New Post Dinner Read

Well, the giant fall field trips that I had envisioned are somewhat on hold as I have broken my leg. No matter, we still have had plenty to do, I just haven't been much at the computer to write about it. One exciting thing we have begun is to, after dinner, clear the table and read out together. We have begun with William Shakespeare's, The Tempest. My eleven year old daughter insisted to be Prospero and her rendition reminds me of the Gandalf in that old Hobbit cartoon. My husband is Miranda and I am Ferdinand, so it is quite hilarious. My 15 year old son is Caliban. Obviously, we have to double up on roles, but it works very well. The kids are, and have always been, crazy for theater:

There is talk of a claymation project, but we will see if it carries out.

Fossils and a Box of Bones

We've started slowly. There is no avoiding the math everyday; we subscribe to a program online and they both dig in quite nicely. There is the standard, "What did you do this summer?" essay they are both completing, but for fun they are to be humorous in the style of Eddie Izzard. My son is working on his computer graphics programs and daughter on writing a comic book with her long distance best friend. They both have picked back up on their music after vacation. We are trying to find our best location to compile a wildlife study on the property here, then they will set up a research design and file reports with the department head (me being the department). But there was one burning project that could not WAIT for my daughter, and that was to identify all the fossils that I was able to pick out of boxes that were at the very back corner of a Sequim Rock Shop. Of course, I have boxes of bones and books for comparison and she spent the better part of a day with her initial identification. We are just identifying the bone, I have no fossil to compare with for species. After the kids are certain of what bone everything is and with their investigation for possible animals in the fossil record to check, we will have a field trip to compare with a paleo collection. 

Catch Up!

I haven't added anything here for a spell. We didn't drop off the earth or anything; rather, we've been exploring our Earth. We've been traveling around, checking out geology and ecosystems from North Idaho to the Olympic Peninsula, through the North Cascades Highway and the Great Grand Coulee. From the desert to the ocean to the rainforest to treading small patches of snow in the subalpine zone of Hurricane Ridge and Cascades, the children were saturated with the workings of the planet. My son spent time with bioDad and they enjoyed the Avatar exhibit, which was really cool since my son wants to go into animation.

Desert Scrubland, near Ephrata, WA

Cascades, near Leavenworth, WA

Snoqualmie Falls, WA There are turbines that use the falls to give hydroelectric power in the area. An interesting example of cooperation between the tribes, who need the tumbling water in order to fulfill their spirituality and the people who run the power station, which pulls water from the falls.  

Neah Bay, WA This is at the very Northwestern tip of Washington on the Makah Indian Reservation. They have a spectacular museum there.

Giant Statues at the Makah museum.

Rialto Beach, WA

Some old growth cedar stumpage

Giant Sitka Spuce near the Hoh Rainforest

East side of the Cascades (standing on snow)

Part of the Cascades

Descending into the coulee near Pateros, WA. The evening air was thick with the smell of apples.

Inventive Soul

My daughter visited her grandparents for a few days and came back with this burning need to make fabulous cupcakes. We have no pastry bags for designing fancy cakes; I walk around the corner and there she is, decorating like a pro by simply altering a ziploc bag into a pastry bag. Now, there may be someone else that does this, but she invented it independently of their help. I told her how impressed I was and she insisted it wasn't her genius, just the idea out of the book. I said, "Oh, the ziploc? How clever!" and she said, really offhand, "Oh no, I just did that. I mean the pattern of the flower. That was in the book. The ziploc isn't really a big idea, it just came to my head."

Much Ado About Nothing

And one for the Bard!

We were lucky enough to catch Montana Shakespeare in the Parks last night for Much Ado About Nothing. They set the play in the South, Gone with the Wind style. Oh my, I would have never been clever enough to dress Beatrice in Scarlet, but it is PERFECT! You can write me an ass--but I don't believe we have ever laughed so hard at a play, not in Ashland, not in San Francisco, not anywhere. The kids loved it. We parents loved it. Just spectacular!

