Artistic Endeavors

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Posted on February 4, 2012 by Karen

So C is with grandma and papa for the weekend. I’m sure they are busy adventuring. Meanwhile biggest and littlest are evidently feeling artsy. After a few hours on skype playing minecraft with friends, D started watching youtube videos of drawing tutorials. For a kid who never even wanted to hold a crayon or finger paint until his younger siblings were old enough to be interested in art, he has suddenly taken an interest. While we were at Disney in September, the boys discovered the animators area in California Adventure. An animator hows the class how to make a basic character. They both found it fascinating and spent a few hours in there rather than ride rides. Those free quick classes gave them the idea of creating tracing lines and making light sketchings. Now he and his brother like take to drawing page after page of either characters they know, like Phineas and Ferb, or making their own.

While he was sketching, B and I decided to do some art with crayons. We’ve thought of making our own crayons or gluing them to canvas and melting them so they drip down- we’ve  seen some excellent examples of both. Today instead we decided to paint with melting crayons. We have a huge bin of crayons – three kids and years of taking the free ones from restaurants (why waste them after they’ve only used them for five minutes?), gifts of art supplies and super cheap back to school sales add up to a whole lot of waxy colored goodness.

So we dug through to look for broken crayons and then the freebies from places. And we were all ready to make art. First, however, you have to get the paper off. Uggh. Some slip relatively easily off and others are almost glued on. Finally went to the web and looked up how to remove them. Soak in warm water. Not too hot, they’ll start to melt. We may have figured that out the hard way. So we peeledand peeled and peeled. Finally we took a big piece of poster board and cut it in half. Then we set it on a piece of aluminum foil larger than the poster board; I folded the edges over a few times to make something to grab. Then we placed our crayons on the board and put in a preheated 250F degree oven for 5 minutes.

Some of our crayons just refused to melt. Not sure if it was the generics or if some colors are just stubborn. Carefully, oh so carefully, I took the rolling,
melted wax covered paper out of the oven. B then drug qtips through the melted puddles, swirling and mixing. It hardened much quicker than we expected so we had to put it back in the oven for a remelt.

I decided to try a picture. Not sure how successful it was since it just sorta rolls where it wants to, but it was fun. We’ll have to get more poster board for this. B wants to spend more time trying to mix colors. I have a few more crayon art ideas to try but I think we’ll leave peeling to sitting in the evening or when we’re bored. Spending 30-45 minutes prepping when you want to be making art is hard.

But the results were so much fun :)

Categories: Artsy Fartsy, Homeschooling | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Today

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Karen

What do you do all day is probably the most common question I hear. And every day can be different. Compared to people who have full curriculum and do it at home we are very unschool. Compared to some unschooler the fact that I make suggestions or that they attend a homeschool enrichment program run by the school system might bump us out of that category. We are pretty eclectic and mostly unschooling. What that can mean is every day is different.

Today started with everyone waking before mom and eating. C read Caravan, which is a chose your own adventure book, by R.A. Montgomery. He’s been reading it all week since he can change it every time. D was playing minecraft and B was playing.

Once I was up to help, B read The Van by Holly Keller because she wants to work on her reading. D spent some more time reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. While they were reading C played minecraft.

Then both the boys wanted to do some math. D really likes Khan Academy for math. If you aren’t firmiliar with the site, check it out. Brilliant free site that covers everything from single digit addition to vector calculus for math and also is adding science and social studies.(Watch Salman Khan talk at TED) I think his favorite part is the huge map of math skills. Areas change color as you complete them so you can see where you’ve been and where you can go. C played TimezAttack. It is a free or paid game to teach multiplication and division. Because if anything ever really needed to be learned by memorization, multiplication is it. Plus who doesn’t want to be some dragon type monster throwing math balls at trolls?

After doing a bit of math, the boys started watching videos. D did the basic youtube ramble finding ridiculousness to laugh at. C watched animal videos. His favorite was of a peregrine falcon flying with a camera on its back. While they were watching videos the cast list came in. Then the kids looked up clips from the Jungle Book on youtube, from the Disney movie and some live action films and plays.

Somehow that led to them getting out their pvc pipe swords and bow and arrows to be knights. B wanted to be a princess but a fully armed one. They ended up taking their weaponry to our homeschool group’s park day.

What was I doing while all of this took place? Well helping read, helping spell for searches, making lunch, and trying to figure out how to make a feed for this website. I had someone request an rss feed. I tried to make one but it didn’t work. So after taking that down I tried to put in an internet feed. If this doesn’t work for anyone, can you let me know in comments? My next step is asking one of the teenagers in our homeschool group for help!

