Rube Goldberg Machines

Andrew, my "maker" has been reinventing this versions of  a hot wheels Rube Goldberg Machine.

Today we did this after we watched this video: 

And a Mythbusters where they did a Rube Goldberg machine for Christmas.  Seemed appropriate: 

Showcase

Something I hope to do again . . . Andrew did this:

  

Ironically, I admit to being a dyslexic, and the error in the spelling of camouflage is something I would totally do -even had to rely on the computers spell check to get it right this time- but the mistake is my husbands.  Hehe -

And Sarah did Mermaids . . . so *we* knew Mermaids liked to drown people long before that Pirate of the Caribbean movie.

Then there was a talent show, and it was so much fun!

Lessons by Strewing.

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Dinosaur math, enjoyed by all.

Geography lesson taught by dad.

This night, besides the math games, and letter bingo, we talked about presidents that were on our currency and Benjamin Franklin who was *not* a president but on our currency.

This spun off to a talk about what Benjamin Franklin did, and the kite and electricity thing . . . so we ended the day watching a Mythbusters (don't ya' know, we love em.) about the kite flying experience.

Red Ridding Hood

Andrew tells the story with the help of his little brother.

Historyteachers

watched Bill Nhy the Science guy about flight and seasons.

Found GREAT YouTube Channel called Historyteachers and watched about the black death (bubonic plague) Cleopatra, Henry the VIII and his wives . . . just your general fun with internet learning!  LOL

In these days

We have NOT been idil, I promise you!

Between educational shows on science, history, natural sciences and internet games on math and physic and logic.  Not to mention Sarah's proclivity now to shout out "What's 2x4?" for anyone to answer . . .

And those multiplication songs keep bubbling up from the girl . . . the best investment I've put towards learning.

Today Andrew and a little bit me, dissected a snake.!!!

We've classified it as a common small Ribbon or Garter snake.

Chess,

Spent hours with Andrew on chess kids academy site 

learning the game of chess.  And so far we've completed lesson one with it's quizzes and are in lesson two.  :-)  Then we found the Chess Kid (non-plural) site below -

And then got distracted by Fenius and Ferb.

My kids are visual learners.

Hence we use the computer and internet as learning tools.

A while ago Sarah old told me she wanted to learn multiplication.  So I purchased from itunes "Multiplication by Heart".  And the songs worked, as I've posted previously, she's been singing her facts for a couple of days now.

Yup, pretty much every day she's singing the multiplications . . .

So today I showed her how to use her "songs" in multiplication problems . . .First on Fish Shop where she completed all three levels of "easy" and then we switched to Farm Freak Out.  I think she enjoyed Fish shop better, but Farm Freak out let her pick which multiplication fact she wanted to work on.  We chose 1, 2, 4, and 5.

Andrew was hovering around all this while so I set him up on the other computer with a little bit of "Action Fraction" but it was above his level, so we switched after a game to "Cannon Math" which was much more his level.  He loved it.

His dad pointed out to Andrew how he didn't have to start from 1 each time but how to "count on" from the big number.




Sometimes we had to get our "songs" right to get the right answer and often Sarah would need to sing her facts our; but if it wasn't timed, Sarah did SUPER.

It was kinda funny to be telling grandma . . . "Grandma, would you turn the TV down . . we're trying to do *MATH* in here!"

Ever "making"

Today's agenda, SURF SCHOOL!

Both Andrew and Sarah got up on their boards and Andrew even tried to jump and turn mid ride . . . He's so adventurous!

On the way to surf school  Sarah was *singing* her multiplications . . . 12's, 3's, 7's . . she knows them all!  I can not recommend Multiplication by Heart enough!

Then, Andrew is starting to leave me notes . . . "Luv mom" !  He talked about writing it "Luf mom" so we talked about the difference in the sound of "v" and "f" . . . I'm happy he's writing.

But more than that . . he *makes* things all the time.  Sewing, building, painting, fixing, sculpting and drawings . .  . Just now he quit his game on PBS.com to go and draw his dad.  He pulled down the "How to Draw Everything" book and opened it up and is figuring out how to draw his dad.

Boy, is there anything he won't -CREATE- with?

So, what did you do in class today?

Sarah took these pictures.  So we don't see her, but she did participate.  Participate in helping repair dad's car.  She didn't build a city with blocks but she did do archery under dad's supervision.  She worked on a  Math workbook, but only finish half a page.  She wrote me several notes.  And she read a bit from Dick and Jane. 

Also not pictured here is a hike down into the valley where Sarah identified which way the horse was walking by it's tracts.

And Andrew got a bullseye from this distance!

Good times. :-)

Princesses, Roblox, Dentist and Mud.

On Thursday we had Health Education and Career Exploration day with a visit to the . . . . *drum roll* DENTIST with Andrew.  Who left this kid-friendly place with a new t-shirt and certificate for have 3 visits without cavities!  Woot Woot!

