This and That...

...Job News...
Ugh. So I posted last time about my job at the junior college being frozen due to decreased revenue. No summer work, and as it turns out, no fall work either. So I had to scramble to find something to keep ends meeting. I started working at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago. At first, I wasn't sure if it would work out, even for the summer, as I was getting very minimal hours, as in about 10 each week. I applied, and interviewed, for a couple of other jobs, with no real success. Thankfully, today I had my first evaluation, which went very well, and I picked up a lot more hours for next week. By the time I got home from work today, they had called to see if I wanted more hours this week too, since they "really like" me. Of course I said YES! Phew!

I also have a job interview next Tuesday for an instructional assistant position in a middle school. If I can get that, and work as a tutor at the local university in the fall, I may be able to quit grocery again. We shall see!

...Job Training News...
I also mentioned that The Boy will be doing some job training soon. He'll be working in the café at the teen club, and will be learning interviewing skills, resumé building, etc. This program is free to club members, and comes with a $200 stipend at the end. He's got plans for that money already... buying an engine for his 1972 Chevy pickup... or perhaps rebuilding the engine it has, though option A seems more likely. He might also use a little of the money for barista training, so he can work on getting a job.

...In Our Homeschooling...
I've asked the kids to take on more responsibility for their schoolwork. I'm making a weekly assignment sheet, and they have from Saturday mornings to the following Friday at noon to get it all done. Of course, I am available for assistance, and we still read our book of the moment and watch documentaries together, but they will be doing their math, other reading, and writing largely on their own. We've also added audiobooks back into our circulation! We're going to finally finish the Percy Jackson series, then listen to The Lord of the Rings. I'm in the process of updating our Afternoon Basket page at last!

...Around the House, Kitchen, and Garden...
Since I'm working shifts that are all over the place, and M puts in 10-12 hour days, I'm working again on actually meal planning. We have a few vegetarian/plant-based dinners a week now, both for health and to save money, and then some meat a few times a week. I need to put my crockpot to good use!

We have a list of things to be done before mid-fall too, like tarring the family room roof to help with leaks, rototilling a big chunk of the backyard and amending the soil, etc. The Boy and The Girl will have to be my primary helpers. Decluttering continues, especially after we've started watching the documentary Minimalism.

We planted several tomatoes this year, along with plenty of peppers and onions, some squash, and some lemon cucumbers. All are thriving! The above-mentioned rototilling is part of our plan to put in a real garden next spring at long last.

...Random Pictures...
Just some recent and random pictures to wrap up this post!

Waiting for fireworks

A recent leaf drawing by The Girl

A trip to the beach on the fourth

Meet Ted, our new caterpillar!

Hey There!

...What We've Been Up To...

The Girl started working with the wildlife rescue center. These are her foster babies:

They are, of course, opossums, four of them. We actually interact with them as little as possible, so that they remain relatively feral. They'll be released back into the wild once they're larger. The Girl learned to tube feed them (they can't suckle), but thankfully we are past that stage now, and they just eat foods (mice, sardines, fruit). They live in a very large tub in the bathroom for now!


The Boy is soon to wrap up his figure drawing class. His skills just continue to blow me away!

Some of his work has been hung in the student art center, and he's thinking of entering some in the local fair this year.

As far as homeschooling, it's been spotty, which is something we really need to address. The kids have already agree we need to work through the summer. Math, writing, literature, and more documentaries have all made the summer to-do list!

Speaking of literature, we watched the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the kids loved it! So we decided to read through all the books mentioned in the movie (a list I am still working on). Here is their first pick...

We have agreed to check out this movie version when we are done with the book.

We started watching Bill Nye Saves the World, which I think is okay, and they seem to like. I'm thinking American Experience, and/or maybe actually finishing Mankind: the Story of All of Us, and America: The Story of Us. We also have a few unwatched episodes of Big History. And there are plenty of biographies, etc. I also need to find some more science documentaries! We finished up all three seasons of The 100 that are currently available, and can't wait for season 4 to come to Netflix in June. If you haven't checked it out, you should. Totally engrossing!

Besides all that, I'm wrapping up my year of teaching at the university. I am planning to continue my teaching assistant position at the junior college for another year, but beyond that, I am not sure at the moment. I've applied for a couple of very part-time things, so we'll see what works out!

Hope all is well in everyone else's corners of the world!

It Can't Really Be April Already!

I absolutely can't believe it is April already, and that I missed March on this blog entirely.

