Hey There!

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

The Girl started working with the wildlife rescue center. These are her foster babies:

They are, of course, opossums, four of them. We actually interact with them as little as possible, so that they remain relatively feral. They'll be released back into the wild once they're larger. The Girl learned to tube feed them (they can't suckle), but thankfully we are past that stage now, and they just eat foods (mice, sardines, fruit). They live in a very large tub in the bathroom for now!


The Boy is soon to wrap up his figure drawing class. His skills just continue to blow me away!

Some of his work has been hung in the student art center, and he's thinking of entering some in the local fair this year.

As far as homeschooling, it's been spotty, which is something we really need to address. The kids have already agree we need to work through the summer. Math, writing, literature, and more documentaries have all made the summer to-do list!

Speaking of literature, we watched the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the kids loved it! So we decided to read through all the books mentioned in the movie (a list I am still working on). Here is their first pick...

We have agreed to check out this movie version when we are done with the book.

We started watching Bill Nye Saves the World, which I think is okay, and they seem to like. I'm thinking American Experience, and/or maybe actually finishing Mankind: the Story of All of Us, and America: The Story of Us. We also have a few unwatched episodes of Big History. And there are plenty of biographies, etc. I also need to find some more science documentaries! We finished up all three seasons of The 100 that are currently available, and can't wait for season 4 to come to Netflix in June. If you haven't checked it out, you should. Totally engrossing!

Besides all that, I'm wrapping up my year of teaching at the university. I am planning to continue my teaching assistant position at the junior college for another year, but beyond that, I am not sure at the moment. I've applied for a couple of very part-time things, so we'll see what works out!

Hope all is well in everyone else's corners of the world!

Catching Up & Moving Along...

Summer has flown by so quickly! Next week, we'll be back in the thick of things, though we did manage to have a lot of fun the last couple of months.

Catching Up...

There's been fishing, hanging out in scenic spots, and -- for me -- trail running:

And a day at the local fair, thanks to a set of free tickets I won from the bank! We went on some rides, ate funnel cakes, gazed at the amazing flower show, and visited the animals!

I even have a classroom now! There's been continued truck work, and some random fun moments along the way.

Moving Along...

The Boy starts a stellar astronomy class next week, so we're shelving chemistry for now. The Girl has a new volunteer orientation coming up at the local wildlife rescue center, so fall will be spent studying and rehabilitating animals.

I start my new career next week! I have my first day planned, my syllabus written, and a few writing assignments designed/under design. And I start my own classes.

We'll start our full-on homeschooling after Labor Day. Our first read-aloud for literature will be Watership Down. For animal studies, The Girl will be reading various selections from our collection of vintage books, alongside numerous library books, and I think she and I will enjoy The Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets. She and I will also work on turning our habitat plans into reality.

Hope your summers have been going well!

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

School's Out for Summer!

Well, sort of. We still have a lot going on! Both kids have come up with some plans for their summer months...

The Boy:

Finish reading

And then read

 

[I love Edward Gorey's art....]

Take a four hour (free at the library) class on

Go to a car show or two with his best buddy

Take another workshop at the library on printing with a

And then there is The Girl

She gets a couple of library workshops with friends too...

And she has fallen in love with a book...

To be followed by ???

And of course there will be beach days

And river-swimming days

And hiking

Movies, a few good books (we're planning to read Holes next -- I understand it is very good, and we enjoyed the movie!), a few random field trips to be determined, some general laziness when we're not doing yard work, or home repairs. They're keeping up with their math over summer as well, but are off of all other "official" homeschooling until fall!

 I'm also planning to read some "unschooling" books from the library, among them HomeGrown: Adventures in Parenting Off the Beaten Path, Unschooling, & Reconnecting with the Natural World; And the Children Played; and a couple of David Albert's books.

Do you have any fun summer plans? I did read this great blog post yesterday, which got me thinking about little ways to add some fun.

Current Interests....

The Boy, thanks to a game on his phone, has become deeply interested in the world of immunology... disease, pathogens, epidemics, pandemics... so he's decided to make a little study on the subject, and related topics.

He's starting with:

which certainly looks intriguing!

And, for a little more historical perspective:

 And then for fun, if he likes, he might also read:

This last is purely for fun, as he enjoys Asimov's writings.

And The Girl is wrapping up her study of animals for the year, as we are down to the last two chapters of her main book: 

She'll be looking through: 

and 

We also plan to finally dissect our owl pellets, and then frogs, as the grand finale to animal studies! 

She liked the textbook well enough that we are moving on to another from the series:

To which we will add a few "fun" titles:

and 

In the meantime, math is going well... The Boy is doing, on average, two lessons a day in Life of Fred Beginning Algebra. The Girl finished up LoF Butterflies and is starting Cats today. The Boy is talking about writing a story, from a first-person perspective, about a pandemic, while also working on his essay about Ford and Chevy. The Girl is still enjoying poetry, so we read and discuss it, and she's continuing her work in Writing Skills. We're continuing our journey through [local] California history -- about halfway through the book -- and both kids have requested medieval times (especially British) next, so we might read:

I'm not sure if we'll get to this before or after our summer break!