What's up in life and learning for you and yours?
Miranda
... heading out on a long run in about 15 minutes
Miranda
... heading out on a long run in about 15 minutes
moominmamma
D's (7) play was so much fun. He was very organized & very clear in his vision. He has also just starting asking question. All kinds of subjects.
N (10) is writing some of his stories down. He has been telling story since I can remember. :love
L (4) has "found" letters. It is amazing. She wanted to write her name. Then she found this book with letter and just started exploring. Very amazing to me.
I'm looking forward to May! :nerd: The kids are really taking off.
N (10) is writing some of his stories down. He has been telling story since I can remember. :love
L (4) has "found" letters. It is amazing. She wanted to write her name. Then she found this book with letter and just started exploring. Very amazing to me.
I'm looking forward to May! :nerd: The kids are really taking off.
Nazmum -- sounds like fun to watch!
It's interesting to watch a kid who's never learned the standard ways to do things solve a math problem. My 7yo's math game was asking him some question about greatest common factors, in which he was trying to figure out whether 45 was divisible by 3. He broke it up into 30 +15, knowing that 30 was divisible by 3. But he still didn't know if 15 was. So he divided 10 by 3, and then 5 by 3, and said that since there was an extra 1/3 in the first case and an extra 2/3 in the second case, it must work. I also enjoyed the way he decided to approach 8x9 when he needed to know it for an area question -- by starting with 10^2, using the trick that if you subtract a 10 and a 9 you get 9^2, then subtracting one more 9.
Part of me thinks I should nudge this kid to study math in some sort of formal way, because he's actually pretty good at it in the random sporadic times it comes up. The other part of me thinks he probably practices much trickier thinking skills when math does come up because he does everything in his head and doesn't know any standard algorithms.
It's interesting to watch a kid who's never learned the standard ways to do things solve a math problem. My 7yo's math game was asking him some question about greatest common factors, in which he was trying to figure out whether 45 was divisible by 3. He broke it up into 30 +15, knowing that 30 was divisible by 3. But he still didn't know if 15 was. So he divided 10 by 3, and then 5 by 3, and said that since there was an extra 1/3 in the first case and an extra 2/3 in the second case, it must work. I also enjoyed the way he decided to approach 8x9 when he needed to know it for an area question -- by starting with 10^2, using the trick that if you subtract a 10 and a 9 you get 9^2, then subtracting one more 9.
Part of me thinks I should nudge this kid to study math in some sort of formal way, because he's actually pretty good at it in the random sporadic times it comes up. The other part of me thinks he probably practices much trickier thinking skills when math does come up because he does everything in his head and doesn't know any standard algorithms.
mckittre my 7yr has been exploring math too. I just go with the flow.
miranda Boston marathon :thumb My friend run a few years ago. Great place to visit too.
miranda Boston marathon :thumb My friend run a few years ago. Great place to visit too.
Congratulations on your marathon!
I mostly agree with the other part of me too.
Far more fun to do creative puzzles out loud while hiking then figure out whatever first grade math work is supposed to be.
One question: When kids pursue math this way, do they skip right over the "big numbers on paper" skills, and does it matter? For instance, he might do 8x37 in his head, but something like 844x37 is conceptually the same, but computationally far more difficult to keep track of in one's head. An adult would estimate or use a calculator. I suspect a child, if free to choose, will do the same, and never learn the long multiplication, division, addition, subtraction algorithms (I only remember half of those myself). Can you think of any reason that matters?
On another note, I wrote an article about homeschooling for the magazine section of the Alaska newspaper that came out today. Curious what you guys think. https://www.adn.com/article/20160501/why-home-schooling-works-alaska
I mostly agree with the other part of me too.
Far more fun to do creative puzzles out loud while hiking then figure out whatever first grade math work is supposed to be.One question: When kids pursue math this way, do they skip right over the "big numbers on paper" skills, and does it matter? For instance, he might do 8x37 in his head, but something like 844x37 is conceptually the same, but computationally far more difficult to keep track of in one's head. An adult would estimate or use a calculator. I suspect a child, if free to choose, will do the same, and never learn the long multiplication, division, addition, subtraction algorithms (I only remember half of those myself). Can you think of any reason that matters?
On another note, I wrote an article about homeschooling for the magazine section of the Alaska newspaper that came out today. Curious what you guys think. https://www.adn.com/article/20160501/why-home-schooling-works-alaska
I don't know if it matters much these days, but I will say that my kids all reached a point when they got interested in math-on-paper. Not so much in the sense of doing workbooks, but of writing and studying patterns of numbers. Well ... generally on the whiteboard rather than paper, but it amounted to the same thing.
Anyway, often it would spring out of something they'd say ... like, they might recite multiples of 9, bragging that they had discovered a pattern in it, and I'd say "Oh! I know something else about the 9-timestables ... look, there's this other pattern here too, and it lets you figure out whether 9 goes into any number evenly..."
