More Resolutions :)

Keep change in the car to give out to needy people

Find some charity that our family can help

Find more ways to forgive

Trust good things more than bad

Speak good of myself to myself

Happy New Year to all my family and friends1

New Year's Resolutions

Some of these things I have started already. but I am recommitting myself to them

Don't buy soda for the house
Drink more water
Drink green tea

Make efforts to live more "Green"

As much as possible eat organic fruits and vegetables

Do not buy foods with trans-fat

W hen possible ride my bike places instead of driving

Get more exercise outdoors - hiking, biking

Have more patience with Z

Make time to work on projects


Z with streamers on her head :)

Year in Review

I would say that the highlight of 2006 was our trip to France.

Our first DYS event - Camping at Mammoth/Reno DYS event

Saddest Event - Pere's Grandfather passing away

Most unexpected -Moving and Pere losing his job.

Most Important Milestone - Z learned to ride a bike

Best Field Trips - Walt Disney Concert Hall World City Music

My Best Projects - Blogging and Writing a Book!

Z's Best Performances - here and here.

Great New Additions - Operation Gratitude and Food

Biggest disappointment - Gifted Summer camp

Biggest new project- acting

Most unresolved - Piano

Z First time in print - Smart Talk

Biggest Homeschooling experiment - Tried unschooling

Most Not Ready For - Z's first kiss

Longest Book - Z finished her first 870 page book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (took a little over two months)

Favorite Homeschooling Post What I would like our days to be like

This is your brain on books

Much of that past two days I have spend doing a total redo of Z's room. I think I spent more than 10 hours at it, and too much of that was heavy lifting. Now that it is all good and done all I can think is that I don't want to do that again any time soon.

It looks like we are probably going to start back up homeschooling on the 8th. I am still not sure what form it will take.

During The Great Room Redo, I moved and reshelved every single one of Z's books, around 800 of them, and I thought 'Wow, Z has some awesome non-fiction books!" Many of the books I touched inspired me to use them and use them soon in our homeschooling.

I am a bit addicted to buying children's non-fiction books. I am pretty sure that if all the libraries and bookstores in the world vanished tomorrow I would have enough books in our personal library to educate Z, up to and possibly through college, and then some.



Just yesterday I found "Everywhere on Earth - a Geografunny Guide to the Globe" by Paul Rosenthal.

Also recently Z got a non-fic book on Shakespeare and one about Constellations and Myths - which came with lesson plans. mmmm...

While I've been working Z has been having tons of "Daddy Time" which includes lots of physical play as well as learning about basketball. They have really been enjoying all this time together. :)

Life Map collages

I read about an interesting art project. They called it a Life Map. You're supposed to make collage with symbols of the things you want in your life, a kind of visual reminder. I thought it could be used as a New Year's resolution themed craft.

You can click on the pictures to see them larger.

Z's


Mine


and one for healthy eating

OotP

Z wanted me to write that shs just finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She put the book away and took out Half-Blood Prince. :)

Food = Love

They say that kind of thinking leads to being overweight and having an unhealthy relationship with food.

But I disagree. Food is totally about love. At least it can be.

Serving my family healthy food is just one other way that I show them how much I love them.

I was having a hard time putting my thoughts into paragraph form without sounding preachy, which is definitely not my intention. So I am going to make a list of some of the things we do:

Take Z to shop at the Farmer's Market - buy her fresh Fuji apples and let her eat them while we walk around.

Take Z to a small farm to work (she fed the goslings) so she can see how the animals we eat should be treated. Compare and discuss factory farming.

Make a point to give her foods from various countries - so within five years of beginning to eat solid foods our girl has eaten Indian foods, Sushi and other Japanese foods, Thai, Chinese, traditional French, Italian, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, British High Tea, Morrocan, Greek, traditional Jewish food, Isreali and other Middle Eastern and different regional foods from American, including Creole, Southern BBQ, California cuisine and more.

Encourage Z to try different exotic foods like many different types of sushi, including octopus, squid, salmon roe, eel, raw tuna, yellotail and more. She has had rabbit, deer, elk, lamb, bison, ostrich, duck, goose, frog, snail, alligator, turtle, abalone, as well as vegetables from parsnips to bok choy and fruits from kiwi to lingonberries. I am happy to say that she is excited to try new foods when she has the chance.

