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 [...]

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 [...]

Missy’s First Narration

Missy (who just turned 5) had her first go at doing narrations today. She narrated The Mitten and The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett. I deleted her narration of The Mitten before I could post it. (I do have a printed copy of it, though.) Here’s her narration of The Three Snow Bears. 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 [...]

Kindie Update — Tuesday & Wednesday

TUESDAY:
We read The Three Snow Bears again; we also read this version of The Three Bears.

We did our polar bear poem and songs together.
We started a polar bear craft, and we did a math activity with little bears.

The object of the activity was to introduce the concept of zero, reinforce counting and numeral recognition through [...]

Kindergarten — Monday

We are doing literature studies inspired by Five in a Row, blended with some Montessori-ish stuff; this week we’re “rowing” The Three Snow Bears.

MONDAY:
We read the book, and she pointed out the large, medium and small things. (Math: Concept of Size). We sang a song from Can Teach Songs & Poems Page (Language Arts; [...]

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, [...]