Saturday, January 14, 2012

Randomly Recent...

Baking butter cookies!

The FunSchoolers discovered a very yummy recipe and have so far experimented twice with it:
  • Once by replacing some of the flour with hazelnut meal and the white sugar with brown (and reducing the amount too). 
  • Once using the recipe mostly as is but with less butter, flour and sugar (pictured here).
Both were delicious although the first batch was a little runny and couldn't be decorated satisfactorily. The second batch had a melt-in-the-mouth buttery flavor. Kiddo had tons of fun decorating it. Next time, we'll first plan the decorations before going trigger happy with the icing tubes. :)

Swimming lessons have resumed

After a difficult start when we first began, kiddo is doing very well and I'm very happy with how he's being taught. He's learning how to flip and push off between laps now. 

Philosophy discussions

He is currently very interested in philosophy. We have chosen to read aloud and discuss Philosophy for Kids by David White once or twice a week during afternoon snack time. We really like the book so far.

See this post on kiddo's blog.We didn't have the time to record every single point discussed but it does give you an idea of how we are using the book.


Learning as usual

It's good to have our rhythm back after the holidays and the flu. Physics is going well with full marks in his grade book so far but the suggested pace is obviously too rapid right now. I'm not terribly concerned. It just means he may take longer to finish the course. I'm trying to keep my expectations neutral. Learning to stay out of the way is hard for this control freak, but I'm getting there!

Math and German are proceeding at a steady pace. I am enjoying learning this way and I can see kiddo is too. We have more time to learn and digest the information instead of rushing from one lesson to another. I wish we could somehow fit Latin into our days but we don't seem to be able to right now. I'm trying to work in 15 minutes of Latin three times a week. Since we don't do any "language arts", Latin is my back-up plan for grammar and vocabulary studies.

Debate finals!

The highlight of last week was kiddo's team debate finals. He was team captain for one of the teams. The teams were judged based on three mini-debate topics:
  • California schools should improve fitness goals (Kiddo's team: affirmative)
  • Ice cream would rather be 'poor' than 'rich' (An odd topic, I know! Kiddo's team: negative)
  • Environmental disasters should be classified as crimes against humanity (Kiddo's team: affirmative)
The teams were both tied in the end. 

Kiddo is enjoying speech and debate very much and will continue with the next session of classes in two weeks. I couldn't be happier. He's learning many other skills through the class. He's learning to research and present his arguments coherently. He's learning the difference between fact and opinion. And he's learning leadership skills.

He's fond of the State of Debate game here. If you know anything else like it that can be played or followed online, I'd really appreciate a heads up!

4 comments:

  1. Kiddo's latest post about duty cracked me up! It's wonderful to see philosophy being discussed at home, which naturally leads to great debate! Good job!

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  2. Thank you Neo! I wish I could embed the video of the debate finals but I am not able to get the other parents' permission. I am quite sure the video will crack you up some more lol.

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  3. I'm far behind on my comments, but I do have to say that things sound just wonderful there. You must be doing something right! :)

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  4. Hey there Annie. Thanks! :) I'm really behind in my comments too. Read two of your posts but haven't had a chance to comment yet. I'm glad you're having a break this weekend!

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