Taking Flight

AWAY IN A MANGER: Today we finally made it out to Swanson's Nursery. In Crown Hill (just north of Seattle's Ballard neighborhood), it's a Christmastime must, for there they have creatures you don't usually see 'round these parts.

Above you see Curly the camel along with his miniature donkey pal. They weren't interested in us at all today, as we arrived right after feeding time.

We also got to see a couple of reindeer, but we didn't catch their names. (If I had to guess, I'd say Donner and Blitzen.) Whomever they were, they were sawing logs when we came to visit. Can't blame them. They've got a tall order ahead. ... At Swanson's the kids also revisited the scene of one of our favorite holiday photos. Here's the 2010 version ... And here's a (heavily Photoshopped) version of them in that same sleigh from 2007. ...
DRAMADEY: The kids had a fantastic field trip to the Seattle Children's Theater today. They were there to see "Lyle, Crocodile." Big brother Rick took them.

"Lyle" is about a charming (though speechless) crocodile living in NYC who wins over the favor of the (aptly named) Mr. Grumps. It's a physical comedy with some engaging dance numbers. It got six thumbs up from the three I picked up after it was over. (A taste of the super fun looking show is available in their YouTube clip.) CJ liked this production a LOT more than he liked "The Nutcracker" a week ago. Guess that means it was better than "mediocre." ;)

WINGING IT: Today, I asked the kids to count to twelve. Slowly. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.

After they were done, I said, "That didn't take long, did it?"

They both agreed 12 seconds went quickly.

Then I said, "Would you believe in 12 short seconds, you could change history? ... In 12 short seconds you could do something so amazing, that people are still talking about it more than 100 years later?"

I had their attention. Excellent. :)

And so we began our discussion of Orville and Wilbur Wright and how 107 years ago today, the brothers made history by piloting a gas powered biplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their first flight (with Orville piloting) was 12 seconds and 120 yards long. Image: Courtesy NASA. In March 1999, a full-scale replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer was mounted in NASA Ames Research Center's 40-foot by 80-foot wind tunnel for tests to build a historically accurate aerodynamic database of the Flyer.

We learned that the Wright Bros. of Ohio didn't attend college. Their mechanical and design skills were honed in the bicycle company they owned. We learned they started with gliders and after more than 1000 trial and error flights, on Dec. 17, 1903, their motor-driven biplane went airborne four times.

Today we learned they chose Kitty Hawk because of its winds and sand dunes which provided camouflage (they were experimenting in secret) and a relatively soft landing. We learned the Wrights had no quit in them - their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901, was more successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs.

I pointed out to the kids that in science class on Wednesday, they tried maybe 20 different ways to balance their pencil on the Popsicle stick and reminded them how long it seemed to take and how frustrating it was. "Imagine trying that over 200 times," I told them.

We learned that although they were first, others stole the claim to fame for years and years. Poor Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912. His brother Orville lived until 1948.

CAMEO APPEARANCE: MPA put in a "guest appearance" of sorts on a blog about Philadelphia schools. It came about in a round about way. The blog's main author used a photo of mine from Morguefile to help illustrate a blog post of his. He was kind enough to send me a link to the post. When I followed it and learned that it was a blog about finding the right school for your student, I couldn't help but write him and tell him how that was a subject near and dear to my heart. I also felt compelled to share with him a YouTube video I'd found (and posted here already) about the changing education paradigms.

Here's a link to the blog post MPA inspired: http://phillyschoolsearch.com/2010/12/15/changing-education-paradigms-video/

Plugging Along

BAREFOOT BALLERINA: Annabelle had yet another special dance camp today. It was a morning session. She showered, dressed, and I handed her her backpack with her ballet shoes in it. We were good to go. Except ...

For whatever reason, as we were about three blocks away from the studio I asked, "Do you have your bag?"

Yeah, well I knew the answer before I finished asking the question. Aaaaaaargh! We turn around, head back over and down the hill to our place. The kids waited in the car in the alley while I ran in the house to fetch the bag. I fully expected to find it - on the couch, on one of our tables, on a desk, on the floor, in the kitchen, or even the bathroom. But no. It was nowhere to be seen.

