Weekly Report... The Almost Unschooling Balance...

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you've seen my off and on struggles with the idea of unschooling/interest-led schooling (interest-led sets off less alarms with anti-unschooling people, I don't know why). I wrote numerous posts about it, including my What If post in 2010 (yes, that long ago, and truthfully even longer ago than that), and more posts about it since then. I have struggled with the notion that unschooling can really work, despite the fact that I live in a very unschool-y area, and have seen numerous successes, and honestly, very few failures.

So, as you can see in the post linked above, I debated what I considered a more balanced approach, with certain subjects being non-negotiable (besides what book/approach we were using), and everything else being up for grabs, with a healthy dose of life skills tucked in there. And despite all attempts over the years in between to assign book lists, return to a more "classical" approach, etc., we keep drifting back to almost unschooling.

So what does that look like in practice?

This week, The Boy:

• Did two more lessons in Jacobs Elementary Algebra (non-negotiable subject, but he chose the book). He had a few struggles with multi-part problems, so we sat down and worked a few together, and then I saw the lightbulb go on!
• Made some new vocabulary lists for his German studies (interest-led, language studies), and worked on endings for plural words.
• Completed an exercise in Thinking in Threes (non-negotiable subject) that had him come up with his own three word advice tips, based off familiar phrases such as "Act your age", or "Knock on wood". He said he really enjoyed this exercise! Next week, in the same book, he'll be working on writing a strong thesis, which is great, because one of his goals over 8th-9th grades is to be able to write solid essays (yes, I am glad this coincides with my goal for the same for him).
• Worked on some soft body dynamics with Blender (interest-led, computer science). At his fencing club, there is a 22 year old computer science major that also uses Blender, and frequently gives The Boy advice on how to apply new elements of the program. This week, The Boy learned to make fire!
• Read another few chapters of The Maze Runner, and spent hours pouring over his "new" antique book (interest-led, though I do ask the kids to read a minimum of 30 minutes daily).
• Wrote in his journal most evenings (interest-led, writing).
• Watched another episode of Big History with Cassia and me (somewhere between interest-led and non-negotiable, as I put it on, but he loved it). We never realized how much influence the horse had over the development of human history!
• Helped with some weeding in the garden; learned how to start the barbeque; and how to roast a chicken (life skills).
• Skipped fencing this week, since he had a cold and didn't feel well enough, nor did he want to pass it on to anyone at the club (normally this would be physical education).

And The Girl:

• Worked through some multiplication, word problems, missing subtrahends, and number lines in Saxon 6/5 (non-negotiable subject, her choice of text). She is really enjoying the mixture of problems she gets to tackle each day, versus other programs we have used in the past that focus on one type of problem at a time (spiral versus mastery).
• Is enjoying her Writing Skills book (non-negotiable subject)! She categorized nouns this week, and copied sentences with corrections. I like that she never resists doing her work in this book!
• Started working on her Valentine's cards for our annual homeschool Valentine's Day "party" (interest-led, writing/art).
• Made a number of sculptures centering around food, Valentines, animals, and so forth, before mashing them all back up, since she didn't create anything she wanted baked hard/permanent (interest-led, art).
• Read from The Hunger Games and some of the comics she picked up recently (interest-led, part of her 30 minutes a day).
• Watched Big History with avid fascination, since she loves horses (see above, history). She also watched an episode of Life of Mammals -- she loves David Attenborough! (interest-led, science)
• Helped my mom finish sewing a skirt; helped me clip the chickens' flight feathers; assisted with making roasted veggies to go with the roasted chicken; cleaned and rearranged her guinea pig's cage; and helped pull weeds (life skills).
• Roller skated in the kitchen and dining room, since she got new (and good!) skates this week, in preparation for derby next week! (physical education)

And yes, they also watched some "regular" TV; we played Clue again; we headed out to the coast for a few hours; I read to them from The Hobbit and My Book House (literature); they spent some time looking at slides under the microscope (more science!); played catch in the front yard; and today we are going for a hike, as our closest park day friends are ill at the moment. And my kids probably did a half dozen or so things I am currently unaware of!

