Geography and Ceramics Mug-Making

At the start of the week, we decided to play our American Trivia board game that covers history, geography, art, and "general," and I realized that the kids, especially the girls, needed to learn a lot more about their geography.  Jaden William knew far, far more before their ages, and I knew not only all my states before Elizabeth's age, but also all the capitals.  By Olivia's age, a child should be learning more world geography, in my opinion.  So on Monday, both the maps came down from the boys' room to be washed, and I hung the world map on the dining room wall.  Trusten put the states one back up in his room. 

 I am glad Sheppard Software is still up and running.  I used that a lot in my home school. 

I introduced the kids to "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"  I looooved that game when I was a kid.  That was back when my home computer operated on MS-DOS.  I became an expert and learned so much.  I told the kids how I'd used hardback encyclopedias (which we now have in our home) to gather all the information I needed to catch the criminals. 

To play, visit this link and choose to play in your browser.

I brought out the old, worn place mat of the world flags for the kids.  I'd used the 'F' encyclopedia as a kid. 

I got out our copy of My First Atlas by (Katie John Sharp, 2005) and the 'M' encyclopedia so they could access a list of the countries' currency to assist them.  My First Atlas is a good book of geography that lists important agricultural resources, exports, the capital cities, etc.  I remember spending so much time engrossed in the encyclopedias. I also remember something I accessed on the computer, too, though, that helped me memorize various other data, like important exports and whatnot. 

The game was a big hit.  Learning is most effective when it is fun and engaging.

They will continue with geography learning.

We still got outside plenty and engaged in fun exercise. :-)  I'm so happy it's spring and that so many lovely flowers are blooming.  Our lilac bush smells so wonderful, and plenty of butterflies and bees are enjoying it.

Elizabeth enjoyed a Zoom meeting with her teacher and a few of her classmates last week, though I didn't take any pictures.  Here is Olivia chatting with her teacher and some classmates.

Carissa and I started making our mugs. 

My first mug is for Trusten, decorated with tigers. I think he is going to want it to be blue.

I find it ever so difficult to get things to be perfect.  Oh well, I guess it's got that homemade look!

I am about to start reading Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen to the kids. 

I found a recipe so that we could use some of our chicken maple sausages with some leftover rice to make a lunch.  Carissa fixed it, and it was pretty good. :-)  The red pieces are red bell pepper.

Next week, I will be making some teaching videos based on past learning with the kids.  I'll be using them for my field experience hours, but maybe it will also help inspire some parents out there who are struggling with the pandemic homeschooling they've been thrown into.

Until next time...

Covid Quarantine: The Beginning {March 2020}

March started off normally for us, for the most part.  I was planning for a month of almost no work so that I could put in my required pre-clinical experience hours for my degree, but beside that, March was slated to a be a normal month.

Elizabeth went on to perform in her grade level spelling bee, and I kept that day open to go watch her, at her request.  Three winners were chosen, and my Lizi came in third place.  Another child from her class placed first.

This meant that Elizabeth was to go participate in the regional spelling bee.  We would have driven the long way to Kirbyville on April 30.  I was so excited for my sweet girl.

Life went on.  I fixed delicious food...

...and I worked in my ceramics class.

I received my first two free issues of Popular Science as a member of the NEA (National Education Association)...

...and continued to work in my ceramics class.

I finally got to take Jaden William's senior pictures, of which I selected just two here:

We got Elizabeth's swing frame concreted in so that she could enjoy her swing:

We received March's Yum box from Brazil...

...and then March 16 arrived.  March 16 is easy to remember.  It's Carissa's birthday.  The kids and I went to their schools.  I was doing PCE in the elementary school, just down the hall from Elizabeth's classroom.  I would finish 42 hours of my required 75 hours at the end of that day.  We would go home and celebrate Carissa's birthday, and then Trusten would dress up in the new black dress shirt I bought for him, and we would all go to his band concert, when we would finally get to hear him play the drums.  I was so excited!  Carissa was looking forward to it, too.  It was like a birthday gift to her.

We were told the schools were going to close, and the band concert would be canceled due to the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic.  I finished the day, and the kids and I went home.

We still celebrated Carissa's birthday:

Then we started planning for a new routine, but at first it was chaotic.  We did some of our own things, but the kids' schools had sent home worksheet packets for two weeks.  Jaden's school shut down, too, a day sooner, but he's doing school online on his school-assigned Chromebook.  His graduation was canceled (or maybe postponed?).

Since Elizabeth had coin-counting worksheets, I decided the girls could play Bookstore.  Carissa got really excited about homeschooling.  She insisted on playing the major part of Bookstore. 

I made coffee to sell, too.

Carissa and I drove to Crowder to pick up supplies to work on our ceramics projects at home.  The entire rest of the semester was moved online and at home.  We were supposed to spend the second half of the semester working on potters' wheels, but that was canceled.  Instead we are to make mugs by slab, the same way we were to make our personal avatars.  I was able to pick up my glazed brain coral, though:

I also finished glazing my teapot, but I don't know when it will go into the kiln and when I'll get it.

It flooded, and it didn't matter since we had nowhere to go.  Trusten found a tiny salamander, and I'd thought it was the smallest one I'd ever seen, until I happened to come across one William had found a few years ago when I was going through pictures.  I had posted it to the blog, too.

I made our own slip for our ceramics work:

My ugly avatar took a lot of work, but I finally got it changed and finished to a point at which I could be content.

I was able to drop it off at school, and Carissa finished glazing her natural object.  That is the last time we were allowed at the school (though we had not been allowed to classes for longer). 

I was able to see and take pictures of my bisqued coil pot.

I made us green smoothies to keep our immune systems strong.

Our days became filled with a mix of what the kids' school assigned and our own choices in learning and getting outside.  We started watching the Blue Planet series again and finished it, then we started Planet Earth.

A few things I'll use for stamps on my mugs

Lamium album (white dead nettle)

I am cooking more from scratch again, which is wonderful.  We are making plenty of delicious food.  I'm not missing or skipping sabbath desserts, which has happened a lot over the past two years because of our insane schedules.

Carrot cake

We are all really enjoying the break from the stress-inducing society.

We finished reading Wildfire:

A memory popped up in my Facebook memories of Carissa, Jaden, and I going on a night walk that day last year.  I asked the kids whether they wanted to go on a night walk, since it'd been a good while.  Though it was rainy and too wet to go that night, we ended up going the next night.  We all are making the best of this.  We really miss family members and worry about some of them.  I miss my Jaden William terribly.  But we are enjoying our time, too.  I had worked myself sick.  I've worked so hard that this all has, in some ways, been very therapeutic for me.  

Stay tuned to find out what we did during the first week of April.

Until next time...