So I tear back out to the alley and hop into the car hopping mad. Super - now we're headed to ballet without shoes AND we're late. That's awesome.

Fortunately, the teacher keeps a box of "borrow" shoes (we always contribute to it when Annabelle outgrows her current pair). So, we crammed Annabelle's feet into a little-too-small pair of used shoes and off she went.

(For those wondering, the ballet shoes bag was finally located 3 hours later. It was behind the TV in the kids' room, where Annabelle tucked it when she was putting pennies in their piggy bank.)

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH: While Annabelle was getting her Nutcracker on, I was administering an online reading/language arts test to CJ. Such fun!! :)

We were doing it as part of our recent enrollment in the Accelerated Reader program. (Administered by Renaissance Learning, it's supposed to "make essential reading practice more effective for every student, personalize reading practice to each student’s current level" and "provide frequent progress monitoring and produce the greatest reading improvement." Hmm. We'll see. But back to the test. ...

CJ was put off by it IMMEDIATELY - I mean from the very first glimpse of the welcome screen. "Why does she have three fingers?" he asked of the cartoon "host." Ah, leave it to CJ to sweat the small stuff. :)

And CJ was horrified when the three-fingered host informed him this would be a timed test. You see, CLOCKS ARE THE DEVIL. Believe me, I said everything I could think of to assuage his fears, but I could tell he was freaked out for the duration of the event. (Note to self: I need to start putting a timer/hour glass on him even during mundane household tasks to desensitize him to the EVIL CLOCK.)

Somehow, he soldiered through the STAR Early Literacy Assessment (dunno what the STAR is an acronym for), and he scored an 884 out of 900, which earned him the title of "probable reader," which was their highest category (anyone in the 775-900 range is a 'probable reader'). I found that a bit odd since he scored a 98.2 in accuracy and wouldn't have been able to take the test at ALL if he couldn't read. (An aside - this experience reminds me a) how I don't really like labels and b) how wonky standardized tests can be.)

Next up was a reading test. Frankly, I thought it was super hard for a second grader. There were lots of Big Words that I know for a fact Mr. CJ hasn't used before. I didn't give him answers, I swear!, but as he started I reminded him that on tests with unfamiliar material, often a process of elimination is your best friend. I think that advice helped. The STAR Reading computer-adaptive reading test he took shows him as having a GE (grade equivalent) of 6.3. "With a PR (percentile rank) of 99, Christian reads at a level greater than 99% of other students nationally in the same grade." Go CJ. :)

Later in the afternoon, Annabelle took her test. For whatever reason, it was waaaaay easier than the one CJ took. (I'll have to ask the folks at the Home Education Exchange if each of their tests was set up assuming them to be a certain grade level.) Bee was practically rolling her eyes at some points. On one question she was to select the picture that looked the most like cheese. "Well that's obvious. This one IS cheese," she said, picking the wedge of Swiss.

On the STAR Early Literacy test Annabelle scored 887 out of 900, which earns her the silly "probable reader" label. Gee, ya think? She's been reading since she was 3. ... The STAR Reading test labels her at the GE (grade equivalent) of 4.4. I wonder what the test's max GE was.

Now that we've done our pre-testing, I'm not quite sure what exactly happens next in the Accelerated Reader program. I believe they have to read a book and then when they're done they have to take a quiz and pass it to earn points. And I do know the kids want to get cracking on it, because at HEE they have a case of prizes for kids who have earned a certain amount of AR points.

GIVE A HOOT: As she was pulling on a t-shirt with his image, Annabelle asked, "Why did they make Woodsy Owl?" I told her because I figured they created the character because they thought kids would like it and they were trying to encourage kids to think about the environment and not polluting. Then I started wondering who "they" was. I thought it was the US Forestry Service. I was right. Woodsy even has his own Web page these days. It's a nice site - there's a great educator's toolbox I'll be using in the future, without a doubt. ARMY AMASSING: After dance class today, Annabelle presented CJ with the Nutcracker that was the take away gift from the class. He was Quite Pleased to have a new soldier in his Nutcracker army. He spends time every day creating storylines using his Nutcrackers, lining them up and giving them marching orders (so to speak). OH MY STARS!: A few days ago I discovered this super cool YouTube video about mathematical doodlings. I knew I wanted to show it with the kids and today finally made the time.

