karmamatopoeia

"But What About School?"

2012-02-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

...said the nice lady seated next to me at the luau. She was a retired teacher, and very curious about how our kids could be on a two-week vacation in late January.

"Oh, we take school wherever we go," I said.

That's my stock answer for anyone who asks. It usually satisfies the asker, because they are likely to imagine anything they want. They can envision whatever "school" means to them, whether it's reading, writing research papers, or maybe even doing workbooks back in the hotel room.

But the truth is, we didn't spend one second on "school" during our trip. We didn't even research Hawaii before the trip, something that we usually do before we travel.

I just didn't have time to put together a Hawaii unit, and to be honest, I didn't feel like turning what was supposed to be our vacation into a "unit" anyway.

So, what about school? Well...

I'll admit that the cheesy hotel luau was a rather inauthentic introduction to Hawaiian culture.

It was also loads of fun! We enjoyed the music, dancing and food, and after it was over, my family was singing Going to a Hukilau for days! (You'd be surprised how much Hawaiian vocabulary you can learn from that silly song!)

But the lau laus with pork and omo were way better at the roadside plate lunch shack! The meats are steamed in the taro leaves, which resemble cooked spinach or collard greens. Trust me, this picture doesn't do it justice--it was absolutely ono, or delicious!

Rice and macaroni-potato salad are traditional, as is a giant shave ice for dessert!

Dude tried mango and lychee nut, and loved both. Dad fell in love with liliko'i (passion fruit) and Super had her favorites, strawberry and lime. I went for pineapple with coconut cream on top! Pure happiness!

Here is a shave ice machine, by the way. We got to watch one in action and it was fascinating.

One of our stops was the Punalu'u Bake Shop in Na'alehu (the southernmost bakery in the United States!) We tried their malasadas, taro rolls, and traditional Hawaiian sweet bread. We also toured their small botanic garden, and I finally met one of my favorite celebrities in person:

Coffea arabica, I am your biggest fan! :-)

Later we were able to visit a coffee plantation and co-op where we learned much more about coffee, how it changes from ripe, red coffee cherries to a cup of hot coffee, and how this plant has influenced Hawaii's history.

Other highly influential plants: sugar cane and pineapples!

Here is a cute little baby pineapple. Doesn't look like it could change history, does it? We discussed exactly how Hawaii became an American territory and then state, learning about Queen Lili'ukalani along the way. (If you're interested, here is a great book on the subject.)

Here is King Kamehameha, who is credited with uniting the Hawaiian islands into one kingdom.

The Punalu'u Bake Shop also had some fun and informative murals. This one shows the traditional luau foods and gives their Hawaiian names.

We actually got to try most of these at the hotel luau, including poi. (My kids' verdict: not terrible, but they're not going to miss it, either.)

We saw hala, or screwpine trees all over the island, and we learned how the Polynesians used this versatile tree.

When these hala seed pods ripen fully, they will open, revealing a fuzzy, bristly end. The Hawaiians used them for paintbrushes long ago. The long leaves of the hala tree were used to make baskets, mats and clothing, and to thatch roofs.

Not surprisingly, Hawaiian culture is very influenced by Asian countries. Super and Dude were both excited to see Ganesha, one of their favorite Hindu deities in this lush garden.

We also saw various statues of Buddha on the island. This one was my favorite. He looks very serene, listening to the ocean and the wind in the palm trees.

We saw tons of interesting wildlife. I promise, I won't bore you with a million photos, but indulge me a few! I was quite proud of catching this quick little gecko! Isn't he spectacular?

Go ahead, ask my kids anything about the nene. They were absolutely fascinated by the rarest goose in the world, who also happens to be the state bird of Hawaii. We learned that nenes are descended from Canada geese, who probably were blown off course during migration and ended up in Hawaii. The nene has adapted to the Hawaiian environment; it spends very little time in the water and has feet better suited for walking on lava rocks!

This crab did not appreciate me taking a picture while he was trying to enjoy his fish. We saw several different types of crabs, all of them very camera-shy!

The sea turtles were more mellow, though.

Sea turtle facts, courtesy of the kids:

They are named green sea turtles not because of the color of their shell, but because their diet turns their insides green. They eat sea plants and jellyfish. The sea turtles in Finding Nemo aren't realistic because adult sea turtles don't actually take care of their young. It's against the law to bother a sea turtle and you should never touch one! People have bacteria on their skin that can make a turtle sick.

Green sea turtles are endangered for a lot of reasons, but one important reason is that plastic bags floating on the water look like jellyfish. Once a sea turtle has ingested a plastic bag, it will die. If you care about saving sea turtles, try not to use plastic bags. If you have to throw away a plastic bag, tie it in knots so it won't float on the water like a jellyfish.

Plastic bags aren't the only problem, either. Tons of trash wash up on Hawaiian beaches every year! The lovely sand in this jar was scooped up from a Hawaiian beach--wouldn't you love to walk barefoot in that?

We learned a lot about ocean ecology at the small-but-interesting Mokupapapa Discovery Center in Hilo. And we were very excited to hear more about the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

There were lots of cool exhibits at the discovery center. Dude enjoyed using the robotic arm to pick up small objects. This simulates what it would be like to operate a submersible.

Super was saddened by this exhibit: it shows the trash found in one albatross chick's stomach. She left the center with new resolve to fight pollution and clean up our beaches!

Speaking of ocean ecology...this is a humpback whale turning over in the water--can you see the pectoral fins sticking up? This was our third time to go whale watching, and definitely the most spectacular! This frisky whale put on quite a show, turning and breaching for us.

Humpback facts, courtesy of Super:

The humpback whale is the official marine mammal of the state of Hawaii. They are baleen whales, so they have two blowholes. They feed in the cold northern water, and they breed and give birth in the warm waters of the equator. No one has ever recorded a humpback giving birth, but two humpback placenta have been studied by scientists.

They live in groups called pods and the pods usually migrate together. After the female gives birth, sometimes a male will follow and and protect her; he is called an escort. He does this so he can have a chance to mate with her after she raises her baby.

Humpbacks have the longest flippers of any cetacean. They can't stick their tongues out so when a baby nurses from its mother, it doesn't suck the milk but pushes it into its mouth. Grown humpbacks eat small schooling fish and krill.

There are approximately 70,000 humpbacks today and most of them migrate to the Hawaiian islands during the winter.

The Hawaiian islands were created by a hot spot right smack in the middle of the Pacific plate. In fact, the islands are still being created! Lava stopped flowing into the ocean late last year, but it is probably building up pressure under the ground, and will start to flow again in a few months. All the new land created by lava belongs to the state of Hawaii, by the way.

About 20 miles off the coast of Hawaii, the newest island in the archipelago is under construction. Lo'ihi still has about 3,000 feet to grow before it reaches the water's surface. The kids wondered if tourists might be visiting Lo'ihi in 30,000 to 50,000 years!

It was very exciting (and a teensy bit unnerving) to see the steam and smoke coming out of the still-active Kilauea crater.

And here it is at night. It lit the whole sky with an eerie, orange-pink glow.

Glad we didn't experience anything more exciting than smoke and steam during our visit! But we did see evidence of what the Hawaiian goddess Pele can do...

Uh, yeah, ya think?

This used to be a community called Kalapana Gardens. We didn't visit the other side of this lava flow, but apparently you can still see some abandoned structures, and the houses that were spared by Pele!

More evidence of Pele: when lava bursts into the air and cools as it falls, it creates Pele's tears. These are smooth, glassy bits of obsidian.

The Hawaiians have words for the different types of lava. This is smooth pahoehoe lava. It was thick and flowed slowly, making odd, rounded shapes. It was iridescent in the sunlight and felt a little like walking on glass.

Another type of lava, a'a, is sharp and craggy. It was thrust into the air as it cooled, creating tall, angular shapes. Poor Dad--he demonstrated how unpleasant it is to fall down on a'a lava! Ouch!

This is what it looks like when lava actually flows up a tree trunk and solidifies...

And this is what happens when the lava is so hot, it evaporates the tree, leaving a hole where the roots were!

Pele's hair is another fascinating form of lava.

We learned about seismology and watched as the seismographs collected data.

We also learned about "vog" and the harmful gases that Kilauea and the surrounding steam vents produce. Every day the rangers at Volcanoes National Park post an air quality report and a seismic activity report.

When the native Hawaiians weren't avoiding lava and noxious gases, they were trying not to break the kapu, or very strict religious taboos. Breaking kapu was punishable by death, unless...

You could make your way to a place of refuge! We visited Pu'uhonua o Honaunau historical park and learned about the perilous journey that one might have to make to escape execution. After the kahunas performed sacred rites, a person would be allowed to return to his or her family.

The yellow hibiscus is Hawaii's state flower, but...

...we saw more o'hi'a trees, sometimes filled with the songs of honeycreepers!

Super really enjoyed putting a disposable underwater camera into the tide pools. We haven't developed the photos yet, so it will be interesting to see what she caught.

Here are Dude and Dad looking down on the enormous volcanic crater.

And here is the idea map we made about Hawaii when we got home. We could have added lots more but we ran out of posterboard!

So...what about school?

Antidote to February

2012-02-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

Goodness we've been busy! I know, familiar refrain, right?

We've been home for a couple of days and jumped right back into academics, but for now, please enjoy this antidote to the February "blahs."

How many synonyms for beautiful can you think of? :-)

This was my first time to take a vacation somewhere warm during the winter. I could definitely get used to it!

My kids are now thoroughly in love with Hawaii. I loved the flowers and birds, they loved the beaches, the food and the relaxed pace!

Of course, we all loved the sunshine and warm breezes. (Especially since we came home to over a foot of snow in our yard!)

The orchids above were so cute--I thought they looked like they were doing jumping jacks!

You know I love anything yellow. I was excited to discover that there are yellow orchids! Aren't they lovely?

Remember Frederick, that wonderful book by Leo Leoni? Frederick the mouse stores up his memories of summer to share with his friends over the long, dark winter.

I'm feeling just a bit like Frederick since we got home from vacation! If February tries to get me down, I'll light my coco-mango candle, look at my photos, and dream of warmer days.

Hope you are staying warm and looking forward to a lovely spring!

Wordless Whateverday

2012-01-29T23:47:00.001-08:00

See You in a Few

2012-01-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

Yeah...won't be posting much for a little while...

There is nothing like a book...

2012-01-10T18:43:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T09:03:00.001-08:00

Getting caught up here at the Super-Awesome School. Or at least as "caught-up" as we will ever be! We've got lots of projects going on, including rearranging furniture, cleaning out kids' rooms and closets, and putting away the Christmas tree and decorations.

What's new? Well, both kiddos are starting 2012 as purple belts! Yup, they passed their karate exams and got bright, shiny purple belts along with new black gis. Good thing, too, because they were outgrowing their white ones.

