Tea & Scones & School

My little bakers took over the kitchen.

On the heels of our celebratory donuts and playground morning,
the girls and I had our semi-annual planning meeting. As usual, we had our discussions over mid-morning tea complete with mint tea and homemade chocolate chip scones (courtesy of Monkey and Goose--I was impressed by how little of the cooking I actually had to do!). We discussed their transitions to being officially in kindergarten and second grade respectively and what that would mean in terms of more challenging assignments and the kind of things they'd be learning about. For the big girls, this also means taking standardized tests in the spring. Nobody is happy about this (including Mommy), but I assured them we had plenty of time to practice and that they would be well prepared by the time testing rolls around.

I had each of their binders newly stocked with assignments, and we spent some time going through see and taking a peek at the kind of things they'd be doing. Goose's lessons are going to be more frequent and slightly more formalized as she continues learning to read and getting into more math than just counting. For the big girls their biggest change is in their writing assignments. I'll be expecting a lot more them this year in terms of how much they write and how well organized it is. For example, one of their assignments this week was a worksheet about a main idea ("my pet") and supporting details (name, appearance, personality, etc.). Then I had them work together to dictate a paragraph. They were so excited when they realized they had composed 8 sentences!

Fisherman's Wharf
We headed to one of our favorite local destinations this week!

They were quite taken with this sporty little convertible.

This time the adventure actually started in the parking lot: there's a huge car auction this weekend, and at least half of the parking is taken up with vintage and/or luxury cars. We've been spotting them driving around town, and the girls were thrilled to get an up close look at a few of them. We live not to far from the auction site itself, and one day we could actually hear the auctioneer calling. The girls were fascinated, so we looked up YouTube clips of auctioneers selling other things.

our favorite picnic spot

Next we headed for the wharf itself to do a little shopping. All three girls had money they could spend and items in mind that they'd spotted on previous visits. The girls each had to figure out how much the item cost, decide whether or not they had the money to cover it, and handle the transactions with the cashiers themselves.

Pelican!

Purchases made, we grabbed a to-go lunch from one of the seafood restaurants and made for the picnic tables by the beach. Throughout this visit (and for the past several days really), the girls have been keeping a sharp eye out for birds and applying the information we've been learning in our studies. On this outing, we spotted the usual plethora of pigeons and seagulls along with a pelican and a couple of cormorants. The girls took note of the different kinds of beaks and feet and why each bird had the kind it did. They've also been collecting feathers lately and were able to add several new ones to their collection. For each feather, they determine whether it's a flight feather or a down feather.

Cormorants & a seagull

While I knew we would be seeing birds on this outing, we also had an unexpected science lesson. Once we got down to the beach after lunch, we discovered hundreds of little dead fish scattered among the rocks! It was sad, gross, and puzzling. Based on a novel Daddy read with the girls recently, they speculated that the fish might have been poisoned by pollution. A quick Google search revealed that they may also have asphyxiated when too many of them swam into too shallow water. Being the good little homeschoolers we are, we took advantage of the presence of dead fish and dissected one with a plastic fork. The girls were utterly fascinated. We flipped open its gills, then slit it down the center to examine his stomach, ribs, and muscles. We also cracked its head open and popped out one of its eyes. The girls wanted to locate its brain, but that proved elusive. We think they were sardines or anchovies, based on what we learned at the aquarium recently.

Somebody put a piano on the wharf! Goose was so excited to
find "her" instrument in such an unexpected place.

Grocery Shopping
I know I wrote ages ago about how grocery shopping was such an educational experience for the girls when they were preschoolers. Now that they're a bit older that hasn't changed! We've just stepped up the "curriculum" as they've gotten older. They still love counting things out and weighing the veggies, and we often have opportunities to discuss nutritional and monetary value. And, of course, the simple life skills of meal planning and list making. For a while now I've been giving them assignments (e.g., "Monkey, pick out 2 cucumbers."). They get to practice a little independent decision making, and it speeds up the process a bit. This week, we reached a whole new level! I split the grocery list, and Bug grabbed her own little shopping cart to fill. (Monkey preferred to be my helper and push the big cart, while Goose tagged along with Bug.) She picked out most of the produce, and located other items like boxes of cereal and a carton of eggs. The girls have clearly been paying attention--she did a great job with the produce, and even assured me that she checked to make sure the eggs were all intact just like I do. She was thrilled to be allowed to take on such a responsibility.

Snapshots from This Week

We parked right next to the art museum for music lessons this week, so we
decided to spend some time in the sculpture garden afterward. Such a beautiful
day for picking flowers!

When we're not having adventures: Monkey's working
on a spelling assignment, Bug is completing a task in Khan Academy,
Goose is practicing writing her numbers in the rice tray, and you can see
my cookbooks for meal planning in the bottom left corner.