklee said...

Karen, I think I may have learned about Mythmatical Battles from you--didn't you mention it in a post a while back?

OH, you're Canadian! That must be why you're so cool! :)

Alas, the crab apple trees are not ours. They are planted beside a walking path in our neighborhood. The deer seem to enjoy them, though!

Sparklee said...

Candyn--we joined IXL through Homeschool Buyers Co-op. My kids really like earning the little rewards. Every so often they send you a certificate to print, too.

For some reason, I didn't see your comment until now--sorry I didn't respond sooner!