True New Englander

Ben is getting the hang of dressing like a true New Englander.

Hat?... check
Mittens?.... check
Warm coat with layers underneath?.... check
Flip flops?!?!?.... gotta cool off somehow!

Our Days

A few more snapshots of some of our recent learning:

Post Halloween Homeschool

We lived up to the reputation of homeschoolers this All Saints Day and used the kids loot from the day before as our inspiration for learning!

We sorted many different ways and talked about why we would group things and what questions we could answer with the data we gathered.

We graphed our data

We brainstormed adjectives to describe our candy.

We did lots of science experiments!

what happens to Swedish Fish in different liquids?

will they sink or float?

exploring density with a Skittles rainbow

It was a fun day! And to the kids relief there was still plenty of candy left over for their enjoyment!

Heard Around Our House

A conversation with Benjamin:

Ben: Mom, what's the "head" of the table?
Me: It's the end of the table. It's usually where the host sits. In our house it's the end where Daddy usually sits.
Ben: What's the other end called?
Me: The foot
Ben: (thinks for a minute) So, I sit at the hip!

Michael Phelp's Story - Collaborative Storytelling by Julia & Adrian

Julia also participated in the collaborative storytelling exercise with our co-op group (see my previous post for a longer explanation). She ended up working with her friend Adrian who is also a swimmer and they used that as the inspiration for their story! The illustrations were done by their friends Elizabeth and Desmond.

   

Collaborative Storytelling by Benjamin

In October, storytelling was the topic we explored in our small Friday co-op. The kids learned about expression, using descriptors, telling truths and tales, and lots more.

It ended with a session on how books are made. We talked about how picture books are written by one author or authors and then sent to publisher for revisions, and once the text is pinned down are then sent to illustrators for the pictures. Then the kids were broken into groups. Each group wrote a collaborative story and once finished handed their text to another group to be illustrated. It was an enlightening exercise for everyone!

In Benjamin's case, the enlightenment my own - learning that he has definite visions when creating a story and does not want to compromise on that! He was NOT a fan of collaborative storytelling and reached a point where he just would not participate any further. He was adamant about his version of the story. So he went off and did his own thing while the others in his group finished.

BUT when we got home, he immediately came to me with a huge stack of paper and a pencil and asked me to write down his version of the story. So here it is:

There was a man sleeping in he nighttime in a castle. He was trying to figure out a mystery of who is the monster. He was looking at a book and saw footprints and an arrow stuck in the wall. He went through a secret door and saw a pyramid. The door to the pyramid was locked. He found a key in his house and opened the door and went inside. 

Inside there was a message, "There is a monster here but he's hiding." Then he realized that the monster was standing behind him. He saw a lever and pulled it. The floor slid open and the monster fell into a lava pit. The man sees a hole in the floor of the pyramid, jumps in, and falls onto a boat floating on the Nile River. 

The boat flips over and he lands on a crocodile. The crocodile takes him to his house. It's his pet crocodile. When he gets there his house is locked. The crocodile's sweet tooth falls out and it's shaped like a kay. It fits the door perfectly. He goes inside and sees the monster. Then he sees a tag on the back of the monster that says, "Pet Monster. Owner - Jeff." He says, "Wait! That's me!!"

The End.

Because I think it's really interesting where Benjamin deviated from the group task I'm also including the group story as well.

There was a person sleeping in the nighttime in a castle. He was trying to solve a mystery about who burned down the castle. He was looking at a book to see if he could find out who did it. He saw footprints and an arrow stuck in the wall. He opened a secret door and found a pyramid. There was a lock on the door. He found a kay in his house and opened the pyramid door and went inside and found a message. It said, "there was a monster but now it's gone because it is a speedy monster."

Then he noticed the monster was right behind him! He spies a lever on the wall, flips the switch, and the floor opens up and they both fall into the lava pit (note - this is where Ben stopped participating. He was certain that both the monster and the man should NOT fall into the pit. Just the monster) but the man lands on a lava buoy. The man watches as the monster disintegrates in the lava.

The man falls through a hole in the buoy and lands on a boat in Ancient Egypt sailing through Upper Egypt up the Nile. His boat flips over and he lands on a crocodile. The crocodile bring him to his house which is locked. The key was on the lava buoy! While he is looking for the key he gets chased by a lion and falls into a lava pit. He finds the key. Then he disintegrates.

The End.

Making a Splash!

Julia attended her first Envious Swimming meet (a USA Swimming event) this past weekend. She had a packed schedule. She attended both Saturday and Sunday and swam 3 events each day.

Saturday was 100m breaststroke, 50m backstroke, and 50m freestyle and Sunday was 100m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, and 50m butterfly. In between, Julia could be found in cool-down pool, warming up and cooling down, and just enjoying 12 hours of time when she could go in the water pretty much whenever she wanted!

We didn't get too many pictures as Andrew volunteered a timer on Saturday and was busy working the whole time. And there is a limited photography policy which makes it a little difficult. But if there were photos they would show Julia with a grin from ear-to-ear for pretty much the entire weekend!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was a family event this year filled with friends and fun!

Our first event was a party at our friends' house. The kids played games, told stories, ate treats, and watched The Great Pumpkin on the big screen. That was followed by a party at Aunt Merrill's on Saturday where the kids raced around playing glow stick hide and seek. And then the actual event on Monday when the kids finally got to "actual Trick or Treating!" in Grandpa Rick's neighborhood!

An assortment of characters!

racing Pikachu

witches hats and pumpkins 

trying to capture my Pikachu