Ahead of time, we talked about what doodling is, and I told them the video was made by a girl who loves math and it shows how fun math can be. I had them sit at a desk with pencils and blank paper and we played along with the video, pausing it as we needed to.

I love this video for so many reasons (math = art, girls can be great at math, it gets the kids used to the idea of using letters [in this case Ps and Qs] while doing math, etc.).


It wasn't super easy for the kids to draw all the circles and points and lines, but they got better at it as we did more.

OH AND: Annabelle had soccer today. While she did her thing, we ran 'round Magnolia.
Near the end of class the teacher/coach announced they'd be playing a game called "Pong."

"Ah, a CLASSIC," responded Annabelle, who, by osmosis, knows all about vintage arcade games.

In the soccer class version, the kids were the paddles and they tried to kick the ball back and forth.

Midweek

photo: NASA

RUSSIAN ROCKET: This morning, the Soyuz TMA-20 rocket successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three on board are Commander Dmitry Kondratyev of Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Cady Coleman of the U.S. and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli. They're headed to the International Space Station and should dock on Friday. Go Soyuz!

WAY UP YONDER: The kids watched a BrainPOP Jr. video on "Arctic Habitat" this morning.
Afterward, they did a related activity about the Arctic food chain. CJ grimaced upon seeing it, as it required drawing pictures, which doesn't thrill him. And truth be told, I almost didn't give them the assignment as I know CJ doesn't really like drawing. BUT I did sock it to them because the only way to get better at something is to keep doing it, and really once he gets started drawing, he doesn't seem to mind so much.
After that, I was ready to move on to some other work, but the kids were itching to get back to BrainPop, so I let them have their way. In checking my Internet history, it looks like they learned about fossils, frogs, heat, light, magnets, simple machines, and sinking vs. floating. Good for them!

LUNCHEON: We went to science class an hour early today to participate in our first "Pizza Wednesday." It takes place at the Home Education Exchange once a month. The kids thought it was pretty cool to get to eat pizza in a school library. They each devoured their slices right down. After he finished (quickly!) I asked CJ if maybe he'd like some salad. I'm glad I asked. He said yes, and for the first time ever, he ate a full helping's worth (instead of a meager little leaf that he's compelled to eat, per usual). Excellent! PENCIL PUZZLES: In science class today, Annabelle sat across the classroom, rather than right next to CJ. I think that's probably good for both of them. Bee wants to hang with some girls and CJ needs to get used to cuing off the instructor rather than off Annabelle.

We started with something easier - balancing a cardboard cutout of a pencil on a Popsicle stick. A counterweight way down low made it easy. Next up was the real deal - a genuine No. 2 pencil. That wasn't so easy to balance on its tip. the challenge was to balance a pencil on its graphite tip on a Popsicle stick. Sounds impossible, doesn't it? And I believe it would have been, if not for the aide of a long, pliable length of wire and a counterweight (clothes pin).

The kids were just given the tools and no specifics about how to "Make it so," to borrow a line from Captain Picard. That's right - they'd have to draw upon the knowledge they'd gained about balancing and stability in the weeks previous and use their brains!!

I'll be darned if (way across the classroom from me) Miss Annabelle was the very first one to figure out how to make it work. She wrapped one end of the wire around the pencil near its tip, and pulled down with the remaining length of wire and hung a clothespin from it. Nice work! Next, we had to balance the pencil with two counterweights.

BUNNY BONUS!: Imagine the kids' delight when they spied five 6-week old bunnies in a kennel outside the school's office today. A homeschooling family had brought them in to let other homeschoolers meet them. The kids each got to sit and hold one. They were warm and fuzzy and of course Annabelle wanted to take one home.

FUN AND GAMES: The kids spent a good amount of time late afternoon and evening on CoolMath-Games.com, where they played math and thinking games galore.

They enjoyed Bloons Tower Defense (strategy skills), Feed Fribbit Addition (flash card addition like problems), Gluey (anticipating, predicting and figuring out which configurations would earn the most points, Construction Fall (laws of physics) and Civiballs, which was great for learning more about the laws of physics. I caught Christian playing it after the kids had moved on.