What I'm Planning for Next Week:
Math and language arts will continue as is, though I am looking through all my Brave Writer Daily Tip emails to find a fun, one day exercise for both kids.

We might finally try reading aloud from An Everyday History of Somewhere. Maybe.I know we'll watch some more Big History.

The Boy starts his first edX online course, in Scratch programming, so I need to clean out files, unused programs, etc. from our dinosaur of a computer. Speaking of which, any recommendations for a good family computer that can smoothly stream video, allow for some computer programming lessons, and maybe some gaming? And that won't cost us a fortune? He also wants to get back into reading his Conceptual Physics book, and I put two books on hold for him at the library (The Wizard of Quarks and The Art of the Catapult), for a different approach to physics.

The Girl, as part of her bird studies, might dissect an owl pellet, and she wants to study feathers under one of our microscopes. She also wants to get back to daily readings from All About Birds. And she is finally back to derby practice next week!

I'll wrap this up with two of my favorite pictures from our beach trip this week...

 Have a good weekend!

{linked up over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers' Weekly Wrap-Up}

Turns Out the Joke's On Me...

Okay, not a joke really, but it turns out when you expose kids to a lifestyle of learning, in which they get input into subject matter, textbooks and non-textbook choices, learning approaches, etc....

They come to expect that will continue.

image courtesy of danijohnson.com

 We had our annual planning meeting yesterday. I met with each kid, went over ideas for next fall (and the rest of this year), and yes, as always, I had a plethora of what-ifs to share!

I had choices for math, for languages, for potential history and science programs, etc., etc., etc.

And we ended up right back where we are now. Yes, we do math and language arts at least 4 times a week. Yes, the kids read daily. And yes, they both love science. But outside those, they don't want to be tied down to a particular program.

And so 2015-2016 has math (no changes there since they like their math programs), writing (just a step up), and science of their choice. Everything else will continue to be interest-led.

And The Boy will be taking his first college course starting in late August. I think he's settled on Drawing and Composition I for fall, to be followed, possibly, by sculpture the next spring, or maybe something with computer science, or engineering. The world is his oyster!

I am truly thankful at the moment that we have a local junior/community college that offers [free] concurrent enrollment, and that is very highly regarded, for a couple of reasons...

One. I know the kids can continue to build on the foundation we have given them, and explore all kinds of classes, from anthropology, to comparative mythology, world history, engineering, mechanics... and much, much more.

And two (a little more selfish), if they do undergrad/concurrent work there, I don't have to do transcripts, or a "traditional" high school sequence. So there.

Books, Books, Books...

I am so glad I live in a family that values books, and almost always, real printed ones over anything digital (sorry, my Kindle, but while you are useful, we like real pages that can be turned, and real illustrations to admire).

I just thought I would share some of our recent finds!

For the family...
I found these vintage (1971 reprints of an older set) at the library, and immediately fell in love with the varied stories, poems, etc., all written very well.

 This volume, which The Girl and I are enjoying (though sometimes The Boy listens in) is chock full of fairy tales from around the world, as well as poetry, and stories of geographical intrigue. 

I got this volume, from the library, primarily for The Boy, though The Girl listens in a fair bit. It has classic stories such as The Adventures of General Tom Thumb, Gulliver's Travels, etc., as well as poetry, and historical sketches.

The Boy's latest treasure was given to us by a lady who lives in the same assisted living facility as my dad. It has been rebound once, but the book itself, printed in 1859, is in excellent condition, with print so small The Boy uses a magnifying glass to read it! He was commenting last night on the beauty of the writing style.

