Happy To Not Be Homeschooling...

for a week. :) We need the break. It's so nice to just be. To not plan. To let a sense of joyful nothingness wash over us.

We are spending time cleaning (without an agenda), reading (without a plan), cooking (without worrying about being done by a certain time), baking (for the fun of it), and tickling Adrian (he's just so cute in his winter clothes!). And making movies with toys around the house. Kiddo has a little homework for the week but nothing he cannot finish in about an hour a day.

I am thankful for the little bursts of just-warm-enough and not-too-hot sunlight. And snippets of Bomb Girls whenever I can catch it on Netfllix betwixt laundry and vacuuming. Unfortunately, those two necessary evils must go on.

Some of the books we have read or are reading just before and during our Thanksgiving break:

 

Happy Thanksgiving dear reader and may you have the best one yet!

Funschooling is 5 ... and Year 6 Begins!

Can't believe the blog is five years old! What began as an experimental log of our homeschooling journey in August 2008 (when kiddo was in Year 1 or first grade) has evolved into an obvious part of my life now. I might not update the blog as often as I used to but I do look forward to posting when I can and am thankful I started it when I did. I can't rely on memory alone much these days. I've made so many wonderful online friends through the blog too...a most unexpected and valuable experience! :D

So kiddo is now in Year 6. Sixth grade. Almost 11 years old! Wowzers!

Time is really flying and I am trying to hold on and slow it down but to no avail. I miss those chubby little fingers and toothless grins of the earlier years. :) He used to be so little! When we kept him from preschool in 2006, instead of sending him to an expensive half day arrangement, I had no idea at that time that we would be continuing this up to middle school age! For now, we are very sure, unless kiddo changes his mind, that we'll homeschool through high school too.

To give the new school year a little oomph, I surprised him with a "Welcome to Sixth Grade" package. Notice that big grin? That's exactly what I was hoping to see. :) He opened his gifts and then we headed out for Asian food and ice cream afterwards. It was the first time we had made a bigger deal of it than usual and I think it was a good idea. In case you are curious about the gifts, this is what I chose:

Cousins and Other Things

The Funschoolers have just had the wonderful honor of hosting my brother and his delightful family who were visiting us for the very first time from the UK. Bro has been living there ever since he left home (Malaysia) to study and I must admit I (and I think kiddo too, Anglophiles and Cadbury lovers that we are) envy him the opportunity. :) Kiddo had a great time entertaining and being entertained by his three British cousins. And I had a lovely moment or two to catch up with bro and my beautiful sister-in-law.

While they were here, we watched the delightful Epic and ate lots and lots and lots and shopped together too.

Their visit also gave us the opportunity to tour some cities around the Bay Area that we haven't been to in a while, namely, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Gilroy, Monterey (we finally took the 17 Mile Drive!), Carmel and Big Sur.

The kids, sans the littlest, worked on some rocketry together and went kayaking all by themselves!

Don't they look like pros? :) I love this snapshot. I was quite worried by the time this photo was taken...it wasn't easy for me watching them moving further and further away from the shore, especially over a wide and deep (gulp!) body of water. Thankfully, all was well. Sure hope they built memories to last a lifetime!

We miss them so much. I think Adrian misses them a ton too. While they were here, he received hugs and belly rubs galore as well as very thorough petting and loving cuddles from brother's littlest one. I would miss something like that too, wouldn't you? You can see him drowning his sorrow in sleep, all mournful (but obviously comfy) on his new Molly Mutt bed! (hee hee).

Speaking of cousins, we were extremely happy to welcome my newborn niece (my sister's firstborn) in May. Yup, it was definitely a time to celebrate family! :)
 
On the learning front, kiddo and I are having a terrific time digging deeper into J.R.R. Tolkien's works through Mythgard Institute's Beyond Middle Earth summer class. If he continues to enjoy it, I hope to use other audit-friendly Mythgard options in the future.

Can't believe I have a rising 6th grader on my hands. Learning with the boy as always, continues to be an amazing, eye-opening journey for me.

Wishing you a happy summer dear reader!

