September 2018

First big hiking trip:

Our first stop was the Grand Canyon. When we arrived around 2pm, we immediately went to the rim, to take a look. The views were breath-taking. Crowds were everywhere, on a weekday. We walked to the museum, which happens to be at one of the bus stops, and took part in a ranger program along the walk of time. The walk of times is fabulous. Sample rocks and the time period from which they were formed was displayed and some information was included.  The ranger did a fine job narrating, as well as involving the children in the presentation, and answering the many questions the group had.

That evening we saw an Elk. On this trip we ended up setting camp in the dark under the headlights of the car. Our neighbors were not pleased, but hey, that's life!

The next morning we drove to the rim, and took a 1.5 miles hike down the Bright Angel trail! It was lovely coming down, and super difficult coming out. Thankfully, on the trail a bit past the 1.5 mile marker was a ranger who advised me to head back up. I thank her.

The very same day we headed to Zion National Park. We stopped at Page, AZ to grab some lunch, and continued straight to the canyon. The park is mesmerizing. The drive from the entrance to the campsite is beautiful. You can easily view all the main types of formations, along with some of the inhabitants of this wonderful place. We were thrilled and at awe. As the night before at the Grand Canyon, we set up camp in the dark, but our neighbors this time around were quite forgiving. That evening was nice and warm, but windy, very very windy.

The next morning we ventured into the canyon for some hikes. Four trails were closed so we hiked the Watchman (moderate), the Weeping Rock (easy) and the Emerald Pools (lower, easy). We took advantage of the bus which takes the visitor to 9 sightseeing spots. We also enjoyed the 22-minute video at the museum center. On the way back from the Emerald Pools we stopped to dip our died feet in the cool Virgin River waters. Then back at camp, we took our tent down and embarked towards park number three.

But before we even had a chance to leave Zion, we stopped many many times to observe the wild life. Wild Turkeys. Mountain Goats. Deer fighting and competing for territory and females. And of course, we stopped to look once again at the rock formations!

The drive to Bryce Canyon National Park was about 2 hours. It seemed longer because we drove a lot in the dark. But we did not make it all the way to Bryce. We stopped at Hatch which is 20 miles away from Bryce. I had rented a cottage for 2 evenings. Bryan was starving by the time we arrived, so we had dinner in the cafe across the street. Possibly the only cafe in the entire small town. The food was phenomenal.

Then we slept.

The next day, my oh, my, we went to what was, for me the highlight of our trip.

We stopped at the visitor center, got some guidelines on what to hike and got going. We went down the Navajo loop, around the Peekaboo loop, and back the Navajo loop. The Navajo loop is steep up and down. The Peekaboo is up and down the entire time. This was plenty of hiking for us. Coincidentally, we met a friend of mine, just as we were emerging from the Peekaboo trail and about to head up the Navajo trail. Friends make climbing out of a steep canyon easier. Thank you. Bryan had a friend to chat with. I had a friend to talk to, and Sophia hung around to listen to our stories.

The plan was to head to the visitor center. Watch the 22-minute informative movie; fill the junior ranger activity book, and go home. But on the bus we met a family which was talking about how beautiful the night sky over Bryce is, and that in the evening there would be a program with telescope viewing. So we changed plans. Instead of heading home, we went to the lodge for dinner, caught the last bus to the visitor center, drove to the amphi-theatre where the night program was supposed to be, and participated. We learned a lot about the universe. The kids and I participated in some demonstrations. Bryan won a lollipop.  Then we viewed Jupiter, a constellation, and Saturn! We were exhausted but delighted! And at 11pm we were back at the cabin, and slept soundly that night!

Optics

The plan is to explore optics. We are going to use Explore Light and Optics. We are going to also talk about one of the first real scientists, Ibn Al Haytham. There is a large historic component to his research and the methods he settled on.

We have all the materials for an in depth study of optics but as I am also eyeing mechanics we are going to just go over the fundamentals.




History

We are embarking on a over-encompassing study of history. We are starting of world war 1. No particular reason besides that I want to talk about how stupid the war was and how trust and misinformation and miscommunication has a lot to do with history. We are also going to talk about some of the first true historians and travelers-Herodotus and Ibn Battuta

Fun

We are going to use one-way valves to make a model of the heart and super soakers. Who does not like super soakers!

Music

Back in the swing of things. Sophia has two dance classes, one piano and one violin class. Bryan has one piano class. Sophia's first violin teacher told me that kinematic exercises are good for establishing rhythm and feeling for steady beat.

Homeschool

History, Science, Math, and Portuguese are in my court this year.

In History this year we are going to cover African Kingdoms, European Navigators, Conquest, New World, Slavery, Early US history, Civil War, Reconstruction, Great Depression, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Cold War. I am taking a very liberal approach to US history, meaning that I will avoid lies at all costs. It will not be a pretty tale.

In Science my focus will be on mechanical and electric devices for computation. We are going to talk about Turing machines and transistors a lot. I am studying this material beforehand. It is fascinating.

