Monthly Archives: July 2015

unschooling

another good week

We visited museums and took in a new exhibit about how we see, both how eyes work and how our brains work with our eyes to perceive.

We hiked up Storm Mountain and wet our toes, tossed rocks, found a discarded water bottle and played catch with the current with it before taking it back to recycle.  We identified stinging nettle and painted with water on rocks.  We stacked rocks.

We played with other unschoolers at a splash pad and park.  The kids are feeling more comfortable but there’s still a lack of kids Lilah’s age to play with, but a range older and younger.  Gavin went with some other kids and was offered a powerade and after he drank it and we left the park we looked at the ingredients and together we decided that it probably wasn’t good for him and that was probably why his stomach hurt.

We did a lot of reading and listening to our latest audio book, Slaves of Socorro (Brotherband Chronicles 4).  We just finished Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman on our trip to and from Yellowstone.

The kids got out their favorite paper airplane book and folded dozens of airplanes.

We watched Inside Out in the theatre.  Lilah liked it quite a bit and Gavin had trouble with the confrontations from certain emotions in the film, but the next day decided he liked it very much.  It was a good experience for all of us, I think.  Especially since we got to chat about emotions afterward.

 

Standard
unschooling

Sulfur & silica & bacterial mats

We took a weekend trip to Yellowstone, our local supervolcano. It was cool there which was refreshing after being so hot at home. We caught Grand geyser erupting.

19500362650_e41fb29e24_o

We saw bison and geese and osprey and marmots and elk and deer and wildflowers. The harebell was Lilah’s favorite. We also saw asters and paintbrush and lupine and others I didn’t recognize.

 

We saw geysers and mud pots and hot springs and fumaroles and read about how they work and what minerals they have and why the bacteria inside and surrounding them are different colors. We learned that the difference between geysers and hot springs is how narrow the chute the water comes through up to the surface is.  If it’s narrow then it’s a geyser; if wide then a hot spring. I told Lilah how the wolves were systematically killed, then reintroduced and are doing well now.  We didn’t spot any, though.

Lilah pointed out this bird in a long-dead tree.

19724619352_71e92e8165_o

We ventured through the steam from erupting Sawmill geyser

and the kids climbed on trees.

At our campsite, we tried our hammock and found it was easy to put up and very fun to sit and lie in.

The kids were disappointed to leave for home and asked if we could go again next year, see some more of the park we haven’t explored yet. Yes.

Standard
unschooling

Moose Cabin

We had the opportunity to spend a few days in the mountains at the cabin of my parents’ friends. (Thank you, Mama & Daddy!) It was pure loveliness!

There were games of all kinds.

18872933374_6a703617c2_o

We played inside

19307660198_1b6d19e70e_o

and we played outside.

The kids spent hours! on the swing outside.

We saw a family of moose on our hike up to Dog Lake, ambling down as we were ambling up.

19495532765_363fd752f2_o

 

It was wonderful to be in the cooler air, to hear the birds and squirrels, to be more conscious of nature, to slow down for a bit.

 

19309790539_89696d3960_o

Standard
unschooling

hot days

Recently we have been enjoying

kaleidoscope play with patterns and mirrors

reading and reading and reading some more

a mining party where we searched for and cracked open geodes, panned for gold and identified gems in a raw state

playing at the museum

puppeteering and castle building at another museum

IMG_5228

tree climbing

 

IMG_5224

earthquake testing on different structures

IMG_5291fireworks watching and cuddling with Grandpa

exploring up Storm Mountain with Daddy on a Sunday, trying rock stacking after watching a video of a man nicknamed Gravity Glue who makes huge and amazing rock stacks in Colorado rivers.

 

 

 

Standard