You Tube Monday - Holiday Edition - The Smurfs Christmas Special part 1

This is one of my all time favorites!!! I love that I find them all on You Tube to share with the kids!



See Part 2 - HERE
See Part 3 - HERE

Deschooling Update - Week 3

As I sit here typing DN is sitting across from me on the laptop excitedly blasting his way through spaceships with prime numbers playing Sigma Prime on Manga High. This is a kid who has said he hated math over and over and over again, yet he has become obsessed with beating these levels and getting a gold medal. I think I have found a key.

We had a really great week. We finished up a ton of lessons and are taking the next three weeks off from regular book work in order to enjoy the season. Saturday we finished up the bio experiments from last week and set up some interesting bean ones for this week -





We also had a lot of fun and enjoyed the beautiful weather before it is gone - of course I keep saying that and we keep having it, so I will just KEEP SAYING IT!!! On Monday we headed over to the courts and played some tennis, before we went to the local herring run to have a picnic, do some nature sketching and play some pooh sticks!

Today (Tuesday) we went to a local DCR ice rink for FREE public skate. DN is building his confidence and doing great. KM has begun skating backward, but thinks we need to go to a rink that skates clockwise so that she can turn to the left better. We also check in on one of the bean experiments and it seems to be coming along nicely.

All and all I would say it was quite the educational, entertaining and enjoyable week! If you want to check out some funny highlights from our day out see KM's you tube channel for - Rock Sliding and Other Silly Stuff and Playing Tennis

Day full of Muppets!!! - Movie review

Ok we love all things muppets, but when I started seeing the trailers for The Muppets, I was a bit hesitant and unsure that it could live up to my high expectations! Well I have to say - MY CHEEKS HURT from smiling and my eyes were stinging from having wiped them so often. This movie was HYSTERICAL. From the 80's robot to the random outbreaking of song to the map travel button - this movie was exactly what it should have been. Jason Segel did an incredible job and I have to say that this was the first TRULY kid family friendly movie I have seen in a long time. There were no inappropriate and unnecessary jokes that you had to hope would fly over the kids heads, just pure Muppet humor, slapstick and fun!

And to top off our Muppet day the CW is airing the Christmas special - A Muppets Christmas - Letters to Santa - is airing tonight and we will be snuggling up on the sofa to watch!

Deschooling Update - Week 2

First week went superbly - as you might remember if you read either this post or this one - however we had a few bumps in the road this weekend that were far more dramatic because CJ was here. We did manage to get through them and after much discussion - and some near meltdowns - it was decided that the freedom all at once was far too much for DN to handle and he needs some help to learn how to take responsibility and make smart decisions. So although our weeks may seem a bit strange to some, due to the living arrangements here for DN his week with us is going to be running from mid-day Saturday through late afternoon/evening on Tuesdays. I will have his lessons spread out and scheduled for him - of course they are still tailored to him and I am doing a lot of mixing & matching to try to find those keys, but after the horrific weekend we do seem to be back in a good place.

Monday was lovely - weather and energy wise - we started the morning out with a trip to the library and some time on the tennis courts and then the kids got their lessons and chores done after lunch.

Today - Tuesday - went by very quickly, as they did a few lessons in the morning before we went to public skating. KM was so excited to get back on the ice. Last year I sat out because I was having issues with my sciatic nerve, however I have been feeling pretty good lately so I got myself some skates at our local thrift shop and after having them sharpened they only cost me $14!!! This was the first time that DN had ever gone ice skating and I have to say he did far better than I expected. He definitely needs to build up some stamina, muscle control and strength, but I think he will get there.

I will say it was seriously bizarre to be peeling off the layers when we came out of the rink and it was 68 degrees outside! Is it really only a day until December.

Trimming the Tree and Jamming out -

In addition to tree trimming the day after Thanksgiving it has become a tradition in our home to have guitar hero jam sessions -

It is rather hysterical and everyone gets in the mix - luckily, I am the only one who thinks of grabbing the camera!!!! 