All of this took place from waking up until 1 PM. Give us a couple of free hours between play practice, homeschool co-op activities, akido and who knows where we’ll end up.

Categories: Homeschooling, Parental Ramblings | Leave a comment

Too Much To Decide

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Karen

Monday was full of fun and kids and noise and all sorts of different homeschoolers. Arizona Homeschool Theater held tryout for the spring play. Last fall D was in Romeo and Juliet. He joined the cast very late because they were looking for another boy and we have friends that have performed with them through several shows. (We were so busy in the fall and early winter even if I wasn’t blogging :(

For the spring show they are performing The Jungle Book, which makes it easier for the littler ones to get involved too. Auditions were fun and no pressure and chaotic. The director managed to wrangle 40 homeschoolers into auditioning for numerous rolls in just over two hours. We just got the cast list today. D is going to be King Louie, C is a wolf and B is the baby elephant. Should be lots of fun.

The best part of this theater group is that, other than the director, it is all homeschoolers. The assistant director, the stage manager, the script writer, the light and sound technicians – all homeschoolers. Very, very cool.

After auditions we headed to dungeons and dragons. The boys are really enjoying playing and there are usually several younger siblings around for B to play with. We’d all brought something, so afterward we had dinner – elves, dwarves,wizards, and little and big humans. Then running and freeze tag and I’m not sure what else in the backyard. The family that has been hosting is moving an a few months and we are all going to miss the grace with which she deal with noise and chaos. (Somewhere around 5 – 10 kids, depending on noise level, I start feeling my only child status.)

Yesterday was their homeschool enrichment program, which they all love. Then they had akido. I’ve got one suddenly starting to waiver even though she had been enjoying it so much before vacation. She has a lot of trouble getting back into the swing of things after taking a break. D and C are still having a great time and D was invited to test for his yellow belt next month. Much more complicated that knowing your moves, this dojo stresses concentration and paying attention by making them know the names of the moves as well…in Japanese! And know some off the philosophy of akido and the dojo, know martial arts etiquette and more. He’s got the moves down but we’ll need to spend the month working on our Japanese.

Which brings us to today. Before we head off to park day, where anything can happen, we got an email from the homeschool fencing class. They were taking a break this session but now have to decide about next session. I’ve got two thinking yes and one no.

Which leaves us at:
Arizona Homeschool Theater – 3
D&D – 2
Akido – 3, but one is thinking of quitting
homeschool enrichment – 3
fencing – none, but two may pick it back up

Phew. Still way less busy than Oct – Dec where we also had swimming, dancing and fencing for all three. Decisions, decisions…

Categories: Artsy Fartsy, Buddy Time, Homeschooling | Leave a comment

That’s How We Roll

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Karen

That’s how we roll…well that could be referring to the bike ride everyone not still coughing took today. But I was actually thinking of spending the last few days with the boys making new Dungeons & Dragons characters.

For the first quest they did, the dad who is the dungeon master and teaching them to play took the time to make a bunch of characters and just let them pick one. One of the joys of living somewhere with numerous homeschoolers is there is a group, gathering, co-op for that. Whatever that is.

For their second quest, they have the option of making their own characters. Now neither of us ever played D&D – just because I never knew anyone who did, not because of it’s geekiness; we played Magic the Gathering for a while instead :)- so trying to get through the guidebook is like reading a foreign language. I keep having to ask the boys, “Did that make sense?”

Geek Evolution Cartoon

They have loved learning to play and are really enjoying the game. D&D doesn’t have the same geeky connotations today that it used to. Or perhaps being geeky itself doesn’t. Today’s children – and adults – are surrounded by computer technology – the more you know the better; Harry Potter and wizardry, magic and dragons;  Bill Gates and Steve Jobs being household names. Nothing wrong with being smart or liking myth, magic and make-believe. Of course, this comes from probably the only cheerleader in my high school that read Tolkien and Douglas Adams.

One of my favorite quotes by our eldest was last year when I mentioned Shakespeare. C, who was 8, momentarily couldn’t remember who that was. D, who was 10, looked and him and said, “Remember on that one episode of Dr. Who…?” Pure awesome. I’m not sure which puts us more firmly in the homeschool box: the fact that I expected my 6, 8 and 10 year olds to know who Shakespeare was, or that the explanatory reference came from Dr. Who. Of course this same child performed in Romeo and Juliet just last month. He was Abraham of the “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” line. When his sister asked what that meant he held up his middle finger and told her he thought it was the same thing. Then he held up his first two and said that would be the same in the UK. After telling the idea was similar for all…I told him he watched way too much BBC.

