Feb. 5th, 2020.
The children were watching TinTin with David when I woke up late. Breakfast, dressing people, etc., and we likely started school around 10:30 or so.
10:30 - 11:15 Morning Time!
We reviewed our memory work first. The Lord's Prayer, the first two verses of Psalm 23, the provinces of Canada, and the books of the Old Testament up to Song of Songs. With YouTube accompaniment we sang our study hymn, Be Thou My Vision, and our current folk song, Land of the Silver Birch. I read several pages of our current poetry book and then we broke off into individual groups. The 5yo and I worked on a reading lesson together while the 7yo and 9yo went off to read their narration chapters.
11:15 - 11:30
I needed to get myself ready for the day still, which I did while everyone shrieked and ran around or something. I don't remember. I think possibly the 9yo was still working on assigned reading. Before we left for piano the 7yo gave me her narration.
11:30 - 12:30
The oldest two came with me to the church while David came home to stay with the youngest, so that we could practice piano. They each got about 30 minutes of guided practice with me.
12:30 - 1:00
All three kids helped clean up and we ate lunch.
1:00 - 1:45
The kids were done lunch, and I sat with the 9yo and worked through 2 math lessons and then set him problems to work. The younger 2 did math at the kitchen table from their workbooks. Then everyone got kicked outside to play. I went out too, with the dog, and cleaned up the yard a bit. It was really cold, so we didn't have much of an 'outside time', and no one was up for a walk.
1:45 - 2:45
The 7yo and 5yo and I made paper beads at the table and had some interesting conversation about all sorts of things. We made tea and drank it out of fancy cups. The 9yo spent an hour reading on the sofa.
2:45 - ?
The 9yo finished his reading and did a page of copywork. David came home again from the church to work here while I took the dog for a walk. While he was home, the two youngest played with play dough. I think there was a cartoon on but no one liked it or something.
4:00ish - 6:00ish
Ah, the witching hour. I got home from walking the dog, got one child through a shower, checked math work, fed people...you know the drill.
6:00 onwards
David left again for evening meetings. The kids got ready for bed and then the 7yo and 5yo listened to a chapter of their read-aloud. When they were asleep I read a chapter and a half of the 9yo's bedtime read to him, and that was that!
Showing posts with label Learning Notes 2019-2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Learning Notes 2019-2020. Show all posts
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Saturday, February 1, 2020
Learning Notes (Jan.27-Feb.1)
Back in the swing of things with Learning Notes this week. I just didn't bother to add that extra thing to do to my Christmas and Epiphany, frankly. Anyway, here's what we did this week!
The 9yo started a book to narrate...
We're using this book, which was a read aloud a few years ago, to practice our narration skills. Read a chapter and tell me about it! I offer a few cues for stuff to discuss such as...is there a bad guy? What are the characters names? Did anything exciting happen? What do you think might happen later in the story?
The 7yo also got a narration book...
The Our Canadian Girl books are written with the 7-10 year old girl in mind, and focus on great events and peoples in Canadian history. Despite the title of this particular choice, these are not Christian books.
The 7yo is in the last 2 weeks of practice before she graduates from her piano level, so there was plenty of practice happening. She also designed and produced invitations to hand out for her piano graduation party. The 9yo had piano as well.
We made papier maché creations and painted them. We're now the proud owners of...a container for the cat's toys, two bird feeders, and an organizer for the craft shelf. You get one guess as to which was mine. I meant to take pictures but then...ugh, I didn't.
All three children worked once in their math workbooks and twice on their online math. The 9yo did copywork. The 5yo finished 2 reading lessons.
The children were signed up at the library to learn how to play Nintendo Switch Mario Kart. They have never played on a Nintendo Switch before and had a blast. On Saturday our family went to a local church family outdoor fun day. The kids spent two hours chatting with friends while throwing themselves down increasingly perilous hills, culminating in one the 9yo called Vertical Death. Then we had a big church community supper, the kids played board games with buddies, and slept the sleep of children who had conquered the Vertical Death and won.
Read Alouds!!
The 9yo and I finished The Dark Is Rising, and started our new novel The Boundless. The 7yo and 5yo are still listening to Milly-Molly-Mandy. Our group novel read-aloud is The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street and we're also reading the poetry of Mr. Rogers. We finished a biography of Helen Keller.