And at a certain age, that sort of activity would lead us down all sorts of exciting rabbit trails ... other written shortcuts for divisibility, a quick alogrithm for finding lowest common multiple, greatest common factors, etc.
Miranda
Blehhhhh....
Spending this gorgeous day on the couch. I don't even have the energy to knit or practice my math today. I don't think we're going to girl scouts. I might not even work tomorrow.
uuuuuugh..... :sneeze
Spending this gorgeous day on the couch. I don't even have the energy to knit or practice my math today. I don't think we're going to girl scouts. I might not even work tomorrow.
uuuuuugh..... :sneeze
At least I feel like picking up the needles now. A friend's birthday is arriving, I'm almost done with my project... good timing. And, hey! Here's season one of the X-files waiting for me!! Still feeling blech but at least my head's not so thick and the girls are outside. I did contact their GS leader because she has knots and tarp shelters scheduled for today. I am hoping for a make-up day in her busy schedule, because my girls don't want to miss out on this one.
Joining sweeetsilver on the sofa today. Frogged 2 yarn projects so far today. Finally found a pattern that works with 'sock yarn'- i do NOT make socks, i crochet so.... I'm making a well practiced shawl. My head is foggy, i feel the depths of a sinus infection and don't have the will to go to the walk in urgent care.
A quick note only...a lot has happened, the most paid work I've done since before I had kids if one doesn't count the chamber music festival weeks: in the last week I worked at my GIS job one day, was a substitute teacher the next, worked at the vet the next four and played in three performances of "Spring Awakening" in the next three.
I'm seriously considering getting certified to teach math in my town (always chronically short of STEM teachers because the pay is miserable and housing is expensive) but also was informally told that the technical job I applied for half a year ago is open again and that I likely would be a strong candidate...the hours are challenging, but I guess when I burnt out I could follow the math certification! (I would prefer to be a renegade intellectual and musician, but lack the creativity to make those things pay well enough.)
Anyway, on the unschooling front,
Zela finished third year of art college with all A's and a 3.8 GPA, although two of the A's are minuses, one of them in art history, not too bad for someone whose prof doubted she'd be able to do an art history minor because of her challenges with dyslexia. She DID make fifty bucks playing piano for the fashion show...nobody listened, she said! And she's coming home for about three weeks for medical appointments (np, eye, dentist) and lifeguard training. I'm supposed to make three dresses for her; we picked out the fabric a couple of years ago. And I'd like her to get a LOT of practice driving. Although she claims to want to be car free forever, it's good to have the experience. (I rarely drove until I had kids, and that was well into my fourth decade! Even shortly before the birth of Kid #1 , husband and I often walked the 3.5 miles to work, and then more around the lake at night (in Austin, TX)...I was suffering from undiagnosed food intolerances and intermittent hyperthyroidism and the only time I didn't feel like absolute hell was when I was walking (only hell warmed over then), so by delivery I had absolutely ENORMOUS athletic thighs, which unfortunately turned back into bird legs shortly thereafter.)
Yana should be about finished moving by now...I have to make sure the small Washer That Dries either has been or will be returned to our carport, pending future need. She is attending a shelter pet conference of some sort next weekend or so. She dropped off two cats at our house because they are freaking out over the four caged kittens she is fostering for the other town's humane society. Yesterday when she dropped them off, her three dogs were hanging out with the three that live at our house, and the Dane mix decided to absent himself (can get over the front fence) and I had looked for him on our road and then just posted him on our Facebook community chat when he came strolling through the carport.
Paws the outside cage cat (also known as Urinatious) had all of his back teeth removed yesterday, having also been infected with the severe gingivitis (possibly caused by a virus) that is sometimes found in multiple cat households. Now my husband will never know what I've been using the Vitamix for (making liquid cat food)...
Son...I am not sure what he is doing. Helping Yana move, I think.
And today I am On the Mountain, a little bit cold in my office in turtleneck and jeans, catching up on the internet (computer I'm using at home now is pretty much useless for all but email...remember those Inspiron thingies? Oh, yeah!) before I try to fix a database interface problem without putting too much time in it. This afternoon I helped a co-worker work around an Excel file that wasn't playing in the shared sandbox nicely (solution: let it play by itself and then pop it back in the sandbox when done), determined that another co-worker's slow computer problem is not in his head, but not fixable either, except by getting a newer computer, and then helped a third co-worker fix his email so that it would send as well as receive. Because there were 990 things in his inbox, I'm not sure he cares all that much about email anyway, but the Safety Guy told him to send a reminder about avoiding Africanized Bee attacks, and instead of saying "I never use email" and popping a sticky note on the door, we spent an hour unscrewing up his account, which involved getting a temporary password for the email server account, amongst other things.