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Icky Sickies

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Karen

The last few days we’ve been fighting off the sickies. Nothing major, just tired and an annoying cough.
Monday D and C went to the first meeting for the Arizona Homeschool Theater program, while their sister stayed home sick with grandma, and then we pretty much laid around all day.
Tuesday they all went to their enrichment program, then were too tired to go to akido.
Wednesday we had a pokemon playdate at the park (is it geeky to like the alliteration?), then they decided not to go to our homeschool group’s park day to save their energy for akido. We evidently missed quite the park day, because the President’s cavalcade drove right by the park they were at. Bummer.
Today I’ve got one at their enrichment program and two home coughing. We’ve watched TV, read and now D is playing TimezAttack and B is one Starfall.
Tomorrow I thought we’d go on a field trip, but now I’m thinking we may bunker down and rest all day. Icky sickies go away!

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Roller Grooving’

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Karen

Okay, so I’m behind. We’ve been doing our thing…things. Last thursday we went roller skating with some friends. Fun, exercise and groovy with the black lights and glow sticks.

Weekend was spent with grandma. Eat, read, watch movie, play, repeat :)

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Internet Wandering

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Karen

I’m often asked what we do all day. That is a lot of why I do this, why I’m trying to get back in the habit now that the blog is fixed. If you asked what we did last week or last month, I’d be able to tell you the big things – vacations, field trips, excitements – but not the little moments that make our days. And just the act of writing it down, or typing it out as the case may be, helps me remember.

Yesterday was a pretty usual Wednesday. Everyone read. Well, actually that’s relatively new. They’re all excited about reading right now so we’re spending quite a bit more time than usual on it.

We had park day with our homeschool group. No two park days are the same. Depends on the park, which kids are there and the position of the moon in relation to what they had for breakfast. Yesterday one of the boys had brought a mortar and pestle and some of them were crushing leaves of plants to see how much liquid they had, colors, etc. Another had brought paper and was showing kids how to fold origami stars. Some kids were on the playground equipment, some wandered, one read, some climbed, some ate, some played tennis – kinda – in an open field.

In the evening the kids had akido. They love it. I like that it is defensive and it is a martial art where size isn’t as important. The dojo we go to is also brilliant with the kids and they learn a bit of Japanese while doing it. In fact, D has been invite to test for a belt next month and it’s the Japanese terms for moves and positions that he needs to work on.

So, pretty standard Wednesday…but what did we get into in our unorganzied free time? Well that’s were every day is different and you never know what’s coming. Well daddy had found the first of these at a joke site so I showed the kids. And in internet fashion one thing just kept leading to another…

 

which led to…

 

and this Donkey Kong Parody…a some previous favorites Avada Kedavra by Steve Goodie and Perform This Way by Weird Al

Categories: Fresh Air, Homeschooling | 1 Comment

Life on the Fly

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Karen

Somehow with everything being put on hold with the holidays, our homeschool group ended up completely over-scheduled yesterday. Never let it be said there is nothing to do around here as homeschoolers.

Buoyancy and Propulsion

Yesterday morning we had science co-op. We learned about buoyancy and propulsion. After learning about the theory, the kids build boats from halved milk cartons and made sails, motors from baking soda and vinegar in empty bottles, pontoons from empty water bottles or used soap to break the water tension. And then they set set sail in a backyard pool. Hypothesize, test, make adjustments. The best kind of science.

We left science and drove straight to lego day. Which is just what it sounds like – getting together to build legos. I had two of mine and two extra kids. One of mine road with another mother. As we left, I got a phone call from the mother of the boy I drove offering to take her son and my boys to the next activity so I wouldn’t have to do so much driving. My daughter stayed behind for a playdate. The moms starting laughing about playing musical children and one said, “This is life on the fly.” Exactly.

So I took four boys and drove half way, passing them to one of the moms so she could drive them to Dungeons & Dragons. The boys have been playing D&D for a couple of months now and just finished their first quest last night. They love it. One of the dads is being dungeon master and adjusting things for the 9-12 yo age group and doing a wonderful job.

At the end of the day we ended up with all three of our kids back and no spares. We’d learned about buoyancy, played, legoed, traded pokemon, played D&D, and been shuffled through multiple hands. Life on the fly…I like that.

Categories: Buddy Time, Homeschooling, Science Schmience | 1 Comment

Gauntlet Thrown

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Karen

So last week the kids were taking guesses as to how many books I could read if I had nothing else to do. I tried to point out how unlikely that situation was – even if I ignored laundry and vacuuming, there are still kids to feed and places to go. They decided on a day. One day to read and do nothing else. And actual books, not kindle, so they could see my progress.

