Friday Follies

PICKIN' AND GRINNIN': I asked the kids what they did at music today when I wasn't there and Annabelle told me they strummed something while pushing a button. I'm guessing they played an auto harp.

When I was there for the parent participation part, we sang along to a seashells by the seashore song and passed shells back and forth in time with the rhythm. It was actually a very relaxing exercise.

I gotta say, though, that during music, I was starting to get my Worry on. The kids' music lessons are in a basement level space. There's really only one small window to the outside world and this morning CJ's gaze was fixed on that light nearly the entire time I was there (outside of my prodding him to look elsewhere). I'm a big BIG fan of daylight, too, but sheesh, pay attention, Dude! I couldn't help but wonder how this would translate come science class time ...

ZULA PATROL: After music, the kids had a snack and I gave them the Big News that one of their favorite shows, "Zula Patrol," has launched a new and much improved Web site. (I'm a "Zula Patrol" fan, too. In fact, I'll probably always have a soft spot for it as last year, after I'd pick CJ up at lunch time to remove him from the chaos and danger and pain that was his public school experience, and we'd come home and watch "Zula Patrol" and all would be right with the world. )

CeeJ and Bee were very excited to give Zula World a go. According to it's "About" page, "ZulaWorld is an immersive environment for the exploration of science, math and astronomy that stimulates curiosity, promotes discovery, and inspires imagination among children! ZulaWorld also provides a place for parents and educators to engage with their children, students and each other."

In ZulaWorld, "Kids can build their own spaceship and alien and customize them by earning points and playing games."

They poked around a bit and I could tell it was still a beta version (lots of bugs). But before too long, it was time to take off and go experience some science firsthand. ...

pHantastic: This was our fourth in a series of six science classes arranged through a Seattle Homeschool Group parent.

Regular readers will know that for the last couple of weeks, the class has been Super Cool but CJ has been, uh, well, Lame Brained.

Today, on our way to class we, of course, had The Talk about listening with the ears and keeping the eyes on the teacher and peers. I also reminded CJ that last night at bedtime I unplugged the video card in his brain to make way for other thoughts. ;)

Today's session was all about the pH scale - the range of acidity to baseicity. The kids learned that the spectrum ranges from the most acidic (battery acid, stomach acid, Coke - in that order) to middle of the range (pure water @ 7.0) to the alkaline end of the scale - bases like soap and Windex and Borax.

Teacher Kate made downright magic when she poured a series of vials one into the other changing them from pure water to 'grape' juice to '7up' to milk to ...etc., by introducing different ingredients to the mix.
The kids' first task was to paint a piece of paper with a solution of rubbing alcohol and tumeric. It turned the pages bright yellow and smelled awful. :)

Those pages were set aside and then the kids took cabbage leaves, mixed them in hot water and created an acidic violet liquid. That solution was split amongst four cups and into each one a different ingredient was added (vinegar, baking soda, etc) and the solution changed in color each time. Here's a short of CJ adding vinegar to his mix ...

At the end of the class, the kids got to paint on their tumeric tinged sheets with Q-Tips dipped in either a vinegar bath or a baking soda solution. There were some subtle changes in color, but it was definitely lacking the 'wow' factor that the earlier demonstrations had - a bit anti climatic.

But the Really Good News is that CJ paid attention during most of the class ('most' meaning more than 50 percent of the time, right?). But seriously, I could see that he was really trying and while he didn't always succeed, he did try, and that's what I asked him to do.

I also spent some time today not just fixating on CJ and Annabelle, but I made a conscious effort to note how other kids seemed to be paying attention - or not. After that exercise, I felt LOTS better about Mr. CJ's daytripping. He certainly had lots of "day dreamer" company.

In the end, I was pretty proud of his focus, and more importantly, HE was proud of his focus. After the class he pointed out that he had paid attention and sought my reassurance and I gave it to him. Go CJ. :)

FIT TO BE TIED: This morning we checked in on our Painted Lady larvae. They're still larvae, but the cup they're in is full of silk now. Annabelle suggested, "Maybe we can use that silk to make a tie for dad!"

