Shaken Up

Photo: America.gov

BRIDGING THE GAP: We started our school day by delving back into the Ruby Bridges story. Today, we read more about what her typical school day at William Frantz Elementary was like, and learned more about her remarkable teacher, Mrs. Henry. Mrs. Henry recently moved to New Orleans from Boston, and she had no idea what she was getting herself into when she applied for a teaching job.

After reading, we moved over to the computer, where we watched another 20 minutes or so of the movie dramatization of Ruby Bridges' experience. Both the book and the movie illustrated how hard the situation was for the Bridges' family. They were taking heat from all sides, not just the protesters outside the school. Local business owners, neighbors, (former) friends and more made their lives more difficult.

While we watched the movie, Annabelle did some doodling on a small notepad. I like how she turned the little bug in the lower lefthand corner into a positive protester with its "B & W" - for black and white - signs.

TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: We're in the final pages of their math book. Today, the kids both got stuck on the same problem. Paraphrasing, it said that Mary and Sarah were going to share the cost of their friend's birthday present. The present was $16. How much did each girl contribute?

Upon reading it, I immediately knew what their trouble was. This was the first problem that didn't flat out give them both numbers they needed to complete the equation. Though it said the friends were going to split the cost, it didn't point blank say it was TWO friends (16/2 = 8).

CJ and Annabelle had both written 16 divided by ? = ? on their papers.

I suggested they talk amongst themselves and see if they could figure out what they were missing. They talked for a bit, but were still stumped. I asked them to consider something else - if we were going to order a pizza and it cost $9, how much would we three each have to pay? They immediately knew it was $3 apiece.

At that, I redirected them to the problem in the book and they both got that it was TWO friends and solved the problem lickety split.

HEADLINE NEWS: First thing I saw at 5:30 this morning was news of the devastating earthquake and resultant tsunamis in Japan. The kids saw me watching and reading about the disaster, and the video of the tsunami devastation was jarring. So, we spent a fair amount of time today talking about tsunamis. Fortunately, there were lots of good resources to draw from.

Though it's very cartoony, the NOAA's Tommy Tsunami and Ernie Earthquake coloring book is a non threatening way to ease into what is a pretty damn scary topic. In fact, the NOAA has a page where there are dozens of links to tsunami resources for parents and educators.

An animation from the PBS series "Savage Earth" was very helpful in explaining how tsunamis are generated. We also were fortunate to catch none other than Bill Nye the Science Guy live on MSNBC talking about tsunamis.

Afterward, the kids were upstairs playing with the trains and train table and listening in, I heard their play turned into a rescue operation for people struck by a tsunami. Guess that's one way kids work through things like this.AFTERNOON ERRANDS: I basically can't stand shopping in bricks and mortar stores any more, but this afternoon I pretty much forced myself (and the kids) to go to Ross, the Dollar Store and the Grocery Outlet. All are conveniently located in the same strip mall - on north Aurora. It's a pretty rough area.

We're in the middle of the Dollar Store and my arms are full of 'treasures' when CJ announces he has to go to the bathroom. AAAAAAAARGH. This is so definitely not a neighborhood where stores let shoppers use the bathroom. So, I have to cut short our shop there. After we cash out, I notice there's a Burger King across the parking lot. So we make a beeline over there, and I felt like I had to buy something since we used their bathroom, so I let the kids each get a small fry - a rare treat for them.
As I watched them polish off the fries, I half wondered if CJ's bathroom plea was a ruse.


UP AND AWAY: When Christian got home, we walked up to "hilltop playpark" or Ella Bailey Park. We haven't been there in months and it was good to be back!

As I looked out over the bay, I couldn't help but wonder what it would look like with a two story high wall of water racing across it.

Ruby Flippers

FEET: First thing this morning, I asked Annabelle to get her slippers on. Instead, she slipped some flippers on.

She wore them until about 1 p.m.

RUBY REDUX: After finishing a math exercise, we continued our effort to learn more about Ruby Bridges and school segregation and integration. To that end, we read a book Bridges authored, "Through My Eyes."