We went to the library. The 9yo has spent the last week reading The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, although I think he's missing the last two books off his list. However, our library doesn't stock them so instead he's reading the Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles. Also this book:
The 7yo seemed to be between books for a moment, mostly reading cookbooks, but then latched onto Catwings by Le Guin. All three children have pulled out this book:
And have spent many hours coming up with a game plan to make money with a pop-selling business. On Mon. I sat down with them and explained an expense sheet and they're running with the idea.
We wrote a postcard to Mongolia, which meant heading to the post office, picking a card, discussing international postal rates, carefully printing our message, and spelling exciting words like 'Ulaanbaatar '. We walked back to the post office and mailed our card with great fanfare. Then we read the Mongolia entry in this book:
What would a child in Mongolia eat? Good question! Turns out the traditional answer is...meat. So we bought some steaks at the grocery store with the intention of grilled them, which we have not yet done. Yay Mongolian cuisine! Cough.
We also looked up Mongolia on our giant wall map, and flipped through a book about modern day Mongolia.
We finished our hymn study of Be Thou My Vision and the 7yo and I sang it in church as a little celebration. We started learning a folk song, Land of the Silver Birch.
We watched episodes of the BBC series Weird Wonders of the World (we skipped over the whale autopsy, though, at popular request), and also Antiques Uncovered, which features Dr. Lucy Worsley, who I think is a marvelous presenter.
The children built a city outside out of snow. We drove to visit grandparents, twice, once to see my mother for her birthday, for which the 7yo helped to make biscuits.
The 7yo also made good progress on her knitting.
Conversations about...
What would you do if you got lost? How big is Canada and how much of it do we live in? How many eggs does a chicken lay? What is the term for being unable to talk? What is windshield washer fluid made from? Imagine what it would be like to carry water to your house instead of turning on a tap? What is a sponsor child?
Another week!
The 9yo started a book to narrate...
We're using this book, which was a read aloud a few years ago, to practice our narration skills. Read a chapter and tell me about it! I offer a few cues for stuff to discuss such as...is there a bad guy? What are the characters names? Did anything exciting happen? What do you think might happen later in the story?
The 7yo also got a narration book...
The Our Canadian Girl books are written with the 7-10 year old girl in mind, and focus on great events and peoples in Canadian history. Despite the title of this particular choice, these are not Christian books.
The 7yo is in the last 2 weeks of practice before she graduates from her piano level, so there was plenty of practice happening. She also designed and produced invitations to hand out for her piano graduation party. The 9yo had piano as well.
We made papier maché creations and painted them. We're now the proud owners of...a container for the cat's toys, two bird feeders, and an organizer for the craft shelf. You get one guess as to which was mine. I meant to take pictures but then...ugh, I didn't.
All three children worked once in their math workbooks and twice on their online math. The 9yo did copywork. The 5yo finished 2 reading lessons.
The children were signed up at the library to learn how to play Nintendo Switch Mario Kart. They have never played on a Nintendo Switch before and had a blast. On Saturday our family went to a local church family outdoor fun day. The kids spent two hours chatting with friends while throwing themselves down increasingly perilous hills, culminating in one the 9yo called Vertical Death. Then we had a big church community supper, the kids played board games with buddies, and slept the sleep of children who had conquered the Vertical Death and won.
Read Alouds!!
The 9yo and I finished The Dark Is Rising, and started our new novel The Boundless. The 7yo and 5yo are still listening to Milly-Molly-Mandy. Our group novel read-aloud is The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street and we're also reading the poetry of Mr. Rogers. We finished a biography of Helen Keller.
The 7yo seemed to be between books for a moment, mostly reading cookbooks, but then latched onto Catwings by Le Guin. All three children have pulled out this book:
And have spent many hours coming up with a game plan to make money with a pop-selling business. On Mon. I sat down with them and explained an expense sheet and they're running with the idea.
We wrote a postcard to Mongolia, which meant heading to the post office, picking a card, discussing international postal rates, carefully printing our message, and spelling exciting words like 'Ulaanbaatar '. We walked back to the post office and mailed our card with great fanfare. Then we read the Mongolia entry in this book:
What would a child in Mongolia eat? Good question! Turns out the traditional answer is...meat. So we bought some steaks at the grocery store with the intention of grilled them, which we have not yet done. Yay Mongolian cuisine! Cough.
