kirstencan

Printing

Last week we tried a cool printmaking method.

Inspired by Alisa Burke's project, we made plastic bag prints.

To make it easier with two boys printing, I had three bags for each color.  I would roll more paint on one while the boys were printing the others, so there was always one ready to go.  We did red, then silver, and then blue/yellow.

They drew, scraped, and scribbled with various things to remove paint before printing.

The third pass they painted on the bag themselves.

The Redhead is much more free with his artwork, which is actually very inspiring to me, and often turns out with awesome end products.

Monkey tried several representational prints.  He was inspired by his brother to let loose, too, though.

Monkey's favorite print (mine, too).

They were having fun, and I decided to do some printing of my own.  I broke out the gocco and printed a run of birthday cards (old screen, new colorway).

Monkey helped me and was fascinated.  He doesn't really remember helping me before.  I think it's time for someone else to make his own cards... :)

Little House

As usual, I have a million things I'd like to say here, and not enough time to post them.

So here's one random thing.

My boys have been listening to 'Little House on the Prairie' in the car the past week (side note: Cherry Jones is a great reader and that book makes great audiobook (not a lot of dialogue/voices, more description).  At first they weren't excited that I checked out that book, but I told them we could switch after we finished one disc if they didn't like it.

Yeah, it took about 5 minutes for them to be hooked!  We finished the audiobook today and they are currently watching this version of it (we've had it for years - much more true to the book than the tv show!).  They have enjoyed pointing out the differences between the book and movie, and as soon as he heard 'mosquito' Monkey said 'Oh, it's Fever and Ague!'

The Redhead was excited to learn there are more books in the series, and has been asking a lot of questions about Native Americans and white settlers.

We have also been talking about navigating the wagon, Jack the dog, wolves, healthcare for early settlers and tons of other stuff..

And that, friends, is why historical literature rocks.  Autobiographical is even better.

Coincidentally, the husband recently told me about this annotated Little House, which sounds amazing.  Until it comes in at the library or is back in stock, I'll be checking out their blog.

License Plate Game

On our trip we (of course) played the license plate game.  We just jotted all the different ones we saw down on a scrap of paper.  Which we then lost, but it was fairly easy to recreate, surprisingly.  When we got back I had the boys color in the states we saw (I meant to print a map that included Canada, oops).

We may have also seen Tennessee or Kentucky, and one or two more Canadian provinces.  TONS of Californias, Nebraskas, and Missouris for some reason.

National Parks are SO the place to play this game, it was amazing the variety we saw just four hours from our home!  The guy with the Alaska plates may have thought I was a big dork because I was pretty excited to see his car!

Copper

The girl had to make a model of an atom.  She chose copper.

What she came up with was stitching it up and making a pillow!  I love it.

The circles are felt.  The fabric is from a men's linen dress shirt.

She had to label everything in some way, so she made a key.

Having a mom with craft supplies sometimes comes in handy. ;)

What I forgot to take a photo of is that making a pillow cover from a men's dress shirt is the easiest way to go!  We cut squares out of the front and back together, then the buttons are all going down the back.  A ready-made opening that looks professional (because a professional made all those buttonholes)!  I'm so using that idea again.

Her chemistry teacher wanted to keep the pillow, the girl wanted it up on her bed, but it's on my couch, so I won. :)

Fun at the Renaissance Faire

Sun Prints

In science this week we've been studying the sun.  And I remembered back in the day I bought the Girl some sun print paper.  I managed to find it (yes!) but it said it should be used within 6 months.  Hmm...

So I took out one sheet and threw some sharpies on it.

Ha!  Like 8 years later and still good! 

Alright then, let's make some sun prints!  Though the packaging said 'Nature Prints'... we only printed toys.  Toy prints.

If you've never done this, it's really easy and fun.  You just set stuff out on the special paper,

Let it expose for a minute or two, and when you take the stuff off, you will see their shadows.

But wait!  Then you rinse it in water for a minute and the shadows disappear.