Though it's classified as a non fiction picture book for juveniles, it's a lengthy, meaty volume suitable for all ages. It's full of photographs from the front line - the gauntlet Ruby had to walk each morning. To be honest, some of the pictures terrified the kids - especially CJ. He was completely freaked out by a photo of a woman holding a small cardboard casket with a black baby doll in it. And he was really upset about a photo of a shouting woman holding a scarf. She was threatening to strangle a parent for bringing his white child to a school where a "negro" child was being taught.

We only read about half the book today, as it has a lot of words and concepts to digest.

Afterward, I showed the kids the first 25 minutes or so of a made for TV movie about Ruby Bridges. Though it's a dramatization, the movie followed what we'd read in the book practically to the letter, which was good to see. The kids were definitely engaged, which was great to see.

Tomorrow, we'll read the rest of the book and finish the movie.

PERFECT STRANGERS: I figured we were waaaaay overdue for a social skills lesson, so this afternoon we played a game I thought up called "Strangers on the bus."

I told CJ he was going to be a bus passenger and it was his job to engage whoever sat next to him on the bus in conversation. We talked about things he might talk to a stranger about. He knew where this was going and he said, "I know that not everyone is interested in video games."

Bingo! :)

So, we talked about other things he might talk about. He said, "I could ask their age." While that's true, I pointed out to him that a lot of people who aren't kids aren't very interested in sharing their age, especially with strangers.

And so, I proposed to him that he be a "Social Detective." Check out the passenger and from that, assess what he or she might be interested in.

I took Annabelle into the bedroom and outfitted her with a Mariners hat and sent her to "the bus." When she got on CJ instigated small talk like a pro. "So, um, I see you like fairies," he said, noticing her shirt. He then launched into something about the tooth fairy, which was appropriate. They had a nice conversation about fairies, which was good. I thought it interesting he never noticed her Mariners hat. ;)

We played a few rounds of the game, changing passengers and props. It was time well spent.

TOOTH OR CONSEQUENCES: CJ had a date with the dentist this afternoon. Unfortunately, one of his two fillings had gone bad and the tooth needed to come out. :(

While CJ was back being a patient, Annabelle got to enjoy the well appointed play area, where she created this ... Before too terribly long, CJ emerged. He was a little spacey, but not remotely "David after Dentist."
We asked him if he'd rather go home and relax or go to Full Tilt for some ice cream and arcade action. No surprise, he chose Full Tilt.

There, they were both able to get their Kong on. :)

As it turns out, apparently CJ + nitrous oxide = new heights. ; ) Not only did he gain the high score on Pac-Man, he was thrilled to beat a level of Street Fighter II that he'd never mastered before.

They both enjoyed some excellent ice cream, and Annabelle and Christian even got in a spirited game of chess.

HERE WE GO AGAIN: Once we finally got home this evening, I summoned the kids to the big screen to take a look at what was on NASA TV. A shuttle roll out!

Endeavor was making its way s-l-o-w-l-y from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. It was moving so slowly, you could barely perceive movement at times. I told the kids it was one time in their life they could say they move faster than a space shuttle. At that, Annabelle began zooming 'round the house.

Mission Accomplished

HAPPY LANDING: After a 13-day mission, Space Shuttle Discovery touched down at Cape Canaveral this morning. We started watching coverage on NASA TV in HD around 8 a.m. our time. When we tuned in there were about 30,000 people watching with us. We were able to track Discovery as it made its last circle round the globe after 201 other orbits and a journey of 5,304,140 miles. Amazing!

There were several shots of Mission Control. We noticed that the sign on the Main Man's station said CAPCOM. At that, I joked that he was probably playing video games. A little geek gamer humor - Capcom is a game making company whose titles include the Mega Man series. CJ and Annabelle thought that was very funny. In reality, NASA's CAPCOM means Capsule Communicator, which is the person at Mission Control who is responsible for communicating with the astronauts aboard a ship in space.

We took note of the airspeed and altitude updates announced, and changes in the position of the shuttle in the air. At one point its nose was up at a rather dramatic angle, but that changed to a much flatter profile as it descended further. Our excitement grew as the shuttle entered airspace over Florida. About that point there were over 100,000 viewers online!
A picture perfect landing took place at 8:57 a.m. our time. We talked about the parachute the shuttle uses and why it's used (to create drag to slow them down).
We continued watching for another hour or so, as all of the crews rolled out to the shuttle for post-flight activities. We talked about how weird it must have felt for the astronauts to be back in the Earth's gravity after having spent over 12 days in zero gravity. We figured they might feel like big ol' lumbering elephants for awhile!

