Being Touristy!

Identifying local fish

Aunt S and Uncle J came to visit us this past week! Besides just the excitement of getting to hang out with them, we took them along to do some touristy things. We finally got to visit the Exploration Center--a aquarium of local species, many provided by local fishermen. It was a truly tiny little place, but the staff were very knowledge, and the girls were feeling brave enough to get the most out of the touch tanks. They got to hold starfish, hermit crabs, sea urchins, and pet a shark.

Bug held a hermit crab!

We attempted to pet a small shark.

We also explored a stretch of the Cliff Walk

the actual trail

(a five-mile, mostly paved trail along the coast). Of course, we quickly abandoned the trail in favor of clambering around on the rocky shore and peering into tidal pools instead. The girls noted the differences between this beach and our last beach: New England coast = cliffs, rocks, and gray sand; California coast = sand dunes and tan sand. At first they also noticed (with disappointment) a serious lack of sea shells, then we crossed a boulder and suddenly saw shells everywhere! With one catch--they were all still occupied! They picked up a number of them to peer at the snails inside, but they were always careful to put them back where they found them.

the route we took instead

We went through a few of these tunnels underneath the property of
the waterside mansions.

Bug examines one of the snails we found.

Barnacles on top of the rock and snails attached to the side!

Library Day
Sadly, we didn't get story time this week, because Miss C was out for the day, but the girls had lots of fun anyway. They looked at books, played with toys, colored springtime pictures, and played math games on the computers. We came home with these books:

Oodles of Animals
10 Little Rubber Ducks
A Pocket for Corduroy
The Mysterious Giant of Barletta
Fox Be Nimble*
My Friend Is Sad*
Insectlopedia (poetry)
A Drop of Water (science)
Daring Women of the Revolution (history)
Henry and the Cannons (history)
Pablo Picasso (art at Monkey's request)

Science Happens
I had one of those "You know you're a home schooler when . . . " moments this week: We were sitting around the dinner table with our early elementary-aged children discussing electromagnetic radiation. It started because Goose wanted to know how heat and light were related (she'd been contemplating the oven while I cooked dinner). I suspect Goose got a lot more information than she bargained, but they were all paying attention to Daddy's explanation, asking appropriate questions, and remembering previous discussions and experiences relevant to the topic.

Another time this week, a drive home from the chapel turned into a discussion about atoms, elements, and molecules that came out of somebody's question about what water was made of and how rain and snow formed. That discussion inspired our library book choice, A Drop of Water, that discusses all the properties of water: what its made of, its different states and how it gets into/out of them, surface tension, adhesion, condensation and evaporation, etc. It's illustrated with really gorgeous close-up photographs of all these things, and of course we had to do some of our own experiments. We played with surface tension by floating paper clips in a glass of water. Then we observed evaporation and condensation by setting up the experiment below.

plate with warm water + elevated jar lid sprinkled with salt + overturned glass bowl + a couple hours =
dissolved salt inside water droplets on the lid

The girls started noticing some of these things in their everyday experiences: ice on the windshield, steam from the tea kettle, fog on the pond, etc. This is why our science "curriculum" is curiosity-driven instead of textbook-driven right now. These kinds of conversations happen all the time!

The Three Rs
For Goose this week, I added to her stack of letter sound cards and rhyming endings. While they're better received than the actual textbook, she'd still much rather read a real book (and who can blame her?). So, she's busily reading Bob books, and the Dick and Jane collection, both with help and on her own.

Goose also decided this week that she wants in on the spelling lessons now. I changed what we're doing, and it's definitely been a popular move. I found spelling lists online. Each list includes several sight words and sound family words (e.g., -at, -ap, -ack). Although rather than just handing over the sound family part of the list, I tell them what the sound family is and have them come up with words that fit in it. Since I've started them in the beginning first grade words, we've been doing two lists at a time. The big girls have been flying through them with confidence. For Goose, it's been mostly a fun rhyming game, but on Friday this week, she decided she wanted to try her hand at writing the words too. Considering how few letters she's actually attempted to write before, I was really impressed with her pencil control, attention to detail, and perseverance in completing the whole list just like her sisters.

For the other portion of their writing lessons, the big girls both did a couple of random writing assignments. Then on Friday they undertook a major project (more on that below) that involved a lot of writing, and I told them that would more than meet their writing quota for the day.

For math this week, Goose continues her endless counting of objects. I also pulled out the flashcards and she had fun using her Legos to illustrate simple addition problems. Monkey and Bug are still doing drills and Khan Academy (Bug has reached 36%, and Monkey 48%).

Art Galleries
Goose commented this week that it had been awhile since we'd gone to an art museum and that we really ought to do that soon. I agreed, but since we weren't in a position to jump up and do that immediately, her sisters decided to create their own. Monkey and Bug each claimed a room, sorted through the art projects they'd amassed for their favorites, arranged them in their chosen room, and wrote out placards for many of the pictures with the title, their name, and/or a sentence about the work. Then they each gave tours to the rest of the family.

History
This week we started reading a book called Daring Women of the Revolution, and we've learned about Abigail Adams, Sybil Ludington, Deborah Samson, and Mercy Otis Warren so far. The girls also watched a couple of Liberty's Kids: one about George Washington being put in command of the Continental Army and another about Thomas Paine and his Common Sense.

Little Musicians
Monkey had her second drum lesson this week, and it was a great success. She interacted appropriately this time around, and Mr. B was very pleased with how much her technique had improved in only a week and how well she was able to follow the new beats he gave her. He even had her tapping her foot in one or two of the exercises to simulate hitting a pedal.

Goose is continuing to make progress. She didn't get any new songs this week, but Dr. J was able to cross off a couple (she had a lot to practice this past week!). She's definitely starting to play things a little smoother, and some of them are actually starting to sound like songs instead of just picked out notes!

Bug noted that this week's violin lesson was "super good"! She really turned a corner in her attempts on several skills: keeping her pinky on her bow, using lots of bow, and reading through a whole song without losing her place. In recognition of all the hard work she'd put in (and taking advantage of the fact that she was in a really good mood), her teacher gave her three new songs, including the real version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"! Her lesson ended up being 45 minutes instead of 30, but Bug handled it beautifully and it was well worth it.