It Is Time...

Time to step back for a bit, take a break from blogging, and enjoy the world around us.

Rabbit Trails...

It seems the show Human Planet is rife with opportunities for rabbit trails. We watched episode two yesterday, on people who inhabit deserts, and this is where is has led/is leading so far...

An exploration of matriarchal societies and women's roles in trading, etc., after learning about the Tubu women crossing the Sahara. While not a strictly matriarchal society, it certainly places the women in a very important role.

This discussion makes me think The Girl might enjoy How High Can We Climb? The Story of Women Explorers.

Water collection from fog leads to experimental ideas... we're talking about/planning to try different approaches to this in our backyard to see what works and what doesn't.

 We talked about the transition between childhood and adulthood, without a "teenage" era, after the segment on the Tubu women, and another on cattle herding in Mali, in which a sixteen year old boy was fully responsible for maintaining his family's cattle herd, even taking them days across the desert to a watering hole. In the segment on the Tubu, the matriarch of the group turned the directions over to her ten year old daughter on the final 20 mile trek through the Sahara, both to test her abilities to guide her camel caravan through the desert, and to ensure that future generations will be able to find the tiny well in the middle of nowhere.

We compared our current water use (58 33 gallons per day per person based on our last water bill) against the rates in Las Vegas, which is 199-208 gallons per day, per person. Of course, the average American usage of water (178 gallons per day), and even our own lower total, still far outstrip Africa's general 5 gallons per capita (Water Facts).

We even had an interesting discussion about whether socially permitted extramarital "affairs" were okay or not, after a segment on the Wodaabe people of Niger. When the rains come, which is not every year, they have fertility dances, and then men, married or not, can be chosen as lovers. They are a polygamist culture overall, so these brief interludes don't seem out of character for their beliefs. And we talked about standards of beauty, and how widely varied they are.

The next episode is on life in the Arctic... I can't wait to see where that one leads us!

Miscellany...

...I am...

trying out new recipes

finishing up Dracula for my Gothic Lit class

working too many hours

suffering from shingles or hives, to be determined -- thankfully it's in a limited area, and not spreading... just very, very itchy

enjoying working with students, despite working too many hours

realizing that without derby practice after Thursday, we'll have two more nights at home

...The Boy is...

doing exceedingly well at the junior college (with a curve adjustment due to a number of low scores on the midterm in his Machine Tools Tech class, The Boy scored 109%)... he also finished his first tool, which is a drill gauge, handmade from beginning to end

designing a synskin (fiberglass, or shoji, paper) lamp—which will be hung in the living room—for his 3D art class... here's his working model

 also reading, and really enjoying, Dracula, so we can discuss it

fencing here and there—being sick a couple of weeks ago really threw him off, and when he did fencing last Friday, he tired easily, and was really sore the next day

plugging along in math and writing, considering NaNoWriMo (young writers version)

spending spare moments playing Car Mechanic Simulator

...The Girl is...

slowly devouring The Marvelous Land of Oz

jumping ahead a bit in math

designing and developing a new comfort harness for dogs—she's hoping to launch her own (Etsy?) business by the age of 14

finishing up another season of roller derby, with plans to go back when it starts again in January

thinking about taekwondo or karate in the meantime...maybe...maybe not

reading about amphibians

working on her cooking skills

learning to play poker with M's help

...We are...

still watching Lost and having very interesting conversations about bits and pieces of it

laughing at The Worst Cooks in America

enjoying our October line-up of movies... we've watched Edward Scissorhands, Dracula, The Corpse Bride, and Sleepy Hollow so far, all with great success, although I will say The Boy enjoyed Dracula more than The Girl

trying to get history and science done—I really need to either get a handle on this, or just let go and trust unschooling these things

enjoying card games

looking forward to Halloween 

Recipe: Make Ahead Breakfast...

This week, I tried a new make-ahead breakfast, high in protein, low in sugar, and it has a little fiber. You can get 4-6 servings from this (see below).

QUINOA EGG BAKE

Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter or cooking spray
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
2 whole eggs
8-10 egg whites
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups packed baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 cup finely shredded romano or parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-by-8-inch glass or metal baking dish with butter/spray; set aside.
2. Put quinoa into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear; drain well.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and quinoa. Stir in spinach, then pour mixture into prepared dish.
4. Cover tightly with foil then jiggle dish gently from side to side so that quinoa settles on the bottom in an even layer. Bake until just set, about 45 minutes.
5. Remove foil and sprinkle top evenly with cheese. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes more.
6. Set aside to let cool briefly, then slice and serve. 