Steady as She Goes

GET CENTERED: Right out of the gate, we worked on some science exercises about balance and stability. Much hilarity ensued.

The kids had to try several exercises challenging their center of gravity. For instance, they were supposed to try to stand up from a chair without leaning forward. Pretty tricky. And they had to stand on one foot with their eyes open and closed (it was easier with them open).

The funniest one of all was when the kids had to stand with their heels against the wall and try to pick something up off the floor. Try as they might, it just couldn't be done. Here's a photo of CJ cheating ...
Overall, the exercises were excellent examples demonstrating the principles of center of gravity, balance, and stability.

TAKING NOTE: We spent some time this morning listening to the kids latest Musikgarten CD. On three of the selections, they had sheet music they were supposed to follow along with during the song.
It was a good exercise, as it really illustrated the difference between triplet notes and quarter notes.

HAIRY TALE: One of the books we read today was "The Fright Before Christmas". It was about the Monroe family's menagerie - a big dog, a dachshund, a cat and a rabbit named Bunnicula. It was Christmas Eve and the dachshund was afraid of the thought of Santa sneaking into the house, and Chester the cat wasn't too keen about ghosts (of Christmas past) showing up, either. Somehow, they all survived the night (oops, sorry if I just ruined the ending for you).

IN REVIEW: We finished up another chapter in Singapore Math. The last exercise for the chapter is a review, and it's about twice as long as other daily exercises. As usual, CJ was done ahead of Annabelle. It's interesting how he's always done way ahead of her in math, and she's usually done well ahead of him in writing.

BACK IN THE USSR: Well, former USSR ... the Russians have Soyuz TMA-20 on the launch pad. It's set to lift off on Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

photo: NASA

So, the kids and I did some poking aroudn the Russian Federal Space Agency's Web site for the first time today. It's not as comprehensive as NASA's site by any means, but it's pretty cool - lots of info about past launches, a cosmonaut's blog, there's video. And how nice that they translated all this into English for us!

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a link to a live Web cast of their launches. We'll have to settle for news after the fact.

During our sleuthing, we did come across "Learn Russian" program from the Russian government. It looks like it would be a great start toward learning the language.

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES: This afternoon CJ asked me when the "Trouble with Tribbles" Star Trek episode first aired. That would be December, 1967. His question was prompted by playing with the "Tribble" they received from Aunt Renee and Uncle Jim for Christmas.

I found a YouTube clip from the Tribble episode. In it, the crew learns that Tribbles reproduce every three hours. CJ was fascinated by that and we talked about the math involved and how quickly it would grow exponentially. I think tomorrow we need to do a chart to illustrate just how quickly they'd fill up a starship's cargo hold. :)

SRSLY?!: Recently there has been what I thought was a really valuable thread on a homeschool email list I belong to. Someone asked for suggestions regarding math curriculum and there was an outpouring of really great links and resources. Seriously awesome, awesome stuff.

But then tonight there came this voice of dissension:

"It's not that important!
Is it?
Why are we grilling ourselves with math?
Either kids like math or they don't ..
Goes for parents too.
I say limit math and enjoy life...
All the best."

And it was signed by a homeschooler's dad.

I about fell out of my chair.

Limit math and enjoy life? Like the two are mutually exclusive? I don't know about you, but I LIKE being able to do math. For instance today, thanks to math, I was able to figure out that I saved 95 percent off a magazine subscription. And I was able to decide which truffles to buy (the 8 oz tube or two 5 ouncers) based on their per ounce price. I also drove the speed limit, cooked a couple of meals, operated a computer, did some banking. Nothing "fancy" but I find this math thing rather valuable whether you like it or not. I pity the poor homeschooler - or standard schooler - who is NOT learning math.

PUFFIN' WHAT?: Tonight, as part of their "Christmas" programming, ABC Family showed a "Puff the Magic Dragon" cartoon. It was straight from the psychedelic 70s, and Burgess Meredith (a/k/a The Penguin) voiced the dragon. What a trip.

