Treetop Academy Schedule - Week 5

Another week and it looks like the spring is really here to stay. But who knows. We've been fooled before. Still, I'm leaving plenty of room in the schedule for playing outside with friends, working in the yard (me - on pulling poison ivy; Monkey - on digging up and exploring rocks), and on trips to various creeks in the area.

Here's this week's schedule:

Week of	English Reading	Math
March 10-14
Monday	Let's Read - Lesson 67 Explode the Code 2	Funny Arithmetic MindWare Logic Links Treasure Quest game
Tuesday	Let's Read - Lesson 68 Explode the Code 2	Moscow Puzzles Labyrinth game
Wednesday	Let's Read - Lesson 69 Explode the Code 2	Funny Arithmetic Moscow Puzzles Connect 4
Thursday	Let's Read - Lesson 70 Explode the Code 2	Kangaroo Yatzee! Roads, Rivers, Rails game
Friday	Let's Read - Lesson 71 Explode the Code 2	Kangaroo Board game of choice

We are finishing up the second Explode the Code workbook this week! Hooray! This will also be the last week (I think) that we're using the Let's Read book. I like it ok, but if we follow it, we'll only get to long vowels sometime this summer. And without long vowels Monkey can't begin to read all those Stage 1 Early Readers we now have about pirates, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, treasure, and such. So we'll switch to a different book next week.

Math this week is mostly going to be a combination of puzzles and games. We will do some arithmetic word problems from the Russian book that he really enjoys. The new game that I want to try with him is Labyrinth (got it at the flea market for $5 this weekend). He seems excited to play it. Oh, and our calculus-inspired math circle starts this Monday.

Yoga starts again this week! And fencing continues (he's the shorty with a fencing foil on the pic above).  And we continue with the Engineering club on Thursdays. 

Does It Make You Smarter?

Last Friday I took Monkey to a Teen Science Cafe for a talk on wearable robotics. Since Monkey's only 7 and the talk was actually very involved (even for fairly well educated and intelligent adults), I wasn't sure he got anything out of it. The talk was essentially about the research on and the design of a device (a boot of sorts) that helps stroke victims to walk easier.

On the way back, Monkey mentioned that now he wants to invent a robotic exoskeleton arm that would steady his arm and give it more punching power. Urghh, I thought. Here we go, the only thing he seemed to remember is the mention of the Iron Man at the beginning of the presentation.

Then today we met with some friends for a hike and a playdate at a park. The kids got to run around, splash in the water, and occupy a small rocky outcropping in the stream that they called their pirate island. Monkey's friend, D., was limping a bit (a sports injury).

Later tonight, hours after the playdate, Monkey asked me if there was an expression in Russian that went "хромой всегда умнее" (the one with a limp is always smarter). I was intrigued. I told him that as far as I knew, there was no such expression. Then I asked for his own take on this matter.

Monkey said that he doesn't think a limp would make anyone smarter. In fact, he said, it would do just the opposite because "some of the brain processing would go to figuring out how to place the foot so it wouldn't hurt". As a result, a person with a limp would not have as much brain power left to for other thinking.

When I mentioned Grandpa, whom Monkey absolutely adores and who happens to limp, Monkey said that the rule only worked with children since Grandpa, like other adults with a limp, has been limping for a while and "his brain got used to it".

Turns out, D (who also speaks Russian) told Monkey about this "saying". I think we'll discuss the Russian word хитроумный (cunning; keen) tomorrow.

Week 4 Wrap-Up

The week started so awesome! We had a beautiful warm day on Sunday - worked in the yard, then when on a discovery stroll at a nearby park, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. By the way, the picture above is from the park where Monkey got to have a real adventure crossing a creek, first - over rocks, then - over fallen trees.

But on Monday it was like Winter: Part 2 here, complete with icy rain and SNOW. Schools got cancelled. The first meeting of our calculus math circle got cancelled. The rest of the week was just as bad even when snow was replaced by lots cold rain. Although Treetops classes don't get cancelled because of the weather (one of the benefits or drawbacks, depending on whom you ask, of homeschooling), I made a few changes to the plans. Mostly because I was getting through a mild cold this week. And also because the book I co-authored was featured in The Atlantic. So yeah, lots of stuff going on.

We officially signed Monkey up for fencing classes. He's very happy and ready to be there four days a week. He also got real gear, including a mask, a glove and, most exciting of all, a real fencing foil!