 The image here shows the original binding (his is plain, red cloth hardcover), and the marbling that is present on all sides of the pages. Its full title is A Classical Dictionary of Biography, Mythology, and Geography Based on the Larger Dictionaries, and at over 1,000 pages, it should keep The Boy occupied for a while!

Then there are the books I am reading...

Out of the two, I prefer the writing style of the food book over the other, which seems a little holier-than-thou at some points, though I love the premise of the book! I think (as I sit here using it) that there is too much technology in our lives.

Anyhow, those are just some books we have found recently, and I thought I'd share! What are you reading these days?

Weekly Report... Busy, Busy...

...What Kept Us Busy...

Schoolwork!

Writing Skills is working well for The Girl. She enjoys the simplicity of it, and says "Well, now that I can read, I should learn to write better."

And The Boy edited, proofread, and finished up his complaint letter (model car he was given to assemble, poorly fitting parts). I used WriteSource 2000 to show him what a business letter looked like, and he did a fine job on it!

Math was good for both. The Boy did fine with the accelerated approach I gave him this week in algebra (details about halfway down the post I linked), and The Girl is quite content to be back on the world of Saxon. She reviewed missing addends and subtrahends, as well as multiplication as repeated addition, number lines, etc., and told me that she likes having different kinds of problems to figure out!

I also found a complete set of My Book House at the library, while looking for something else. So I picked up volume 6 for The Girl, and volume 8 for The Boy. Cassia and I read a poem about fairies, and the story of Sleeping Beauty. I hope, over the upcoming weeks, to read aloud to each child from their "own" book, and sometimes have them do the reading, etc.

Life!

I headed back to an on-campus class this week as well (psychology, with a focus on community mental health) and I think I will really like it! Then there was... 

tutoring (one hour this week)

my online class to keep up with (juvenile justice)

a meeting with a friend

fencing practice

an aborted attempt at derby boot camp 

M suddenly nearly doubling his work hours (which is a good thing!)

plenty of self-assigned artwork on the parts of both kids, and M, who has started painting again

The Girl's first, and successful, attempt at making a dessert all on her own (caramelized bananas with crispy spiced tortilla strips and a dollop of creme fraiche)

And volunteer work

Pupping petting is such hard work, right?

...To Work on For Next Week...

There is always room for improvement!

Schoolwork!

Science needs to be brought back to our daily studies. And we need to get another episode of Big History under our belts. Then there's geography.... and read alouds (i.e. The Afternoon Basket).

Life!

I need to work on better menu planning, so I can be more efficient, and save money, at the grocery store. And I need to get back into my housework groove!

I also need to make time to get to the sewing machine repair shop for a small part, so I can sew cat toys at home rather than having to load everything up and head over to my mom's.

It's all about balance, right?

image courtesy of kinesiology-hypnotherapy.com.au

Happy weekend!

{linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers}

A Wordless Wednesday... Volunteer Work...

Tuesday Musings!

Yes, I changed the blog name back to the original one. It just feels right!

I didn't get around to a Monday Musings post yesterday, so I'm playing catch up!

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

Well, first off, The Girl was excited about derby boot camp, which started last night. We bought and fitted a new mouth guard, went to the roller skating rink, got her all geared up, and....

CRAP.

The league advisory board changed the minimum age for boot camp to TWELVE.

She's eleven until early March. She and her friend were both sorely disappointed, as the other girl is also 11, until July. The coach was very apologetic, as she only found out Saturday, and as both girls had done boot camp in the past, she didn't think about it.

It did brighten her evening a bit that we ordered new skates though! Really good ones for derby.

~*~*~*~

We've been playing more Clue, and enjoyed the movie, though both kids said they wished the characters in the movie looked more like the ones on the box/cards. We also played "Super" Sorry -- you double up on pieces and cards (we had 2 Sorry games, but only one game board). It makes it a lot more challenging!M used to really dislike the game, but changed his mind after this.

