What-What?! Week of September 26th

Last week, I picked up a chemistry model set called "Happy Atoms" for the kids to play with and use for school.  It's like if you took the wooden sets that I played with as a kid and put them on steroids.  This is the introductory set, so it doesn't have all the pieces, but enough to figure out if we'll buy the (expensive) full set.  Mostly it's just been the boys using it, but they've had such a great time that I'm thinking we will be getting more.

It works with a piece of software loaded onto the kids' tablets -- you take a picture of the atoms that have been connected together, identify what they are through the program, and then it will tell you what you've made and some information about it, like hazards and how the chemical is used.  My boys have been very interested in the "hazards" information, like flammable, toxic, oxidizing, etc.  There are also special tasks and challenges other than "slap some atoms together and see what you get".  Oz was telling me that he'd completed several of the challenges just by creating salt, though. xD

The atoms fit together with magnets

What-What?! Week of May 17th

With all the moving and other things going on, life has recently been more running around putting out fires than anything else.  The husband and I put pictures on the walls a few days ago, so now the place is officially home; we never took our family photos out of the box at the Everett apartment.  That place was never really home (or homey) at all.  We did have my horseshoe out and over the front door this whole time, for good luck.  We need all of that we can get. :P

Yesterday, we hit up the hardware store and picked up more things; a new faucet for the bathroom (my middle child can't operate the current one), patching compound to fix some divots in the wall, and a lawnmower.  I had been looking for a used lawnmower on Craigslist, but had no luck; I did find goats pretty inexpensively, but we really don't need those.  Suppose to pick up a new range hood, but they didn't have what we wanted in store.

At Saffron's Girl Scout meeting this week, she was awarded the Snack Badge, for learning about nutrition, making a snack for herself, and making a snack for her family.  She was also awarded the Discovery Key, which focuses on the scout herself, what makes her special, and how she can help her troop and family.  When I get them ironed on, I'll post a picture of her with them. :)

Later today, we'll be checking out the local library, which I'm excited about.  Going to pick up some books to read, because I need to do something that's not working or being mommy.  I've started watching more episodes of Alton Brown's Good Eats on Netflix, which is good entertainment, and not a bad jumping off point for cooking.  I'm also debating signing up for some classes over at EdX, but those don't start until June.

Was browsing Reddit, and someone mentioned Code.org's One Hour of Code.  Turns out, this is mostly aimed at children, so Friday I sat down with Corwin and did the first 20 exercises of the Disney's Frozen set.  He did need some help with the number of degrees (90 vs 45, etc.) for his character to turn, but otherwise did it by himself.  He got this certificate out of it:

The next day, Saffron sat down and got her own:

They had such a good time that I'm planning on working through some of the other tutorials there.  Even if they aren't interested in programming in the future, the logic and planning skills are really valuable.

What-What?! Week of June 8th

We're now at the one week countdown to our move date.  It is exciting and horrific, terrible and terrific.

Wednesday, I told my class at work that I wasn't coming back next year.  When I started working, they all wondered and questioned why the previous leader had left, and I didn't want them to be in that position again.  The kids seemed pretty sad; one even wrote me a thank you note.  The older kids in my coworker's class also seem sad that I'm leaving.  One of the sixth grade boys told me that he liked having me there this year.  For a sixth grade boy, that's a pretty strong sentiment.

I'll miss the kids, and I will definitely miss my coworkers, too.  This year has been a challenge, but it's been made way better by having such a supportive crew to work through it with.

Been slowly working on my paper.  I got about two hours worth of work on it yesterday, which is the first time I'd touched it in nearly a week.  I've resigned myself to the fact that it isn't going to be finished before we move.  So, there's that.

Spirographs via Math Playground

This is a cool spirograph thing.  The math itself is too complicated for my kids, but they still have fun making pretty pictures.  To see the math part, you can click on the "Where's the math?" button.  The first time we sat down with this, we probably made about 20 or so.  :P

News:  Swedes Test a Future of Less Work, More Play via Yahoo! Finance

In a lot of ways, this makes sense.  Technology should make life easier for humanity, but even with the huge productivity gained from industrialization, our workday has stayed pretty much the same as 50 years ago.  In other countries, workers are mandated a certain amount of vacation, and then they use it.  Americans don't seem to do that, especially without huge amounts of guilt.  I think that a 6-hour workday would probably be really beneficial for the health of our nation; with more time to cook and shop for healthier foods, it means that there are fewer reasons to eat out or from the frozen foods section.  I'm always a little appalled at how often I see the families I work with eat fast food, but I understand that they don't have someone at home to cook like I do.  This would also give parents more time to spend with their children.

