Seriously,

I really didn't post any of these videos? Man, where have I been.... The Hat War The Monster Book with Dad... Singing and Strumming... The tour of our house now...(the "after" tour) I picked a good and messy day to exaggerate the difference from how a house looks before you move in. The big black bubble at the front door is the "adventure bubble" that I mentioned a few posts back. A little peekaboo... Some toothbrushin'... And, Jewel on the keyboard... and falling off of it...

pictures~the last -of the "lost pics of December"

OK, I'm grateful for data recovery programs now! This is the last of the pictures that I took over the last, very busy month. Finally.

lost....

Why is it that you always find what you lost right after you replace it? Yesterday wasn't a big learning day, but it was fun. We couldn't find the ink pads, any of them. So we ran to the library and the store. Trevor checked out his first book (first that he chose), it was a Maisy book. We didn't get to check out the spanish christmas carols book we went for, but I found a neat origami book by Usborne. We did spend a while rewriting the lyrics to "Oh, Christmas Tree" to reflect our belief that it is wasteful to cut down trees for Christmas while simultaneously paying to have them planted to "save the world". My favorite part: "Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, you could be cleaning the air we breathe, but instead your in a house, slowly dying while we pout." Taylor is an excellent song writer. So, we bought the ink pad, and made fingerprints of everyone (for the anatomy lesson) to look at with a magnifying glass. Taylor didn't learn much from that, I'm sure. But, he was distracted by some new computer game, Magic101, so I let him just play it. After lunch with Dad, we ran over to MOSI to goof around (and buy some stocking stuffers) and get origami paper. They are having a big sale, I guess business is down for them because it looks like a going out of business sale. (kind of scary!) While we were there, I looked for an origami book that the library was supposed to have. It wasn't there, but the librarian suggested another, and it turned out to be fantastic. It is called Origami Math by Scholastic, and is like the Build a Body book we are using. It has reproducibles in it that teach math through origami. It is for 4-6th grade math, but I love to go over grade level math with Taylor, just to be sure he thoroughly understands the concepts his peers are learning. After MOSI, Taylor jumped back on his game (typical) and the babies made messes. We made a few origami decorations for the tree, and then Taylor left with Mimi. When I think about a day like that, although really not to stressful for me, I feel like it was wasted. I am pretty sure that Taylor learned some things at the museum, I seem to recall a few exhibit inspired discussions and investigations, but nothing with tangible evidence. Our state requires us to create a portfolio that shows what we are learning, that is the problem with unschooling. The school is still ultimately responsible for monitoring us. Oh, so this morning, I found all the ink pads. Now, I can't find the nutcracker. Well, it seems I deleted the pics from the other trips to MOSI without saving them on our computer. :( But, I have some from the trip to see Santa with Mimi. This is how pirates "wait". Oh, and the first picture demonstrates how to keep the presents from being unwrapped again and again.

competition abounds...

The last month has been filled with games. Pirateology, Lord of the Rings Risk, Deal or No Deal, and Battleship to name a few. Trent always wins, everything. Well, not always, but 95% of the time at least. It's very annoying because he is prone to bragging. But, one day bwah ha ha ha we will win something!

long days and learning...