We are trying something new in math and I like it a lot. The books are called Verbal Fractions and Verbal Percents by Michael Levin and Charan Langton ($2.99 on Kindle!) We are supposed to be tackling percents this month, but it was clear that we needed a teeny bit of fraction review so we're working our way through Verbal Fractions first. We just sit down somewhere comfortable with a cup of tea, I give the kids some scratch paper (which they barely use) and they take turns answering the questions. Couldn't be simpler and they enjoy it.

We usually follow up with some Daily Puzzlers from Laura Candler. I made a Daily Puzzler box, and the kids each draw 3 or 4 to solve. We're almost through Book B, which was a little easy for them, but I'm glad they got their feet wet before moving on to Book C. My philosophy: a little review never hurts!

Over the break I read a book by Robin Padron called How to Homeschool Math--Even if you Hate Fractions! Well, I don't actually hate fractions, but I did find the book extremely helpful. (I actually read it on my Kindle while walking on the treadmill--New Year's resolutions, you know!)

We are officially a month "behind" according the plans I made last summer, but I kind of expected that. Our world religions unit study was supposed to begin in November and culminate just before the holiday break. We started it January 2. So what? We are all enjoying it. Lots of good reading, and as many hands-on projects as I can find, including this Yin and Yang pony bead keychain from MakingFriends.com.

We're reading The Story of Religion by Betsy and Giulio Maestro, with frequent pauses as we supplement with various library books about the different religions and philosophies. So far the kids have really enjoyed The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao te Ching by Demi and Confucius: The Golden Rule by Russell Freedman and Frederic Clement.

As you may already know, we have a particular interest in how Asian philosophies have influenced history! We hope to start a fun unit study on South Korea soon, probably next month. This year I'm still working on those perfectionist tendencies that keep me from starting a project until it is perfectly planned and perfectly ready. I'm learning to just jump in! :-)

Let's see...what else? Oh, I did let Dude take a "piano break" and join his sister's guitar class. I was afraid he would start hating music altogether if I forced him to stay in piano. So far he has been extremely motivated, partly because he wants to catch up with the class, and partly because he wants to show me that changing instruments was a good decision!

And the coolest part: I'm taking piano now! Since Dude changed instruments, the piano teacher had an empty time slot and I asked if I could take it! I remembered more than I thought I would (it's been, what, 25 years?) and I'm having a blast!

Hope your new year is off to a great start!
Wishing you health and happiness in 2012!

Last Day Before Vacation

2011-12-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Today was our last day of "school" before a fun winter break!

We finished our geography study with Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling. I took these photos before the maps were fully colored in--I should have waited because they look even more awesome now!

We read a couple more chapters of Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes together, and then we went for a SWIM!

Hope you had a great day!

A Super-Awesome week so far...

2011-12-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

We are staying busy indoors while it's COLD outdoors!

We started our week by decorating our little classroom tree. It's blue! This photo makes it look like we pulled a charred branch out of the fire pit, but the tree is actually a very pretty shade of blue. (Maybe that pale, snowy light coming from the window messed up the color...???)

We enjoyed listening to this CD that I picked up on our trip to New Mexico. Robert Mirabal is an award-winning flute maker and musician.

We had some interesting discussions based on our "That's Debatable!" questions. This one was, "Trucking companies should have to pay higher taxes because they damage roads and pollute the air."

The kids quickly discovered that situations like these are complex and black/white/right/wrong thinking just doesn't work!

We played a few rounds of Animal Classification Go Fish. (I saved this wonderful felt gift bag from my birthday...I knew it would be perfect for something!)

These cards are yet another awesome Pinterest find. It was fun to hear the kids say, "Hey, I didn't know these animals were related!"

After playing the classification game, we compared reptiles and amphibians.

It's amazing how a few Angry Birds stickers can turn practicing fact families into a "game." I'm thinking of making some kind of bean bag toss for this to add a kinesthetic element.

Speaking of games, pop and potato chips make every game more fun! This is Three-in-a-Row from Lakeshore Learning. The kids found it to be way too easy (I guess they know their division facts better than I realized) so they changed it to "Five-in-a-Row." (And they tried placing their discs on the board tiddlywinks style. Which led to a lot of mayhem and lots of discs all over the classroom floor.)

We practiced spelling with a fun idea from Pinterest. For some reason, I can't find the specific post, but the original idea came from Hello Literacy. Anything to get Dude to practice those spelling words!

Here is my Spelling Stamps tub.

And here are the instructions. Really working on the "put it back after use" rule around here!

We also reviewed how to add -ing to words that end in -e. I had noticed a few errors in the kids' writing and wanted to give them some hands-on practice with this. I just wrote each letter of the word on Post-it Notes. The kids yanked away the -e and slapped down an -ing.

This is our Daily Puzzler box. I found the cute winter box in the dollar section of Target. I'm using Laura Candler's Daily Math Puzzlers for this activity.

The kids pick one and we work them together on the white board. After we solve the problem, the kids get to write "SOLVED" or "BTDT" or something similar in big red letters on the card. So satisfying!

This is our Quiz Bowl. (The polar bear container is from Dollar Tree.) As we move through our week, I'm jotting down questions about what we have learned. On Friday, the kids will pull questions out and answer them.

This is way more fun than an actual test! Plus I can keep the questions in the bowl for as long as necessary, or save them for a review later.

We spotted this garter snake in our flower bed. He was trying to soak up a few rays between snowstorms.

Remember our pale, dinky amaryllis? Just one week of TLC and it's almost 6 inches tall!

Hope you're having a great week, too!

It's Cran-Tastic!

2011-12-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

We finally finished our cranberry study today! Of course I had planned to do this with the kids before Thanksgiving, but never had time to do all the activities. I thought it looked like a lot of fun when I read about it at Almost Unschoolers, and I didn't want to abandon the idea...

First we opened our cranberries crosswise and lengthwise to compare the patterns inside.

Look how teeny tiny the seeds are! They fit inside the pattern on the paper towel!

We watched an interesting video about cranberries here. (And we got a kick out of the way the British narrator pronounces cranberries.)

We predicted that the cranberries would float due to the little air pockets inside. We floated a few cranberries in water, then discussed how cranberries are harvested.

I made a very thin cranberry slice and put it on a microscope slide.

I can't believe this almost kind of worked! I didn't know I could take a picture through the microscope lens. The focus isn't the best, but still, it's cool.

I had made cranberry juice the night before by soaking about a cup of cranberries in very hot water. (I poured boiling water over them and when that didn't release much color, I microwaved them for a minute.)

So here we have plain white vinegar, orange juice (we were out of lemons,) baking soda and baking powder. The kids remembered the basics of acids and bases. They both predicted that cranberry juice would be acidic, but weren't sure why...it just seemed like it would be.

Their suspicions were confirmed when the vinegar and the orange juice didn't do anything. But look what happened when we dropped in some baking soda!

Then the baking powder...

It floated on top at first, so the kids got impatient and decided to stir it. Then it got foamy and turned deep purplish-blue.

We really enjoyed our cranberry study--thanks to Almost Unschooling Mom for a fun idea!

P.S. A million points if you get the title reference!

Sunny Tuesday School

2011-11-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

We started our school day today with an addition warm-up. (Kiddos always complain that they don't need to review, but I noticed that they were a bit rusty with a few addition facts!) This is a game called "Hamster Run" from Really Good Stuff.

Then they compared numbers in "Get to the Top," from The Mailbox's Mix & Match Math Games. (Yes, those are hamsters climbing the mountain...the kids really liked the hamster game pieces from the first game!)

We learned about Mobius strips today and decided to make some of our own. Take a strip of paper and label the corners A, B, C, and D.

Make a loop, but twist the paper so that B is lined up with C and A is lined up with D. Tape the ends together and you have a Mobius strip!

What happens when you start drawing a line on the inside of the strip?

Hey, wait a second! I started this line on the inside and now I'm on the outside!

And now I'm back where I started from!

What happens if I cut along the line I drew?

Wow, I got a longer Mobius strip!

We made several strips and cut them different ways. We ended up with really curly, intertwined Mobius strips...

...and two connected loops. The kids really enjoyed experimenting with them!

We planted our Christmas amaryllis today as well. When we opened the box, we discovered that our bulb already had a few pale leaves and a bud.

The kids were careful to leave the "neck" of the bulb exposed.

A little water...

...and some sunshine...

...and our amaryllis will be taller than 3.5 inches very soon!

Took a lunch break and enjoyed some very silly Christmas Mad Libs.

I've been waiting for a warm, sunny day to do some measurement practice outdoors.
Gallon Man reminded us how many cups are in a pint, how many pints are in a quart, etc.

The kids measured 16 cups of birdseed into a gallon orange juice container. We compared the orange juice container to our half-gallon of milk and calculated how many cups and pints our milk carton contains.

When we finished practicing our measurements, we made a treat for the birds!

Hope you had a great day, too!

New Stuff in our Classroom

2011-11-29T14:31:00.000-08:00

We're trying a few new things in our classroom this week. I found a fun spelling idea on Pinterest: clothespin spelling! I made cards with all of the kids' spelling words for the next two weeks, and I used a plain old ballpoint pen to put letters on the wooden clothespins.

I believe this activity was originally used for sight words for young readers, but it works really well for spelling, too. Dude, in particular, hates to write, but is willing to practice his spelling words in alternative ways.
(I'm hoping it might improve his pincer grasp and fine motor skills as well!)

Another new classroom activity: "That's Debatable!"

We talk about all kinds of things in our family, from the current economy and how it's affecting Americans to the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East. One of my goals for my children is that they are well-informed enough to discuss "big" topics, and that they have the skills to defend their positions in arguments. The kids really enjoy our family discussions so I thought up some argument-starters and put them in the "That's Debatable" basket

We'll use these to start our day, as a break from lessons, or to fill a few minutes whenever we need a quick activity.

These are small and hard to read in the photo, so here they are:

"The 'good old days' were a lot better than today. We should try to live the way people lived 'back then.'"

"Students in other first world countries have higher math scores than American students. This means that American students are lazy and should work harder."

"Grocery stores should stop giving people plastic bags so people will be forced to bring their own bags. That's how they do it in European countries."

"Learning to spell correctly is a waste of time because we have spell-check now."

"Kids should be taught to use 'Sir' and 'Ma'am' when speaking to adults."

"All politicians are crooks! We should kick them out and put ordinary people in those offices!"

"Opinions are like math problems. You're either right or you're wrong."

It's amazing how impassioned the kids can be about issues like these, and it's a lot of fun to hear them express and defend their opinions. I'm frequently surprised by what they have to say, and I can't always predict what side they will be on!

Well, the guinea pigs are neither new nor in the classroom, but they did hang out with Super and me over the weekend while I did lesson plans and she made cute little felt critters. She wasn't feeling well, so this was a nice restful project to work on...

Guinea Pig

Calf

Gnome

Doggie

???