For more hysterical guitar hero moments be sure to check GCKstudents You Tube Channel - Bunniestar97

Itty Bitty Visitors

The Itty Bitties and the Littles came for a visit today - 

 

You Tube Monday - Fun Science: Stars

The Four Nations Maths Challenge - Register Today!!!

The Four Nations Maths Challenge

Another chance to get in some practice before World Education Games in March!!!!

Field trip to the South Shore Natural Science Center

KM is far beyond the age that our local science center - South Shore Natural Science Center - is geared to, but she still loves to go and share the space with the Littles. 

I am so impressed with the time that she takes with each of them to help them find just what they want to see. 

It also fills my heart to see the Littles' expressions as they make new discoveries - 

You Tube Monday - Randomness (Part 2)

KM and her friends - including CJ in this one - have been busily making videos this week and since I nearly forgot about You Tube Monday I thought I would share some of her latest posts -






You can also check out her channel to see all her videos - HERE!

Some Pre-Halloween Fun

Since CJ will be on the road for Halloween we were really glad we got to carve pumpkins with him last night -

He also came with us to bowling league this morning where K won 1st place for most creative girl's costume - 

Busy week - catch up with some photos

We wee quite busy this week and our calendar does not seem to be letting up much this week either, so I thought I would take a second to post a few pics that I found on my camera this morning -

K enjoying a warm afternoon and her books

K figuring out how many shingles we will need.

I finally got K's bowling badges from LAST year on her bowling bag and her punk costume for the library Halloween party really wasn't that far off from her everyday outfits. 

Took the Littles to the library and playground while K was at theater.

The Itty Bitties are getting so big!!! I don't know where the time has gone! They are almost 6

 months old already!

You Tube Monday - Ruby Gloom

Don't know how we JUST found this, but it is now one of our favorites!!!
SOOOO Cute we had to share!!!

You can find many of them on You Tube, but if you have Netflix streaming you are in LUCK!!!

Carl Azuz tweeted with us!!!

You can't imagine KM's excitement when she saw that he responded DIRECTLY to us!!! 

I can't imagine what would have happened if it had been Justin Beiber or Jordan Witzigreuter!!!
In case you don't know who Carl Azuz is ... you should check out CNN Student News!!!

American Math Challenge - Day 2 - Morning Results

Last Day of American Math Challenge --- Live Mathletics

Stretch those fingers and get those minds ready for some fast paced math fun!!!
Be sure to let us know how your kids have done in this fun and exciting competition!!!

American Math Challenge - Update 8pm - 1st Day

I think unless she has a huge surge of energy after x-factor she is done for the day! Here are her results ---

She did a great job, given this is her first try!!! Congrats to all who made it through the first day and best of luck in the speed rounds tomorrow!!! 

American Math Challenge Update - 5p - 1st day

I have a feeling she will be doing a bit more, but as of right now here are her 1st day stats ----

Today's the DAY!!! American Math Challenge --- Tomorrow Too!!!

Great fun way to test those math minds!!! Have fun and let us know how your kids did!!!
These are the first American official lead up events for World Education Games 2012!!! For more information click the pic to sign up for the official newsletter!

Funny direction things can take

We started out with Biology and talking about fungus and KM mentioned how many different types of mushrooms she has seen out in the yard lately. I had an idea - we should gather some samples and examine the differences. Then how would each react to heat - oh hey what a great excuse to start a fire in the pit.....

Once we we had the fire going and mushrooms were "cooking" I suddenly remembered a post that I had stumbled upon last week at the hmmm...schooling mom's blog where they microwaved various types of soap...well I wondered what would happen if we put them over the fire....

I was shocked at the various reactions melting points! 

KM was inspired to carve some shapes out as she was prepping the samples.

So from biology to mycology to scenting the neighborhood to soap sculpting.....where will the rest of our day take us?