Learning and Learning...

Girls have been learning and learning the last few weeks. I don’t know if there has been a time with more concentrated learning since we started this grand experiment of unschooling.
In no particular order, here are a few (the ones I thought to jot down) things we’ve discussed in the last week or so…
*The etymology of “skirt”. Amazingly enough, when Emma asked about where such a word could have come from, I was prepared to find the answer…Thank you Sandra Dodd! I had just been reading on this site: http://unschooling.info/forum/default.asp …somewhere there…and it might have been a link to another page… (Yes, you’re right…I don’t know how to do the little embedded links… ) and she had been talking about doing a search for words by typing etymology and the word you’re looking for into Google and finding out about it’s wherefores. SO, when Emma was curious about it, I checked it out…and it worked! Yea!
*Postage Stamps/stamp collecting. Emma is beginning to get interested in stamp collecting. She gathered all the stamps off the Christmas cards and I found one from ‘93 while looking through some old pictures and things at Mom’s, and then came across two articles in the paper about stamps…

the sale of an inverted Jenny (unfortunately without a picture) and the new stamps scheduled for debut in 2008.
*Photography. Both girls are so much better at taking photos than either Daddy or I am that we’ve learned it’s best to give them the camera if we want pics. It *does* have it’s drawbacks…there aren’t any of the kid behind the camera! But I have better photos for my blog! Lol
"Tiger"
*Music. Emma got a cd player for Christmas, and since I don’t listen to any of my cd’s, I gave her free pick of them. She’s found a song she really likes and is interested in making a slideshow to go with it…which goes up there with photography, and down below with computers, too.

And ~ piano. I borrowed the portable keyboard from Mom and they’ve been playing with it and Anna is asking for lessons from one of the many piano books we’ve got around. I *really* wish I could play by "ear" more, because they’d be much more receptive to that way of playing, but I can’t hear if a note is right or not. I play by the book…reading music is just like reading books to me…just a different kind of code.
*Bread. I stopped at a store the other day, and bought a loaf of rye bread and some roast beef to go with it. Neither of the girls had ever tried rye bread before, and it led to a discussion of different kinds of breads and grains. The roast beef on rye reminded us of a movie quote (from this movie) http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0069495/ , so we came home and found the movie and watched it.

Going right along with that is…Food Presentation. After watching Ratatouille they’ve been making their sandwiches fancy with sauces around the sides and toothpicks with little bits of pickles on top. lol
*Finger knitting. A mention on a blog led us to a finger knitting site (unfortunately this isn‘t it, and I can‘t find it, but this one will do… http://www.forumsamerica.com/site/features/feature.aspx+Forum+Crafts+ArticleCode+2251+V+%20+SearchTerm+ , and we all three learned to finger knit! The girls have been turning out lots of long skinny scarves. They both wore their creations to church Sunday. We’re planning on buying more yarn just as soon as we get to go shopping.
">(Anna's was almost as long as the front porch)
*Ohhh, making GOO!! Did I already blog about the goo? Seems like I might have…anyway, Anna found a recipe in a book she was reading for making goo out of cornstarch and water.
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*Drugs. We’ve had two mentions of drugs (the illegal ones, or illegal uses of legal ones) in the last two weeks, so I thought I’d better talk to the girls about them before someone else does. While we have talked a bit before, we did a more explicit talk this time…complete with props. “Where did you get cocaine, Mom?” lol We discussed ways people might try to get you to try them, and ways to refuse. ..plus, we talked about what they would look like, JIK they see someone using, they’ll know.
*Plants. Emma was given two poinsettias by the manager of the grocery store (she LOVES Emma and is waiting for the day Emma is old enough to come work for her), and so Emma was very interested in getting them to live. Unfortunately Daddy over-watered them. One is completely dead and the other very sick.
">Not ours...a "borrowed" pic from the site we looked for info about keeping them.
*Fashion Design. Emma is *always* into this.
">The pictures of this outfit didn't turn out good...not a single one. I'm not sure why.
*Newspaper. I don’t believe I’ve blogged about Emma’s newspaper, have I? She decided to start a family newspaper…and I am simply amazed at her command of language. I didn't make a single correction in it (I did, however, take the liberty of editing out a certain incriminating name lol). She has three sections: Breaking News, Sports and Gossip.
~Date 12-11-07
Breaking News!
Child Wreaks Havoc!
An irresponsible girl went surfing on a crime wave through the weekend.
It all started Saturday when she took Kady and Kiera out TWICE. It was cold and raining and she left them outside in the freezing cold rain.
She also erased a snowboarding profile on SSX3, then she abruptly kicked Kiera in the face and proceeded to search for Christmas presents hidden upstairs; then she messed in Mamaw’s stuff, then in Rachel’s. She threw Rachel’s stuff off the bathroom shelf and left without cleaning it up.
She even got switched and rolled her eyes at Mamaw and pretended like she didn’t care what Mamaw said.
Then on Sunday she ran off and sat with Chasity without asking and even knocked the pizza right out of Brianna’s hand and laughed.
WHAT a wild weekend!~
*World War 2. I did mention that I’m reading a fascinating WW2 book. I’m finished with it now, but while reading I simply cannot resist reading certain parts out loud. One part I thought was interesting was about the Japanese…the way Americans thought of them, which, incidentally is EXACTLY how they’re portrayed in an episode of Gilligan’s Island…around here, all roads lead to Gilligan’s Island , after I read that part we found that episode and watched it, and another one that's related to it.
*Laura Ingalls Wilder. They’ve been reading her books…I read Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy to them, then they took off on their own (the first long chapter books Anna read on her own) They are both to By the Shores of Silver Lake now, and Anna is reading another book “about” Laura while she reads it, because she’s troubled by the period in Laura’s life she didn’t write about.
*Canada. Emma suddenly came up behind me and asked about Canada. She “want(s) to know about it, because I know about the United States, but nothing about Canada.”
*Computer. They’ve been playing a computer game and also working with some of the computer programs…I didn’t actually know that, but Daddy came across something Emma had made for him using one of the programs and asked about it. They learn So much by being left alone to *do* things on the computer!
*America in the 1840’s-1880’s. Because of the books we’ve been reading, and movies we’ve been watching, this time period has been discussed quite a bit lately, too.
*Art. I found this… http://sandradodd.com/art/basket and showed it to the girls and we all got a big kick out of it.
*Birds. Anna has gotten her bird journal back out and is writing in it about the birds she's seen lately. She's asking how to spell certain words as she writes. She wrote this; "The white-breasted nuthatch is an incredible bird. Just notice its brilliant colors and the line behind its eye."