...But I don't expect this will happen here.  Workaholics are too prized here.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

I recently did this craft with my kids at work, and it came out so beautifully that I thought I'd create a tutorial explaining the exact steps.  See the how-to below, as well as some ideas for variations.  If you want to keep the butterflies lifelike, a great place to find photographs is Butterflies and Moths of North America website.

 

What-What?! Week of March 17th

This week I’ve survived my husband being out of town, extra classes, turning in a major paper, and my first practice presentation for my capstone class.  But now, it is spring break!  Ooooooh yeah!

News: I’m in the Wall Street Journal! (second letter down)

In my post last week, I discussed an article titled #SequesterThis.  I did some editing and tightened it up, then sent it in as a letter to the editor.  And it was published!  It makes me quite happy.

Homeschooling:  Word Practice Eggs

I got the idea for these from FamilyFun magazine (which I believe is a Disney publication?).  Using plastic Easter eggs, write consonants on one side, and word endings on the other.  On mine, I did “at” words:  On one side it has a c, m, r, and b, and on the other, “at”.  Putting the two sides together makes the words cat, mat, rat and bat.  The example in FamilyFun is good up until you try to figure out additional word endings.  Bring in this website about word families, which has a huge trove of different word possibilities!

The only warning that I have on this project is that, though I used permanent marker, it slowly rubbed off the eggs.  I don’t know what else to use for writing on the eggs, but this was otherwise a huge hit with both my oldest children (ages 5 and 3).

Cooking:  Breakfast Enchiladas via Inspired Taste 

I made these last night, with some changes; I skipped the flour, used milk instead of half-n-half, and added salsa to the eggs as well.  It came out okay.  It wasn’t bad or anything, but it wasn’t very exciting to eat.  I think some sour cream or guacamole on top would have hit the spot.  Or maybe some black beans in the enchiladas?  I’ll have to think about it.

News:  5 Startup Naming Rules via Entreprenuer

 

This is a well-timed article on naming your business.  I particularly think that rule number one is good; you're creating a brand, not naming a business.  If the domain name you want for your business is taken, find a different one with the same name, or choose a different name all together.  Don't wind up adding, deleting or changing letters because of this.  No one will be able to remember it, and your website will just be lost in the vast sea of the interwebz.  I have one example of this that is pretty close to home: The California Farmers' Markets Association has the website cafarmersmkts.com.  I have been to this website numerous times, and still have to Google it every single time, because I just cannot remember it.  Californiafarmersmarkets.com is not taken, and neither is thecfma.com.  I think those would be easier to remember.

Movies:  Wreck-It Ralph Review

Last week, Wreck-It Ralph was released, and being a video game geek, I had to pick it up.  I actually liked this film better than Brave; in Brave, there was all this buildup of characters and story, but then the ending was far from the epic conclusion I was expecting.  Wreck-It Ralph does not have this problem; it remained exciting the entire way through, with subdued humor and a great plot twist.  My only real dig about it is the toilet humor: I know it’s a children’s movie, but really?  Did we have to go there?  The other thing that bothered me was how the villain was dealt with; I’m not sure that my kids really needed to see that.  Of course, after the scene in Tangled, where Mother Gothel turns into dust, I’m getting the idea that Disney isn’t sugarcoating or hiding how villains are killed.  I just remind myself that, in the original Cinderella story, the evil stepmother had red-hot iron shoes put on, dancing to death for Cinderella’s amusement.

Despite these issues, it was redeemed by the nostalgia factor, interesting characters, and creative setting.  Oh, and the music; I thought that the music, especially the theme for the “Sugar Rush” game was brilliant.  It sounds exactly like something you’d hear in an arcade.  I give it 4.5/5 stars.  I expect to watch this film often over the summer.

Wasting Time: More Princess Celestia as the Stig

Yes, more.  See you next week!  :)

(photos via FamilyFun, Inspired Taste, IMDb)