Until they start drying.  Then the shadows turn white instead of dark.  It's cool.

So here's how that bionicle/hero factory/whatever one turned out:

The Redhead wanted to do very simple stuff with his playmobil guys.

Whereas I was like 'Throw on all the things!'

(Smartlinks and Magformers)

Playmobil (the discolored spots are from water pooling as it dried... I wasn't too careful, but they're supposed to dry flat and I don't know a good way of not letting it happen anyway!).

More playmobil.

Lego!  Check out the headless minifig, ha!

I am fascinated by the detail this paper picks up.  Below you can see a closeup of the clear magformers.

Details from my sharpie pens, and the bionicle accessories.

Bonus points if you can guess what this last one is!  You might have to be a long-time reader or know us in real life to get it.

Our first week + Curriculum 2014-15

Last week was probably the best first week of school we've ever had!  It came with some hard parts (waking up at 5:30am with the Girl - UGH, so tired!) but overall everyone had a great week which I am SO glad of.  The girl loves her school.  LOVES her school.  I am so glad we found an 'atypical' high school for her to attend.  There is some adjusting going on with homework, but she has woken up happy each morning and has had a great experience so far.

Mentioned earlier, but we are abandoning the school boxes as a system (which worked GREAT for a few years, and then not as much the last couple).  As the boys get older, lists are working better, so I borrowed/modified Jessica's checklist.  I printed out the first week, made changes where I needed to for week 2, and then hopefully soon I can just print a couple 'permanent' ones and get them laminated.  Or keep switching things up, who knows.  The checklists worked SUPER good the first week.  I was impressed with how well the Redhead especially did with them. 

Anyway, I do like browsing other people's curriculum picks, so here's the main stuff we are using this year with the two boys (9yo and 11yo).

History: Middle ages this year.  Spines =Story of the World audio CD and Usborne Encyclopedia of World History.  We aren't using the SOTW workbook.

Science: Earth/Space science.  Spine = Usborne Science Encyclopedia, with Usborne Science Dictionary, The story of Astronomy, Usborne Planet Earth. This isn't a sponsored post, I just LOVE Usborne books!  We have a bunch and they are my go-to publisher when I need something.

For history and science I mapped out all the topics I wanted to cover, and listed the page numbers in all the books so that it's EASY prep during the year.  I taped those on the inside covers of my planner.  And of course we will add historical fiction, and other library books in supporting roles.

Math:

Monkey:  khan academy, beast academy, life of fred

The Girl breezed through Singapore, it worked well for her.  Not so much for the boys, and I'm finding that Monkey really does better with variety!  Khan is AWESOME and free (the Girl has used this, too) and will be daily, Beast Academy and Life of Fred are alternating days.  Life of Fred is great, he is on... book L or M or something.  Beast Academy is a new find and the fact that the text is comic-book style is very appealing.  Monkey sat and read half of it for fun right when it came in the mail.  We'll see how it goes, but I am highly optimistic already.

Redhead: math apps (he's been into this one called squeebles), kumon and other various workbooks, Life of Fred, math fun box (this is where I keep all the (recently weeded!) math manipulatives, like clocks, dominos, play money, flash cards, wrap-ups, etc.).  Not sure if he's getting math tutoring at the school this year.

 

Spelling:  All about spelling level 3 - still working well!

 

handwriting:  Still using Handwriting without tears (cursive for monkey)

 

typing: Dance Mat typing (BBC) I'm hoping the redhead will be able to learn to type, but he isn't ready, so just Monkey right now.

 

writing/language: Writing with Ease (We just started this in the spring, and trying to not use the workbooks has admittedly slowed me down, but I am trying again!), projects from Partnership in Writing, journaling, narrations, letter writing, etc. We don't do any formal reading program, my kids just READ.

