unschooling

Cuttlefish and Number Games

We went to the aquarium.  We saw lots of animals and tested out some new displays.  We spent quite a bit of time with the cuttlefish, observing them.  They are fascinating creatures, very curious.  They come right up to the glass to observe us and one even sort of puffed water at us several times.  We wondered aloud what the tube like part under their head does and I promised to check it out at home.  Later I found it helps to propel them through the water, along with their fin.  They can change color and release ink.  From watching them for awhile, it seems to me to be the spots on their skin that change color, not the underlying skin itself.  We know they like to cover themselves in sand and hide on the bottom of the tank, but today we only spotted swimming cuttlefish.  We also saw the Gentoo penguins, lots of sharks and unicorn fish and jellyfish.

We listened to Harry Potter on the way to and from the aquarium and Gavin asked to watch the movie so we started that when we got home.

The three of us played a Magic the Gathering draft. Lilah and I were on a team since drafting is so complicated that I don’t think she could do it on her own.  She was disappointed but ended up enjoying it and then leaving partway through the game, which is about right for her attention span.

Lilah read me an Elephant and Piggie book: My New Friend Is So Fun.

Gavin and I played Rat-a-tat-Cat and he won with only 4 total.  I had 7.

We headed to Classic Center for some roller skating. The kids practiced skating in a crouch, stopping, turning and jumping.  I practiced not hitting small kids veering wildly on scooters while trying to enjoy skating.  Next time I think we’ll go earlier and avoid the crowds.

Lilah played some Spanish games with number and color words.  They’d forgotten many of the ones they had learned already but they came back fast.  In one of the games she has to spell the words so the visual learning kicks in there.

We got out the Math Dice and Gavin taught me how to play.  It was fun to practice our addition and multiplication.  He’s so good with numbers!

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Lilah performed a Chapstick experiment wherein she tried all of her chapsticks together, layer upon layer.  It was hilarious and I told her she smelled like a candy shop.  She’s still a bit sticky.

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The kids played Carcassonne with my sister while I went for a short hike and then they played with Legos and jumped on the beanbag.

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There was a soccer game in the hallway.

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There’s always more fun to be had.  I keep learning that particular lesson, over and over!  It’s a good one.

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Sunken Cities, Lego Cities, Evolution

Over the past week or so the kids have been playing Spore every morning lately.  So, the rest of the time the kids conversation is including evolution, mutation, tribes and herds.   (It’s a computer game where you start as a tiny sea-dwelling organism and slowly evolve and become a land-dweller.  You get to choose the changes, like type of eyeballs, type of feet, size of torso…, as you slowly level up and your creature changes and develops.)  Usually both of them are leaning together, planning what changes to make next, where to take their creature in search of food, shelter or allies.  Here’s Lilah in a rare moment without Gavin’s sage advice on hand.

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Gavin built a Lego version of Carcassonne, complete with four civilizations, Japan, China, Vikings and Rome.  It has a volcano and a temple, four cities and a river that goes to the sea.  I’m impressed by his building, his creativity and his interest in geography, history and game mechanics.

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We finished reading Madame Pamplemousse and the Enchanted Sweet Shop and are continuing Prairie School.

We looked at a bunch of slides with the new microscope as well as some feathers from our parakeet.

Lilah went to gymnastics.  She even went up to the high bar, the one up higher than my head, swung herself around and up and did her “mermaids” on that bar before swinging down and dismounting.  I was impressed.

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Gavin and Dad played civilization.

We built my new single-serving puzzle.

Lilah’s had a cough for weeks and the air has been really bad here so we’ve been staying in quite a bit.  Yesterday and today the air is finally clear again thanks to some rain and snow.

The kids have been playing with their Hero Factory modular robot toys.

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Here’s a snippet of one of their stories:

G: “I’m following you Earth Leader. All right, Sandstone. Look this is the tricky part of getting down.”

L: “Yeah but remember Kai is good at climbing.”

G: “Yeah he’s good at climbing things but not slippery things like vines.”