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?: Regular readers know that earlier this spring, the MPA student body planted and nursed from seeds peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers and sunflowers. A couple of weeks ago, we planted our going-gangbusters-sproutlets outside. And then winter came. :( Though we haven't had a frost, it's been c-c-c-cold. Like daytime highs in the 40s.

Our tender little seedlings are hanging in there, but they're not exactly thriving. .. Here's a lonely, stringy green bean we found this morning.

In better news, the lemon tree (indoors, upstairs) looks fabulous, and the blueberry bushes outside look healthy, as well.

Easy Does It

TOKYO ON NOTICE: Our Painted Lady butterfly larvae are growing at an alarming rate. (I have visions of them growing to the size of Mothra and conquering cities.) They're spinning silk and starting to hang out at the top of the habitat. I just know the Big Action (chrysalis to butterfly) is going to go down when we're in Florida. Bad timing on our part (my part, I mean). Sigh.

BOOK MOBILE: Today while Annabelle danced and pranced, CJ and I trudged to the library, Kirby in tow. I had a rather huge-ish bag of books today, as we were returning things due both this week and next (we'll be on a plane next Thursday!).

Of course CJ had to read the title of everything we were returning and offer a brief review, so the process took awhile.

The walk back to the community center was less arduous, and we took the scenic (and a bit swampy) route back, through the baseball and soccer fields. I gave Kirby the longest leash possible and she tore around like a greyhound.

MORE WORDS: Today we three worked on a pre-competition packet in preparation for the World Girl Definition Competition on May 11. The work included identifying synonyms and antonyms, and for one sheet, we had to write definitions for certain words. I asked the kids what kind of a book could help us with that. Annabelle remembered it's called a dictionary.

I pulled a pair of dictionaries off the shelves and asked the kids to find the words on the list. It became apparent quickly that we hadn't done any work with alphabetizing in awhile and boy were they rusty. We basically had to learn it all over again. (Obviously, I need to find excuses to have them use a dictionary more often.)

The first word CJ was looking up was "meteor." He finally found his way to the page where it should have been, but it wasn't there. What a LAME dictionary (Barnes & Noble Books publisher, if you're wondering). I don't think it had a single one of the words we were looking for. Sure, it had lots of pretty photos (taking up space where words should have been), but photos aren't going to help you learn to spell words. Thankfully, the book Annabelle was using (Scholastic Children's Dictionary) was a real dictionary.

PASS THE PB: After our vocab workout, we read "Peanut Butter Party" by Remy Charlip. There was so much NOT to like about this book, starting with its font which was IN ALL CAPS. GRANTED, THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED 10 YEARS AGO, BUT EVEN THEN ALL CAPS WAS CONSIDERED SHOUTING ON THE INTERNET. (See how annoying all caps is, and that's only one sentence?)

The book was subtitled "including the history, uses and future of peanut butter." After we read it, Annabelle was quick to point out, "It didn't do that." And she was 2/3 right. It did cover many many uses for peanut butter, but it sure didn't cover its history or future. (Wait, I take that back - on one page a character said "Peanut butter got started in 1809, when people needed something to keep their wigs on." The problem with this is a) it's not true, b) it's presented as fact and c) if it's an attempt at humor that's not clear, because this book isn't funny.

There was one part of this book that piqued all of our curiosities, however - a recipe for peanut butter play dough. We definitely want to try that in the future. (Heck, we would have tried it today, but all we have in the house is chunky peanut butter, and I think that creamy peanut butter is the way to go for that.)

While this book got 6 thumbs down from us, in his defense, months ago the kids and I read Remy Charles' book "A Perfect Day" and loved it.

We didn't do much more schooly stuff for the balance of the afternoon. CJ is still suffering from his cold - if it were a 'normal' school day, I would have kept him home.

YE OLDE CLUB PENGUIN: Big news in the Club Penguin world. From now through May 16, there's a Medieval Party.
There are special games with medieval themes the lighthouse has turned into a stone wizards castle and best of all (at least by Annabelle's estimation) there are fancy new Medieval outfits!