Meanwhile, on Friday I introduced Builder Boy (a.k.a. Andrew) to Roblox!  Which is wonderful for his building mind, but I am useless on it and had to watch some youtube "how to" to figure out how to play.  Well, once he got the hang of it his enthusiasm caught to his sister - and so I let her set up an account and play on my computer while he played on the home computer and there they were building their worlds pretty much all day!

Yesterday Sarah had a "Polite as a Princess" class on etiquette given by Princess by Design - the teacher being a former Disney princess character (Belle) and Pageant winner. (also on Facebook)

walking/posture lessons

Special guest, Miss Teen California-World crowned each princess with a crown and a rose

On the drive there we listened and tried to sing along with all the songs on Multiplication by Heart - and she did well with all her skip counting song up to 6.  I think that is wonderful, considering it's nothing we "sat down and taught".  . . it's been entirely fun and easy!  We laughed and laughed the whole time.


Today, Andrew was working on a list of "Things to do that are fun" in response to his question/whine about what he could do.  Having him make out a list was so good - even though I had to prohibit him putting "Fighting with brother" on it, but we finally came to the point where he listed "do science experiment".  Well! that was all the encouragement that I needed because I *had* an experiment  that I've been waiting to do with them.  The idea came from Janet's post, so out we went to "play" with baking soda and vinegar.  Andrew decided that he wanted to make a volcano.  It's still drying, and we think tomorrow we will be able to make the "lava" flow.

What fun it's been!

Spanish

I am not posting, but I should, the Spanish education, not to mention cultural education while we are in Mexico.

Like right now, the kids are watching a cartoon movie in Spanish.  They do this almost daily. Dora la Exploradora is always in Spanish, and will use some English words mixed in there.

Ironically enough, the English is *heavily* accented, and some pronunciations are down right hilarious!

So, count every day so far a mark in Spanish and Culture! :-)

Welcome back students!

Budding film producers!

Andrew and Sarah have been working on this film.  Andrew wanted me to "edit out the fingers and hands" but since I don't have that kind of equipment - please forgive the fingers and hands.  Andrew is acting camera man and sound effects, Sarah manipulates the playmobil figurines. 

The story and set up is all their own - I just handed them my camera and let them go at it!  Hehe -

Today they are working with finger paints.

 And for quite a while now, Andrew has been wanting to make boats.  He even layed out the design and the color swatches are the colors he wants the boat to be.

He wants me to help him make a REAL boat *couph*, but I explained we don't have an axe.

Anyway, we'd thought we could build a smaller scale boat with a plastic soda bottle and finger paint.

these past days

We went to the beach all day today - S.E.A. were offering a free day of lessons and BBQ -

So they got up on surf boards for the first time, and gathered sea weeds and shells.  

Came back home and Andrew says "That surf kicked my butt! . . . All the way *off* my body!"

Out of the Blue

Well, last night was the BIG BLACK OUT of southern San Diego, Arizona, and parts of Orange County and Baja California Mexico.  It affected us, and what a nice opportunity to TALK about electricity, and all that it affects.

Yesterday I forgot to mention the letter Sarah made out to her pen-pal.  Her pen-pal just lost her grandmother and Andrew was so moved by it that he dictated a letter of condolences for Sarah's pen-pal.  I need to remember to copy these letters before they go out.

Then tonight, Sarah pulled out my sewing basket (blowing off some dust) and wanted to work on embroidery/cross stitching.  And then so did Andrew.  They spent about an hour working on their projects.

 And Andrew has been into making soldiers out of anything/everything . . here are some play clay soldiers he made and armed.

Then Andrew made armies out of paper and waged war all over my living room, and when a "bomb" went off, he methodically tore off heads, limbs, etc to have strewn about. Is this healthy? Hmmm - 

Sarah mentioned she wants to work on her cursive writing.  Maybe tomorrow.

Whew! What a Wii will do.

Yesterday the kids were with Grandma, and painted.

Sarah's house

Sarah's, she says "It's just . . . art."

the outside of a card Sarah made me

the inside of the card

Sarah's self portrait

An army for Andrew's boat (details later)

Andrew's and he wrote "mom" upper right hand corner.

Andrew's,this is actually sideways - for some reason the compu won't let me correct it.  It's a sun.

 When my husband and I returned we placed a globe we found at a thrift store and that attracted so much interest. The first question posed was - can you find where we live?  And then talking about "from here to there" . . .

Today we went swimming at a nearby pool for 4 hours and we *were* going to go to the beach, so before we left we watched Bill Nye the science guy about Ocean Currents.

One of the things we did while at the pool (site change because I really don't like the sand at the beach and papa wanted to stay home, pool is easier for me) is the kids circled around the kiddy pool creating their own current.  Way fun.  They were so excited about it.

And now, wearily dragging myself in - (why does a day at the pool wear me out more than the kids?)  We hook up the Wii borrowed from my brother, and play a few rounds of wii sports.  

Well, amend that, the boys were too tired and weepy so they laid down and are sleeping.  Sarah and I played some bowling and tennis, but I really want to blog before dinner - so right now, Just Sarah is whacking at the tennis = she is playing 2 players with just herself, wii remotes in each hand. Interesting.