 “‘Let’s go to the new city of Earthler which I’ve never seen’, Kai admitted.”
L: “Look, she’s fireproof and waterproof!”
We talked about sales tax because Gavin has been doing chores to earn money and is interested in spending it on a new Bionicle figure.  We discussed how much sales tax is, why it exists and what its for in general and specifically here in Utah.  Then we began talking about when it started and got into the Boston tea party and representation of the people in governments.  It was a pretty great bunch of discussions!
We picked up our Spanish practice again, going over food words, animal words and I learned how to say, “You are so sweet my teeth hurt.”
Gavin finished knitting his hat on the loom.
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Gavin asked recently about Atlantis, if it’s real or not. So I explained that actually there are plenty if cities that have sunk for different reasons and we don’t know if Atlantis is one of those.  Afterward we looked at some great photos of sunken cities and read the brief descriptions of where they are, when they sank and if they know why.  It’s been something that has interested me since I was a kid, so it’s fun to see Gavin interested as well.  I’m glad to know and be able to pass on that there are infinite mysteries left in history, biology, physics just waiting to be discovered and puzzled over.
We went the the Museum of Natural Curiosity and climbed and read and spun and wondered and built and laughed.  My favorite part this time was watching the kids dress up as pirates and put on a play.
Friends.
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New Year’s Eve 2014

We went to the Museum of Natural History for their kid friendly Noon Year’s Eve event.  We stopped first at a dry ice bubbles station.  They even got to see what happened when too much dry ice was put in the bottle… the lid popped off and it tipped over while spouting bubbles all over!

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Next Lilah drew on shrinky dink paper while Gavin roped cattle.  Gavin eventually decided to create a shrinky dink too.

They looked at snowflakes through a microscope.

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Lilah is explaining to me what she observed in the melting snow through the scope.  I’ve used some Christmas money the kids got on a new microscope for them to use at home.  I’m so excited to try it out with them soon!

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Lilah waiting in line for ten or fifteen minutes to get her face painted.  The artists were quite good.

After we got home and had lunch we heated up the oven and watched their shrinky dinks shrink.  Lilah’s is a cat.  It’s her favorite thing to draw for as long as I can remember.  Gavin’s is a sea serpent saying ‘Happy New Year’.

We tidied up a bit before Grandma and Grandpa from California arrived and we spent the rest of the day catching up with them.  There was a game of Chess, a game of Wildcraft, Lilah read a new favorite book If… by Sarah Perry to Grandma.

 

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Tuesday

There was some coolmathgames.com time and then an episode of Wildcratts exploring Dolphin language and then, of course, legos.

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I offered to help them start Gavin’s new crystal growing kit, but they wanted to play with legos first so I instead snaked our bathroom sink.  I despise plumbing but still prefer to do it myself instead of paying someone if possible.  This particular problem only took about twenty minutes of effort and now the sink is working well again so I’m feeling pleased.

They decided to work on some beading… taking apart some old necklaces and making new things.

We opened a packet of Pop Rocks and sprinkled them in a cup of water; watched them bubble and pop and dissolve.  The kids didn’t want to eat them but were fascinated to watch and listen to them release their gasses.  We talked about carbon dioxide gas and then we ended up talking about the artificial coloring in the water from the candy and how there are natural sources of color for foods too.

Gavin taught Lilah how to play Battleship with Chris’ old set.  “Tell me if F-6 is a hit and then put a red peg on the ship if it is.”

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I went to the store to get some supplies for lasagna and some non-residue shampoo for me while the kids played Harry Potter Chess/legos/maze making.

When I got home they were ready to work on the crystal growing kit so Gavin read the instructions, measured out the water and stirred the crystal powder to dissolve it.

He placed the rocks and I poured it over them.  Then we examined it closely.

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Then he had to read the clock and figure out what time it would be in an hour when he is supposed to sprinkle an additional pinch of crystal powder on each rock.  It took him a bit, but he got it.

They played some more Chess, this time with the Harry Potter Chess set, while they waited for the second phase of crystal preparation.

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After that they worked on some more window art painting.

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And then Lilah requested I read some more of Madame Pamplemousse to them before dinner and bed and snuggles and singing.

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Tools we use to deal with conflict

These are some “tools” I encourage the four of us in our family to use when we are upset or when another person is upset.  These are generally based on the idea that people mean well, and people will do well (or kind, or generous, or understanding) when they can.  To me this boils down to the idea that problems arise from lack of skills or lack of coping abilities, not from the intent to cause harm. If I can interact with others while mindful of my intent and recognizing their positive intent while in a conflict, I am able to approach from a very different angle and often solve things more quickly and with less hurt.

These are in no particular order, just a list of tools that might help people maneuver positively in conflicts with others.

Ask “Why”? and listen to the answer.

Name your feeling.

Make a request.

Move to a safe space.

Suggest a solution.

Ask for help.

Choose to let the other person choose.

Take a deep breath and look for calm.

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Monday

We are home and back to our routine (if I can call our go-with-the-flow days routine) after a wonderful visit with family in Washington over Christmas filled with jokes, hugs, games of all varieties and lots of good food.  I asked Lilah if she was happy to be home and she said, “Yes, because my green bean bag is at home and I LOVE it!”  It was one of her solstice gifts from Chris and I and it is indeed well loved thus far.