Highlights from the week

2011-11-18T21:27:00.000-08:00

We took a lovely fall walk and saw these birds flying. They were soooooo high up and I don't have a powerful zoom on my camera, so they look like a dot-to-dot here.

And we saw this handsome fellow relaxing in the grass. He didn't seem too bothered by us (but we kept a safe distance!)

We played "Which One Doesn't Belong?" (I need harder questions next time!)

We read "November" by Thomas Hood. I'm glad this poem doesn't describe our weather! As you can see, Dude gave the poem a lousy "review."

We made a fall word web, then used our ideas to write our own poem.

I'm really not sure what is happening here. I'm pretty sure I didn't take this photo.

Another homeschooling family organized a great activity: making bags for homeless people. Each bag contained a water bottle, a snack, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a bar of soap, a pair of socks, a pack of gum, and wet wipes. We always keep a few of these in our car for when we see someone in need.

We reviewed parallel and perpendicular lines, along with lines, rays, and angles. (Dude gets a little carried away with the arrows on the ends.)

We enjoyed some vanilla cake--not homemade but still very good. These pieces look tiny because this is what we got when we split the last piece!

We treated Gomez for an ear infection, and trust me, that is a challenge. Apparently he would rather hurt, itch, and run a fever than get two little squirts of medicine a day.

I put an idea from Pinterest into action. I moved our various household cleaners out of the laundry room and put them in a shoe holder on the kitchen door. It's not the prettiest decorating idea, but at least they are accessible--and maybe we'll use them more now that we can see them!

Analogies, Pilgrims, dividing hundreds, and probability; guitar, piano, and drum lessons; Scouts, karate, animal care, and whatever else that I can't remember right now! It was a fun, busy week! Hope yours was, too!

Trying something new...

2011-11-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students. I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program. If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their open invitation to write an online learning review of their program.

Anatomical Pilgrims

2011-11-16T12:45:00.001-08:00

Dude was grumpy today because he got some terrible news. He is not allowed to quit piano lessons now that he's taking drum lessons. (His mother is so mean!)

He didn't bring much enthusiasm to our history class after that. He refused to put together his Pilgrim man, telling me, "This is a project for four-year-olds."

I told him that I knew it was geared towards younger kids, but it was just supposed to be a fun little activity to keep their hands busy while we read these books:

And these:

Meanwhile, Super (who plays the guitar and doesn't have to take piano, which is so unfair) worked quietly on her Pilgrim woman.

After a few minutes, she noted: "My Pilgrim lady is totally hollow. She can't survive like that!" She proceeded to make a heart, brain and pair of lungs and glued them inside.

Dude watched for a minute, then chimed in: "I'll make her some white blood cells to protect her from smallpox!"

Super: "You can make her a pancreas, too!"

Dude also cut a long strip of paper and twisted and folded it into intestines. (And yes, the Pilgrim couple ended up with all the main body systems.)

Much hilarity ensued, with comments such as: "Eew, his spinal cord is stuck to my finger!" and "Don't even bother making an appendix. It will just get infected."

Thank you, Super, for taking a rather uninspired idea and making it infinitely better! And for helping your brother get into a better mood!

Not exactly the lesson I had planned...but they are learning just the same!

Rat is to school as distraction is to children...

2011-11-15T16:46:00.001-08:00

...or something like that!

Miss Monique came to school today!

Not sure why, but the kids decided Monique would enjoy learning about analogies and angles today. So while we were doing this matching game...

...and measuring these angles...

...our little "Miss Neeka" was having a snack.

We did a bit more practice...

...while Monique went back in her "home away from home" to enjoy her pretzel.

But by the time we got to our poetry lesson...

...Monique was bored with school and ready for her nap.

Rats really do make wonderful small pets for kids. They are friendly, curious, and easy to care for. Miss Monique is nearly three, which is pretty old for a rat. If you have a kid begging for a pet and you can't have a dog or cat, a fancy rat would be a good choice.

However, they aren't big fans of poetry!

Busy week at the Super-Awesome School

2011-11-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

Whew! We've had a busy week here at the Super-Awesome School. We finally got around to setting up our calendar for the month!

We finished this fascinating book and we read several others about the Puritans, the Mayflower's voyage, and life in the early colonies.

We practiced our division skills and learned that "Ducks May Swim Backwards."

Played a few rounds of division bingo.

Learned new songs...

...and practiced old favorites.

We read A Very Improbable Story by Edward Einhorn...

...and played this cute Pet Shop Probability game from Really Good Stuff.

We're enjoying The Fallacy Detective; it makes for some very lively discussions!

Add karate, scouts, spelling packets, poetry, creative writing, drama class, winter clothes shopping, a couple playdates, and all that other stuff we call daily life, and you get one busy week!

Hey, Dude, what are the odds that next week will be just as busy?

Enjoying some family time

2011-11-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

We're still here! Got lots going on, most of it good: homeschooling, karate, piano and guitar lessons, Cub Scouts, working out and keeping the bills paid. Not to mention keeping everyone fed and in clean clothes.

In addition to the usual, we're working on a new project. Actually, we've been working on it for months, but I haven't mentioned it here because I was kind of superstitious, I guess.

But National Adoption Awareness Month seems like a good time to announce: we're adopting a little boy from South Korea!

We're finishing up the homestudy process now, and hoping to get a referral for our Little Guy early next year.

So...there's lots of paperwork, meetings, training, reading books, and shopping, not to mention dreaming about Little Guy and wondering how on earth we're going to do it all with a toddler in the family!

We're trying to do lots of fun stuff with Super and Dude now since it's hard to predict the initial impact that Little Guy will have on our daily lives.

We hope to be focusing on the bonding/attachment process by this time next year. Which probably means a little less freedom to spontaneously decide to take in a movie, go out to lunch, or toss school out the window and go for a hike.

Still, life with a toddler will bring its own joys. I can not wait to sit on the floor and do puzzles again! And build block towers, just to knock them down! And finger paint! And play Candy Land!

And laugh hysterically over nothing!

Oh, wait...we already do that!

Hope you're having a beautiful fall!

Quick Update

2011-10-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Goodness, I have neglected my poor little blog! We're still here, just ridiculously busy in spite of our intentions to slow down...

We traveled in New Mexico two weeks ago, then focused on academics last week. Here are a few highlights...

Hope you are having a fun, beautiful autumn!

Classify!

2011-09-22T14:01:00.001-07:00

How can we sort these marbles? By shape? Nope, they are all spheres.

By size? Sure, there are a few big ones and a lot of small ones.

By color? Yup, we've got light blue swirls and black with speckles.

Let's classify them by color.

The light blue swirls go over here, no matter what size they are. The black with speckles go here, big and small.

Can we classify them further?

Sure! Let's separate the black speckled ones into smaller groups, classified by the color of the speckles. (It's hard to see, but there are blue, green, yellow, red and gray speckles.)

Can we classify them even more?

Yup! Here are two marbles with red speckles, but look--one is mostly black and one is mostly red.

This activity was part of our science unit study--we're learning about how and why scientists classify things. Today we read about the Linnaean Classification System and talked about why Latin is a good universal language for scientists.

In our Marble Kingdom, there are two Phyla: Blue Swirl and Black Speckle. The black-with-mostly-red, and the red-with-mostly-black are different Species in the same Genus.

More on our science unit study later...Hope you're having a great week!

Homeschooling Questionnaire

2011-09-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Fuel for this homeschooling momma!

Melissa at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys in the Yard tagged me for this homeschooling questionnaire--thanks for including me! Anyway, I'm very late posting my responses, so I'll just get right to it...

One homeschooling book you have enjoyed:

Do I have to name just one? Not possible.

The first book any new homeschooler should read is Take a Deep Breath--You Can Do This! by Terrie Lynn Bittner. I can't begin to express how much that book helped me when we were just starting out.

Once you have boosted your confidence and are ready for some inspiration, you must read Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything by Laura Grace Weldon.

Other favorites: You Can Teach Your Child Successfully by Ruth Beechick, The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas edited by Linda Dobson, and What's Math Got to Do with It? by Jo Boaler.

One resource you wouldn't be without:

My laptop and an internet connection. Is that too obvious?

I could spend all day blog-hopping and collecting wonderful ideas from other homeschooling families. In fact, I did just that several times during the summer. I don't have that kind of time now, but I still frequently stay up waaaay too late and visit my blog buddies.

Oh, yeah, and so the kids can do research, too.

This isn't actually my laptop, but how cute!

If that answer seems lame, I'll name something else: my local group. There is nothing like a group of supportive, friendly people to keep a homeschooling momma sane. We do field trips, co-op classes, game nights, playdates, teacher nights, you name it. Can't imagine homeschooling without them!

One resource you wish you'd never bought:

Hmm... Even when something isn't a good fit for us, I still usually manage to use it in at least some capacity, even if it's just for practice or getting ideas. Trying something out and finding that it doesn't work is always a learning experience, and it gets us that much closer to what does work.

That being said, we made a very expensive mistake last year. We decided to get a computer for the kids. It was going to be the school computer, and it would be just for the kids' stories, educational software and websites, and typing practice.

Now, I lovelovelove my Mac, but obviously, that's a bit of a budget stretch for a classroom computer. Instead, we bought a lower-end model from the brand that rhymes with mow-shee-bah.

Also not actually my laptop. But I've been tempted...

What a total waste of money. It's been to the Geek Squad twice now, and it still won't accept software. Or it pretends to download it, and the next time you try to use it, it's like you never loaded it. The screen is impossible to read at any angle, the battery holds a charge for about five minutes, the cheap plastic keyboard rattles every time you type on it, and it occasionally shuts down without warning and for no apparent reason.

Needless to say, the kids do all their computer searches, games, and typing practice on my computer. I practically have to make an appointment just to post on this blog!

One resource you enjoyed last year:

Last year was my first time to use TeacherFileBox.com. I liked it a lot, especially for math practice games and worksheets. This year, I'm also using abcteach.com and TeachersPayTeachers.com.

One resource you will use next year:

We'll be starting Latin in January, and we're planning to use Lively Latin. I'm looking forward to it! I'll let you know how it goes.

One homeschooling resource you would like to buy:

Pretty much everything from Beautiful Feet or Acorn Naturalists! Or maybe this...

I can think of sooooo many ways to use this organizer. I'm thinking: math games, country studies, animal-of-the-month, etc. The top bar is a little white board surface so you can label the files. Neato!

One resource you wish existed:

The perfect history curriculum. We're inventing one as we go. If it's good enough, we'll share!

One homeschool catalog you enjoy reading:

All of them.

One homeschool website you use regularly:

Enchanted Learning, abcteach, TeacherFileBox, At Home Science, wikipedia. And homeschooling blogs!

I'm supposed to tag some other bloggers out there, and to be honest, I always hate having to pick favorites! I have so many!

So...if you are reading this and would like to participate: Tag! You're It!

Back to Home School

2011-09-19T12:39:00.001-07:00

Bad attitudes all around today (including me.) Maybe we feel icky because we got flu shots over the weekend?