Merchant of Venice August 23, 2011

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks

We drove over to Libby, Montana to catch Montana Shakespeare in the Park's Merchant of Venice. We were prepared for a beautiful drive up Highway 2 and a wonderful play, but we didn't count on Yaak Falls.

It was spectacular; I can't imagine what it would be like in spring! The rocks are amazing, many some of the oldest rock our Earth has to offer! Searching on the internet I find it is Precambrian Mudstone, exposed during and Eastward shift of the Pacific Plate. I can't find my Montana Geology book so I have to go buy one before the curiosity kills me to find out exactly what is known for sure. Usually there are information signs explaining these things, but alas, there were only a map and a camping with bears for the novice (hint: don't sleep with your sausages!) But there are black and grizzly bears in the area. We weren't lucky enough to see any, but the falls were incredible!

We continued North from Yaak Falls and then took a forest service road that follows Quartz Creek over the mountain and  by Loon Lake. It was just gorgeous. 

Libby, Montana may be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Too bad about the asbestos, but really, it is a green valley on the Kootenai River, nestled at the feet of green, snow-topped mountains on all sides.  The play was fun and of course we enjoyed it like nobody's business, but for the day I think the mountains won our affection over this particular production of  Shakespeare. Really, it was stiff competition and the Bard was a close second. 

Chicken Incubation

We watched the rooster do his job.
We left the broody hen to do her work.
While she was working, her friend decided to brood as well. Several hens contributed to the clutch. Some were eaten (by chickens), most are still there and one of them, just today...

My two mamas

HATCHED! 

Here is one that accidentally got into our eating eggs. It will be preserved in alcohol for a specimen. I am guessing it was about 1 week from hatching:

Outdoor Learning Center

Son bottom right at Minnehaha, Spokane

This past week my daughter attended the ALL GIRLS SCIENCE CAMP with the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center. They toured the Upriver Dam, learned about the Spokane Aquifer, did a tour in Liberty Lake and learned about beavers, and then on the last day--a canoe trip down The Little Spokane River! She had a great time, even though she didn't know anybody at the camp. She tried to convince various cousins to go along, but alas, science camp is too much like school and this is summer vacation. I found it on a fluke while checking for an open house, since we love to see the raptors they have at the Outdoor Learning Center. While she attended the camp, her brother got stuck hiking at Minnehaha with mom and dad, identifying plants and that sort of thing. Good fun all around.

And so it begins...

kind of.

I have been teaching my children at home for years. It wasn't my original intent; I had different dreams and aspirations for my occupation, none of them originally included having my own children, let alone home schooling them. But I was lucky enough to be in the tiny percentage of people whose best placed plans and protections failed and so I took the challenge.

Twice.

And while I grew up thinking that homeschooled kids were weird and that public school was the best option, I had never actually had to turn a child over to a teacher--or to witness what happened to the children in those classrooms. I volunteered regularly. I was involved. And unlike a lot of grown-ups, I really remember, viscerally, what it was like to be a child. Watching them wither in that environment was, for the most part, more painful than childbirth.

Of both of my children, each made it through one year without me yanking them out. My son had an amazing student teacher for the 3rd grade; I went to pull him out and she asked if I would let her try. I did and was never sorry. My daughter had an amazing kindergarten teacher for that same year. The following year, I pulled them both out--for good. My only regret is that I tried to make public school work for them, especially for my son. That I didn't trust myself sooner. That I wasted so much of their time and mine trying to make it work.

I probably shouldn't bag on the public school system; I have two siblings and various other relatives and friends that work in the system. But it seems even the best schools are kept in check by convincing parents to pump kids full of mind altering drugs and getting rid of the undesirable students. I don't want my kids to sit still while learning. And they don't learn sitting still. I want them to move. I want them to love active learning. I want them to think.

I could go on for hours, but I won't. That is behind us and this blog will keep track of this year. Maybe more. Just a bit of where we've been to start it off.

Let the cataloging of the adventure begin.