Monday Musings...

...Outside My Window...

Clear and sunny again after last week's rain, though on the cooler side again. I'm back to wearing a sweater most, if not all, of the day. We'll get some rain again late next week, I think.

...In My House & Kitchen...

I was definitely more organized over the last week, as far as cooking goes. For example, I had today's crockpot meal (yellow chicken-chickpea-veg curry) prepped and stored in the fridge last night, so I could just throw it in this morning. And I'm planning a bit better! We're using leftovers more, and more creatively, and meals seem to be pretty well balanced overall. As far as housework, I am currently reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. We'll see how it goes! Glancing through it though, I think both the clothing donation bins and the local library may well be getting some more donations from us soon.

...In Our Homeschooling...

I asked The Boy to set 4 days a week for math, and so he chose Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Now I just need to get him to work through a whole lesson at a time! He's easing into TabletClass Algebra 1, so I've been letting him do problem sets A & B one day, C & D the next, but honestly, I think he could handle A-D in one day. The Girl is doing well with Life of Fred Fractions—she even handled long division fairly easily yesterday. I'm hoping to work in some extra math this week for her, though I haven't decided if it will be Math Essentials, Math Mammoth, or Key to Fractions, all of which I have handy (probably either the first or the last choice). She's also working on spelling this week, and I have some writing work set up for her. The Boy will be  working through lesson 3  oops... finishing up lesson 2 in The Lively Art of Writing.

And history is going well! As for science, well... at least they're reading things (see Reading & Watching below).


...Pondering...

Since I backed off on science, interest has ramped up. I don't think I'll be adding anything much more to our homeschooling load in the near future. Instead, I hope to allow time for exploration, and then soaking in what they have explored.

...Reading & Watching...

The kids are both reading for science at the moment: The Boy is reading Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, & Black Holes, and he and I are talking about reading Death By Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries together. The Girl has books on animals, the ocean, butterflies, and of course, diseases (history and science!). He's still reading Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard, book 1, and she's still reading Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. I'm reading the book mentioned under House & Kitchen above, and I am hoping to start Wickett's Remeday: A Novel this week. We're making good progress together on the Romanovs book, and A Wrinkle in Time.

We finished watching Lost together on Saturday. I have to say that the series certainly led to a lot of interesting discussions about time, nature, human nature, alternate universes, etc.! We're watching a few episodes of Downton Abbey this week (season 2), and will be watching World War 1: Cause & Effect, and we will try the first episode of WW1: The People's Story. 

...Crafting/Arts/Doing...

The Boy is teaching himself wildlife illustration from a library book, trying to expand his repertoire past simply automotive drawings. The Girl is working on acrylic painting, alongside her sculpture work. The Boy will be getting some more hours logged on his automotive internship this week too, and The Girl got to pet new puppies!

...On the Agenda...

Fencing tonight for The Boy, derby on Thursday for The Girl. Birthday planning for The Girl. M had a job interview Saturday for a job he really, really wants—unfortunately, he won't know about it until the 25th to 29th. No doctors appointments, or things of that nature this week.. just home life, work, and college!

Exercise: I am doing well with this these days. I've been strength training, and getting in good cardio (jogging, walking, biking). Definitely on the agenda!

On that note, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from last night's bicycle ride, just M and I, as the kids spent the night at my mom's house...

Have a good week!

This, That, and the Other Thing...

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

The weather has been all over the place. Monday had a high of nearly 90 degrees! And today it is pouring. We did take advantage of the gorgeous weather earlier in the week to walk and bicycle...

And of course there has been some homeschooling. We've been enjoying reading about Rasputin and his strange ways (The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia)...

I even caught M listening in from the other room, when he said "I didn't hear that last part. Can you read louder?"

The kids have changed math up a bit again. The Girl was bored with just Math Mammoth/Math Essentials ("Can't math be at all fun?"), so we added in Life of Fred Fractions. I think a general Life of Fred/Math Essentials combo is fantastic, with Math Mammoth for any weak spots. The Boy was having issues with the explanations in Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1, so we're trying out TabletClass Algebra 1 (I think we should have gone with TC in the first place). TT works for a lot of kids, just not mine so much. Yes, switching now means a longer amount of time spent on Algebra 1, but we're okay with that.

