Focus on Manners

Besides our usual weekly lessons this week we are focusing on etiquette and manners. At discussion group tomorrow we are going to explore the table setting and proper use of utensils. Plus, a review of all those rules-serve from the left, pass to the right. Which one is your bread plate? Why is there a fork and a spoon over the plate? Why are there so many glasses on the table? Chewing with ones mouth closed, no elbows on the table, etc. Along with a discussion of why we have these rules.

In our daily stuff Mister B is working on finding the area and the circumference of a circle and Little Miss is learning how to write her remainders as a fraction. Language Arts involves diagramming adjectives for both of them. In History-Mister B finished reading Beowulf and wrote his summary. Thursday he will start reading Macbeth. Little Miss continues to learn about castles and life in a Feudal Village.

Next week they will be taking the PASS test so we can find out where our weak spots are so we can correct them in the upcoming year.

TGIF!

This week passed in a whirlwind of activity. After all the excitement of Tuesday there was still plenty going on. Wednesday the kids had Philosophy Class. They are really enjoying it. Lots of fun with logic rules and their exceptions. For example, the sentence: All mosquitoes are insects. This is true. Reverse it: All insects are mosquitoes. No longer true. But the sentence: All married men are husbands is true when you reverse it.

Thursday was a quiet day catching up on schoolwork.

Today, in the afternoon, Mister B has his Boy's Club. The Boy's Club has been an interesting social experiment. One of our goals this second half of the year has been to increase Mister B's circle of peers. So, we started hosting a monthly gathering of boys in his age group. The first month we had a pretty fair turn out. Since then it has gotten smaller. The last 2 were just Mister B and one of his friends. One thing I have noticed with a lot of homeschoolers (at least in my State) is this totally flaky behavior. It drives me batty. If I say I am going to be somewhere then I am there. If I can't make it, I call and let the person know. The last 2 months I had people say they were coming and then they didn't show. No call, no email, just not showing up. I get that things happen and you can't make something but make contact. It is incredibly rude behavior and I don't like it. It has been a bit disheartening. Mister B has been having fun with his friend but the goal of meeting and making new friends has not truly been met. On the upside, today we had someone new and he is a nice young man. We are going to continue with the monthly gathering and hope that over time those hard to find tweens come out of the woodwork.

NYC

Today was spend the day in The City day. We went to the Guggenheim (http://www.guggenheim.org), Central Park (http://www.centralparknyc.org), and The Met (http://www.metmuseum.org). It was a lot of fun. It was pouring so we got good and drenched but that is part of the fun.

Here we are lined up outside The Guggenheim, waiting for it to open.

A couple of outside shots.

The Guggenheim is one of my favorite buildings in NY.

Inside the Lobby.

The Dome.


After working our way through the exhibits it was lunch time! Yeah, lunch in the city!

There was a pay phone at the restaurant. I think this may have been the highlight of the day.

After lunch the kids insisted on Central Park, even though it was pouring. Here we are at the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir getting drenched.

Then we moved on to one of the many playgrounds. Nothing says fun like a couple of bars.

You know what is even more fun then a couple of bars? Rocks to climb on!

Swings are a must, of course.

At this point I had enough of the rain and told the kids it was time to go to The Met. Here they are on the grand staircase.

We are studying the Middle Ages this year so the Medieval Armor was a must see exhibit.

Mister B. pretending to pick up a sword.

By the end of the day we were exhausted and wet but it was a great day.

Friday Wrap-Up

The rest of the week was pretty mellow. Due to my car being at the mechanics we have been housebound. Yesterday was a typical school day and then Little Miss had her last book club meeting at the library. They read Fantastic Mr. Fox and watched the movie. Then they discussed the differences. From there we headed to the track for track and field practice.