~*~*~*~

 The Girl bought herself, out of Christmas money, a big set of pens, so there is a lot of colorful artwork going on these days! The Boy wants to spend his cat toy earnings today on more drawing supplies. The Girl contributed her cat toy earnings toward the new skates.

~*~*~*~

The puppies we've been petting for volunteer work will, in just a few more weeks, be sent back to their home in New York, to be trained as guide dogs for the blind. I know The Girl will really miss them! We're hoping there will be another litter to pet not long after that. Speaking of volunteer work, I need to get The Boy back to the bike shop! 

~*~*~*~

I know, I'm a lazy homeschool mom. I got tired of piecing together Math Mammoth for The Girl, and she was tired of doing repetitive work (blocks on various parts of math). So we moved back to Saxon 6/5, and she's happy, and I am happy. With our lives being as (unfortunately) hectic as they are, having a math book that we just pick up and "do the next thing" is great! I will break out the Math Mammoth again if she hits any roadblocks.

~*~*~*~

And I changed up the way The Boy is doing Jacobs Elementary Algebra. He's been spending four days on each lesson, doing set I exercises the first day, set II the second day, and so forth. However, I realized that sets II and III are basically the same. So now he's doing set I and half of set II on day one, and the rest of set II and set IV (the challenge problem) on day two. It seems to be working well!

~*~*~*~

And finally, the kids attended their first (small) comic book convention on Saturday. They each found a bunch of good comics at the Friends of the Library table, for 50 cents each. And they were suitably scared/impressed by the amount of effort people put into costumes for events like this!

....What's Coming Up....

More yard work. We've got a ton of weeds to pull lately. The chickens love the dandelions and oxalis! I have only a couple of lavender bushes left to trim back, and clear, warmer, sunny weather to do it in.

~*~*~*~

The Boy wrote a rough draft of a complaint letter to a model toy company about a recent gift. We plan to have him type it up and send it off this week. Maybe another lesson in Thinking in Threes as well, and The Girl will be working in Writing Skills a bit more.

~*~*~*~

More Big History this week, as both kids (and I) were captivated by the first episode. We love the idea of history as a web of interconnecting events rather than a strictly linear progression. In the first episode, we learned a lot about the role of salt in history, even more than we had learned in the past, including place names that are salt-related, the history of the Erie Canal, and more. I think the next episode is about horses, which The Girl, at least, will enjoy!

~*~*~*~

And more of Bilbo's journey with The Hobbit! I finally have The Number Devil on hand as well, so we will get that into our rotation.

~*~*~*~

I start my second class, on campus, this week. It's a psychology class, on community mental health, and looks interesting, and a bit challenging. Besides that, we have fencing, park day, etc., on the agenda. Oh, and a "school show" on Thursday, with the Peking Acrobats!

~*~*~*~

And I need to catch up (yes, already!!) on my housekeeping challenges! I'll get there though.

~*~*~*~

Have a good week!

Taking Up the Gauntlet...

Anne over at The Modern Mrs. Darcy put up, some time ago, a reading challenge for 2015. I'm all for reading challenges, and this one looks both doable and fun!

I'll be choosing books for each category as I go, and will update when I can! I am currently re-reading a favorite book from my childhood/early teen years, so I suppose I've got that category covered...

I'll have to decide which category to tackle next!

Tuesday Tidbits... Laughing at Myself...

So at the beginning of the year, I had this whole, elaborate language arts line-up.

I should have known better. Really.

I've cut it back significantly, and yes, I have dropped a lot of it, as you can see below...

Poetry:
We were looking at using Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?, or Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry. But... well, we like reading poetry. The kids occasionally dabble in writing a little. We just don't care for dissecting it at the moment. So I simply choose a poet each month, and we read some poetry each week.

