Thursday 3-25-2021

 Read a few more chapters out of Sweep. They talked about Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night, which was a fun reminder from SOTW earlier this year. 

Aaron day today. He made a new goal to do 15 minutes of Khan every day, so we did it together. Mostly comparing fractions. He had no trouble at all. Catherine started working on fractions with different denominators and did a great job as well. She made it to 50%, which was her goal!

Learning journal day. Aaron wrote about the mirror refraction experiment with the arrows flipping. Seth wrote about how mirrors flip on the z axis as well as why we can't be our shadows (little weird, but his logic was sound). Catherine didn't do hers today. So...tomorrow. 

Aaron's piano lesson went beautifully. I think the iPad note game has really helped! And his counting is still amazing. 

At lunch we watched a video on Bonfire Night, a Physics Girl on your eyes vs. a camera, part of a boring video on the Crystal Palace, and a Mark Rober glitterbomb 3.0. 

We had our book club meetings today. My last week hosting/teaching for Other Words for Home, so we enjoyed some qamar al deen to drink (basically apricot juice), plus feta, hummus, olives, and some awamat (fried donut holes covered in honey). We discussed Islamophobia, terrorism, the war in Syria right now, and how the book should have ended. Lots of heavy stuff. Catherine's group discussed Matilda and each shared one of their favorite books (Catherine's was Percy Jackson). 

Then the kids spent the rest of the afternoon running wild and having tons of fun. 

Wednesday 3-24-2021

 Read the second chapter out of Story of Science. It was kind of long and not super interesting, so there was much complaining. Hopefully it will get better soon. Too much setting the scene, not enough action. Mostly about Copernicus. 

Catherine day. She had me help her with a little bit of Khan. She totally finished division and is now onto fractions! Happy day. Seth is still inching toward 100%, and Aaron is all in for Zoombinis. 

For their projects Seth worked more in Roblox, Aaron colored some pictures of Minecraft guys, and Catherine had to reconsider. Honeysuckle doesn't bloom here until May or June. Instead she discovered willow bark tea. After watching a couple of videos, she rushed outside and returned with some bark from our tree. Less than an hour later she had a completed product! Ours turned red for some odd reason. She thought it tasted good. The rest of us thought it tasted like a tree. She also used it to wash her face since it has salicylic acid in it. She's very, very excited!

We also came up with 5 questions for her book club meeting on Matilda. I won't be there to help host so she's doing her best with the help of my friends. As for piano lessons, she was surprisingly terrible. We discussed practicing and hopefully she'll be more motivated this week. 

At lunch we watched a Physics Girl on how mirrors flip things, a Ted Ed on how our bodies fight viruses, Mark Rober on egg drops and field goal kicking, Extra History on the polio vaccine, and a video on sound waves. Seth also watched a video on music and math featuring Beethoven (TedEd). 

She also had her Primary Activity that evening. They each made a little felt purse, which she was so proud of. She promptly gifted it to Elise, who was thrilled.  Seth played Minecraft with the deacons since it was dumping rain outside. 

Tuesday 3-23-2021

 The kids all opted to use their attitude points to skip school on Monday. Kinda threw off the plans for the day, but we all got a bunch of things done. So no real loss. 

Tuesday we started SOTW Volume 4. We read Chapter 1 about The Crystal Palace and the Sepoy Rebellion. I've started having each of them do a bit of writing after each reading to help them retain a bit more of what we read. It was a bit sketchy this week, but hopefully it will just become a habit. 

They also each picked a project to start working on. Seth is finishing up something for his Roblox game and intends to have it actually functional. Catherine wants to do something like make honeysuckle juice. And Aaron wants to make a Minecraft character intro list. 

For math Seth worked on Khan (he's so close to done, but that's often the hardest part). Catherine did Math Doodles, and Aaron did Zoombinis. 

At lunch we watched some Horrible Histories on Queen Victoria and the Crystal Palace, Mark Rober on sinking in a pool of Orbeez, life as a child chimney sweep (awful), how the smoothness of a ball affects curve (Physics Girl), a video on the Sepoy Mutiny, and an explanation on water refraction. 

We also had our poetry day at Knoxes. They're all back into Shel Silverstein, which is fine. Maybe one day they'll branch out. Then it was lots of time playing in the woods and yard. 

Friday 3-19-2021

 Supposed to be Fun Friday but it was raining. So instead we tried to do it at home. Not quite as much fun without friends...

