Out And About...

Today we decided, for the second year, to OptOutside. We've always avoided Black Friday insanity, so Green Friday seems a natural substitute. This year, our free pass took us to Jack London State Historic Park. We toured a couple of the building, and the winery ruins, before hiking out toward the lake and beyond. We plan to go back, to see the Pig Palace, Wolf House, and more!

Whoops! Time Does Fly...

Lazing by a small river

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."
 ~ John Lubbock

Summer is fully upon us, and so I've been too busy to post! Not necessarily busy with practical things, but with enjoying life right now.

Swimming hole

Puppy petting

Fishing

Canoeing

Beach play

More beach play

One of the best places to be

We've also...

Gone swimming at one of my former co-worker's pool

Watched fireworks

Enjoyed a few movies

Eaten popsicles and crazy amounts of watermelon

Listened to a lot of music

Spent time playing games at the park with friends

Talked about planning and ideas for next fall

Skipped math lessons/practice too often (need to get back on the wagon here!)

It's been very, very good so far! I hope your summers are going equally well!

Monday Musings... A Weekend Hike & More...

Yesterday, we added another name to our list of local mountain peaks conquered... Mount Tamalpais. Tamalpais, by the way is a combination of Coast Miwok words, meaning "coast [or sea] mountain". And I believe we have one Miwok ancestor, so visiting what was once theirs is an interesting experience. 

We ended up hiking just over 7 miles during the afternoon, and of course, I took plenty of pictures, as did the kids!

On top of the world

Photographing wildflowers

The view

Above the fog

Amazing views that stretch out seemingly forever

After the fog cleared

Wildflowers 1

Wildflowers 2

Wildflowers 3 (and more)

It was beautiful weather, and we could see so much from the top—San Francisco, the East Bay, bridges, the ocean, lakes, boats, the clouds... We enjoyed a picnic at the top, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring.

...On the Agenda This Week...

Math, of course

Language Arts: 4 spelling lessons for The Girl (all review work); the beginnings of an expository essay for The Boy

Reading, to include the book on the Romanovs, and A Wrinkle in Time (no, we haven't quite finished it yet)

Then, I am trying to decide between a couple of books... either The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adenvtures to the Far Corners of the Earth, or Frost Hollows & Other Microclimates. The Boy was commenting a lot yesterday on all the microclimates he noticed during the hike, so that one might be good. 

The Girl and I plan to work on identifying all the wildflowers we found, hence all the pictures. We know a few already, but there are some we're not sure about.

More Downton Abbey, naturally. We're in season three now!

Parkour (The Boy); derby (The Girl); roller skating for both (recreational); workouts for me, including a karate class.

We're also getting this book this week, and I already got these supplies to go with it (thanks, Erin!). I'm going to pick up a spiral-bound sketchbook for each of us too.

...Around the Home, Garden, & Kitchen...

The front yard, and backyard, look so much better with all the crazy-tall grass cut down! This week, I'm hoping we can move the Spanish lavender we had planned to move last week. My hyacinth beans, a gift from a friend, are coming up nicely—I'm hoping in time they will cover the chain link fence. My artichoke plants are ginormous, and have already given me two very tasty artichokes. The apple and cherry tree have bloomed, and there are the beginnings of tiny green cherries already!

I've decided against Monday as a slow-cooker day, because I'm gone for too long—the food overcooks. Instead, it is quick, pre-prepared foods on Mondays (like stir fry, which I can prep the night before!), or tonight's chicken burgers (again, prepped and waiting in the fridge). Wednesdays, when I can stop at home briefly on my lunch break, are better crockpot days.

And we're going to try to finish reorganizing and rearranging the family room this week.

...Random Thoughts...

Years ago, I purchased the book for Mapping the World With Art. I think it might be fun to break it out once a week, and draw the maps in a sketchbook. Maybe do some of the activities too. The Girl has been playing more of her virus game and is learning some geography, but since both enjoy drawing, making their own geography books might be fun!

And I've decided, since we primarily learn history and science through interest-led activities and readings, that I won't wait for "next year" (fall) to start things, like the map book. Strike while the iron is hot! There's my new motto for you.

Have a great week, and happy trails ahead!

What-We're-Up-To-Wednesday

{An attempt at catching up a bit}

...Recently...

We hiked to the top of Bald Mountain, the day after Thanksgiving. It was very chilly (lower 40s), but so beautiful! After a couple of hours of hard hiking, we made it to the top...

The views from the top were pretty amazing! We could see the ocean, San Francisco, even the Sierra Nevada mountains 130 miles away!

And then of course, we had to hike back down, making it to the car just before dark...

...Other than that...

The Boy is wrapping up his first semester of junior college, with actual finals next week. One class was hugely successful with/for him (3D art), the other not as much (Machine Tool Technology), which he said had too much lecture time, and too many quizzes, to the point that next to no students in the class finished their actual hands-on projects. He's even been going to extra workshops, as have many other students, but still can't quite finish. The teacher is new, so I think he will be making some adjustments in future semesters.

Overall, it has been a great process for The Boy, enough so that he's signed up for two more classes in the spring! He'll be taking Stellar Astronomy (with a totally awesome teacher that I had many years ago!), and has signed up for Intro to Engineering (non-mathematical, hands-on course), which he's not quite definitely taking. I don't want him to feel overwhelmed, which he did earlier this semester.

He and I are both excited for the end of the semester partly because it means we'll have the time to read books of our own choice again. I did manage to squeeze in, and enjoy, Circling the Sun (by the author of The Paris Wife... a really good book), and it got me very intrigued by Beryl Markham, etc. So, I have West With the Night and Out of Africa waiting to be read.

The Girl has discovered my stash of Harry Potter books late Monday evening. And yesterday, in ONE DAY, she read almost 50 pages of the first book! I know... some of you will be thinking that your kids read a lot more. But she's been such a reluctant reader, and struggled so much with reading, that this is HUGE! I'm hoping the momentum keeps going.

We've been doing some math, though not nearly enough, here and there. Both kids have agreed to keep up with math over the winter "break" so that we can attempt to get caught up. And a lot of other things have drifted by the wayside too. We're gradually figuring it out... I think. As long as math and language arts get done, plus some shared literature, I think we're okay. The Boy has science for spring (which, by the way, counts for both a semester of college, and a year of high school science!). Maybe The Girl and I will tackle some biology. I'm tweaking my instructional facilitator schedule a bit so that I can be more available for my kids.

In the meantime, we're enjoying Christmas movies and music. And some Dickens books as films/mini-series, as The Boy is interested in Victorian times. Our lights are up outside, and we'll get a tree this weekend with tutoring money. The Girl and I want to do some cookie baking, and we need to figure out homemade gifts for relatives. My dad will likely still be in the nursing facility, so we'll visit him there, and then do a late Christmas with him when he goes home again (he's making good progress, by the way). The kids are happily making lists of potential stocking stuffers, and we've panned out their big gifts already, to be purchased shortly. Can I just say how grateful I am for Amazon Prime shipping?

Hope all is well in your worlds!

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!