i was making a grocery list. i knew joey wanted bagels so that was already on the list. as i always do before i go to the store, i asked everyone in the family what they knew we needed so i could be sure to include everyones items. when i asked joey, he immediately said, 'bagels!' i told him that was already on the list and in fact i had it listed as bagels x 3.
the next question of course was, 'what does times three mean, mom?' i explained that i was going to get 3 bags of bagels OR one bag three times. i used other examples with other numbers (ie: 2 groups of 3 birdies) as we discussed multiplication and why we use it and how we use it. he enjoyed that! :o)
Mandys a bit on the introverted side. shes very shy and very quiet. shes getting better but she used to NEVER do anything performance-wise in front of ANYBODY! that included me. she could be in her room belting out a tune and if i tapped on the door and opened it, she would immediately clam up and turn the music off as she turns 16 shades of red. so even though she was alone, just the thought that someone heard her, even after the fact, was enough for her to become embarrassed.
my point... she printed out some high school musical lyrics from the internet and was reading them to herself. i was sitting near her so i asked her to read them to me. well, little miss 'dont put me in the spotlight' stood up and held her paper below her face and read the lyrics to me like she was giving a recitation. she spoke clearly. she kept her head up, although her eyes were down reading the paper. she read it so well that i actually applauded her at the end. :o)
from our discussion earlier this week about poems not having to rhyme, last night we again discussed haikus. we looked it up on wikipedia to learn the haikus origin and structure. while i went on one of my solo trips to check on the crescent rolls, i gave them both a notepad and pen and told them to each make one up while i was gone.
mandy wrote one that goes like this (notice i didnt make them follow the haiku rule about nature as part of the poem):
Baby likes Joey
and Joey likes Baby, too
Baby leaves there sad
im n ot sure why baby left sad since Baby and Joey seemed to like each other. my only guess is she needed a one syllable word and thats what came to her mind.
now, joey, he only wrote the first line of his but hey, it had five syllables! it went like this:
Mamey likes Joeys
thats supposed to read: Mommy likes Joeys. and yes, joeys has an S at the end. i dont know why but he made sure i knew it was JoeyS and not just Joey.
which came first, the lesson or the egg... and what the heck happened to the chicken???
we (mandy AND joey and me) learned many things thru the egg today.
we hard boiled some eggs and as we were eating them mandy asked what the yellow ball inside the egg is. i told her it was the yolk, which led to a fun vocabulary and spelling discussion about the difference between the words yoke & yolk.
after that discussion, mandy still wanted to know what the yellow ball was. more specifically, she wanted to know what part of the chicken the yolk was. this led to a discussion about the eggs needing to be fertilized, which led to a discussion of the female anatomy and the menstrual cycle.
by pointing at my abdominal area, i showed mandy about how the egg travels thru the fallopian tubes, an illustration ive shown them many times before. my kids have all seen me when i'm on my period and ive explained what it is a thousand times. they seen me use tampons and pads and that i call this time my 'period'. pretty original, huh?
anyway, im pointing to my abdominal area , discussing the release of the egg and the monthly bleeding and i asked mandy, 'what do we call this time?'
to which she replied, without even batting an eye,. 'your heat.' ba-da-bum! you see, our female dog is in heat right now so she correlated the two circumstances to come up with her answer. this of course led to a discussion about the differences in a human 'period', and a dog's 'heat'.
pretty meaty stuff, huh? :o)
later on the kids decided they wanted to do a 'show' for me that i could videotape and put on youtube so they could show their friends.
