Do You Stipple & Stencil?

My 13 year old wanted a new bedroom set, so instead we made her old one new. Together we antiqued, stippled, stenciled, and had loads of fun remaking her bedroom.  Of course my young son wanted in on the fun, so we made his painting time fun with stippling and stenciling on paper. I love creating with my kids. They come up with most amazing art. It just pour out of their little minds!

What's Up These Days!

1. Senior is studying with Connections Academy
2. 8th grader is unschooling 
• Elements
• Asia
• Italy
• Computer Programming
• Digital Art (Adobe Illustrator & keynote)
• Middle School math
• Social Science & Science - Smithsonian channel, netflix Documentaries, Cooking and food experiments, Gardening, hair products making, body
• Mixed Media Arts
• Journaling
• Library books on specific interests
3. 3 y/o is learning the basics with games, puzzles, video games, books, and YMCA classes. 

I haven't posted much because I've been busy with our life. I promise to try a little harder to record here. 

Excitement!

I don't see it very often anymore in my 11 y/o. She acts ho-hum about every assignment and every experience. Truly she has been outright resistant to learning these days. Until this morning. My husband had been talking to me about Asian children learning computer programming in the 1st grade, and I vowed to start my 7th grader. It took me a few weeks, but this morning I went over to Khan Academy to browse their free lessons, and there was computer programming. I know a few things about script, since I did a lot of statistical script writing in my other life. When I saw the examples, I was very excited, so when baby girl woke up I introduced her to computer programming. She stayed on Khan Academy's website doing computer programming for about 6 or 7 hours. She was excited about it, and I realized that it can assist with several subjects.

1. Math (Geometry & Algebra)
2. Science (Mechanical engineering)
3. Spelling (She reads like crazy, but doesn't pay the necessary attention to spelling to be great at it. Script writing require attention)
4. Art (color mixing, drawing, creativity)
5. Critical Thinking (so many decisions to make to draw with script and to animate with script).

It's so funny because when she started it, it was like she was made for it. I got a little misty watching her go at it.

Pagliacci

I'm going to admit something. I am ignorant. Not about everything, but I was certainly ignorant about Pagliacci.  When I was a child my mom used to say "Don't play Pagliacci with me." We heard it all the time, whenever we did anything she perceived as being slick or clownish. One day I found out he was a clown. Last night I went to Educational Opera Night at the Performing Arts Center, and I found out he was a sad clown. I kinda knew that too because of Smokey Robinson's song "Tears of a Clown."

Anyway, Me & the 11 y/o went to the Opera last night and I learned so much. I heard songs that I have always heard on a quick commercial for a Pavarotti performance.

I learned about Pagliacci's story and it was educational and moving. I am very thankful for free Educational Opera Night here .

Sprouts & Ph Balance

We've been sprouting in our windowsill! So far we've done radish sprouts and lentil sprouts. Sprouting led us to investigate acidic foods versus alkaline foods. Why? Because sprouts are these wonderful little super foods that have protein, vitamins, and nutrients without many calories.  We compared sprouts to other protein sources and discovered that animal based protein is highly acidic, which some say cause disease. Vegetables are highly alkaline, and many theories say to maintain health it is important to balance out all the acid we take into our bodies from sugar, fats, and processed foods. That was our lesson and I am seeing my kids apply it to their lives.

Field Trips

Field trips can start to add up when you have three children, so we take advantage of homeschool days at local museums and attractions. Last week Sea World in San Antonio had a field trip for $8.00 a person. We saw dolphins, sea lions, penguins, whales, sharks, sting rays, and a host of other fish. It was quite a bargain. However, I did slip and fall and hit my head on the concrete. That took a little bit of the excitement away toward the end of the day. 

Another free field trip I take with the kids is to the pet store!

We go in the pet store and see cats, dogs, iguana, snakes, rats, fish, hamsters, ferrets, and birds for FREE! We don't touch them, but we watch them and discuss them. 

What We Been Up To Lately...

 We've been making bread!

 Although, this looks like a success, it was a fail. This bread was horrible because I made it on a rainy day. My little son enjoyed kneading it though.

 Our pool is open year round, and our town still has temps in the 90's, so we get out to the pool for Phys. Ed. whenever we can.

 This is what a normal day looks like. Older one was correcting her little sister's work here. Notice the red pen.

 Son & I love to paint with household items. We used paper clips, a lid, and a hand beater to make the painting above.

 I am really into saving containers to use for homeschool stuff. Does anyone else do that?

We were practicing volleyball, and the ball got stuck in the tree. I get a work out and she gets to practice, when we go to the park with the volleyball.