Weekly Summary 1.23

Monday:

Tuesday:
Margie is continuing to work on her 7′s in multiplication. She is working on this all week.
Elliott is working on a review of concepts learned in math. He also did a page in Explode the Code and read for 10 Minutes. This week his favorite books are some Mo Willems books we got from the library.

Wednesday:
Margie read the entire book Island of the Blue Dolphins. She said it was ok. She liked the parts about animals, but she didn’t like the sad parts.
Elliott began working with numbers 11-20.

Thursday:
Both kids worked with map skills and continued with math.
Elliott had speech, Margie met with her teacher about her assignments for next semester.

Friday:

Weekly Summary 1.16

Monday
No school today.
We ran across this website and had some fun looking at it.

Tuesday
Elliott worked on 1st, 2nd, 3rd places (and etc.) in math and did a page in Explode the Code.
Margie read some of Charlotte’s Web and answered some questions on it.
Junior theatre.
PE (dodgeball)

Wednesday
Elliott continued working on places in his math book, and did another vocabulary page in Explode the Code
Margie did a page in her map book on different map projections of the Earth.
Margie and I had a good conversation about journalism and how it’s supposed to be unbiased, and how it really sucks when it’s not. We also talked about SOPA which is big news today, and we followed the news stories about how senators and representatives dropped their support of this after certain websites blacked themselves out in protest and asked their visitors to contact their reps.

Thursday
Elliott did some work in his map book. He also had speech today.
Margie practiced her multiplication tables. She also read The Lightening Thief.

Friday
After Elliott’s OT appointment, we all went to the Children’s Museum to check out their new trash exhibit. We learned (or re-learned) about the great pacific garbage patch, the kids made projects out of trash (a dalek and the TARDIS, of course), they played with magnets, among other things. Then we spent the afternoon at the park where the kids played and built houses out of pine needles.

Weekly Summary 1.9.12

Let’s see if we can’t do this regularly again, hrm?

Monday:
Elliott did subtracting and adding in math class.
Margie did multiplication problems in math class.
The kids learned more about Germany today. They learned about German food (mashed potatoes, bread, cheese, bratwurst, sausages).

Tuesday:
Elliott worked on subtraction in math and did a page of Explode the Code.
Margie worked in her California History book and worked in her map workbook.
Junior Theatre
PE (dodgeball)

Wednesday:
Elliott worked on spatial math (above/below/etc)
Margie tested out some math websites for me.

Thursday:
Elliott did his math, LA, and some work in his map book.
Margie did some reading and answered questions.
We checked out some library books at the library. Margie read all of George’s Secret Key to the Universe. Twice. (Science.)

A Very Nerdy Yule

We celebrated Yule yesterday which is a lot like Christmas, celebrating the birth of the sun on the winter solstice, the celestial moment when the days begin getting longer again. Last year my kids decided that, instead of Santa, Princess Leia would be bringing the gifts. This year it’s the Doctor (which was very exciting for me). One leaves cookies and milk for Santa, but for the Doctor we left fish custard, naturally. (Only ours was actually “fish” custard, cinnamon rolls cut into sticks, breaded and fried, and then dipped into vanilla pudding. Because we are not newly regenerated Time Lords so actual fish in pudding wasn’t something we wanted any part of.)

In the morning we woke before dawn, cooked a quick and easy breakfast, piled into the car and drove out to Snail Mountain. I’d been afraid it would be busy there, but it was completely empty when we arrived. A few people here and there arrived, walking dogs, or photographing the sunrise, but it was nicely empty. And it was cold up there. The kids were dubious about leaving the car, but we found a picnic table with the best view ever and it was tolerable. And once our friends arrived, the kids magically got warm somehow. Funny how that works.

Back at home we opened presents, napped, cooked, and relaxed. In the evening a couple of loved ones came over and we had dinner and went to see Christmas lights. It was a really perfect day.

Happy Yule & Merry Christmas!

Catching Up

It’s been over a month since I last posted so let me just sum up in pictures.

We went to our city’s centennial celebration.

We celebrated Halloween.

We celebrated Dia de los Muertos.

We did some baking.

We went with some friends to an event in Old Town (Cleopatra went with us).

