Year-round Learners
Just for the record (and because the topic has been coming up a lot in local social circles), we practice year-round homeschooling for several reasons. The first is simply academic: especially at their young ages when they're just grasping early reading and math concepts, I feel like we'd lose too much ground if we stopped doing lessons for three months. Really, it feels mean to have re-teach them things in the fall that I let them forget by taking such a long break. (Also, I'd probably have a mutiny on my hands if I told them we weren't studying history for the whole summer!) Year-round schooling gives our family much more flexibility too. Since we're not taking three months off at one stretch, we can do things like take a break for a random week in March if Nana comes to visit or a week-long trip to San Diego when Daddy has mandated days to take leave. From my perspective, not following a school schedule really eases a lot of stress. I don't have the year-end crunch to "fit it all in" by summer time--we can just keep working steadily at the pace the girls need. It also frees me to do things like declare that on Thursdays the three Rs will not be covered, because there's just too many other things going on that day right now.

Library Day & Fairy Tales
This week's storytime theme was kittens. They even had one of the librarians in a cat costume to act out one of the books! Perhaps the best part about this week, though, was that the girls were brave enough to sit front and center in with all the other kids instead of huddling by my feet at the edge of the room. After storytime the girls and I found a relatively quiet corner and read a few books ourselves, but we actually didn't check out any books this week. We won't be able to visit the library for the next several weeks, so we decided to focus on digging back into our own shelves chock full of books that we haven't read recently!

Among our many books at home, the entourage was thrilled to discover my copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales and asked if I could read them the real stories about the princesses. So far we've read Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Frog Prince, and Cinderella. We've made some interesting discoveries that certainly downplay the romance of the tales we think we know! For example, Snow White is revived, not by true love's kiss, but because the dwarves drop her coffin and the bit of poisoned apple gets dislodged from her throat. Similarly, the frog prince isn't transformed by a kiss (even an unwilling one), but because the princess throws the poor long-suffering amphibian against a wall! Besides the fun comparative analyses, we faced the truth that princesses are just another character in books--they're not always perfect heroines: sometimes they are the active protagonist (Cinderella), sometimes they're good but passive characters (Snow White), and sometimes they're not nice girls at all (the dancing princesses and the frog-finding princess)!

Viking Raiders
Our viking studies continue! This week we read more Norse mythology, and girls continued their comparisons to the modern Marvel characters. They were disappointed that Thor doesn't have his iron mitt in the modern take and amused that he does appear to have Lady Sif's lovely golden hair! (The mythical Thor had red hair and a full beard.)

While last week we studied everyday Viking clothing, this week we looked at the arms and armor of the Viking raiders. We read the appropriate sections of the Eyewitness book, perused the Viking raiders section of Daddy's bladed weapons book, watched a couple of YouTube videos about viking armor as well as fighting techniques, and finally made our own helmets!

The Three Rs
For reading this week, Bug read Raindrop Plop, Hop on Pop, and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. She also spent one of her lessons sorting rhyming words--she's gotten a lot faster since last time she tried that activity! This week Monkey mastered the words in Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. After Monday's first-day read through, she really likes to gather her sisters and read to them for her lessons. Lots of fun for everybody!

For math this week, Monkey reviewed time and fractions, continued learning her addition math facts and practiced a few problems involving carrying, and did some extra studying of place value (she can read 3-digit numbers now, and we spent some time sorting out fourteen vs. forty, etc.). Bug practiced time, fractions, and addition, practiced skip counting and the 5s and 2s times tables, and did some subtraction (as expected now that she's all but mastered her addition math facts, introduced subtraction was a breeze).

The worksheets continue for writing lessons! Monkey and Bug both completed sheets that involved matching missing letters to their words, unscrambling sentences, and creatively finishing a sentence. They both also enjoyed dictating about our visit to the art museum for their journals this week.

Bikes and Playgrounds
Progress is slow, but the girls are continuing to practice their bikes (Daddy's goal is to get them riding with confidence by the end of the year, and I'm just looking forward to when they get good enough to realize it's fun! At this point they seem to think it's just frustrating and mildly terrifying). They practiced on the sidewalk in front of our house a few times, and one morning this week we met some friends and took over the church parking lot, so the kids could have a little more room to maneuver. Of course, with the church playground right there, the girls didn't actually stay on their bikes for long. They have thoroughly enjoyed all the playground time they've gotten this week. I've tried to be a bit more intentional about finding times--even really brief ones--for them to play since our backyard isn't terribly appealing for a lot of gross-motor play (it's completely bricked and terraced).

Little Artists
We visited the new exhibits at the art museum this week! The first small exhibit was a truly impressive collection of large embroidered portraits. One of the portraits was a modern teenager posed to resemble Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. I looked up the original painting on my phone, and the girls and I briefly took over the gallery bench to compare the two. The next exhibit featured the works of female artists from the local youth art collective. This exhibit also included head shots of each of the artists, and the girls loved being able to see who they actually are. The last and largest exhibit featured the works of a travelling artist from the late 1800s. His works included woodblock prints, pencil sketches, and paintings, and of course we talked about the various methods. The content of his paintings covered a wide and fascinating spectrum. Some of them were monthly magazine covers (the girls discussed why he chose particular things to illustrate the given month), many were newsprint illustrations and drawings of the Western expansion (we remembered back to our studies of the pioneers and Laura Ingalls Wilder and compared his renderings of cities like San Francisco to our own visit there), one wall featured paintings of Colorado (we're planning a roadtrip there, and the girls are looking forward to seeing some of those landscapes for themselves), and finally one gallery included a whole series of paintings of Hawaiian volcanoes at night that the girls were particularly fascinated by. The girls had decided to bring their art kits with them, so after we toured the museum, we settled into the benches in the volcano gallery to create some "inspired by" art work of their own. Eventually Monkey asked permission to wander the other gallery on the same floor by herself and settled in to copy a painting of a California farmhouse.

Explorations
I decided to make Monday a field trip day, so once lessons were done the girls and I headed to a historic plaza near the wharf. Unfortunately, the museums I wanted to visit were closed (They had hours, but not days posted! Maddening!). We at least got to read the outside signs, talk about what the buildings were originally (early government and customs buildings), and peek in some of the windows. We also walked through a little cactus garden.