Servings

4 servings = 305 calories each, with 25 g. protein, 5 g. sugar, and 2 g. fiber
6 servings = 203 calories each, with 16.6 g. protein, 3.3 g. sugar, and 1.3 g. fiber

I reheat mine in the toaster oven, set on convection bake, at 350, for 15 minutes. That gives me time to make coffee, get a nice plate set out, etc.!

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

Using What I Have...

A while back, I sent for a bunch of free dvds from HHMI... excellent resource, by the way! However, we never really got around to using them, and they are just gathering dust. Then today, I remembered seeing a free downloadable science project somewhere that looked really, really good ... did a lot of digging, and found it. It turns out that it is from HHMI, and goes with a dvd we already have!

The activity is focused on microbial ecology, and takes 6-8 weeks. There are student and teacher handouts, and it looks relatively easy to set up. Record keeping includes taking notes/making observations, comparing experimental columns to a control column, photographing changes, and sketching changes.

It goes with the lecture series Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future.

They've got a plethora of other videos, and lots of activities (some do look better than others).

I think we're going to give this one a try!

Art for October...

Artist of the Month: Grant Wood

I'm a little late getting art for the month set up (I print and display images, one at a time, on the fridge, mainly from Mark Harden's [fabulous] Artchives), so here are my three choices for October:

Fall Plowing, 1931

American Gothic, 1930

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, 1931

This year, I am also posting a brief biography of each artist, also on the fridge door.

Comparisons? No Thank You...

It hit me today that, with very rare exception (i.e. maybe once every few months), I have left all homeschooling message boards/forums. Why? Because when I do go on such boards, I automatically start comparing our style of education to those portrayed, and that often leads to feelings of panic and inadequacy. I've come to realize I don't miss those feelings, and that in fact, comparing what we do to what others do is like comparing apples to oranges.

Realistically speaking, we are far, these days, from the classical education end of the homeschooling spectrum. We don't quite fit the "standard" definition of the other end—unschooling—either. Hmmph. I guess labeling doesn't work?

I used to frequent the message boards/forums for ideas, for book lists, for reassurance that I was following the "right" path at the "right" time. Now it feels like trying to do this...

 

Maybe the error in on my part though. Maybe I need to look at use of such boards in a different light. Sometimes there are gems hidden in there, like long threads on how unschooling works, or books that delighted someone, projects that brought something to life for a child.
 
Do you like homeschooling message boards/forums? Do you find them helpful, or overwhelming? Has your view of them changed over the years?

So Much for Planning...

Last week did not work out as planned. Instead, Tuesday I came home with a sore throat and a wicked headache. The Boy's two friends had missed class on Monday due to much the same complaint, and by Wednesday, The Boy was sick too. I missed work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday... The Boy missed school Wednesday... The Girl was sick by Thursday. We spent the days sleeping as much as we could, living on soup and hot tea, with frequent doses of elderberry, vitamin C, and echinacea.

The Boy is still not fully recovered today, and so I kept him home again. His plan is to spend the morning working on his current art class project, to get caught up, and maybe even a little ahead. I returned to one job today, but am offering only online support for the other. I tried tutoring yesterday, and ended up with a massive coughing fit partway through. The Girl has a really horrendous sounding cough still. We also missed fencing class, and an in-club tournament, derby practice, and even my class.

UGH.

About the only thing we got done, when feeling better here and there, was a little homeschooling. They both worked on math. The Boy did a lesson from The Lively Art of Writing, and did it quite well. The Girl, after complaining about her reading abilities, read out loud to me from one of her Cinderella books...and she did it beautifully. I hooked her up with some spelling words this week on Spelling City, and will continue to have her practice reading aloud throughout the week.

And we watched the first episode of Human Planet (which is very good!), and read a little from The Magic of Reality. That was it for the week, besides watching Edward Scissorhands. Oh, we also watched a lot of The Worst Cook in America, and The Great Food Truck Race, both on Netflix. I can tell when The Girl has been watching a lot of foodie shows, because then she makes desserts like this one (notice the attention to plating, and the "textural contrast" of the granola)...

