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!

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!

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!

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.

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

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!

Derby Days...

The Girl attended her first roller derby tournament over the last weekend! We spent two nights, two days, in Bakersfield. While they did not come home victorious, our girls played hard, and played clean games. They lost the first bout, won the second, and lost the third. While I did take some photos of my own, there were professional photographers on the scene too, so here are a few pictures of The Girl from day 1...

I wish there was a better picture of her from day 2, but at least she can be seen in this one...

The nice thing is that they get another chance -- next month they are playing the team from day 2, the Bakersfield Juniors, but at a home game.

It was a good weekend in many ways. First, the girls spent all their time together, so it helped the team bond a bit more. Secondly, The Girl has never been away from me for the night before, so spending two nights, plus travel time there and back, with her coaches and teammates was an interesting experience for her, one that I think helped cement that she's growing up. I also got that lovely thing I have so rarely... alone time. I read all of The Other Boleyn Girl in my hotel room! And now I'd like to see the film adaptation. And, I rode down and back with a longtime derby skater/derby mom, so I learned a lot more about the game, and the players and players' families, in the six hours each direction.

Other than that, what have we been up to?

Math -- The Girl is burning through Life of Fred Cats, and The Boy loves Life of Fred Prealgebra with Biology. They are enjoying it enough that they agreed to continue with the books over summer, just a lesson (The Boy) or two (The Girl) a day.

Writing -- The Boy is working on an essay outline, and spends some of his time working on his story plot. The Girl is practicing sentence structure and spelling. She learned to text over the long weekend.

Self-taught -- The Boy is working hard on computer coding. He regularly chats with a computer science major at fencing, who helps him figure out what codes to tackle. The Boy has also set a goal, with his coaches, of moving up to competitive level fencing by fall, starting with smaller, local tournaments, and going from there.

The Girl has the next derby game to get ready for. She's been working on her sewing skills lately, altering a stuffed animal into something resembling a cat version of L. Frank Baum's "Patchwork Girl" (of Oz). She also learned how to use my vintage sewing machine, and made a purse for one of her dolls.

We're getting back into our regular routine bit by bit this week, and should be back in the full swing of things by next week! Hope your week is going well!

And Homeschool Seventh Grade...

One of the things I like best about homeschooling (at least as a private school) is that I don't have to follow guidelines unless otherwise desired. So we're definitely going a bit off the beaten path this year, for The Girl's seventh grade.

Writing:

I think I'm going to go with Jump In, combined with aspects of the Brave Writer Lifestyle.

Math:

She'll continue through the Life of Fred series, using Math Mammoth as a supplement when needed.

Science:

Two choices here... either her own choice of titles from the Prentice Hall Science Explorers Small Books, OR something more along the lines of The Magic of Reality, with some supplementation.

Other:

We're doing what I am calling The Big Fairy Tale Project (named after her brother's course of study, the Big History Project). I have The Classic Fairy Tales: Norton Critical Edition, which includes variations on several themes in fairy tales, as well as criticism, to use as a jumping off point in combination with this chart. The Norton book focuses on six different types of fairy tales, which I plan to approach as block studies, to which we can add in various versions, movies, etc., although we will likely work in books from the Shakespeare section of the chart in place of Norton's "Bluebeard" section. We can also look at folktales from various regions of the world that tie in with the fairy tales.

If she should decide she wants history too, I'll probably read aloud to her from the excellent World in Ancient Times series.

Electives:

She does a lot of art on her own. I'd really like to work through something like the Sculpture Technique books (Construct and Model) with her.  She may choose to study Spanish this year, using Rosetta Stone or ???. She'll keep cooking, learn more sewing, etc.

Physical Education:

And of course, she plans to continue with roller derby!

Last Monday of the Month Already?

I can't believe March is just about here already. I need to get prepared for a birthday next week!

...Outside My Window...
Sunny, clear, and colder this week, though not as cold by far as my Back East friends. We're looking forward to some more rain in early-mid March. My rosemary and the dwarf peach are blooming like crazy, but nothing else in the yard is showing any signs of blossoming, though the apple and cherry both have leaf buds!

...In My Home and Kitchen...
I am very, very inspired by Kim's meal planning! I printed out a chart for March, and tacked on the last week of February to get things moving in the right direction. I'm also trying out a recipe for slow cooker cilantro lime chicken that she linked, making a big batch for two dinners (nachos this week, then a taco casserole next week). Our house is getting a great spring cleaning, thanks to plans for a late March sleepover (2 friends for The Girl as a late birthday thing, and 1 for The Boy just because). I am finding that the kids are capable of a lot more than I've been assuming!

...In My Garden...
I am thinking of trying to convince the husband to try straw bale gardening. I am having a hard time choosing between that and raised beds. I think we might put in the raised beds, and then try the straw bale technique as a supplement... I don't know. Does anyone have experience with this?