Speaking of The Boy, he's developed a fascination with black holes. All week, he's been spouting off information about gravity, the collapse of stars, event horizons, etc. So I turned to my trusty library for some supplemental reading for him. Titles for him to browse through include:

A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking 

Black Holes: A Very Short Introduction, Katherine Blundell

 and

Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide, Clifford Pickover

There are, of course, plenty of other titles on the subject, but I don't want to overwhelm him. And while I was searching through those, I found this title: 

 Death By Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries, Neil deGrasse Tyson

This last title looks fascinating for the whole family, though I may have to fight The Boy for it! Despite the title, it's really about a plethora of information on cosmology as a whole.

And thanks to a Kindle game, The Girl has followed in her brother's footsteps and is now fascinated with disease, so we'll be reading

Outbreak!: Plagues That Changed History

From there, maybe we could go into DNA, or ??? I had intended reading to the kids from this particular title (the Plagues one) anyhow, in regards to the Spanish Flu (and our Downton History).

I also found this gorgeous book at the library, just to thumb through for entertainment...


And we were given this amazingly awesome book by a friend...

...Besides Homeschooling and Exercise...

We're prepping for The Girl's THIRTEENTH birthday! Yes, soon I will have only teenagers. Geez, it goes fast!

I'm getting better with meal planning and prepping. I was very proud of myself for preparing components ahead of time for yesterday's crockpot turkey-three-bean chili!

The Girl and I will be heading off, in a couple of weeks, to the first baby shower she's ever attended. My cousin (10 years younger than me) is expecting her first child in April.

I entered a twelve week fitness challenge that starts the same day as the baby shower. I'm nervous, but excited!

Work is going well overall. I love working with students, and am looking forward to some possible changes in the fall (more on that later).

The Boy is really enjoying his auto internship. They spent the last two workdays sanding various parts, and taking things apart to sand them. Next week, I think they get to start putting things back together again!

And there is a new litter of puppies ready for some petting, so The Girl and I will have to head off and do that!

And there's derby practice, and fencing practice of course.

And I know I wrote a big post on scheduling, but I really, really love this schedule best (with longer time frames for math these days). Maybe, just maybe, I could create a mishmash of the two?

So that's what we're up to, and what we've been doing. I'll leave you with some wisdom I got yesterday from a simple tea bag...

Monday Musings...

Today we begin the Year of the Fire Monkey! We love celebrating holidays from around the world, though we're usually pretty low key about it, so tonight we'll have homemade Chow Mein with shrimp, and hopefully some homemade fortune cookies! If we get a chance, we'll celebrate National Kite Flying Day today too

...Outside My Window...

We're getting a preview of spring, with temperatures in the low 70s, and plenty of sunshine! Everything is green and yellow, with mustard flowers blooming in the fields, and wild calendula by the roadsides. Our trees are putting out new leaf buds like crazy, so I had better get to pruning as quickly as possible!

...In the House and Kitchen...

Normally today would be a crockpot day, with 2 jobs and school. But, I only have one job today, so I have time to cook! On the menu so far this week: Chow Mein loaded with veggies; Stuffed Baked Potatoes (one of M's specialties); and Chicken Fricassee (for Lincoln's birthday). I have a few days to fill in there, but I'll figure it out.

And I'm hoping to get some extra housework in this week. Playing catch-up is never fun!

...In Our Homeschooling...

Math is of course on the agenda for the week. And language arts! Sadly, as much as I love Coursera, and think it is fabulous, it just isn't working for us at the moment. The kids want to do science, and learn together. So we're moving back toward a shared approach to science. I think right now, we'll be focusing on birds in anticipation of the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. History is going well overall, though we're behind a bit in our reading and we still haven't watched Iron Jawed Angels!

...Reading and Watching...

We're more than halfway through A Wrinkle in Time, so I am starting to think about what to read next as our literature read-aloud. I've been reading through L'Engle's books on my own as well -- her writing always makes me think, and makes me feel something, so I count that as good.

M and I are back to watching Numbers, as Netflix added a couple of seasons. I really want to watch Michael Pollan's new documentary mini-series, Cooked, which is coming to Netflix later this month. I am a huge Pollan fan! Besides that, we finally picked back up on Once Upon a Time, and The Boy and I are about a third of the way through the final season of Lost.

...On the Agenda...