What We've Been Up To:

The Girl turned 14!!!

The Boy is enjoying the Big History Project. This will take us through the next year as well, since I'm adding in science, and it took us a while to get off the ground with it.

I've decided to apply for a Roots & Shoots mini-grant to help The Girl and I with our front-yard-turned-wildlife-habitat project.

The weather has finally gotten much nicer, so The Boy will be returning to his truck project.

Again, since the rains have (mostly) stopped, we can get a veggie garden going! I decided we would start relatively small this year, and add to it regularly, rather than overwhelming ourselves with another giant project at the moment.

Homeschooling on the whole is good these days! Math is going well for both, we're working on writing projects, we're reading The Golden Compass, and we discuss a lot of politics/political science.

We've also been enjoying sunny park days with friends; the kids go roller skating every week; they also visit a local teen club twice a week (most weeks) for arts, crafts, and more; and The Boy is loving his figure drawing class!

So instead of rambling on and on, here are some pictures from recent days, in no particular order...

The Girl got clay for her birthday, and is making mini sculptures

The cat loves his boy

Minecraft flower mini-sculpture by The Girl

Drawing from The Boy's art class

The view from an uphill walk I try to do at least twice a week

I love seeing hot air balloons when I drive my husband to work in the morning

Another drawing from The Boy's art class

I always see such pretty flowers when I'm out walking!

Have a great weekend and week! I'll try to check back in more regularly!

A Belated Happy Valentine's Day!

Again, it has been a while since I updated this blog! I keep meaning to, but life has been very busy lately.

What has changed?

• We got a new (to us) vehicle last weekend after a string of incidents, starting with the unfortunate demise of Clarabelle, the 30 year old Honda Civic passed on to us by my dad. Around the same time that died, my mom's Acura broke down on our street, and then lived in our driveway for a month while The Boy rebuilt the cooling system. My mom and I then shared her 15 passenger "church" van, until that blew a spark plug. So we had to get something, and we happily settled on a 2003 Nissan XTerra in excellent condition. The downside? 20 months of payments. :(
• The Boy dropped the mythology class early on in the semester. It turned out that it was very fast paced and highly academic, and he does not feel ready for that. BUT, he's loving figure drawing, and his sketches are amazing! Here's an example: 

• My second semester teaching is flying by! I love, love, love it. We're reading a memoir and a novel this semester, and have actually just about finished up the memoir -- A Place to Stand. My students seem to be loving it! We're about to do a service project with first graders, and then will be jumping into The Book Thief. Last semester, our theme was how we identify ourselves by social binaries and concepts, and this semester is all about how words can shape identity.
• I might shift up my employment again a bit in the fall. I want to teach another year while I write my Master's thesis, but I think instead of the junior college job, I may work in the writing center at one of the two campuses. I haven't been getting as many students in these days to my tutoring hours, and I hate feeling that I am wasting the college's time. Writing center experience would also just be excellent, both for my own development, and for my cv as I prepare to actually enter the world of teaching in another year plus. I haven't decided for sure though.
• Homeschooling is moving right along. We're reading a lot... A Little History of the World; All About Cats; Son; and Exploring the Way Life Works: The Science of Biology... watching Z: The Beginning of Everything, and Mankind: The Story of All of Us... working on algebra and prealgebra... and writing, largely essay practice, though both kids are doing some creative writing on the side!
• We're mostly enjoying the rain, though I know the flooding has been difficult for many in California. What's that saying about flood to famine, or vice versa? I complained a lot about the drought in the past, but we seem to be well past that now! Though it hasn't stopped us from going outside! As you can see, we were so wet by this point that The Girl gave in to her puddle stomping instincts!

Hope all is well in everyone else's homeschooling world!

Nose to the Grindstone...

image courtesy of Saxton Studio

My winter break has come to an end. Today, the junior college starts back up, and next week, the university. So I am prepping like crazy for classes next week! I have almost finished my syllabus and a reading schedule for the first few weeks, so I just need to polish those up. This week, I am visiting the classes I work with as an instructional assistant, and next week, I will be teaching and studying. This semester, I am teaching the same students as last semester, moving them from English 100A to English 100B. The class I am taking is in composition theory/application and rhetoric... a practical class for a college instructor!

The Boy is also gearing up for classes, which for him start tomorrow. He's taking Figure Drawing and Comparative Mythology. The mythology class will likely be the most academic class he's taken so far, but I am pretty sure he can handle it. It will provide us with a great opportunity to practice his essay skills!