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This morning Lilah slept in after being a bit sick still and a long, long drive back from Washington Saturday- Sunday.  Gavin and I started making pancakes and then when she woke up she helped too.

They played with their new lego set and their old lego sets.  They acted out some scenes from Harry Potter and used various lego people parts to make a Dumbledore.

Lilah got out her window suncatcher set and we peeled off the butterfly she made before we left to put on our window.

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It looks very bright with the snow coating everything gray and white outside.

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While I went outside and shoveled snow from our steps and sidewalk, the kids played No Stress Chess together – a variation on chess where each player draws a card before playing each turn that tells her/him which piece to move (and also illustrates the way each piece moves).  It makes the game more accessible and more random and they both seem to be really enjoying it.

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After several games, the chess game evolved.  Animals were added, with new powers.  There was a borrower who borrowed things.  There was a story-teller.  I love watching them create together.

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Gavin played with his Praxinoscope animation kit.  It spins and the pictures go around and if you look through the opening on the side it looks like a moving animation of the individual images.  In Gavin’s words: “It has a mirror that reflects the pictures from the flat part.  The (view piece) is rectangular so it blocks out the other pictures and you only see one.”

IMG_3002We read some poems by Liliane Moore and Sudeep Sen.

The kids set up Lilah’s new Wildcraft game, a cooperative game about herbs, particularly healing herbs and started a game but didn’t get far before dinner time.

I read some more of a new book called Madame Pamplemousse and Her Incredible Edibles by Rupert Kingfisher.  I thought it would be perfect for Lilah and got it for the trip to Washington and we’re in the middle of it, having started reading it up there.  It is charming and empowering story of a girl who likes to cook.

 

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Busy, busy, busy

We’ve been so busy and I haven’t been documenting as much because of the holiday season but here’s a glimpse of things we’ve been doing.

We made a wreath.

Gavin’s been knitting after Lilah finished her hat on the loom that’s their size.  She’s very proud of her first knitting project.

Lilah and I have been sewing the cutest owl stuffed animal/pillow for her brother.

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We’ve been doing lots of reading.  We started a new book: Prairie School by Lois Lenski.  It follows a family in South Dakota in 1950 and is a really enjoyable exploration of how life in the 50’s in rural America was both similar and different to our current experiences.

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Gavin made some gorgeous perler bead decorations and we hot glued them on barrettes for his sister.

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We’ve been cuddling up watching movies since the kids have been feeling a bit sick this week;  Spirited Away, Harry Potter, Castle In the Sky.

Soon we’ll be celebrating Christmas with family, Solstice with the four of us and more Christmas with more family in Washington so blogging will be on hold for a while.

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Thursday

There was Animal Jam playing.

There was lego Hero Factory building and rebuilding.

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There was knitting.

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We went to the Tracy Aviary and saw lots of birds as well as things to climb on and spin and read.

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There were pelicans having fish.

And flamingos in swirling white waters.

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We climbed giant bones.

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We measured our wingspans.

And  much more.

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After we finished exploring the aviary, we had a snack in the car and decided to play at the playground in the park surrounding the aviary.  There was climbing and hide and seek and sliding and musical exploration.

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After we came home the kids watched The Triplets of Belleville, a French film.  Lilah did some more knitting and Gavin helped with one row.

Then the kids decided to decorate our tree before dinner and cuddles and Julie of the Wolves and singing and sleeping followed.

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Wednesday

There was Animal Jam on the computer together.  Then more lego Hero Factory play.

We visited Gilgal Gardens, a local historic outdoor sculpture garden depicting LDS founders.

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It’s quite strange and marvelous.  I captured some portals in Ingress while we explored.

Once we got home Gavin and I baked snickerdoodles which he’s been asking about for days while Lilah finally got started on knitting on her circular knitting loom which she’s been wanting to do for months and months.

She needed quite a bit of help to begin and support along the way while dealing with accidents and whatnot but she spent at least an hour straight working on it and has an inch or so of a lovely purple hat to show for it.

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Gavin arranged the word and letter magnets on the fridge in a visual poem.

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Gavin read a few pages of George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl to us while Lilah continued to knit.

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I amused the three of us by putting Lilah’s sunglasses on our pug.

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Then we adventured to the park to enjoy the last of the light and the kids played at the playground and hid behind trees.

Our Spiral Scouts holiday party was next.  We had some great time with friends capped by a game of Settlers of Catan, which Gavin is always jumping out of his skin to play with our friend who is equally obsessed.

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