Elliott had a speech therapy appointment via Skype.

And some random recents of the kids.

Weekly Summary 10.10

Monday:
Last day learning about Spain in unit studies. The kids learned about Spanish food (paella and virgin Sangria). They also made telescopes and compasses because it was Columbus Day (and of course the kids and I reviewed my personal thoughts on Columbus).
Continued working on and learning the dance in their music and dance classes.
In math Margie worked on Multiplication tables and Elliott worked with dominoes.

Tuesday:
Margie did her math (geometry).
Elliott did math (began his first grade book) today’s lesson was matching numbers with their words. He did a page in Explode the Code and then he read The Grinch Who Stole Christmas to himself.

School pictures today. Here’s a preview:

We have a few friends who go to our school now so we hung out with them while waiting for our turns. The kids drew on the white board and on paper, made paper hats, talked Star Wars and played. Afterwards we had lunch with our friends at their new home. PE (football) that afternoon.

Wednesday:
Science Day. The Universe tried helping us out on Science Day by providing a lovely brown widow in the kitchen for us. This was not my idea of good help, actually. Believe it or not. But we did get to observe her before we killed her. (The killing of brown widows is sanctioned by the San Diego Natural History Museum as they are non-native and invasive. And, frankly, rude. No one invited her into my kitchen.)

Both kids had activities that involved mealworms this week. Thank you, Science Books, for agreeing on that. Elliott’s involved figuring out which was alive – a mealworm or a rock. Turns out it’s the mealworm. Rocks are not alive. Margie’s was a more elaborate experiment in which she had to observe which foods and lighting conditions the mealworms preferred. Half her worms died overnight. So we tried again, in a simplified fashion and for a shorter length of time. These worms seemed to be more active in the light, and they seemed to prefer the corn flakes over the bran meal (the photo below was taken before they all migrated to the corn flakes). Probably they are trying to be gluten-free as well.

Thursday:
Elliott did mapwork in addition to his language arts (spelling) and math (counting to 10). He also had speech therapy today.
Margie did her novel studies work on the second chapter of Charlotte’s Web. She also finished her science work from the day before.

Weekly Summary 10.3

Monday, school
The kids are still learning about Spain in Unit Studies and today they made castanets out of polymer clay.  They also made bulls. They also did some work with a map and flag of Spain.

In math Margie worked on a computer program using multiplication (she really liked this) and made a “house of twelves” (more multiplication). Elliott did a color-by-number page, counted by ones and tens and hundreds.

In dance both kids are still learning dances to Spanish music and learning about flamenco.

In the afternoon Margie and I finished reading Goblet of Fire and we watched the movie after Elliott had fallen asleep.

Tuesday
Today we began lessons formally at home.  I showed the kids the new school shelf and where their books are stored.  We went over the books they will be using this year, and talked about the sort of lessons they will need to do (I need to make checklists, I think, to help us remember everything).  I gave Margie some responsibilities about planning the next week’s lessons and taking care of filing away the work both kids do.  Because I need help and she needs responsibilities.  Heh.

In the afternoon Elliott watched Mythbusters and Margie played on Club Penguin (typing and spelling).

Wednesday
Elliott did his daily math and grammar as well as the first lesson (on senses) in his science book. Margie worked on science as well (the introduction in her book) and went through both science books to make me a list of what they’ll need next week.

We met our teacher at the library for our monthly meeting and while there we each checked out a book. Elliott chose an alphabet book (b/c those are his favorite books), Margie chose (on my recommendation) Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself. And then Margie read the entire book in one sitting. And then started it again. So I guess she likes it.

Elliott spent a fair amount of time pouring over my Doctor Who book in the afternoon. He also played Wii Party (puzzles and games).

Thursday
Elliott did daily math and grammar and a lesson in his geography map activity book. And then he made his own map, so I guess he enjoyed that. I should add that in general he spends hours every day building things out of Legos. He’s got quite a knack for it.

Margie did her week’s worth of math today. Finished up a review and started a chapter on geometry.

Friday
Elliott did his math and grammar.

Margie took some placement tests for grammar so I can know what book to put her in.