At one point I walked by today and noticed she (SweetAnnabee penguin) had on a new medieval looking dress. However, she was still rocking a shocking blue mop of hair from a previous incarnation. I suggested she might want to update her look and Annabelle said, "Oh, I know," immediately.

Sure enough, she was already flipping through her accessories menu. "I bought this to match," she explained, selecting a perfectly coordinated headdress. "If you have enough coins, you should buy both (the dress and the headdress) so that it's just right."

Just right, indeed. It's important for a medieval penguin to look the part, you know.

OUT OF AFRICA: I received an email this morning letting me know that a photo I took on an MPA field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo will appear "in an animal guide for children living in Rafiki schools in Africa."
Of course, this made me wonder, "What's a Rafiki school?" It took 5 seconds to get an answer (via the magic of the Internet). Love that they're helping orphans and widows. Bravo! Of course in the process, they're trying to turn them into "godly contributors in their countries."

"THE AUTIE ADVANTANGE": Thanks to a Facebook post from the folks at Social Thinking, I was pointed in the direction of an article in New Scientist about the advantages of autism.

The article points out that "People with autism are ... said to have weak central coherence - the ability to synthesise an array of information, such as verbal and gestural cues in conversation. In other words, sometimes they can't see the wood for the trees." However, the article later makes the point that "the flip side of an inability to see the wood for the trees is being very, very good at seeing trees."

An interesting perspective and an interesting article.

EYES TO THE EAST
The email updates from NASA and the Space Coast are nearly nonstop. This morning's news: "At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians working at Launch Pad 39A will replenish the liquid hydrogen storage tank and perform recharge operations for the gaseous oxygen."
The official mission countdown will begin May 11 at 4 p.m. That's when the big countdown clocks at the oceanside launch complex begin ticking backward from the T-43 hour mark. Woo hoo!

WORDS OF WISDOM: One of MPA's Facebook friends had this as their status today:
"You can either complain about the darkness, or light a candle. Your choice."

Cinco de Mayo

FIESTA!: Today we celebrated Cinco de Mayo here at MPA. Sure, none of the student body or staff has any Mexican heritage that we know of, but we're Americans and that means it's our god-given right to embrace the commercialization of any and EVERY holiday. It's who we are, it's what we do!

We started the day by visiting the History channel's Web site. There, as I expected, front and center was a Cinco de Mayo video. The History Channel was quick to point out, "Did you know that Cinco de Mayo is more widely celebrated in the United States than in its native Mexico?"

How 'bout that? (In the back of my brain I hear someone chanting, 'We're number one! We're number one!') But I digress. ...

All of the resources we used today stressed that Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexico's Independence Day. Rather, it commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the French-Mexican War.

From the History channel, we progressed to BrainPOP where we found a pair of apropos features. First, we watched "Mexico" on BrainPOP Jr. It was a general overview of the nation, including some of their favorite foods (we took note of that when planning our dinner later).

Next, we watched a BrainPOP movie about Latin music. That inspired us to do an activity suggested on their site: making maracas.

Of course, once you have maracas, you have to make music. I reminded the kids last time we were in Mexico a trio of strolling musicians serenaded us at our dinner table in a restaurant, singing "La Cucaracha." So I hopped to YouTube and looked for the song. There are a bazillion versions there, almost all of them horrible. I finally found a clip that reminded me of "our" singers.


Not ready to quit yet, I looked for the Mexican Hat Dance. In doing so, I found this wonderful old footage from a 1940s televised special featuring Mexican trumpet virtuoso Rafael Mendez. There's even a built in music lesson. Great stuff (and the kind of stuff that makes me so thankful for the awesome Internet).


After our musical interlude, we read along with a couple of books online. The first was Too Many Tamales. Though the story is about preparing a Christmas feast, the info it included about food and other Mexican cultural elements made it a good fit for Cinco de Mayo. The second story we read was "Mis Comidas" ("My Foods").

All of this talk about food was making us hungry for some of it!

CINCO de COOKING: Most of the afternoon (from 1 to 5) I toiled in the cocina making fixings for tonight's banquete casero. Annabelle helped at several points (cutting, stirring, slicing and peppering me with questions). CJ logged some much needed couch time - he's nursing a cold.
I decided I wanted to make a Mexi-inspired salad, so the first order of business was transforming regular tortillas into salad bowls.