Coconut Greek yogurt, with sauteed bananas and a homemade caramel sauce.

Also, during a brief bout of energy, the kids built the bottle rocket from our free Tinker Crate kit...

They launched it a number of times, trying out both the included citric acid + baking soda, as well as vinegar + baking soda. It launched well most of the time, and I think The Boy got footage on his GoPro.

My honest opinion of Tinker Crate? Well, I think they certainly serve a place in the market. If getting around to hands-on activities is hard for your family, then this is a fabulous option, as the kids can really do most, if not all, of it themselves. We've had some good fun with the one we got, but chose not to subscribe, as we aren't sure the cost is equaled in the value of the supplies/projects.

So on the agenda:
Mondays are never "school" days for us, really, as The Boy is usually gone all day, and when he gets home in the early evening, after a full day of classes, I hate to make him do more. Hopefully by tomorrow we will be getting back to normal.

More math -- this is going very well right now. I have The Girl working on various lessons in multiplication, division, and place value, from Math Mammoth. She likes that I am mixing it up a bit, so she's not doing just one thing every day. The Boy hasn't gotten anything below 96% on a lesson yet in Teaching Textbooks.

Language Arts --  The Boy will hopefully finish chapter 1 in The Lively Art of Writing. The Girl will be working on spelling, reading aloud, and maybe some work from her old Writing Skills book.

The Boy is studying for his first midterm, which he is very glad will be an open-note test.

I want to get back to having some sort of physical activity planned for each day, but right now that depends on the coughing fits.

We'll probably watch another episode of Human Planet, read some more from The Magic of Reality, get in another few chapters of The Shakespeare Stealer, and some more Cinderella.

Besides homeschooling, I am taking my dad to the doctor this week for a follow-up. I plan to return to my junior college on-campus office hours Wednesday, and I have somewhere around 60 essays to grade over the next week or so. The Boy hopes to get back to fencing by Friday, and The Girl back to derby by Thursday. We are really hoping to hang out with friends on Friday, as we haven't seen them in two+ weeks, due to one thing or another.

I had a brief burst of usefulness yesterday evening too, and made a giant bowl of pasta salad, and a big pot of butternut squash-orange-ginger soup.

We'll watch Sleepy Hollow, or maybe Beetlejuice, this week for family movie night, and at some point soon, the kids and I will be watching Sweeney Todd (M has no interest in re-watching it).

We also need to catch up on housework...again. I had a burst of energy last week, before getting sick, and cleaned the kitchen and living room, and had the kids clean the family room. Unfortunately, things fell back apart after that, but I think we'll catch up again fairly quickly.

On my way out for the day, here's a picture of our nature observation from a few days ago... spider versus bee, and the spider won:

Anyhow, have a good week!

Monday Musings...A Meeting of Minds...

Sorry for the lower quality of the picture, but here is The Boy meeting Richard Dawkins! We attended a lecture and book signing on the beautiful Dominican University campus yesterday, taking my dad, a long-time Dawkins fan, with us. We listened to about an hour of anecdotes and side notes, then lined up to get our books signed. Unfortunately, my dad, due to mobility issues, could not go up on stage to get his book signed...so Richard Dawkins came to him! (He's sitting behind The Boy in this picture) We got to chat for a couple of minutes, and then Dawkins was off to an evening engagement. Still, it isn't every day that we get to meet a great scientific mind and Nobel Peace Prize winner!

Outside My Window...
Temperatures are moving into the seventies more often, though we are expecting some higher eighties late in the week. We had tremendous wind over Saturday night, and saw dry (sheet) lightning miles away. The winds blew almost all the leaves off the cherry and maple trees, though the olive tree is still looking quite good, and the olives are almost ready for picking.

In Our Kitchen...
Both M and The Girl requested a "vegetarian experiment", so I've happily been re-exploring favorite vegetarian recipes (I was a vegetarian for 6 years, then vegan for two). My mom gave me a plenitude of zucchini, eggplants, bell peppers, and onions, so over the weekend, I made a favorite roasted eggplant and tomato soup, and a giant pot of ratatouille. I then made a ratatouille lasagna as well, which was a big hit! Also on the menu this week are a vegetarian pot-pie (with mushrooms, peas, carrots, celery, onion, red potatoes, and a homemade onion-mushroom-veg broth gravy), and my own version of Japanese noodle bowls, with miso broth.