Wanting physical books, I took a trip to the library. I saw fascinating books like a historical fiction on feudal Japan, but those don’t read quickly. I asked two different librarians for short, quick reads – hoping for some 200 page genre fiction. The only recommendation they could think of was Lillian Jackson Braun; it only took a page to have me checking copyright date. For future reference I can skip all books written in the 60s that use words like doll and dame.

Yesterday was the day. But it wasn’t quite a full day. Grandma was down in the morning, kids came in and out and in and out, breakfast, lunch, dinner…and the wandering. Discovered I can no longer sit by the hour and get completely lost in a book. I’m wildly out of practice and have about a 45 second attention span. Read, hear kids talk, read, think about what we need to do the next day, read, go check on laundry. Wow. I guess motherhood and constant interruption has seriously decreased my focus.

1. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun 250 pages
2. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs 288 pages
3. Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs 292 pages

Three books, 830 pages. Should have picked shorter books since it was by book count! Two-thirds were impressed. One thought I’d be much higher. I told them I’m out of practice. Anymore I read two or three pages and hop up to do something else, sneaking reading in whenever I can. Maybe if I try some more extended sitting periods I can get back to a bit more concentration. The good news is every read yesterday, not just mom. And maybe I’ll get more practice in future.

Categories: Books, books, books!, Playful Parenting | Tags: | 1 Comment

From Pirates to Punk

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Karen

Right now I have one sleeping, two if you count daddy, one reading a Magic Treehouse book and one doing Mighty Mind puzzles. Random. Yesterday definitely had that eclectic random feeling we specialize in sometimes, but added busy.

We headed over to the Arizona Science Center. While we’d planned just to walk around, we saw that the exhibit Real Pirates was going to close Sunday. On the way to the exhibit, D wondered how much electricity the science center uses and asked an employee, who called over another employee, who ended up calling a manager. Never got an exact answer, but ‘a whole lot’ was the general consensus. But they talked about the solar panels they have to generate some electricity. One of the employees we talked to was knitting with strips of plastic grocery bags. She’s making sleeping mats for the homeless. She’d like help with the project if anyone local is interested – leave a message in the comments. The kids chatted with her until the doors opened for the pirates exhibit.

I wasn’t sure what exactly the pirates exhibit was going to be. It was the real story of Whydah, which began as a slave ship, became a pirate ship and sunk of the coast of New England. The exhibit discussed slavery, the economic impact on both Africa and Europe, the conditions of the slaves as they were taken from Africa to the Caribbean. The kids were horrified by examples of small leg shackles and drawings of the over crowded sleep conditions on board. We read sign after sign and looked at the all the artifacts while most people raced by us. Then the exhibit moves into the pirate Sam Bellamy and how the Whydah became a pirate ship. There were a lot of things we didn’t know about pirates in general and a lot of myths debunked. We read signs, looked at muskets and cannons, read stories about pirates in general and the Whydah in specific. Then the exhibit moves on to the discovery of the ship and the ongoing process of exploration. The entire thing was very interesting and we learned a lot of new things. A couple of which we learned from other people wondering the exhibit that talked to the kids. And if we want to explore more, National Geographic, that created the exhibit, has several lesson ideas online.

Biggest ideas that stuck with us or surprised us:
D – Real treasure doesn’t look at all the in the movies. They had actual treasure found from the ship – various countries silver and – a few – gold coins. It looked more like a piggy bank exploded that the image of hunks of rubies and emeralds and necklaces dripping from overloaded chests.
C – They let us touch some of the real coins from the ship. Very cool because they were over 300 years old and were pirate treasure.
B – That Blackbeard was real. His name is so funny, he sounds like a mythic pirate.
Me – Probably how egalitarian pirates were amongst themselves – splitting treasure equally, voting for officers, taking men of any color or nationality and even a few women.

When we left the exhibit we wandered through the body area. Nothing like a hands on museum to encourage wandering. We ran into a friend that was heading into the planetarium and decided to join them. Ice Worlds was about the importance of ice in the galaxy, examples of it in our solar system and on our planet. Then we got to see the stars in that night’s sky. The kids asked for different features – specific stars, constellations, blackholes, etc – and we get an explanation while they were displayed.

D Punk

B Valley Girl

C Punk

 

Headed home and read a bit. But just a bit (the first book in the 1001 Books Every Child Must Read Before Growing Up list – The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. There was an 80s theme dance party we were invited to and the kids spent the rest of the afternoon looking up ideas – two decided to go punk and one as a valley girl. Getting ready was accompanied by an insane mix of Cyndi Lauper and the Sex Pistols for mood music. I couldn’t believe how excited they got about getting dressed up.

Categories: Buddy Time, Homeschooling, Science Schmience | Tags: , , | Leave a comment