M is for Marley

~We went on this awesome field trip about 2 weeks ago~

We had the opportunity to visit with a local artist, Christopher Marley, who has a studio/warehouse (not sure what to call it because it's not really a place you can visit anytime to view his artwork) down in Salem. The facility we visited is where they make and develop his artwork. He talked to us about how he makes his pictures, animal conservation, and showed us some cool pieces of art (some finished and some in progress).

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive he gave the kids some of his books to look through. His artwork is created with real insects, snakes, fish, and many other kinds of animals. These books feature many of the things he has created. I even checked the books out from the library afterward, so that my kids could continue to look. They all found this field trip (as did I) very fascinating.

This book, Biophilia, is the exhibit guide. This exhibit of his is coming to OMSI in the Fall. We are very excited to see his exhibit, and it will be pretty cool to say we met that guy!

The guy in the picture below is the artist himself, Christopher Marley. He showed the kids all kinds of things, and was so nice. He answered their questions, told them facts about all the animals and insects in his pictures, told us his process of freeze drying the specimens for his artwork, and so much more. The kids loved this snake picture.

As I said, I went and checked out the books from the library system. The kids have liked looking through it and remembering the things he talked about on the field trip.

 There is a lot of information about each of the insects/animals in the books too.

There was even a counting board book featuring his insect art.

 That wraps up the letter M!

My Weekly Notebook: birthday, United States, and Memorial Day

Life this week...

I think the biggest news for this week is that we now have another teen in the house. Aaron turned 13 on Friday, May 24. We didn't get a party together, so we gave him the choice of activity for the day. He chose to go to a movie. It ended up being with Dad and April because it was Captain Marvel, and we decided that would be too intense for the younger 2. That and they had a baseball game. We tried to talk him into seeing Aladdin, but that wasn't his thing.

Homeschool this week...

We started a year-long study of the United States, so I purchased this scratch off wall map. The boys are super excited to scratch off the states as we go through them. They can hardly wait to do the first one. Of course we didn't get to any of the states yet as this week was just an introduction to the US. We talked about Washington DC, the regions of the states, the flag, the pledge, the Statue of Liberty, and got their notebooks all ready.

This was a hard assignment, but Alex made it! He wrote out all fifty states organizing them into regions. A little incentive might have been offered along the way, but after he got into it, he really enjoyed it.

I also realized this week that we no longer have a globe. I took our old one to our co-op last year, and realized I never got it back. I had just forgot about it, and I think it might have walked away. It was old anyway as it still had the "USSR" on it. We needed a globe for a lesson, but I also like just having one around. So, I searched Amazon, and found this light up one. It's a bit smaller than usual, so it's perfect to fit on my sons desk, and it makes a great decoration too.

Maps seem to be the theme for this week in our homeschool! I just love maps.

Reviews we are working on...

I don't have any pictures, but right now we have just a few. First, we have Kingdom Code Kids. It's all about teaching kids how to save and earn money God's way. It's pretty cool. My kids are excited to start a little business of their own. We also have Lightning Literature 7, Dyslexia Gold, and a movie from Mill Creek Entertainment. Some fun stuff coming up!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Our plans for the holiday weekend were to go camping, but we had to cancel due to a broken water main at the campground. It probably could have been do-able, but we just weren't ready to rough-it that much. All other campgrounds were booked, so that means we get to be home for the weekend. So, we picked some other fun activities that we don't normally get to. It started yesterday (Saturday) with going to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for the opening day of their new exhibit Seapunk. It was a very rainy wet day at the coast, but we had fun. We didn't go out to the beach or anything because there was never a break in the pouring rain, and we just weren't prepared to get that wet. But we had a great time indoors and sometimes outdoors at the Aqauarium.

Seapunk exhibit

Seapunk exhibit

Seapunk exhibit

Seabird Aviary

Passages of the deep

Passages of the deep. This is Alex's favorite shark, the Leopard shark, I believe.

Passages of the Deep

Passages of the deep

Another Leopard shark

This kid (Alex, pictured below) just loved the aquarium. He spent time looking at things, and just enjoying everything. I love that he loves going to places like this still.

The touch pools

On our way home we stopped for some dinner at Happy Bibimbap House for some Korean food. It was our first time, and it was delicious.

My favorite thing this week was...

Finding some red, white, and blue canvas bags at Target. I just love canvas bags. Maybe a little too much. I use them a lot. I bought some back to school ones last fall, and they have served me well, so I added to my collection with some new designs!



My kids' favorite thing this week was...

Going to see Detective Pikachu on Monday this week. Then bowling with a friend after. They both said "best movie ever" after. It was way better than I thought it would be as a Mom who doesn't get excited about Pokemon at all.

Waiting for Detective Pikachu to start

I'm grateful for...

I didn't get to my Thankful Thursday post this week (or the last week, or the last one...)...

I am grateful for someone in the family that likes to make beautiful cakes for us, even when she doesn't eat them.

That wraps up this week!