mandys been studying the choreography from high school musical so her 'show' was to dance one of the songs using the same choreography. she did good and threw in some cartwheels for good measure. she hated seeing herself on the video though so she made me pinky swear to NOT put it on youtbue. of course i pinky swore with her! :o) (if you want to see it go to: www.youtube.com/JUST KIDDING!) :o)
joeys show was to be called 'the funny show' and he was going to improvise acting goofy. (or acting like himself!) :o)
in between mandy and joes performances and uploading the videos to the computer, we were baking crescent rolls in the kitchen. when we got back to my room i looked at joe and noticed and told him his shirt was on backwards. he looked at me and matter-of-factly told me it wasnt on backwards. it was supposed to be that way for his funny show. HA! he knew what he was doing and thought beyond just acting silly and went so far as to create for himself a COSTUME! even if it was just a shirt on backwards, i found it amazing that he had really THOUGHT about his show. hes a deeper thinker than i thought. :o)
and without further adieu, heeeeeeres joey: :o)
(be surre to turn off the music player in the upper right hand corner of this blog before playing this video)
i havent made an entry for so long, im not sure i'll remember everything weve been learning, but i'll try. :o)
last week we learned that dolphins sleep with their eyes open. well, one eye open anyway.
weve also been studying extensively about rabbits, their behaviors, and mating habits. we might even have some baby rabbits soon! weve used internet sources for information and weve spent hours observing rabbit behavior. we also compared how closely the observed behavior we witnessed matched what we'd read in the documented and reported behaviors from the internet seaches.
Observing behavior is MUCH more fun! :o)
(thats earl, the girl on the left and peter the boy on the right)
Even though Peters the boy, Earl (the girl) is the alpha bunny.
when she presents herself (lowering chin to ground) to peter
peter (being the NOT alpha bunny) is required to groom Earl.
Grooming=licking, as seen in this picture. :o)
mandy calculated how many hours and minutes there are in 139 minutes. she has a timer for her tv and when the kids watch a movie at night, she has to calculate how long to set the tv timer based on how long the movie is so it will turn itself off if they fall asleep. its usually easier because most movies are less than 2 hours or 120 minutes. her timer has settings for 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes. if the movie is 112 minutes, she knows to set her timer for 120 minutes. if the movie is 87 minutes, she knows to set the timer for 90 minutes. she checked the movie they watched last night and discovered it was more than 120 minutes which she knew to be 2 hours, the movie was 139 minutes and she wanted to know how much longer that was than 2 hours. i walked her through the steps of solving the problem and she came to the conclusion that 139 minutes is the same as 2 hours and 19 minutes. smart cookie there! :o)
we also made up some poems using the 'roses are red' cadence. then we tried some limericks. we discussed how poems dont need to rhyme. we then talked about haikus and how they dont rhyme but are based on # of syllables per line.
and joey, well, hes just been getting smarter and smarter everyday! he tries to read ingredient labels on food products and most of the time pronounces the words correctly. his vocabulary isnt just growing, but as it grows hes abe to speak more complex and detailed sentences and use them correctly and in context!
we were discussing something the other day that he and i saw from different point of views. we had a mini-debate and he stated his views very clearly and objectively. when it was my turn to express my views, i made a statement that wasnt quite right. he was quick to point it out saying to me, well, technically mom...'. technically. i love it! go joe!!!
weve had an ant problem in our home since we buit and moved in to our addition. that was some years ago (i have time continuum issues so who knows when it was) but the ants have been VERY bad and numerous and we had the bug guy here every week. it was a mess. but hubby finally put guttering on the addition a year or two ago (again time continuum issues) and that really kept us *almost* ant free and the bug guy has only had to come for quarterly maintenance. and the ants have been at bay long enough that we canceled our contract with them. you know what comes next! but really, we had to cancel cuz hubbys insurance premium for the family went up to nearly $200 dollars a WEEK! 200 a week. can you imagine? anyway, one of the cut backs we made was to cancel the bug guy.
well, last week we discovered a kitchen floor full of the tiny buggers. i was sad cuz A) they came back B) they came back within 2 weeks of canceling the bug guy and C)we usually have ants in the addition, not in the kitchen!
so weve been fighting them. cleaning the floor more aggresively, putting out ant motel thingies, sprinkling peppermint oil near where the come in (another customer at the grocery store told me it works) yet, the ants go maching a billion by a billion hoorah hoorah. blech.
well, my 6 year old son says he knows the best approach to getting rid of the ants. he says, 'wait till the ants get all the crumbs, then after they eat it, kill the ants. then you wont have any mess to clean.'