I fried the tortillas in oil on both sides and then took them right from the hot oil and draped them over the bottom of an upside down glass bowl. I shaped them a bit and after a few minutes transferred the tortilla, still on its bowl, to the oven and let them bake about 10 minutes. I was thrilled that the process worked. Next, I whipped up fresh salsa (tomatoes, garlic, 2 kinds of chiles, cilantro, onion, lime), refried beans, meat filling, spicy rice and the best for last - a 2 die 4 margarita cake.
FUR REAL?: From the "you can't make sh*t like this up" file - Did you know you can donate your dog and/or cat hair to clean up the Gulf Coast oil spill? It's true, I swear. I read it on the Internet so it MUST be true!

But seriously, folks, Matter of Trust, a San Franscisco non-profit devoted to 'mimick[ing] how Mother Nature integrates enduring cycles and provides access to necessities in abundance' is asking pet owners and groomers to gather up fur and send it in to be made into mats to catch oil. (In case you're wondering, yes, they'll accept human hair, too.)

Why fur and hair, you ask? Well, think about it - why do you shampoo your hair? Because it collects oil, right? Same principle at play here! Want to see one of their hair booms at work, check out this YouTube video.

So tonight, as we watched the Mariners' game, Annabelle and I went after Kirby with scissors. Kirby was pretty cooperative, for the most part, especially after we told Kirby it was for a good cause. ;)

(And yes, I do realize that in this photo Annabelle looks like the one who needs a haircut.)

THUMBS UP: I've been watching NASA's site and my email inbox waiting for word. I knew that today was the day the top NASA managers set the official launch date (May 14 at 2:20 p.m. EDT) for the Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-132. Up until now, it's always been a tentatively scheduled launch.

Their decision was made at the end of Wednesday's Flight Readiness Review at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Today we also poked around the official STS-132 Mission Overview site.

Before calling it another day at MPA, I must point out that 49 years ago today, while piloting Freedom 7, Alan Shepherd became the first American in space.

Fun and Games

FLOWER HOUR: Mothers Day is coming up quickly and so we spent some time today making a bouquet that will never wilt. We had to round up supplies (three colors of construction paper, green pipe cleaners (does anyone ever really use them to clean pipes?), a little peat pot, a couple of fantabulous 'rhinestones,' scissors, glue sticks, the hot glue gun and crepe paper. We also had to choose some suitable mug shots to use.

First, we printed out the faces and traced circles around them and then cut them out. Next, we traced and cut yellow circles to surround the faces. Then it was petal pushin' time, tracing a template and then cutting out inner and outer flowers. The most fun part, of course, was assembling the flowers. Once they were on their "stems," they were ready to be potted.

We glued the flowers in at varying levels and then used Play-Doh in the bottom of the pot to give them steadying weight. The kids were pretty pleased with the outcome - and so was I. :)

OPPOSITE EFFECT: This morning we were back to the Word Girl worksheets in preparation for the upcoming Word Girl Definition Competition. Today, it was all about antonyms. There were only a couple that stymied the students (specific and vague, arrogant and modest).

ANTS ON A LOG: We have peanut butter, raisins and celery in the house right now and I've been meaning for sometime to have C "Mr. Finicky" J try 'ants on a log' - celery filled with peanut butter topped with raisins. I knew he'd be OK with the filling and topping, but I also knew the method of delivery would draw his suspicion.

Sure enough, when I presented the snack he was wary, wondering aloud if he'd like celery. I told him that celery has almost no taste, that it's almost entirely water, and that he likes water. He seemed to believe me, and he likes peanut butter and raisins enough to try to overlook the celery.

After the first bite CJ said, "I don't like it, but I don't dislike it" of the celery. After he polished it off he became a believer. "I've got to tell people all around the world about this!" he declared.

Consider it done, CJ. :)

HOLE IN THE WALL: Recently, I've taken bags and bags of stuffed animals out of the kids' closet downstairs and moved it upstairs, to a storage area under the rafters. During the course of the move, the kids, of course, rediscovered toys they hadn't touched in weeks/months.