We both cook with Z. Pere gives her complicated lessons in kitchen science and gourmet food and is starting to train her to be his sous chef. I am the one that teaches her to make the things she regularly eats and helps her get comfortable working in the kitchen.

I developed and taught a unit study on nutrition and vitamins a couple years ago and included Z in grocery shopping, asking Z to help me find fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors. These days she checks the labels for trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils.

We talk to her about marketing and advertising. We let her watch Super Size Me and now she is really turned off of Mc Donalds. ;)

I love to add extra vegetables to our meals - our tacos have dark green leaf lettuce, chunky salsa, and avocados, and they are made with grain-fed beef and whole -wheat tortilla. *grin* And I love making those choices at the market, because I know that I am helping my girl be heathy and develop a healthy lifestyle. And since she eats healthy for her main meals then I don't mind letting her have some kind of little treat.

My goal is that Z has a healthy body now and that this kind of eating becomes her own and she learns how to and enjoys feeding herself and her family with love.

Friends

Today One of Z's friends and her mother came over for a playdate. From the moment she walked in the door she and Z were constantly engaged in a very imaginative pretend play about fairies, werewolves, ghosts, magic, visions, and tornados. They played out this story for three hours straight!

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On thing that is hard about homeschooling is all the social opportunites. Of course we want to get together and have fun with friends but sometimes we also have to pull back and make time for schooling or just having relaxing alone time.

Right now I am starting to think about Z's birthday which is coming up in a couple months and I am stressing because neither our house or our apartment'c party room will be big enough to host it if we invite (most) all of her friends. There are about twenty kids plus parents and younger siblings.

I have thought about having a few parties - one for homeschool friends, one for science club friends, one for north area friends, one for south area friend and one for friends in the old neighbor hood. That might be fun but also a lot of work.

Z thinks we should just invite everyone and have it at a park, which is a lovely idea and would totally work if her birthday was not in the winter.

We can't really invite fewer people because these are all her close friends. There is also the problem that about half of her friends don't know each other.

If anyone has an creative suggestions for hosting a BIG birthday party that won't break my budget, please let me know.

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We were thinking that we might have to move for Pere's new job. But things are looking now that we will be staying in the area and I am very happy about that. As the above indicates, we have made many friends in this area. Our homeschool group is great and the gifted population seems pretty large here. We had lived in areas where it was much harder to find friends that were a good fit for Z in intelligence, temperment and interests. But here it seems like every couple months we are meeting another wonderful family. Although moving can be exciting I am glad that, for the time being, we are going to stay. :)

Pictures from the Farmer's Market this Weekend

Merry Christmas

to all my family and friends

xoxox

Cheers!

We have some very cool friends who own a sheep ranch. Every other year we go and visit them and enjoy a "working vacation" during lambing season.

On their ranch they have a standing tradition to give "Cheers!" over a glass of wine at dinner (they have two wineries as neighbors.)

When we brought Z there last year she was really excited to clink glasses every night.

Over the years we have toasted, usually on Friday's when we have Shabbat dinner. Tonight we toasted because Pere made a wonderful Two Way Chicken (brined and braised) with Baby Artichokes and homemade Mashed Potatoes.

Z's toast was for "Hanukkah", mine was "For a husband that cooks" and Pere's was "For a family to cook for." *smile*

*********

Pere recently read My Side of the Mountain to Z and tonight he showed her how to strike sparks with flint and steel. It makes me feel good that Z is learning some more outdoorsy skills. I am sure we will be going camping again soon.

*********

This morning we took Z to a local crafts shop. She and Pere painted a birdhouse feeder. Z has been wanting to make one for awhile.



I made these things... I am not sure what they are...


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Yesterday morning I woke up to Z coughing and I went into her room and she was dressed like this. *grin*



Here she is just after we gave her new(ish) bike.


I asked her if she had a favorite present and she said 'I like them all the same. I like them all the way up to the highest part of the ceiling."

Web Schooling or Schoogling

So I have an idea for what I can do in January for homeschooling. This will be another experiment and like the ones that have come before I believe we will take away some worthwhile ideas from it.

I have read that kids shouldn't spend more than two hours a day on the computer but I haven't heard any studies on whether that is less healthy than sitting in a deak for 5 to 6 hours a day reading a boring textbook or being lectured at.

