Igloos and Palm Trees

Igloos and palm trees were on the menu for us the past two weeks for school.  Kai wrapped up her MBTP unit for The Cay and The Living Seas,  and Koa learned all about The Arctic and the Inuit culture while "rowing" the book The Very First Last Time.

I don't know if you're like me, but I always start off a new unit with schemes of grandeur.  You know, the schemes that are swirling around with the dust of baby unicorns.  Well, this unit started off the same way.  I decided that Koa and me were going to tackle the infamous.......sugar cube igloo.  It looks easy enough, right?  Well let me tell you, and consider this a warning, it's not as easy as you think.  Building a structure made out of tiny little cubes of refined sugar will test your patience, architectural skills, and your will to live.  No joke.  I strongly suggest having a glass of wine handy, or a bottle of vodka, or a picture of Boris Kodjoe...you know.....whatever takes you to your "safe place"......you're going to need it to lower that blood pressure.  This project evoked a level of OCD I never knew I had.  There is a fine line between letting your child express his creativity and make mistakes, but this project wasn't one of them.  I found myself in the late hours of the night, undoing everything that he had done to redo it so that it wouldn't topple over in the middle of the night.  Here's a fun fact, kids.  It takes the average Inuit hunter 30 minutes to make an igloo made of snow and ice.  It takes a 7 year old and his incapable mother one week to make one out of sugar.  Just take a moment to think about that.

I used a few different directions from varies websites, but they were all a flop so I'm not going to link them up.  I will say that the this recipe for royal icing was awesome and definitely did the trick.  I cheated towards to end with hot glue but after a week I was a broken women.  What can I say.

Have you ever seen a flat roofed igloo.........BAM!!!!!!!  There you go.  Not really your traditional igloo but it's a great place to hold a Transformers council meeting, launchpad for a lego rocket, or just hold a cup of coffee.  Versatility.  

 Koa watched this great video about Inukshuks, and why they are so important to the Inuit people.  He also made a few of his own. :)

He made his own soap carvings.  This is CLEARLY a walrus floating on a piece of ice.

He also learned about traditional Inuit throat singing.  We found several videos on Youtube with examples.  They were very different than anything we had seen before, but it was awesome showing Koa a different culture and what they found beautiful.  You can see the videos here and here.  I'm not going to lie, I maybe considered flexing my throat singing skills at random people in Walmart.

The BBC has a great documentary that we found, A Boy Among Polar Bears, and Koa really enjoyed watching them build an igloo.  Theirs couldn't balance a coffee cup.  Just saying.

The illustrations in The Very First Last Time are beautiful.  We took the art concept of pointillism from the book, and made our own Valentines art with a project from Deep Space Sparkle.  This picture was pre-Krakken attack.  AKA.....Jax decided to add to it while we were letting it dry.

We finished up the unit and made Tyler Florence's recipe of Steamed Mussels with Leaks, Garlic, and White Wine.  We were just happy we didn't have to find our mussels like they did in The Very First Last Time.   Koa gave them a thumbs up!

 
All in all, it was a great unit!!!!  Koa even asked if he could learn about all the animals that lived in the arctic.  Other then Koa utilizing his new vocab words, and threatening to throw Jax out into the TUNDRA, we had a lot of fun. :)

Here are some other books we tied into out studies.

We are doing some experimenting with Kai's MBTP units, and are going to attempt to scrapbook her final projects.  I'm hoping it will work and we can keep all her work in a nice, tidy scrapbook.  We shall see!

She was suppose to make a monument to Timothy, so we decided on a mosaic wall made out of foam shapes that we put on a 12 x 12 piece of scrapbook paper.

I think she did a beautiful job!  When she finishes her project pages for science I will share those as well. 

Well, there you have it.  Igloos and palm trees, or palm trees and igloos. 

I Don't Think You're Ready for this Jelly.......fish

This song was playing in my head all week.  Appropriate?  Nope.  Annoying?  Definitely.     But what WAS appropriate was how much fun Koa had doing his Five in a Row study with the book Night of the Moonjellies.

This was our first time "rowing" this book and it was awesome!  homeschoolshare is an amazing resource for lapbooks, and even though we do more of a scrapbook style than a lapbook, it still is a great place to find printables.  

Because the story takes place in Connecticut, Koa learned where in the U.S. it's located.  He also learned a little bit about New England.  His only complaint about New England.......the Patriots, but can you really blame him? 

Koa is doing great with his print and is working really hard on his letter size, spacing, and how neat his letters are.

This was a fun art project we found at Deep Space Sparkle.

We printed the jellyfish lapbook from Homeschoolshare and made these pages for our FIAR scrapbook.

We even made our own jellyfish in a bottle!!!

Is he wearing puppy pajamas you ask?  Affirmative. ;)  You can find the instructions for this project here.

And what better way to round out our Night of the Moonjellies study then to stuff our faces by making our very own Mar-Gra's Restaurant!!!  Koa wanted to make his own 50's diner, so he decided on burgers, tator tots, and milkshakes.  YUM.  We put on some oldies, fired up the grill, and let the GOOD TIMES ROLL.

All hats in this house, including handmade diners hats, must match all Seahawks gear.  Fact.
 

OCD at it's finest.  Daddy was so proud.

Service with a smile!

Do I smell........BACON!?!?!?!?!?

 And there you have it.  Great food, great music, and an AWESOME way to spend a Friday night as a family. 

A Change is a Comin!

