A Peek at our Week

We've been busy, busy, busy...

Reading Lord of the Rings

 

Studying Newton's Laws of Motion

Working on Creative Writing/Photography Assignment:  

"My Town"

 

Learning to change the strings of his guitar:

 

A New Haircut

 

Hip Hop video for P.E.

 

Making a Lampshade

Dissecting a Fish

(Gagging Mama did not participate in this one)

Learning to use Excel

 

Participating in a Raw Vegan Desserts workshop:

My mom sent him a food processor shortly after this workshop, 

and he's been non-stop making yummy, healthy treats for us <3

Lake Day

All these big, thick books! It feels so... scholarly!

I was intimidated by our million-page algebra book in the beginning,
but we're managing just fine.

We've been learning about stuff like

(read with loud, thundery voice)

The Transitive Property of Equality

(say whaaa?)

Oh yeah.

If a=b and b=c, then a=c.

And we've been learning about stargazing and

the ideas of Copernicus and Kepler and Galileo...

In history we've been reading and watching documentaries

about the Ottoman Empire.

Oh so much sophisticated learning!

****

But in the middle of the week, on Wednesdays,

we leave the books on the kitchen table,

and we take a Lake Day.

It's a 7-minute walk from our house.

  On the weekends we go swimming too,

and sometimes run into friends

(ya know, 'cause they go to school and can only go to the lake on weekends ;)

We moved here when Lu was one month old. I was a young, single mother. Everyone thought I was crazy. What would I do for money? Where would Lu go to school? There are no hospitals nearby! Were we safe, alone on the mountain? We didn't even have electricity in the tiny house I'd built for us!

But it was my dream,

and it all worked itself out,

and it was the best decision I've ever made.

Lu agrees :)

Pre-Columbian Societies, Non-Newtonian Fluids, and Natural Building

It's been raining hard and we were on hurricane alert

for a few days. 

Rain or shine, the boy is up and at 'em at 6am,

even though mama sometimes sleeps in until 7.

He's an early riser, no matter what time he goes to bed,

or how gray and cold it is outside.

We're still starting the mornings with guitar practice.

This week, Lu's been learning 

Metallica's Enter Sandman,

Guns 'n' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine,

and The Beatles' Let It Be.

We've been using DK Eyewitness Books 

as history supplements for three years.

We're currently studying the Ancient Americas.

 Lu loves all the little info bits,

and I like the short-trip-to-the-museum feel of them.

We're usually in the same room when he's reading,

and he frequently stops to say something that starts with:

"MAMA!!! Did you know that......?!?!"

He did a great job on his map of Guatemala.

 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

I can't tell you how many times Lu has discovered yet another YouTube tutorial for making some kind of goo/slime substance that is then left in a HUGE tupperware, taking up way too much space in MY refrigerator, which after being played with a couple of times is never to be touched again until MAMA finally tosses it.

But this time, he nailed it.

This blue slime, aka a non-Newtonian fluid (aren't we smart?)

((lol. Well, I sure didn't know what that was until now anyway))

is REALLY AWESOME STUFF.

Lu brought it out a few times that we had (grown-up) friends over.

Everyone was playing with it. It's hypnotic.

And it doesn't even need refrigeration :mama happy:

 

  

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Cha had a group of university students from the U.S. 

come to learn about natural building, 

and Lu got to participate in the construction of this bamboo cabin.

 

Thanks for all the great learning experiences, Life!

Mayan Creation Stories, Evolution, Sauerkraut, and a Chihuahua... among other things

Of course it's wonderful when Lu is fully engaged in

and excited by what we're learning, 

but it's also pretty cool when it's engaging and exciting 

for mama too.

I'm really enjoying everything we're doing this term.

We just finished reading the children's version 

of the Mayan book of creation - Popol Vuh.

We're learning Guatemalan geography,

something I need to brush up on.

Lu's creating a set of famous landmark flashcards.

With Lu's guitar playing, we're also doing lots of singing.

We're furthering our understanding of evolution

with this awesome book:

In the kitchen, Lu made brownies with a friend.

and two hugeongous jars of sauerkraut.

Lu found a motorbike in a tree.

 And there's been a lot of skateboarding,

and playing around with Cha's new groovy photo app.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

In the workshop, Lu built a bed for a chihuahua.

A chihuahua?

(did you notice her in the second photo?)

 

Tinich came to us this week.

Her name means "tiny" in Kakchikel,

the local Mayan language.

She was severely hypoglycemic and did not make it,

even though we did everything we could for her.

She will live long in our memories.