My idea is to set up my old laptop (soon to be Z's new laptop) with links to interactive sites on the internet and use it like a... a... futuristic textbook LOL

Here are some ideas of things that Z can do:

Write book reviews on Amazon

Write emails to friends

Do EPGY for math

Keep a log of animals seen on enature.com's wildlife list

Do a daily set puzzle, or chess game, or code breaker,

Write and publish stories at Chateau Meddybemps

Find directions for science experiments on Dragonflytv

Play games in French, Spanish, Italian or Dutch on Boowakwala

Watch videos at Smithsonia's online kidscastle

Join an online book club at Barnes and Noble.com

Listen to books online at audible or itunes


Check out How Everything Works

Keep track of the happenings at the International Space Station on NASA's website

Create her own crossword puzzles on DiscoverySchool.com

Create a map that shows the origins of spices and herbs from her favorite dish or watch a movie about the world's largest Buddist temple atNational Geographic

Listen to the Top 100 Speeches at AmericanRhetoric.com



You get the picture... :)

I don't plan to just plop her in front of the internet for hours and ignore her. I figure she will do it for an hour or two in the morning. Unlike the unschooling experiment I see no reason to keep this one going if it is not working out. I just think there are of interesting and innovative websites out there that are doing what they can to change with way we learn, communicate and create.

"Mommy, you get me everything I want most in the world"

7th night of Hanukkah

Presents so far:

1st night A Most Authentic and Genuine Guide Princess book
2nd night Presents from Grandmere, Grandpere, and Tante including Fairyopolis book
3rd night Crystal Prism (now hanging in room and making it most magical)
4th night Coupons for outings to the zoo, science museum, natural history museum, tinker, etc (she loved these!)
5th night The Neverending Story DVD (watched it the next morning, cried when Artax drowns in the Swamps of sadness)
6th night Wizard Craft craft book (made the wizard hat today)
7th night Fairy dress and princess accessories





She told me she plans to wear the dress every day.

Last night while she was sleeping I put this together in her room. We already had the canopy netting but we hadn't had it up since two houses ago. The rose flowered pillows and sheets are my summer time bed covers. The ribbons and flowers I made. She woke up this morning and was so surprised.



Also I wanted to share another project, although this one I worked on with Z. Her rock collection. The big one on the bottom is the fairy quartz that she paid thirty dollars for.



See how shiny it is?

Even when she is sick

Z still comes up with what would be an almost full day of homeschooling.

Playing a variety of percussion instruments, pretending to be a musician performing to an audience (music)
Making up songs on the piano based on words that you give her - like fairy, sppoky, and light (music)
Pracice her regular piano (music)
Pen and paper Mad Libs (grammar)
Played alone with new electronic Mad Libs game (grammar)
Played Fluxx (critical thinking)
Played tic, tac, toe (critical thinking)
Played hang-man (spelling)
Read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (reading)
Asked how many steps we take in a year and did the math to find out (math)
Asked how a prism makes a rainbow and listened to the answer (science)
Made a Wizards Hat from her Wizard's Crafts book (art)
Played Dreidl (math)
Asked about and listened to a Perl coding test that her Pere was given (math)

poor little Z

Poor little Z has a bad cough. She woke up before the sun this morning coughing. I sat with her on the rocking chair and watched the sun rise with her.

Pere got up later and made us waffles with my new Hello Kitty waffle iron , a present from my sister-in-law.



After that we watched the present she got last night, the movie The Neverending Story. (I love that movie!)

Then, sadly, Z had to miss her homeschool Girl's Club present exchange. We stopped by the park and gave a little girl the present we got her and Z picked up her present, but we didn't stay. Z was just too sick.

The present she got Monday night, a crystal prism, helped cheer her up. This afternoon around 4:00 she was excited to see rainbows all over her west facing room. It is hard to take pictures of it, but it was really beautiful and magical.

This is a picture of the crystal and some lights against the wall. There were more rainbows in the other walls, the ceiling, the floor, and even out the hallway.



Z stood in front of the wall where a rainbow was so it would be on her. Then she said "Now I am a fairy!"

Food Glorious Food

I recently read the book by the guy who made the Super Size Me movie. Boy, oh boy, that really changed my eating habits.

We have been off trans fats for two weeks now. It isn't that hard since we don't eat much prepared food or eat at fast food places. Z is really getting into it and checks everything for trans fats or "partially hydrogenated oils" before it goes into our shopping cart or her mouth. The other day at her grandmother's she found some crackers with trans fats and tried to throw them away! I told her that grandma has to make that choice for herself.