Having met with a bit of disappointment, we decided to cross over to the beach next to the wharf--our favorite spot for watching harbor seals and finding sea shells. In addition to the usual seals, pigeons, and sea gulls, the girls also spotted a live crab about the size of one of their hands.

The little spots of color in the rocks to the left would be the girls doing some exploring.
They wanted to take pictures of their "treasures" and decided the best way to do that
would be for me to hold the shells and sea glass while they took the photo.

To finish the morning on a high note, we bought a couple orders of fish and chips on the wharf and took our lunch to a picnic table overlooking the beach. Mealtime entertainment: playing follow the leader with a sea gull. He cooperated remarkably well in letting the girls follow him for a while before flying off.

Library Day
Storytime is back! This week's theme was animals at the beach, in keeping with the summer reading program theme of "Paws to Read." Of course, this means the library is crowded again, and the girls weren't up for fighting the crowds to get to the toys and puzzles, but we came home with some great books:
Detective LaRue
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
The Diggingest Dog
The Ear Book
Henry, the Castaway
The Storm Seal
O'Sullivan Stew
The Day the Animals Came
Grumpy Bird
It's Mine!
Summer
One Riddle, One Answer (Our new favorite, beautifully illustrated, princess story: Unsatisfied with the current cast of suitors, Persian princess and mathematician, Aziza, writes a riddle and travels the land in search of a husband who shares her passion for numbers and can prove himself a kindred spirit by solving her riddle.)

The Three Rs
For reading this week, Monkey came up with a new plan that I can definitely get behind. At the beginning of each week, she'll pick a book from the reading lesson shelf which she will read everyday that week, so that by the end of the week, she's able to read all the words in the book without having to sound any of them out. This week she chose to master The Foot Book (I read it to her first on Monday, but after that she didn't require a pre-reading). Bug on the other hand went for variety this week. She read: Go, Dog, Go!, You Are My Sunshine, Rosie's Walk, and Kitty Up. Goose has been opting not to do formal lessons with me, but she does repetition readings with her sisters and works on identifying letters among the fridge magnets.

For math, Goose roped the rest of us into helping her practice counting up to 20 and did simple addition with everyday objects. Monkey practiced fractions, addition (single and double digit problems including carries, and a worksheet involving how many ways one can make [some number] by adding two numbers), and telling time. Bug practiced fractions, addition (mostly double digit problems with carries; she loved the "how many ways can you make _" worksheet and continued doing the activity for far more numbers than were listed on the worksheet), multiplication (skip counting and filling in times tables for 5 and 10), telling time, and simple subtraction.

For writing, Monkey started off the week by writing a report about walruses. Next she wrote a list of all the words she knew how to spell all by herself (she came up with about a dozen). She and Bug both completed a tracing sheet of the entire alphabet (they've been particularly struggling with the idea that letters with tails--q,p,y,j,g--need to dip below the line). Bug completed several other fill-in-the-letter worksheets, and both girls closed the week by dictating to me for their journals.

Little Vikings
We started reading our Norse mythology book this week. Thanks to the current popularity of the Avengers, the girls are familiar with a few characters (we watched an animated movie a while back), and they're pretty excited about learning the original stories that inspired the modern ones. We also learned fun tidbits like the fact that four days of the week are named after the Norse gods.

(Monkey also made a cute red apron with all the accessories,
but requested that I not post a photo. Sorry, folks.)

Most of this week though we focused on Viking clothing, and of course we had to make our own reproductions! We read all the Eyewitness book sections about Viking clothing and jewelry, including how they were made, and we found several fun YouTube videos (how to use a drop spindle, how a vertical loom and stick weaving works, and a re-enactors tour of her outfit) They had a blast picking out fabric for their aprons, making brooches (juice can lids + taped on safety pins + rhinestone stickers), finding cloth for cloaks, and collecting necklaces and kerchiefs from around the house.

In the process of getting them dressed up we had some interesting discussions about what our life would be like if we were a Viking family: Daddy would still take big trips while we stayed home and took care of things, and we would still probably live near the water, but we would likely live on a farm and the girls would have more chores but fewer lessons and toys. Bug also had the realization that someday we would be history, and she speculated about how kids of the future might dress up to look like us!

Perseverance
Life lessons this week were all about perseverance! We visited the neighborhood park one day, and Bug was absolutely determined to climb up this particular tree. She faced teary frustration and multiple scrapes, but she declared that we were NOT leaving the park until she did it! We had the brilliant idea that climbing might be easier barefoot, and a couple of tries later she was up there! We discussed words like "determination" and "perseverance" and how important it is not to give up if you really want to accomplish something.

Goose had been observing all this, and apparently took the message to heart. When we went to the homeschool park day on Friday, it didn't take her long to corral her sisters into coaching her up the climbing rock.  At some point they came rushing over to me so excited because Goose almost made it to the top! Goose assured me multiple times that she was not giving up. Not too long after, I heard triumphant cheers from atop the rock! (Then she kind of panicked when she realized she didn't know how to get down, but once her sisters got her to calm down that was a problem easily solved.)

At the end of the week the girls had a renewed interest in learning to ride their bikes. Bug was a little nervous about getting on the bike again, but informed me that even though she was scared, she knew she could do it, so she would keep going. For some unfathomable reason, Monkey was absolutely terrified once she actually put her bum in the bike seat. I made her do one turn, then let her put her bike aside while I helped Bug again. Monkey insisted she was never going to ride her bike--she didn't even like riding bikes, she claimed! So, she and I had a quiet conversation. We talked about the definition of being brave (doing something good even when you're scared) and perseverance (continuing to practice until you can do something). We discussed that we both knew she had strong muscles and good balance, and I pointed out that the only reason Bug was currently any better was that she'd been practicing and Monkey hadn't. I, however, was totally willing to help her practice and remedy the difference in skill levels. She agreed to try again, and by the end of the week, they could both get themselves started and were even beginning to gain confidence in coasting down a gentle slope and practicing breaking.

Science Topics
In addition to the myriad questions I answer throughout a typical day, a recurring topic this week was gender differences in anatomy. It started as answering questions and confirming their knowledge about human anatomy and became generalized to animals as they observed the many dogs who out for walks around town. Of course, once they checked out our own cat, we had to have a discussion about spaying/neutering and why one might do that and whether or not the pets care. We also discussed that for some animals gender is awfully difficult to tell at first glance--birds for example--except for the species in which males and females are different colors--like mallard ducks.