Randomly Recent

It's been a while since I've written one of these. Gee, it's been a while since I've written anything here lol! What we've been learning about, playing with, reading, eating, watching, discussing, repeating, trying to remember to, asking, contemplating, etc. in no-particular-order:

KIDDO: Simple calligraphy, Calvin and Hobbes, cells, harder algebra problems, Avatar (with Aang and gang, not the blue people), gravity, Courage the Cowardly Dog, gas laws, area of spheres proofs, The Hobbit (movie), drying and combing hair before breakfast, Feynman and his safe-cracking ways, reviewing gender in German nouns and articles, "is Tolkien supportive of women's rights or not?", 5th grade STAR testing (fun!), tautologies, enzymes, "is it scrumptious, is it juicy?", summarizing an essay, LaTeX, ice cream (lots of it! maybe too much?!), swimming (if you can call it that), Life of Pi (movie, only half though, couldn't summon the courage to watch it all).

Tin Tin, cannon-balling, Downton Abbey theme, Japanese mealtime etiquette, stick swinging and air jabbing (during walks), why do we need literary analysis?, complex numbers, Dexter's Lab, assembling a DIY model tank, disliking the Samsas (poor Gregor!), the science of color, logic puzzles, leaf burning, the courage of hobbits, proteins, Three Men in a Boat, "must I use a writing curriculum?".

ADRIAN: Chewing, looking cute, getting into trouble, wagging, halitosis 401, lack of math skills and what it means in his world, best positions for curling up to sleep without losing sight of Mom and Big Bro, fetching, looking cuter, sighing, being walked without sniffing at weeds every other second.

Eating cherries without Mom's knowledge, finding good spots around the yard to you know what (and knowing what "not in our pond area you don't!" means), shedding, ear-flopping, toe-nipping.

A Quick Dog Unit Study

After reading a thread on a homeschooling forum, I've decided to bookmark a bunch of dog-related resources to watch, learn from and simply, delight in. :)

I used to read tons on dog-care when I was younger and am, as a consequence, much more confident about having to make decisions on the fly concerning Adrian's health. But kiddo is still very new to pet care. I think there's so much we can learn about being better caregivers for our little guy by dedicating some specific time to watching tons of dog videos and reading books about dogs (don't you love homeschooling?).

A few resources on my wishlist:

    

A previous blogpost on Little Lions, Bull Baiters and Hunting Hounds: A History of Dog Breeds by Jeff Crosby and Shelley Ann Jackson here.

More Videos (please preview if viewing with sensitive children):
Through A Dog's Eyes (PBS)
And Man Created Dog
The Science of Dogs (NG)
Living With Wolves

Will update as I find more!

I wasn't sure whether or not to bookmark dog-centered movies/ movies starring cute dogs because I inevitably find so many of them too sad. :P Here are the ones I generally liked anyway:
The Magic of Bell Isle (2012)
Red Dog (2011)
Beginners (2010)
Marley and Me (2008)
Homeward Bound (1993)
and this one I just refuse to watch (I'm a wimp!): Hachi (2009)

Ending the post with this cool link from Houzz -- eye candy for me mostly. Gotta see it to believe the lengths some people go to pamper their pooches!

Rocketry From Scratch

A simple launcher kiddo recently built using unused stuff in our garage

The boys have been dabbling in found-object rocketry...gulp!

I've been torn between cringing in a corner with Adrian, and jumping in with gusto to launch the mini rockets with them. This is something I would have loved to do as a kid. Perhaps even loved to do with kiddo had I paid attention during middle and high school physics. Age and ignorance are making me too cautious, wimpy and easily worried. On the one hand, I love that he is taking risks...on the other, my maternal instincts are stressing me out re injuries.

Control module (top), battery pack (left) and Rover launcher

Anyway, so far, kiddo is obviously learning a ton from just doing as opposed to reading a book about it or discussing a lot of theory first. So I have to think positively. Must. Support. Risky. Projects.

They started their rocketry project by retrofitting kiddo's rover with a tiny dashboard-mounted camera and launcher (using an effervescent vitamin C tablet tube) mounted on a lego mindstorms body. They built a control module to encase the iPad (navigates the rover) and a tv screen (for a rover's-eye-view angle). Missile nose cones and casings etc. are basically metal pen toppers and tubes, and fins are from old darts or made with other light materials. Wires, clips, electronics components were mostly taken from various, cheap science kits that we have.

