This morning NT skipped Cyberchase to get right to his fish-watching. He is really enjoying his new pets and has started making up names for each of them (there are 11). He learned to feed them this morning and is consumed with trying to figure out how one of his platys can have her live babies without having them become lunch for all the other fish.
In the meantime, I am more concerned about figuring out how to keep the existing fish alive. We don't know exactly what kinds of fish we have (except the platys) so we're not sure we're feeding them properly...and then there's the question of clean and safe water...
We just barely finished our latest Hardy Boys mystery this morning. NT has declared that there is no point in reading fiction because you don't learn anything from it. He wants to switch to non-fiction. I'm wondering if he'll consider the Little House books non-fiction by his definition...we'll see.
The kids built castles with the Magna Tiles this morning while I read to them. Then they wrestled and played football in the living room before watching the 1957 version of The Cat in the Hat.
This afternoon the kids went swimming at the "indoor beach" with Grampy and then they all met Maria for dinner. While the kids were gone I picked up two freshwater aquarium books for NT so he can study up on how to take care of his new pets.
NT and John are attending the Cub Scouts pack meeting this evening where NT is getting recognized for earning his Wolf Cub badge!
Liz and I stayed home and read books and then had a lengthy discussion about ballet class. She loves ballet very much but is anxious about her current class, so we are thinking about switching to the new homeschoolers' ballet class (same studio) that starts in March.
Showing posts with label Classics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Classics. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
This weekend was full of fun activities.
Saturday morning NT had an art class where he worked with both pastels and modeling clay. This particular art class offers the opportunity to have artwork displayed in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, so he is really excited.
As a follow-up to Friday's conversation about Elvis Presley, NT asked if we could listen to the XM Radio station that plays ONLY Elvis music. He liked it very much.
Saturday afternoon Minna, Grandpa Alan, & Auntie Em took the kids to the Lake Harriet Kite Festival where they saw lots of really cool and colorful kites, and the warmed up afterward with hot chocolate at the Riverview. Lizzy wasn't feeling well so she stayed back to rest and watch the original Muppet Movie with John.
Sunday John took the kids sledding and then NT went out to play with the neighbor in the snow. Both kids went to bed on time for the first time in days. There have been so many activities, everyone needs to catch up on sleep!
Saturday morning NT had an art class where he worked with both pastels and modeling clay. This particular art class offers the opportunity to have artwork displayed in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, so he is really excited.
As a follow-up to Friday's conversation about Elvis Presley, NT asked if we could listen to the XM Radio station that plays ONLY Elvis music. He liked it very much.
Saturday afternoon Minna, Grandpa Alan, & Auntie Em took the kids to the Lake Harriet Kite Festival where they saw lots of really cool and colorful kites, and the warmed up afterward with hot chocolate at the Riverview. Lizzy wasn't feeling well so she stayed back to rest and watch the original Muppet Movie with John.
Sunday John took the kids sledding and then NT went out to play with the neighbor in the snow. Both kids went to bed on time for the first time in days. There have been so many activities, everyone needs to catch up on sleep!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
NT watched PBS's Cyberchase this morning. The topic was factoring.
This morning NT chose The Eagles Greatest Hits for our music selection, but the kids weren't impressed and, before long, asked for yesterday's hip hop CD again so they could do another dance party.
We finished a Hardy Boys mystery and started a new one. We played restaurant and then the kids played football in the living room while I finished up the morning routine.
After lunch they started (but did not finish) the original 1968 version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
NT worked more on his cursive and then was off to basketball practice with John after dinner. He loves basketball and seems to be getting the hang of it. They had their first practice game last night and he came home pretty excited and confident. They stayed a little bit after practice to play a little extra with a few of the other boys.
This morning NT chose The Eagles Greatest Hits for our music selection, but the kids weren't impressed and, before long, asked for yesterday's hip hop CD again so they could do another dance party.
We finished a Hardy Boys mystery and started a new one. We played restaurant and then the kids played football in the living room while I finished up the morning routine.
After lunch they started (but did not finish) the original 1968 version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
NT worked more on his cursive and then was off to basketball practice with John after dinner. He loves basketball and seems to be getting the hang of it. They had their first practice game last night and he came home pretty excited and confident. They stayed a little bit after practice to play a little extra with a few of the other boys.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
This morning NT watched PBS's Cyberchase on spending money.
The music selection for this morning was hip hop and the kids were so excited about it that they threw an impromptu dance party in the living room.
Lizzy helped me make the beds and knead bread and then she and NT did a "play" that involved a large furnace filter box that they could fit inside of.
All by himself NT came up with the idea to climb inside the box and put Magna Tiles on the inside and outside so that moving the one on the inside would "magically" slide the Magna Tile on the top. He placed tiny plastic dinosaurs on the tiles on the top and then the kids hid inside the box and slid the dinosaurs around from inside. Half-way through he realized that if he had each dino on a different color and the tile below matched the color of the tile above, he could be outside and tell Lizzy which color to move and she could move the dino he wanted. The whole thing was very clever and really cool!
NT worked hard again on writing his name in cursive and then wrote another "Top Secrit" letter to Ezra--this time in cursive!
We read some of Lizzy's books and NT listened to an entire Encylopedia Brown book on CD and then watched the original classic version of The Wizard of Oz while Lizzy took a nap.
Late afternoon Minna took NT to his first ceramics class of the session, which he loved!