Like I said, would rather be a renegade intellectual...
and time to get back to lessons, the ones I cancelled for three weeks because there were a lot more Spring Awakening rehearsals than the original schedule showed. And to make plans to visit my mom and visiting sis in the Hot Land next week, maybe. Gotta check the train schedule!
Deborah
I'm seriously considering getting certified to teach math in my town (always chronically short of STEM teachers because the pay is miserable and housing is expensive) but also was informally told that the technical job I applied for half a year ago is open again and that I likely would be a strong candidate...the hours are challenging, but I guess when I burnt out I could follow the math certification! (I would prefer to be a renegade intellectual and musician, but lack the creativity to make those things pay well enough.)
Anyway, on the unschooling front,
Zela finished third year of art college with all A's and a 3.8 GPA, although two of the A's are minuses, one of them in art history, not too bad for someone whose prof doubted she'd be able to do an art history minor because of her challenges with dyslexia. She DID make fifty bucks playing piano for the fashion show...nobody listened, she said! And she's coming home for about three weeks for medical appointments (np, eye, dentist) and lifeguard training. I'm supposed to make three dresses for her; we picked out the fabric a couple of years ago. And I'd like her to get a LOT of practice driving. Although she claims to want to be car free forever, it's good to have the experience. (I rarely drove until I had kids, and that was well into my fourth decade! Even shortly before the birth of Kid #1 , husband and I often walked the 3.5 miles to work, and then more around the lake at night (in Austin, TX)...I was suffering from undiagnosed food intolerances and intermittent hyperthyroidism and the only time I didn't feel like absolute hell was when I was walking (only hell warmed over then), so by delivery I had absolutely ENORMOUS athletic thighs, which unfortunately turned back into bird legs shortly thereafter.)
Yana should be about finished moving by now...I have to make sure the small Washer That Dries either has been or will be returned to our carport, pending future need. She is attending a shelter pet conference of some sort next weekend or so. She dropped off two cats at our house because they are freaking out over the four caged kittens she is fostering for the other town's humane society. Yesterday when she dropped them off, her three dogs were hanging out with the three that live at our house, and the Dane mix decided to absent himself (can get over the front fence) and I had looked for him on our road and then just posted him on our Facebook community chat when he came strolling through the carport.
Paws the outside cage cat (also known as Urinatious) had all of his back teeth removed yesterday, having also been infected with the severe gingivitis (possibly caused by a virus) that is sometimes found in multiple cat households. Now my husband will never know what I've been using the Vitamix for (making liquid cat food)...
Son...I am not sure what he is doing. Helping Yana move, I think.
And today I am On the Mountain, a little bit cold in my office in turtleneck and jeans, catching up on the internet (computer I'm using at home now is pretty much useless for all but email...remember those Inspiron thingies? Oh, yeah!) before I try to fix a database interface problem without putting too much time in it. This afternoon I helped a co-worker work around an Excel file that wasn't playing in the shared sandbox nicely (solution: let it play by itself and then pop it back in the sandbox when done), determined that another co-worker's slow computer problem is not in his head, but not fixable either, except by getting a newer computer, and then helped a third co-worker fix his email so that it would send as well as receive. Because there were 990 things in his inbox, I'm not sure he cares all that much about email anyway, but the Safety Guy told him to send a reminder about avoiding Africanized Bee attacks, and instead of saying "I never use email" and popping a sticky note on the door, we spent an hour unscrewing up his account, which involved getting a temporary password for the email server account, amongst other things.
Like I said, would rather be a renegade intellectual...
and time to get back to lessons, the ones I cancelled for three weeks because there were a lot more Spring Awakening rehearsals than the original schedule showed. And to make plans to visit my mom and visiting sis in the Hot Land next week, maybe. Gotta check the train schedule!
Deborah
Thanks! I'm glad you liked the article. It's a fun challenge to tackle something I know will be controversial while trying to be as inclusive and un-alienating as possible. Comments are irate, however, on pretty much any article, on any topic. The swath of humanity that regularly comments on online articles tends to be a rather sad and angry swath of humanity, but for every one of them, there are dozens more open-minded readers.
Deborah -- renegade intellectual sounds more fun, but it sounds like you at least have quite a diversity in your paying jobs.
My mom and husband are both getting into town tomorrow, which is exciting.
7yo is still totally enamored with defeating monsters and leveling up on his video math game and insisted on paying to be a member (which you get more items and pets and stuff for -- I made him pay). Oddly, the fact that the program placed him as a 6th grader makes his lack of algorithm knowledge less of a problem -- it gives him a calculator for the stuff that gets tricky in your head. He seems to see it as some kind of cheating, though, and uses it way less often than I would. We've been spending lots of time out of the house, which is good, because he's playing most of the time we're home, and the repeating loop of video game music is driving me absolutely insane.