We did read some more Sweep, and the kids all did some form of math on iPads. 

Jon did science with Seth. They talked about energy and speed and whether doubling your energy would double your speed. Then they set up an experiment with marbles and car tracks and used a slow motion camera to time it. The other kids were intrigued but didn't really understand everything. 

I tried to have all everyone do embroidery for their art, but got mostly halfhearted responses. They all started but no one finished. Oh well. 

I took the older three to the library for the first time in a year! They were quite excited to be able to pick out their own books. I always love the silent drive home while they all read their various books. 

In the evening we watched Raya and the Last Dragon together. Not our favorite movie, but still enjoyable. 

Other fun over the weekend included some games of Exploding Kittens with Aaron & Catherine and Rat-a-tat Cat with Aaron. 

Thursday 3-18-2021

 Read some more from Sweep. I think I'm traumatizing Elise with this story. Oops. The kids are enthralled by this point, which I love. 

It was Elise day, so we played a game with alphabet flashcards on the stairs. She only knows 6 letters completely, and a few more that she's shaky on. So we have a lot of work to do but she's made lots of improvement already!

I found some new math apps that Catherine has been trying out (Math Doodles). Aaron did Zoombinis for a really, really long time. By the time he finished he had lost so much of the day that he opted to use his attitude points to skip school for the day. Sigh. Seth did some more Khan. He's so close to the end, but keeps making silly mistakes (and not opting for the hints so he can figure out what he did wrong). Catherine did a bit of Khan. She does pretty well if I'm there to help, so that's what we're doing right now. 

For their learning journals Catherine wrote about the Gold Rush (after confirming that it occurred in California instead of Spain) and Seth wrote about sumo wrestling. 

We pulled out some glass cups and learned a bit about water refraction. It was fun to see how different shaped cups affected the experiment. 

For stretch books Seth is going through a bunch of Orson Scott Card books, Catherine is reading the Book of Mormon, and Aaron is still working on the magazines. He complains mightily about the reading, but it's good for him. 

Wednesday 3-17-2021

 We didn't do much for St. Patrick's Day other than wearing green. Aaron did dye the scrambled eggs green!

For reading we read some more from Sweep. Catherine seems especially into the story, possibly because it's a girl around her age and size. They were all terrified when it described how tiny and dark the chimney flues were. Nine inches square. Crazy. 

Seth and Catherine both did more Khan. It was Aaron day so we did Zeus on the Loose (backwards and forwards). Catherine played with us as well. He also set up a math quiz for me. His last round of questions involved fractions, which he totally understood. So that's awesome!

Seth sent off his email to the magnet program after edits and suggestions from me and Jon. Catherine is still writing in her journal (I really did check), and Aaron finished his email and sent it to Elliot! He didn't let me proofread it, so it's basically a long list of perler bead colors. Sigh. He's been reading the Ranger Rick magazines instead of a book lately, which is fine.

Book Club day! Seth read more from Other Words For Home and Catherine read every Mercy Watson book on Hoopla.  Catherine's group made butter in a jar, which kicked off a butter-making evening at our house for Seth & Catherine. Seth's group (me leading) talked about prejudice, and hijabs, and fitting in. 

That afternoon Seth played kickball with the YM while the kids and I had a impromptu St. Patrick's Day party on the playground with the Knoxes and Thangs. Melissa read a St. Patrick's Day book, and the kids recited lots of silly limericks. 

Tuesday 3-16-2021

 Started our new Story of Science book, "Newton at the Center." Read one chapter about the beginning of the Renaissance and how weird it would be if we were to open some Egyptian tomb and find scientific texts explaining dark matter or other things we consider mysteries. But that's exactly what happened after the Middle Ages ended. 

Seth and Catherine are still working on Khan. I've started having Catherine write the problems down on paper so she can solve them on her own time without the pressure of the screen in her face. Seems to be helping. Aaron used the fraction manipulatives to make several equivalent fractions for me. He even made his own tiny wedges that were 1/24 and 1/33. 

I actually did check on Catherine's journal and she really has been writing in it. No idea what it says since she doesn't want me to read it, but if she's writing and happy about it, I'm not touching it. Seth worked some more on his email for the magnet school, and Aaron added to his Elliot email. 

Seth is still working on reading the Ender's Game series. Catherine read every Mercy Watson book on Hoopla, and Aaron is reading Ranger Rick magazines. 

We met Knoxes at a park for poetry day, but it ended up raining. So to save our poetry books, they just played instead.