Grammar:
I like The Giggly Guide to Grammar, but it is actually a wee bit advanced at the moment, though I think The Boy may use it off and on, along with Hot Fudge Mondays (and I'll keep both books around for future use as well). Instead, we're actually reading Grammar-Land: Grammar in Fun for the Children of Schoolroom-shire, and yes, we're doing the free worksheets for practice. We like the storyline, and it is not too juvenile or too advanced for both kids to follow and enjoy. We also like that it really takes very little time!

Literary Elements:
We were planning to use Figuratively Speaking but it flopped. Discussing each literary element in isolation didn't and doesn't appeal so much. So what I've done is take the book, make a list of the terms, and I'm just bringing them up, and then checking them off, as we read good books. For example, yesterday I was reading The Hobbit aloud, and there was some foreshadowing, so we talked about that.

Writing:
After The Girl really started reading, I decided she could use some solid writing instruction. I debated a lot about what to use with her, but finally settled on Writing Skills from EPS. It is simple and straightforward enough that she still has plenty of time (and energy) for free writing.

And yes, after a brief -re-dabbling in Writing With Skill, The Boy is back to using Thinking in Threes most days, which I plan to follow up (in ninth grade) with The Lively Art of Writing (there's even a free workbook for this out there!).

Brave Writer:
I adore this lifestyle approach to writing/language arts. With the resources we are now using, we have a little more time for some of the more fun elements, like language arts games, poetry teatimes, and more. I get the Daily Writing Tips in my email too, which gives me a plethora of nifty ideas for writing projects, and then there are those that come up as we go, such as the complaint letter The Boy wants to write to the company that made his most recent car model (quality control was not very good).

So what have you changed this year? Did you drop something? Add something? Just shift things around? Please tell me I am not the only one that frequently over-plans!

Monday Musings...

Outside my Window...
The mornings are gorgeously misty, with all the colors of an opal. I love watching the black shapes of trees emerging from the fog on my way into work, and the geese flying overhead. It looks like we might get some rain by the weekend -- I certainly hope so! While I am very much enjoying the hazy starts to my day, followed by sunshine, the drought is always there in the back of my mind.

In My Home and Kitchen...
On to week two of the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge! My countertops are clean, and better organized already thanks to last week's challenge, so this week I am on to cupboards and kitchen drawers. This might be a bit harder, as we have not one but two junk drawers in the kitchen (hanging head in shame).

This week's lunch soup (for me) is butternut squash-orange soup. I spice it up with smoked paprika, ginger, cumin, and a little chili powder. The kids requested I make my version of cream of broccoli soup (cook broccoli and cubed, peeled potatoes in chicken stock until soft. Puree and season to taste) for them this week, as a lunchtime treat. We're having my sister's variation on this Portuguese stew tonight (sweet potatoes instead of regular). Tomorrow, we'll be pulling out the homemade meatloaf from the freezer.

In Our Homeschooling...

The Boy's work

And The Girl's compass rose

 We had a good day yesterday. I have a Thursday afternoon class starting next week, so am trying to get us in the swing of Sunday through Wednesday learning, although I may very well leave simple assignments for them on Thursdays. We did an "easy" day yesterday, with geography (compass roses in the driveway from The Geography Book, maps of Mesopotamia from Mapping the World with Art); a fairy tale from The Crimson Fairy Book; some reading about Franz Schubert; and of course, another chapter of The Hobbit! We also worked in a lesson on grammar, returning to an oldie-but-goodie for simplicity's sake (printables for this book can be found here). Today, and the rest of the week, will be more standard, with math, writing lessons, a little history, etc. I re-ordered King Arthur & His Knights, so while we are waiting for that, we'll read the chapters on medieval Africa and Europe in the early Middle Ages in K12's Human Odyssey. I am also waiting on a couple of library holds for mathematical reading, etc.