We spent the afternoon at knitting group where Margie and some girls put on a show for the parents and Elliott played Legos and Star Wars with the boys. Margie & the girls also spent some time playing Star Wars.

Fire Department Open House

We visited the Fire Department’s open house again today. The kids tried on uniforms and had a hose-dragging race, climbed in a fire truck, toured a van designed to teach you about fire safety (where they learned about hazards, how to use a fire extinguisher, and what a smoky room feels like), toured the firehouse, watched them fire a hose from a tall ladder, made wooden fireboats via the Home Depot, and took a ride on a pretend firetruck. It was a pretty great day with lots learned.

Red Tide

When I was in high school we used to have bonfires at Coronado beach a lot. One night I noticed the waves glowing and wondered if I was imagining it. Turns out, nope, a phenomenon known as red tide made up of bio luminescent phytoplankton happens every so often. This week San Diego is experiencing an unusually strong one. Check out this video someone (not me) took last week.

Here’s a picture of what it looks like during the day (from KBPS):

So the kids and I decided to go see the show Friday night. We tried Imperial Beach since it’s closest, but there wasn’t much to be seen at all. So we drove north. All the way to La Jolla. Because this was worth the gas money and the late night out. And there they were. It was pretty incredible, that video captures it very well.

We didn’t stay long because the kids were all, “We’re cold” and “Stop torturing us, mommy.” Actually, at first they were so excited I had to tell Margie no less than five times (seriously) to stay near me and not run off like an overexcited dog. Oy. But the cold was a bit much for Elliott and then, when Margie was filling a jar with water for us to play with at home, she got hit with a wave which froze her, poor thing, so we jumped back into the car and warmed her right up.

When we got home and de-sanded, we tried shaking the jar in the dark bathroom and it did light up. Of course as soon as I decided to videotape it to share with you, it stopped. Those Lingulodinium polyedrum are total jerks. Or dead. One or the other.

Anyway, it was amazing. I’m so glad I took the kids. I’m glad I drove all that way just for a few minutes because it was completely worth it.

New School Year – The First Few Weeks

2011 sucks. It’s been difficult from the start and this summer it got worse. I’d planned to spend the summer setting us up on a new schedule for the school year, instead I spent the summer not sleeping, trying to remember to eat and cleaning out my mom’s house and taking care of her affairs.

So the school year has begun and we aren’t doing anything here at home but unschooling at this point. Which is fine for us as that’s part of life isn’t it? Sometimes you can only do the bare minimum, sometimes you can move smoothly ahead. Life weaves in and out and up and down and just the act of unschooling right now is a lesson in itself. However, being part of a charter complicates that a little as we need to provide records of what we are doing. And while we are probably doing all subjects naturally, it helps to be more organized about it. So here’s a summary of the first few weeks. The kids are taking PE and have already finished the first session (soccer), they are also taking classes at the charter’s local location (math, music and dance, unit studies). Soon Camp Fire will start again and we still attend knitting every Friday afternoon (which is more play than fiber arts for the kids).

Week One:
We took a trip to the Children’s Museum where the kids rode the chariots, bounced in the rainbow tunnel, made parachutes that they launched over the balcony, climbed ropes, and ran around in the park across the street. We had lunch at Seaport Village and then rode the carousel, checked out some art galleries, looked at the bookstore, and found a bird nest in a tree, watched over by a large bird we could not identify.

Then we had a blackout. We listened to the radio, learned about emergency kits, how to store food during a blackout, the local power stations and how they stopped working, and how very much electricity effects our lives.

Week Two:
First day of classes. The kids learned about Europe, some of the facts and figures about it, and made cave paintings. In math they played games and learned riddles. They started learning a dance in music & dance.

Our personal lives have been filled with rocks as I inherited some from my grandpa. So we learned about different types of rocks, how they are made and what they look like.

Week Three:
In classes Elliott learned number combos up to 10, Margie worked on place value. They started learning about Spain in unit studies and continued work on the dance.

We’re totally caught up on Doctor Who now and in the last few weeks we’ve watched and/or discussed episodes involving Hitler, Nixon and Churchill and were inspired to learn more about all of them. Margie has also done a lot of literary work on the show, learning symbolism and other elements of Story.