Deborah -- renegade intellectual sounds more fun, but it sounds like you at least have quite a diversity in your paying jobs.
My mom and husband are both getting into town tomorrow, which is exciting.
7yo is still totally enamored with defeating monsters and leveling up on his video math game and insisted on paying to be a member (which you get more items and pets and stuff for -- I made him pay). Oddly, the fact that the program placed him as a 6th grader makes his lack of algorithm knowledge less of a problem -- it gives him a calculator for the stuff that gets tricky in your head. He seems to see it as some kind of cheating, though, and uses it way less often than I would. We've been spending lots of time out of the house, which is good, because he's playing most of the time we're home, and the repeating loop of video game music is driving me absolutely insane.
What a fabulous article McKittre! Well done. Thank you for the math website, name escapes me at the moment, Prodigy? Nonetheless, bookmarked and DS found it and loves it. Thank you. I am planning a trip to Anchorage in September and super excited to get up there. I am curious if you have ever rode the ferry from Bellingham or know anyone who has? I think that would be a blast.
Happy Spring everyone!
We are busy in our camp to say the least. Last weekend DS and DH went to a LEGO Build Challenge. We did this last year and had a fun. This year the theme was "The Future". I had been chattin with DS about marketing his creation and he did just that. I asked him to remember "What is important to folks in Bellingham?". He won "Most Creative'. Well done Love. It was fun to hear him express his enthusiasm for winning. This is his first "big win" in a social atmosphere. Pretty cool.
Had a nice hot streak last week, home made slip and slide and lemonade. Awesome.
Last week of Hospice Training for me. What an experience. I am truly grateful for it.
This is my 3rd attempt to post! The first 2 were a tad longer, add more another time
Happy Spring everyone!
We are busy in our camp to say the least. Last weekend DS and DH went to a LEGO Build Challenge. We did this last year and had a fun. This year the theme was "The Future". I had been chattin with DS about marketing his creation and he did just that. I asked him to remember "What is important to folks in Bellingham?". He won "Most Creative'. Well done Love. It was fun to hear him express his enthusiasm for winning. This is his first "big win" in a social atmosphere. Pretty cool.
Had a nice hot streak last week, home made slip and slide and lemonade. Awesome.
Last week of Hospice Training for me. What an experience. I am truly grateful for it.
This is my 3rd attempt to post! The first 2 were a tad longer, add more another time
Isn't it always true (or nearly) that after getting over the worst of a cold, it can be hard to motivate oneself into the swing of things? I've indulged myself as much as I could, and now obligations are calling. Ugh. I need another week, just for my brain.
I did as expected on my placement test, and I have renewed respect for my unimpressive SAT math score 30 years ago. I thought I'd do better on the basic algebra section, well, before I saw the questions. They were not difficult, but damned if I could not remember. There was no time limit, so I tried and tried and, well, failed dismally. My work on Khan got me up to speed on a lot of stuff, but not quite enough. I'll keep chipping away at it. I've finished a scarf for a friend and will be getting that care package together. I have Dune to read from the library. I'll be restarting a sweater I started last summer. I'm starting on a couple of couch throws for the girls. Excuses, excuses, but I need the (two!) high school math courses I have to take be as easy as possible for me. I'm hoping then to fit them in to more difficult quarters.
Yes, that means THREE math courses, including one course in "college level math" for a freakin' liberal arts degree. What is this obsession with the alter of mathematics? Seriously.
I suppose that's better than the PHYS ED course I will need to take. P frickin' E. Ach! US higher ed these days. Yikes.
I did as expected on my placement test, and I have renewed respect for my unimpressive SAT math score 30 years ago. I thought I'd do better on the basic algebra section, well, before I saw the questions. They were not difficult, but damned if I could not remember. There was no time limit, so I tried and tried and, well, failed dismally. My work on Khan got me up to speed on a lot of stuff, but not quite enough. I'll keep chipping away at it. I've finished a scarf for a friend and will be getting that care package together. I have Dune to read from the library. I'll be restarting a sweater I started last summer. I'm starting on a couple of couch throws for the girls. Excuses, excuses, but I need the (two!) high school math courses I have to take be as easy as possible for me. I'm hoping then to fit them in to more difficult quarters.
Yes, that means THREE math courses, including one course in "college level math" for a freakin' liberal arts degree. What is this obsession with the alter of mathematics? Seriously.
I suppose that's better than the PHYS ED course I will need to take. P frickin' E. Ach! US higher ed these days. Yikes.
Fiona woke up with her productivity switch turned to 11 today. Doesn't happen often, but when it does, stand back!
First a smoothie for breakfast.