so now i'm to let the ants live till they clean my kitchen floor, then i can kill the little buggers! lol and i'll have a clean floor to boot! wtg, joe!
between yesterday and today mandy has
played the high school musical DVD game memorizing choreography & facts from the movie
shes playd basketball & practiced her cheers
she written & choreographed her own cheers
she checked her account at millsbury
shes sent and received emails
she did some reading & worked on some phonics pages.
she counted money and made change through a money game called quizmo :)
she studied a bee through a microscope, looking at its tail/stinger and wings
she did some magnet experiments
we discussed the north & south poles of a magnet and how same poles repel and opposite poles attract
she went to the american girl website and searched & found their mailing address
shes written and addressed a post card to send to the american girls
shes worked on handwriting
shes calculated time as she awaited her turn for the TV or computer
between yesterday and today joey has
played gamecube ncaa football
hes playd basketball & touch football
he set up an account at neopets
he checked his account at millsbury
hes sent and received emails
he did some reading & worked on some phonics pages.
he worked on short and long vowels as well as digraphs
he counted money and made change through a money game called quizmo :)
he studied a bee through a microscope, looking at its tail/stinger and wings
he did some magnet experiments
we discussed the north & south poles of a magnet and how same pole repel and opposite poles attract
we played checkers
he searched for pokemon cards at ebay
hes been shopping for pokemon cards, calculating shipping costs into the item price, and making sure it didnt go over the amount he had to spend.
hes also had to compare the different lots of cards including how many cards are in that particular lot and the price, looking for the best overall deal.
shes worked on handwriting
shes calculated time as she awaited her turn for the TV or computer
we studied mammals for a couple of weeks.
shes been reading and working on grammar & phonics
we worked on days of the week & months & calendar work
weve been discussing conflict resolution
shes been adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers
shes worked on her handwriting
we worked on countries in europe & asia and other map work
shes done some art work and crafts
weve done some music play and discussed various musical instruments
weve learned library skills and discussed the dewey decimal system
she got her 1st library card
weve been learning spelling and vocabulary
weve been measuring and learning about different units of measurement.
we studied mammals for a couple of weeks.
hes been reading and working on grammar & phonics
we worked on days of the week & months & calendar
he counted by 10's up to 240 (i think)
weve been discussing conflict resolution
You Will Hug Me Whether You Want To Or Not!!!!!
hes also been adding and subtracting
hes worked on his handwriting
we worked on continents and oceans and other map work
hes done some art work and crafts
weve done some music play and discussed various musical instruments
weve learned library skills and discussed the dewey decimal system
he got his 1st library card
weve been learning spelling and vocabulary
weve been measuring and learning about different units of measurement.
we quit homeschooling. but we are UNschooling. :o) we started doing it officially last week so we're still figuring everything out. but anyway, this year for our annual assessment i wont have the kids tested. i am going to keep a portfolio to be reviewed by a teacher at the end of the year. fun. NOT! lol but its better than testing!
so, since we need to keep a portfolio, im going to TRY (ha-ha!) to use my blog as a journal of what were learning (as we go). thats my new mantra... 'Living life and learning as we go!' i want a bumper sticker that says that! anyway, its gonna be VERY easy to recognize when joeys learning cuz hes younger (6) and almost everything is new to him. mandys older (9) and her learning is more subtle. but i'm sure gonna try!
hopefully from now on i'll be able to have more specific instances and be more descriptive. we want to UNschool to live life, learn as we go, and make memories along the way. oooohhh!!! better bumper sticker. but i want this blog to serve as a reminder of those memories as we've lived and learned and not just a list of 'we did this' or 'we did that'. hopefully it'll come together and work itself out.
we are studying mammals right now for science and one thing we're doing is watching DVDs that go along with our unit. we are currently watching 'the life of mammals'. its a 9 part series. each episode focuses on a specific kind of mammal. ie: plant predators, insect hunters, chisellers, etc. well, during the plant eaters episode, they showed how as the animals come out to graze it makes them vunerable to predators and at the end they showed a giselle being attacked and eaten by a pack of hyenas. it wasnt graphic per se, but you knew what was happening. this made my sensitive hearted 9 year old daughter so so sad till she cried. we talked about the nature of things and the food chain, etc and finally calmed her down. but she says shes never eating meat again! i guess this means we're skipping tomorrows episode, 'meat eaters'.