TINY HERO: After turning off the shuttle coverage, we sat down with a book. Before I showed it to the kids, I asked them if they realized that a kid their age could be a national hero. That had their attention, and so we plunged right into "The Story of Ruby Bridges." The book is written by child psychiatrist Richard Coles, who worked with Bridges the year that she, as a 6-year-old, was the first African American student to attend a formerly all white public school. In 1960, she was escorted into William Frantz Elementary School by federal marshals every day past seething, hateful mobs. Initially, she had no classmates as parents of white students all pulled their kids out. Throughout it all, little Ruby acted with dignity and maturity beyond her years. Her bravery opened a lot of doors for other families.

PLAY DAY: Normally, we'd be at science on a Wednesday afternoon, but today was different. We had tickets to see "Go, Dog. Go!" at Seattle Children's Theatre.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the book by that title. And the book has so few words, I was wondering, "How they heck can anyone make a compelling play from it?"

Fortunately, SCT did just that. There wasn't a lot of dialogue, to be sure, but there was lots of music and nearly non stop physical comedy. The sets and characters were bold and colorful. The kids (and the crowd) really loved it.

CJ and Annabelle wrote brief reviews.

CJ's report: "The play called 'Go, Dog. Go!' has a scence that looks like it's fun wich is when the dogs are playing when they shold be slepping. That's also my faverite part of the play called 'Go, Dog. Go!' I also saw 'Go, Dog. Go!' at the Seattle Children's Theatre just for you to know about."

Annabelle's take:

"Go, Dog. Go!" at: Seattle Children's Theatre.

Story: The dogs going to s pary on top of a tree.

Characters: Dogs: Blue, green, red, yellow, black and white spotted.

Music: Cartooney.

Sets + props: Real good! Seattle Children's Theatre always does good scenes. They chagne color!"

An aside - we got there early so we could get good seats, which we did - second row center. Since we were early, we had to sit there for a half hour 'til show time. Annabelle made several friends, while CJ and I read "Popular Science." :) I couldn't help but overhear some people visiting. There were a number of homeschool families in the crowd and some of them were talking about what types of curriculum they use. I'll admit, that made me feel a little funny. ... If someone asked me that question point blank, I'd have to start blathering about we do this that and the other thing and it would sound an awful lot like we make it up as we go along. We don't HAVE a comprehensive curriculum, per se. Meanwhile, moms all around were rattling off names of their programs. One even said she uses "an Amish Catholic" curriculum. Who knew there was such a thing?! Maybe I just need to make up a name for our curriculum. ... ;)

STICKS & STONES: When Christian got home, we all walked up to the neighborhood park. While Christian and I walked Kirby in circles, CJ and Annabelle played around. They ignored the playground equipment, instead choosing to play with sticks found lying around the grounds for nearly an hour.

Taking Flight

MORNING MUSIC: In prep for class later today, the kids had to transcribe a song ("Juba") and play it on their glockenspiels. Though it started a bit rough (see above), after a couple of run-throughs it got better. In fact, they were able to play it together, error free.

Later, during music class, we all did the samba (comical as you might imagine), and we had to shake shakers (redundant, I know) along with a Jamaican island inspired song. The instructions prior to shaking were to shake to the beat. And we all did that, the default for the group was one shake per measure (I heard it to be a 4/4 song). Except CJ. He was really getting down, shaking 4 beats per measure. It was a fast paced song, and so he got a rather frantic workout. When it was over the teacher said to me (as if I hadn't noticed), "I would have stopped him, but he was keeping a perfect rhythm."

That's our CeeJ - shaking to the beat of a different drummer. :)

THIS ONE'S FOR THE LADIES: March 8 marks International Women's Day, and today was the the 100th observance of the day.