It's time, people.  It's done BEEN time for years.  I feel like if I post it here then it becomes official and I can't quit.  So consider this my official declaration for OPERATION CHANGE 2013.  I must now go make arts and crafts on my fridge to resemble picture below.  Step 1 Complete.  Step 2 revealed tomorrow.  OVER AND OUT!

Port Townsend

Just wanted to share some pictures I took of the family  in Port Townsend while my parents were visiting.  My grandparents lived there for a couple of years when I was growing up and I have such awesome memories of taking a ferry and going to visit them. :)  Even though I enjoy crying like a little girl about how homesick I am for the Eastside, I DO really like the fact that all these places from my childhood are within a few hours drive.  Where else can you find a beach or be driving up the most gorgeous mountain in the world just 30 minutes from your driveway?  The PNW!  My photography skills are still a work in progress so please judge silently my slightly out of focus pics, blown out skies, and underexposed images...I'M ON A LEARNING CURVE!!!  GEESH!!!

 

We drove over to Fort Warden and down to the lighthouse and the beach.  What an awesome place!  It's also where they filmed the movie "An Officer and a Gentlemen", which ironically was on cable a few days ago so of course I had to watch it.  On a side note, Richard Gere was kinda hot back then...in a 80's pre-gerbilgate kind of way. ;) Yes, I went there.  Couldn't help it.  It's in my nature.  Plus, it's wasn't true.  So there.  TEAM RICHARD GERE!  

Love these people!  Koa has been the resident photo-bomber lately and I've just had to embrace it.  

 

Yes, we roll out in footie pajamas and a vest.  Is anyone seeing a pattern here?  

 Koa is also our resident go-go dancer.  He dances.  Everywhere.  Here is his showcasing his funky fresh dance moves.......beach style.

 

This picture makes me giggle.  Thanks for the face, Dad!  

 

OMG......LEWIS???  CLARK???  IS THAT YOU!?!?!?

 

 And there you have it.  Port Townsend.  Good times, good times.  I forgot to mention that on the way up we were stopped at the Hood Canal Bridge to let a nuclear sub go through.  It was pretty cool.  I wish I had pictures but it was too far way. :(  Steve and Isaiah were in Spokane so hopefully we will get the chance to take them up to P.T. sometime soon.  On a side note, if you ever find yourself in P.T., go eat at Waterfront Pizza.  It will NOT disappoint! 

 

 

Tornado in a Jar

Koa is reading "A Pair of Red Clogs" for his FIAR study so for our science day we decided to learn more about weather.  We began by reading "Flash Crash Rumble and Rumble and Roll" by Dr. Franklyn M. Branley.

Koa loved the pictures and enjoyed learning about how air pressure changes during a storm.  He's also an expert on lightening safety. 

To finish up the day we made possibly the EASIEST science experiment of all time, and it pretty much made Koa think I was the smartest mom of all times!!!  I'm not gonna argue with him because it's been my experience with some other unnamed children of mine, that this opinion will change with age.  Here is the original link I found on Pinterest.  http://elliemoon.typepad.com/blog/2012/02/tornado-in-a-jar-diy.html.

 

I present to you......TORNADO IN A JAR!  

 

Here are the magical ingredients.  Dish soap...check.  Jar with residue from an impossibly hard label to remove...check.  Jar lid...check.  Now fill that baby up with water!

 

Pour in a little dish soap, put on your lid, and SHAKE THAT JAR UP.  Here are some lessons we learned from this super simple experiment because in our house NOTHING is simple.  1.  Use clear dish soap or it will be a cloudy hot mess.  2.  Glitter is a bad idea.  I'm actually learning that glitter is ALWAYS a bad idea.  :P  

 

SHAKE, SHAKE, and SHAKE!

 

And then if you've shaken it enough, and you look at it with a super serious look of concentration.....a tornado will appear...like magic.  

And yes, we DO do school in footy pajamas.  It's our school uniform, and is functional as well as classy....CLASSy...get it!  HA! I crack myself up.    

 

  

 

Tacoma Museum of Art

Last week, why did you hate me?  I tried to make you happy but it seems we just couldn't be friends.  Oh well.  Maybe this week will go a little smoother.  I wasn't sad to see you go, but at least I was able to escape with the kids down to Tacoma's museum district!   We met up with some school friends and were able to learn about native Americans, PNW style! 

 

 Apparently vandalism is encouraged in downtown Tacoma if it's in the name of the arts. :P

  I would love to give you lot's of fun and interesting facts about the PNW Native Americans and their traditions, culture, and canoes, but I was too busy trying to keep Jaxy quiet in the Tacoma Art Museum.....and failing miserable I might add.  Note to self, toddlers and museums don't mix, especially if they carry the same DNA as SMW.  At least I was able to remember Linda's name and not have to name her like "Forester Brad". 

The kids did a great job of listening.  I was really impressed!  Way better then their brother!  Koa is wearing his "serious" clothes.  This is his outfit he wears when he means business.

How awesome are these!?!?

 

After hearing from Linda we were able to go into one of the museum's classrooms and were taught how to make beaded necklaces by some high school interns from SOTA.  They were awesome!  

 

So do you think I took pictures of my kids and their finished necklaces?  Nope, I was STILL chasing Jax, but they are hanging on my rearview mirror and they look pretty fantastic....guess you will just have to take my word for it. :P  We had a great time and can't wait to go visit the rest of the museums in the area.