this same daughter recently got her ears pierced. shes to the point she can switch her studs out to other earrings. shes reaaly into danglys but i dont just mean danglys, i mean DANGLYS! she shopping at the dollar staore and good will and shes finding the GAUDIEST earrings in the history of earrings. but she puts them on and i tell her she looks cute. she wears them even if i dont and it makes her sad if i say 'arent they a little big?' i figure shes still young and shes playing dress up so who cares! she'll outgrow it by the time it really matters.
anyway, we met up with my lovely homeschooling friend, her older son, and her younger sons that my kids play with, for lunch at the burger king playland. i worried the whole time she was gonna trip over her giant earrimgs but she did fine and they didnt even snag on anything.
on the way home she asked me, 'what does cute mean? now the girl is 9 years old and certainly knows what 'cute' means so the question caught me by surprise. i told her she knew what it meant and why was she asking. well, it turns out the one of my friends boys told my daughter that shes cute. theyre both young and theyre just friends, but i think thats so sweet. :o) i think my daughter thinks its sweet, too. what a cutie! lol
inside out, upside down, and four vials of blood later...
joey has strep.
theyre running many tests on him (four vials of blood, the poor guy!) to see if theres anything else underlying. but for now hes on amoxicillin twice a day and we just wait it out.
well, joey woke with a temp of 98.5. i'm still gonna take him to the dr but i told the lady at the dr office hed probably be better today. hes only been getting sick a couple of days at a time and this time seems to have run its course.
its monday night right now and his temp got up to 103.4 today. ive talked to the advice nurse and theyve want to see him tomorrow morning for a consult,l which means they blocked him in for 30 minutes as opposed to the 15 they usually give for sick appointments. that just strickes me as odd. i guess if youre sicker than they can diagnose in 15 minutes, youre in trouble.
anyway, theyre gonna go over his illnesses of the last 7 weeks, which is how long this has been going on. hes had five separate incidences of fever or puking during this time totally 15 days, eight of which he had to miss school for. so they want to see if theres any underlying problem or anything.
anyway, hes in bed now doubled up on tylenol and advil and with his fever broke (thank god). keep joey in your thoughts and prayers please. and his mommy, too as shes a little worried about her little guy who'll be 6 in 2 weeks. thanks.
i just dont know when this becomes abnormal but um... joey has a fever of 102.4 again. hes tired, pale, his voice sounds a little (very little) husky. but he doesnt have any snot or congestion at all. he ate this evening, just a little but he doesnt have an upset stomach. as far as i know hes pooping and peeing okay. he just has a fever.
each incident on its own is insignifigant but cumlatively, well... i just dont know what to think. or if i should be thinking anything at all. its a conumdrum....
why, yes it does! :o) okay, if you wanna check this out, its a video montage of edie sedgwick photos and movie clips. well, its only part 1. i cant get the 2nd half to convert and upload. grrrrr....
anyway, most of you wont care but fwiw - here ya go.... (and be sure to turn off the music playing in the upper right hand corner first!)
well, based on my post from yesterday and the response i got from my friend, julie
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jewls2texas/
(cut and paste the above url cuz i cant get the dumb link thing to work - AGAIN!!!!!)
ive learned a new trick and i want to make sure each of you knows this trick as well! :o)
julie pointed out that you can set up your preferences to send you an email each time you get a new comment. why is this important you ask? because its great if someone posts to an old entry. you may not always scroll to look at older or even archived entries but if someone comments to any of them, youll get an email with a link to the direct entry that was commented! cool, huh?! :o)
anyway, its gonna be VERY easy to recognize when joeys learning cuz hes younger (6) and almost everything is new to him. mandys older (9) and her learning is more subtle. but i'm sure gonna try!