This week Daddy also rediscovered our Snap Circuits Jr. set, and did a couple sessions with the girls about electricity. They can now talk about things like open and closed circuits, how a switch works, and the fact that we can turn electricity into heat, light, or motion. They're looking forward to pulling it out again and helping Daddy build more complex projects.

The Curriculum Question

Now that Monkey and Bug are obviously school aged, I find myself facing the question “What curriculum do you use?” more frequently. While our girls are learning SO much and we definitely have an educational plan in place, I always cringe through answering this question, because at this point in the entourage’s education we’ve chosen not to use a ready-made curriculum. I’d classify us as eclectic homeschoolers: we do our own thing, but we’re not actually unschoolers.

Back when we were watching our toddlers explore their world and thinking about how we wanted to educate them (not in the school system—that much was clear, but that’s another story), we were amazed at their boundless curiosity and ability to soak in knowledge like little sponges. We decided our best job description (in terms of academic education) would be to create a home environment encouraging of such curiosity while also making sure they had the foundational working knowledge of “the three Rs” that would allow them to continue satisfying their thirst for knowledge at higher levels. We’d help each child master new information and skills as she became ready for it, using whatever method worked best for her.

To that end, we’ve basically developed our own curriculums for all their subjects. (For the record, Daddy has a Master’s of Education, we had several years to study homeschooling methods before the girls reached “school age,” and we reference published standards of learning to ensure there are no major gaps, so we’re really not “just making stuff up,” which how I always feel it comes across when I try to answer that question.) I decided--mostly as a personal mental exercise and because I thought it might be fun for others to read--to come up with actual program descriptions for what we’re currently doing (these are approaches we think will get us to late elementary school at least).

[Please note: While we consider things like developing our children’s faith and discipline to be serious parental responsibilities, I’ve chosen not to address those topics here.]

Core Subjects

Joy in Reading: The simple goal of this program is to pass on a love of reading! Since their infancy, sharing books together has been an intentional part of our daily routine, using both parent- and child-chosen books with developmentally appropriate texts based on content and reading level (we have multiple read-aloud times; they are encouraged to enjoy books independently; and of course, they see Daddy and I reading both for work and pleasure). As they indicate readiness, we’ve taught them how to read using Teach Your Child to Read in One Hundred Easy Lessons, supplemented by hands-on games and activities that help develop their growing knowledge of phonics and sight words. We also help them develop reading comprehension skills by engaging them in conversation about the books we read—plot points, character motivations, context, etc. This program is supported by weekly visits to the local library, several magazine subscriptions of interest to the girls, and an extensive family library that includes a wide range of genres, subjects, and skill levels.

Foundations of Math: Through this program they will master basic mathematical functions, which will give them a strong foundation on which to learn higher level math. Specifically, they will learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponents, fractions, and decimals with emphasis on both memorization of math facts (e.g., times tables) and comprehension of the core concept. Also included are everyday math skills such as counting money and telling time.

Writing for Clarity & Creativity: In this program we seek to help them develop a number of different skills: legible handwriting and eventually competent typing, accurate spelling, correct grammar, and effective composition to express facts, personal experiences and opinions, and fiction and poetry. Assignments and projects will increase in difficulty and complexity as they gain competence. (To begin acquiring these skills we’ve used copy work, worksheets, simple reports, notes to family members, and dictated journal entries.)

Spontaneous Science: Strongly rooted in the world around us, this program takes advantage of children’s natural curiosity about their surroundings to dig deeper into subject matter of interest to them. Learning happens through personal observation (i.e., nature walks, zoo/aquarium visits, hands-on projects at home) and multi-media sources of additional information (i.e., personal and library books, reliable websites, videos).

Walking through History: This program seeks to engage children in the rich context of world history through the study of broad historical periods of particular importance or interest. At this early stage of their education, the focus of our history studies is to acquire a good sense of the cultural context for each period and to be able to place each period in a broad timeline (e.g., the Roman Empire happened long before the American colonies). We approach each period by studying art, architecture, food, clothing, literature, language, warfare, music, maps, etc. as well as the stories of important people and events. For each unit of study we acquire resources about the period such as library books, documentaries, hands-on projects, etc.

Arts & Extras

Visual Arts: The girls learn to appreciate both classic and contemporary art through art prints displayed in our home, a small collection of art history/appreciation books in our home library, and regular visits to local art museums. They are encouraged to create their own art through easy access to arts and crafts supplies and a dedicated “project table” in our home and through putting together portable art supply bags to bring with us to museums, gardens, etc. Formal teaching in art techniques will be added as opportunity and interest arise.

Music: We have built a personal music collection that exposes the girls to music from a variety of styles and regions and includes both classical and contemporary music. We also have a collection of kid-specific CDs with both classic kids’ sing-along music and more specifically educational songs (pop music renditions of things like countries of the world and U.S. presidents). The girls are also encouraged to create their own music with our collection of instruments (mostly rhythm and percussion with a few whistles/flutes thrown in). Formal music lessons will be added as opportunity and interest arise.

Foreign language: Since neither Daddy nor I speak a foreign language fluently, this is one area we will definitely need to find a curriculum for at some point in the future.  However, we are both familiar with Spanish and have begun familiarizing the girls the sounds of the language and very basic vocabulary through the use of a collection of bilingual picture books  and a music CD and set of pre-reader DVDs from Little Pim: Early Language Development.

Health & Wellness: Our goal is to help the girls continue developing a healthy lifestyle through proper diet and exercise as well as acquiring specific kinesthetic skills (like swimming and martial arts). To this end, the girls participate in grocery shopping and cooking our meals, enroll in formal lessons as appropriate, and are encouraged to stay active on a daily basis through backyard playtime, dancing to music, and trips to playgrounds.

Going to the Ball

MWR hosted a daddy/daughter dance this weekend, which the girls have been looking forward to for weeks! They’ve seen Daddy and I attend formal military events, and they were thrilled to get a ball of their own with Daddy! They planned their own outfits and hairstyles, and Daddy took them out for a “fancy dinner” at a local sushi place before joining some of their friends and other daddies at the dance.