Two doctor's appointments for my dad this week. One derby practice, one or two fencing classes. Work most days. One biology lecture (lecture series I am taking for fun). M may or may not have a job interview - fingers crossed! More February celebrations coming up quickly.

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

We had our "Valentine's" celebration at the park with friends early this year, as a few of the families are heading out of town in the next week or so. No card exchange this year, just good food, lots of laughs, and some touch football!

We went hiking on Saturday at a park M and I used to hike all the time. The kids haven't been there since they were babies, so it was fun reintroducing them to it. And yesterday, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather by taking a long family bike ride!

I'll leave you with some pictures from our hike!

Tuesday Musings...

I meant this to be a Monday Musings post, but ran out of time!


...Outside My Window...
We've had plenty of rainfall lately (yay!), but are getting a few days off, for everything to soak in and dry up a little. The fields have gone from a brown so dry and crispy that it looks like it might spontaneously combust at any moment to a rich, rich green. The skies are still and gray; it is chilly out. Little pools are forming here and there, and that's where the egrets gather.

...Around the House & Yard...
M has been hard at work, between rain showers, building my patio, and some planter boxes. We'll have a really lovely seating area by mid spring! I still have olives to pick, and then trees to prune—apple, olive, and cherry. After M finishes the patio area, we'll work on raised beds for veggies. And I need to work on the front yard design a bit more.

It looks like we'll also have a pretty decent-sized plumbing project coming up... the bathtub faucet won't stop dripping. I was able to stave it off for a while with new washers every month, but that's not working as well anymore, and the plumbing is so old that it is hard to get replacement parts. We'll have to tear out old (cheap) tile, and look at relining the shower/tub walls too.

...In the Kitchen...
We had a very lean couple of weeks food-budget-wise, which was actually good in that it got me really planning and thinking again, rather than just cooking whatever popped up in our minds. On Mondays, I work back-to-back jobs and attend a class (teaching writing to ELL students), so that will officially be our crockpot night! I also have to plan out packable lunches for The Boy, when he's off on his internship all day once a week.

...In Our Homeschooling...
History, through Downton Abbey, is going very well! At the rate of 2, and sometimes 3, episodes per week, we'll finish up all six seasons by the end of our school year in late June. We'll be working on finishing up the Romanov book over the next 3 weeks, and I have some movies and documentaries planned along the way. I'm trying to not overdo my planning this time!

The junior college, well... that didn't work out as well this semester. The intro to engineering class turned out, from the syllabus, to be an intro to the field of engineering—research on types of jobs, how to work toward getting them, etc. I am sure it would be a very useful class for a potential engineer, but it is not what The Boy is looking for at the moment. So he's taking a semester off from college, to focus on his studies at home, and his auto rebuilding. Also, last semester, he was so overwhelmed that he missed a few months of fencing, which he doesn't want to do again.

And we're seeking out a science focus for him. The online robotics course he found intriguing has a lot of higher level math, and he's just not quite there yet. We'll find it.. possibly biology (though that might be good for both kids for next year) or just an overview of science?  And he found something! Imagining Other Earths, from Coursera. It is both introductory and self-paced, wich he's happy about.


The Girl is doing pretty well with her dinosaur paleobiology course, and we're making progress with spelling. Math is going very well with both kids! And we're actually doing math 4-5 times a week!

...Reading and Watching...
Besides the Romanov book linked above, we're still reading A Wrinkle in Time, and we just started The Royal Road to Romance (which sounds cheesy, but is actually a fabulous travelogue from the 1920s). I'm reading The Death of Artemio Cruz, along with my students; various articles on  multilingual literacy and writing for my own class; and A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeline L'Engle for fun. The Girl is still deep in the world of Harry Potter, and The Boy has just about wrapped up Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. 

Besides our Downton Abbey habit, The Boy and I are finishing Lost soon, and the kids have started watching The X-Files.

...Crafting...
I finished up another scarf, so I am in between knitting projects. The Girl has been doing a lot of clay crafting, some stop-motion, and plenty of painting recently. The Boy is working on landscapes in Blender.

...On the Agenda...
Fencing, derby (full practice schedule starts up the first week of February), college (for me), plenty of work, car repair internship, etc., etc., etc. We're always busy! Next week should be a little calmer though, as I don't have any scheduled doctor's visits for my dad (I have two this week... regular doctor and optometrist). I also want to check out Mango Languages, as our library offers access to it for free!