Anyway, sometimes you just have to plod your way through the day...

Started with geography and the continuing adventures of Paddle-to-the-Sea. My kids love drawing, but not coloring, so our maps are still a bit drab.

Dude went a bit farther than just labeling the state of Wisconsin!

Practiced cursive in the salt trays.

German camping vocabulary seemed appropriate, since we just got home from a camping trip!

Reviewed equivalent fractions, did a couple of worksheets, and played this game from The Mailbox. Normally my kids love math games, but we were all cranky today.

Here is Dude's acrostic poem for September.

And Super's poem. It's almost like she has something on her mind...but I can't quite figure out what it is...

Third Field Trip of the Year

2011-09-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, we had school today.

2011-09-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

Why?

a) Because I'm a horrible, mean mother who thinks that the kids don't really need an extra day off since we just got started a couple of weeks ago.

b) Because we're only two weeks in and already a bit "behind."

c) Because we're taking Wednesday off to do some fun stuff with Dad.

d) All of the above.

So, here is how we spent our Labor Day:

A spelling test? Are you serious?!

Hey, if you want to move on from this unit that you claim is boring and waaaaay too easy, you need to show me that you're ready. And by the way, you need to take a second look at number 5.

I made the mistake of introducing some new cursive letters to Dude with just a practice worksheet. It didn't go well. So we backed up and did some tactile practice instead.

This works MUCH better for Dude. You'd think I would have learned by now.

Talked about some various ways to spell the /a/ sound. Since we already had the salt trays out, we practiced some spelling words, too. (Dude absent-mindedly licked his finger and had to run for a glass of water! Bleah!)

The kids have been working on a doubles multiplication facts poster for our classroom.

We read a wonderful book called The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. It's a fantastic book for illustrating prepositions (Philippe is on the wire, over the street, in the air, etc.) But it's also a way to gently bring up the events of 9/11, and point out that the World Trade Center towers had a history that began long before they were a terrorist target.

We watched this video about Philippe Petit and discussed why something like this would and should be illegal (he could get killed, his friends could have been hurt, he could have distracted drivers below and caused an accident, he might have hurt someone below if he fell, etc.)

Super remembered seeing a story about him on CBS Sunday Morning. What a memory! I'm pretty sure that episode was years ago!

In other news, Super continues to enjoy the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, although she gets frustrated as her favorite characters keep getting killed!

Dude brought me this pyramid, saying: "Mom! You know how you can use four triangles to make a pyramid? Well, if you make a point on the triangles, you can make a point on top of the pyramid!"

Gomez enjoyed hearing all about race cars. (He looks really enthusiastic, doesn't he?)

And the kids made some cool ZomeTool sculptures, both geometric and freestyle.

Now it's time for laundry, housework, yardwork, and cooking dinner!
No holiday for this family! :)

Hope you're having a great Labor Day!

Catchy Song About Kinetic and Potential Energy

2011-09-04T07:36:00.001-07:00

Dude, looking up from one of his (many) car books: "Mom, what does kinetic mean?"

Me, straining to remember my 6th grade science terms: "Let's see...kinetic is when energy is doing something, and potential is when it's waiting to do something."

Dude: "Huh?"

Me: "Watch this."

The History of Homeschooling

2011-09-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

I saw this at Ramblings of a Dysfunctional Homeschooler, and had to share it. It's a very interesting look at homeschooling statistics prepared by OnlineCollege.org.

Via: Online College Source

My comments, for what they're worth...

Does it seem a little silly to say that Alexander the Great is the first "known homeschooler?" What, did they eschew the local p.s. and send in an intent form? I don't know why, it just struck me as funny.

I've seen conflicting reports on test scores, including one study that found no measurable difference between the scores of homeschooled students and public school students.

This graphic includes "online education" under methodologies. In our state, students who use online schools are not technically counted as "homeschoolers" if the online school is public. So the numbers would be even higher if those students were included. (No matter how "schoolish" an online curriculum may be, those students are still getting a very different educational experience from students at brick-and-mortar schools!)

I really like the graphic showing why parents choose to homeschool. It's a good representation of what a complex decision it can be, and what a diverse group homeschooling families are.

Looking at the comparison section, I had to laugh. Not all schools can provide more resources than homeschoolers: there are plenty of schools out there who don't even have enough textbooks for their kids!

I'm completely confident that my kids have more resources than their public-schooled friends. Everything we have is used by two kids instead of a whole class. Our local school might have a more expensive microscope than ours, but ours works fine and it's available all the time. The same goes for our chemistry set, our computer, our binoculars, our math manipulatives, our art supplies, our book collection, and even the teacher! :) Plus, we can go to the library whenever we want, not just the first Monday of the month.

I can't say if our curriculum is richer than a public school's curriculum, because I don't know what the school kids are doing these days. But I can tell you that when my kids were in public school, they often seemed to touch briefly on a multitude of topics instead of studying anything in depth. My kids were vaguely familiar with historical events and scientific concepts, without having a real understanding of any of them. To me, a rich curriculum is measured in depth, not breadth.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this before, it's definitely worth a look!

I Never Saw a Purple Frog

2011-09-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

So, this morning I came into the kitchen to find Super already using my laptop at the kitchen table. My kids are not supposed to use the computer before school, but before I could remind her of this, she said:

"Hey, Mom! Come look at this!"

"It's a purple frog! Did you even know there were purple frogs?"

Nope, I didn't! So how did she find out about purple frogs? From our Learning Calendar! This year's calendar looks like this:

It's published by Fat Brain Toys, and I think I paid about fifteen dollars for it back in January. Here's a sample:

Here is what the calendar looks like on the wall. Every date has an interesting bit of science, history or geography information, and each month has a craft or other activity.

We've never done the monthly activities, but we all enjoy reading the fascinating facts on the calendar. And this isn't the first time one of my kids has decided to do some research based on something they read on the calendar. I love it anytime something inspires them to seek out more information on their own.

Super now knows lots of facts about the purple frog! That's why The Learning Calendar is my...

Whoa! It's September already?

2011-09-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

How did that happen?

Anyway, here's what we've been up to this week...

A bit of cursive practice...

...some outdoor Roll-n-Multiply...

...geography study with Holling C. Holling's Paddle-to-the-Sea...

...some fun library books...

...talking about prepositions...

...and making some fun posters for the classroom...

...reading The Swiss Family Robinson and working on our map...

...and just a little bit of boring-but-necessary stuff...

...you know, the usual insanity!

Have a super-awesome weekend!

Our Routine

2011-08-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Pet care.

I don't like schedules; they automatically make me want to rebel! However, we do have a very flexible routine...

By 7-ish: I'm up, letting the doggies out, getting the coffee started, putting away the clean dishes and switching out the laundry loads. Once the coffee is ready, I get a cup and sit down at my computer to look over what we're doing that day, check email, and maybe look at a blog or two. And if I'm feeling really, really ambitious, I put something in the slow cooker or prep something for dinner.

Hiking.

By 8-ish: The kids are up, eating breakfast (or picking at it, in Dude's case.) They may or may not get dressed. They are supposed to feed and water all animals before we begin our school time. I'm supposed to water our tomato plants, but I frequently forget! I make sure all our materials are ready for the school day, and I get dressed for the day or put on my workout clothes.

We have a lot of interesting conversations during breakfast time! I like to listen to the news on the radio in the mornings, and the kids will ask Dad and me about what they hear. We also get really silly sometimes, making up songs and goofing around with the dogs. I'm SO grateful that we don't have to hurry through breakfast, because this is such a pleasant time for our family.

Problem solving.

Around 9-ish: We start our school day. We might decide to knock out math and language arts first, or we might decided to jump into our unit study first. I work out two mornings a week, and during that time, the kids can do math practice sheets, spelling packets, or they can practice typing or piano.

Between 9 am and about 1 pm we do language arts, Typing Pal, math, and whatever unit study we're working on at the time. The goal is to get the bulk of our "book work" done before lunch so our afternoon is mostly free.

Nature study.

While one kid is doing the typing program, the other sits with me and we read Voyages in English together, do some of the questions aloud, and then I have them write maybe 4 or 5 examples in their notebook. As they get more comfortable with this system, I'll have them work more independently.

Math is still a big ol' review at the moment, so both kids work together. They do problems on the white board or worksheets, and play math games. Once we get into new instruction, math will take more time and I will probably have to do two separate lessons.

Experimenting.

For the next three weeks, we're doing a homemade unit study called "Be A Scientist." I put it together after Super and Dude asked to do more experiments this year. So far we've reviewed sound waves and the parts of the ear (from last year) and we've done a fun experiment where I asked the kids to identify things using only their sense of smell. We have discussed what scientists do, learned about the steps of the scientific method, and made notebooking pages for the vocabulary words.

Science notebooking.

12-ish: We have lunch together and read our family read-aloud, or maybe some poetry. (Dude will be absolutely starving at this point, since he wouldn't eat breakfast.) Sometimes the kids help me prepare lunch, but sometimes they want some time to themselves and they go off to play with dogs or rats until I call them back to the kitchen.

1-ish: Finish up school work and read together. We are still reading The Swiss Family Robinson because we took a break from it during the summer. I thought the kids would be tired of it, but they wanted to pick up where we left off. Dude really wanted to make a map of the island, so we're filling in details as we read.

Field trips.

After all school work is done, the kids are allowed to watch TV, play Wii, or do stuff on the computer. (They get two hours total e-time a day.) We are also trying to swim at least once a week. If I have a lot of boring errands to run, I'll bribe the kids with a smoothie or a treat from the yogurt place. If we don't need to go anywhere, they might read, draw, write letters, or use their e-time.

Playing games.

Our "official" school day goes from 9 to 2, and I don't subtract the lunch hour since we read and talk about what we're learning during that time. However, we go way beyond the required hours: we read even more in the evenings, we watch lots of science and history shows on TV, and we visit lots of interesting places on the weekends. We're really trying to live the learning lifestyle, so there isn't a clear line between "school" and life.

Karate is two evenings a week, there is always something going on with scouts, and there is usually at least one after-school playdate a week. Our local homeschooling group is very active, so we often have a cool field trip or class in the afternoon.

Scout projects.

Dinner happens at some point, but the time and place depends on the above activities. Life is so much easier when I've done a lot of cooking over the weekend! Otherwise, we have a quick and easy dinner, or we go out.

By 8 pm, all evening activities are done and I'm doing a bit of housework or messing around on the computer. We might all watch a movie together, or just sit outside and listen to the crickets.

9 pm: If I take my own book into the bedroom, I can count on at least one kid joining me to cuddle up and read.

That's another thing I love about homeschooling: if we want to stay up late and read, we can!

Discovering!

The Gateway Auto Museum

2011-08-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

VROOOOOM!

Our second field trip of the school year took us to the gorgeous Unaweep Canyon...

...and the amazing Gateway Auto Museum.