Fortunately for Annabelle, the cartoon didn't end with Jackie Paper dying. It ended with Jackie promising he'd never leave the dragon, and Burgess, er, the dragon replying, "We'll see, we'll see," and shedding a tear. Seems the Dragon sees the handwriting on the wall. One day Jackie Paper will come no more.

I told Annabelle I remember crying and crying the first time I realized "a dragon lives forever, but not so little boys."

DANCE CAMP: This afternoon we skipped yoga as Annabelle was signed up for a special "Snowflake Dance" session at her regular ballet school. When we arrived Annabelle started chatting up an older girl in the hallway. Turns out the girl is three years ahead of Annabelle ballet school wise and Annabelle was pumping her for information. It was amusing listening to it.

Annabelle emerged from class 90 minutes later, sweating and smiling, wearing a silver crown and bearing a snowflake ornament.

Around the Sound

WILD GOOSE CHASE: We started our Monday off by piling into the car. We have been looking for used trucks that we can all four ride in to replace the truck we have now that we can't all fit in. We found one on Craigslist that sounded fantastic - so fantastic we thought it would be worth the drive to Shelton to check it out. We'd never been there before, so we were viewing it as an adventure if nothing else.

So today ended up being mostly about geography. We drove down to the ferry launch at West Seattle. From there we had a lovely view of the very snowy Olympic mountains.
We also did some bird watching. There were several ducks and cormorants and seagulls, too, of course. We even spotted four sealions swimming 'round as we crossed the sound.
It was sunny and lovely for the duration of our ferry ride - quite a departure from the monsoon this weekend and the rains that would return later this afternoon.

After landing at Southworth, we headed a bit west and then south to Shelton. Along the way, in Allyn, a big ol' bird hit our windshield with a huge scary thud. That was a bit of a shock - to us. For the bird, it most certainly proved to be a fatal mistake.

When we reached Shelton, along Puget Sound's Oakland Bay, we learned that the town calls itself the "Christmas Town USA." It was easy to see why. There were evergreens everywhere. There was also lots of logging going on, and we saw part of the enormous Simpson Timber Company operation.

We didn't stop to take any photos in Shelton, so you'll have to settle for this one circa 1925, in the University of Washington digital collection.
We wound up meeting the dude with the truck in the parking lot of the Taylor Shellfish Farms Oakland Bay operation. It won't surprise you to know that the place smelled like seafood. We saw geoducks, octopus, squid, oysters, clams, scallops, mussels and salmon. It was a seafood smorgasbord.

We also saw a really, REALLY crappy truck that was so falsely advertised it was almost amusing what a P.O.S. it was. What, like no one would notice the discrepancies between the ad and the actual thing? Oh well, onward.

Rather than returning to the ferry, we decided to drive back the I-5 route, skirting Olympia and then up through Tacoma. In the area of Ft. Lewis/McChord AFB, we got to see one military plane after another take off or land. A couple of them flew right over our car. We stopped in Tacoma to look at another truck. Though well used, compared to the last one, it was a gem.

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?: We read a short stack of books during our travels today. One of the books I thought to bring along on the trip today was a Looney Tunes themed "Magic Eye" book. It was fully of colorful pages that, when you stare at them properly, some hidden image is supposed to emerge in 3-D. Yeah well, try as we might, neither CJ, Annabelle nor I could see anything except the crazy patterns on the page. However, Christian, for whatever reason, could very nearly instantly look at any page and could tell what the hidden object was.

Annabelle read "Olive, the Other Reindeer," to us. It's a cute story about a dog named Olive who hears the song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," and misinterprets the line "all of the other reindeer," to mean that she is Santa's missing reindeer and she needs to get to the North Pole to help.

The third title we tackled was "How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball." The story starts out with slugger Boss Swaggert getting booed off the baseball field. At that, he vows to do away with the sport. After years of working to become more powerful than the U.S. president, that's exactly what he does. The problem is, when baseball is banished, spring never comes. It's perpetual winter in America.

Eventually, a babe named Georgie is born, and for reasons no one knows, the tot talks nothing but baseball. Eventually Georgie and Boss have a showdown, with the future of baseball and the U.S. hanging in the balance.

It's a suspenseful story and I loved the book's dark, kind of creepy illustrations by author/illustrator David Shannon (who grew up in Spokane, incidentally).