This morning, Annabelle set up a stuffed animal store and invited CJ and me to shop it. It was good coin value practice. Later, the storage area under the rafters became Polar Bear's Private Hotel and she welcomed CJ and Kirby as her guests.

TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY: Word on the street is that it's teacher appreciation day. I think I should have given myself the day off and called in a substitute. ;)

That being out of the question, we did "appreciate" yoga teacher Nicole today with some out-of- this-world rose and lavender flavored salted caramels from world renowned Theo Chocolate (conveniently located in Fremont, just across the bridge from us).

Speaking of yoga, I registered the kids for a yoga and music camp July 19-23 It's with their weekly yoga teacher Nicole of Lotus Yoga and a musician friend of hers. The kids are already looking forward to it.

FISTFUL OF QUARTERS: While Annabelle was doing the downward dog and the dolphin, CJ was sitting out yoga today. He's got a little bit of a cold and a runny nose, and I didn't want him sliming the yoga mats.

I had planned to walk to the nearby library with him. Knowing this, before we left home, I wanted to make double sure that I had our library cards in my wallet, so I pulled my wallet out of my purse and checked. Yup. They were there. Good, we were ready to go.

Fast forward to Columbia City/yoga. As I'm signing Annabelle in and getting ready to pay, I realize my wallet isn't in my purse. DAGNABIT! I knew immediately it was back home, on my desk, library cards safely tucked inside it. Sigh.

Fortunately, I did have a checkbook with me (which I almost never do), so I paid for Bee's session and yoga camp. But now CJ and I had no library cards and I didn't even have ID to use to have them look up my library number. What to do? What to do?

I do note that in my purse I have a fistful of quarters. And I know that once of CJ's Favorite Places on Earth is right down the street. ... Honestly, I don't know if this makes me a really bad mother or a really good mother. :/

We only had six quarters and I explained to CJ that when they were gone, we were gone. He was willing to accept those terms. So he played a little PacMan, a couple pinball games and a couple rounds of Donkey Kong. Imagine his surprise when after his second go at Donkey Kong, he sat atop the leader board. :) (I'm guessing they turn these machines off nightly and reset the scores, but I didn't tell him that.)

When he saw his number one spot he immediately said, "We have to tell Steve Wiebe" (of "King of Kong" fame).

As you might imagine, there was a bit more spring in CJ's step as we returned to the yoga studio to collect Annabelle. :)

Marvelous Monday

WHAT WINTER?: Last night, right before we went to bed, Christian and I heard a Seattle weatherman talking in near breathless tones about the incoming "winter storm" and what a wallop it would be packing.

I went to bed thinking, "Great, freezing in May," and resigned to a miserable Monday weather-wise. Now, I'll give the weatherman this - it did rain last night. A bunch, especially around midnight. And it blew some, too. But this morning, I woke to near blinding sunlight streaming through the bedroom windows.

And all morning long it was blue skies and sunshine - pure lovely. We took advantage of it by trekking up to "hilltop play park" (Ella Bailey). The kids had the sprawling play structures all to themselves and played around there for a good 45 minutes.

WORD GIRL - AND BOY: This morning, in preparation for MPA's participation in The Word Girl Definition Competition on May 11, we started in on the worksheets from the Word Girl Event Kit I received when we registered.

Word Girl is a great show we watch on PBS semi-regularly. Scholastic describes it as being about "a crime-fighting superhero who uses her vocabulary strength in a never-ending battle for truth, justice and use of the right word!"

The worksheets we had were all about synonyms and word choices. They're probably a tad above the standard K-1 curriculum (words included articulate, perplex, idolize ...)As he started the first sheet, CJ said, "This is a piece of cake!"

However, the kids did hit some speed bumps. On one sheet they were given a list of words and then sentences that they were supposed to plug them into. They weren't sure what a few of the words meant, but I showed them that through the process of elimination, they could probably make good matches for all of them. In the end, I think talking about what "the process of elimination" is was as valuable as the vocab lesson!