Then she got me to go with her down to the lakefront to run. She hasn't run with me for more than 2 years, but she's been talking about working on endurance training this summer, and since regular dance classes are ending, she's making good on that. We did a 2k loop twice at under a 9-minute-per-mile pace. Ha! A couple of years ago she went through a phase where she would moan after 400 metres and want a walk interval. She's in much better cardiovascular shape than she thinks.
Then it was time to do some online coursework. She did a particularly stupid assignment from PE.
After that she made lunch, had a shower, and got out her violin.
She had me work with her through all her new assignments: various arpeggios and double stops in particular, a new study, and the first two thirds of a new concerto movement.
Then she decided to do the third (of four) units in her planning course. That meant she completed five assignments on aspects of financial literacy. She's getting pretty good at powering through these sorts of things. Finished them up, submitted everything.
Now she's off at dance rehearsals at the big theatre.
Then there will be dinner. Then 2.5 hours of gymnastics.
Days like this make up for days of endless Netflix.
Miranda
First a smoothie for breakfast.
Then she got me to go with her down to the lakefront to run. She hasn't run with me for more than 2 years, but she's been talking about working on endurance training this summer, and since regular dance classes are ending, she's making good on that. We did a 2k loop twice at under a 9-minute-per-mile pace. Ha! A couple of years ago she went through a phase where she would moan after 400 metres and want a walk interval. She's in much better cardiovascular shape than she thinks.
Then it was time to do some online coursework. She did a particularly stupid assignment from PE.
After that she made lunch, had a shower, and got out her violin.
She had me work with her through all her new assignments: various arpeggios and double stops in particular, a new study, and the first two thirds of a new concerto movement.
Then she decided to do the third (of four) units in her planning course. That meant she completed five assignments on aspects of financial literacy. She's getting pretty good at powering through these sorts of things. Finished them up, submitted everything.
Now she's off at dance rehearsals at the big theatre.
Then there will be dinner. Then 2.5 hours of gymnastics.
Days like this make up for days of endless Netflix.
Miranda
Today doing some research for my biz I came across a website called outdoor parent
And guess what I found there. Another article by our own wonderful Mckittre this time her first trek with a baby
Hope it's okay to share
http://www.theoutdoorparent.com/?p=807
Great read very inspiring
And guess what I found there. Another article by our own wonderful Mckittre this time her first trek with a baby
Hope it's okay to share
http://www.theoutdoorparent.com/?p=807
Great read very inspiring
Anna -- I'd forgotten all about that one! Brings back memories.
Happy mother's day to all.
I spent it low-tiding, one of my very favorite activities in the world. The year's lowest tides (-5.7 feet) were this weekend, so we camped out on the tombolo islands (walkable at low tide, islands at high tide) in a nearby bay with my kids, my mom, a friend and her kid. Wandering around checking out all the super low tide critters both mornings, watching the water rush in, paddling around, seeing a whale...
Happy mother's day to all.
I spent it low-tiding, one of my very favorite activities in the world. The year's lowest tides (-5.7 feet) were this weekend, so we camped out on the tombolo islands (walkable at low tide, islands at high tide) in a nearby bay with my kids, my mom, a friend and her kid. Wandering around checking out all the super low tide critters both mornings, watching the water rush in, paddling around, seeing a whale...
Low-tiding sounds fantastic!
I just did my second whirlwind trip to Vancouver (~9 hours drive each way) in as many weekends. Last week I drove out with a friend to run a marathon and also to pick up my eldest at the airport there and deliver her to where she was staying for the week, rehearsing for a performance.
This week I left Town Friday evening with Fiona and we drove out to hear eldest solo the Brahms Violin Concerto with an orchestra Saturday. Managed to connect with ds who is doing summer semester courses; took him out for dinner and to his sister's performance. A number of our summer Suzuki camp families who live on the coast came to hear the concert, as well as three of the faculty members, so it was a nice social time as well. She played so well, wow! She deserved a better orchestra (it was a better-quality urban community orchestra with professional front desks, but somewhat weak in the winds and brass), but she had such charisma, polish and confidence. We had a nice social gathering afterwards for a couple of hours.
Then we got up yesterday and drove all the way home with eldest and all her luggage, for an evening with dh. This morning Fiona has her hour of science at school, and then we'll head to Town for a week of final dance rehearsals as well as the usual gym/circus/violin classes. Eldest is coming with us because she is going to look for work in Town. After five years of living in the hyper-urban core of Montreal that's a more appealing place to spend a summer than an isolated house in the woods with no transportation.
Vancouver is pretty great at this time of year. Eldest was staying with friends at their brand-new co-op housing complex which is definitely how I would want to live if I were to live in a city. It was the 100th anniversary of Jane Jacobs' birthday this weekend, which got me thinking about all her ideas (I'm friends with her daughter, who lives in our wee village... ) and she would have loved this co-op complex I think.