Speaking of my dad, we moved him this weekend. He's still in the same independent living facility, just in an apartment that is much closer to the dining room, and activity rooms. It took us (me, my sister and brother, my mom, The Boy, and The Girl) 7 hours to pack his one bedroom apartment up entirely, move it all, and unpack it again. Phew! We're hoping that between the move, the exercise classes he's started, and the physical and occupational therapy, he can stay where he is for a while to come.

I hope your week is good! I'll leave you with a nighttime picture I took of one of my mom's trees starting to bud out.

Like Puzzle Pieces Coming Together...

There are a number of reasons we homeschool... to move at our own pace, to explore interests, to follow passions, to provide what we feel is a solid base to work from... and so forth and so on. Our spring semester 2016 is coming together beautifully, and today I am happy that I can add another piece to the puzzle, or mosaic maybe, that we are creating.

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know The Boy loves automobiles.

image courtesy of sodahead.com

 He's studied their history, can identify practically every make and model at a glance, has worked on my car. His goal is to become a mechanic who specializes in custom rebuilds. And now he has a tremendous opportunity. His best buddy's family is friends with a man I will call C. C is a retired electrician, who rebuilds cars as a hobby. He has invited The Boy and The Boy's Best Buddy (J) to help him rebuild vehicles this spring. So once a week, they'll be working with C for about 6 hours, starting with a 1940 Ford (Fords are The Boy's favorite vehicles). The Boy, who should be waking up soon to my text telling him the big news, will be SO excited!

On his transcript, I'll be calling it an internship, I guess?

So he'll be dropping down to one class at the junior college this semester—Intro to Engineering—which is fine with me. He's only fourteen after all. And I've asked him to find a Coursera class in the sciences. I told him too that whatever he chooses, he has all semester to finish it...we don't have to follow Coursera timelines.

And then, the Dinosaur Paleobiology course (also Coursera) has turned out to be a great fit for The Girl! I had only asked her to watch the videos, but she took the first quiz entirely of her own accord, and only missed one question! Of course, I am not making her stick to the timeline given either, but am happy if she makes it through the class by mid-June. While she already knows a lot about dinosaurs she has pretty much memorized Walking With Dinosaurs, etc.), this course is definitely adding to her knowledge base.

And, remember when she did puppy petting? There's another litter finally due at the end of the month! 

From December, 2014

...Where We're Shining...
History: Downton Abbey as the vehicle for history is a huge hit! We're really enjoying the book on the Romanovs too. The Girl and I had fun paging through Decades of Beauty: The Changing Image of Women 1890s to 1990s.

Math: We're actually getting math done most days! The Boy is working with negative numbers, and The Girl is working with multiple digit multiplication and long division at the moment.

Writing: I do love The Lively Art of Writing. So simple, straightforward, and it really teaches excellent essay skills (plus it's cheap!). And The Girl likes both the spelling program we're using, and Practice Exercises in Basic English (grammar).

Literature: A Wrinkle in Time is one of my personal, all-time favorite books. M loves it too, so we're reading this aloud as truly a family book. 

...Where We're a Little Dimmer...
Hands-on Science: I really want to do this project, but we just haven't made time for it!

Bedtime Reading: I need to work this in before we're fully back into derby practices and fencing classes! We are only on chapter two of The Fellowship of the Ring!

Documentaries: I think we're going back to lunch time documentaries. Easy, painless way to work in some extra learning. Today, I am aiming for another episode of Human Planet. We ended up watching Secrets of Highclere Castle, an overview of the history of the family occupying "Downton Abbey" in real life. I didn't realize that it was the 5th Earl living there who funded the King Tut excavation! And his wife was awesome too.

Writing: I need to be more consistent with it. What we have is great, but we need to make sure we're using it!

Geography: We haven't started the Halliburton book quite yet, so I want to get that going. I think one of our lunchtime documentaries each week should be something geography related perhaps, such as Wild China, or How the States Got Their Shapes, or even Anthony Bourdain's travel/food shows. And something hands-on... I have Mapping the World with Art, and there are always the geography club activities.

So that's where we are, and what's going on. I like how things feel, how they're coming together, that I can see us moving forward, together and individually.

A New Year...