We started homeschooling again last week, so here is a brief run-down:

Math: Both used their "new" textbooks to do review work, which went well. We're using Jacobs Elementary Algebra (The Boy) and AGS Basic Math Skills (The Girl).

History: We started reading A Little History of the World (3 chapters), and watched the first episode of Mankind: The Story of Us, which lined up very nicely.

Literature: We read 3 or 4 more chapters in The Messenger, which we'll probably finish up in the next week or two. We'll most likely then read the fourth book, Son, before moving on to something else.

I also found our science book for spring! It seems very readable, I love the illustrations (as do the kids), and I love how it presents everything in an interconnected fashion. We'll start reading from it this week, and I'll weave in a few hands on projects here and there, though the bulk of our hands-on work will be gardening and nature observation.

 

I hope things continue to go as smoothly for the rest of the spring! I still have writing to work in as well, and spelling for The Girl, but we'll get there.

January Tidbits...

I always find Kim's monthly planning posts so inspirational, so here are some January plans of my own, mixed with some Monday musings!

New Year's Eve Cat's Cradle fun

January 1st: New Year's Day
We enjoyed a relaxed day, mostly at home. I made the kids some great pancakes for breakfast, and we checked out a new neighborhood park.

January 6th: Twelfth Night
We'll take down the Christmas tree, and I'd like to experiment with some Three Kings Bread (though this recipe for an orange bread looks really good too!), or we'll make The Girl's Applesauce Honey Cake. Maybe board games by the fireplace!

January 12th: Full Moon
I'd really like us to start paying more attention to the Full Moons, starting with this one, the Wolf Moon.

January 16th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
We'll read or watch his "I Have a Dream" speech.

January 28th: Chinese New Year
We will celebrate the Year of the Rooster with a Chinese inspired dinner, probably something with long noodles (healthy Chow Mein?), fish, and other good-luck goodies (dumplings, etc.). Maybe we'll try making fortune cookies again, and/or Chinese lanterns.

Plans This Week
We're starting our Minimalism overhaul. Actually, The Boy started yesterday, of his own free will, in his bedroom. Like his dad, he collects odds and ends for projects that rarely happen. Unlike his dad, he's willing to get rid of some of it. I haven't asked the kids to go through their rooms, just to help with the rest of the house, so this is impressive! I'm starting today with the living room. We've discussed what to do with everything too: clothes will go to Goodwill and a local women's and children's day shelter; books to the library bookstore and the shelter; toys to the shelter.

I'm also going to start work on my syllabus for the spring semester!

Homeschool Thoughts
We're leaving TabletClass behind, and are returning to Jacobs' Elementary Algebra for The Boy. It is not that TabletClass was bad -- on the contrary, it is very good, but Jacobs is just a better fit. And The Girl will start using AGS Basic Math Skills alongside the Key To Math series. The Boy is also gearing up for two classes at the junior college this semester: figure drawing and comparative mythology. We plan to start back up officially in a week or two (depending on the arrival of The Boy's math books), though we're still reading from the Afternoon Basket in the meantime (which I need to update!).

Lovely recent afternoon walk

Around the House, Kitchen, and Garden
We've got nothing but rain in the forecast for the next week or week and a half, after a gorgeous two weeks of icy cold sunshine, so no yard work really.

I'm making plenty of veggie-heavy soup these days, as this is definitely soup weather. Meal planning is going well these days!

Rainy days will be focused on housework, reading aloud, and planning (as detailed above), maybe watching some documentaries and movies.

Have a great first week of January!

Up and Coming...

I didn't realize how long it had been between posts! Ooops! So I thought since I have a moment, I would stop by and give an update, Monday Musings style.

...Outside...
It's been alternating between quite cold, and very wet. It's almost time for the annual apple and olive tree pruning. I already cut back the lavender, rosemary, etc., and took out dead annuals. I also took cuttings of my geraniums and Mexican sage, and potted some baby spider plants! Almost everything seems to have taken nicely. I'm still planning to put in raised beds in late winter/very early spring, so I've been pricing lumber, soil, and more. The Boy is still on board for helping me design a new chicken hutch, and we're hoping to get some chicks around the same time we put in the raised beds, which means maybe we'll have fresh eggs by mid-late summer!

