Tuesday's Entropy

It is SOOO Gorgeous today! I decided we should do lots of outdoors stuff today, so we may not get all the ‘inside school’ stuff done. (online research, ALEKS, etc).
I finished my new round of mini-greenhouses. Had to get all the tops taped on them today. Ki and I transplanted a couple Sunflower Starts that were ‘greenhouse germinated’. Connor & Gavin did some dismantling of wooden structures so I can see if I can make a plant stand thingy from it.
The boys took turns reading from Story of the World (topic: Robin Hood) and then read a few sections in the Critical Thinking Book. I think Ki will be dropping the class. Sorry Deb. It’s just not working with the way he thinks and learns. But I think I will see what I can do with him along the lines of the lessons. And I see that I will have to teach him better how to change a ‘reading/oral’ lesson into a hands on, drawn examples, moved manipulatives lesson on his own- so he can survive college.

We walked to the library. I helped the boys look up their research subjects so they could find their books. Ki looked up a couple books for his own enjoyments. We walked home. I had taken Benedryl before the walk (itchiness) and fell into a coma-like state when I got home. Slept like a corpse for about 2.5 hours.

I forgot how drugged I get from Benadryl. It totally ruined the rest of my day. I will feel like a wet cotton ball for the rest of the day.
Ki will have to do his math without me.

At least it was a good morning and I felt accomplished in the AM.

J-Term Wrap-Up

I am pleased with the way J-term went. Gavin did a lot of computer programming. Connor did a lot of robot building type stuff. They wrote a report. Gavin did a few modules of Physics. Connor sewed a few things and has a few more things planned to sew. He learned so adjust a pattern, take measurements, operate the sewing machine, sew, applique, and more. Same with Ki.
Ki did very well with his cooking. He learned techniques, terms, history and more.

Ki took a class at a culinary school and has a big gourmet meal planned. we are finishing up some sewing projects and Ki is working on his culinary this week, too, to get him ready for his big dinner.

I have decided that the phrase 'when things slow down' has no place in my vocabulary. things will not slow down. not for at least 10 years I bet.

I am already making plans for MAY-TERM. like J-term, but in MAY! I have decided they will each have one required class.

and now I need to eat more and do something in the laundry and plant some seeds and make a grocery list and clean my bathroom and help C&K sew and give G a physics test.

tonight- AVATAR 3-D

J-Term. Wed. Blanched Almonds and Grey Cloaks

I have too much I want to say. I am behind on J-Term journals. I just wasn’t in the mood to write about our school days. Which is odd, since I usually love writing about our school days, especially when we have good ones; which we did. So now I have all these things to write down all spilling all over each other. So I’ll take it one day at a time. I need to decide if I want to go Mon,Tue,Wed or start with today and work backwards.
I think I will satrt with today. then I might do monday then Tuesday.


Ki blanched and toasted almonds again. They turned out great this time! Then he decided to make dark chocolate candies for our dessert. Melted semi-sweet chips poured into and ice cube tray, then almonds inserted. (not the blanched one). He read knife safety & skills, chocolate trivia, famous historical dinners, and practiced zesting citrus.

Ki did some work in his Life of Fred Math book. He had a bridge to do. Bridges are the quizzes they have every 5 chapters. He hates them. They don’t follow a story line or build upon each other. The end of the chapter problems build on the story line of the chapter or each other. He did pretty good. He gets confused easily though. Here is one of the problems he missed.

one of th questions: 77 inches is how many feet?
Ki put 1’ 17”.
He thought it was minute and he changed it to hours & minutes. He got it right ... if it were asking to change 77 minutes into hours. He gets very confused with money and time, too. 100 pennies in a dollar BUT 60 minutes in an hour.

Romans Numerals are BEYOND confusing to him. Sometimes you add the 2 (like LX is 50 PLUS 10) and sometimes you subtract (like IV is 5 MINUS 1- or 1 less than 5). He gets so confused. I don’t push it. He’ll get it when his brain is ready. But he is being exposed to them and that’s good enough for me.

The new chapter today was Lowest Common Multiple. LCM’s are going well. I showed him how to write out the chain of multiples for each number side by side. Just learning that, he was able to do most in his head, yet before I showed him that he was utterly confused.
Connor seems to be enjoying sewing class more than robotics class. Though he does seem to like sewing, but I think the main reason he likes sewing more is because his dad has him researching to write a 3-5 page paper instead of the fun building of motorized stuff.
And he wants to get his cloak made SOON!!

Jan 25 & 26- J-Term Recap.

MONDAY- was Connor’s birthday. Around here, the birthday child doesn’t have to do school or morning chores. Gavin had a dentist appointment. I had to run a few errands on the way to the dentist. Some homeschool group families decided to go to the beach for a Clean Up day. So we all 4 left the house at about 10 and were gone until about 4.
Beach Clean from the storms is a good school day field trip, I think. A lot of dead animals were washed up; nothing too sad, like cute baby seals. It was mostly just awesome bones.

Connor wanted a Bagel Bites for dinner. I don’t think we have had those at our house before. They liked it. The 3 of them ate 49 Bagel Bites.
So no J-Term was accomplished Monday, but it was a good day.

TUESDAY-
Ki tried his hand at blanching almonds and toasting them. The blanching went well, but the toasting didn’t. He researched famous chefs. He made 4 note cards of famous chefs and watched some cooking show clips.
Connor took some measurements for the cloak he wants to make and figured out how much material he needs.
Gavin worked on his physics. G&C did some research for robotics class.
Here are some of the links we used Tuesday.
http://gourmet.lovetoknow.com/How_to_Blanch_Almonds

http://gourmet.lovetoknow.com/Category:Chefs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chefs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvazQUYG1kE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TWiAvI-CIM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJu6Eeqv7E8&feature=related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emeril_Lagasse

Today, I was awoken by a stranger in all of his yellowy brightness. The sun had come out to play after more than a week of hiding his face from us.

I greeted him this morning before breakfast. I lined my young plants up to see him. I twirled in a circle with my arms opened wide in His presence and thanked Him for His gift.

It’s the kind of day that makes one feel the desire to do EVERYTHING And all at once. It’s like the backlog of things that didn’t get done of the past 9 days have been all released at once. The dam has been broke! The walls have been breached!

What to do first on this Brilliant (said in my best Doctor Who voice) Day? The list of left behind activities is long. Replant some fallen comrades? Dig post holes? Place some online orders? Clean and organize my sewing table, SEW lots of things, and order some of those clearance patterns? Go for a bike ride? Run around in circles and figure eights in the backyard while singing? Go for a walk? Do some much needed school planning?

Well, now it is 4 PM. I planted a few fallen and broken comrades, emptied the soil from some containers that have failed to produce germinated seeds, dug post holes and put my Compost Bin in place, enjoyed the sun on my face, spent some time in the sewing area with good results, placed a few online orders, learned a new game, found some lost things.

I never did get around to that bike ride and now it’s chilly and almost dinner time. I think I will finish todays list with school planning, reading in preparation for tomorrow's church service, and watching some Netflix.

Tomorrow should be another day of SUN!