Miranda
I just did my second whirlwind trip to Vancouver (~9 hours drive each way) in as many weekends. Last week I drove out with a friend to run a marathon and also to pick up my eldest at the airport there and deliver her to where she was staying for the week, rehearsing for a performance.
This week I left Town Friday evening with Fiona and we drove out to hear eldest solo the Brahms Violin Concerto with an orchestra Saturday. Managed to connect with ds who is doing summer semester courses; took him out for dinner and to his sister's performance. A number of our summer Suzuki camp families who live on the coast came to hear the concert, as well as three of the faculty members, so it was a nice social time as well. She played so well, wow! She deserved a better orchestra (it was a better-quality urban community orchestra with professional front desks, but somewhat weak in the winds and brass), but she had such charisma, polish and confidence. We had a nice social gathering afterwards for a couple of hours.
Then we got up yesterday and drove all the way home with eldest and all her luggage, for an evening with dh. This morning Fiona has her hour of science at school, and then we'll head to Town for a week of final dance rehearsals as well as the usual gym/circus/violin classes. Eldest is coming with us because she is going to look for work in Town. After five years of living in the hyper-urban core of Montreal that's a more appealing place to spend a summer than an isolated house in the woods with no transportation.
Vancouver is pretty great at this time of year. Eldest was staying with friends at their brand-new co-op housing complex which is definitely how I would want to live if I were to live in a city. It was the 100th anniversary of Jane Jacobs' birthday this weekend, which got me thinking about all her ideas (I'm friends with her daughter, who lives in our wee village... ) and she would have loved this co-op complex I think.
Miranda
Yana is in her new place. And Linux the kitten is with us until her foster kittens are gone. Because the dogs chase L, and because at least one clerestory window is almost always open, she has to stay a) in the Chihuahua's crate or b) in Yana's former room, which is where the dogs go in and out, so sometimes...it's the crate!
Zela needs a new Tracfone. Or so the page tells me. But it won't tell me what. More research is needed. Thanks, Firefox!
Son bought a telescope for $75. It turned out to be a fairly big one that fills most of his Civic, when separated into top and base. It's a 13 incher from the 1991 or so. Now he wants me to keep out an eye for eyepieces. Yes.
I have been sorta laid up with sinus issues...fever not headache until today, and today headache but no fever. So my book club book is far behind. Although I have been reading randomly in Storm of Swords, in between wondering if I had contracted some form of Chagas-Valley-Babesiosis-Fever. I'm rarely sick so I become quite a whiner when anything goes awry.
Husband (not sure how much I've shared about his psychopath boss) was at the point of quitting his job and working for less than half as a math teacher our town's schools. That is on hold, although that is now one of two of my possibilities for full time employment. He is instead being powered by revenge; driven originally by interest in the subject itself, which got him in trouble by a "superior" (amongst other things, husband, who has a small but impressive publication and project list, was forced to withdraw a paper from a scientific conference, with no reason given, mostly that the "superior's" name was not on it, I suspect)...anyhow, with the encouragement of the Chief Scientist, who was not able to change the outcome for the conference, husband is rewriting the paper in the more formal style required by a peer reviewed journal. Of course if it is published, the fun will start up again.
We've had wind and dust for days, and a little rain. And lightning, which means fires.
Time to boil up some more water for my neti pot; don't know what might be lurking in the well water that's ok to drink but not necessarily to swirl right next to one's brain.
So, unless I can convince my husband to join in the enterprise, not going to the Hot Land to visit mom and sis. I could probably still buy a train ticket for tonight, and get someone to give me a ride (or even abandon the car in town and wait for Fate to bring it back) but I do not feel like an all night train ride with long layover tonight, book or no book, and the train runs only three times a week one way and three times the other, so I can't do tomorrow. I could catch a ride home on Friday, but if I'm not there I can't do that now, can I? And I have to work Saturday and Sunday, and would really rather not skip yet another week of violin lessons. Unless my head still feels like this then!
I just got an invite my email to report to the Mother Ship on Friday, for my 10 year service award. But wait...I worked 9.5 years, but that ended in 1996. And I've worked since then, but as a casual employee, no benefits. So am I seriously going to get vested for health insurance, for ten years' service? Hmmm...
Deborah
p.s. I am NOT driving 450 miles to get a plaque!
Zela needs a new Tracfone. Or so the page tells me. But it won't tell me what. More research is needed. Thanks, Firefox!
Son bought a telescope for $75. It turned out to be a fairly big one that fills most of his Civic, when separated into top and base. It's a 13 incher from the 1991 or so. Now he wants me to keep out an eye for eyepieces. Yes.