Here we are, in a fresh new year. I am hoping the ride will be a bit smoother than in 2015!

First off...
The Boy got all As his first semester at the junior college! He is very proud of himself, and he should be—he worked hard for those grades!

I spent the holidays sick. I got a nasty cold just before Christmas, and by Christmas day, I was laying low. It turned into a lovely (ha ha) middle ear infection, which is just now clearing up. Despite sickness though, I enjoyed my time off from work! We ended up not homeschooling over the break (no big surprise!), but instead relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. The kids loved their presents, I loved mine, M loved his. At least before I got sick, we made it out to the coast for Christmas Eve, gathered mussels for dinner, and watched the sunset.

It was, overall, a lovely holiday!


...Homeschooling... Yesterday, we started back with homeschooling. After some brief discussion of what interested the kids, and Saturday's re-watching of the movie Titanic, we've decided to use Downton Abbey as a jumping off point for history. We can watch the series from the beginning, and I'll be bringing in books, documentaries, and movies that cover some of the world events in the Downton timeline, as well as other events taking place at the time. Of course, the Titanic sinking was one of those events. In addition to the movie, which always leaves me a little blue, we read On Board the Titanic, and leafed through Titanic in Photographs.

We'll be reading The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia, as an additive to our studies. I love Russian history, and have always been intrigued by Anastasia. There's a really lovely miniseries I may try to watch with the kids if they are interested enough. I'll be adding in a few movies, documentaries, and other books as the mood strikes, though I know I would like to read The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood with The Girl.

Anyhow, the kids also did a math lesson each yesterday. I am still very pleased with our math programs at the moment!

And I am reading A Wrinkle in Time aloud to the whole family, including M. Very enjoyable! I plan to make it through the whole Murry family series (4 books), then find other good books to read. I am not worried about them matching up with history. 

We also finished chapter one in The Fellowship of the Ring, which is our bedtime reading these days. The Girl has been asking that we read it for some time now, and The Boy says he really likes it. Now that series might take us a while to read!

...On the Agenda...
Homeschooling: 
More math; writing/grammar work; viewing of episode 1 of Downton Abbey; reading from A Wrinkle in Time, and our nature book and travel/geography books (when I get the geography one!); and The Girl starts her Dinosaur Paleobiology course.

Around the House: 
the house is pretty clean after I had two weeks off from work! I am still reorganizing bookcases and such, and there is some deep cleaning to be done, but it looks a thousand times better. The kids will be taking down the Christmas tree tonight, and when the current rain stops, we can take down the outdoor lights. The kids do need to finish cleaning their rooms as well.

Around the Yard: 
picking olives, at last, since we've got a bumper crop and my mom offered to brine them! Deadheading a few more plants. Pruning of the olive and apple trees in the next month. Building raised beds, tearing up the front yard... all things to look forward to in the next few months!

Other Stuff: 
I'm back at work, but just the one morning job until late January. The Boy wants to start back with fencing later this week, and derby practice starts back on Sunday, though The Girl has decided, at this point at least, no to boot camp this time around, just regular Sunday practice. Boot camp is primarily targeted at "newbies", so I get her decision. M's hours have been cut (post-holiday slow down), so he's looking for supplemental/other work. Thankfully, I had saved some money over the fall, so we're just okay there.

My dad is still in the rehabilitative center, at least until tomorrow, although the physical therapist is trying to get his insurance to approve at least another week. My sister and I found that we can move him to another apartment at his senior living facility, that is much closer to the dining room and all. Since his mobility is not what it was, I think this is for the best. We're trying to get everything lined up to make the transition back to mostly independent living as easy, and safe, as possible for him.

I'll leave you with a couple of picture collages from our holiday break... have a great week, and Happy New Year!

Ahhhh....

Yet another week (week six?) has come and gone. Overall a good week—we're over our cold/flu thing, except for a lingering cough, but that's tolerable. And we're ready for the weekend!

...In Homeschooling...

The kids like our art of the month so far! Both have seen references to American Gothic in the past, and now they know more about it. And both said it's nice to see art on the fridge again.

The Boy worked through another few lessons in Teaching Textbooks. We had our first hiccup yesterday, when he learned about simplifying algebraic fractions. So I sat with him, worked through several examples, and I think he got it. I might have him watch a couple of videos on this topic on Khan Academy over the weekend.