Today a friend took Mr. B to his film making club (still no car) and Little Miss had a couple of friends over for her monthly Girl's Social. Then as we were eating dinner I was talking about how they would change into their track uniforms and we would head over for the team picture and practice. Then the light bulb went on. I realized I had not heard from the mechanic and I still did not have a car. I called over and was told "Not ready yet. Hopefully, tomorrow. I'll call you when it is ready." Um, okay, thinks I, but I really need my car. So we walked to the track in the nasty humidity. Not fun. Fortunately a friend gave us a ride home after practice.

I'm not sure what I will do tomorrow since Mister B has a birthday party to go to about a half hour drive from here and my spouse is working tomorrow. I am sure a solution will present itself.

Wednesday Update

A nice and calm week so far. Monday we had a sick day. Both kids had runny noses and mild coughs. Yesterday was a home day. Math, Language Arts, and History. Fractions, Long Division, Diagramming sentences, and castles and Knights, and a reading of Beowulf. Today we had discussion group. The kids talked about Finding Nemo. They discussed how the title was more then just Marlin finding Nemo it was about finding out who you are and what you are capable of doing. It has been impressive to watch them go from a group of kids who just laugh at the surface jokes to a group of kids who are thinking a little bit deeper.

Waterloo Village

Today we took a field trip to Waterloo Village (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_Village). Read the Wikipedia entry-it is accurate. Waterloo is a town the is at the midway point on the Morris Canal between the Delaware River and the Hudson River. It is an amazing story of human engineering. It is not easy to move boats over the mountains. Sadly, the historic park closed down 3 years ago due to lack of funds. Some wonderful people worked really hard to get some money to start restoration and it is now open for school tours. They are hoping to one day raise the money to restore all the buildings and bridges.

We started our tour at Abraham's cabin. A small 2 room cabin with a hayloft (where the 10 children slept). The 2 rooms were the main room-which served as the master bedroom, living room, and kitchen and the keeper room-which is where the spinning wheel, yoke, and farm tools were kept. The white stuff between the hand chopped logs that they built their house from is called chinking. A mixture of mud and clay to insulate the house.

Here we learned where the saying "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" comes from. It seems if you did not tighten the ropes holding the mattress every day you could fall down. The bug portion comes from the bugs that lived in your mattress.

We also learned where the old "Pop goes the Weasel" nursery rhyme comes from. The round thing in the corner is a Weasel. It would pop when there was 2 skeins of yarn on it. You can also see how they laced in the baby at night so he/she couldn't get out in the middle of the night and crawl into the fire.

The Inn

The General Store/Post Office. Here you could get whatever you needed.

The Saw Mill. Not open to the public at this time.

Outside the Canal Museum. This is housed in the teacher's house. In order to attract a quality teacher who they paid a pittance the town built this lovely home for him/her to live in. At the museum we learned how they built the locks and engineered how to get boats over the mountain. They were literally pulled up the mountain and then they went down the other side like a log floom. It was amazing. Here we also learned how they tied their young children to a pole so they would wander off the side of the boat.

After the canal museum we headed over to the Leni Lenape Village. Here are some of the gardening tools they used. A sharpened stick for digging, an antler tied to a stick for raking, an Elk's shoulder blade tied to a stick for hoeing.

The boy's and men cleared the land and the women planted the gardens. Mostly planting the 3 Sisters. Corn, Pole Beans, and squash. First the corn. When the stalks started growing, the beans-they would climb the stalk, then the squash which grows low to the ground. The women and girls got to sit up in this shelter and throw rocks at any animals that wandered in. Boy's would sometimes sit up their and practice hunting with their bow and arrow.

The men and boy's fished. They built Weirs. The fish would be trapped in baskets at the point and then they would use their spears to kill the fish.

The Native Americans tied their babies to a cradle board and hung them up on poles while they worked. This kept the baby safe from snakes, eagles, and other dangers.

Everyone lived in the long house.

The Leni Lenape believed that when you died you would meet your dog. Your dog decided if you got into heaven. The moral here-be kind to your dog.

