Hansel & Gretel at the LA Opera

Sunday afternoon we went to see Hansel & Gretel at the LA Opera. Here is Gemma with two of the creatures from the woods.

Prior to the show, there was a scavenger hunt all around the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

And, at intermission, there was gingerbread cookie decorating.

After the show, children got to meet the performers...

...and twirl around the empty lobby.

Today in Gemma’s dollhouse...

Don’t you hate when this happens?

Our Walk Home

Pajama Saturday

Some things we did...

• listened to Scott Joplin’s Bethena and a song from Treemonisha
• played Forbidden Island (and won)
• finished reading Leif the Lucky
• played Prodigy side-by-side
• dusted dollhouse rooms & rearranged dollhouse furniture
• added stitches to embroidery project
• drew (I drew a chaffinch and Gemma chose a pig)

Mid-Year Update: History

I overscheduled history.

So, I’ve decided to press the pause button on our readings from Discovery of New Worlds and Our Island Story (and Trial & Triumph, and Hillyer’s A Child’s History of Art), and spend a month reading Leif the Lucky and The Little Duke.

Update: We spent the past week reading Leif the Lucky (1/5 of the book each day for five days), instead of the history readings I had scheduled. It went really well. Gemma seemed to enjoy it. She retained a few details, had some curiosities, and didn’t complain about reading it. (This is in contrast to her reaction after reading it in one sitting when it first arrived months ago; she didn’t like it.) I’m looking forward to having her reading The Little Duke this way over the next three weeks. 

Crayfish Day at CC!

Pajama Saturday

Today was Pajama Saturday.

Gemma and Pete went for a father-daughter bike ride down to the beach.

While I made breakfast, Pete taught Gemma how to play Gin Rummy, and then, as a family, we watched Fellowship of the Ring. (I wore my Hobbit slippers.)

Gemma and I did some Life of Fred: Fractions together, in bed, because bed is the best place to do math.

We baked chocolate chip banana bread muffins (that may have been more chocolate chip than banana bread) while listening to Scott Joplin’s rags.

Gemma and I played Prodigy  (I had no idea I could eat the salad in my backpack and get more hearts until Gemma told me.)

Another best day ever.

Mid-Year Update: Math

In math, Gemma is almost done with Life of Fred: Fractions. There are 32 chapters and the final “Bridge,” and Gemma’s on Chapter 30. After she finishes LOF: Fractions, we’ll start LOF: Decimals.

We’re also both loving the game Prodigy. The online game is free and so much fun. For homeschooling parents, I recommend creating a Teacher Account by going to https://infl.tv/eCpl

You can set up a classroom with one or more students. If you have multiple children, I would set up a classroom for each of them, because the game asks for your class’s grade level. So, if you have a 4th grader and a 2nd grader, you can set up a 4th grade classroom and a 2nd grade classroom. (I also recommend creating your own account because playing in the same “world” and helping each other on quests and in battles is a fun way to bond. A really fun way.)

The game starts with the player customizing his or her avatar. You choose a hair style, hair color, eye color, and skin color. Then you choose a first name for your math wizard. As you battle creatures, you’re actually completing the game’s diagnostic test, which determines what grade level you’re working at. While this is going on, you get to choose math wizard last name - something high fantasy and multisyllabic (Gemma’s last name is Rivermaster, and mine is Windlemon), and a pet (I got a baby dragon named Dragic, and Gemma got a Peeko).

After you finish the Placement Test, the game will assign you math skills at your grade level. So, if you’re a 6th grader who placed in 4th grade, the game assigns you 4th grade skills, but if you’re a 2nd grader who placed in 5th grade, the game assigns you 5th grade skills. And the wonderful thing about having a teacher account is that you can see where your child placed and what skills he or she is working on. Even better, you can assign specific skill by creating a quiz. For example, tonight, I wanted Gemma to work on multiplying fractions to reinforce what she learned in LOF, so I assigned that skill. The student doesn’t get a message telling them that the teacher assigned them a quiz; they just keep having battles and going on quests, and as they play the game, they complete the assigned problems. It’s brilliant.

If you have any questions about homeschooling math with Prodigy, let me know. 😊

Why are we so hung up on narration?

What if the reason for narration was not because it was the best way for children to process a reading, but because narration was a reaction to the educational methods being used in Victorian England? In Victorian England, instructors did the talking and students did the listening. Because students were viewed as containers to be filled, they weren’t explicitly taught how to process new learning. But if this isn’t effective, then maybe students aren’t containers. Maybe this understanding of what a student is not leads us to an understanding of what a student is, and maybe this understanding brings us to the realization that a student needs to process new learning. This realization leads to the need for a method, a method which can be explicitly taught, for processing new learning. Narration was a method. Could it be that the real lesson here is not that narration is the right way, the only way, but that a person needs to process new learning? Could there be other ways? More organic, more enjoyable, more effective ways?

Mid-Year Update: Literature

We finished The Hobbit a couple of nights ago. I decided to move The Wind in the Willows from school read to bedtime read because I was feeling behind; I was too ambitious with the number of readings I scheduled. She likes the book, and bedtime reads should be pleasurable. The book I was planning to have Gemma read - as a literature book - during the last trimester of 2nd grade is Robin Hood, but now I think we’ll do it as a bedtime read, too. Now, instead of wondering how on earth we’re going to get through it, I can just look forward to enjoying the story with her.

*Gemma Quote: Last night, Gemma said, “I wish we had a hearth so I could warm my feet.”