I have been sorta laid up with sinus issues...fever not headache until today, and today headache but no fever. So my book club book is far behind. Although I have been reading randomly in Storm of Swords, in between wondering if I had contracted some form of Chagas-Valley-Babesiosis-Fever. I'm rarely sick so I become quite a whiner when anything goes awry.
Husband (not sure how much I've shared about his psychopath boss) was at the point of quitting his job and working for less than half as a math teacher our town's schools. That is on hold, although that is now one of two of my possibilities for full time employment. He is instead being powered by revenge; driven originally by interest in the subject itself, which got him in trouble by a "superior" (amongst other things, husband, who has a small but impressive publication and project list, was forced to withdraw a paper from a scientific conference, with no reason given, mostly that the "superior's" name was not on it, I suspect)...anyhow, with the encouragement of the Chief Scientist, who was not able to change the outcome for the conference, husband is rewriting the paper in the more formal style required by a peer reviewed journal. Of course if it is published, the fun will start up again.
We've had wind and dust for days, and a little rain. And lightning, which means fires.
Time to boil up some more water for my neti pot; don't know what might be lurking in the well water that's ok to drink but not necessarily to swirl right next to one's brain.
So, unless I can convince my husband to join in the enterprise, not going to the Hot Land to visit mom and sis. I could probably still buy a train ticket for tonight, and get someone to give me a ride (or even abandon the car in town and wait for Fate to bring it back) but I do not feel like an all night train ride with long layover tonight, book or no book, and the train runs only three times a week one way and three times the other, so I can't do tomorrow. I could catch a ride home on Friday, but if I'm not there I can't do that now, can I? And I have to work Saturday and Sunday, and would really rather not skip yet another week of violin lessons. Unless my head still feels like this then!
I just got an invite my email to report to the Mother Ship on Friday, for my 10 year service award. But wait...I worked 9.5 years, but that ended in 1996. And I've worked since then, but as a casual employee, no benefits. So am I seriously going to get vested for health insurance, for ten years' service? Hmmm...
Deborah
p.s. I am NOT driving 450 miles to get a plaque!
"You're not the only sister in my life anymore" Fiona announced upon greeting Sophie after school yesterday. Yup, eldest is home, in that she's unpacked at our house in Town for the summer. Fiona and her biggest sister have become pretty close over the past year or two. Their relationship is free of growing pains in a way that their respective relationships with Sophie (middle dd) isn't. They're pretty darn comfortable together. This morning they took off at 9 to "do errands," whatever that means. Two hours have passed and I'm not expecting them back anytime soon.
Fiona has been very interested in finances and economics lately. I'm not sure where this is coming from, but she wants to understand investment strategies, interest rates, mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, risk, currency rates and government bonds.
She had a violin lesson yesterday, her first since the music festival performances three weeks ago. She's started a new concerto movement (deBeriot #9 ) and the Adagio from Bach's solo sonata #1 , both of which she loves. So hopefully that will translate into a resumption of practicing.
Like many Canadians she is geeking out over the 2016 census survey. (Our previous government axed a good portion of the census process to save money, a move which the majority of Canadians disagreed with. We're all excited to have it back.) She begged dh for permission to fill it out. We did a very brief version of it for our Town house last week (since that house is not our primary residence) and she did the slightly longer version for Home today. She was disappointed that we weren't randomly selected to do the Long Form version. I don't know how I bore a child who loves filling in forms, but I did.
Today is two full run-throughs of two different Dance Showcase programs. That will keep her busy from 3:30 to 10:30 pm. Lightning costume changes, pointe shoes on and off, checking timing, all that. I'll run her some food down at 6:30.
The combination of gymnastics, aerial silks and lots and lots of dance -- including a fair bit of pointe -- is leading to lots of aches and pains and bruises in her legs. She is thinking of skipping the last month of gymnastics since the beat-board/tumble-track/plyometrics-on-sprung-floor stuff has triggered some shin splints that make the rest of her activities harder. She has decided to give up gymnastics next year, and group prep for the year-end acro show (which she finds rather lame) is about to begin. I'm glad she's decided to let it go for next year: gymnastics is expensive, and although this club tries to straddle the competitive/non-competitive divide they don't quite seem to make it work. And it has not really been a passion of Fiona's; she has mostly just really liked her coaches. Next year she'll need to give something up and this makes sense.
Miranda
Fiona has been very interested in finances and economics lately. I'm not sure where this is coming from, but she wants to understand investment strategies, interest rates, mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, risk, currency rates and government bonds.
She had a violin lesson yesterday, her first since the music festival performances three weeks ago. She's started a new concerto movement (deBeriot #9 ) and the Adagio from Bach's solo sonata #1 , both of which she loves. So hopefully that will translate into a resumption of practicing.