We also looked up Mongolia on our giant wall map, and flipped through a book about modern day Mongolia.
We finished our hymn study of Be Thou My Vision and the 7yo and I sang it in church as a little celebration. We started learning a folk song, Land of the Silver Birch.
We watched episodes of the BBC series Weird Wonders of the World (we skipped over the whale autopsy, though, at popular request), and also Antiques Uncovered, which features Dr. Lucy Worsley, who I think is a marvelous presenter.
The children built a city outside out of snow. We drove to visit grandparents, twice, once to see my mother for her birthday, for which the 7yo helped to make biscuits.
The 7yo also made good progress on her knitting.
Conversations about...
What would you do if you got lost? How big is Canada and how much of it do we live in? How many eggs does a chicken lay? What is the term for being unable to talk? What is windshield washer fluid made from? Imagine what it would be like to carry water to your house instead of turning on a tap? What is a sponsor child?
Another week!
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Learning Notes (Dec. 16-21)
What we did this week.
We restarted some of our book work! It's been a good break, and undoubtedly we will be taking another one in a few months, but we're getting back into the swing of some of our more important lessons.
The 9yo has, very reluctantly, restarted his copywork at my insistence. He uses this book:
It's not the best option out there but it is what I have on hand and I cannot handle figuring out an alternative right now. His handwriting is improving significantly.
The 7yo and 5yo girls worked on their nature study books:
The 5yo has been puttering along with Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. She finished lesson 30 and is now reading the first set of Bob Books.
I've used both of these books/sets to teach all three children how to read now. It was a good investment!
We finished a read aloud!
The 9yo and I, after two marathon reading sessions, finally finished this guy right here! I will get a book review up as soon as I can. (Edit - It's up! Here you go!)
All the children and I also read a lot of this one.
We also kept going with some other books...
And the 9yo and I started a new read aloud!
Things we did!
- We went for a long walk in the snow and tobogganed down all the hills we could find.
- We painted with lemon juice to make 'invisible ink'.
- The kids all decorated sheets of paper to make wrapping for Santa to use on their gifts.
- We played an epic several-days-long family game of Monopoly.
- We bought and wrapped the last of our gifts.
- The 9yo and 7yo practiced their piano pieces for the church Christmas Eve service.
- We made and hung suet balls, peanut butter smeared pinecones, slices of apple and various other treats for wildlife.
- The children played Prodigy math.
- We listened to Adventures in Odyssey stories.
Conversations!
We talked about...the winter solstice, whether you can tell someone how much their gift cost, the dog, and a lot of things I can't even remember now because it is 2 days before Christmas and my memory is shot.
We restarted some of our book work! It's been a good break, and undoubtedly we will be taking another one in a few months, but we're getting back into the swing of some of our more important lessons.
The 9yo has, very reluctantly, restarted his copywork at my insistence. He uses this book:
 |
| Link |
The 7yo and 5yo girls worked on their nature study books:
 |
| Link |
The 5yo has been puttering along with Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. She finished lesson 30 and is now reading the first set of Bob Books.
I've used both of these books/sets to teach all three children how to read now. It was a good investment!
We finished a read aloud!
The 9yo and I, after two marathon reading sessions, finally finished this guy right here! I will get a book review up as soon as I can. (Edit - It's up! Here you go!)
All the children and I also read a lot of this one.
We also kept going with some other books...
And the 9yo and I started a new read aloud!
Things we did!
- We went for a long walk in the snow and tobogganed down all the hills we could find.
- We painted with lemon juice to make 'invisible ink'.
- The kids all decorated sheets of paper to make wrapping for Santa to use on their gifts.
- We played an epic several-days-long family game of Monopoly.
- We bought and wrapped the last of our gifts.
- The 9yo and 7yo practiced their piano pieces for the church Christmas Eve service.
- We made and hung suet balls, peanut butter smeared pinecones, slices of apple and various other treats for wildlife.
- The children played Prodigy math.
- We listened to Adventures in Odyssey stories.
Conversations!
We talked about...the winter solstice, whether you can tell someone how much their gift cost, the dog, and a lot of things I can't even remember now because it is 2 days before Christmas and my memory is shot.
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Learning Notes (Dec. 7-15)
A few things that tagged along at the end of last week that I didn't mention in the previous learning notes, plus everything (I can remember, at least) that we did this week, too. Enjoy!