He's been better this week about scheduling/regulating his homework load, which is good, because his first midterm ever is coming up next week in Machine Tool Technology! He won't say so, but I think he is a little nervous. Thankfully, he can use notes on the test, and he takes some pretty extensive notes!

The Girl is buzzing right through her multiplication and division review. What's really nice is that this year, because we've worked so hard on reading skills, she is finally reading the assignments herself! I'm adding in practice pages next week from Right Brained Multiplication & Division, just one each day, to really cement the multiplication/division tables. The more fluid she is with those, the better off she will be as we move up in math!

And reading aloud is going very well for her. She doesn't really want to do it, but she can see that she reads better than she thought she did. And she got 100% on her spelling test this week!

We started reading A Young People's History of the United States, and both kids really liked the voice of the writer (Howard Zinn). So we will definitely be continuing that, and I'm going to loosely match up episodes of America: The Story of Us. The Men Who Built America looks intriguing too, for a little later in our American historical journey. Right now the plan is to do American history until winter break, then switch to an overview of world history after that. I think we might use this book, and this series (and this one) for that. Asian history, at the request of the kids, using (most likely) this book, and this one, followed by this one, and then perhaps this one. As for documentaries, I am not sure yet!

Now that history is falling into place, I want to add science in over the few weeks, with a study of microbiology for both kids, physics/quantum physics or astronomy for The Boy, and more animals for The Girl.

...In Our General Day to Day Life...

I'm getting better at balancing two jobs, college, homeschooling, etc. Meal planning helps, as does keeping on top of basic chores. M is now in charge of Thursday dinners, since I am with The Girl at derby practice from 7-9 pm, and he's at home. And I'm getting the kids to help more, both around the house, and in doing more on their own.

We're getting ready to launch the first of who knows how many Home Improvement Saturdays. This week, I am totally overhauling the living room (small room, good to start with!), I've been using the Look Inside feature at Amazon to view this book, and the intro is my inspiration for the living room overhaul. The author, Marie Kondo, says "Start by discarding. Then organize your space thoroughly, completely, in one go." We'll see if it works! Right now the living room is sort of a depository... books, body boards, scooters, skateboards, kites, a stack or two of laundry... you get the picture. 

And we're moving the load of free bricks we got into the backyard, where M has been working hard at leveling the ground for a new patio! Next week, I will tackle the dining room, and we will work together on the slightly leaky family room roof...before the predicted winter rains get here!

The Boy should be back to fencing tonight, The Girl did fine with derby practice yesterday, and we're definitely getting some physical activity back in there—we walked around a local lake on Wednesday, then The Boy and I rode bikes to the junior college library, and back, yesterday, so I could work and he could study. It feels good to feel better.

I'll leave you with a sunset picture from our Wednesday walk...have a good weekend!

linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Overload...

I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that don't work. ~ Thomas Edison

That's my mantra for the moment.

Yesterday, The Boy had a two hour fencing class on his schedule. He came to me and said "Mom, I don't want to go today. I feel like we never have any time. We have fencing, and derby, and school, and we're barely homeschooling, and I have homework. We don't have any time." His face (none of us are good at hiding emotions) was pinched and upset.

So we emailed his fencing coach, and asked about drop-ins for the time being. His coach was delighted to hear that he wanted to come even with everything else going on, and understood too why we need to back off from two classes a week. He offered us a great drop-in rate too. Then The Boy and I talked about his school load, and scheduling homework time more effectively. I explained that the Big History Project, etc., could be done when he has time... at his discretion. That all he needs to do for me is math, and writing, and I want to see him pursue interests. We can squeeze in more story reading, or lunch time documentaries, and time out in nature.

His face relaxed, and he smiled!

He built an intricate Keva plank structure, chatted on the phone with his best buddy. We ordered pizza, and watched an episode of Chopped, with teen chefs, as a family. We played a few rounds of You've Been Sentenced. Totally the right move at the time.

Yes, college has been a learning curve for him, definitely. Being accountable to a teacher, following a syllabus -- all new territory, but he's navigating it very well overall. I don' want him feeling overloaded at home, so I am absolutely fine backing off on some of the academics (just not math and writing), and the fencing classes. I don't want him to feel like this...

Any words of advice on balancing the busy life of a teen?

