Cabin Fever

We're in that part of winter I loathe...the brown and muddy part. The part where the temptation to complain becomes overwhelming. I'm tired of hot chocolate. The once welcoming warmth of the woodstove has been supplanted by my irritation with the dirt and mess that come with it.

Tonight I muscled my restlessness into submission by swimming laps until I had spaghetti limbs. I should do that more often.

The kids are holding up better than I am.

This month we attended the First Saturday program at the Art Museum. It was a good program--we will go back. We went on a scavenger hunt through the museum--it was a low-key and casual way to see many rooms. The theme of the event was "Sew into Art" a favorite topic of both girls, but especially T.

Here she is wearing a piece by a featured artist:



C is still having a great time with basketball.

Our evolution study is moving right along. Here are a few of my favorite resources, in case you want to brush up on the basics:

PBS online videos

Understanding Evolution

Evolution: Education and Outreach

Both girls are working on touch typing. Big thanks to our beloved friend A for suggesting this BBC typing tutorial.

We're cruising through our other topics of study.

Today both girls were bit by the writing bug. I am optimistic about the longevity of their enthusiasm--there are several driving forces. The local pbs station has announced the annual writer/illustrator contest, a student in C's book club has been talking up the novel he's writing, T has been drawing a lot of comic strips lately....I have excellent materials at the ready. I have been waiting for inspiration to strike. Now that I'm thinking through it and writing about it, it seems natural that a creative burst would follow this period of focused study and the accompanying cabin fever....

The Snow Weeks

The snow has hit us hard! Most of our activities for the past two weeks have been cancelled. This is both good and bad. We have enjoyed the break. We've done some great work at home--math, writing, geography (big thanks to G & G for the inspiration!) evolution studies, cooking, a couple of good documentaries, and reading (always reading!)--but we've missed gymnastics, Girl Scouts and clay class. We've missed our friends.

We made up for it yesterday with a sledding party at our house. That was fun--8 kids, 6 sleds, hot chocolate and quesadillas.

This morning we stopped by the library (on the way to the YMCA) to pick up a couple of new books. Coraline for C; she read it a while ago but now there is a movie, and The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives for me. I'm two pages in, and hooked.

I loved Freakonomics. Briefly, in Freakonomics, two economists explain sociological happenings by exposing hidden connections. In Drunkard's Walk, a physicist explores logical fallacies and illustrates the role of randomness in our lives. I am really interested in seeing how the physicist's pov holds up to the economists'.

Anyway, after the library we played basketball. The gym was completely empty, so R had a chance to run around and play with basketballs. Sitting on the sidelines while C plays on Saturdays is a real challenge for him. He desperately wants to run out on the court with the big kids. His questioning and hopeful "ball? ball?" quickly turns to a demanding "ball!" and then a frustrated "BALL!" and by the time the game is over, it's a sad little declarative "ball." He had a great time today. In fact, it was so much fun he crashed before I got him into the pool. No worries, though. The quiet roar of the waterpark was a nice backdrop for his nap. I strapped him into his stroller, parked him where I could see him, and made good use of the time by swimming laps while the girls played with their friends.

Tomorrow afternoon we will meet with other homeschoolers to play board games at the library. We are very much looking forward to that.

Penguin Slide

Hard At Work

Snow Elf

Best Friends

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

[this post composed by C]

Hi Everyone! I've got so much to talk about!

It snowed yesterday. We had a brief break and now it's about 20ft deep. Just kidding! I can't wait until it stops so that I can go out and play.

Today I am going to sign up for Girl Scout Camp! Yahoo! I am so excited! I'm signing up with one of my friends. We're going to the horse camp for our age level. I'm excited, because I've never been on a horse without someone else leading it.

Yesterday I set up an email account. Yay! I sent a few messages, and last time I checked, I had 3 in my inbox! I got an email account so that I could get my hold notices from the library. Mom still gets the library notices, but she forwards them to me. If anyone wants my email address, ask my mom for it. I would like to exchange email with more people, but first my mom will have to add you to my contact list. The contact list is a safety feature so that I don't get a bunch of junk mail or any viruses.

I also played Spore. My new creature is pretty crazy looking.



I did it like this because I've seen some creatures kind of like this and I think it's pretty cool the way the tail curves up. The evolutionary advantage is that it has a nice striking area up at the tip of the tail. I think I put the arms and legs on the top because it looks cool.

I've been reading a lot, because we've been holed up here in our hobbit hole (that's a lot of H's!) I'm about 5/8 of the way through the Fellowship of the Ring. It was our January book club selection. I kinda stopped reading it because Tolkien is hard for me to read, so I've been reading a bunch of Terry Pratchett instead. I recently read:

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Wintersmith

I've got Hogfather and Carpe Jugulum on hold at the library. Unfortunately, there is a level three snow emergency and we can't go up there today.

Bye! I'm getting ready to go out to play now!