What a fun place!

There are early cars from the days when they were strictly for Sunday drives.

And there are super-cool hot rods!

There are ooh la la cars...

...and muscle cars!

And even the rarest car in the world! The Oldsmobile F-88.

The kids learned about gears...

...and aerodynamics.

While I drooled over the interiors of some of the luxury models.

Oh, baby!

Hubba hubba!

I have always loved the details on classic cars!

Swooping sirens...

...graceful swans...

...speeding jets...

...and zooming rockets!

They don't make 'em like that anymore!

Cool (figuratively, that is)

2011-08-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Summer festivals, street fairs, outdoor concerts and other opportunities to spend hot days with big crowds are SO not my thing...

In all honesty, my kids are much more stoic about heat and hassle than I am.

But when you have a kid who is crazy about big, noisy flying machines, you are willing to do these things!

After I got over my initial griping, I had to admit the air show was actually pretty cool!

Can you spot the teeny tiny parachuter? He's the little white dot next to the sun.

There he is!

The aerobatics were amazing! And no, this photo is not upside-down!

Here is the broken wing formation.

What's that whisper-quiet wafer headed this way?

Just a B-2 Stealth Bomber. We didn't hear a thing until it was nearly on top of us!

There was even a WWII battle reenactment, complete with "bombs."

(That's not a WWII plane in the foreground, as you can see!)

The kids loved the show, and we stopped for ice cream on the way home,
which helped to cool off Mom's cranky temper!

First Field Trip of the Year

2011-08-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

The Blue Sky people have lived in the Southwest for over a thousand years.

They lived mostly in Colorado, Utah, and northern New Mexico. But their hunting trips took them as far away as Wyoming, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Texas panhandle.

Once the Utes had horses, they were able to travel farther, and they had more contact with other tribes. They were known as excellent horsemen, and enjoyed riding competitions, as well as foot races and other games.

The Ute people lived in brush shelters called wikiups, until they learned to make tipis from the Plains Indians. Ute women were very talented; they were known for tanning soft, beautiful buckskin, and for intricate beadwork.

Ouray and Chipeta tried hard to save the traditional Ute territories, but settlers, ranchers and miners wanted that land!

Other Utes fought to save the land as well, but the U.S. Government eventually moved them to tiny reservations.

The Bear Dance is an important part of Ute culture. Musicians play a rumbly instrument called a "bear growler." It sounds like a cranky bear waking up from a long hibernation!

Women choose their dance partners and line up for the dance. Singers sing, drummers drum, and dancers dance until they are exhausted! Then there is a big feast!

Chipeta outlived her husband by 44 years. She saw the lives of the Utes change forever during her lifetime.

What did you like best about the museum, kids?

Super: The bear dance! I liked the bear growler. I also found it interesting that the dance ends whenever someone falls down!

Dude: I liked just about everything. My favorite thing was how they actually had a shirt that belonged to Chief Ouray. And I loved the arrows, that was awesome.

Grown-Ups are Boring (Somewhat Rantish)

2011-08-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

I stopped by the grocery store yesterday about 10 am, and noticed lots of moms and kids shopping together. A brief thought went through my mind: I guess this is the last time I'll see kids in here for a while.

That's an exaggeration. Of course there will be kids in the store after 3:45 pm, and on weekends. But by this time next week, the school-aged kids in my area will begin spending the majority of their time in a classroom, segregated from the rest of our community.

Soon to be filled!

Then the questions will begin for my family. Nearly every time my kids join me on an errand during regular school hours, someone asks us: Got the day off today?

Because it's just that unusual to see a child participating in daily life from approximately September 1 to May 31.

Coming soon, to a neighborhood near you!

I feel sad for school kids, since most of them are not looking forward to going back to school.

But I feel sad for us grown-ups, too. Because our days are about to get a shade duller.

Have you ever noticed that an all-adult gathering is usually pretty boring? I guess that's not true at a scary movie or a comedy club, but when I go to the bank, the store, the library, or even out to lunch, and there are no kids to be seen, somehow the atmosphere is less lively, more somber.

Does this photo make you smile?

Does this one?

The truth is, we need their energy, spontaneity, and creativity every bit as much as they need our guidance and protection.

Education is important. The future depends on the intellect and capability of the youngest generation. But in a perfect world, our kids wouldn't spend 180 days a year locked away from the world in order to learn about it.

Our "Classroom"

2011-08-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

Well, we call it our "classroom" but that's really a misnomer, because we aren't a "class." We're a family learning together!

I suppose we could call it our "learning space," except that we learn in lots of other places, too.

Anyway, welcome to our workspace/reading area/homeschooling project room!

We got the great tables from a local business that was remodeling. And I bought one of our bookshelves from a certain large bookstore chain that recently went out of business.

This is my planning area. Notice that there are three sources of light--I'm not getting any younger, OK? Sometimes the kids sit here if they are doing something on the computer or if their table is too covered in junk!

This is as neat as our supply shelves will ever be, so enjoy! :) You can see lots of projects from previous years on top.

And this is our cozy new reading area! I spent a lot of time organizing and de-cluttering this summer so we could have a nice space for independent reading. We're looking forward to using this space when school starts!

Can't wait to visit your link and take a "tour" of your classroom!

This post is linked to Heart of the Matter's Not Back to School Blog Hop!

Tweaking Our Curriculum

2011-08-07T18:45:00.001-07:00

Always plan in pencil!

While it's fun to participate in curriculum link-ups, it can also be dangerous! I enjoyed reading so many great posts and hearing about how different families plan to learn together this year. And I saw tons of interesting curriculum choices, either new to me, or that I hadn't had a chance to research...

Very dangerous!

I really tried not to give into temptation...for five whole minutes! Then, like a true curriculum junkie, I came up with fifteen good reasons why we "needed" just a few more items for our 2011-2012 academic year. I am very good at rationalizing!

We will incorporate geography into some of our unit studies, but it seemed like we needed a bit more "formal" geography study, so I ordered the Geography Through Literature pack from Beautiful Feet Books. (It's 23% off right now!) I love the idea of learning history (or just about anything) through literature.

I can't wait to get started on these! I loved Seabird as a kid, and Dad loved Paddle to the Sea, so we're both really looking forward to reading them with the kids. The map set is nice, too. The maps are large and on good quality paper. I'm not sure where we'll fit it in, but at some point this year we'll be reading our way through North America with Holling C. Holling.

I also signed us up for Typing Pal through Homeschool Buyers Co-op. We had already purchased typing software elsewhere but after trying it, we all hated it. Even me, and I can already type. We found it gimmicky and distracting, but we were going to grin and bear it, until I did the demo lessons on Typing Pal...

So much better! It's simple, it's not silly or babyish, and it gets straight to the point: typing!

Since we'll be studying water resources later in the year, I got a Water Cycle Lapbook project pack from Hands of a Child. (On sale right now at CurrClick!) I love making lapbooks with my kids. It's such a fun way to process what we've learned, and you end up with a neat project to show off!

I also got a Water Thematic Unit from Teacher Created Resources. To be honest, this unit is probably a bit "young" for my kids, but I loved how it teaches the water cycle through literature. We'll be reading Island Boy by Barbara Cooney, Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe by Vera B. William, and The Magic Schoolbus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole as we learn all about our...

How we learn HISTORY

2011-07-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

This post is linked to No Ordinary Blog Hop! Hop on over for more great posts!

I'm linking up with Learning All the Time's "Favorite Resource this Week!"

It's hard to narrow my favorite history resources down to just one, because we pull our lessons from so many different sources!

The Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary is lots of fun. So are Bentley Boyd's Chester comic books. Dude loves DK books; we own a few, but most of them are available at the library. Super likes E. H. Gombrich's A Little History of the World. We use it as a basic outline for our chronological history studies.

We love hands-on projects, so sometimes we use History Pockets as a supplement. We also like the Spend a Day in... series by Linda Honan because they are full of fun crafts and activities. I believe there are only three in the series; I wish there were more!

This is one project we made from Spend a Day in Ancient Greece. We still use the caduceus as a symbol for medicine today.

Notebooking is a great way to summarize what we've learned. It's also fun to go back and look over their past work as a review. The kids recently asked to study Vikings, so I got these great pages from The Notebooking Nook.

As you can see, the kids also made paper shields. We cut out cardboard swords and covered them with foil, but they didn't stand up to "battle" as well as the shields!

We also used the Brandenburg Vikings unit, downloaded from CurrClick. You probably can't read the Viking sayings above, so here they are:

A man who wants to kill his foe
Must get up fast and never slow.

A wolf who wants a snack
Never sleeps on his back!

Beer and mead are not that good.
They make your brain as thick as mud.

And my personal favorite:

Didn't realize those Vikings were so well-spoken! :)

These are all great resources, but I would have to say that our absolute favorite resource for history is...

Dad!

When you're a homeschooling mom, it's extemely handy to have a history loving-husband! (Dad's idea of a fun evening is reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson, or watching a Ken Burns documentary.)

Dad is in charge of helping the kids with their timelines. He also likes to read Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe books with them. And if the kids ever have a question about some arcane bit of historical trivia...well, they don't come to me!

My public school history education was based on boring textbooks and memorizing dates, so it's not surprising that I forgot nearly all of it. I'm grateful to have an opportunity to get a great history education along with my kids.

Who knew that history could be interesting and fun?

Curriculum for 2011-12

2011-07-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year, don't you? Planning for the upcoming academic year is always so exciting! Especially when my kids are asking me "What do we get to learn about next, Mom?" It's wonderful to see their enthusiasm (and I'll probably need to remind myself of this moment around February of next year!)

Thanks to Michelle at Lagniappe Academy for the portable filebox idea!

Choosing curriculum can be fun, but it can also be overwhelming. There is so much out there, and what works great for one family isn't necessarily the best choice for another.

Over the years we've tried lots of materials and methods. Every year I feel a little more confident in choosing what will work for me and my kids. And every year I make at least one wrong turn! I guess it comes with the territory.

Science and History

We're making a change in our routine this year. Instead of devoting an afternoon to science and an afternoon to history each week, we're incorporating science and history into monthly unit studies. In the past we did NOEO Science and Dad taught history, using SOTW as an outline. But we tend to get really into whatever we're doing at the time, and going back and forth between science projects and in-depth history studies was too much for all of us.

I've noticed that lots of homeschooling families alternate between science and history. I'm hoping it will make it easier to really focus on whatever we're doing at the time. I'm sure it will make it easier for me to have the right materials on hand, as well!

Elephant books for our unit study

Our first two unit studies (Elephants and Be a Scientist!) are homemade. I put them together from lots of different sources, including books we already had, library books, art projects I found online and other web resources. If I ever get around to it, I'll organize them and post a link to share.

Our other unit studies for the year are based on Teacher Created Resources Immigration, History Pockets Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, Intellego Economics, Windows on the Wild Oceans of Life, GEMS Plate Tectonics, and The Mailbox's Human Body. I say "based on" because we never use a ready-made unit study without supplementing and customizing. Not sure if that means I'm creative, or just a control-freak!