Stuff we did!
We played with slime and putty! I will admit, here and now, that I do not understand slime. I mean, playdough you can play with, but slime is just this gross goop that does nothing. And it looks like mucus. And it's incredibly expensive. I dunno. I don't get it. But anyway, my children had never played with slime before so I picked some up just to say we'd experienced it. Shudder. The putty was no better, although it was even more expensive, made a rude noise when you squeezed it, and was slightly less mucous-like. I have looked and can't find pictures online of whatever brands we bought (the slime was glow-in-the-dark and the putty was 'galaxy' coloured). Kids are gross. The end.
We listened to audio stories from Adventures In Odyssey! (The children got volume...46? I think? as an early gift). Audio stories just make the drives so much faster.
We started forcing bulbs in the kitchen! At the end of the summer I let the hyacinths naturally dry up and lose their leaves, and then I wrapped them in newspaper and stuck them in the back of a crisper drawer in the fridge. Last week I took them out and let them warm up on the counter. And now I've put them in a shallow dish with water on the table. We're talking a lot about bulbs!
The 7yo got onto a hand-sewing-cloth-bags kick, so she spent a lot of time doing that.
The 5yo wanted to practice writing out all of her letters and numbers. She filled pages and pages with these. We took the opportunity to review the first 30 lessons of Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
The 5yo got a Prodigy math account set up and I reviewed the children's math work - they're doing well! They all got to play math games on the computer this week.
Places we went!
- The 7yo had a dentist appointment, the 9yo had a piano lesson, and on the Wednesday we welcomed my mother for a respite visit.
- We went on a nature walk and discussed our Advent reading about rabbits, how quickly the snow dissolved when you breathed on it, and how to camouflage yourself in the winter.
- We practiced our graphing by going to a restaurant and recording how many people came in or out wearing a hat, a hood, or having just a bare head. This book is great for those sorts of hands-on math outings, if you need suggestions for things to do outside of the house in a mathy way.
We had a dr. appointment, shoveled snow for ourselves and neighbours, went to the hardware store to buy a new windshield wiper and install it on the car, cleaned the house together, went to a Christmas party and made crafts there, returned our library books and took our some new ones, cooked...
Books we read!
We finished this one as a group read-aloud (see my review of it here):
And the 9yo and I continued on with this one:
New group read-aloud was started!
Advent read alouds, various other read alouds, books in general...
Stuff we did!
We played with slime and putty! I will admit, here and now, that I do not understand slime. I mean, playdough you can play with, but slime is just this gross goop that does nothing. And it looks like mucus. And it's incredibly expensive. I dunno. I don't get it. But anyway, my children had never played with slime before so I picked some up just to say we'd experienced it. Shudder. The putty was no better, although it was even more expensive, made a rude noise when you squeezed it, and was slightly less mucous-like. I have looked and can't find pictures online of whatever brands we bought (the slime was glow-in-the-dark and the putty was 'galaxy' coloured). Kids are gross. The end.
We listened to audio stories from Adventures In Odyssey! (The children got volume...46? I think? as an early gift). Audio stories just make the drives so much faster.
We started forcing bulbs in the kitchen! At the end of the summer I let the hyacinths naturally dry up and lose their leaves, and then I wrapped them in newspaper and stuck them in the back of a crisper drawer in the fridge. Last week I took them out and let them warm up on the counter. And now I've put them in a shallow dish with water on the table. We're talking a lot about bulbs!
The 7yo got onto a hand-sewing-cloth-bags kick, so she spent a lot of time doing that.
The 5yo wanted to practice writing out all of her letters and numbers. She filled pages and pages with these. We took the opportunity to review the first 30 lessons of Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
The 5yo got a Prodigy math account set up and I reviewed the children's math work - they're doing well! They all got to play math games on the computer this week.
Places we went!
- The 7yo had a dentist appointment, the 9yo had a piano lesson, and on the Wednesday we welcomed my mother for a respite visit.
- We went on a nature walk and discussed our Advent reading about rabbits, how quickly the snow dissolved when you breathed on it, and how to camouflage yourself in the winter.
"I wonder why those mourning doves are in such a big flock
but some are in one tree and some are in another.
I wonder if the ones up in the tall tree are lookouts
for the ones in the spruce, who can't see as well.