Monkey's favorite this week, as far as homeschool goes, was working on different math puzzles (I've downloaded the Moscow Puzzles book), logic puzzles by MindWare, and playing with Zome tools. We worked on a Zome contraption and then he used it to blow bubbles - always fun. Along the way we discussed symmetry and figured out that our contraption had a glide reflection symmetry. Afterwards, Monkey came up with a "glide symmetry" dance, the "just symmetry" dance, and the "no symmetry at all" dance to the tune of "Everything is Awesome" (from the Lego Movie).

His other project was a new comics. This one was called "Bakugans against Pirates". He staged everything and I helped him take pictures and write down the story. Sometime later this month I'll get the pictures printed out and he'll work on a new book.

Finally, he got a chance to make some money (and practice some math) today when he helped us pack all those Moebius Noodles books we sold after the article in The Atlantic came out (and got picked up elsewhere on the internets). He's going to help us some more tomorrow he said.

Some of Monkey's Lego Builds

This week's big adventure was a trip to the LegoFest. Last time LegoFest was in our city, Monkey just turned 4 years old. And he wasn't all that interested in Legos. Sure, he had a couple of sets and some loose pieces. But he really wasn't into building things. And then, after that first LegoFest his Lego building just exploded.

He still builds almost every day. Most of his models are pretty small. Some can get rather elaborate like this one above where he built Treasure Island with a cave, a bunkhouse, a swamp and a zipline for Jim Hawkins and Doctor Livesey . And he still dreams of building a Death Star from scratch (he tried, but ran out of Legos).

Part of a very large and very elaborate space craft manufacture and astronaut training facility.

Space command troop carrier.

Must be a frat house for clone troopers.

TIE-fighter.

Robot-explorer (with the mandatory laser) and a Moon buggy.

Another version of the astronaut training center. Centrifuge is in the background.

Hero Factory Hero (from lots of loose parts, assembled at LegoFest 2014)

A pyramid to be placed in the Creation Nation Nevada during the LegoFest 2014.

Multi-purpose space vehicle built out of whatever loose parts were not too deep in the bins during the LegoFest 2014.

Treetop Academy Schedule - Week 4

Spring is here! Neither Monkey nor I want to wait 21 more days to welcome it. Not with the nice sunny warm weather like we've been having lately. So this is our schedule for next week, the first week of spring.

Week of	English Reading	Math	Other
March 3-7
Monday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2 Intermediate phonics - S blends	5 problems - addition/subtraction to 100 without carrying over The Search for the Mystery Planet	Coding lessons at Code.org
Tuesday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2 Intermediate phonics - R blends	5 problems - addition/subtraction to 100 without carrying over Yatzee! IQ Fit
Wednesday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2 Intermediate Phonics  - L blends	5 problems - addition/subtraction to 100 without carrying over Look Both Ways: City Math Zome Tools (free build and bubbles)
Thursday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2 Phonics Tales - Sleepyhead Sloth	5 problems - addition/subtraction to 100 without carrying over Look Both Ways: City Math Zome Tools
Friday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2 Phonics Tales - Stan the Pest	5 problems - addition/subtraction to 100 without carrying over Yatzee! Look Both Ways: City Math	Coding lesson at Code.org

So pretty much things will stay as they are. We'll continue working on consonant blends, including th-, ch- and sh-. We'll use more early readers this week, primarily the ones I download from the Progressive Phonics website. 

Math - the first couple of weeks we spent a lot of time on arithmetic. Then last week we did more puzzles and stories. This week I plan on a mixture of both. There will be 5 daily arithmetic problems plus Yatzee! But the rest of the time we'll do puzzles, play with Zome Tools, and read math stories from the Look Both Ways: City Math book (another awesome thrift store find). Also, this week we will start another math circle. I co-produce it and Monkey gets to attend it. This math circle is called Inspired by Calculus and the first week's topic is Surfaces of Revolution. If you are interested in the course, follow its progress on Moebius Noodles.

At last week's Engineering club the kids were introduced to coding via Code.org. Now, Monkey's always been interested in programming, ever since I showed him Scratch when he was 4. But only now he really wants to play with it. And he's thrilled to have found Code.org because it feels like a game (and it has Angry Birds!) So he asked to work more on it during homeschool. No problem! Adding it to this week's plan.

Other things scheduled for this week are our weekly Young Engineers Club, StormFest (an annual event organized by the Museum of Natural History), and a Science Cafe about wearable robotics (again, at our highly awesome Museum of Natural History). The Science Cafe is geared toward teenagers, but given Monkey's deep interest in everything robots, I think he will really like it.

