Dissecting Owl Pellets

Science is VERY cool — as long as there’s something a little disgusting involved. All this stuff is from Pellets, Inc.

Monday Meanderings

Do you want to hear something ironic? Friday afternoon, Missy and I rushed out of a playdate with our friends to pick up Marie from school. She was waiting for me in the parking lot. I found out this morning that at that very moment, the school was initiating a lockdown. Police had [...]

Sunday Morning Rambles, Rants & Record-Keeping

When I first pulled Marie and Martin out of school, in 2003 and 2004, respectively,  homeschooling seemed like a wild experiment.  I was in the midst of grieving for my mom, having a new baby, and running a day care business to keep our heads just a millimeter above water, financially speaking. How was I [...]

Salt Dough Map of the 13 Colonies (Plus Florida)

Breaking news … we finished a project. Yes, US! We actually finished a project!
For this project we used a map in Kris Bordessa’s Great Colonial American Projects You Can Build Yourself. I sketched a grid over the map in the book.

Then I sketched a larger grid on the cardboard. I think we quadrupled the size [...]

Learning Notes Catch-Up Marty & Missy

Catch-up learning notes for Marie are here.
Missy and I have mostly finished our Lit.Studies on The Mitten and The Three Snow Bears and she helped me do some notebooking.
Monday morning Missy and Martin played several rounds of Rat-a-Tat-Cat with their dad.
Martin worked on a salt dough map of the original 13 colonies (plus Florida). I [...]

Kindergarten — Thursday & Friday

In keeping with the “Snow Bears” unit, Martin and Missy did a few simple ice-themed science experiments:
They did a simple demonstration of how a polar bear’s blubber enables it to swim in frigid water.
Making Crystals — We’re still waiting to see how this one comes out.

Ice Fishing — This was a really fun activity for [...]

Random Learning Notes & Thoughts About Aspergian Development

Marie and I are reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I am loving it even more the second time around. (Literature, History) She is still spending time on her movie reviews. (Writing, Film Studies) The other day, I suddenly became aware that this avocation is not just about writing and film studies. It is actually a [...]

Wrapping up the Week (at 3 degrees Fahrenheit)

Holy. Crap. It’s 3 degrees here right now. THREE! I realize it’s about 40 below zero in Colorado and Alaska, and some folks can throw a pan of boiling water out and see it immediately vaporize. So I shouldn’t kvetch about it. But HOLY CRAP!
The pipes in the kitchen froze yesterday, and my intrepid hubby, [...]

Another School Day: Literature, Surreal Snowmen and Gratuitous Blood

Missy (Kindie Stuff):
P.E. –
Missy and Martin played outside with their dad. They played freeze tag and practiced soccer.
Language Arts –
We had another treasure hunt — reviewing lower case letters. She has the hang of most of them expect for the developmentally tricky ones: b, d, p, & q.
We read The Mitten again.
The same rhymes and [...]

Update on the Monkey House: Martin

The thing about homeschooling by the seat of our pants … err .. eclectic homeschooling, is I need to remember to journal what the kids are doing. Let’s see …
1. There are children who are motivated to read and learn about the natural world through a pure, wholesome thirst for knowledge. Then there are MY [...]