Patriotic Month

It started with our visit to Iowa and President Hoover's presidential library.

First we talked about money. What money is and how the meaning of money has changed over time. I found this book to be a very good introduction to the concept of money.

The One and Only Declaration of Independece is the book I wish I had read as a senior in high school. I learned more from this children's book than from pages and pages in a heavy textbook. The history of money and the independence of the English colonies in North America are closely related. True unity would not have been achieved without adopting common unit of money. The trade, taxes and regulation, of course, were at the core of the revolutionary sentiments in the colonies - all money issues.
[We are going to read one more book about money and we will read a few more books about the revolutionary war]

President Reagan's birthday is February 6th and President Lincoln's birthday is February 12th. In schools Lincoln is the icon and is covered first. My children love to read about Lincoln so when we went to the library we took a few books about him. This is the first we read and I found it quite exciting, expecially that it is based on true events. [There are a few more books we will read about Lincoln.] [ I also intentionally began the month with the declaration of independence. I wanted to stress the significance of the language and how that language did not apply equally to all residents of the colonies. I will put this together with Lincoln and the Civil War to drive the point about inequality for women and races and the struggles of groups to be recognized as equals. We will study a little bit about th civil rights movement. I am appaled that MLK is the first representative that children meet. I already discussed MLK with my kids and dismissed him as the core and most honest representative of the movement. I stressed the importance of the people and not the one hipocritical representative. ]

I have started to teach my kids not to trust stories they hear at school, even "true stories". I started with myths in Bulgaria's history such as the lion jump by Levski. As we were shopping I guided ballet girl into taking the story apart and finding all possible flaws and reasons it should not be trusted. As with MLK I dismissed the single role of one individual and stressed the importance of the masses and the many, small contributions that have been made. Societies tend to seek national heros. It is my belief that heros become meaningless when they assume super human and super natural strengths or are otherwise depicted as invincible and flawless. I think it is important to emphasize the importance of the masses, but I guess for the leaders of societies it is not a good advertisement to know that a lot of people with small actions can take you down; for leaders of societies it is better to state that heros come every once in a while, rarely, giving the illusion to all others that they are not significant, just ordinary. So, I am going to dismiss the value of Vassil Levski and stress the importance of all organizers and all leaders in all villages and cities.

This is my read for the month. I have never read about the history of the atomic bomb and this narration, which is rather simple, makes me uneasy. I will say more when I have finished

Malala, I did not read, but rather I listened to the story during my 5-hour drive to Iowa. The kids were listening to their Kindles, I was listening to Malala's story. I was not impressed. In fact, I resented the story because it was very self-centered and it left a lot of questions unanswered, and it raised a lot of questions which in the context of the aspriation of this girl made no sense. In most stories of this kind, there are tipping points but these were not recognized, just the outcomes mentioned which definitely made the story shallow and incomplete. I am happy that this girl is doing well and has survived and moved on. I am sad that she has been manipulated. I wish in ten years she revisits her story and tells it with maturity. I also hope that in ten years she has resolved a lot of the contradicitions in her story.

This is a wonderful series about the amazing constructions over human history. Bridges is one great episode that I highly recommend. We will probably do the bridge building activity with straws and pins.

Below are all the wonderful books we read about bridges. We read them over a few months. They contain very insightful information, great pictures and ideas on projects to try.

Left: General Information about existing great bridges..

Right: Learning about bridges-types of bridges, simple demos, observation points.

  

Left: This too is laying out the basics but in a bit more detailed way.  

Right: Detailed information about some bridges and general concepts about bridges.

This is a primer for teachers on how to put together a 10-day team competition in a classroom setting. I liked it and I think that in a few years I will probably use it actively with my kids.   

Left: Cartoon version about the dangers during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Right: the non-cartoon, more detailed version about the construction process, the difficulties and the solutions that went into building this beautiful bridge.

Quick Update on School Progress:

Ballet Girl:

1. Math: Finished Beast Academy 3B and Singapore Math 3B. Began Beast Academy 3C and Singapore Math 4A.
2. English: Reads at level O. All about Spelling: reached lesson 10 in level 3.
• Read Frindle (R)
• Read The Story of Diva and Flea (a few times)
3. Bulgarian: Is learning the parts of speech and rules of spelling. I learning the forms of communication.
4. Portuguese: Can read with help. Knows to conjugate in present tense regular AR verbs, Ter, Ser and Estar. Understands when a story is read.
5. Piano: Almost finished with book 2
6. Violin: Began Violin, tomorrow is lesson # 3.

The boy:

1. Math: Moving through Singapore Math 3A-multiplication. Spent a lot of time working on addition and multiplication. Learned about "times more" problems. Mastered "so much more/less than" problems.
2. English: The school thinks that he cannot read but I disagree. He comfortably reads the level 4 Bob Books and I have started him on All About Reading level 1. He loves it. He is motivated and he is making great strides.
3. Bulgarian: Reads comfortably.
4. Portuguese:  Understands when a story is read. Sings in portuguese. 
5. Piano: Finished Cuckoo, Lightly Row and just mastered the French Children's song hands separate. He is advancing wonderfully.