Math we are going to do a heavy review of what we learned last year, and we will slowly plow through some new material.  Sophia will begin Geometry and is already working through PreAlgebra.
Bryan is finishing the third grade Beast Academy books.

Portguese is a joint effort between me and their teacher in Michigan. I expect to have both reading and speaking more this year. We are also going to work on learning more verbs and tenses. At the moment we are reading O BGA, and the next book lined up is Nicolau Volta Aos Aulas.

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.

February Books

The themes his month are two: 1) Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, 2) accomplished African Americans, and 3) Charles Darwin and Evolution

                                                                                                                           

We already started on this journey with a real journey. Our New Year's trip to Arkansas was the igniting factor. Since then we read the two Magic Tree House books about Abraham Lincoln and Abe Lincoln's hat. We are currently reading the Magic Tree House Civil War on Sunday. I have not read to the kids the Gettysburg address but I have told them why and when it was delivered and that it is the most famous speech delivered by Lincoln. We love Lincoln. We just need to visit his memorial in Washington DC.

We are also reading about George Washington Carver. This was again inspired by our trip in the south. I am very pleased because I am learning so much as well. I am fascinated by this man who has accomplished so much by sheer perseverance,  hard work, desire, and curiosity. We will also read about Elija McCoy, an African-American inventor whose inventions will be dear to sunlight boy's heart and soul.




We will talk about the essence of slavery and the underground railroad. It will be an interesting journey and I will be posting the pictures of the books along with comments as we encounter them.

The My First Biography book about Harriet Tubman ballet girl read on her own. It is a very easy read. She read it the day after we read together the Picture Book of Harriet Tubman. The picture book contains richer information and pictures, and can be the lead to good, thoughtful discussions. To me what was interesting was that this woman activist did not settle with freedom from slavery, she kept going long after the civil war had ended and entered the battle for equality for women. I was impressed. I have never heard of this woman. We are going to read next Sweet Clara's quilt about the ingenuity of a slave in making a lasting, reliable map for many to follow the path to freedom along the underground railroad.

Before we read about Harriet Tubman, we read about Henry. I didn't spend much time on 'what happened to his family' because what I wanted to emphasize is that he wanted to get out, not let go and give in and give up. To him, his escape was a rebirth. This is what it means to be free. I am sure this is how many of the hostages we hear about in the news these days feel once on home ground. If we read the book about Henry again, which I plan to do, just to reinforce the ideas, we are going to 'wonder' what happened to his family. It will allow us to flow into the next book I have planned-Now, let me fly. This particular book I think condenses many aspects of the slavery trade within a short and simple text-I want to see how my kids react, what their feelings are, what their questions are. A question that they have asked is 'why was slavery needed in the first place' and I think that I will be able to address this question from geographical(South America, Africa), historical(Portuguese explorers) and biological(climate, immunity, agriculture) and economics points of view. A question that I do want to address is why slavery eventually ended-why did the white folks from the north decide it's not such a good idea after all.

I wanted to emphasize that among the blacks there were progressive folks, even among runaway slaves. The story of Elijah McCoy is a great example. The Other Side is a great illustration of the absurdity of segregation. I did not use the word, I used the word separation, but I emphasized that the fence is a physical boundary to be feared, but there were other forms such as the bathrooms and the drinking fountains, and the trains, etc. What is weird is that I said: this is like the water and oil, they don't mix, there is a boundary of separation, similar to this one. Just as there is emulsifiers there are ways to integrate blacks and whites together. This is very abstract but we had just visited the science of emulsifiers that evening so I went on with the analogy.

We are going to read about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King as well.

We are starting our journey in Evolution and Charles Darwin's trip by re-reading an old favorite about the Galapagos islands-One Cool Friend and others.

This book is great. It is not only the story of the Galapagos islands but also the story of the Hawaiian islands and any other volcanic islands. I absolutely love this picture book because most elements relevant to evolution are clearly depicted in the pictures and described within the text. Fabulous book!

We are going to read another book about the Galapagos islands which has a lot of illustrations and then we will move on to Charles Darwin and his journey, his observations and his conclusions. Then we will read the one book about evolution that I have wanted to read for quite a while to them which illustrates all the phases of extinction.



Related to his topic is geology. We are taking the fiction route to geology this time around. We started with the Magic Tree House Vacation under a volcano.

I do not like the Magic Tree House books. The text is very shallow and elementary even if they do contain some historically accurate information. However, my children find these books quite wonderful and accessible. I am pleased to read them but I will try to space them a little more in the future.

All About Spelling review: I thought out loud on my feed tonight whether it is best to learn one word at a time or through rules. I think rules are better for already English speakers because they have an arsenal of words to which they can apply the rules which are being taught. On the other hand, one word at a time makes complete sense for people who are growing a vocabulary one word at a time. By the time these foreign speakers have acquired large enough vocabulary they would have seen the patterns which are otherwise deliberately taught in schools. I was satisfied with my answer.