My favorite science resources:
Anything by Janice Van Cleave
Anything by Ellen McHenry
GEMS
DK Books
The Way Things Work and The Way We Work by David MacAuley

And history resources:
Horrible Histories by Terry Deary
History Pockets
You Wouldn't Want to Be Series
Spend a Day Series by Ellen Honan

Language Arts

My kids would do science and history all day, every day if I let them. But into every education a little grammar must fall...

After a lot of thought, I made the decision to use textbooks for grammar and language arts this year. This may not seem like a big deal, but it was for me, because I've tried so hard to avoid any and all textbooks since we started homeschooling. I still have unpleasant memories of the boring "read-the-textbook, do the questions" model from my own school days. Charlotte Mason didn't like them, and generally, neither do I!

In the past, we've used Susan Van Zile's Awesome Hands-on Activities for Teaching Grammar, 101 Ways to Love a Book from Teacher Created Resources, Fill-in Flip Books for Grammar, Vocabulary, and More by Michael Gravois, and Grammar Games and Activities that Boost Writing Skills by Immacula A. Rhodes.

I still think those are great resources and I'm sure we'll continue to use them! And we will definitely use the Four-Square system for all our writing projects (Judith S. Gould and Evan Jay Gould.) But...I need at least one core subject to be easy and already mapped out for me. Especially since 6th grade and 4th grade language arts are so different. I just can't create a custom curriculum for everything!

From Voyages in English 4

As far as textbooks go, Voyages in English by Loyola Press doesn't look too bad. The graphics are fun without being babyish or distracting. And most importantly, the explanations are really clear. The first few lessons are a total review of what we did last year, and the kids are going to complain about that, but I think a little review never hurt anyone.

Evan-Moor's Spell and Write pages

I'm also taking a slightly easier route for spelling this year. We've used AVKO Sequential Spelling before, and it's a great system. But, once again, I needed something that the kids could do independently. I looked at a lot of spelling workbooks in a teacher supply store and eventually chose Evan-Moor's Spell and Write. I liked these because they begin with an interesting reading passage that uses the words in context. Then you practice writing the words a variety of ways. Each chapter ends with a test. However, there are no review pages or tests, so I'll have to make those on my own.

I'm looking forward to adding more poetry to the mix this year. In fact, I think we'll start each day with poetry (we used to do math first every day, but I'm thinking the kids will like reading and discussing a poem before diving into our day.) There are so many good poetry resources out there. Teacher FileBox has reproducibles for grade levels up to 6th, but mostly, we'll just use the poetry books that we already have.

Dude fell in love with concrete poetry after reading technically, IT'S NOT MY FAULT by John Grandits, and he's been creating his own ever since. Both kids love Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant by Jack Prelutsky (amazing illustrations by Carin Berger.) In fact, pretty much anything by Jack Prelutsky is fun to read and easy to memorize, if you're into reciting poetry. And Shel Silverstein, of course! We have A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Falling Up. Oh, and an easy cure for a kid in a bad mood: make them read Runny Babbit aloud. Works every time!

Math

Math faves (minus Primary Challenge Math--I miss you, Buddy!)

Math! My favorite! ( And I never thought I would say that!) Math is where we get really creative. I try to make it as hands-on as possible. We follow the scope and sequence from the Core Knowledge series. The kids move at their own pace, and I absolutely do not rush them through anything for the sake of "keeping up" with a predetermined schedule. When it comes to math skills, we're aiming for mastery and real understanding, not "covering" lots of material.

So, using the Core Knowledge series as my guide, I put together a very flexible plan with weekly and monthly goals for each kid. Then I found games and activities to match each concept. My favorite resources for this are:

Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark, Virginia Thompson, Ruth Cossey and Marilyn Hill
Math Wise by Jim Overholt and Laurie Kinchloe,
Independent Practice series from The Mailbox
Pretty much anything by Marilyn Burns!
Games: Mythmatical Battles, Roll-n-Multiply, Multiplication and Division Bingo, Monopoly, Logic Links, etc. A homeschooling buddy was selling outgrown sets of 'Smath and Exact Change, so we'll try those soon.

Our "official" math games (but don't most games teach math?)

Much to my frustration and sorrow, I lost my copy of Primary Challenge Math by Edward Zaccaro. If I find it, we'll use the challenges for collaborative problem-solving exercises. We'll put one of the challenges on the white board and brainstorm together. (Can you tell I've been reading Alfie Kohn this summer?) If I can't find it, I also have a good book called Math Stories for Problem Solving Success by Jim Overholt, Nancy Aberg, and Jim Lindsey.

As allergic as we are to worksheets, there does come a time when kids just need to practice a new concept or refresh an old one. That's where Evan-Moor's Teacher FileBox comes in. Math Mammoth also has good practice pages. And if we're moving along at a pretty good pace, I told the kids we could start reading Life of Fred by Stanley Schmidt on Fridays. I love how they are excited about doing something that is (secretly) good for them!

German

German resources

We'll continue our German studies using German in 10 Minutes a Day, by Kristine K. Kershul (thanks to Michelle at Urban Cottage Homeschool for the recommendation!) We also have a great DK visual dictionary and Let's Learn German by Marlene Goodman. The labels that I put on everything when our German friends were visiting are still up, and I'm planning to add some more. The kids are looking forward to writing letters to their German friends as well.

A page from German in 10 minutes a day

Art and other fun stuff...

My big purchases for the fall, besides Voyages in English, are a pocket chart and stand, and Atelier art curriculum. The pocket chart will hold our calendar, spelling words, and cursive letters of the week, but I'm really going to use it as a room divider. The kids do 90% of their work together, but when they are working independently they need their own space. And if I let them wander off, they take forever just to decide where they are going to work, and then I have to keep checking on them, and I'm going from room to room answering questions... I'd rather have them stay in our school area, but give them their own space by dividing the room. We'll see how it works!

I must be looking forward to school--I'm already making our August calendar!

I'm excited about using Atelier for art this year. When I asked the kids for their planning input, they both said they wanted to do more art at home instead of taking art classes at our rec center. Homeschool Buyers Co-op has Atelier on sale at the moment, so I jumped on it! I have no idea what to expect, but it's art! How can it not be fun?

I'm not sure where art will fit into our routine, but I'm thinking we may just take an art day every couple of weeks or so. I'm also writing field trips into our monthly plans this year: the "do them as we have time" plan didn't work too well.

Our cozy new reading area, with favorite blankets!

We're looking forward to another fun year of homeschooling! I can't wait to check out the other links and see what you're doing! Have a great year!

This post is linked to Heart of the Matter's Not Back to School Blog Hop! Join us at the hop!

This post is linked to the 2011-2012 Curriculum Special Edition at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers! Check out the great links there!

Lima Bean Aliens

2011-07-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who finds these slightly creepy?

Just for fun, we decided to do a couple of easy experiments with dried Lima beans. All you need is a bag of Lima beans, some paper towels and a few empty jars.

First we soaked some beans in water overnight. Look at the difference in size once they have absorbed the water!

We opened a few of the pre-soaked seeds. You can see the seed coat pulled away and the plant embryo inside. It was interesting to think that this life was dormant inside the seed until it got a little bit of water.

(If school was "in session" at the moment, we might have done a notebooking page or a diagram or something but we're on break so we just talked about the parts of a seed. We may follow up with a more formal study later.)

Then we sprouted some in damp paper towels. This one has really cool roots!

The difference between pre-soaked seeds and dry seeds is remarkable. The seed below was sprouted dry, and I took the photo the same day as the creepy alien seeds above! So soaking them first really gives them a head start.

And here they are side-by-side today (day 5.) Looks like it's time to give the pre-soaked beans some soil!

Sometimes the simplest things turn out really cool!

Just linked up with Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom! Take a look at the great entries over there!

Flower Magic

2011-07-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

We did a fun experiment with white carnations and food dye!

We trimmed the stems at an angle, which I've always been told helps
the flowers drink more water.

We quickly put them in water...

...and then added colors to the water.

Then we tried something a little different.

We carefully split the stem...

...and then put the two sides in different colors!

Here they are after just a few minutes.
The flower on the far left is already taking in some red color.

Here they are after half an hour.

A few hours later...

And overnight!

We learned that tiny tubes called xylem pull water and nutrients into the plant.

If the water happens to have dye in it, they pull the color in, too!

The split stem flowers turned out especially pretty.

Now we have a lovely centerpiece for our kitchen table,
and we learned a little science, too!

Just linked up with Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom! Take a look at the great entries over there!

Mount Evans

2011-07-09T08:02:00.001-07:00

Going to Mount Evans is one of our favorite ways to escape the summer heat!

The kids enjoyed the cool air at Summit Lake.

Super and her friend, looking like soon-to-be teenagers. (Noooooooo!)

Another friend, gazing into one of the tundra pools.
(Don't fall in! That water is COLD!)

The view looking the other direction. (I've never seen the Alaskan tundra, but I can imagine Miyax watching the wolves in a place much like this.)

Tundra wildflowers seem too delicate to thrive here.

I love the mosses and lichens here, too.

One of the kids asked to borrow my camera and she took some interesting photos...

Not sure if she meant to do this, but I thought it was kinda funny...

Everywhere you look there is something alive. Can you see the water bug in the center of this photo? How can it survive in such cold water?

The highest paved road in North America.

The locals were pretty blasé about us tourists!

You messy glaciers, always leaving piles of rocks everywhere!

Hope you're having a great summer, too!

Linked up with Let's Hit the Road Field Trip Blog Hop!
Have you done a fun field trip lately? You link, too!

Fireworks and Fiction

2011-07-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

How's this for real-life learning? Completely on his own, Dude decided to research fireworks. First he watched safety videos on YouTube. He learned that you should always have a bucket of water on hand when setting off any type of fireworks.

And you should stay at least 25 feet away from them when they go off. He put an X in the road, measured 25 feet, and taped off our "safety line" in the driveway.

Once he had the safety precautions taken care of, he watched videos of various types of fireworks, to see which ones give you the most bang for your buck!

Thanks to his research, we had a fun, safe 4th of July fireworks show. And no, the above photo was not taken at a fireworks stand! Those are the ones Dude, Super and their friends picked out!

Meanwhile, Super has been getting up early every morning to claim "dibs" on the computer. She is writing a story called Wildfire. None of us has been allowed to read it yet, so all I know is that it's about a group of animals trying to escape from a fire, and it's looooooong. She's done some wonderful illustrations for the book as well. (To see another great project that Super has been working on lately, check out her blog!)

Hooray for summer!

Dude's Magic Trick

2011-07-08T16:59:00.001-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen! Can water flow uphill? No, of course it can't! Or can it?

What you see here is an ordinary strawberry...

...placed in the center of an ordinary dish of water.

Now, using one of these ordinary matches...

