Garden update

Yep, still there! Just kidding, the figs are coming in! This is the one the birds and ants claimed! Every fig is just past a spider web and next to a lizard.

I call it "the dead and dying".

Jellybean didn't have to share them, because her brothers aren't home!

just mom and jellybean

Day 4 part two

We almost had to put the web report on two pages. Taylor, with his normal cunning, added "castle bricks" to connect "solid" to Camelot. That allowed him an extra connection and so, more knollars. And, after another search at the second library for a book on the Legend of King Arthur (yesterday the search landed us at the art museum across the parking lot from the library), we gave up and came home to score the webreport. The total was 70 K, and 9 experience points! He really engages his brain to make the webreports "valueable" as he calls it.
Then, through a stroke of luck, and a weekly email newsletter from cliffnotes, I found free notes on the Arthurian Legends. So, I am printing them for tomorrow. However, it is "summer" and Taylor wants to hang out with his cousin who is "out of school" for the summer. So, we will be skipping days on the game for a month or two. And, there will be vacation and summer camp coming up also. Hopefully, journaling in his notebook will help encourage him to glance at the game notes occasionally through those moments.

It's like, Totally Tuesday

Day 4

Today we added a detour to the gameboard. It is the gold colored space that looks like it doesn't belong. It is great that the game is able to work with us while still keeping us focused on the topic. Taylor and Mom are both prone to "wandering". =) We watched a video on the Dark Ages, then explored the related pages in the Encyclopedia of World History. This is the internet-linked version from Usborne (sorry, I just use a lot of their products), so we explored the links. That led us to the printable activities, and it was then that we decided to make it a detour. Because there was no way we would have time to cover the DaVinci resources linked to the space we were on. It's really nice to keep things flexible. So we explored the topic thoroughly, discussing the various rulers and their downfalls. We don't do many worksheets, but we create our own writing projects and discuss things. So we discussed some of the key events that led to the fall of Rome. And, Taylor asked questions and we found the answers. Through the links we found a timeline, so we added 7 dates to the timeline. We then found more information about the dates and events, and discussed that. I am always impressed by the amount of information Taylor retains from this relaxed learning. The funny thing is that he has decided to "cash in" as he said, two web reports today. One that is a collection of planets and the slip of knowledge "solid". He used "axis" to connect the gaseous planet to the solid planet. Which of course was just my way of reviewing the astronomy we studied a few months ago. The other is a collection of the topics we studied. We will write the second one together in the morning, because we went to the gym tonight.

I think now is a good time to mention that this game is not the only "educational" thing that we do. We read a bedtime book for the babies, and a morning book for Taylor, and we try to make any television educational in some way. Although, I am not very strict about this when we have a relaxed schedule, because there isn't much TV time anyway. There are of course many other things that are "educational" that the kids voluntarily do, but, I am sure you know that. The picture below shows one way the babies get in on the "theme" occasionally.

I found this video and more here through a mooch I sent to Australia. http://www.laughingowl.com.au/

Fractals on TED

Thanks for this Laura.