Friday, July 6, 2012

Space, Decimals, Taking a Punch, and the Mysterious Spot

Lu is reading about the universe. We studied the solar system last year and will probably continue to study space every year because it is fascinating, and infinite! Studying the universe also helps us keep our own existence in perspective, and reminds us that we are part of something much, much larger.






We finished our chapter on multiplying and dividing decimals.
It wasn't pretty, but we got through it. I'm glad we'll be moving on to the next math skill, but we'll be needing to keep practicing this one because it hasn't quite fully gelled yet.




After finishing chapter books, Lu usually does a written summary, but this time, we decided to do a video summary - comparing and contrasting the first two books of The Little House collection. He thought it would be easy-peasy. Boy was he wrong! I asked him if he wanted to take some time to think about what he was going to say, or maybe even write something down. Nope. Okay then, let's do it. Not in two or three takes... it took us 12 takes to get one blooper-free 2-min video summary!





Every now and then we pull out this book - The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, and Lu reads a chapter. This week, he read about how to take a punch.




 And then he showed me what he had learned -

Tense your stomach muscles if they're aiming for your middle.


Go into it if they're aiming for your head.
 Clench your jaw if they're going for your face.


Back and sideways to avoid an upper-cut 
(I think that's what he said anyway)




Lu started a new chapter book - La Rebelión de las Palabras (The Rebellion of the Words). It has been my intention to alternate between English and Spanish independent reading, but this has not always been possible. The books have been more in English lately, so we'll probably have a Spanish stint now.






Lu comes running up asking for the camera and yelling
"You must come see this!"
Indeed, I'd never seen anything like it.
At first it looked like a black spot of paint on the tree,
but then I looked closer...



Hundreds of hairy little black caterpillars all clumped together!


Wow!


3 comments:

  1. Aw! I wish the video posted correctly for you. Maybe you can try again with one of the "blooper" reals. Bloopers can be fun. ;)
    Those were some pretty weird caterpillars!

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  2. We love space here too! The universe is endlessly fascinating. And they are the weirdest caterpillars I have ever seen!

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  3. Weird about the caterpillars. I wonder why they were doing that. Hmmmm....

    Cool idea about doing the video summary instead of writing. Maybe we'll try that this coming school year.

    We study the universe, solar system, etc frequently too. We both love it!

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