Monday Musings... Kinetic Carnivale and More...

Out and About...
This weekend, we went to the 4th Annual Willits Kinetic Carnivale for some Steampunk fun! It was a decently sized event, under trees in a park, with plenty to see, hear, taste, and touch.

We had quite a lot of fun, but I will say that overall, the Wunderkammer event here in Sonoma County was even better, and we really, really hope they bring it back this fall or next. The weekend did re-inspire The Boy's love for Steampunk art, so he's been creating all weekend, in between homework for his machine class.

Education - Home & Otherwise...
Speaking of which, the first week of college is done! He loves both his classes, and--so far--doesn't mind the homework load. He read his text, took copious notes (which they are allowed to use on tests) and took an at-home safety test. He's also been working, on his own, on pen and ink sketching with library books: Pen & Ink Sketching: Step by Step, and Pen & Ink Sketching. Additonally, he's reading Animal Farm, alongside The Red Pyramid. Very busy boy!

The Girl's been reading a fair amount too, mainly nonfiction books, such as The Chameleon, Fossil Fish Found Alive, and Stingrays. And she's built an amazing fantasy world in Minecraft. We're going to start reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making this week.

Together, the three of us are going to start studying the Renaissance period, with plans to head to the Norcal Renaissance Faire in October. I found this book -- The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England -- which looks both educational and amusing (always a good combination in our house!), so we will start with that. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be adding in the other subjects (mainly math and writing).

Creating...
The Girl has been working with her clay again, creating unique little people (bottom right is the back of the sculpture on the left... she wanted you to see the polka dots!)...

And I realized I still have a gift certificate to a yarn shop, so I think some knitting is in short order. I also have been measuring windows, and searching out fabric, as Jessica's recent post has inspired me to make some new curtains as a quick and easy upgrade to our home. 

Around the House & Garden...

M has been removing all the dead plants from our yards, front and back. The drought has been rough on us! We spend a lot of time talking about what we will be doing with the yards later this fall, and we are hoping that current predictions of a wet winter are accurate.

We're also tackling some relatively minor home repairs before winter, and we're trying to work out the kinks in our new housecleaning plans.

On the Agenda...

I meet my students today! Well, one class's worth of them. We're still getting the hang of our new, very busy Mondays, but I am sure we will figure it all out. The Boy has fencing this week, and The Girl derby practice. I will likely be grading papers this week, and I start my class (on "Gothic British Commonwealth lit") too.

Have a good week!

Current Exploits...

Since I stopped actively planning, our summer has very much improved! And we have a lot going on these days...

The Boy is working on a post-apocalyptic short story, and is about to start reading Animal Farm. He's simultaneously reading The Hitchhiker's Guide and The Maze Runner as well.

He's studying pen & ink techniques, such as stippling, with the aid of library books

The Girl is working on a veritable Minecraft universe in between bursts of reading from the last pages of The Time Cat and the beginning pages of Ronia, the Robber's Daughter

Plus a huge stack of library books on sea creatures

And both are helping with a tabletop garden project my sister is putting together for her severely disabled students - the table they are building here is the right height for students in wheelchairs to work...

We've also spent a lot of time at the beach with friends, learning the joy of body boarding! And for The Girl, some surfing too...

We're playing a lot of Garbage (aka Trash) and Apples to Apples Junior these days. I should dig out Scrambled States and Totally Tut while we're in game mode!

We're watching a few movies (tonight's is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, as we've been fairly extensively discussing WWII recently), and lining up documentaries that look good, and we've finally hit season three of Once Upon a Time, after taking a long break.

We identified a newcomer to our backyard, the Gulf Fritillary, which only nests on/lives in/eats passionflower vines. Our vine has expanded rapidly the last couple of years, and we were thrilled to identify the caterpillars we found all over it! We brought three, complete with the vines they were on, into the house, and then into our old butterfly habitat, for further inspection. We'll re-release them when they become butterflies. One's cocooning already!

And we are looking forward to the new things starting in just another week, when I head back to work, and The Boy heads to the junior college! The Girl is thinking of doing some volunteer work (maybe for this organization if we can get permission due to her age) while The Boy is in class.

A couple of weeks or so after that, we'll get back to regular math and writing. And we'll see where everything else falls into place.

Hope your summer is going as well as ours is!