Fortunately, I had laid in resources ahead of time, and had a perfect person for the kids to study today - Amelia Earhart.
First we read "A Picture Book of Amelia Earhart" as an introduction to her and her accomplishments. Next, we watched a DVD about her, and afterward we read "Young Amelia Earhart - A Dream to Fly." We followed that with the BrainPop bio of Earhart. Along with that came a couple of written assessments - first the kids had to put events in Earhart's life in chronological order. They also completed a multiple choice quiz on the most famous aviatrix.

I had to laugh when I saw all of Bee's "flair" on her worksheet.

I also smiled at one of the answer's on CJ's sheet. For question #10, he circled two answers, and, frankly, BOTH of them were right. Of course A was the right right answer, but in everything we saw and read today, C was also the right answer. All of the resources talked about how unique Earhart was (wearing pants, playing "boys' sports, etc.) and how risky and dangerous what she did was. That, and I continually stress to CJ and Annabelle that 'strange' and 'weird' are NOT bad things to be. Therefore, it could definitely argued that C is also correct. This is the kind of thinking he would be docked for in a traditional school. This is also the kind of thing I really LIKE to see. Here's to creative thinking! :)

TAKING FLIGHT: I figured a great way to give the Earhart lesson some staying power would be to make paper airplanes. So, we tapped into an Activity TV paper airplane tutorial where a very nice man in a very bad wig showed the kids how to make a "Double Flap Glider."It took some careful listening and following along, but the planes worked really well - the kids were thrilled!

WHALE TALE: We were a few minutes early to yoga, so we stopped at a park nearby their yoga place and the kids played for a bit. One of the things they did was ride a whale on a spring. As coincidence would have it, the theme at today's yoga was whales.

Pounding the Pavement

FRESH AIR EXPRESS: I'm not gonna lie. We didn't spend much time hitting the books today. Yes, we did some reading and yes, we did some math, but mostly we made up for lost time and a fresh air deficit due to recent illnesses and weeks-long crummy weather.

This morning we drove over to Queen Anne Hill and then jogged/rode along Queen Anne Boulevard and Highland Drive, enjoying the spectacular views.

There's a tiny park where QA Blvd. turns into Highland. We stopped there for a few minutes. While there, CJ and Annabelle contemplated some graffiti we found on the back of a park sign. I think they rather liked the emoticon-type faces, but as Christian and I explained to them, it's not cool to deface public property like that.
We also took note of a marker in the pavement. It let us know that nearly 220 years ago, Captain George Vancouver's vessel would have been visible to us where we stood today. We've been learning lots about Lewis & Clark's expedition to what's now the Northwest, but it's worth nothing that Captain Vancouver had them beat by a few years.
We continued our journey, heading past the stately homes on Highland Drive. That's got to be one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in America.

Soon, we'd arrived at Kerry Park and its fantastic vista of downtown Seattle and Puget Sound. The kids were more interested in heading down the stairs to Bayview-Kinnear Park, where there's a playground.

There were some other kids there, as well, so CeeJ and Bee had someone(s) to play with.
After CJ climbed to the top of this structure, a 20 something woman sat in the blue spinner sticking up out of the ground adjacent to it. As soon as she sat down, he said, "Ouch! You're sitting on my shadow!" She and her friend laughed loudly at that.

In our morning travels, we saw lots of signs of spring - cherry trees are starting to bloom, daffodils have popped up and the crocus are coming on strong!IN THE AFTERNOON: After our morning excursion, we headed home for lunch and before too long it was time to head into Magnolia. While Bee was in ballet, CJ, Christian and I walked to and fro. First stop was the library, where we returned a few books and picked up lots more.

While there, CJ enjoyed putting together very pre-schooly board puzzles. His favorite is one that is a girl and her teddy bear. Interesting. After the library we walked back across "town" to the hardware store and then CJ got to play in his second park of the day.

CRAFTY: The kids spent some time making some thank you notes today. They used rubber stamps for the first time.

Later, Annabelle slipped me a note.

It wasn't her best handwriting, but I couldn't bring myself to correct her. ;)

IN THE EVENING: Continuing our play day, the kids mostly dinked around on their computers and played together for the balance of the day, although right before bed they did read some "Popular Science" magazine with Christian. Topics covered included everything from solar flares to frogs in peril.

