Well...Hello There!

It's been so long that I am not even going to bother trying to "catch up" but instead will just start fresh, and share what's going on!

...The Girl...

A retrospective of fifteen years

She turned FIFTEEN this month! Can you believe it? She's studying math, writing, ancient Chinese history, environmental science, and baking at the moment. Her plan, as of now, is to start at the local junior college next fall, or sometime soon thereafter, entering the culinary arts program with a focus on baking and pastry. Eventually, she'd like to start her own bakery-café, but will spend at least a couple of years working for someone else to build experience.

In the meantime, she paints frequently, still loves sculpting, and still enjoys documentaries. She's also taken up archery. She helps cook dinner nearly every night, and on the nights I work late, she is always the one to pop a casserole in the oven and make a salad, although she and The Boy did make a veggie burger dinner together last week!

...The Boy...

Happily fixing his aunt's car

The Boy is enrolled in his first automotive class at the local junior college, and absolutely LOVES it. He's working toward becoming a fully ASE certified mechanic, and also dreams of having his own shop one day. He's also studying math, Russian, writing, environmental science, nutrition, and ancient Chinese history. He's rebuilding a 1972 Chevy pickup here at home as well.

Still loves reading, art, and science fiction movies! His ankle, injured from parkour a couple of years ago, is looking more and more like it will need surgery, so we'll be working toward that for summer. He'd love to get back into fencing by late fall, ankle permitting.

...Me...

I'm still working at a grocery store, and at the local university. A month or so ago though, I came to a huge realization. I'm a decent teacher, but I'm not a great one. I'm simply not passionate enough about it. And students deserve someone passionate, and absolutely dedicated. I know a lot of people who are... just not me. Where I do really shine is in administrative work (aka secretarial work). And there are some good potential opportunities coming up at the university. I'd like to work there, at the junior college, or for a good nonprofit.

I am still working on my Master's degree as well. I had plans to tackle my thesis over winter break, and then the kids were sick, and I was sick, and then we all got better, and then we got sick again. Added to the unfinished thesis are the facts that I still need some foreign language under my belt, and I need to take the literature comprehension test. So that I don't kill myself over the next few months, I'll be paying for "project continuation" units over the next year; taking French over next fall and spring, taking the exam next spring, and working on my thesis throughout.

...And in Other News...

We fixed our leaky roof! The family room has been getting increasingly bad over the years, leaking so heavily last year that the room semi-flooded during the heaviest storm. But we put on "peel and seal" roofing, and it actually works! Our next major project is the kids' bathroom plumbing, which leaks like crazy unless we replace washers every two weeks. We're going to get a conversion kit to change it from an old, two-knob set-up to a single knob set-up. And we need to re-do the shower surround at the same time. Fun times!

M sadly lost his job last fall, and has been going through some health issues. We are working toward solutions for both, but it might be a while, which is part of the reason I've been putting in about 50 hours a week, and not working on my thesis. I'm exhausted most of the time, but the kids are really helping me hold it all together.

So, to finish things off for today, here are a couple of random pictures! The first is a drawing I did last night of an orchid from a book on orchids. It was the first time in years that I actually sat down and just drew, and it felt fantastic, and I am mostly pleased with the sketch. The second is a picture I snapped when leaving the university campus a few weeks ago.

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!

Summer Stuff...

A run-down of what we've been up to, and a few pictures...

The kids won a month's free skating, so they've been skating once or twice a week.

We fixed all the bicycles, so there's been a lot of that too.

My bicycle

I've been working out 3-4 days a week, plus doing steep hill walks with my sister, and regular walks with The Girl and her dog.

We spent a lovely afternoon out at the coast...

The "creek" that runs out into the ocean

Dunes, beach grass, cypress, and waves

A giant dune that we scrambled up a dozen times, and rolled and jumped and slid and ran back down

Sandcastle in progress

You can see how pretty and sunny it was, and then we drove 45 minutes home into a thunder-and-hail storm. Just crazy!

We've been reading The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and really, really enjoying it. We watched part one of Peter Jackson's movie version, and we all agreed... while we do love the LoTR movies, we just don't feel the same love for The Hobbit films. There was just far too much extra stuff added. ONE movie, that followed the book, would have been so much better.

Documentary watching has been half hit, half miss. We're enjoying our history selections, but haven't started science ones yet. That's okay. We will get there, and we've basically come to accept that we are year-round homeschoolers anyway.

Math is going pretty well. The Boy likes his Great Courses algebra lectures quite a lot. The Girl is making great progress through the Prodigy math game, where I set up problems several times a week to match her textbook.

The kids have taken to biking to the teen club, which saves me time... and gas. They visit it once or twice a week, and spend almost all their time in the art room. The Boy might be doing a job training program there soon, and they both want to take barista training.

I'm taking a very intensive Spanish course at the moment.... online. One semester of Spanish covered in only six weeks. So far, I've kept up. The Boy is teaching himself computer coding (I think javascript at the moment), and The Girl is working on her butterfly identification skills.