EdAlive Typing and Math (A REVIEW)

We had the opportunity to practice math and typing with two programs from EdAlive. I am always on the search for fun new ways to practice math facts, and with Maths Invaders Online the challenge is so fun that kids don't realize they are practicing their facts. Typing is also a skill that I'd like my boys to become more proficient with, so I was happy to receive Typing Tournament Online as part of this review too. Both are fun and engaging while also teaching great skills.

For this review we received a year subscription to both online programs that we can access from any internet connected computer. We can log in anytime, anywhere, and I was able to create a separate account for each boy in both apps so that their own progress is saved.

Here's how it works:

They log in to the EdAlive website, and it takes them to this "App Library." They then choose which program they want to work on first. There are other choices for other apps too, but we only had access to Typng and Maths. They can change between the two apps pretty easily, so if they decide they are done with one it's easy for them to switch.

After logging in this is the page we see where we have the choice to enter Typing Tournament or Maths Invaders from a page full of apps.

When they choose the app Maths Invaders Online the opening screen looks like this. They can choose from the "Galactic Campaign" (the main part of the game), or "Space Rescue."

Maths Invaders home screen.

For them to make progress they have to work on the "Galactic Campaign," which is the part where they practice the math facts. They can work their way up through all the levels as they play, so of course all the upper levels are locked until they've defeated the current level. The math problems get harder as they level up. Within each level there are also different speeds.

Galactic Campaign

The first level is super easy with just addition and subtraction problems, so if your child is past that they can try to test into a higher level, and unlock all the levels in between. When the game starts the challenge is to type in the answers and shoot the box that the answer matches (as pictured below). There isn't any music, but  there are shooting noises when the enter button is pushed, and a ticking clock when a certain fact needs to be shot down (which actually stresses my 2nd grader out a little bit, but it keeps him on his toes). When all the facts have been shot at with the correct answer the "wave" is over. They have to get through 3 waves to level up.

The Maths Invaders game as it is being played

When they choose Typing Tournament Online for the first time they have to set up their goal words per minute, and go through all the introduction to typing pages before they can actually start the lessons. We didn't realize this at first, and my 2nd grader got discouraged, but once the lessons start both my boys had a lot of fun. The "knight" theme is fun and engaging.

Typing Tournament homepage

As they work through the lessons the kids follow a map. As they make their way through the map there are skills practices, drills, lessons, tests, games, and more.

Typing Tournament map.

There are no stopping and starting points, so I would just have my boys work through as much as they can in a session before they felt like they were done. The buttons (in the right on the picture below) turn a different color as each step is completed, and there is a "Next Step" arrow pointing to where the child should pick back up when they come back to it. As they complete each step it takes them forward, but they can always go back and practice anything more.

In conclusion, we really enjoyed both of these programs. They provide a fun way to practice important skills, and keep my boys engaged. I like the challenge they provide at the same time. If you'd like to see what other crew members had to say about these programs you can click on the banner below.

Wordless Wednesday

Salem is mad at me for taking him to the vet. 

 

G is for Grant Park

For the letter G, in blogging through the alphabet, we visited Grant Park in Portland, OR. April discovered this park as she was making a list of things we'd like to check out in Portland. We have a whole backyard of great places to see and do that we just haven't done, so we're checking them off one by one. This was one of those things. I'd heard about this park probably a few years ago, but never thought about it until April mentioned it as part of our Portland to do list. So, we made it part of an afternoon of fun in Portland a few weeks ago.

My boys have not really read the Ramona Quimby books, but I remember reading them as a girl. It was fun to see all the statues, and plaques.

We did however watch the movie "Ramona and Beezus" on the way. I don't know or remember how closely tied to the books this movie is, but it's a cute movie. It was also a quick way for me to introduce to the boys what exactly this sculpture garden was that we were going to visit. I want to read the book now to see how much it follows the book.

Beezus and Ramona ~1955

 Alex wanted to stand with each statue. I am pretty sure this is supposed to be the character Henry.

This is Ramona Quimby...

And finally, Ribsy, the dog...

Ribsy--"People liked Ribsy, and Ribsy liked people. Ribsy was what you might call a well-adjusted dog." ~Ribsy 1964

After we saw the sculptures we played a bit at the playground. The whole park was huge. There were tennis courts, a track, lots of beautiful trees and grass, and much more. These guys just wanted to play. Good thing because we were getting ready to go see a movie at an old theater.

Tire swings are the best!

If you aren't familiar with Beverly Cleary, the author, her books are set in the city of Portland, OR because that is where she grew up. So, it's fun to note that some of the places in the books are real places. For example, Klickitat street, is where the home of Ramona and Beezus lived in the books. Apparently Cleary lived near that street as a child. So, we drove by that street, and snapped a picture of it.

This was a fun little tour of a part of Portland we'd never seen before, and we learned about an author of some very famous children's books.

That wraps up the letter G! I joining other bloggers for abc blogging through the alphabet. Join us if you'd like. We are really on the letter L this week. I am just very behind!