SOMEWHERE UP THERE: We checked in on the Discovery STS-133 astronauts today. They've said their goodbyes to the crew of the International Space Station and are slowly heading home.

This morning, the crew was awakened by the voice of Captain Kirk himself! Bet that got their attention! (There's even a great (1 minute) video to go with the salutation in the preceding link.) So cool!

Going Viral

THERE IS ANOTHER: Disappointingly, but not too surprisingly, early this morning Annabelle became feverish. That's right - now 75 percent of us are sick. ...

At one point, Annabelle asked if she could use my phone to send her dad a text message. I said sure. I was very impressed that she can dial his number, launch the texting screen and type away all by herself. She wrote: "Hi dad mom says that i might have a virus (my head feels funny)"

Nice use of parenthesis, Bee! When Christian wrote back that he hopes she feels better soon, she responded, "Thanks dad :D..." (She knows all sorts of emoticons, too, of course.)

Though I had all sorts of grand plans for today's schooling, her feeling puny changed that. So instead, we took a low key approach.

ON THE LOW DOWN: We took to the couch and read a trio of new-ish library books (all three titles were published in 2010).
"The Boy and the Moon" was brief but beautiful. It (spoiler alert) involved a crescent moon getting hung up in a tree. To rescue it, a boy feeds it apples from the tree. Soon enough it's a full moon and rolls to freedom. The illustrations - by author James Christopher Carrol - are beautiful (it's worth checking out his Web site).

Next up was "A Not Scary Story About Big Scary Things" by CK Williams. It followed a young boy as he walked home through woods supposedly inhabited by a ferocious monster. The kids found the watercolor illustrations (by Gabi Swiatkowska) a tad creepy - but compelling. The take away for both of them was mind over matter - that imaginary monsters are only scary if you let them be.

Lastly, we enjoyed "Clever Jack Takes the Cake," a tale of a poor boy's quest to take a fitting gift to the princess' birthday party. The storytelling was compelling and the ending satisfying. Six thumbs up. :) This evening, I found a great educator's guide (PDF) and a reader's theater (PDF) on her Web site. We'll definitely revisit those when the troops are peppier.

The kids each took Accelerated Reader quizzes on the books and aced them. Nice!

NOT SO GLORIOUS: While we've been watching the astronauts on the ISS all week on NASA TV, that wasn't the only big NASA-related news this week. In the wee hours this morning, NASA launched a rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California - the Glory mission.

Not a manned launch, this mission was to send an Earth science satellite up on a Taurus XL rocket. Data from the Glory mission was supposed to allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles affect Earth's climate. We checked out a great graphic (in PDF form) all about Glory on NASA's Web site.

We found a nicely done video overview about the Glory mission NASA posted to YouTube and watched it. And then I cued up video from the morning's launch for the kids to watch. It was exciting to see the tall rocket roar off the launch pad and see the stage separations.

And then we watched the post mortem, preliminary explanation of the mission's failure. That's right - Glory never reached orbit. According to a NASA press release, "The launch proceeded as planned from its liftoff at 5:09 a.m. EST through the ignition of the Taurus XL's second stage. However, the fairing failure occurred during the second stage engine burn. It is likely the spacecraft fell into the South Pacific, although the exact location is not yet known."

Can you say BIG, half billion dollar blunder? Yikes. :( What made it doubly painful is that on Feb. 24, 2009, NASA's previous launch attempt of an Earth science spacecraft (the Orbiting Carbon Observatory onboard a Taurus XL) ALSO failed to reach orbit when the fairing did not separate. Same damn thing. Guess their troubleshooting trees didn't work so well. ...

As disappointing as the news was, it was rich with lessons to be learned for CJ and Annabelle. We talked about what should happen next. Should NASA quit trying to launch rockets because of two failures? (The consensus was 'no.') What should they do differently next time? And so on.

IN THE PINK: By early afternoon Annabelle had rallied some. I asked her if she felt good enough to go to Pink Gorilla and import and retro gaming retailer. I'd promised CJ days ago we could go there Friday. I got a quick "Yes!" in response.