I'm also on the hunt for a job, as my position at the junior college has been frozen due to decreased revenue. I was supposed to start back next week, but that is not to be so at this time. I don't know about fall yet, though I am still hopeful. I may fall back on my grocery experience for the summer. Thankfully M is working a gazillion hours, so we're scraping by.

We're hoping to get out to the coast, and the river, soon. We have FOUR boogie boards now, so that will be fun! I plan on teaching the kids to grill -- they've been taking turns once a week to cook a dinner start to finish, and grilling in this weather would be nice.

And there's housework, decluttering, a recent return to fencing (The Boy), and gardening. I have tomatoes, squash, lemon cucumbers, peppers, and loads of herbs going now!

Hope anyone who reads this is having a lovely summer so far! Here are a couple of random pictures to wrap things up, then I'm off to make breakfast.

The local lake during my early morning trail run last week

A two hat kind of day

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!

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.

2017 Already!

In 2016, I started a new career, and lost 40 pounds. In 2017, I am hoping to accomplish a few things related to home and family.

Around the House:
Put in a vegetable garden (a real one)
De-clutter like crazy (I just watched Minimalism, and was very inspired)
Fix the leaking family room roof, and the leaking bathtub faucet

For My Family:
Focus on real food, which the vegetable garden will help with, as will buying locally what we can't produce
Get the kids out and moving more—they're trying karate this week!
Set a homeschooling schedule

I'm purposefully keeping things pretty simple in my quest to simplify!

Do you have any goals for 2017?

It's March!

image courtesy of bestcalendartemplates.tk

...Plans for March...

...Holidays...

March 4 is a most important day. Why? Because this little one will be turning 13!

March 11, Johnny Appleseed Day

I think we'll have to make something with apples, of course! And maybe, for old times sake, read a lovely copy of the story (perhaps this one?).

March 14, National Pi Day

Obviously, I will have to make a pie!

March 15, Ides of March

Well, it certainly feels like spring around here! Maybe a Roman style dinner, with olives, bread, cheese, etc.

March 17, St. Patrick's Day

We always celebrate this one, as both M and I have Irish heritage, especially me (I'm nearly all Danish, Scots, and Irish, with a few other things thrown in the mix). We'll wear green, have an Irish dinner, and bake some soda bread!

March 20, Vernal Equinox

I love spring, so I'm happy to celebrate it! We'll plant some flowers, and have a spring themed dinner—I'm thinking an asparagus frittata, and a big salad. I always do first-day-of-spring baskets for the kids too, since they get Easter baskets from my mom when the time comes. And of course, we'll have to try balancing eggs on end!

March 27, Easter Sunday

We have a big midday dinner at my mom's after she goes to church. She usually does lamb, couscous, etc. I bring homemade hummus and pita chips, and the kids get Easter baskets!

...Other Plans for March...

The Girl and I will be going to my cousin's baby shower next weekend

We have lots of gardening work to do, including the actual building of our raised beds by mid-month!

I get a week off from both my jobs and college!

More decluttering. We did not get to clothes over the weekend, but have high hopes for this Saturday!

...What Else We're Up To...

M's new job, at a wholesale [plant] nursery, is working out fantastically so far. He loves being outside much of the day, working with plants, and soil. He's working 9+ hours a day, and probably 5-6 days a week. Definitely a big change for our household!

In homeschooling, we're plugging away. The Boy is doing very well with the change in algebra programs, and The Girl actually really likes Math Essentials (though she's iffy still on Fred). We watched the first episode of World War One: The People's Story, and it was very well done! We're keeping up with most of our history reading, and science reading, and are making good progress with finishing A Wrinkle in Time. The Boy is thinking about doing a math lesson while he's at my mom's on Mondays, to help make sure he hits the goal of 4 lessons a week, and then The Girl and I can tackle math on Monday evenings while The Boy is at fencing.

It's all about making things work!

It's Friday! A General Wrap-Up for the Week...

I'd say this sums up pretty well how I'm feeling at the moment!

Overall though, it's been a good week. We made some good strides in homeschooling; I made it through both jobs and school once more; I didn't have a crazy appointment of doctor's visits (for my dad) on top of everything else; I kept the kitchen counters clean all week (yes, sadly that is a victory for me) and kept up on dishes; and I am having a blast planning out my front yard!

...Homeschooling Report...

This week, as part of our Downton history studies, we moved into season two, and so into World War 1. We watched half of World War 1: Cause and Effects, taking us up to 1916, which is where we are in the Downton timeline. We also read about the start of the war in The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia.

This weekend, I hope to get in one more episode of Downton, and perhaps the first episode of World War One: The People's Story.

Mathematically, we are doing quite well! The Boy completed 4 lessons in algebra this week, working with equations, variables, the order of operations, and more. The Girl did 3 chapters in Life of Fred Fractions, and two lessons from Math Essentials. 