This evening Lizzy asked if we could go back to the house with the Christmas lights synched to music so we stopped on the way home from dropping the car at the repair shop.
The music selection for this morning was hip hop and the kids were so excited about it that they threw an impromptu dance party in the living room.
Lizzy helped me make the beds and knead bread and then she and NT did a "play" that involved a large furnace filter box that they could fit inside of.
All by himself NT came up with the idea to climb inside the box and put Magna Tiles on the inside and outside so that moving the one on the inside would "magically" slide the Magna Tile on the top. He placed tiny plastic dinosaurs on the tiles on the top and then the kids hid inside the box and slid the dinosaurs around from inside. Half-way through he realized that if he had each dino on a different color and the tile below matched the color of the tile above, he could be outside and tell Lizzy which color to move and she could move the dino he wanted. The whole thing was very clever and really cool!
NT worked hard again on writing his name in cursive and then wrote another "Top Secrit" letter to Ezra--this time in cursive!
We read some of Lizzy's books and NT listened to an entire Encylopedia Brown book on CD and then watched the original classic version of The Wizard of Oz while Lizzy took a nap.
Late afternoon Minna took NT to his first ceramics class of the session, which he loved!
This evening Lizzy asked if we could go back to the house with the Christmas lights synched to music so we stopped on the way home from dropping the car at the repair shop.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
John took the kids skiing today at Buck Hill. They are both getting better and better!
Late this afternoon the kids watched the classic 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for the first time, wrestled, and ran their 2-floor obstacle course again.
NT and I read through an entire kid-friendly cookbook and wrote down all the recipes that sounded good to him so we can make a menu for next week that he will not complain about, and we organized his room and culled some of his books.
This evening NT and John had a Cub Scout meeting. They made a collage food pyramid and NT is only 6 beads away from his Tiger Cub Badge!
Tonight NT and John are watching PBS's NOVA on evolution...not sure NT will be able to stay awake for the whole thing, but he is fascinated!
Late this afternoon the kids watched the classic 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for the first time, wrestled, and ran their 2-floor obstacle course again.
NT and I read through an entire kid-friendly cookbook and wrote down all the recipes that sounded good to him so we can make a menu for next week that he will not complain about, and we organized his room and culled some of his books.
This evening NT and John had a Cub Scout meeting. They made a collage food pyramid and NT is only 6 beads away from his Tiger Cub Badge!
Tonight NT and John are watching PBS's NOVA on evolution...not sure NT will be able to stay awake for the whole thing, but he is fascinated!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Today was our first "official" day trying out the unschooling life. Of course, it wasn't any different than any other day, except that I was much more aware of what the kids were learning and absorbing as we went about our business.
NT started the morning bright and early watching Cyberchase on PBS, where he learned about measuring the passage of time.
Later, we picked Minna up and went downtown to see the 8th floor Macy's holiday story, A Day in the Life of an Elf. We arrived just as it opened so we almost had the place to ourselves, giving the kids as much time and space as they liked to check out each animated scene.
Afterward, the kids burned off some energy running around in the skyway while we tracked John down and then walked over to Peter's Grill--the "oldest continually operating restaurant in the city" (94 years!)--where Minna treated us to brunch.
This afternoon NT spent several hours building and rebuilding structures with his new Marbulous set from Gramma Ruth. He talked about gravity and angles as he re-engineered his designs to make the marbles go faster or take different paths. For a little while he had some help from Grandpa Alan.
We read Hardy Boys' Secret of the Old Mill out loud for about an hour. NT asked if he could stop me if he heard a word he didn't understand so I could explain it to him. Today he learned what "genuine" means.
NT also spent quite a bit of time in his basement "studio" working on various crafts, including some pretty cool monsters he fashioned out of sparkly pipe cleaners.
After LL's nap we watched a DVD of Swan Lake from the library so she could see real ballerinas perform. Interestingly, her brother seemed much more interested in the performance than she was!
NT read a book about the Titanic to himself at bedtime. He is really fascinated by shipwrecks. We talked about how scary it must have been for the people who were on the ship when it went down.
NT started the morning bright and early watching Cyberchase on PBS, where he learned about measuring the passage of time.
Later, we picked Minna up and went downtown to see the 8th floor Macy's holiday story, A Day in the Life of an Elf. We arrived just as it opened so we almost had the place to ourselves, giving the kids as much time and space as they liked to check out each animated scene.
Afterward, the kids burned off some energy running around in the skyway while we tracked John down and then walked over to Peter's Grill--the "oldest continually operating restaurant in the city" (94 years!)--where Minna treated us to brunch.
This afternoon NT spent several hours building and rebuilding structures with his new Marbulous set from Gramma Ruth. He talked about gravity and angles as he re-engineered his designs to make the marbles go faster or take different paths. For a little while he had some help from Grandpa Alan.
We read Hardy Boys' Secret of the Old Mill out loud for about an hour. NT asked if he could stop me if he heard a word he didn't understand so I could explain it to him. Today he learned what "genuine" means.
NT also spent quite a bit of time in his basement "studio" working on various crafts, including some pretty cool monsters he fashioned out of sparkly pipe cleaners.
After LL's nap we watched a DVD of Swan Lake from the library so she could see real ballerinas perform. Interestingly, her brother seemed much more interested in the performance than she was!
NT read a book about the Titanic to himself at bedtime. He is really fascinated by shipwrecks. We talked about how scary it must have been for the people who were on the ship when it went down.
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