Library Day

This was the last storytimeless week, and the girls had a great time making a couple of new friends, playing with the toys, and picking out books. We came home with:

When the Wind Bears Go Dancing

This Little Pirate

Roly-poly Egg

Clementine

An Extraordinary Egg

Full Moon

Paper Boats

Little Louie the Baby Bloomer

In a People House

The Moon Lady

Fancy Vikings

Did you know Vikings were fancy? That’s the kind of conclusions you come to after your first week of studying Vikings with three little girls. After all, the Vikings did have a thing for bling, and they were pretty impressive craftsmen. The girls have been particularly admiring photos of artifacts and reproductions—necklaces, armbands, brooches, cloak clasps, detailed metal statues, intricate wood carving on boats, chests, and buildings. Next week we’re planning to make Viking costumes, so this week we did some prep work—going to the craft store for cloth remnants and beads, stringing necklaces, and noticing the details on the clothes of their Viking paper dolls, which they colored while we read about some famous Vikings like Harald Bluetooth and Olaf Haraldson. 

We actually started our week of studying Vikings by reading the poster that came with the Eyewitness History book—lots of blurbs about various facets of daily life. We took some time to actually read about Viking food, because the girls were very excited about our “Viking lunch.” Our menu included smoked fish, dried beef, peas, apples, berries, nuts, and rye bread with butter.

We also read most of the biography about Leif the Lucky (a wonderfully illustrated book that also introduced them to Eric the Red and King Olaf I). Along with that, I found a great documentary on Hulu about the Vikings that focused primarily on their North American explorations and colonies (Did you know they lived in North America for 500 years beginning in the late 900s?). Of course, talking about their raids and explorations meant we also spent some time studying maps, comparing our big world map with a detailed map I found that traces the paths they took—west to North America, south into the Mediterranean Sea, and east into Russia.

The Three Rs

Reading lessons this week proved to be repetitive, but confidence building. Bug read The Foot Book all week, and Monkey read Inside Outside Upside Down on all but one day when she took a break to read Pete the Cat. At least with the repeated books, the girls read them without needing me to read them first or to go over a challenging words list. Monkey in particular also enjoyed reading books to Goose this week, and Goose and I continued reading some of the Bob books.

Math lessons continue as usual—except for Monday when Daddy took advantage of his day off to take over the math lesson. (For some reason, Monkey and Bug both found this a bit intimidating at first, but since Daddy’s going to take over that subject once we’re past arithmetic, we figure they need to work with Daddy occasionally to get used to the idea.) This week both girls worked on addition: drilling problems involving addends less than 5 (given a page of 25 problems, Bug is significantly faster, but Monkey completed hers with a little more accuracy); working through double digit addends with carries (Bug can handle problems that carry into the hundreds place; Monkey is just gaining confidence with the concept of carrying); and they both practiced thinking through single digit problems with sums greater than 10. We also worked on fractions (identifying, creating, comparing) and telling time. Goose and I didn’t do much math this week, but Bug helped her practice counting to 20, and Monkey read to her from a favorite counting book. Goose spent some time poring over a telling time book, and occasionally asking questions about it.

For writing lessons this week, Bug continued doing worksheets: unscrambling words and sentences and matching up separated syllables to create words. Monkey on the other hand did one unscrambling words worksheet, but then got back into writing reports—eels and platypuses. This week both girls decided to write about our Viking studies in their composition books.

“Don’t Leave Me Behind!”
It’s a phrase we hear a lot from little Goose! This was kind of a big week for her, though, in her constant quest to keep up with her big sisters. We went to the super park twice this week, and both times Goose made it one of her missions to follow her sisters up the climbing rock. She’s almost there! (My policy is that I will happily help them get down, but if they want to get up, they have to be physically capable of getting there themselves.)

She’s also spent quite a bit of time the last couple of weeks watching her sisters build Lego constructions and practicing sticking and unsticking bricks. This week she built her first Lego tower that was more than a simple vertical line! She was so proud of herself: “I saw it in my head, and then I made it!”

Planning for the Past

We didn't actually do any history lessons this week, but the girls got some previews of our next unit as I spent lots of time this week preparing for it! To give myself my best chance for getting a lot accomplished, I had my mother’s helper come over for a couple of hours. I now have some great resources and projects planned for our study of the Vikings, and the girls were SO excited to have R come over to play!

Unrelated to our next unit, but confirming of my current method of teaching history: At some point this week, the girls came across Daddy’s book about knives and other bladed weapons through history. As they were flipping through it, they were able to identify all the time periods we've studied so far based on a few weapons samples and the era-appropriate artwork that accompanied them.

Library Day

The girls made another friend at the library this week. G is a (probably) 3-year-old who joined them at the puzzle table and requested Bug’s help in getting a puzzle put together. Bug was quite willing to jump in, help out, and even introduce herself. The girls actually spent tons of time playing with a felt board this week that included lots of pieces for building landscapes and dressing people. We came home with these books:

Fox on Wheels

King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson

Take Care, Good Knight

Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night

Leon the Chameleon

When No One Is Watching

Leif the Lucky (a biography for our next history unit)

Little Quack’s Hide and Seek

Tico and the Golden Wings

Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy (new development: these last three books were picked when the girls had me help them seek out some of their current favorite authors)

The Three Rs

The big girls have actually started do more independent reading! Being able to really read books to Goose has definitely been part of their motivation (and Goose is thrilled, of course). As part of our actual reading lesson time, Monkey read Where’s Spot?, The Doghouse, and Ten Black Dots; and Bug read Ten Apples Up on Top, Rosie’s Walk, and Inside Outside Upside Down. Goose seems to have decided that she’s not actually ready for the text book lessons yet, but she’s been having me read through the Bob books sets of alphabet and pre-reading skills books.

For math, both big girls have worked on addition, place value (we added in the hundreds place this week), and fractions (we did a fun hands-on activity where I built little Lego towers and had them tell me what fraction of the tower was constructed of a particular color of block). Bug also practiced skip counting, and Monkey been doing an independent study of telling time—she’s been actively seeking out books about time, telling time games on Starfall.com, and asking questions about the current time using the clock in the playroom (intentionally hung at their eye level).

For writing, the girls are still really into the worksheets. This week they did activities that involved unscrambling words, supplying the missing letters in words, and creating plurals. They also worked on filling out a family tree and added entries to their composition books.

Obviously, this isn't at the play-
ground, but Bug was pretty excited
about figuring out how to climb the
doorway.

