Yes, the end of the week

The week finished off quietly. No major developments, just good and steady progress. Both kids moved on to their next lessons in math. B-equivalent fractions. M- place value and multiplication. Language Arts-M continues learning about comparing adjectives. B is learning more about pronouns. History-B finished up his unit on the Assyrians. M finished learning about Troy and the Trojan Horse. They have been brushing up on their typing with the wonderful BBC program-Dance Mat Typing.

Only a few more weeks of school. They are ready for a summer of hanging with their friends at the town pool.

Dentist

We all had dentist appointments today. 2 hours for the kids and I to get our cleanings and have the dentist take a peek at our teeth. The reason I am talking about our excellent check ups is because M was 100% engaged with what the hygienist was doing. My daughter - not such a good brusher. Lots of tartar build up. The hygienist took a before and after pic of her cleaning so she could see what was going on. Afterwards she demonstrated proper brushing technique on a model. While I was getting my cleaning M asked lots of questions. She was really interested in the tools used. She really learned a lot. B- was not as interested but he does need to go back in a couple of weeks to have a couple of baby teeth pulled. The dentist agreed with the orthodontist that pulling them to help the teeth come in straight rather then wait for them to appear sideways or behind the baby teeth since the roots of the baby teeth do not seem to be inclined to dissolve any time soon.

Today in math B continued to work on adding and subtracting fractions, he did some map work on ancient Assyria, and we learned a bit about the human body and conducted an experiment on how the eye works with a window, white cardboard, and a magnifying glass. M continues with the 8 times table, Ancient Greece, and Comparing Adjectives. She also enjoyed the eye experiment.

All in all a busy day.

Memorial Day

Take a moment today to thank a soldier. Barbecues are fun but let us not forget the reason for the Holiday. An opportunity to remember and honor the brave men and women who have fought for us to enjoy the freedoms we enjoy every day.

Dancing with Honey Bees 05.21.05

We went to see Dancing With Honey Bee's. An informative hour about bee hives and bee keeping. The bee farmer was a fantastic story teller. The entire audience got to be part of the experience as he uses everyone to create a working hive. He had a volunteer from the audience help him demonstrate how the bee farmer collects honey. Dressed him up in a bee keepers outfit and handed him a smoker (not in use) to aim at the hive. He broke down the hive so we could see all the layers, and he told how they extract the honey and beeswax from the hive, showed where the brood would be hanging out, and where the queen would be busy laying those 1000 eggs a day.

After he broke down the hive he started constructing a working hive using the audience. He got a volunteer to be the Queen. Showed her how she would go back and forth and lay an egg into each chamber. After the queen got going, he called up a few more kids to be the Queens Court. The queen doesn't do anything except lay eggs all day. The Queens Court feeds her, removes her waste, and meets all of her needs. Then came the Brood. Did you know that bees spin a cocoon? Baby bees needing to be tended to. Enter the Nursemaid Bees. They clean the honey comb, feed the babies, and so on. Ah, but where does that honey comb come from? Enter the Honeycomb Maker Bees. All day long building honey comb. After your stint as a Nursemaid is over you get to be a Funeral Bee. Your job-remove the dead bees from the hive. Who hears Monty Python saying "Bring out your dead!"? I know I do. Finish up your stint as a Funeral Bee and you get to be a Guard Bee. Your job is to guard the hive. Make sure those pesky bears don't take your honey, keep out the wasps and the hornets (shudder), and protect against any other threat. After being a Guard Bee, you may get a chance at being a Field Bee. The bees who go searching for flowers near and far so they can bring pollen back to the hive. Let us not forget the Drone Bee. The males are drones. Their job is to hang around the hive for their chance to mate with the Queen. Once they mate-they die. That seems a bit harsh to me but it seems to work for the bees.

M got to be a Funeral Bee and a Guard Bee. B got to be a Honey comb Bee. Anyone not called up to be part of the hive got to be a flower. Once everyone was assigned a role he set all the kids moving at once to demonstrate how the hive works. Hives are very busy, noisy things. At the end everyone got to make a beeswax candle. The kids loved it. Unfortunately I could not get any good pics. B was too far away. However, I did get the one shot of M being a Guard Bee.

Montclair Art Museum 05/20/09

Today we went to the Montclair Art Museum (http://www.montclairartmuseum.org) for a class on texture and patterns. Miss Peg took us on a tour of the Native American exhibit (lots of texture and pattern there), some sculpture, a relief sculpture, traditional landscape paintings, and abstract paintings. The kids were challenged to find the texture in all these items.

After taking the tour we went to the studio to make out own piece of art. Here is Miss Peg showing the kids how to build texture with oil pastels. Don't be afraid to get in there and really layer it on.








