And we may go again soon because we saw no whales and were given "whale checks" to come back again for free.
We did see some sea lions and had one following our boat all the way back to the dock.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Whale watching
Fun day. All the kids had fun. Though 3 of 4 felt a bit sick, everybody recovered and is excited to go again - especially if I give them some motion sickness medicine. (I thought I'd try our first time without it to see how they'd do.)
And we may go again soon because we saw no whales and were given "whale checks" to come back again for free.
We did see some sea lions and had one following our boat all the way back to the dock.
And we may go again soon because we saw no whales and were given "whale checks" to come back again for free.
We did see some sea lions and had one following our boat all the way back to the dock.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
workboxes
in an attempt to better organize our schooling and build greater independence into our kids' work ethics, we have implemented the workbox system. it has not magically transformed us, BUT the kids are enjoying the system and getting better at it everyday.
our goal is for our kids to be able to work independently through a variety of tasks with a checklist that they make for themselves. that's really 3 goals: 1. work independently, 2. work through a checklist, 3. make a useful checklist
our kids can work independently on SOME things and need to build that skill into a few more parts of their education
most of our kids have a hard time working through a checklist, so this step (using workboxes), is designed to make the checklist more tangible/visible and motivate them to finish their "list"
the most basic description of what we're doing is putting our "checklist" of independent studies in drawers/"boxes" for them to work through each day.
so they start with the top drawer and move to the bottom, through all 10 drawers. when they finish, they can have free time (until I call them to our afternoon all-together readings).
I thought this would motivate anyone prone to laziness to keep up with everyone else. and this is working as my lazy child is also my most competitive child. however, my usually diligent child finishes last because he is also my know-it-all child and spends all his time helping the other kids instead of accomplishing his own work. :(
hmmm...
our goal is for our kids to be able to work independently through a variety of tasks with a checklist that they make for themselves. that's really 3 goals: 1. work independently, 2. work through a checklist, 3. make a useful checklist
our kids can work independently on SOME things and need to build that skill into a few more parts of their education
most of our kids have a hard time working through a checklist, so this step (using workboxes), is designed to make the checklist more tangible/visible and motivate them to finish their "list"
the most basic description of what we're doing is putting our "checklist" of independent studies in drawers/"boxes" for them to work through each day.
so they start with the top drawer and move to the bottom, through all 10 drawers. when they finish, they can have free time (until I call them to our afternoon all-together readings).
I thought this would motivate anyone prone to laziness to keep up with everyone else. and this is working as my lazy child is also my most competitive child. however, my usually diligent child finishes last because he is also my know-it-all child and spends all his time helping the other kids instead of accomplishing his own work. :(
hmmm...
a productive day
the makings of a productive tomorrow
the makings of a productive tomorrow
Sunday, January 22, 2012
boys can bake
This morning I woke up to a loud clatter. Someone had opened the slide out drawer of pans that we DO NOT ever open - because cookie sheets slide down the back and make loud noise. (No harm done, just loud.)
Well this morning, Kik was the offender and Jo quickly helped him clean up and because I heard them working together, I didn't say anything (or get out of bed). :)
When I did get out of bed, the boys had prepared biscuits following (and doubling) the recipe on the bisquick box. They did a fantastic job and the biscuits were delicious. I was pleasantly surprised by their initiative and skill. I have only made this recipe a couple times, so it's not something they're familiar with and they accurately doubled the recipe. Also, I'm lazy, so the couple times I used the recipe, I made the "drop biscuits". The boys used cookie cutters to make fun shapes after flouring the counter and rolling out the dough! And they cleaned up!
Love these kids. I am blessed.
When I did get out of bed, the boys had prepared biscuits following (and doubling) the recipe on the bisquick box. They did a fantastic job and the biscuits were delicious. I was pleasantly surprised by their initiative and skill. I have only made this recipe a couple times, so it's not something they're familiar with and they accurately doubled the recipe. Also, I'm lazy, so the couple times I used the recipe, I made the "drop biscuits". The boys used cookie cutters to make fun shapes after flouring the counter and rolling out the dough! And they cleaned up!
Love these kids. I am blessed.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
sick kids :(
wow! i've done things this week that i NEVER thought i'd EVER do in my life (unless i became a nurse.) that's all i can say.
Monday, January 9, 2012
family fun night
on saturday (after the garage sale when i was super tired) the kids planned a family fun night! and tonight, it was almost fully executed .
here was the plan they presented:
* go to disneyland (translation: downtown disney)
here was the plan they presented:
* go to disneyland (translation: downtown disney)
* eat at rainforest cafe (free kids meal coupons were paperclipped to the plan!)
* go on "all the rides" (me:what rides?, them: ummm... i guess there's just the monorail, me: you have to pay to get into disneyland for that, them: oh yea. $600 for our family. nevermind.)
* legoland (translation: the lego store), where we can each spend the $10 we "earned" from the garage sale (they did give up quite a few of their possessions - so basically i'm trading a toybox worth of junk per kid for a tiny box of legos per kids - works for me!) back to the fun night...
* ride the tram (we usually watch the fireworks from the parking garage)
* donuts from Compass Cafe for dessert (we bought krispy kremes there one time) i convinced the kids they would have more to spend on legos if we drove by a regular donut shop on the way home.
execution: rainforest cafe, lego store, 8pm:realize that tomorrow is our first day "back to school" - aka: wake up early!, tram, donut shop (it was part of the plan), home (with sugared kids who need to get to bed ASAP and will probably be grumpy in the morning - sorry mrs. winn & mrs. clark & my whole class! Thankfully, i'd finished most of my prep work ahead of time!)
Super fun for everyone! Great planning grubb kids!
* legoland (translation: the lego store), where we can each spend the $10 we "earned" from the garage sale (they did give up quite a few of their possessions - so basically i'm trading a toybox worth of junk per kid for a tiny box of legos per kids - works for me!) back to the fun night...
* ride the tram (we usually watch the fireworks from the parking garage)
* donuts from Compass Cafe for dessert (we bought krispy kremes there one time) i convinced the kids they would have more to spend on legos if we drove by a regular donut shop on the way home.
execution: rainforest cafe, lego store, 8pm:realize that tomorrow is our first day "back to school" - aka: wake up early!, tram, donut shop (it was part of the plan), home (with sugared kids who need to get to bed ASAP and will probably be grumpy in the morning - sorry mrs. winn & mrs. clark & my whole class! Thankfully, i'd finished most of my prep work ahead of time!)
Super fun for everyone! Great planning grubb kids!
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