Like many Canadians she is geeking out over the 2016 census survey. (Our previous government axed a good portion of the census process to save money, a move which the majority of Canadians disagreed with. We're all excited to have it back.) She begged dh for permission to fill it out. We did a very brief version of it for our Town house last week (since that house is not our primary residence) and she did the slightly longer version for Home today. She was disappointed that we weren't randomly selected to do the Long Form version. I don't know how I bore a child who loves filling in forms, but I did.
Today is two full run-throughs of two different Dance Showcase programs. That will keep her busy from 3:30 to 10:30 pm. Lightning costume changes, pointe shoes on and off, checking timing, all that. I'll run her some food down at 6:30.
The combination of gymnastics, aerial silks and lots and lots of dance -- including a fair bit of pointe -- is leading to lots of aches and pains and bruises in her legs. She is thinking of skipping the last month of gymnastics since the beat-board/tumble-track/plyometrics-on-sprung-floor stuff has triggered some shin splints that make the rest of her activities harder. She has decided to give up gymnastics next year, and group prep for the year-end acro show (which she finds rather lame) is about to begin. I'm glad she's decided to let it go for next year: gymnastics is expensive, and although this club tries to straddle the competitive/non-competitive divide they don't quite seem to make it work. And it has not really been a passion of Fiona's; she has mostly just really liked her coaches. Next year she'll need to give something up and this makes sense.
Miranda
We spent most of the day at the park. We met another homeschooler & had a really great time.:love
Zela packing up today, throwing out everything that she can find online. And all of her Livescribe notebooks...they are all downloaded. I'd love to see those, I say, realizing that she probably can't read them...dysgraphia/dyslexia...
There's to be a regular local contradance and Zela has been asked to participate in the planning. She would like to learn to call dances also. She and some friends have been singing in parts..that is, they start off on the tune and then they join her on the high harmony. Finally she realized that if she sings the harmony lower than the tune, they can stick to the tune; otherwise they always match the top pictch, cannot pick out the lower voice. "They should teach harmonization in the public schools!"
So today my first lessons since before "Spring Awakening" tech week...gotta hunt up a loaner violin now...
Deborah
There's to be a regular local contradance and Zela has been asked to participate in the planning. She would like to learn to call dances also. She and some friends have been singing in parts..that is, they start off on the tune and then they join her on the high harmony. Finally she realized that if she sings the harmony lower than the tune, they can stick to the tune; otherwise they always match the top pictch, cannot pick out the lower voice. "They should teach harmonization in the public schools!"
So today my first lessons since before "Spring Awakening" tech week...gotta hunt up a loaner violin now...
Deborah
Feeling very VERY unmotivated this month. Going thru some personal 'stuff' Yuck.
Also started my own journey back into grad school this week. Def not as challenging as i had hoped (yet, maybe?) and while i was fully aware of this is a private university the rel*giousness sure is shining thru- pun intended. I hope that backs down next week and over the next 2 years. Classes are totally 100% online, which is what i need.
kid is gone for the weekend to help a friend with a seemingly sick dog. Not sure what is wrong w. dog, will get more info tomorrow.
Also started my own journey back into grad school this week. Def not as challenging as i had hoped (yet, maybe?) and while i was fully aware of this is a private university the rel*giousness sure is shining thru- pun intended. I hope that backs down next week and over the next 2 years. Classes are totally 100% online, which is what i need.
kid is gone for the weekend to help a friend with a seemingly sick dog. Not sure what is wrong w. dog, will get more info tomorrow.
Just a couple of days until we pick up Zela; Yana plans to go along for the grocery run. I'm at work, taking a leap of faith and doing the free Windows 10 upgrade on the engineering/mapping computer in my department.
Over the weekend my work at the vet was longer because I needed to force feed Sago Palm Dog. The cycad grew in the dog's yard for years before she decided it was a tasty snack, not realizing that it would toast her liver. (I don't think they grow outside here. I hope not.) Anyway, if you have one, and a cat or a dog, throw it away. My sister's cat ate some, was fortunately purged before any damage was done, Evil Plant went to live with a pet free friend.
We've had rain; already since Friday the opportunistic grasses that grow here have covered the hills with a light green. It would be nice if it were an early start to the monsoon (because fire season well entrenched) but I think just spring rains caused by mild cold fronts.
Deborah
Over the weekend my work at the vet was longer because I needed to force feed Sago Palm Dog. The cycad grew in the dog's yard for years before she decided it was a tasty snack, not realizing that it would toast her liver. (I don't think they grow outside here. I hope not.) Anyway, if you have one, and a cat or a dog, throw it away. My sister's cat ate some, was fortunately purged before any damage was done, Evil Plant went to live with a pet free friend.
We've had rain; already since Friday the opportunistic grasses that grow here have covered the hills with a light green. It would be nice if it were an early start to the monsoon (because fire season well entrenched) but I think just spring rains caused by mild cold fronts.
Deborah
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