...In Our Homeschooling...
The Girl has suddenly taken off with unschooling her science. I haven't been giving her assignments lately, but on her own she's made a frog life cycle chart, a 3D butterfly life cycle art project,etc. She's also decided that she'd love to study both frogs and dinosaurs (she loves those dinosaurs!) so I have put some documentaries on hold at the library for her, along with a book on frogs, and we're looking at a Coursera class on dinosaur paleobiology. She also wants to raise a few tadpoles! And The Boy is continuing this week with learning Scratch programming -- he's doing well so far in his online course. Both kids have math on their agendas, along with writing, and plenty of reading.

...Reading & Watching...
The Girl is continuing with Little House in the Big Woods, as well as The Secret History of Mermaids and The Secret History of Hobgoblins. She's also reading and memorizing Mother Goose rhymes, all on her own. I might try reading The Dragon in the Cliff to her, as part of her dinosaur studies/history. The Boy is still reading about Greek mythology and history in his vintage find, and is almost done with re-reading The Maze Runner. I'm reading aloud most days from An Everyday History of Somewhere as well, and we're still enjoying The Hobbit. As far as watching, The Girl loves any and all nature/animal documentaries, and The Boy has been searching out shows on automotive history. We're all avidly involved in the world of Downton Abbey.

...Bits & Pieces...
The Girl had her first derby bout of the season on Saturday. They lost, but the results are being questioned, as their competitors may have broken their contract for the game! She was in the first half of the game a lot, which was supposed to be positional, not contact, which is wasn't (something else they are reviewing). She got knocked down a few times, but always got back up! The second half of the game was brutal, so I was truthfully thankful she stayed on the bench for that.

Right in the middle of the pack!

The Boy and M enjoyed some mountain biking yesterday. We recently got The Boy a "new" bicycle from the local community bike shop, as he had outgrown his old one.

...On the Agenda...
A very busy week... too busy really. I have meetings today at work, so it is my long day of the month. Tomorrow, I drive my dad to his tax appointment, then Wednesday to his doctor. Thursday morning the kids and I are off to see some poetry being performed, and then Friday morning it is doctor appointment number 2 for my dad, followed by park day. And of course there is derby practice, fencing lessons, my class, etc. Aaaarggghhhh!

Have a good week!

Monday Musings...

First, I'll share a picture of my girl at halftime...

Isn't her new jersey awesome? All the girls on the team really loved them--a big move up from logo'd t-shirts! I think she looks tough too.

She only got in once in her first game, which turned out to be okay because the visiting team was brutal. We actually thought one broke someone's nose with a shoulder to the face, but thankfully the girl was okay. They were sending girls flying every which way by the second half. The Girl was a bit disappointed not to be on the track more, but she understood that it was her first game, and that's pretty common for that, and she appreciated that her coaches had concerns for her safety. Afterwards, she did get an awesome "Hey, that was your first game, right?" from another (really good) player, who then added "I'm glad to have you on the team." Really sweet, and it made The Girl feel really good.

She will be skating a lot more in an upcoming game in October. They couldn't find another junior team to play, so they are calling in all the juniors around here and splitting them into two teams for the night, which means the teams will be smaller. She's really looking forward to it already!

The Earthquake...
So at about 3:20 in the morning yesterday, we were rudely awakened by the earth heaving and rolling under us. Not a pleasant sensation. it woke everyone up, and The Boy told us afterwards that he literally leapt from his loft bed since the shaking freaked him out. There was a blinding flash in the sky (blown transformer? Earthquake lights?), and the power went out for a few seconds. It was the biggest earthquake we've had since 1989's Loma Prieta--which I remember all too clearly and which was much worse--and the first major quake my kids have felt. Thankfully there was no real damage around here, though the town of Napa sustained a fair amount of damage and will be cleaning up for a while.

Outside My Window...
Mornings have been cool and foggy/overcast for a few weeks now, though it clears off to warm and sunny afternoons, usually in the 80s. Everything is crisp, dried out, and golden brown, thanks to the continuing drought. We've had a spot or two of rain here and there, but it never is enough.

Around the House...
We're adjusting to having both M and I working outside the home again. He worked all weekend, and is off today through tomorrow. We'll get his new schedule tomorrow. I need to get my cleaning routine down a bit better, and I need to get rid of more books.

In the Kitchen...
I really need to try out freezer to slow cooker recipes in preparation for Mondays, generally our most tightly scheduled day, as I work until noon, have a class from 4-6:30, and The Boy has fencing at 7. Today I took the day off from work to take my dad in for a kidney scan, so I can cook ahead for tonight. I did make a shrimp & corn chowder recently that was awesome!

Plotting & Planning...
We'll be starting our new academic year in less than a week... if all goes as planned. The kids and I have been hard at work choosing resources, etc. to use for the year, and now I am just hoping all my books will come in on time (or maybe we'll have a later start)! I did get these yesterday, which look fantastic for our Sunday art lessons...

Watching & Reading...
We haven't been watching much besides Xena and Top Gear, but are more than halfway through our second trip through The Twenty One Balloons. I'm still working on my list of read-alouds for the upcoming year, trying to (when possible) alternate good historical fiction with other good fiction.

This Week's Happenings...
I have a class this afternoon. The Boy has fencing, The Girl has derby practice. there are two more doctor's appointments to take my dad to, and M's work schedule to work into all of this. Should be fun!

Have a good week!