...Inside...
My seasonal cleaning and purging urges have hit. I'm weeding out books for donation to the local library, donating clothes that don't fit, and am urging the kids to follow suit. We've also been thinking paint colors for spring renewal, and after watching reruns of Friends, I think I want more colors than I originally planned... for example, we plan on going with a soft, warm brown (on the lighter side) for the kitchen walls, and a warm cream for the cupboards (currently a yellowing white), and I think I might add accents of robin's egg blue. That should all go nicely with the dark olive-y green tile backsplashes. Our Christmas decorations are mostly in place, though we still need to get the lights hung outside.

...Cooking...
M wants to spend the month of January as a vegetarian, sort of a cleanse, I guess. So I've been thumbing through my moderate collection of vegetarian cookbooks for menu ideas. I figure it will save us money too. In the meantime, we've been eating a lot of soup, to counteract the cold weather.

...Homeschooling...
We're on an unofficial break from most subjects. We've decided to go ahead and read through a number of the Little Histories (world, American, science, philosophy, and religion) starting in January, and will pick math back up at that time. The Boy is taking figure drawing and comparative mythology at the junior college next semester, so I am trying not to overload him at home. He's on a break from the truck rebuild project until after the holidays, and in January, trainings start back up for the wildlife rescue center for The Girl.

...Watching and Reading...
Lots of Christmas movies this time of year! And we've got the kids hooked, at last, on Star Trek Next Generation. After that, I think we'll tackle Voyager. We're still reading both Dickens and the Street Children of London, and Lois Lowry's Messenger. This series has been such a good read for us! One more book to go, and then we'll have to find something new.

...Work and College...
I'm wrapping up my first semester of teaching! Overall, it has been a very good experience. I really like my students, and feel much more at ease teaching than I did at first. I'm eagerly planning for spring while trying to wrap up a lot of end of the semester grading, and my own essay for my British lit seminar.

And... I've got a timeline for actually graduating! I'm taking a teaching seminar in the spring and am reading my lit list at last for the comprehensive exam, then starting my language work (one year foreign language) and thesis work in the fall of next year, with a planned graduation date of May, 2018. In the meantime, I will teach another year in the teaching associate program, and will continue working as an assistant at the junior college.

...Everything Else...
M still loves his job at the wholesale nursery, and is looking at a supervisor position by next spring. The Girl has been on a sewing craze since we read Gathering Blue, and she's developing some nice embroidery skills. I might have her learn some more from my mom soon, who used to embroider all the time. I'm maintaining my 40 pound weight loss, with another 18 pounds, approximately, to go. Exercise is a huge mood stabilizer for me, and I've developed a good friendship with the core group of women I work out with. The kids joined a local teen club with a fantastic art room, rock climbing, a computer/game room, a music studio, and more, and have started hanging out there a couple of late afternoons/early evenings each week. They're having fun, working with cool artists, and making new friends!

Making plans...

Backyard Farming Project Plans
 I wrote in this post about my garden planning, and then started research on building beds without going broke. I ended up finding this awesome tutorial on building raised beds with cedar fence boards, as cedar is naturally rot-resistant, rarely "treated", and fence boards are quite inexpensive overall. They still won't be $10 beds...more like $25 apiece, but that's far, far cheaper than getting them pre-made, with prices starting at $46 for something of comparable size. I'm hoping to put in 4-6 beds (leaning toward six...we have the space!), and a couple of potato towers. I know we want to grow tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, cucumbers, squash, beans, peas, lettuces, chard, maybe broccoli, etc., and I just learned about tree collards, so am fascinated with them!

I also really need to rebuild for the chickens. We want to relocate the chicken run, to free up our mini orchard space, and so I want to take my time to do it properly. Our chickens are sadly down to two in number, and have aged out of laying entirely, so I am seriously considering investing in 6-8 lovely ladies in the spring. I've been perusing Backyard Chickens for ideas in the process of designing my own new coop and run, which will all be made from reclaimed lumber, chicken wire, etc., much the way this blogger built one.

Cooking Project Plans
I've decided I need to learn how to can things. My mom does it all the time, so next time she has a canning project planned, I'll be watching and helping! I'd also like to try making cheese -- I understand both ricotta and mozzarella are pretty easy, so I think I would tackle those first. I also want a dehydrator at some point....

Household Project Plans
More decluttering really. I find more and more that we need far less stuff than we have. I'd also like to sew new curtains later this winter, as curtains are an easy way to really change up a room's appearance. So everyone will need to choose curtain fabrics for their rooms, and then I get to choose for the main rooms! Another deep cleaning is needed soon too. We have other plans for next summer, including a roof overhaul (just the addition, thankfully), and a shower wall and plumbing overhaul. I'm just glad those jobs are a ways off!