B working on his drawing. My perfectionist started with pencil so that it would be just the way he wanted before outlining with black oil pastel and applying color.














M with her completed outline. She leaped right into the project.

Quiet Time

Not much to report.

B is working on fractions. Tomorrow he starts adding fractions. I am glad he is getting it. Thanks to Math-U-See, I am getting it. My mother always told me all my math problems started with fractions way back in 2nd grade. She also blames my 2nd grade teacher for not noticing that I was having a problem. Fortunately, he gets them and actually likes them. Language Arts-Pronouns as a direct object and an indirect object. History- He finished a brief stop in Ancient Africa and is now on the Assyrians.

M is working on her 8 times table and liquid measurements-pints, quarts, gallons. Plus, a little review of how to find the perimeter of a rectangle. Language Arts- She had her test on the different kinds of verbs-action, being, irregular, and so on. Now she is studying adjectives. History-Ancient Crete. She loves the story of Theseus and The Minotaur.

This morning we spent a half hour listening to D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. The stories are read by Paul Newman, Sydney Pottier, Kathleen Turner, and Matthew Broderick. They add an extra level of enjoyment to listening.

We will be off to swim and gym class in a little while to round out the day.

Mad Science Wednesday

We attended a Mad Science Class today that was organized by a homeschool mom. It sounded like it would be really great but it wasn't. It was about sound waves. It could have been really cool but the instructor was just okay. The kids enjoyed it but there was so much more that could have been taught. There was a lot of demonstrating but no so much explanation.

After the class we all went to a nearby park. The kids found the skeleton of a fox in the stream that was in the park. That was both cool and gross. I wish I had my camera with me because I have never seen a full skeleton like that in nature, only in a museum.

Meet Me In St. Louis

After we completed math this morning we went to see Meet Me In St. Louis at the Library. The movie was on my list of old movies to watch with the kids and this way I would not have to pay any late fees when I did not return the dvd in time. They enjoyed the movie. M did get a bit restless at some of the slower moving parts but overall she enjoyed it. We have been singing "Clang, clang, clang goes the trolley. Ding, ding, ding goes the bell." all afternoon. It is a catchy little tune. After the movie the librarian held a discussion of the movie. The kids lasted a whole 5 minutes for that one but they did behave themselves. The next movie they are showing is not kids friendly so we will skip it. In July they will be showing Treasure Island. I hope to make that one.

After the movie we had a quick lunch and headed over to swim class. Gym was cancelled today.

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day. I hope all my mom friends got to do exactly what they wanted to do.

We have had a couple of quiet days. I thought now would be a good time to post a picture of the bunny that has moved into our backyard. We put up a new fence and within a couple of days this little cutie showed up. The kids named him or her Creampuff. The bunny is munching on my dandelions. Good Eats for the bunny. The kids get so excited when they see this little cutie. They have been practicing going outside and being very quiet so they don't frighten Creampuff away. They will spend as much time as they can observing Creampuff. I think Creampuff is the perfect pet. Finds it's own food and shelter and lets me hang with it.

Cooking Class 05/07/09

Today's cooking class did not involve a lot of cooking. There was a gas leak during the night and they had to shut it off to repair it. So, Chef Pam improvised. We went to the community garden across the street to see if there was lettuce we could pick. There was. Red leaf and winter lettuce.

Here we are entering the garden.

Chef Pam was giving a tour of the different things growing in the garden. Lettuce, Nettles, Anise, Leeks, Rhubarb, and more. Most of it was not ready to harvest.

Once back in the kitchen the kids picked some veggies from the pantry to chop. Carrots, mushrooms, celery, and a red pepper.

After the salad was completed the kids made a balsamic vinaigrette. B liked it, M hated it, but I thought it was delicious.

They also made an anise tea sweetened with honey but we forgot to serve it. Maybe next time.

Ooooops

This morning B started the next Math text. Epsilon in the Math-U-See series. He was super excited and did very well with the first lesson. M continues working on the 7 times table and multiplication of the tens family (i.e.: 20 x 7).

After math I rushed them out of the house so we get to the library in time for the Monday Morning Movie (Meet Me in St. Louis). Here is where the oops comes in. The movie showing is next Monday, the 11th. The kids were very disappointed. However, I was able to salvage the day because some of the books they requested came in plus the movie-Jim Henson's Storyteller-Greek Myths. We were able to watch about Theseus and the Minotaur and Orpheus and Eurydice. Both very moving myths.

After the movies we discussed some of the lessons they teach.

Wicked

We went to see Wicked today. So incredibly fabulous! The kids loved it. Since we have been reading the Oz series of books this year seeing the play about the witches perspective was a lot of fun for them.