Park Days

We actually got out to playgrounds four times this week! Time at the playground is never wasted, and not just because the girls get plenty of exercise while running, climbing, and mastering skills like pumping on the swings. It’s a great place for independently building social skills—making friends and negotiating play space. While the kids are free to do their own thing, the moms are right there on the sidelines to help out if things get out of hand as well as modelling the whole “turning strangers into friends” thing. With our girls at least, time at the park inevitably turns into building language arts and problem solving skills as they invent plays involving complex storylines and frequently large casts of characters pulled from familiar stories, history, or their own imaginations. The spontaneously compose songs and build entire unique worlds out of simple playground equipment. The possibilities are endless!

Heat Wave = Hit the Beach!

We experienced another heat wave this week, so of course we planned a beach day! This time we packed a picnic lunch and met a couple of other homeschool families (3 moms and a total of 9 kids between the ages of 3 and 13) at a beach we hadn’t visited yet. We all had a fantastic time! The moms and I were laughing about “this is homeschooling on the coast!” But then we started thinking about all the things our kids were doing and everything they were learning at “just a day at the beach”:

• They caught and observed 3 mole crabs in a bucket of wet sand.
• They identified seagulls and pelicans.
• They observed seals playing just past the surf.
• They experimented with finding the perfect ratio of sand to water for different kinds of sand building.
• They examined kelp and sea shells.
• They accomplished the engineering feat of building a bridge out of sand.
• They practiced problem-solving skills with things like choosing the best tool for whatever sand project they were working on.
• They developed all the gross and fine motor skills necessary to keep their balance in the breakers or on a boogie or surf board, to jump the little waves, to run in the sand and in different depths of water, to haul buckets full of sand or water, to build and decorate sand castles, etc. etc.
• The little ones in particular built self-confidence while facing the dangers of playing in the surf (while the moms watched them like hawks of course).
• They practiced the basic social skills of playing/working together in a group of various ages and abilities.
• Any child older than another had the opportunity to pass on skills to someone younger, and therefore the younger ones got to learn from older kids they looked up to. It’s a win-win situation! For example, a 13-year-old taught a 10-year-old to surf, and another 10-year-old helped the 5- and 6-year-old set to accurately gauge how big the incoming waves were and keep them from going in over their heads.
• They were reminded of all the health and safety rules involved in visiting the beach: staying within their depth in the water and within a safe distance of our beach tent, staying hydrated, remembering to reapply sunscreen, staying with a buddy in the water, etc. 

Three Rs

For math Monkey and Bug worked on fractions (matching a fraction to an illustration), telling time, and single-digit sums up to 20. Goose is practicing counting and adding up small number of objects.

This week Bug read Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead, Inside Outside Upside Down, and The Doghouse. Monkey read I’m a Baby. You’re a Baby and The Doghouse. Goose practiced writing and saying the letter sounds she knows and wanted lots of books read to her.

For writing, Monkey and Bug have really been enjoying the spelling worksheets I’ve found online that have involved unscrambling letters to form words and writing out the answers to “color problems” (i.e., white + red = pink). Bug also spent one writing lesson copying a Bible verse, and Monkey spent one writing a paper about worms. They also dictated to me about what they did this week in their composition books.

Library Day

There's still no story time, but the girls and I made some new friends--another homeschooling mom and her 5-year-old daughter who are new the area. The girls all had fun playing with the library toys, while Miss M and I had a chance to chit chat, before checking out all our books and heading our separate ways. We came home with these books:

Little Black Crow

Huck Runs Amuck

The Ugly Vegetables

Princess for a Day

Tanglebird

Grumpy Bird

The Doghouse

Rhinos Who Surf

How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin

Big Thoughts from Little Girls

Since we finished our girls of the Bible study last week, we needed a new direction, and reading the whole Bible cover-to-cover the way we read the Bible story books wasn't going to work. They've been focusing on the Old Testament stories at church, so I decided we'd read through the gospel of Mark at home (because it's relatively short and pretty action driven). The Bible I'm using gives some background to each book of the Bible, so we covered who wrote it, when, etc. We're taking our time and having lots of good conversations (which tend to get rehashed throughout the day), so we're only into chapter 3 at this point. Questions that have come up include (but aren't limited too): 

• Who wrote the rest of the Bible? 
• How old is it? 
• What are demons?
• Where do you go if you don't go to heaven when you die?
• What's a Pharisee? 
• What's a sinner? 
• What's the Sabbath?

Unrelated to Bible study we're doing (I think it must have been percolating in her head since Easter), Monkey experienced a major spiritual milestone this week: the "aha moment" of realizing that the stories about Jesus weren't just true stories--this all applied to her! One evening she came rushing into the kitchen bursting with excitement: "Mommy! I prayed to God and asked him to forgive my sins, and Jesus took them ALL away!" I remember experiencing that moment as a kid, and watching it happen for one of my own kids was just amazing! It's made a difference for her too: every morning when we finish our Bible time, I give the girls the opportunity to say a morning prayer or I say one. Monkey has never volunteered for this, and I don't push it, but the day after being forgiven, she jumped at the chance to open our day with prayer!

Budding Engineers

There's been a lot of Lego building going on this week! A variety of wheeled vehicles, rocket ships, towers, and houses have made their appearance on the play table. Bug even executed a fairly extensive project: Inspired by a picture on the Lego box, she created the numbers 1-9. She made 1-4, 7, and 8 on her own, but was stumped by 5 and 6. When Daddy got home, he helped talk her through the planning stage and they inked it out on the white board first. 

L-R: A few sample buildings; Bug with her first 4 numbers; the planning board

Tidbits

• It feels like our studies of ancient Greece are winding down, but I haven't prepped our next unit yet (my mother's helper is coming to my rescue next week!). Anyway, this week the girls and I watched a YouTube video in which actors recreated scenes from everyday life in ancient Greece, and included shots of some of the pottery and paintings the scenes were based on. Pretty neat.
• Daddy and the girls had a discussion about basic computer science over breakfast: the usual definition "bits" versus the computer definition of "bits" and what they do.
• Monkey and Bug have finally figured out how to work the swings at the playground themselves! The swings we have access to are pretty high, so they still struggle to get in them on their own, but I once I give them a starter push, they're off! Bug and their friend B even pretended to fly to the moon in their swings the other day.
• We babysat a friend's 8-month-old for a couple of hours this week, and the entourage loved being able to be the "big kids"--finding appropriate toys for her, making sure she didn't put anything in her mouth, and telling her the names of shapes, colors, and any objects she seemed interested in. 

the rose garden

New Art Exhibit!