They did purchase a few items:

• The rover and mindstorms kit were Christmas gifts. 
• The portable TV and camera were bought cheap from hobby stores. 



Spent casing (nicknamed Vegetable)

• The rocket engine was from Fry's.

Arrow and Hummingbird pen casings

After one really cool test launch (that nearly decimated one of our bushes lol), the rover launcher has been retired for use for another day/ purpose.

After dabbling with the rover launcher, his Dad suggested trying different types of launchers and so they are each now building and testing their individual rockets and launchers. Kiddo has built two so far and his Dad has built one. There has been a good amount of planning and discussion going on as well while I watch with a mix of excitement and apprehension.

Discussing possible trajectories

Dad's currently untested launcher

I have been contributing (really!). I am googling assistant for questions that come up and small parts that need to be priced/ purchased, ardent supporter (who is secretly rather anxious) and holder plus comforter of a particular canine companion who isn't too happy about the little pops and wooshes and puffs of smoke that appear in our yard every few weekends. :)

We are lucky that we have a safe amount of yard space for testing. In a few weeks, the boys plan to seek some sort of rocketry license through a local rocketry association to ensure that they can use a larger, safer test site (for possibly larger projects, yikes!).

So far, the boys have just been chugging along using online articles for guidance. Being the link hoarder I am, I can't resist bookmarking a few resources and materials to download/ buy if interest increases:

• Rocket Manual for Amateurs by Bertrand Brinley (I think it's a free download if you are a Scribd member)
• Quest Aerospace Model Rocket Launch Controller
• Handbook of Model Rocketry by Harry Stine
• Built It Yourself PVC Rocket Engine by Dan Pollino

Wish us luck!

Malaysia Trip (November 2012)

Hiya folks! We are back from Malaysia! Our last trip was two and a half years ago. So we had been really looking forward to this trip. As usual, it went by too fast.

We spent about ten days in Malaysia and Singapore. A quick recap of what we did, ate and enjoyed:

This time, instead of Singapore Airlines, we took United. Two words: Never again! Flights were horrendously delayed. Not once. But on both legs of the journey...extending the usual 19-hour plus journey to almost 23 hours both ways! Kiddo and I developed a huge aversion to airline food, we couldn't sleep, our acid reflux was triggered big time and we were literally sick. Ugggh!

Kiddo tucking into a well-deserved chicken rice breakfast at  Changi Airport Terminal 3 just after we landed. At this point, the boy hadn't slept in 25 hours! Can't blame him for looking like a vampire ya? We had an almost 8-hour wait at Changi before our connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL) so after an invigorating shower at the airport, we dashed off to find more food to err...ahem...erase the memory of the disgusting airline fare. Apart from chicken rice, we had roti prata and nasi lemak and lots of iced Milo too.

Changi, being the world-class airport it is, even offers free movies for passengers in transit and we managed to catch a fun movie (The Lorax) while waiting.

The flight to KL was a quick one and we admired the many cumulonimbus formations on the way.  Kiddo has been "collecting" clouds for some time (since reading The Cloud Collector's Handbook) so it was a great opportunity to add to his bunch of cloud (cloudy?) snaps.

When we reached KL, it felt SO good to see Dad and Mom again and catch up with sis, her hubby and my mon-in-law. And we were treated to such great food! Not only did my mom make her famous prawn sambal and delicious fish and meat dishes, but my mom-in-law dished up some of her own specialties. We were royally pampered!

And we ate lots outside as well. Pictured upper left: more roti prata! And right: cendol...a dessert made up of ice shavings, green bean noodles, kidney beans, coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. And below: amazing nasi lemak the old-fashioned way, wrapped in banana leaf. Mmmmmmm...and this stuff is cheap too! We barely paid one USD for a package of nasi lemak and prata for two people!