Finishing Grad School Plans
This one will take a while. I need to get the required foreign language out of the way (yes, a foreign language for an MA in English). I also need to take my GRE and write my thesis. So this is a 1.8 year plan (I'd say two, but this semester is almost over). I will continue with the jobs I have now if given the opportunity in the 2017-2018 academic year, and then graduate in summer, 2018. To keep me busy in the meantime, I have essays to assign and grade, and a 15-20 page seminar paper of my own to write by mid December.

Homeschooling Plans
We're doing much better with math these days, and have kept up nicely with history (Victorian times) and literature. Getting writing done though has been like pulling teeth, so that is the next area to tackle. I think both kids will be taking sculpture at the junior college in the spring, and I'd really love to incorporate a thorough study of biology into our next semester.

And there you have it... my current plans! Plenty to keep me busy!

What We're Doing These Days...

  ...It's a beautiful fall so far... 
lots of rain, followed by the leaves changing, and morning fog...

...We enjoyed Halloween... 
(costume pictures still to come)
We spent the afternoon with friends, then the evening Trick or Treating my mom's neighborhood

This is how you pick pumpkins from the pumpkin bin

The Girl's handiwork

And The Boy's

...We've Been Reading...

 We really enjoyed this book, and it led to so many interesting conversations about human rights versus a seemingly utopian society, memories, emotions, and much, much more. The movie, on the other hand? Ummm, no thanks. We did not care for it.

  But we did move on to the second book in the quartet, and although it seems very different in someways, it is just as gripping so far.

We're delving into Victorian Times after watching Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 

And we're reading about universal matters...

...And There Has Also Been...

Math (going well, but not nearly often enough)

Language arts games here and there, and now we're diving headfirst in to writing projects for both kids

Lazy afternoons either at the park with friends, or watching movies (we watched a lot of pre-Halloween films!)

Many rounds of Clue and Chess

The Boy loves, loves, loves his astronomy class, and is planning on taking sculpture in the spring

And cooking... soups, chili, casseroles, and, courtesy of The Girl, a lovely pear and chocolate upside-down cake...

Happy October!

October is my favorite month of the year. Something about the weather (we had rain today!!!), the pumpkins and squash, the leaves changing color, and of course, Halloween, all together make me feel very content.

What We're Up To...
We just started, last night, watching our Halloween-related/spooky movies, with Sleepy Hollow. Also on the list are Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, The Addams Family, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and, quite likely, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, among others. Perhaps Phantom of the Opera as well this year? We watched Dracula last year, so maybe Frankenstein should be considered. We have been watching Penny Dreadful, and it has been intriguing to watch characters from classic horror films/novels unfold.

Math is going along well for both kids, and we're getting going slowly with language arts. We've begun reading The Giver, and that's been found to be very thought provoking so far. We do plan to watch the movie after we finish the book, for comparison. This is the first novel we have chosen for a plunge into dystopian society, at the request of both kids.

The Boy is doing very well in his astronomy class, with a high A average at the moment. He's also been back at work on his truck restoration project after a couple of weeks off. And he's been visiting car shows/air shows, and has made videos for both. The Girl spends a lot of time lately sculpting again, and we're working on our wildlife habitat. She reads a lot on her Kindle lately, both in games, and about games, and animals. She set up a fishbowl in her room for a Betta fish, painting the backside of the fishbowl with a tropical underwater scene, so that her new fish, named Pearl, would "not be bored in there." We do need to get going on the Big History Project though, which The Girl has decided she will participate in, albeit somewhat loosely.

Other Tidbits...
I love my jobs teaching/working with students. I am far more content these days than with all of last year's crazy hectic scheduling, even though we have a little less money.

It's also soup season, and that makes me happy! Last week, I made a giant pot of taco bean soup, and right now I'm also craving butternut squash-orange soup (I spice it up with smoked paprika, ginger, cumin, and a little chili powder), and The Girl wants this eggplant one.

I spent time today at the hardware store drooling over bulbs. My favorites are grape hyacinths, crocus, crocosmia, daffodils, and paperwhite narcissus, so I think there might be a bulb-purchase-and-planting day coming up soon! Other yard-based tasks to be done include harvesting olives in another month or so, clearing ground for raised beds at last, and strengthening the chicken hutch before winter gets here. I also really want to get/make a Halloween wreath for the front door by next weekend!

