Monthly Home Learning Wrap~Up September 2013

What we read:

·      The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

·      Finished Venom and Song by Batson & Hopper

• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

·      Mystery of History covering

o   Ice Age, dinosaurs, Gilgamesh, Stonehenge, early Egypt, the Minoans

·      Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

What we did:

·      Lots if nail art.  Lorelei started a nail polish swatch & design notebook

·      Researched acrylic nails – pros, cons, how-to

·      Lorelei did her own acrylic manicure

·      Doodling & tangling

·      Played around with photo editing

·      Worked on drawing realistic cats

·      Made banana bread

·      Worked on Life of Fred, Kidneys – Chapters 1 -  5

·      Made lots of flexahexagons

·      Designing outfits on Polyvore app

·      Disappearing egg shell experiment

·      Helicopter tour of Oahu

·      Ivory soap experiment – states of matter, heat, expanding gases

·      Cool Math 4 Kids strategy games

·      Pinterest for design inspiration

·      Researched Vietnamese flying fox – actually a bat, lives in newly discovered Son Doong Cave in Vietnam

·      Journaling, poem writing

·      Iphone upgrade and playing around with it

·      Seterra geography, memorizing North American countries & US States

·      Writing emoji stories

·      Upcycled a jean jacket into a jean vest – ombre dyed in bleach

·      Made Lembas bread for Hobbit week!

·      Made clay props for Halloween costume

·      Learned about diabetes now that our cat has high glucose

What we watched:

·      Vihart video on parabola doodling. Covered how parabolas, dots, lines, cones & cone sections are all related.

·      Latest VSauce videos

·      Vihart videos about flexahexagons.

·      Observed an ant colony invading our mint plant

·      Observed a mud wasp making a hive

Where we went:

·      Sally’s Beauty supply for info about acrylic nails. Had to ask for help by herself. Big step.

·      Tok cat to the Vet. 

·      Trampoline House

·      BIG ISLAND WEEKEND TRIP!

o   Volcanoes National Park

o   Southern most point in the US!

o   Black & green sand beach

o   Top of Mauna Kea

o   Keck Observatory, got a nice mini tour from a scientist there

o   Found a locals beach full of old glass.  Decades old, broken soda & beer bottles. La’s favorite part!

o   Swam with Manta Rays! Incredible!

What we talked about:

·      Government shutdown, how the Congress is designed to function vs. how it functions today.

·      Issues of mind control in government.

·      Facism vs. Communism

·      Idioms and their historical origins

There is No "School" in Our Homeschool

"Image courtesy of scottchan/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net"

Where schools think…                 We think …

Teach,                                              Mentor

Lessons,                                            Learning

Subjects,                                          Living

Testing,                                             Discussion

Productivity,                                    Meta-learning

Textbooks,                                       Living books

Rewards & punishments,               Natural consequences

Coercion,                                        Following interests

Well roundedness,                          Specialization

Equality,                                           Individualization

School days, hours,                        Learning all the time

Assignments,                                   Learning together

Compulsion,                                   Freedom and choice

Learning materials,                        All things hold learning potential

Scope & Sequence,                     Learning new skills as they become     

                                                           useful & meaningful           

Recreating real world                  Being in the real world

in school ,                                                    

Age-segregation,                          Age-integration   

Preparing for “real life”,                Living a real life

                                                                        

Lacy Shells Newborn Bonnet

It's been a while since my last pattern post.  This one has been in my notebook for some time.  I'm happy to finally get it typed up for you!  It is in newborn size, but you can easily adjust it by making the back portion with more rounds, adding clusters in the body rows, and adding more rows.  It's very light and airy and very sweet. Hope you enjoy it.

Download on Ravelry HERE
and Craftsy HERE

Monthly Home Learning Wrap-Up ~ August 2013

What we read:

·      Swiss Family Robinson

·      Rereading Sea of Monsters

What we did:

·      Clothes shopping

·      Designing original outfits

·      Started Instagram for our 2 cats – A Tale of 2 Kitties

·      Lots of Nail Art

·      Attempted some cardboard construction

·      Grew hydroponic lettuce

·      Mulan lead to looking up the legend and China history. Research on the Hunnic Empire. Evolution of civilizations. 

·      Went to see Cats – the musical, her first on stage professional musical

What we watched:

·      Outrageous Acts of Science, Vsauce, CutePolish

·      PercyJackson: The Sea of Monsters movie

·      Perseid Meteor Shower – which we learned does not originate from Perseus  

·      RL Stien’s Haunting Hour

·      Disney’s Mulan

·      Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson

·       

Where we went:

·      Youth group – sundae party

·      Hiking on Pupukea

·      Trip to AZ & NY – NY State Fair, Canyon Climb, time with cousins, swimming, acrylic nails, shopping, etc. … So many experiences, too much to keep track of!

What we talked about:

·      Narrated to me, plot of Percy Jackson and how they compare and contrast to the movies and the original Greek myths

·      Anxiety about growing up, adult responsibilities

·      Discussed the difference in intelligent horror vs. slasher films and social/political commentary