unschooling

Thursday

They started with computer play and Pokemon and My Little Pony watching.

There was lego play and pony play.

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Lilah drew pictures of her friends with their names and hairstyles and favorite colors taken into consideration.

We baked muffins with mixing and recipe reading and chocolate chip allotting.

We puzzled.

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After lunch we headed up to our favorite spot by Storm Mountain and hiked by the stream.  It was cold but beautiful.  We collected maple leaves and I dabbled with a little leaf art.  We decided that Lilah needs a collecting bag to bring with us on walks and hikes.

On the way down we noticed a pine tree full of pinecones.  We wondered if they are the kind with pine nuts so we brought a few home to check out.

When we got home there was sticker sticking fun and then we did some Spanish together – food and animal words.

We finished the Rocky Mountains puzzle.  It was a beautiful and fun one, and we would definitely like another with Charley Harper art on it.  We even noticed several of the species from the puzzle on our hike today!

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unschooling

Wednesday

Right after breakfast we headed up to UMFA with my sister.  It was their monthly first free Wednesday!

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We really enjoyed looking around.  It’s hard not to touch things though, when some are practically begging for it!  There was an artist there, Tony Feher installing some art on windows with painters tape that looked like a tile mosaic.  His exhibition is opening later this week!  It was fascinating to me to watch him.  He also had a piece already hung using pink tape descending from the very high ceiling in a grid.  It blows a tiny bit in the indoor air currents and seems like chaos but if you stand in between rows you see the linear pattern.

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The kids enjoyed the South Asian art and the Indian art especially, as well as a video of a performance piece where an artist in throwing rocks in bowls of paint and they drip down over many boxes, each with its own bowl of paint waiting.  Rock, Hard, Place it was called.  I cannot remember the artists name.  We looked at Ganesha carved in stone and wood.  We admired a Horus casket painted beautifully and holding a grain mummy.  We looked at paintings of Utah and noted some places we’ve been.  It was very enjoyable for all of us, not too terribly packed, and filled with fascinating art from all over and many eras and we’ll do it again on another free day.

After we got home we watched an episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

Then we did some Spanish practice, followed by a request for music to sing along to.  “Ella’s Playhouse is already in the player, Mama!”

Soon it was time to head out for Gavin’s soccer game.  Lilah enjoyed the playground while Gavin enjoyed playing with his team.  They are the Earthquakes, named for the MLS team who wears blue and black.

Afterward it was dinner and bedtime, with snuggling, reading and a few songs.

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unschooling

Tuesday

There was Pokemon watching.

Gavin built with Magformers while Lilah and I made waffles.

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After breakfast there was a game where they walked round and round the room while going imaginary places.

We read a few articles about the eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan.  Then we looked at a video of a fish with a transparent head on National Geographic’s website.  “I can see it’s brain!  And it’s eyeballs are moving!”

There were baths and cuddling followed by several sudoku Chocolate Fix challenges together.

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A lego garden was built with poison berry plants which grow berries that are red before they are ripe so people might think they are apples and eat them, then they have tiny black spots and then, when they are ripe they turn black.

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We read an article for kids about Ebola and talked about what it is, where it is and how scary the outbreak is for Africa.  We looked at our globe at the part of Africa where it is now.

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There was more lego play.

I read a chapter of Wise Child to them and then we did some Spanish practice – animal words today.

We made some popcorn with our air popper (always fun to watch!) and read Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride by Stephen Krensky.

We listened to and danced to Ella Fitzgerald.

We enjoyed all of it.

 

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