Reading, Watching, and Playing...
The Girl seems to really be enjoying The Hunger Games! I cannot tell you what it means to me to see her reading for pleasure. The Boy is making good progress on his second go-through of The Maze Runner. I read Mindless Eating over the weekend, and really recommend it... entertaining, and definitely eye-opening! We've been making use of attic finds from my mother-in-law's, and have been enjoying board games like Clue and Score Four. I think, as we've been playing a lot of Clue lately, that might be our next family movie night selection (this weekend it was I, Frankenstein). Cassia also taught me how to play Garbage (a.k.a. Trash), and I'd love to work in a game of You've Been Sentenced this week!

On the Agenda...
My online class, in juvenile justice, started today. The Boy has fencing twice this week, and an in-house tournament on Saturday. We'll be doing some cat toy work. I also have my first tutoring session since December set up for tomorrow. I've started having all my library holds go to the library where I do the tutoring, as that makes pick-up very easy! It will be interesting to see what the next week brings, as M's immediate supervisor, who wrote all the work schedules, was fired suddenly last week, and another employee was promoted to take his place. We're hoping he'll give M more hours!

We went for a walk around a local lake on Saturday, just in time for sunset...

And we stopped at a favorite rock for picture taking...

The kids both commented on remembering this particular rock as much bigger!

Hope you all have a great week!

First Week Back, Ho Hum....

It was a decent week in homeschooling, but not a stellar one. There were hits and there were misses for sure.

~ * ~ Hits This Week ~ * ~

Science...

I am glad my kids love their science studies! The Boy took copious notes from his physics book, learning about energy this week, and The Girl checked out our chickens' feathers, and made a hummingbird feeder as per the instructions from this lovely vintage book.

Math...

Math Mammoth Blue Series

And just as I am glad they enjoy science, I am very glad they enjoy their math!

And the Other Hits This Week...

The kids are both thrilled that we are actually reading The Hobbit now, and the illustrations by Alan Lee are gorgeous! And The Boy is perfectly content with Writing With Skill-- he worked on outlining and summarizing this week, which are good skills to have in place.

And both are enjoying their choice of free reading material! Having a family quiet reading time is a big success -- I must say I am enjoying it every bit as much as they are!

~ * ~ Misses This Week ~ * ~

I am still waiting on The Girl's writing book, though I have been told it should be here Monday. So much for expedited shipping!

History... The Human Odyssey is very good. I don't have complaints about the content, or the way it is written. In fact, I think for middle school aged kids, like mine, it is a very good "spine" text. But, we want more. My kids want to know more about life in the Middle Ages, more about the Vikings (HO has one chapter on these ancestors of ours). You can read more about how I plan to tackle this "deficiency" here.

And we did not do 4 days of lessons... just two -- I'll say we were "warming up" for a good week next week! We did not read from The Complete Book of Marvels, or The Number Devil. I didn't teach any art. No Shakespeare, or poetry. I did finally put some new art up on the fridge!

This weekend, I plan to work on gathering everything back together. I need to reorganize my Afternoon Basket, get some art supplies together, and pick up a couple of notebooks -- I have new blank ones for geography, but also want to use what I learned this week about lesson planning.

Also on the weekend's agenda:
Finish a batch of cat toys for delivery
Pet puppies for volunteer work
Finish off this week's organization tasks
Get ready for my online class that starts Monday (I'm taking two classes this semester to help prepare me for the world of social services... one in juvenile justice procedures, and one in the psychology of community health)
And a family movie night, movie title still to be determined

Do you have any good weekend plans?

{linked up to Weekly Wrap-Up}

Recipe ~ Roasted Carrot Soup....

I made this after seeing a recipe in my sister's copy of Women's Health, though I did change it up a bit, of course! It turned out to be fabulous -- even M, who doesn't care for blended soups, loved it.