Enjoy your October!

Settling In...

Homeschooling this fall has been more about getting settled in, than it has been about starting a new academic year. I've made some more changes to my Learning page to more accurately reflect what we're up to, most noticeably, that I'm not doing formal spelling with The Girl after all, but I'll talk about that in a minute!

What We're Up To...
The Boy is well entrenched in another semester at the junior college. He's taking, and seriously enjoying, stellar astronomy. After each class, he comes to me with stories of his teacher, and what was learned, and I am thrilled it is going so well! In the spring, he hopes to take sculpture, and perhaps German.

As for The Girl's spelling, I am approaching it in much the same way I did with The Boy, which was correcting it as we go. Instead, I am having both of them participate in writing projects, even some collaborative pieces. The Girl is reading SO well now, and she's picking up some spelling just from reading, so I think this laid back approach could work.

Math is going well too. The Boy is continuing with TabletClass (algebra), and The Girl is zipping through the first book of Key to Fractions.

Still To Add In...
The Boy will be studying Big History this year, as we find it meshes extremely well with his science choices (astronomy this fall, biology at home in the spring). I haven't quite decided if The Girl will do this with him, but I think it is more likely she will have a year of naturalists and animal scientist biographies.

The Girl completed her first orientation at the Wildlife Rescue Center. She has two more trainings to go before she can start fostering young wild animals in the spring. She may also volunteer for some classroom visits with the education team.

And read-alouds... I have a list of dystopian literature at the request of the kids, so we just need to get to it! I'm also gathering a few books on various topics to rotate through the Afternoon Basket during fall.

Everything Else...
Roller derby is back in full session, so The Girl has practice twice a week. The Boy is still working on his truck rebuilding project once a week. I only work four days a week now, and love my jobs, despite the need for more penny pinching. I do a bootcamp workout three mornings a week, TRX once a week, and I run a couple of times a week too, so I feel better than I ever have! The Girl is going to train for her first 5k with me, one that involves chocolate, definitely a big motivation!

We lost one of our two dogs last week. She started sleeping endlessly, and stopped eating, so we knew she was going (she was 13 or 14). She died peacefully in our family room on the 12th, and we held a lovely funeral for her. We also gained a chicken, when a friend found one wandering down her street, and thought of us!

Hope everyone's fall is off to as good a start as ours, though maybe not as slow!

Fall Is On Its Way...

I love this time of year! Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite season. Crisp days, cool nights, the changing colors, pumpkins, holidays on the way....

The Boy has started back to school, and has just wrapped up his second week. He's taking stellar astronomy at the local junior college, with a fantastic teacher, so he's excited to go to class each week, and excited when he finishes class too, and gets to tell me everything he's learned!

His class is during my office hours on the same campus, which makes it easy to coordinate driving!

My teaching position is also going well! The first class was stressful... I won't lie. I actually finished it up (early) wondering if I had made a big mistake. Fast forward to today, and the class went very well! Discussions are happening, there's lots of writing going on, and I have my first set of essays to grade over the weekend!

Next week, we'll be starting back up with all our other school activities. The Boy says he's ready to work on more algebra and writing, and The Girl is definitely ready for some math. She's asked for something computer-based for spelling though, so maybe Spelling City, or ???

Other September plans...
-- Celebrating my brother's birthday today!
-- Finish stripping the front yard down... deadheading, removing the last of the dead weeds/grass.
-- Enjoying the first day of fall!
-- The Girl and I will be attending an orientation for the wildlife rescue center volunteer work she wants to do this year. Puppy petting is fun, but it just petting young puppies, and she's ready for something more.
-- Bake an apple pie for Johnny Appleseed Day
-- Make some applesauce and apple butter (to freeze) from our backyard apple tree.

How is your fall shaping up? Anything exciting, like special days/plans? Starting back to school?

Catching Up & Moving Along...

Summer has flown by so quickly! Next week, we'll be back in the thick of things, though we did manage to have a lot of fun the last couple of months.

Catching Up...

There's been fishing, hanging out in scenic spots, and -- for me -- trail running:

And a day at the local fair, thanks to a set of free tickets I won from the bank! We went on some rides, ate funnel cakes, gazed at the amazing flower show, and visited the animals!

I even have a classroom now! There's been continued truck work, and some random fun moments along the way.

Moving Along...

