Cell Blobs

On of things I was really excited about starting was the science of the human body. So, the first thing I did was have a conversation with my kids. It went something like this...

"I think you are mature enough to learn about the human body."

See how I pumped them up first! HAHA! Then, I threatened them!

"If you can't be mature about it, then we won't continue learning about this."

And so yesterday, we started human anatomy. There were a few giggles, but no fart and poop jokes YET...

The first section was on cells and how we all start out as a single cell and how we divide and there are many types of cells, etc. Well, low and behold, guess what I have?!?!

Most of you know about our struggles to get pregnant. Brandon and Sophia were second round IVF babies after almost 2 years of failed other procedures. And, because I'm a keeper (in so many ways!), I kept the original image that the Doctor gave us for the 2nd round of IVF that showed us which 2 embryos she was going to implant. They were blobs of 8-24 cells at the time (ok, not blobs, they were Blastocysts).

And so now, here are the first pictures of Brandon and Sophia that most moms don't even have! (They are the 2 circled blobs on the top left and top right corners. And no, I don't know which one is which!) Pretty cool full-circle science homeschool day!

Brandon and Sophia as cell blobs.

Sophia and Brandon with their baby books, each with a cell blob photo.

Music UPGRADE

One of the main things that I wanted to add to our "schooling" this year was MORE music education. I've always wanted the kids to learn an instrument (Fernando and I know nothing about music, besides how to recognize RAD 90s music in a few notes!), and we never really had time to pursue anything beyond the occasional week-long camp.

So, one of the first things when planning out homeschooling was find a local piano teacher. We specifically chose a public charter school to homeschool with because they provide instructional funds for each child for us to choose how to use. A lot of our money goes to buy curriculum (math books, grammar, science, etc.), but a lot of it goes to semi-private piano lessons every week.

The kids go on Friday, review what they've been practicing, learn new materials, get their assignments for the week and we head home to practice! Well, our practice just got a SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE this week!

On loan to us through a friend, a BEAUTIFUL white baby grand piano was delivered and has been added to our living room. The kids were doing well before on their piano lessons are are now EVEN MORE EAGER to practice! (You see, before the keyboard would only play one key at a time, which was hard when you are trying to play 2-handed chords with your melodies! HAHA!)

So, thank you to our friends for helping us provide an even more RAD educational experience for our kids (and helping my ears). Here's to listening to beautiful Christmas music in a few weeks!

Bower's or Bust?

So, my kids LOVE field trips - I mean LOVE them! We've been trying to work as many in as possible. We decided last week to try the Bower's Museum. They are supposed to have a great exhibit on Native Americans (did you see I used the word supposed?).

So, after our impromptu fabulous trip to the Old Orange County Courthouse and after getting some of our daily work done at the library, we headed over to the Bower's Museum. I had been on their website and printed out a worksheet of questions about the Gabrelino Indians, which I assumed we would find the answers in one of their exhibits. WRONG! There was no mention of this tribe in the entire museum. There was 1 room of Native American baskets and 1 room of Mission history. That's it. Maybe it was because the Kidseum is closed - maybe there's more information there? I was sure I was missing something and inquired - we weren't missing anything except the money we paid to get in (which was kindly refunded). Maybe we'll try again when the Kidseum is open?

The most interesting part was actually the Chinese Art exhibit preview. The kids loved it and we may need to go back and see that. Here are some fun photos from our busted field trip:

Taking Dad along on our field trips!

We are studying totem poles with Native Americans, so this was a treat!

The Basket Room.

Chinese Art Exhibit Preview.

Aztec Art.

More totem poles.

Loving the Chinese Art.

Bower's Museum

Accidental Field Trip

Last week, we had planned to accompany Fernando to Santa Ana for a doctor's appointment and then visit the Bower's Museum (more on that in a different post). We packed up our school work to hit the library to do our schoolwork. There was one problem... the library was not open until 10am (it was 8:30). So, what does one do? Goes on an impromptu field trip, of course!

One of Brandon's Cub Scout Requirements for Citizenship is that he visit a courthouse. We headed off to the Old Orange County Courthouse. They have a free museum there and there are some courthouse offices still performed there. It was right down the street. We zipped in and looked at the displays. We talked to the ladies working in the marriage license office (did you know it costs $89 for a marriage license?). Finally, we headed up to the third floor where they have an old court room preserved and a self-guided tour pamphlet to tell you all about it! The kids found it fascinating - the judge, jury (every citizen's duty!), witnesses, court reporter, etc.. It opened up a huge discussion on innocent until proven guilty, prosecutors vs. defendants and much more! They were super interested! (Guess I know what type of unit I need to plan!)

 
The best part of the day happened as we were walking back to our car. A lady overheard us continuing our conversation and was so "impressed" that we were there seeing the sites, that she gave each of the kids a map of all the historical places to see in Orange County. OC just turned 125 years old and they made a special map with 132 historical places to see in OC. So, now we are trying to visit as many as possible. 9 down, 123 to go! (Wish us luck!)

Totem Poles

Friends - 
Thank you to all of you who have reached out to me asking why I have not posted anything lately. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that anyone is really reading this blog and that people are really interested in our normal lives. So, thank you for your encouragement... I have a few new posts coming your way!

Our Social Studies weekly newspaper (which we LOVE) has had us studying California Native Americans. Each week we open up a new full-color newspaper with articles and activities (and a test at the end of each week). We have been studying specific tribes and so I took the kids to the library and got some non-fiction material (I sound like a teacher, right?) to study one tribe more in depth. The kids each read about their tribe and picked 3 adjectives to describe their tribe from a long list that I gave them:

The next day, we discussed animals that matched each adjective (you'd be surprise to learn that pigs symbolize organized, cows = swift?) So, then they chose animals to match their adjectives and therefore had their totem pole animals.

That was as far as I could take them. I knew what the finished product should look like because of an idea I had seen on Pinterest (you could lost there, right?), but I had no idea how to get there. That's where my secret weapon comes in! Fernando (Mr. Artist with a Master's Degree in Education) used his usual Wednesday art class to show the kids how to cut shapes and add detail to make these COOL totem poles.

They are now a wonderful addition to our classroom decoration. And the kids STILL remember (even though it was 2 weeks ago) what their tribes animals and adjectives are - which is the point, right? LOVED this project!