The girls and I were very excited this week--we went to check out the new exhibit at the local art museum on Monday. There were really two exhibits going: The first one was a very temporary exhibit called "Art in Bloom." Local florist had been asked to create works of art using locally grown plants and flowers--some really gorgeous arrangements were displayed throughout the museum. Of course, we couldn't leave without a walk through the museum's actual gardens. The rose garden was in riotous bloom this time! In the rhododendron garden, the girls played a fun game of trying to match fallen leaves or flowers to what tree or bush they came from.

The other exhibit that will actually be there for several months was a collection of representative works of the last 50 years of art (painting and mixed media works) in California. We did our usual method of viewing the exhibit--trying to pause, however briefly, at each work to take it in and to note the artist and title. I punctuated our walk with questions: What do you see? What do you like? Why do you think the artist called it that? Or, if it was "untitled," what would you call it? How do you think the artist did that? What's it made of? The majority of the works were abstract paintings, so I got some pretty interesting answers! A friendly museum guide was also able to answer some of those last two questions for us. The guide also complemented the girls on their "wonderful museum behavior," and we shared that we just had to remember two words "walking and whispering." She was thrilled to see such little ones enjoying the artwork.

The enjoyment of artwork didn't stop at the museum though. Monkey and Bug were feeling inspired by particular paintings and asked if we could set up an outdoor studio for them to work in. Of course! We used a few folding chairs and a massive cardboard box that's been lying around and brought their painting supplies out under the carport. Monkey's painting on the left, titled "Blue," was inspired by a series of paintings with names like "Orange," "Red on Red," and "Green." The paintings were made of one predominate color, but the artists played with various tones and textures. Bug's painting on the right, titled "Bright Rainbow," was inspired by a painting called "Index Finger," in which the artist used a mix of plaster and charcoal applied by her index finger to create a pattern on canvas. Bug chose to brighten the palette for her work, but kept the artist's sense experimentation with a highly textured finished work using a thick application of paint.

Playdates & Making Friends

It feels like it's been a particularly social week! On Tuesday morning, we met several friends at church and took over a section of the parking lot, so the kids could ride bikes. Of course, they mostly ended up on the playground, but it was a good chance for both the moms and kids to hang out. As usual, Wednesday night is church, and Thursday night is OCF--both of which involve church friends, then on Friday we made it back to the homeschool park day (we've missed several weeks). The girls made two new friends (who's names they didn't get this time around), and got to play with one of the little boys they know from church. They made a couple of new friends at the library this week too. I'm so excited that Monkey and Bug have finally figured out this making friends thing, and what was once a terrifying and unwelcome possibility is now so easy for them.

They've gotten significantly better about talking to friendly strangers when we're out and about too--cashiers at the store, librarians, retirees at the commissary, they even waved to people in the neighborhood when we were out running (see below). We actually had a memorable conversation at the commissary this week: We were shopping at about the same pace as an elderly gentlemen, and eventually we exchanged more than pleasantries. As a young man he had really wanted to join the military. It turns out he was color blind, so the Navy didn't want him, then the Marines said he was too short, finally the Army was willing to enlist him, and he said it was the best thing he ever did. He retired 44 year's ago and says he still misses it. It was an honor to meet our own "Steve Rodgers"--a man who wasn't about to let a few physical shortcomings and naysayers keep him from serving his country. 

Library Day

Storytime is still on hiatus, and Monkey actually admitted that she prefers the library when it's not a storytime day. This week Bug initiated putting together a big floor puzzle about colors. Monkey and Bug jumped in to help and pretty soon they had two other preschoolers involved too. When they finally had it all together, Monkey and Bug helped the little ones review their colors before getting everybody to help them put it back in the box. We also took the time to pick out these books:

I Love My New Toy!

I'm a Baby. You're a Baby

Goodnight, Goodnight, Sleepyhead

Nicolas, Where Have You Been?

Why Do You Cry? : Not a Sob Story

The Foot Book

Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo

Herman the Helper

Library Mouse: A World to Explore

The Red Balloon

The Three Rs

For reading this week, Bug read Ten Black Dots and I Love My New Toy! She also spent quite a while sorting rhyming word cards. Monkey read Hop on Pop and I Love My New Toy! Goose decided she wanted to take a step back from formal lessons, so we didn't cover any additional lessons in the textbook this week, but she quite enthusiastically joined her sisters when they wanted to help her review the sounds she already knew from the textbook and practice letter recognition and singing the alphabet song.

For math, Goose is continuing to practice counting up to 20. Monkey and Bug are covering single and double digit addition (one of their exercises this week was coming up with how many ways you could make 5 or 7 or 10, etc.), fractions, telling time, and counting money. Bug is also learning skip counting for 4 and 5.

For writing, Bug wanted to copy a Bible verse and wrote out the alphabet for Goose. Monkey wrote about albatrosses. Both girls enjoyed a spelling activity that had them completing color words by adding in the missing consonant blends (i.e. "_ _ ue" needs "bl" to make "blue"). Adding these spelling activities into our lessons has definitely been a good thing, since Monkey at least has started spontaneously trying to figure out how to spell words she thinks of. I added a new thing this week that I falls best under "writing," although at this point the girls aren't putting pen to paper themselves. A long while back I bought them each a composition book that has gone mostly unused (bound pages are a bit hard to write in), so I decided to make use them this way: Friday afternoons we take time for narration; I do the actual writing, and they tell me what to write on pretty much any topic of their choice from our homeschool week--something we did this week, about a book they're reading, a topic they're learning about, etc. They really enjoyed it, and it'll be fun to have a record of what stuck out to them from the week. Eventually of course, I want the books to be something they write in themselves, but this seemed like a good place to start--it gives them a chance to write a composition without the stress of handwriting.

We're Running!