What do you all think?"
- We practiced our graphing by going to a restaurant and recording how many people came in or out wearing a hat, a hood, or having just a bare head. This book is great for those sorts of hands-on math outings, if you need suggestions for things to do outside of the house in a mathy way.
We had a dr. appointment, shoveled snow for ourselves and neighbours, went to the hardware store to buy a new windshield wiper and install it on the car, cleaned the house together, went to a Christmas party and made crafts there, returned our library books and took our some new ones, cooked...
Books we read!
We finished this one as a group read-aloud (see my review of it here):
And the 9yo and I continued on with this one:
New group read-aloud was started!
Advent read alouds, various other read alouds, books in general...
 |
| We read about ancient Australian Aboriginal culture, the history of the Maori diaspora, and the Frankish peoples united under Clovis. |
Conversations we had!
What are the pros and cons of graphic novels versus completely print novels? What are the differences between comics and graphic novels? That hot foods are common in hot countries because they make you sweat when you eat, which cools you off. Electrons, protons, neutrons, and the Large Hadron Collider. How the atomic bomb worked. If 'c' and 'k' and 'ck' (and others) all make the same sound, why have that many options?
"Mama, the colour white absorbs less heat than other colours!"
"Hey Mom! So assuming you had been born with a hole IN your head, and someone could reach in and touch your brain, did you know that you couldn't feel that? Because the brain doesn't have nerve receptors!"
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Learning Notes (Dec. 1-7)
Hello beautiful Advent! This week the children helped with Christmas baking (two loaves of fruitcake, two dozen sparkly ginger cookies, 30 miniature raspberry pies with homemade jam, a tray of lemon squares...), they shovelled for the neighbours and us, set out stale bread on our bird feeder, did plenty of chores around the house, helped shop for groceries, and much, much more.
Some of the games and such played with this week...
And started a new read-aloud...
He read the first two books. Also read aloud to me from The Horrible Histories - Amazing Aztecs book. And then he picked up this book and finished it in two days:
I have every intention of reading it aloud to them again, and the 9yo heartily approves. He thought it was great.
The two oldest practiced the piano and played their online Prodigy math game extensively. The 7yo designed Christmas cards. We all went on a very long hike and identified the animal prints we saw in the snow and found as many old nests in the branches as we could.
7yo "Mama, what's a vertices?"
Me: "Oh, it's a.."
7yo "Never mind! I figured it out!"
***
5yo "Mama, what's 'promotion' mean?"
Conversations! - Can ants live in the jungle? What is the froth on top of the soaking potatoes? When was soap invented? What is Vitamin C? Can ascorbic acid pop a balloon? Will ascorbic acid dissolve us if we eat it? Who is 'Uncle Sam'? What is cremation? Do people plan their funerals before they die? How do they do that? What other cultures besides the Aztecs practiced sacrifice? What does 'obligation' mean? Should you finish reading a book you aren't enjoying? What does 'literally' mean?
The 9yo and I took several 'Conversation Walks' together, talking about a variety of things. I'm going to write up a post sometime about why I consider our conversations to be a valuable part of homeschooling. (Edit - I did this. Here is the post!) The most memorable of the walks included discussing the books we'd read recently and why we did or did not like them.
Videos and such!
How to beat any escape room!
The 'scam science' of carnival games!
A world without friction!
Visiting the world's biggest vacuum chamber! *This one was actually really cool.
How were the pyramids at Giza built?
Some of the games and such played with this week...
Also racous outdoor games of capture the flag, playing with playdough at the kitchen table, the girls playing elaborate games of grown-uppishness. "Let's buy stuff at the store!" "Excuse me, ma'am, I have some questions for you."
Books read! This is the Advent devotional I use for the children. It tells stories of animals in winter over the days of the season. It's simply beautiful and the perfect addition to a December nature study.
And on a lighter note...We finished this one entirely over a few bedtime read-alouds.
Still working through this one, though!
and a few more...
We read about medieval Japanese culture...
And started a new read-aloud...
The children read alone a LOT. We took a two hour trip to the library to return books and pick up armfuls of new ones. We also put together two big puzzles, including this one, which I thought was very cool:
 |
| Link |
The 5yo discovered the Early Reader section. The 7yo discovered the Mercy Watson books. The 9yo started reading some new graphic novels:
I have every intention of reading it aloud to them again, and the 9yo heartily approves. He thought it was great.