The Boy completed lesson 2 in writing, and The Girl worked diligently on a new list of spelling words. She had to write a sentence for each word, and instead wrote sort of a This is the House That Jack Built tale (though not as long) about a chicken that went a bit crazy. 

Yesterday, I had them each read something scientific while I was at work, and then narrate it to me when I got home. The Girl talked about chameleons, and The Boy about eyesight. He and I also watched an episode of Through the Wormhole, about black holes.

Next week's plans:

More math (at least 4 lessons for each kid)

 Lesson 3 in writing for The Boy; another spelling lesson for The Girl

Some freewriting for both

Another couple of Downton episodes

More free-range learning in science, plus a (short) hands-on science lesson with a book I just ordered

More on World War 1 and the Romanovs

And finishing up A Wrinkle in Time! 

...Household/Gardening Report...

 I wrote the other day about gardening plans for my front yard, and wasn't quite sure what to do with the larger "half" of the yard, except that I want it to tie in with the smaller half, which I can already picture as complete. Then, I thought about my mom's front yard, which my sister re-did for her last year, putting in a fabulous dry stream... In case you're not familiar with dry streams, this is what they look like...

Pretty, isn't it?

So I think I will do that, kind of winding through, past the two boulders. On either side, I'll have a crazy-quilt patchwork (large-scale patches) of creeping thyme, lamb's ear, etc. Around the fenced corner of that section, I'll keep the rosemary and French lavender I have now, though I'll be removing the overgrown and shabby-looking Spanish lavender (my brother-in-law planted them, and they're not my favorites). Maybe some more French lavender, maybe some fern-leaf lavender (which I love), some bulbs tucked in here and there for spring blossoms, and a few other pretty things. 

I know it sounds like a lot, so here's my 5 minute sketch...

I think this could come together really nicely.

I hope.

And then, this weekend I'm tackling the first task in
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which is clothing. I was going to do books first, but M will be at work tomorrow (new job!), so it seems a perfect time to drag all the clothing in the house together.

...Odds and Ends...

I need to come up with a menu plan for the upcoming week, and grocery list. I plan for Monday as a crockpot day, Wednesday as a quick and easy dinner day (stir-fry works well), and I generally do something like a casserole on Thursdays, as M or The Boy can pop it in the oven while The Girl and I are at her roller derby practice.

I'll be figuring out what to read aloud after A Wrinkle in Time.

The Girl and I will almost definitely be petting puppies again tomorrow. 

I'm going to try to get the kids out for a bike ride too. And I need to do some strength training. I'm down almost 15 pounds now! I had lost a bunch of weight a few years back, but in the fashion typical of crash dieters, I gained almost all of it back. Grrrr. This time, I'm simply eating healthfully, and exercising. What a concept!

As to M's new job, you remember he went into cooking quite some time back. And has sadly found, after several layoffs, that the culinary world is unpredictable (at least in terms of employment), and that it is less enjoyable than he hoped. He still loves cooking, at least at home, but needs full-time, steady employment. So he's returning to an earlier profession, and will start a trial run tomorrow at a wholesale nursery, working with plants, and gardeners, and the like. We are all really hoping that this works out well for him... he needs something he can depend on and enjoy! And he does miss working with growing things, and the smell of dirt, and being outside.

II think that's it for now. Happy weekend! I'll leave you with a totally random picture of one of my favorite things in my kitchen right now...

linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Narration...

image courtesy of hearinghealthmatters.org

One of my favorite Charlotte Mason "tools" is the art of narration. Simply put, narration is "narration is retelling in your own words", allowing a child to tell you what they have learned. Narrations can be verbal, written, acted out, drawn/painted... so many options!

Narration is something I have used all along, and still use, even with teenagers. For example, I leave the kids notes every morning that I work. Today's note asked them to each read or watch something to do with science, and that I will expect them to tell me something about it later. That's a very simplistic approach to narration, one of the most basic. It is certainly easy to implement!

Sometimes I ask for more involved narrations, usually written. They can write a story, or a summary. The Girl writes a lot of short stories, and illustrates them. She's spontaneously made art projects that go with what she learned, such as a 3D frog life cycle collage. The Boy tends to be more straightforward in his approach—he'll write a summary, or an outline of facts. Sometimes though, he'll render an image of something he studied in Blender, and he has notebooks full of diagrams, conversion charts, and things of that nature.

Why use narration?

First of all, it naturally teaches the kids to summarize... at least a little, though as anyone who has listened to kids talk about their interests know, they can really give a lot of detail!

Secondly, telling back what they have learned cements it more firmly in their minds.

Thirdly, it is a form of feedback that can be expressed in so many ways. Tests don't generally allow as many creative approaches! And narration lets kids add in more of what they do know, even from ideas/readings/other things that may at first seem unrelated. Tests don't have that flexibility.

I'm eager to hear about what my kids learned this morning!