The Island the village is on is called Winikung. Which means Sassafras. They had a wonderful story that tells why the Sassafras has 3 different shaped leaves. An oval, one notch, and two notches. There was a boy who was born with hands shaped liked paddles. No fingers or thumbs. As the boy grew he was fishing with his father one day. He discovered that he was really good at catching fish in his paddle hands. He became the greatest fisherman in the village. The Spirit liked this and gave him thumbs. With thumbs he was able to pick berries. He became the greatest berry picker. The spirit smiled and gave him pinkies. With pinkies he was able to use a bow and he became the greatest hunter. When he died his body became the trunk of the tree and the leaves grew as all of his hands over the years.

The kids got to grind some corn. Hard work to make enough ground corn.

It was a fantastic day and we learned a lot. We are hopeful that over time they will get the funding they need to restore the entire village for generations to come.

With all the really great things we learned today the fact that really hit home? Back in the day there was a lot of tying up of babies and small children to keep them safe. No one thought this would be remotely enjoyable.

Canoe Trip 05.06.10

Our last Pyramid Mountain Class was on the 6th. It was supposed to be a 2 hour canoe trip but Little Miss learned it is the journey and not the destination that mattered. In other words, someone thought it was a good idea to let me paddle a canoe. I have not been in a canoe in 30+ years. As I told Little Miss, if we had not gotten stuck on those rocks we never would have seen the baby turtle. The river trip was a lot of fun. We saw birds, and the aforementioned turtle, and we had lots of excitement with spiders in the canoe. As we got left far behind the rest of the group the girls in my canoe and I found lots of things to celebrate on our ride. The fact that we got off the rocks with no help from the fisherman who saw we were obviously stuck, the fact that we managed not to crash into some very large branches, the fact that we navigated around the lily pads, and when we finally made it the end the fact that we did not tip over the way another canoe did. Ice cream all around!

Here is Mister B as we were getting ready to get the canoes in the water. He really loved it.

Carnival!

Over the week-end we went to a local school carnival with friends. Mister B was the brave one who went on this spinning ride.

Watch the yellow shirt spin round and round.

Little Miss likes a good spinning ride but not the Gravitron type. Here she is enjoying the more sedate Ferris Wheel.

Pics!

Thankfully, the little people between time finished with my camera and returned it. Here are the pictures from class #3 at Pyramid Mountain - Pollinators.

Here is Joan going over the different parts of the flower and leading the discussion on types of pollinators.

Here they are matching up different plants with their pollinators. One of the plants is named "Stinky Benjamin" to attract flies. It is a stinky flower. The kids learned how the colors of plants and their smells attract the kind of pollinator they need.

Out into the fields to study flowers and to see if we could spot a pollinator or three.

Studying a Dandelion. On a side note, if you are going to add dandelion leaves from your yard to your salad make sure they are from a young dandelion. Once they go to bloom the leaves are very bitter.

Little Miss recording her findings.

A new week

Last week we had class 3 at Pyramid Mountain where we learned about Pollinators. I would post the pics but I have misplaced the camera. The little people between time have it and they don't seem to want to give it back yet. We learned that bees are not the only pollinators, however, Honey Bees are the only ones to give us honey. I can't imagine a world without honey. There are flies, and bees, and even the wind going around pollinating. We learned why plants want pollination. In a nutshell, to get the best genes to make a hardy plant. On our hike we examined flowers with magnifying glasses to look for pollinators and pollen. Lots of fun on a beautiful day.

Last Friday Mister B had his film making club. He got a chance to operate the camera and the boom. He is really enjoying the club. I think it is a great experience for him.

Yesterday morning we watched the documentary Super Size Me (http://www.amazon.com/Super-Size-Me-John-Banzhaf/dp/B0002OXVBO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1272994599&sr=1-1). We almost never eat fast food and the kids have heard me say why. I thought if we watched the movie it might make more of an impact. My kids thought what he went through was gross. The shock they experienced that it took only a month to gain all that weight and over a year to lose it. How many pounds of sugar and fat he ate in the month. Just seeing how his health changed eating this food for 3 meals a day. Quite the impact. When it was all over the kids said "That was gross but can we go to McDonald's?"