We went to their store in the U-District. We parked next to an apartment building that had these great faces staring down at us. Appropriately, there was a cafe called "The Ugly Mug" on the ground floor.As always, the kids enjoyed their perusing Pink Gorilla's inventory. It's a bit like being in a gaming museum, with items running the gamut back to the earliest consoles. Plus, there are lots of interesting Japanese titles to check out, too. CJ came home with a "new" Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom game for the Atari system, and a Mario Kart title for the Game Boy Advance (which he can play on his old DS).

CJ is definitely in his element in that store. It was amusing hearing him asking the store employee for 20-year old games I'd never even heard of. His knowledge of such things is darn near encyclopedic.

Doctor, Doctor

WHITE COATS PART ONE: What a loooooong day.

It started at 9:30 where CJ had an appt. to get a lingering (since Christmas) cough checked. I strongly suspected he has a sinus infection, like me. (Yesterday when I asked him to brush his teeth, he squeezed his head and said his head hurt too much to do it.)

And then in the wee hours of the morning he spiked a fever. Poor CeeJ.

We made good time to the medical center and were in an exam room a good 10 minutes ahead of appointment time. So far, so good. Things started to go not so good when a completely humorless nurse had CJ step on the scale and took his vitals. She never explained what she was doing, she just did it.

I suppose by age almost 8 most kids would be down with the temp in the ear, oximeter on the finger thing, but CJ is just so rarely going to the doctor sick. I can't remember the last time he went - at least a couple years ago. Anyway, every time the nurse started doing something to him, CJ asked her what she was doing and she didn't like that at all. Excuse the hell out of me for having curious children. ... And then she drops a cartoon tiger covered smock on his lap (not telling him what it's for, of course). I told him he was supposed to wear it instead of his shirt for the exam. He recoiled in horror at the tigers and said, "But that's for children!"

That made me laugh out loud. The nurse (naturally) failed to find the humor in it.

With disdain, CJ donned the smock. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Like a half hour. Finally the doctor came in and after a few quick questions agreed that it was likely a sinus infection. As the Dr. was keying his findings into his computer CJ started whispering to me. "Mom. Mom! Come over here where I am. ... " And so I did. CJ continued whispering, nodding toward the Dr. whose back was toward us, saying, "I can see part of his skull!!!!"

"Aaargh!" I screamed silently while turning bright red! Naturally the Dr. heard CJ's statement, as the room is the size of a closet.

The Dr. is bald and so I immediately said to CJ, "I think what you mean is you see his scalp, and we all have scalps." I kept blathering about scalps, but as I stared at the good Dr.'s scalp, I spied what CJ was talking about. There was a little puckered patch that was white and, well, it looked like it could be part of his skull. No wonder CJ was freaked out!!!

Mercifully, we were soon out of the office, prescription in hand. From there it was down the elevator to the pharmacy, where we had the pleasure of waiting another 40 minutes. Good times. At least we didn't see any more skulls down there. ...

We ripped home to get some lunch and then it was back across town to the dentist.

PEARLY WHITES: The kids enjoy going to the dentist - the office is peaceful and modern, the staff is friendly, and they have toys and prizes!

They were happy we were there early - it gave them more time to play in the toy room.

They got their teeth cleaned and good reports - no new cavities! The not so good news was an old filling CJ had doesn't look good and the dentist suggests pulling the tooth. Stay tuned for that. :(

BEACH BUMS: As we left the dentist, CJ asked if we could go to a playground. I was glad he was feeling up to it, and since there was a temporary reprieve from the wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightning that had been raging eariler in the day.

The dentist's office is just west of Lake Washington, and so we wound our way down from it into the Madrona neighborhood and to Madrona Park, along the shore.

According to the city's Web site, the park is named for the madrona trees at the lakeside and the Seattle Electric Company once operated a private trolley to the beach. The city acquired the property in 1908, and converted the bathhouse (an attractive brick structure) to a dance studio in 1971.

It must be a lovely place on a warm summer day. But even on a frigid March afternoon, the kids had a blast.

There was a long log jutting from the ground. The kids stood on it and bounced for fun, checking out the view of Bellevue's skyscrapers across the way.

The kids checked out a lifeguard chair that won't be seeing any action for at least a couple more months.
There was a hollowed out "log" (made from concrete) they had fun climbing through.
And, of course, there was some running on the beach.
It was, by far, the best part of the day. :)