Tag Archives: Cosmos

unschooling

Monday

The kids set up a lego restaurant with dishes, tables, customers and a menu.

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We watched a crew clean our street and then cover the cracks with tar.  I asked the kids why they thought they cleaned the street first.  Lilah said, “To get rid of the dirt”. Gavin added, “Because it wouldn’t stick with the dirt on it”.  Then we talked about what happens if water from snow gets in cracks in the road and then freezes (and expands).

We worked on some Makit plate designs for holiday gifts.  They will make plates with the designs the kids draw and color.  The ones from years past are some of our favorite plates to use around here!  Gavin drew an owl with wind, tornado, crown and jewels.  Lilah drew several cats.  They both have a particular interest in those animals right now, which is fun.

Gavin and I solved a sudoku puzzle with his Chocolate Fixx set while Lilah was still working on her drawings.

When she finished we played a game of Magic The Gathering.  It’s a very complicated game and not really something Lilah can grasp fully, or even Gavin for that matter, but they enjoy playing it at the stage they are at now and it has so much to think about: math, strategy, order of phases in your turn, lots of new vocabulary, art on the cards.

Lilah and I drove over to her gymnastics class

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while Gavin stayed home and built a lego spaceship and watched an episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

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unschooling

Wednesday

They played with Legos and story told for hours, inspired by their many varied interests.

Lilah decided to try oatmeal for the first time for breakfast and enjoyed it with almond milk and honey.

We finished the puzzle we’ve been working on.

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Lilah got out her stickers and played with them.

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Gavin worked on a crocodile in flames, titled Sorry Crocodile! made with perler beads.

The kids made quesadillas (with Daiya cheddar as we are vegan) for themselves for lunch and Lilah cut some carrot coins for herself from one of the rainbow carrot bunch, a white one this time.

After lunch they wanted to do more perler bead crafting.  Lilah worked on a heart ornament with color patterns and finished it.  A year ago, it was too frustrating for her to do any kind of pattern in perler beads, with spills and the length of the process so she often gave up so it’s great to see her succeeding with that now.  She was thrilled with the results!  Gavin made an ornament next, with translucent and opaque beads.

We walked over to the park to collect things to try painting and stamping with.  We found pinecones, juniper, some seed balls from the sycamores.  The kids helped me look for some round, smooth rocks for some holiday projects later.  As we walked home, they carried some rocks they’d chosen and they began galloping and clicking their rocks together, pretending they were in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  (In the movie, knights who click the halves of coconuts together imitate the sound of horses hooves as they gallop on foot.)

We got out the paint and paper and began painting.  Lilah painted for a long time and Gavin switched between painting and more perler bead creating.

They admired each others progress and process.  I believe that our unschooling approach is helping all of us be kinder to each other, have more time for each other and generally be happier most of the time.  It’s not that we weren’t striving to be kind before, but there is most time and space for our interests and needs and feelings now, and that leads to being in a better place to appreciate other people and the world.  I am so grateful for kids who encourage each other!

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“Mama, can we watch an episode of Cosmos?”  (Cosmos, a Spacetime Odyssey)  This episode was about the age of the Earth and how it’s been interpreted and determined through history.

We read several chapters of Matilda and then there were cuddles and songs and sleep.

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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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