A few days into our trip, we received a huge surprise. Hubby had initially planned to remain in CA because he had a business trip scheduled at the same time as our holiday. But since his business trip was in the "neighborhood" (within Asia), he decided to drop in unannounced en-route! Everyone was so pleasantly surprised because they haven't seen him in the flesh in seven years (he couldn't join us the last time we visited in March 2010). I just love this snapshot because it captures how delighted his mom is to see him. He stayed a couple of days and dashed off again in his usual style.

Our days in KL passed very swiftly. I had packed a few of kiddo's textbooks but we barely thought much about them. Instead, we kicked back, made origami cubes, cooked, ate, worked on puzzles, hugged, tussled with and bathed sis's adorable terrier mix, visited the Petronas Twin Towers by train, played with cousins and just had an amazing time catching up with loved ones.

Before we knew it, it was time to leave for Singapore again to catch our flight back to SFO. Unlike our last trip, we only spent about a day and a half in Singapore this time. Kiddo wanted very much to visit the apartment he had lived in as a newborn so we took the bus, walked around, found the block, took some photos of the windows (it was occupied by another family so we obviously couldn't go in), ate a bag of good ol' Twisties (my favorite junk food as a kid lol) and then sped off to Orchard Road to do some quick book shopping.

Oh yeah...we bought (cough) lots of books! :) I won't shock you with how many. :)

So that was it. Hoping very much to visit the folks and sis again next year. We are having an easier time with jetlag this time around. It really helps to drink lots of water and work as closely as possible around the time zone/ routine of the country you are visiting. I am quite sure eating really well helped too! ;)

Time to Get Cracking...

Care to guess what we're cooking up? :)

Randomly Recent

Snapshots from inside and around the house this week:

Calla lilies reappear this year, looking pretty.

My reading assignments in preparation for a Coursera course.

Loving my new double-burner griddle.

New tile patterns keep popping up in front of the fireplace...those math manipulatives are being used!

Goofy math review with AoPS.

Only a day on Millie (my treadmill)? Oh Nooooo!


Kiddo's Sidney Harris addiction intensifies. 

Physics continues but may be delayed if kiddo takes a summer math class.

More buckyball sculptures in the making.

Reading and Listening To...

 

NON-FICTION

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean, narrated by Sean Runnette
We listened to the unabridged audio book in April and I'm so glad I chose audio over print.

Prime Curios!: The Dictionary of Prime Number Trivia by Chris Caldwell could soon eclipse kiddo's previous favorite math trivia tome, Number Freak. He is also enjoying Here's Looking at Euclid by Alex Bellos. He doesn't read these in any sequence. He savors them like you would a small and exquisite piece of expensive Belgian chocolate. He runs to google a little fact every few minutes or pulls out his math notebooks to create patterns from what he reads, forgets about them for a couple of weeks and then pores over them all over again, sometimes spreading all of them out in front of him at the same time.

FICTION

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Lion's Paw by Robb White were read alouds that we both loved.

I managed a good bit of a British accent reading aloud The Secret Garden. Who says watching Downton Abbey doesn't help? The Lion's Paw is an adventure story about three children, aged 15, 12 and 9, who run, err, I mean sail away on a sloop to search for a sea shell, the lion's paw. We started every morning by reading it beside our new backyard pool and learned a bit about sailing and catching alligators! ;) 

Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat is a hoot of a tale about a boy with two pet owls, with echoes of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals (only, Billy's family is not as eccentric).

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes and Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes were free reads. He enjoyed reading about the Don much more than I thought he would and he keeps regaling me (I haven't caught up with reading DQ yet) with what the Don or Sancho did. Yes, DQ is rather PG-13 in case you are wondering but the kiddo was just so ready for the story that I closed my eyes to the various libidinous references and agreed to let kiddo have a go at reading it.

Me: I just finished To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I have read it once before in my teens but the references did not make a full impact at the time. Having read it a second time, I realize I just can't do this book justice in a few lines. It deserves an entire post of its own.

I absolutely loved it.

I am going to persuade kiddo to name our future pets (if we have any) Atticus and Boo. That is, if he doesn't choose Hobbes and Snoopy first.


CURRENTLY READING and LISTENING to...

Reading aloud The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne and a thrift store find, If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot. Listening in the car: Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery, narrated by Kate Burton.