At some point in the last couple of weeks, Goose's gait changed from the flat-footed toddler run to an all out real run, and she is a runner! Not in the running away from me sense, fortunately, but in the she-wants-to-run-long-distances-just-for-the-joy-of-it sense. Lately, she's been spontaneously running laps whenever the opportunity presents itself--up and down the sidewalk at a friend's house, around the courtyard at church, around the playground, etc. So, when I was getting ready to go for my own run on Thursday, I asked if she wanted to run a lap around the block. She was so excited! Her sister's wanted in on the action too, of course, but while they would sprint, then wait, sprint, then wait and ended up completely exhausted at the end, Goose set herself a decent pace and kept it--and a stream of commentary--up for the entire lap, then wanted to do another one. I obliged and Monkey and Bug came for the second one too, but they slowed their pace considerably. Goose didn't! In fact, she figured out how to regulate her pace and would inform me that she was "going to put her speed on," and run ahead so I could catch up to her this time! After that I went for my own 2.5 mile run around the neighborhood and came back to the house to find her ready to go for another round! Her sister's headed to jujitsu class, and I agreed to take Goose for another lap before I took my shower and got us ready for OCF. Once again she kept a steady pace and a steady conversation and would definitely have been up for more if we'd had the time. Daddy and I looked at GoogleMaps later--that tiny girl ran 1.8 miles and wanted to go further! She says her goal is to get fast enough to go running with Daddy.

Tidbits

• We finished our study of women of the Bible. Since I last posted about this we read the book of Esther, and the New Testament "girl stories" (Mary, Elizabeth, Mary Magdalene, Mary & Martha, several unnamed women who were healed and presumably became believers, Tabitha, Lydia, Priscilla, and we noted the prominent females in the early church who are named but have no real stories written in the Bible).
• Monkey requested that we read the Eyewitness pages about the ancient Greek games, and we read several myths and fables this week too.
• After reading The Red Balloon, we found the short movie on Netflix to watch (they loved it!). We compared the two versions of the story and talked about the concept of subtitles (the movie is French).

Library Days!
Yes, plural "days." We were at the library twice this week. One afternoon, we joined a small group to watch the Magical Moonshine Theater Company put on a puppet show, Coyote Sings, a Southwestern Native American folktale accompanied by Mexican folk music. They did a fantastic job, and the girls and I had a great time. We returned the next day for our usual storytime and book gathering, only to discover that storytime is on hiatus while the librarians plan the summer program. The girls had fun playing with the library toys among a much smaller crowd of kids, and we came home with these books:
Alicia's Tutu
Play Ball with Me!
The Incredible Shrinking Teacher
So Sleepy Story
Star of the Circus
Froggy's Baby Sister
Pezzettino
Hurray for the Fourth of July
A Teeny, Tiny Baby
The Surprise Family
Lissy's Friends

The Three Rs
For math this week, Bug is back to skip counting (by 5s and 4s) and double digit addition and reviewing making 10s. Monkey is still drilling single digit addition, practicing place value, and we did a special review of the teens since those were the only double digit numbers she was consistently mixing up. Goose can count up to 20 now, but only has number recognition for 1-10.

This week Bug read Are You My Mother?, Inside Outside Upside Down, Kitty Up, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Monkey read Dimity Duck and One Fish Two Fish; and Goose is now up to lesson 5 in the textbook, so she has the sounds m, s, a (as in apple), and e (as in eat).

For writing this week, Monkey decided to do reports on anacondas and lily pads, and Bug wanted to copy Bible verses. (She's been copying them out of a photo album of memory verses I made for them ages ago, but haven't added to recently. She's requested more verses, so I guess I know what my weekend project is going to be!) For our spelling day this week, I found an activity sheet that asked them to change out the beginning letter of a word to make a new word (e.g., pan becomes man).

Historical Music
We spent some time studying ancient Greek music this week: we read an article about it, looked at depictions of musicians on ancient pottery, listened to samples of what current musicians think it sounded like, and made our own lyre from a coat hanger, rubber bands, and the bottom of a raisin box.

We also spent some time reading from the Eyewitness book. This week we covered the sections on the cities of Athens and Sparta and on Greek warfare (weapons, armor, tactics, etc.).


A Very Beachy Day!
We experienced a bit of a heat wave this week, so we decided to hit the beach Friday morning. We spent about two hours there: building sand castles and dribble towers, drawing in the sand, examining mole crabs and kelp, watching/chasing birds, discussing why God gave those birds long legs and long beaks, discussing tides and trying to figure out if this one was coming or going, jumping/dancing in the edge of the waves, and being chased by waves. By the time we returned to our car, we were tired, hungry, and very, very sandy!

After lunch, a nice nap, and a quiet afternoon, we headed back to the beach! A different beach this time for a spur-of-the-moment bonfire complete with hot dogs and s'mores with a bunch of other people from our church. The girls had a fantastic time playing with their friends and chasing a poor ground squirrel while the grown ups chatted around the fire (and were told by beach patrol to take the fire down a notch--oops). It was our second very late night in a row (OCF is Thursday night), but very well worth it!

For the record, these faces are not disgruntled; these faces are stuffed with
freshly roasted hot dogs.

The view from the cliffs above the beach (by the potties). One
of those distant bonfires is ours!

Weekend at the Pinnacles

We survived a family first this past weekend: camping! Admittedly, we had a rough start Friday evening that involved getting the tent halfway up only to have it start really raining. The tent was assembled successfully, but Daddy and I and the inside of the tent were pretty soaked (the girls watched this process from the car). We decided to do a little exploring of the park via car while praying that the rain would stop. It did . . . kinda. Enough to get a fire going and roast hot dogs; although the s'mores that followed were a bit damp since a light rain kept coming and going. The girls were SO excited about cooking their own hot dogs and marshmallows though! Daddy also took them for a walk after dinner with a break to listen to the ranger talk  about the local wildlife we might see. (I stayed at the campsite to "tend the fire," i.e., enjoy a little peace and quiet.) They definitely paid attention to the ranger because the next morning they successfully identified a large bird outside the nature center as a condor! A mountain lion had apparently left a deer carcass in a nearby creek bed overnight, and the condors were feasting on Saturday.