The Boy starts a stellar astronomy class next week, so we're shelving chemistry for now. The Girl has a new volunteer orientation coming up at the local wildlife rescue center, so fall will be spent studying and rehabilitating animals.

I start my new career next week! I have my first day planned, my syllabus written, and a few writing assignments designed/under design. And I start my own classes.

We'll start our full-on homeschooling after Labor Day. Our first read-aloud for literature will be Watership Down. For animal studies, The Girl will be reading various selections from our collection of vintage books, alongside numerous library books, and I think she and I will enjoy The Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets. She and I will also work on turning our habitat plans into reality.

Hope your summers have been going well!

Weekly Wrap-Up... Rain, Gardening, Books, & More!

It is pouring outside! And we might have a thunderstorm mid-day! Since we seem to be living in a "state" (pun intended) of perpetual drought these days, I don't mind the rain. And that means we have an afternoon at home, rather than the park, to play a little catch-up!

From one of my morning walks this week

...Homeschooling This Week...

The Boy is making progress with one and two step equations in algebra, while The Girl and I played Totally Tut yesterday. I think we may play it again today, and I want her to work on multiplication and division facts with Circles & Stars (up to four dice). Remedial work, yes, but once she's really got this stuff down, I know (from experience teaching her addition and subtraction) that she'll make a big leap, mathematically speaking. And I found something that looks awesome for a little later on... the Interactive Mathematics Program (samples here). In the meantime, I think she might try Prodigy (online free math-wizarding game).

The Girl is making great progress through her spelling book too.

We did some reading from Outbreak! Plagues That Changed History, learning about the Black Death, and how it shifted the balance of power in feudal society. I'd definitely recommend this book for a different view of world history—lots of interesting tidbits, and a good, conversational writing tone.

And of course we watched some Downton Abbey, which led to a discussion on mourning practices. 

The Boy has been reading lots of recent articles on Hawking Radiation, Planet X, and other space phenomena. He keeps me up to date on what he's learned! The Girl has cycled back to her sea creature fascination, and at the same time, very sadly pointed out to  me this week that she does not remember ever visiting a zoo. I plan to remedy that in a couple of weeks, when M's day off cycles back to a Saturday.

Today's agenda includes math, spelling, nailing down The Boy's essay topic, A Wind in the Door, and the first chapter of DNA. And possibly an early evening trip to the indoor trampoline park! The Boy and I are also planning on watching Contact tonight, while The Girl and M watch Drop Dead Fred. We'll do a family movie tomorrow!

...Everything Else This Week...

The Boy misplaced The Martian, so he's working on finishing Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, book 1. The Girl is deep in Harry Potter. I am reading The Longest Night, a novel centered around the 1961 nuclear disaster in Idaho Falls, and The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family, which is just fascinating!

The Boy had parkour last night, and has decided he needs to strength train more at home. The Girl had derby practice, and said it was really tough, as they were (finally) learning some new skills this week. I tried out kickboxing, did a HIIT workout, and worked on my running.

My plantings/transplantings from last Sunday seem to be doing well, and I am sure the rain will help! Tomorrow, we're picking up a few tomato plants, herbs, and pepper plants... at last. It turns out it is just as well that we did not get them sooner, as we had a freak late frost last week that killed a lot of people's veggie starts. We're not doing a big veggie garden right off the bat. Instead, we're starting slowly and adding things in over time. I'm hoping to get a lot more done in the front yard too!


...Goals for Next Week...

Math, of course. And spelling for The Girl, and some writing/grammar for her. Some light essay work for The Boy, and I think I'll have him try out Excavating English with the two-week free sample, as I bet he'd really enjoy it. I'm hoping during our Sunday lessons, that we can either finally watch another episode of Human Planet, or work in Mapping the World with Art (or both?!?). And we need to get going next week with The Private Eye! All this means a trip to the store for spiral bound sketchbooks.

My other goal: more of our Afternoon Basket read-alouds!

Hope you all had a good week, and that you have a great weekend!

linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Monday Musings...

...Outside My Window...

It's been gorgeous here lately, though quite warm, with the last few days in the 80s! It is supposed to cool back down to the 70s tomorrow, and there might be some rain by the weekend. The dryness, and high pollen counts, have got The Boy in constant allergy agony, so we're going to try switching allergy meds, and taking him in for allergy testing. Poor kid.

With such clear skies though, we have seen plenty of these!

...In My Yard...