Around the House...
Our cleaning routine needs work. Enough said.

In Our Homeschooling...
I know we're doing math and writing/language arts. The Boy will be doing at least 4 lessons from Teaching Textbooks, and 1-2 sections in the Lively Art of Writing. The Girl will be working on spelling, and will do at least 4 lessons from Math Mammoth. I know I wrote a glowing review here about the language arts book I had gotten for her, but the writing prompts actually frustrated her to tears, so I have set it aside for the moment. Not sure where we're going with writing for her from here. She wants to focus on reading more fluently -- she can read fairly well now, but still on the slower side, and it worries and frustrates her, so we're going to buzz through a review of Reading Pathways, from which I will also be pulling her spelling words.

As for history, science, etc., I'm leaving those looser this week (though please see reading and watching below). I know the kids want to complete at least another project or two from the free Tinker Crate we had gotten.

Reading and Watching...
We'll be reading more of The Shakespeare Stealer. We may start re-reading The Magic of Reality this week, and I have put the first volume of Howard Zinn's A Young People's History of the United States on hold at the library. The Boy is reading Douglas Adams and Richard Dawkins on his own, and The Girl is still working through Ballet Shoes. I'm cramming my way through Bleak House for my class, and am eager to read the Dawkins biography I got yesterday. The Girl and I are reading various Cinderella books together, and that's lots of fun!

As for watching, we viewed Sahara on Saturday (which led to a discussion on refugees and the current Syrian crisis), and I'm going to try to talk the kids into watching the first episode of Human Planet tonight. Or we'll watch an episode of Once Upon a Time! Movie night this week will be something from my growing October list...maybe Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands, or Beetlejuice.

Also on the Agenda...
Both kids are (temporarily) down to one practice session a week (fencing, derby), though The Girl says that this Sunday's practice might be the only missed one. I have on-campus hours, school, and work, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. We plan to get in some physical activity every day, and make some time for cuddled-up-on-couch read alouds.

Update on the Meltdown from Last Week...
So we had the almost meltdown last week. The Boy has agreed to come with me to campus on Thursday afternoons, for two solid and quiet hours of study time. We are making an effort to start out our Monday mornings (he has classes at the junior college, I have work) with breakfast together, which was really nice today. He's chosen one day of the week for fencing - one that generally has a high attendance rate, so lots of people to fence. We talked about setting aside some time every day to study or work on his art projects as well, and maybe heading to bed half an hour earlier for some relaxed reading time. He has not decided yet of he wants to move forward with the Big History Project. He says he's very interested in it, but wants to get in a better routine for math, and writing, and homework first.

Have a good week!

End of the Week...

This week, we...

...had a meltdown of sorts.

...played You've Been Sentenced (which, by the way, is a great, and fun, way to work with language).

...laughed our way through an episode of Drunk History, learning about scientist Percy Julian; the [teenage] woman behind Rosa Parks—Claudette Colvin; and fighting champion Joe Louis. The first two parts were the best—our sides were aching from laughing!

...did some math. The Boy is doing very well with Teaching Textbooks, and The Girl is plugging away with Math Mammoth. I plan to break out Totally Tut over the weekend for some operations review with both.

...read some more of The Shakespeare Stealer.

...watched the eclipse as the moon rose.

...spent a while gazing at the moon through binoculars the following night, and talking about how the moon influences the tide.

...decided we miss hanging out on the couch reading together. 

...started making a list of October movies to watch, among them The Addams Family (the first one is best), Sleepy Hollow, The Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, Arsenic & Old Lace, Edward Scissorhands, and maybe Sweeney Todd. (Do you see the awesome Depp theme running through there? What does that say about us, or him?)

The Boy...

...worked on his 3D art project, which is a pop-up book he is making about...CARS (surprise!)!

...finally got to use some power (and hand) tools in his Machine Tool Technology class.

...worked on some video editing.

...detailed the inside of my car. It hasn't been this clean in years!

The Girl...

...worked on a lovely art project with her dad (I'll post pictures soon), as well as about 5 or 6 other art projects.

...read Smoky Mountain Rose for her Cinderella studies.

...finished her spelling for the week, with 100% on her test. 

...devoured a few episodes of The Life of Mammals, as well as a couple of shows on undersea creatures.

..helped cook a couple of dinners, and made some fantastic black-bean brownies. I'll share the recipe soon!


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?