Welcome to Year 19!

I wrote a similar post last year...declaring it year 17 and I was totally wrong. Don't hold it against me that I did basic math wrong.

Samuel is now in 11th grade, Bird in 9th and Kurtis bringing up the rear (kicking and screaming, literally) in second grade this year. It's been a wild ride but over all, I am happy with how I have endured and what we have accomplished. Especially when I really had to start flying solo. I have continued on this path of home-educating because I really believe it is the best form of education over all and the best way for my children and our family. It has cost us, as all good things do.

It's interesting to watch the middles interests develop and their skill grow. Both are continuing to take art as an elective. Samuel is pursuing dance more seriously. Liberty, starting highschool, is taking a-g courses, which is a college preparatory path to graduation. She says she is going to take a break from the theater program, at least on-stage but I sincerely hope she changes her mind. In the end, it will always be her choice.

Kurtis, sigh, is still Kurtis. Haha. He's enjoying every aspect of life to the fullest. It's always been a challenge to get him to sit down, but that is ok. I am not above bribery and other methods of encouraging him to cooperate. He is very bright and picks up concepts quickly so after hours of fighting with him to do a page of book work--he can finish it in three minutes flat. True story!

We had a terrific summer. Really full with lots of outdoor time. I plan to continue our weekly hikes. Middles will have their evening classes and their Tuesday writing class...so far that is it. Which is more than enough and enough to keep this momma hopping and dependent on my phone calendar!

It's the beginning of a brand new year and we usually start strong. I hope we can maintain momentum, not too fast and not too slow. A girl can dream! I don't have any great vision or expectation for this school year yet. I don't even know if I should and if this is a bad thing or not.

Math Brain : STEM

Creating animal dens.

It's been a rough few months due to the move and adjusting to all of that, so I have been off my home-educating game a bit. Haha. I love pinterest for inspiring ideas! I found various activities using marshmallows and tooth picks. I knew there were STEM challenges to do but I wanted more creative exercises. Sometimes all you need is one suggestion to spark your own ideas.

The middle schooler's structure.

The middle schooler could not help joining in when she saw the first grader starting his structure. 

Building a structure with tooth picks and marshmallows.

The initial challenge was to create animal dens from the supplies given. Once that was completed, I upped the ante by challenging my students to create the tallest, free standing structure possible. It needed to be sound enough to maintain it's height with out falling over. 

It's more challenging then it sounds. They enjoyed this and it covered all STEM areas: science, technology, engineering and math. Supposedly, right? haha. They definitely experienced and learned about the force of gravity. 

Can you guess which structure was created by the middle schooler and which was created by the high schooler & first grader team?

Art Class Field Trip

The middles high school art class (taught by my oldest son) took a field trip tonight. The class worked on contour drawing. They all walked a block to the local coffee shop, which was packed for the evening, stood around and drew sketches of patrons or whatever else caught their  eye.

While they were there, various artists did spoken word or performed music. The final act of the night was an awesome indie band that we all thought was really, really good. It was a great way to end my work week and a great way to mix up art class.

Field Trip: MOLA

Moonlight Myth

In the middle of a heat wave, all I could think after church was finding the coolest, literally teh coolest, place to go for some free AC. I saw a friend's post about this local art museum (that I always forget exists) having a special hispanic festival to go with their current exhibit, so I grabbed the kids and headed over. 

Feeling inspired!

There were vendors and special performances in the outdoor space of the museum. We enjoyed observing all the art on display. I've included pictures of a couple of my favorites. Admission was free which was a great bonus! 

It was a great way to not only keep cool, but expose my middles to art and enjoy some time away from home unlike our usual Sunday afternoons. I'm really glad we went. I would love to check out more museums regularly but I simply forget!