I spent the late morning/early afternoon yesterday weeding, and relocating some lamb's ear. I also finally got a gift of daylilies situated too, as well as the tiny euphorbia my mom found next to her big one, and gave to me.. M's been trying to keep up with rapidly growing grass in both the front and backyards, but with the rain, then warmth, then rain, then warmth... the stuff is growing like crazy!

...In the House and Kitchen...

I've been getting bits of the house deeply (spring) cleaned... a little at a time. I'll get it done yet! And the kids are working on choosing paint colors for their rooms for this summer's big project (besides the bathroom plumbing).

I'm getting better at planning ahead food-wise. I cook several breakfast items ahead for the kids to pick and choose from, and then they add fruit, tea, etc., and I pack my own snacks/lunch the night before. On the dinner menu this week are: turkey burgers; roasted chicken; quesadillas made with leftover roasted chicken; and probably this awesome casserole from Kalyn's Kitchen.

...In Our Homeschooling...

The Boy is starting chapter three in algebra this week, after doing very well on his end-of-chapter 2 test last week. The Girl is working on multiplication more in-depth, because fluency with it will only help her as she moves along.

In language arts, I really need to get The Boy working on his expository essay! The Girl did another 3 lessons in Spelling Workout, and will do more this week. I am also hoping to have each of them memorize a poem by the end of April (free choice of poets and pieces), and maybe do a freewrite this week.

...Reading and Watching...

A Wind in the Door is going well, though we're only a couple of chapters in so far. The Afternoon Basket is high up on my to-do list this week! On their own, they are continuing with The Martian and Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. I just finished a very odd and intriguing page-turner.. The Children's Home. The Boy wants to read it when he finishes his current book, so we'll switch at that point.

We watched another few episodes of Downton Abbey, and will watch another couple this week. I'd really like to get in another episode of Human Planet as well. And we've been enjoying the end of Once Upon a Time's season three!

...On the Agenda...

For me, running and weight training, plus introductory karate tomorrow night. I tried, and loved, TRX resistance training over the weekend, so I really want to do more of that!

The kids have parkour/roller derby, afternoon skating tomorrow, and maybe (just maybe) a fencing session this week.

Other than that, my class was cancelled today (phew!). I do have tutoring tomorrow, and office hours at the junior college on Wednesday. So altogether, it is a lighter week than usual!

I'll leave you with The Girl's last puppy petting session for the "R" litter. The "S" litter is due in early May, so we should be playing with puppies by mid-late May!

Have a great week!!!

Sundries...

...Some random notes for Wednesday...

The Boy started studying physics again, this time through Khan Academy. So, inspired, I went ahead and had him add me as a coach, then I added The Girl in there too, so I can have her work on math and science through the site.

If you haven't checked it out, Khan Academy is FANTASTIC! I use it regularly with the two girls I tutor, and am hoping to make far better use of it with my own kids.

M and I put the Duolingo app on our phones, so we can start learning Spanish. I know some, and can understand a lot more than I can speak, but there's a lot left to learn!

Learning is, and should be, a lifelong process, as far as I am concerned.

image courtesy of patheos.com

I took the CBEST yesterday. Thankfully, I never will have to take it again! Anyone in California who wants to teach has to take it at some point though. One more hurdle out of the way! I got my math and reading scores right away, and those are just fine. I'll get the essay results in another week and a half. I've applied for a few positions teaching English in the fall, but haven't heard anything back... yet. Some of our districts are notoriously slow to hire.

The Boy is teaching The Girl his newly-accomplished parkour skills. She loves spending the time with him, and they're being active. It's a win-win situation! I've also been taking both of them roller skating once a week, when the rink has its $2 days. And when they are at my mom's, the often take the basketball down to the local park to shoot some hoops.

As for my own physical activity, I've recently begun working on running. Right now, I go back and forth between a fast walk, and a relatively slow jog. But, my distance is increasing regularly, and I'm really enjoying it, much to my own surprise!

A Wind in the Door hooked both kids in right away. We're actually reading most of the books from our Afternoon Basket! And we've been doing math and language arts regularly!

M found a dead butterfly that I think we'll be checking out with our jeweler's loupes. I'm thumbing through The Private Eye, and need to get some sketchbooks!

This Saturday, The Girl and I have our last puppy petting session for a month and a half. This litter will be moving on, now that they are bigger and have mastered basic commands, and the new litter isn't due until early-mid May. We'll get to meet them around the two-three week mark.

Just for fun, here is what happens when the kids get a hold of my phone while I'm driving them around...

Hope your week is going well!