...I shall make this water defy gravity!

I put the match in the strawberry and light it...

...then cover the flame with this ordinary glass.

Presto! Watch as the water rises upwards into the glass!

Dude is having lots of fun with magic tricks today. He also did a cool card trick and made my salt shaker disappear. (Hope he knows how to bring it back!)

Hooray for Summer Break!

2011-07-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Dog, cat and bird masks made from boxes and construction paper.

I listened to a very interesting program on the radio yesterday. Local teachers were discussing year-round schooling versus the traditional school calendar. The guests seemed to agree that students learn more and forget less when they attend year-round. One guest also suggested an increase in the usual 180 days spent in school each academic year.

Reading, reading, reading!

These teachers weren't unreasonable: they had observed how much kids forget during the summer and how much time is wasted reviewing skills that had already been mastered the previous year. Since teacher's livelihoods and reputations are judged on test scores these days, of course they would want to spend their time moving forward instead of reviewing last year's material.

The message seemed to be this: teachers enjoy the long summer break as much as anyone, and they know that kids look forward to their summers. BUT, the majority of kids don't do anything worthwhile over the summer. They just watch TV and play video games.

Tank battles on the street.

According to the teachers on the show, most kids don't travel, don't visit museums or libraries, and don't even read during summer break. And since their families are either unable or unwilling to make summer break into something beneficial for their kids, it's time to take a critical look at long summer breaks.

This made me so sad. Could I really be hearing this correctly? It seemed to me that the gist of the teachers' argument was that American families are so overwhelmed or so complacent that kids are actually better off spending most of their time at school.

German vocabulary labels.

Clearly, there are children out there who live in crisis situations and who might actually be better off at school. But these teachers weren't necessarily referring to the families who live on the brink of homelessness (or who may even be homeless) or the families who live in dangerous neighborhoods and who struggle to provide even the basics. No, they were talking about American families in general, from every rung of the socio-economic ladder. And they still felt that kids were better off at school.

Old MacDonald had a farm...

Ironically, I was listening to this radio show while cleaning and organizing our homeschool classroom. I looked around at all the books, art supplies, math manipulatives and science materials and I felt so grateful that we are able to provide these things to our kids. But of course, we haven't touched any of these supplies since the end of May. We haven't spent one minute doing "formal" schooling this summer.

Play? Did someone say play?

But we've still managed to learn every single day! Just off the top of my head, here are some activities we've enjoyed. I would count every one of these as a learning experience. As you can see, some were expensive and/or time-consuming. But many of them were free and easy!

Traditional German rhabarberkuchen.

1. Two road trips to visit relatives.

2. Practicing our German while entertaining our German friends. This has to be my favorite German word so far! (A friend said it sounds like what happens when you lose part of your swimsuit! Hee! Hee!)

3. Preparing and sampling traditional German food. You would not believe how good this pastry dough smelled...vanilla and sugar...mmm...

4. Picking up our CSA shares and learning about the farm that grew our vegetables. I made this quiche from CSA spinach, onions, and eggs!

5. Having a picnic in the mountains. I can't believe we had this spot all to ourselves on such a gorgeous day.

6. Taking care of our many pets. Here is Pumpkin, the newest member of the family. (And no, we didn't let him have the whole apple!)

7. Going to a Vietnamese restaurant and then exploring the nearby Asian supermarket. These coffee candies come from Thailand and they are sooooooo wonderful!

8. Messing around on the piano, letting the kids play whatever they want. Which is usually Axel F.

9. Taking our sick pug to the vet and looking at his chest x-ray. The FANTASTIC doctor could see that Super was interested, so he offered very detailed explanations and walked her through the entire x-ray.

11. Going to a cool museum exhibit and an IMAX movie.

12. Watching our garden grow and looking forward to our first harvest.

13. Making beautiful chalk art on the driveway.

14. Having a water pistol fight with friends: Dads against kids!

15. Making homemade lemonade. Experimenting with the recipe and trying to figure out which version would sell best at a future lemonade stand.

16. Karate lessons and practice.

17. Household chores like putting away laundry and doing dishes.

18. Sitting in the back yard watching the fluffy clouds turn into a storm front (and then getting the heck inside when the lightning started!)

19. Listening to rain, birds, and music.

20. Reading, reading, reading!

My kids are having very valuable experiences this summer. They would have to be doing some pretty amazing things at school to be better off spending their days in a classroom instead of at home.

I'm not sure what my point is here, except that it saddens me to think that so many kids don't get to experience the learning lifestyle, and instead see learning as a chore they have to do from September to May. Then they have earned the right to shut down their brains for three months!

And I feel bad for teachers, too. The teachers on the radio show were truly invested in helping their students learn better and retain more. I'm just not sure that more days in a classroom is really what kids need.

Various and Assorted

2011-06-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Mimi snapped this amazing scene during our road trip last week.

We arrived home to find our peonies in full bloom. I just love the color variations: from bright fuschia to creamy pink. We only have them for about two weeks every June, but when they're blooming they are spectacular!

Our California poppies started as volunteers from a neighbor's yard. We liked them so much we sprinkled some seed in our flower bed. They come back every year.

We saw a cute little gosling with his mom and dad at a pond near our house. He's hard to see: look for the little grayish-yellow blob right between the parents.

Gomez came home from the kennel with a terrible case of bordatella. He sounds awful--he basically has the doggie version of croup.
(And yes, he sleeps with his tongue out! Lulu sleeps with his eyes open, which is less cute, more creepy.)

It is so hard to take pictures of bees! They refuse to pose. I was thrilled with this photo because you can see the pollen baskets on the legs!

Dude used a couple of pulleys and some clothesline to make a dumbwaiter for the kids' fort.

He needed a little help with the knots, but the design was totally his own!

Cool, huh?

Hope you're enjoying the many pleasures of summer!

Reading, reading, reading!

2011-06-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

Summer is such a nice opportunity to slow down and pick up a book or two...or three...

My "inspiration shelf."

A year ago, I never would have dreamed I'd ask for a Kindle for Mother's Day. The idea of using any type of e-reader did not appeal to me at all. I love books. REAL books. Reading on an electronic device seemed so...well, I can't explain it. I just know that I love holding a crisp, weighty new book; I love coming home from the library with an armload of reading material; I love flipping through curriculum books in teacher supply stores; my idea of a great date involves browsing in a bookstore that also has good coffee! No way would I ever want an e-reader.

You know where this is going. I'm really enjoying my new Kindle, and while it's never going to replace physical books in my heart, I like the free samples, the instant downloads, the occasional lower prices (though not always!) and above all, the ability to carry a library's worth of books in my purse.

The disadvantages? Well, my mom and aunts and I frequently exchange paperbacks. If I buy a book on my Kindle, I can't lend it to anyone. That's not a big problem: most of the books on my Kindle are the type of nonfiction that no one in my family would ever want to read. My nerdy interests are not the same as their nerdy interests!

We are a family of readers. (Now, get down from there, Lulu!)

The only major disadvantage is the note-taking feature. I treat my (real) books very badly. I underline, highlight, and fold the pages. I have found that I retain information much better if I underline a passage and then write a comment or my own summary in the margin. (After I studied for my Master's comps, a thousand years ago, I passed along a lot of my books to a friend who was taking her comps the next year. She told me later that my margin notes were helpful to her, but she had to laugh when she found the one that said: "Please, God, let me pass my comps so I never have to look at this book again!")

If the book is a curriculum resource of some kind, I might tear out an entire chapter and put it in a folder with other resources on the same topic. The only books that survive my abuse are fiction, because I'm not trying to save any information for later. The point is, I can't do these things on a Kindle, at least not in my usual way. Of course, the same can be said for library books!

The Kindle has a feature that allows you to underline passages and revisit your underlined passages. But taking notes in the margin is somewhat problematic: it takes me twice as long to type my summary using the little keyboard as it would if I were just jotting something with a pencil. So I'm still likely to buy a book that I want to really study.

I love books that are formatted this way: lots of room for my margin notes!
(This is Math for Humans by Mark Wahl.)

Still, I can't deny how cool it is to get an instant free sample of a book. Looking at a sample has saved me from buying something that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed, and it has also drawn me into a book so that I eventually purchased it. Probably the feature I enjoy the most is the ability to adjust the print size. Have you noticed how tiny the fonts are these days? I'm pretty sure they used bigger print when I was in my thirties. :)

I like to collect vintage children's books and school readers. Don't you love this illustration?

At the moment, my Kindle contains 7 books on science, 4 on education, 3 on history, 2 on religion, 2 fiction selections, a memoir, and a handful of samples. So, I carried 19 books with me on our recent road trip, and I could lift them with one hand!

We recently banned electronics (TV, computer, and Wii) after dinner, and it's amazing how much more we are all reading. At the moment, I'm making my way through 2 books: Eaarth by Bill McKibben (on my Kindle) and Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli (not on my Kindle.) The kids and I read Lunch Money by Andrew Clements on our road trip, and now we're reading The Swiss Family Robinson (Johann David Wyss) together. Look for Dude and you will likely find him in a pile of old Mad Magazines and comic books. Super is reading the Wimpy Kid series and also writing her own adventure story.

What are you reading this summer? Do you use an e-reader at all, or do you prefer paper-and-ink books? And do you treat your books more kindly than I do?

These were 15 cents back in the 50's. Super describes them as "pretty little-kiddish."
But aren't they cute!

We lost someone dear to us

2011-06-06T10:30:00.001-07:00

We've been away for the past couple of weeks.

It was an unexpected trip, but we needed to spend time with our Mammaw.
I took these pictures in her garden.

She taught us so much about life and love.

The illness that took her from us can never erase her kind, generous spirit.

We blew off pretty much everything...

2011-05-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's agenda:

Complete more sections of standardized test
Continue reading Trumpet of the Swan
Math Review Packet: putting fractions in lowest terms
Handwriting/writing practice: continue working on letters to cousins
Karate

Lulu in the sunshine (with rubber chicken)

Yesterday's reality:

Completed more sections of standardized test
Went to garden center, bought some rose bushes, looked wistfully at tomato plants, smelled herbs, let the kids pick one (Super chose rosemary, Dude chose lemon thyme,) looked in the koi pond, watched the tadpoles, talked about why hydrangeas change color
Ended up at our favorite Mexican restaurant, talked about our summer plans
Sat in the hammock while throwing toys for dogs
Karate

Our crab apple tree is in bloom

And I'm not feeling the least bit guilty! :)

Books, Eggs, Catkins

2011-05-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

It's good to be home! Spring is busy springing here.

There are a few baby leaves on the trees in our neighborhood, and lots of pollen in the air! We read about catkins in The Bumper Book of Nature by Stephen Moss last night:

"Catkins are remarkable things--clusters of tiny flowers, either sticking up like a furry berry (pussy willow) or hanging down like a rather droopy-looking caterpillar (alder and birch.)"