No yoga this week, but we will continue with fencing. Monkey is still super-excited and is trying very hard. The practices are long, two hours each. So he's really tired at the end. Last time he actually got to practice with a foam "sword" (and wear a REAL fencing mask - a dream come true for him). So at the end of two hours his hands were visibly shaking. But he's happy and wants to keep going. Hooray!

Week 3 Wrap-Up

Looks like winter is over and done with and so is Week 3 at the Treetops. We wrapped up our cozy math circle on Wednesday with a few more challenges and, finally, a long-anticipated search for treasure. We also wrapped up our yoga sessions. Next block will start in mid-March. Monkey played with Silk and created this mandala for his yoga instructor, Mrs. T.

Homeschool was a bit bumpy this week. Lots of "do I really have to do this?!" and complaining about school in general. But we also had some terrific moments. Like when Monkey decided to start his own comics production and publishing company. He immediately set to work and created 2 issues - The Lost Treasure Map, followed shortly by The Lost Math.

Or when I picked up a copy of the Indiana Jones: Indy's Adventures Step 1 reader at a used books store and Monkey read almost all of it by himself and asked for more. And, as if reading my mind, he started his own exploration of homeomorphism with rubber bands and Legos. He built a mini-geoboard out of Legos and showed me how he could turn a rubber band circle into different shapes. The three handcuffed minifigs led to a little algebra investigation - how many pairs of handcuffs would Monkey need if he wanted to cuff every minifig in his collection (we estimated that to be around 40) if he used 1 pair for 2 minifigs.

Then later in the week he worked very-very hard on one of the Mathmania's puzzles, tried lots of different approaches until he finally figured it out. The problem was to place numbers 1-8 on the grid in such a way that no two consecutive numbers touch vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

When we played Catan Jr, Monkey came up with a pretty sophisticated strategy that allowed him to catch up to me first and then turn the game around so that every time it was my turn, only he would get the resources, trade or build. His previous strategy was built around getting Coco cards and no paying much attention to anything else in the game.

So all in all, it was a good week. On to the next one!

Treetops Academy Schedule - Week 3

Coding a secret word in binary system at the Young Engineers Club.

Surprise-surprise, Monkey actually knows the name of our homeschool. Which is funny because I only mentioned it in passing a couple of times 2 months ago. It must had been really important to him.

Next week's schedule is ready. Here's what it looks like:

Week of	English Reading	Math
February 24-28, 2014
Monday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2	Homeomorphism - play with string/rope Three houses puzzle - try again, discuss Mathmania (pink)
Tuesday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2	Homeomorphism - letters, numbers Gauss's problem Mathmania (pink)
Wednesday	Progressive phonics - "ch" sound reader Explode the Code 2	Mathmania (pink) The Search for the Mystery Planet
Thursday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2	Mathmania (pink) The Search for the Mystery Planet Two-Dimensional Nim
Friday	Let's Read Explode the Code 2	Mathmania (pink) The Search for the Mystery Planet Rainbow Logic game

I've added Progressive Phonics readers to our schedule based on the tip from Natalie of the wonderful Afterschool for Smarty Pants (which is a terrific blog if you're looking for what to read to/with your child next). We tried one of the Progressive Phonics readers last week and Monkey liked it enough that I'm now adding this resource to our lessons. 

Math this week will be most about arithmetic, but also logic puzzles (all from an old issue of Mathmania magazine). I noticed that Monkey is spending lots of time tangling pieces of rope and twine (he doesn't tie knots yet). So I think next week we'll do a bit of topology/knot theory inspired by this old post on Moebius Noodles. Plus we'll look at the letters of the alphabet to see which ones can be morphed into others without cutting/gluing. 

This is this week's math storybook, The Search for Mystery Planet (another awesome find from our favorite thrift store). I'm not planning too many games for this week, but both the Two-Dimensional Nim and the Rainbow Logic are from the Family Math book. 

Finally, this week is the last yoga class. Monkey wants more yoga, but I'm not sure if it will be offered in the spring and if yes, what would the schedule/cost be. He will also go to at least one fencing practice (maybe even two). This is also going to be the last winter session of our Math Circle (we will take a month-long break from our little Math Circle so we can attend a different local Math Circle). On Thursday we will go to the Young Engineers Club. And on Friday... oh boy, the most exciting of all, is the LEGO FEST!