Ingredients:
1.5-2 lbs carrots, cut into chunks (save back a few for adding later, but chunk them up too)
2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
2-3 small shallots, peeled and halved
As many garlic cloves as you like, peeled
Salt and pepper
about 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp (more or less) ground cumin
1 Tbsp (more or less) curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp fresh minced ginger

Directions:
Mix carrots (except reserved ones), shallots, and garlic with the coconut oil, salt, and pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet, and cook at 375F until the carrots are soft and starting to brown nicely. Scrape the roasted veggies into a a cooking pot, and add the spices, broth, and reserved carrot chunks. Simmer over a medium low heat until all the carrots are very tender. Add the coconut milk, and then puree (I use an immersion blender). Adjust seasoning, and enjoy!

Monday Musings... Back in the Saddle...

Happy Monday to you!

I'm back at work today, and we're back to homeschooling. I've been honoring my New Year's resolutions so far (I know, I know... wow, a whole 5 days!), and am ready to get back in gear!

Outside My Window...
Still clear skies, for the most part, and very chilly. Our electric bill will definitely go up this month, since I can't really freeze the entire family just to save some money. The full moon last night was gorgeous, by the way! And I just took a quick walk, with lovely sunshine pouring down on me, so no complaints really. [Though some more rain would be welcome!]

Around the House...
I am starting the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge today. This week's focus is on kitchen counters, and the kitchen sink. I plan to start tackling this task later today, before taking M to work. Another goal this month is to finish removing the old carpeting from The Girl's room.

In the Kitchen...
I made the most delicious roasted carrot soup this last week! It was really simple, and I'll be sure to share the recipe tomorrow. I also made some really good BBQ chicken quesadillas yesterday. I need to remember to look at store ads this week in my menu planning efforts. And baked oatmeal continues to be a big breakfast hit around here! This time, I added fresh apple chunks, chopped and toasted pecans, and dried cranberries.

In Our Homeschooling...
I am really hoping The Girl's writing book gets here today. I paid for rush shipping, which according to my calculations should have had it here by Friday or Saturday... we'll see. The Boy is ready to go -- writing, math, and science are all in place. As we've been interested in birds lately, I've decided The Girl can choose between studying those and insects. The kids made some peanut-butter-&-birdseed treats this weekend to hang in the freshly pruned olive tree, which would make for good birdwatching!

UPDATE: She chose to study birds! I have All About Birds (vintage book, but fantastic) on hand, and access to The Life of Birds, so that was an easy study to start.

Reading...
We're back to silent reading time as of today, which means The Girl will finally be starting The Hunger Games. The Boy has decided to restart the Maze Runner series with the first book, so that he can read them back to back. And I'll be reading aloud from The Human Odyssey and The Hobbit today. Other books this week include The Complete Book of Marvels, The Number Devil, and maybe some tales from The Crimson Fairy Book.

Watching...
The Boy will be watching a Cosmos episode. The Girl will either be watching an episode from Life in the Undergrowth, or one from The Life of Birds. We'll probably watch an episode or two of Mankind: The Story of Us All. And maybe a Cook's Tour or No Reservations episode to compliment our geography reading. Our family movie this week was The Benchwarmers, which was pretty good, and definitely funny.

What We've Been Doing...
We finally made bird treats (see In Our Homeschooling above)! I've been knitting more again, and we worked on crafting more catnip toys. The Girl has a lot of sculpture stuff going on, and The Boy works daily on his car model. We rode bikes twice last week: once, on New Year's Eve along the local creekside trail (maybe 5 miles total); and then on New Year's Day, we rode (around 13 or 14 miles round trip) down a local paved trail. We went out to a musical last night - Crumbs, by the Imaginists. It was very, very good -- unique, with fantastic live music, most of which was performed by the actors. There was no real stage, so the whole thing was done in the middle of the room, with seating on all four sides, so it was very much up-close.

On the Agenda...
A return to fencing this week for The Boy. I start an online class next week, and on campus classes the week after that.  Let's see... park day on Friday of course, and there's work... not too much going on! Knitting, catnip toys, interest-led projects, and so forth will keep us busy enough.

Have a good week! Enjoy some pictures from our bike riding fun!