We don't have pussy willows here, but we still have lots of trees that make catkins.

"Unlike other flowers, catkins don't have large, brightly colored petals because they have no need to attract insects to spread their pollen. Instead, they rely on one of the oldest and reliable forces of nature--the wind."

Super said, "Oh, yeah, those are the things that make me sneeze every spring!"

We read Ugly, by Donna Jo Napoli, on our road trip, and it inspired us to do a bit of bird research. So we read a couple of chapters in Secrets of the Nest by Joan Dunning. It's a fascinating study of how birds have survived by adapting the design of their nests to various habitats and protecting their eggs from various predators.

In the first chapter, Dunning reminds the reader that a) eggs are fragile, b) eggs roll, and c) birds do not have hands! Then she poses this question: "How can I keep my eggs safe?"

I gave the kids a couple of pretend eggs and challenged them to build a nest. (They were allowed to use their hands!) We talked about how different nests are suited to different environments, and the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of nests.

They took the challenge very seriously! They came up with all kinds of ways to protect their eggs.

Dude decided he was a kildeer mother, so he made a scrape nest on the ground (living room floor.) After the dogs got too close to his egg, he rethought that idea and decided that his egg needed more protection. He swaddled the egg in so many blankets that I had to remind him that eggs do need air!

Eventually he changed his mind and decided that his egg contained a baby chickadee--the kildeer's ground nest just seemed too vulnerable.

Super decided to be a tree swallow. She made a cup nest by stuffing a towel between the couch cushions. Tree swallows really like nesting boxes, too. They tend to insulate their eggs with feathers. We didn't have fluffy feathers handy, so tissues provided insulation instead.

All the talk about protecting eggs makes me (almost) feel guilty about enjoying our home-grown eggs so much! We brought home 18 and after 2 days we only have 9 left! This morning I made cheese omelets and apricot jam omelets.

Thanks for sharing, ladies!

Rose Rock Country

2011-05-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Aunt D has lots of pretty roses. Some of them grow out of the ground...

And some of them are in the ground! Can you spot the roses here?

There they are! This is rose rock country. You can collect them...

Rinse them off...

And there they are! Roses! They are red from the iron in the sand around here.

It's hard to believe that these have been in the earth for 250 million years!

Headed Home

2011-05-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

Our last stop before the loooooooong drive home was Aunt D and Uncle C's house! This is one of our favorite places in the whole world.

Super and Dude love playing with their cousins here!

And we were all excited to meet some new members of the family...

They were very entertaining!

And generous! We brought home 18 fresh eggs!

We heard it snowed at home, but we were enjoying the flowers...

Hope you're having a lovely spring!

Super-Awesome Friends in Austin

2011-04-30T18:44:00.000-07:00

We did lots of fun stuff in Austin, but spending time with our friends was definitely the highlight of our visit.

Wish we could all get together for coffee together every day!

D and H, your lovely Easter brunch was superb! You are truly the migas and French toast champions of the world!

And thanks for pointing us towards Terra Toys. We found some Texas-style Easter basket buddies and other neat stuff there!

We enjoyed our "unorthodox" egg hunt at Pinballz! The guys played their old favorite, Galaga, while the gals burned up the Skeeball lanes.

Lunched at Kerby Lane and had fantastic buttermilk pie at Cutie Pies. (I know, that's actually a pecan pie. The buttermilk was gone before I could get my camera out.)

And we got to hang out with this sweetie pie! You're such a good girl, Daisy!

We saw a few bats under the Congress Street Bridge (but not a million, to my relief!)

Oh, yeah...we saw these guys. Maybe you've heard of them...

You had to be amazingly cool to get into this concert...which is why our amazingly-cool friend had to get us in.

It was great to be deep in the heart of Texas, but even better to be with our big-hearted Texas friends! Thanks for everything, y'all! We miss you already!

Starstruck

2011-04-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

You can't go to Austin without visiting The Texas State Capitol building! Isn't it pretty?

It's taller than the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (You know Texans, they won't be outdone by anyone!)

It was so crowded on the day we visited, I gave up trying to take pictures of the rooms. I focused on details instead. There are lots of Texas stars everywhere!

The chandeliers in the Senate Chamber were some of the first electric light fixtures in the U.S. The light bulbs spell "TEXAS."

Even the chairs in the Senate Chamber have stars!

I can see why this bride chose the Capitol for her portraits--it's a beautiful setting.

This gorgeous old live oak is in the park outside the Capitol. We saw lots of amazing trees in Houston and Austin.

It's already hot here in TX, but it's nice to see lots of green trees and flowers blooming. We hear that spring has finally sprung back home, too.

Hope y'all are having fun in your neck-o-the-woods!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

Blank canvases

Busy hands

Pastel colors

Beautiful butterfly

Happy Easter!

A Star is Born

2011-04-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

Texas, our Texas! All hail the mighty state!

Texas, our Texas! So wonderful, so great!

Boldest and grandest! Withstanding every test!

O empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest!

Do Texas school kids still start the day with that song? I'm guessing probably not, but it was the second thing we did every day, right after the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'm pretty sure every Texas student within driving distance still visits the San Jacinto Monument at least once. I remember being really impressed back then, and it's still impressive today.

It stands over 567 feet high. The star on top weighs 220 tons!

I liked running my fingers over this beautiful Texas limestone when I was a kid. Is there any doubt that Texas was once covered in water?

The interior is cool and echo-y. There are dioramas of early life in old Tejas.

The wonderful Charles Shaw paintings were new to me. This one depicts Sam Houston's men destroying a bridge over the Brazos, so Santa Ana's reinforcements couldn't cross.

Here is Stephen F. Austin, who actually changed his first name to Estevan and learned fluent Spanish. (Wonder what the modern English-only movement thinks of that?)

And Sam Houston, who is known for his wise and measured leadership. His men wanted to attack too soon, but he chose his moment well.

The Mexican soldiers were resting, their backs to the water. And when Houston's men attacked, the afternoon sun was in the their opponents' eyes.

Some say that Houston should have dealt with Santa Ana in a different way. After all, here is the man who massacred Fannin's army...

But Houston kept his eye on loftier goals, and didn't get distracted by revenge.

As we left the monument and looked at the peaceful fields around us, I tried to envision the men camped in the trees next to the Brazos. The Mexican soldiers, exhausted after an all-night journey. And the ragtag band of settlers, nervously waiting to attack or be attacked.

God bless you, Texas, and keep you brave and strong!
That you may grow in power and worth
Throughout the ages long!

Cheesy Space

2011-04-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

Dad and I have such wonderful memories of visiting the Johnson Space Center as kids, so we couldn't wait to take our kids there.

However. It is not the same. And our first impression was Not Good.

The first things we saw were this...

...and this.

Noooooo! The Space Center has been Chuck E. Cheesified!

The entrance to Space Center Houston looks like any suburban movie theater. Inside, it feels kind of like a Dave and Buster's.

The noise and glare were truly unsettling. It was like being inside a pinball machine. There were are few, meager attempts at science exhibits scattered around the room, but no one was looking at them. Most of the kids we saw were playing in the ball pit or chasing each other around and screaming.

I felt like screaming, too.

Then we found out that the Space Center we knew as kids, the real Space Center, still exists, but it's only accessible by tram now.

So we stood in a loooong line, had our bags searched, walked through a metal detector, and got on the tram. (Weeeell, helloooo, theeeeere, folks! How's everybody doin' today? My name is Jonah and I'll be taking you on your exciting tour...)

Thankfully, we were allowed to get off the tram and go in the building where the International Space Station and shuttle mock-ups are housed. You can look through a giant window into the entire warehouse and watch people working down there. To our relief, this part was awesome!

These are exact replicas of Space Station "rooms." Real live astronauts use these pods for training.

I thought the banners of all the different space programs were cool.

Here is the training shuttle. Someone was in it while we were touring, but they never came out so we don't know who it was. You can see space suits on a rack in the center of the photo--they weigh over 200 pounds!

The shuttle's cargo bay can hold a school bus! (Mrs. Frizzle, maybe?)

We liked the patches from the various shuttle missions--they reminded us of Scout badges.

Check out those engines!

There were DO NOT TOUCH signs on most of the equipment. It kind of struck me as funny: can astronauts not be trusted with this stuff? :)

Dude is totally into robotics these days, and he thought this one was really cool.

These look fun, too.

We were surprised by how, um, classic, these computers were.

And I don't know why, but this totally cracked me up. I'm pretty sure this is the same phone that was on my Dad's desk in 1982.

After we left this building, we boarded the tram and toured the rest of the NASA campus. The only other building you can enter houses the Saturn V. I'm pretty sure this rocket was outside back when Dad and I were kids, so I'm glad it has its own gigantic garage now.

It is impossible to take a picture of something so massive. Here is one end...

...some middle...

...and the other end.

After we had been walking around the rocket for a while, Super came up to me and said, totally wide-eyed: "Mom! I am standing under a rocket!"

Back at the arcade, I mean, main building, we watched a great movie about America's space program, saw some interesting artifacts from various missions, and went inside a "shuttle."

Only a hard-core history buff like Dad could get so excited about the podium where Kennedy announced the space program.

The kids got to touch a real moon rock!

And they brought the shuttle in for a safe landing.

In spite of our initial disappointment, we all had a good time and learned something about space. Dude's favorite part was seeing the Saturn V. Super loved going inside the shuttle replica. In other words, they loved the real science, not the loud, flashing neon playground in the main building.

I have to agree. In my opinion, that place doesn't do the space program justice. I'm all for getting kids jazzed up about science, and I know today's kids are used to flashing lights and loud noises.

But that's exactly why Space Center Houston shouldn't have flashing lights and loud noises. If you want to make an impression on modern kids, don't give them the same old junk that they get every day.

Exploring the universe shouldn't feel just like visiting a McDonald's playplace.

Space is special. It's mysterious. It's awe-inspiring.

Only a handful of humans have actually been there.

I just hate to think that generations of kids will come to Space Center Houston and remember this:

...instead of this.

A night out (with grownups!)

2011-04-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

If you're ever in Houston, you need to check out Khon's super-awesome wine bar! This place is a new favorite of H-Town's happenin' crowd.

I was a little worried that we wouldn't be uber-cool enough...but we had a great time and the staff was really friendly and knowledgeable about their wines.

Wasabi and ranch work really well together! Who knew?

Live music, too! I thought the saxophone looked kinda cool there, waiting for the band to finish their break.

As usual, we couldn't wait to go out and spend time with grownups...and then we all spent the entire evening talking about our kids!

Thanks to Khon and Ashley for a fantastic evening!

Home (for a few days)

2011-04-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

It's funny...I couldn't wait to get out of this place when I was young...but I always enjoy coming back. It's peaceful and slow-paced. The familiar sights and sounds are comforting.

Somehow coming home always turns off that annoying little stress-motor that constantly turns in my head.

Hope you're finding a peaceful moment or two, wherever you call home.