 

Greek/Latin roots: English from the Roots up

 

Logic: Logic Liftoff (Monkey), Usborne Logic cards

 

geography:  Daily Geography Practice (except we do it all on Fridays), general mapwork, iPad apps

 

art:  Whatever I make time for.  The Redhead has shown interest in watercolors and paper crafting.  I still want to do more printmaking with them.  We'll see what happens! ... This is a depressing statement from someone who graduated in art education!

 

Now on to Week Two!  The one where occupational therapy, piano lessons, and dance start back up (on top of taekwondo, swimming, cubs, and the other stuff that doesn't stop for the summer - augh!).  I'm kinda nervous...

Happy New Year

I think New Year celebrations should be held when school starts.  It always feels like the right time to set new goals and try a little harder and celebrate.

The girl got her backpack all ready and headed off to school with lunch in hand.  Kinda weird sending her off for her first day of school...ever.

I am so glad jean jackets are in style.  I have had this weird urge to buy her docs - not realizing they are apparently making a comeback as well.  I think I just associate them with school!

We are getting an earlier start with the boys' school now that she has to be out the door rather early (it was dark until just before she left!). That's a good thing, really.

I was really happy to get a "Great so far!" text from her at lunch!

We watched this video (again) and man, I laugh every time.  But the redhead LOVES it and sang it all day.

We have had some lovely weather lately:  school outside as long as we can!

After school treat (dough balls are handy!).

I found time to make some salsa (gotta use those tomatoes!), but did NOT find time to mop.  Tomorrow?

All told, a good day.  Onward!

One of the cool things about her new school compared to my high school:  no bells, and ten minutes between each class! !!  I had four.  Four minutes when you had to fight backpack traffic and somehow get from the german trailer out back to the driver's ed room on the other side of the school down in the basement. Ten minutes would have been heavenly. Maybe even  time use the bathroom if it wasn't full of smokers!  Ahh, high school.

That time of the year again

That time full of piles and sorting and thinking and listing and charting and organizing and changing.

Getting ready for school time.

I am close.  We are starting Monday, as that's the girl's first day at her new school. 

Today I cleaned out our workboxes.  I think we won't use them the way we used to, just for organized storage.  I think we're going with checklists this year.

Also today, the girl made some cloth napkins for her lunchbox.  She hasn't sewed in forever, so it was a good refresher.

We have overprepared invested in lunch packing supplies, and these make a super cute addition to the stash.

She went through my fabric, some of which I had been hoarding and had only just enough for a smallish napkin left (She made them 9 -10 inches square (or oblong) depending on what was left).

I'll show you the rest of our lunch supplies once we find out if they're working for us.  :)

Timeline

Have you guys heard of this game?

I can't remember where I first heard of it, but I found it on sale one day on Amazon, and tucked it away for a rainy day.  Or Monkey's birthday, that worked.  We got the Inventions one first.

He LOVED it.  So does everyone, actually.  We have played it with grandparents and aunts/uncles and it's a hit.  It's also really compact and easy to fit in your purse for when you're waiting at vision therapy appointments or pizza places ... 

So the concept is SO easy, it takes 5 seconds - I love games with very little 'learning to play' time.  Basically the cards are the same front/back except the back has the date on it.  You can't look at the date.  One card is flipped over from the pile, you pick one of your cards and decide if it goes before or after the card that's up. 

At the beginning that's usually pretty easy.  As you add cards (and flip them over to see if you're right) it gets harder.  And brains start working...  The goal is to get rid of your cards.

Monkey likes to look up his cards in our Inventions book while it's other people's turns.  At first we were like 'Hey, no cheating!' and then realized... yeah if he wants to be using his skills to play this game so much the better!

He actually has a way better sense of historical timelines than I would have at his age.  I think it's because we teach history chronologically (next year:  middle ages!).  I was suprised how well he did right off the bat.

We then picked up the historical events version of the game (there's lots of versions!) which is just as fun, and really you could shuffle the two decks and the game would be awesome.

We found several of the Timeline games at our local comic/game shop when we stopped by for free comic book day!  Did you guys go?

Also, I think there's a Timeline app!  I think that would be super fun, too.