The two oldest practiced the piano and played their online Prodigy math game extensively. The 7yo designed Christmas cards. We all went on a very long hike and identified the animal prints we saw in the snow and found as many old nests in the branches as we could.
7yo "Mama, what's a vertices?"
Me: "Oh, it's a.."
7yo "Never mind! I figured it out!"
***
5yo "Mama, what's 'promotion' mean?"
Conversations! - Can ants live in the jungle? What is the froth on top of the soaking potatoes? When was soap invented? What is Vitamin C? Can ascorbic acid pop a balloon? Will ascorbic acid dissolve us if we eat it? Who is 'Uncle Sam'? What is cremation? Do people plan their funerals before they die? How do they do that? What other cultures besides the Aztecs practiced sacrifice? What does 'obligation' mean? Should you finish reading a book you aren't enjoying? What does 'literally' mean?
The 9yo and I took several 'Conversation Walks' together, talking about a variety of things. I'm going to write up a post sometime about why I consider our conversations to be a valuable part of homeschooling. (Edit - I did this. Here is the post!) The most memorable of the walks included discussing the books we'd read recently and why we did or did not like them.
Videos and such!
How to beat any escape room!
The 'scam science' of carnival games!
A world without friction!
Visiting the world's biggest vacuum chamber! *This one was actually really cool.
How were the pyramids at Giza built?
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Learning Notes (Nov. 24-30)
Another week of school. Here's a great playlist to work to...
First off, it's now the lead up to Advent in our house. Although the first Sunday of Advent is Dec. 1st, I brought in the totes of Christmas decor from the garage anyway because we have a very busy first week of December and I thought it would be prudent to get the tree up now, instead of on St. Nicholas' Day (Dec. 6th). So we put up the tree and spent some time decorating it.
Videos and such we watched -
Veritasium and Three Perplexing Physics Problems.
Will Newton's Cradle go forever in a vacuum?
We made play dough - pink, orange, blue and green, and we scented it with almond, lemon, vanilla and coconut extracts. Here's a recipe we like. The children used it to sculpt and also to play elaborate games of The Great British Baking Challenge. The play dough was on heavy rotation many times over the week.
Conversations about...how the cat's footprints go in almost a straight line, how the dog walks with a left/right stride, instead of opposing front/back paws, why people smoke cigarettes (asked after we saw a smoker as we left the store), can you make an even number by cutting an odd number in half...
We made thaumatropes! There are lots and lots of videos of these on Youtube if you want some ideas of what to draw on your own thaumatropes. Here's one that also talks about phenakistoscopes, zoetropes and praxinoscopes as well, and here's one that adds flipbooks and a few other things to the list. And while we crafted we started listening to this:
Of course, we read aloud...
This entire website is a great snowflake resource - run by a professor from CalTech.
Symmetry in snowflakes - and some fancy designs for cutting them.
More templates!
Vihart's videos on Khan Academy on snowflakes, starflakes, sphereflakes and swirlflakes!
The Anatomy of a snowflake.
Capturing snowflakes in photography.
This book
Making 3D snowflakes out of the pages of an old book. We used regular paper but you know, the book pages would also have been cute.
We also made these adorable little yarn birds for no reason at all except that we wanted to.
Activities of different sorts...
Places we went...
We visited a different church we had never attended a service at before.
The 7yo had a piano lesson.
The 7yo and I went to a ladies' stitching group for a few hours and she got to sit and sew with the 'big ladies'. One of the women, a very talented seamstress, had the 7yo use our sewing machine and run up fabric bags to sell at a craft fair.
We all trekked around town with our shovels in a blizzard to clear steps and driveways, and we stopped for 1/2 price hot chocolates on the way home.
We went out as a family for breakfast.
We had some significant car trouble this week, and with the rush of the season the mechanic couldn't see us for over a week. Unfortunately, this meant the 9yo's piano lesson had to be cancelled, and all three children missed their swimming lesson.
First off, it's now the lead up to Advent in our house. Although the first Sunday of Advent is Dec. 1st, I brought in the totes of Christmas decor from the garage anyway because we have a very busy first week of December and I thought it would be prudent to get the tree up now, instead of on St. Nicholas' Day (Dec. 6th). So we put up the tree and spent some time decorating it.