MARS CALLING: Somehow it's down to the last week of the months-long exhibit "Facing Mars" at the Pacific Science Center. And I'm embarrassed to admit, we hadn't made it there yet. :/ Clearly, getting there to see it was Job 1 today.
I did a little pre-reading before we left so as to make sure we didn't miss any highlights or important concepts. The PacSci Center had a teacher and family resource guides online, which was helpful. I also found a link to a NASA-produced 'visting Mars' activity (PDF here).

We headed for Seattle Center about 2 p.m. Making our way toward the science center, we came across a totem pole that I've never seen before. (I swear, that happens every time I go to Seattle Center. I see some Pretty Big Thing I've never noticed before.) The pole, tucked in an alcove formed by towering trees, has been there since the 1970s. Who knew?

We made a beeline for the Mars exhibit.

The first exhibit that attracted our attention was one where you insert your hands into a compartment with big blue gloves in it. You're supposed to complete a pretty straightforward assembly task. It sounds and looks simple - until the gloves start inflating! They become super sized, emulating the bulk that the astronauts have to deal with while wearing spacesuits.

The next exhibit to really capture the kids' fancies was one where they got to assemble a rocket (nosecone, fuselage and tail fins if they chose) and then use a lever to pump up air pressure which would cause it to take flight when they hit the 'launch' button. Here's one of CJ's attempts...

The kids' favorite part of the Mars exhibit was pair of rooms - one was Mission Control, the other was an astronauts' cockpit. The cockpit was full of labeled doors and latches and buttons and lights, and Mission Control had a camera and could watch the astronauts' actions. There was a two-way mic, so Mission Control used it to issue orders to the astronauts.

We made certain to make our way over to the main exhibit hall before 3 p.m. as I'd learned by checking the PSC Web site this morning there'd be a live science show on the mini stage at that time.

Today's show was mostly about ice. Who knew that frozen water could be so fascinating? ;)

(A funny aside - a couple of minutes after taking the stage and starting the show, Dr. Sean realized he'd forgotten to bring the ice for some demonstrations. He excused himself, exited stage right, and then had to run to the PSC cafeteria to retrieve it - all the while wearing his wireless mic. It was hysterical, really, hearing him huffing and puffing along, encountering one roadblock after another. When he finally made it back to the sloooow elevator near the stage, the damn thing went all the way to the basement instead of stopping at our floor!)

Anyway, the show must go on, and go on it did! He started by setting up a mini model of the Seattle waterfront and putting ice in a colander "cloud" over the city and let that melt during the course of the show to demonstrate what would happen if our city started to get too much rain/and or the water level rose due to climate change.

He also talked about how ice is typically made, what makes it white (the air bubbles trapped in it) and then demonstrated how the ice-making process could be sped up considerably by using liquid nitrogen!

Impressive!

At the end of the show, a dance party broke out! Dr. Sean dumped out what was left of the nitrogen onto the floor in front of the stage and invited the kids to come out and boogie in the fog. CJ was the first one out there. :)

WATER WORKS: After the science show, we headed out to the Science Center's "patio" where the huge water toys are located. The kids always love playing with those.

CHEF CJ: After the Science Center, we headed a couple blocks north to the Queen Anne McMenamins for a cheap dinner off the happy hour menu.

CJ likes to experiment when we're at restaurants, and today he decided to put salt and pepper on a couple of French fries. He thought it was a new taste sensation. I suggested he write his recipe down so that he'd remember it.

MEANWHILE, AT CAPE CANAVERAL: From a press release today, "Less than two weeks remain until space shuttle Atlantis' liftoff on its STS-132 mission, targeted for May 14 at 2:20 p.m. EDT. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians will attach the orbital midbody unit to Atlantis. Additionally, the spacewalk suits to be worn by Atlantis' astronauts during the mission will be checked out before they're stowed for flight.

The six STS-132 astronauts are at their home base, NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. They'll go through medical exams and a final pre-launch crew news conference with reporters today.

NASA managers will hold a news conference Wednesday, May 5, at Kennedy after the Flight Readiness Review meeting to discuss space shuttle Atlantis' upcoming mission."

Stay tuned for further developments. :)