Fortunately, the rain clouds cleared up, and Saturday was gorgeous and wonderful! These girls proved themselves little troopers once again! We spent the morning/early afternoon completing a 4 mile hike--only Goose had to be carried and only for the last tenth of a mile. For this weekend and future adventures, we got the girls each their own "hiking pack" (adult fanny pack re-purposed as a kid's shoulder bag), equipped with their own water bottle, snack, lightweight waterproof jacket, headlamp, mirror, whistle, and signal light. We explained that those last three items in particular were in case they got lost and made sure they knew how to use them. Having their own hiking packs and survival gear definitely upped the seriousness of the expedition for them and added to the sense of accomplishment. They even got to use their new headlamps, since the trail we hiked involved walking/crawling/climbing through a series of unlit talus caves. The trail took us up to a beautiful reservoir where we admired the scenery and observed (but did not feed) an incredibly brave ground squirrel. At a few points along the trail we stopped to watch some rock climbers, and the girls were inspired to do their own bouldering along the way.

That hike really wore everybody out, and we happily spent the rest of the afternoon/evening just hanging out at the campsite. It's always fun to listen in on the girls playing, and this weekend proved particular interesting since we didn't bring any toys--there were no complaints; they relied entirely on their imaginations fed by good stories and good lessons to entertain themselves: They gathered little pebbles and pretended to be Hansel and Gretel dropping the little white stones around the campsite. They pretended the woods were full of Leafmen, and that Queen Tara (from Epic) joined forces with Queen Elsa (from Frozen) to fight off the bad guys with their combined powers. They noted the similarities and differences between our tent and the Tabernacle; at some point I'm pretty sure I even heard them staging a sacrifice (don't worry, no actual animals were harmed in this reenactment). They formed their own Native American tribe, danced around the campfire, and invented their own language. They pretended to be the ducks from Make Way for Ducklings and followed Daddy around in a nice neat line quacking as loud as they could. They observed a colony of ants consuming something and tried to figure out where the anthill was. They adopted a rather large rock, which they carried around for awhile in whatever play they were doing. Et cetera, et cetera.

They learned all kinds of other useful things: how to open and close the bear safe and why we put things in there, how to light and thoroughly douse a campfire, how to roast hot dogs and marshmallows and what to do if they catch on fire (blow them out and eat them anyway), how to make a s'more, how to properly enter and exit the tent in order to get the least amount of dirt possible in it, the importance of the "leave it better than you found it" principle, and how to find your way out of a sleeping bag (poor Goose was quite distressed when she woke to discover she had burrowed herself into the foot of it), that campsites are awesome places for star gazing (we located the big dipper and decided we needed to learn more constellations before we go camping again), and that Daddy is really good with a small air rifle but that the rest of us could use some practice (Monkey was the one other person who succeeded in knocking a little juice bottle off the tree branch. We even let Goose sit in my lap and shoot off a few pellets--she was pretty excited).

We made pancakes and packed up Sunday morning, and made it home by lunch time. Overall, a great trip! The girls are already excited about next time!

Tentacles!
Some friends of ours had this past Monday off from school (They've recently decided to home school next year, and the entourage is SO excited!), so we decided to meet at the aquarium to check out the new exhibit: Tentacles! It was a great exhibit, and we learned all about octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, and nautiluses. Most of these creature are amazingly good at camouflage, so we had fun playing "spot the cephalopod" as we approached each new tank.

Of course, we had to revisit some favorite spots, too. I was proud of the girls when we went through the jellyfish exhibit: Monkey and Bug were excitedly telling their friends the different species of jellyfish and explaining the whole life cycle. We spent some time in the kids' sections about ocean mammals and the kelp forest. In fact, we got to the kelp forest just in a time to watch a bit of a program with a diver in the tank before we headed for home.

Library Day
We were a bit late for storytime this week, but we made it in time to hear most of the books about growing things. We came home with these books:
The Boy in the Garden
Jungle Baseball Game
Englebert Joins the Circus
Boys' Team
Cat the Cat, Who is That?
The Cardboard Piano
Dig Hole, Soft Mole
Little Flower
Going to the Zoo

We went to the library last week too, but I completely forgot to write about it. I forget the theme for storytime, but we came home with these books:
At the Beach
Out of the Way! Out of the Way!
Argus
Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale
Kathy's Hats: A Story of Hope
Miss Spider's Wedding
Tillie and the Wall
Bringing in the New Year
Have You Ever Done That?

The Three R's
Major milestone for Goose this past week! Early in the week when Daddy was reading them a bedtime story, Goose jumped in to read the word "cat." Daddy told me about it and suggested that she might be ready to start really learning to read instead of just doing the preschool "letter of the week" lessons. I wasn't going to push it (she's only 3!), but I wish you could have seen her little eyes light up when I asked if she was interested! Not only was she interested, but she wanted to start right now! I obliged, of course. She did the first three lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons this week, and she had me do some repetitive reading with her. I read and she repeated Ready, Set, Skip! and Kitty Up! multiple times this week. She was so excited to report to Daddy that she "could really read now!" She also did lots of counting as usual, and I confirmed that she knows the numerals 1-10 out of order.

For reading this week, Bug read Inside, Outside, Upside Down and Are You My Mother?  and Monkey read Where's Spot? and Inside, Outside, Upside Down.

For math, we continued our focus on place value and sums less than 10. I threw in a little work with fractions and occasionally asked them what time it was just to keep those skills fresh. Progress is being made! In fact, by the end of the week, Bug had proved her competency with her place value skills, and I gave her some skip counting connect the dots activities to do instead. Monkey also did some more than/less than problems which helped reinforce the place value knowledge.

For writing this week, Bug continued practicing some problematic letters, and Monkey did a report about armadillos. (For the record, family members, I keep suggesting letter writing as a good project, but nobody's biting. I'll keep trying.) I introduced the concept of spelling as a subject this week. We're not doing spelling lists at this point; I'm just trying to convince them that they are capable of sorting out how to spell some words themselves. They really enjoyed a cut-and-paste activity that had them connecting different beginning sounds to ending syllables (i.e., adding dr, th, s, and w to ink).

Real Greeks
We didn't do any history projects this week, but Monkey and Bug did some ancient-Greece themed coloring sheets while I read to them about famous real Greeks instead of the famous mythical ones. The DK book has a section of blurbs about people in the following categories: statesmen, writers and artists, thinkers, and scientists.

Super Novas
In keeping with our spontaneous science "curriculum" we learned about super novas this week. As we were getting out of the car after Wednesday night church, the girls were asking about stars: How far away are they? What are they made of? And this led to Bug inquiring about what would happen if one exploded. When we got inside, we Googled it, and watched a YouTube video of what does happen when a star goes super nova and admired lots of still shots. Daddy came home at some point in all this and stepped in to help explain things too.