Videos and such we watched -
Veritasium and Three Perplexing Physics Problems.
Will Newton's Cradle go forever in a vacuum?
We made play dough - pink, orange, blue and green, and we scented it with almond, lemon, vanilla and coconut extracts. Here's a recipe we like. The children used it to sculpt and also to play elaborate games of The Great British Baking Challenge. The play dough was on heavy rotation many times over the week.
Conversations about...how the cat's footprints go in almost a straight line, how the dog walks with a left/right stride, instead of opposing front/back paws, why people smoke cigarettes (asked after we saw a smoker as we left the store), can you make an even number by cutting an odd number in half...
We made thaumatropes! There are lots and lots of videos of these on Youtube if you want some ideas of what to draw on your own thaumatropes. Here's one that also talks about phenakistoscopes, zoetropes and praxinoscopes as well, and here's one that adds flipbooks and a few other things to the list. And while we crafted we started listening to this:
Of course, we read aloud...
We did a lot of stuff with snowflakes this week!
This entire website is a great snowflake resource - run by a professor from CalTech.
Symmetry in snowflakes - and some fancy designs for cutting them.
More templates!
Vihart's videos on Khan Academy on snowflakes, starflakes, sphereflakes and swirlflakes!
The Anatomy of a snowflake.
Capturing snowflakes in photography.
This book
 |
| Link |
We also made these adorable little yarn birds for no reason at all except that we wanted to.
Activities of different sorts...
Places we went...
We visited a different church we had never attended a service at before.
The 7yo had a piano lesson.
The 7yo and I went to a ladies' stitching group for a few hours and she got to sit and sew with the 'big ladies'. One of the women, a very talented seamstress, had the 7yo use our sewing machine and run up fabric bags to sell at a craft fair.
We all trekked around town with our shovels in a blizzard to clear steps and driveways, and we stopped for 1/2 price hot chocolates on the way home.
We went out as a family for breakfast.
We had some significant car trouble this week, and with the rush of the season the mechanic couldn't see us for over a week. Unfortunately, this meant the 9yo's piano lesson had to be cancelled, and all three children missed their swimming lesson.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Learning Notes (Nov. 11-17)
Things we did this week!
We watched lots of videos - here ya go:
La Machine! Vi Hart's Anti-Pi Rant! And her proof that some infinities are bigger than other infinities. - (We argued a bit about this afterwards. I stand firm! The philosophical must prevail!)
Making puzzle boxes from paint sticks! Felix Baumgartner's insane skydive! (Mom! He's, like, In. Space.)
More puzzlers - the Radbox! How to make a puzzle box! (The 9yo is on a kick, if you can't tell)
Episode 1 of the BBC documentary Colour: The Spectrum of Science!
We listened to two Odyssey audio stories in the car to and from our way to swimming lessons and piano lessons. We played Prodigy math games online!
Lots of discussions - on how dogs do not have retractable claws like cats, on how vaccines are necessary, whether coniferous needles count as leaves, why the spouse of a monarch is not always referred to by a reigning title and what the order of succession is for the British crown, and how the Southern hemisphere and Northern hemisphere of the Earth do not see the same constellations.
There was a lot of reading aloud -
We packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child, did outdoor Christmas decorating, attended 3 Remembrance Day services on the 11th, went to the church and decorated the sanctuary and fellowship hall for Christmas, shovelled snow for a neighbour and ourselves, got our flu shots, grocery shopped, and bought some Christmas gifts. We went to swimming lessons and piano lessons and started practicing new Christmas songs!
The 9yo read a lot of this:
He also learned how to bake bread this week!
The 7yo spent her week practicing her sewing and acquired her own sewing kit by the end. She made dresses for her sister's toy elephant. She set up a secret club and wrote invitations to us to join. She and her sister played board games all week interspersed with elaborate games of store and mailman.
The 5yo spent her week cutting up magazines for their pictures, playing with her sister, and learning the ins and outs of scrabble junior:
We did do some nature walking this week but not really enough. The 9yo and 7yo and I went on a night walk and did some star-gazing and found the big dipper and casseopeia again.
I continued with our bedtime read aloud:
And there you have it! Another week past in our busiest season of the year! Are you enjoying our very unscheduled, unplanned time?
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