This is what "reading" looks like, with Daddy behind the camera. Six days til christmas and my whole house is a mess! (you can sing it, try it.) We have been having a lot of fun, and not just because of the "holidays". Although the long days have been wearing me out, all the fun keeps me going back for more. We have been to MOSI four times and are going back tomorrow, we finally made the adventure bubble (from Toad Haven), and Morlynn has gotten to stay twice; all this in the last month or so. Morlynn is even staying again next week, and I am already planning some fun. We have been decorating our origmami tree slowly, but I just found a site with some really great ideas so things should pick up for the next week. I thought this was a great, if not original, at least slightly unique idea (and we're studying China's and Japan's histories). However, I ran into the bookstore to pick up a few last minute gifts for Taylor, only to see no less than 10 christmas origami kits. I am glad I knew better, I can get the paper cheap and use the designs online. As fun as origami is, we are also experiencing fortunate timing for another reason. We can celebrate the Chinese New Year in the name of learning. I am looking up ideas for it now. In the last month we have been to the library 3 times. The babies are finally getting used to being there, so it is easier to go. Also, it is closer than our old situation, so we are really able to use it. I am glad, because it was a very frustrating thing to want to go and not be able to. Taylor has read a book about Dragons (of course) and is reading one about Norse mythology now. I also read a few books about China to the babies and others with Taylor. Trevor got lost in a yoga for kids book today. He has tried to copy us before, but today he went to every page and said, "Let's do this one." Very cute, and Jellybean even tried one pose on her own. Today was also a good day for our learning game. Last week we came up with the idea of putting our math problem skeletons (we roll dice to fill in numbers) and our battle questions (review questions that cover everything we've studied) on flashcards (index cards). From there I ran with it and added vocabulary and Spanish to the cards. Tonight Trent was watching the game show Million Dollar Password and I got the idea to use that format as one of our vocabulary games. Which reminds me of another great thing that has been going on. I finally got a membership to Edhelper.com and discovered that it really is very helpful. The site can store your own word lists and provide definitions for the words. Also, it will create a board game, crosswords, and wordsearches (and more) for the word lists you create (or choose from their lists). If we were using traditional teaching methods, I doubt we would need much that they don't offer. As it is, we are very marginally unschooling. I try to follow Taylor's interest as far as they take us and only offer ideas about what to do each day. The things I offer are things that apply to where we are in the game. If a part of a lapbook project or a resource isn't really catching his interest, we move on. But, primarily it is me choosing the major themes we study. He chose the topics that I choose from, however. Also, if he is doing something "educational" on his own, I let him pursue it as far as he wants. When he has "no ideas" about something to do, I toss in mine. So, as I say, we kind of unschool. The game is really just there as a fill in and guide. It makes me aware of what is left to cover, and where we are going next. So far, it is useful in limiting "game" time, because his level dictates how much time he gets a day, and he has to "buy" the rest with either chores or knollars from the game. I don't know from a psychological standpoint if this system is "recommended" but I have been planning to look it up, eventually. Oh, another great idea for the game. Lapbook projects are a little dull, and the provided information is limited. So we are going to turn them into a research game by awarding points for the number of resources cited on each little mini book or project. I already have three library books that will work for the current book we are doing and there are at least 3 more that may or may not have additional information in our home library. I really thought that our errands ruined any chance of math time today, but Taylor wanted to watch TV before bed, so I suggested some math worksheets to fill his hands while he watched. He always takes me up on these offers; when you aren't required to finish and you have your pick of the questions, math can be fun. Tonight it was reducing fractions and prime-factorization. Earlier today he did some long multiplying. I think he is over the long multiplying, he only finished 10 problems and asked for something else to do. We were working on simplifying expressions, but I found a great review test for Pre-Algebra and wanted to make sure we had covered everything before jumping into Geometry and Algebra. Some of it seems so boring to Taylor, but (in classic form) some of it he doesn't "remember". I am not surprised, last year (before the game) with the exception of the astronomy (which was his idea) everything was so boring. We tried working from Math, Science, and History workbooks, but it was just so ...i don't really know... uninteresting, dull, segmented. You can use the workbooks as backup to themes, but otherwise they just stink. We played a Math Ambush in the game last week. Taylor rolled for the number of questions, so we completed the first half of the pre-algebra review test (from the Sparknotes website) as the "battle". He did great, but used up the last of his helps (part of a weapon) on this battle. Then, because we were on a battle space he had to complete a review battle with no helps. He won with blazing colors, but partly because I needed to rewrite the formula for determining how many questions he is allowed to miss. I did, so the next "battle" may be more challenging. Also, putting the questions on flashcards will make it more random than me looking over everything and reading questions. We also decorated for Christmas and assembled some of the holiday crafts that the Mimis provided us. Ornaments, gingerbread creations, (the paper tree before thanksgiving). Taylor spent some time in the woods, Trevor also spent some time away from home (typical holiday gallivanting). We saw several IMAX films, and a planetarium show, and thoroughly explored the Kids in Charge part of the MOSI. All in all a fabulous month. We usually don't travel so much, but the price of gas motivates me. And, we are closer to everything now, so there are benefits to living "in a city". Gawd, I am so country. He He. So that was today, last week, and the last month, at least what is on my mind now. And, so begins the "what we learned today posts". I would say "wish me luck", but why bother, I don't believe in luck.

Mischief is cute, if you squint your eyes....

Mischief Managed!