I have also decided we should go organic for dairy and grass-fed for meat. I feel awful that Z has been drinking so much regular milk lately. I have been good about cooking "healthy" (lots of veggies, fruits, omega-3 fatty fish, less red meat, etc) but I hadn't totally jumped on the anti-transfat wagon. I really didn't know any better.

We are lucky to have a Whole Foods just a few blocks away so I have a lot more choices there than I do at the regular market. It is going to take some creative menu massaging to keep the prices down to what we are used to paying though.


I have been feeling very homey lately, probably because I haven't been home that much. *wink* I feel like I want to start knitting, or sewing my own clothes...

I also want to sit in the rocking chair with Z on my lap, under a handmade quilt, in front of the fireplace, and read her old-fashioned children's stories. Or maybe go on a hay ride and drink hot chocolate... know what I mean?

Pere's job search is going well. He is talking to several companies and quiet busy. I am praying that he finds the right one.

Recent pictures

breakfast


Willow stick house


biggest leaf ever



on the bridge above the waterfall


steps

Dirty House

This is the first time since we moved here in October that my house has been really messy.

We have been really busy the last five days, it seems like we are only home long enough to make a mess. :(

I have a laundry pile almost as tall as Z. The dining table is covered with opened and unopened presents. Thre are glasses and green tea bottles all over the place - it looks like we had a party, but we didn't.

And the worst part is that we have no groceries and I have a cold and I don't feel like going out on a major shopping trip. But I really have to since we are home now and the three of us need to eat.

The second worst part is that I know I am not going to be able to rest until the house is cleaned. At some point in my early twenties I became unable to relax in an untidy house...

poor pitiful me... *wink*

I promose not to be so whiny at my next post.

What I would like our days to be like

some ideas:

Visiting with friends
Reading stories
Playing math games
Going to the library
Bike Riding
Using Japanese in our everyday language
Doing science experiments
Writing stories and illustrating them
Doing arts and crafts
Going on field trips
Baking
Being outdoors in Nature - nature journaling
Pack a picnic and a bag with some books and paper and artists pencils, science equipment and food
Take it to the park and spend the day there - invite our friends to come and visit.

First Night of Hanukkah!

Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine

Today before Z's astronaut training class we stopped off at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine also on Sunset Boulevard.


We pass by it every Friday on the way to class and I knew that Ghandi's ashes were in the garden.

It is a beautiful tranquil garden with a natural spring, waterfall, beautiful plants and flowers, a Dutch windmill, two swans, and a shrine to Ghandi.

They ask that you remian quiet while you are there as the point is to meditate. When we got there Z picked out a bench by the lake and "meditated." A few minutes later she said "I have found my inner peace... now what?" lol

Z loved it so much that I actually promised I would take her again.

multipotentiality

Multipotentiality is the ability to select and develop any number of career options because of a wide variety of interests, aptitudes, and abilities (Frederickson & Rothney, 1972). The broad range of opportunities available tends to increase the complexity of decision making and goal setting, and it may actually delay career selection.

Yesterday Z's Japanese tutor said 'Z has a lot of things that she does."

Yeah... you're not wrong.

I have this kid who loves piano, theatre, singing and acting. She also loves every kind of science she has ever seen - she collects rocks and minerals, acorns, and seashells. She will sit for over an hour to watch an insect crawl along a branch. She has an interest in space and wants to be an astronaut. Oh, but also a doctor.

She loves langauges and wants to learn, not just a second, but a third, forth, fifth...

Her favorite subject (these days) is math but she also reads two hours a day and has written and illustrated many little stories and poems.

Then there is this passion for mythology...


I have no idea what Z is going to do when she grows up. (Maybe she will homeschool her kids.) But right now she just wants to do everything. And it makes me wish we had 48 hours in a day because then I would be able to spend the time on things that she wants to.

Of course there are other issues. Her piano teacher would love for her to give up everything else and just focus on classical piano. But I am seeing that there may be a need to bring in another music instructor for composing before too long.

And although she is reading and writing in Japanese (yesterday she was reading sentences in Hiragana like 'I would like to eat the strawberry with the yellow on it." and "The owl wants to chat on the cellphone." We really only get around to studying two or three days a week.

Science, Math, and Reading, Oh My!

She is also keeping a list of all the things she wants to know. She wants to know how we build buildings, how lamp post works, how the printer prints in black and in color. I would love to help her find out her answers. But we need to fit that research in between piano, auditions, astronaut class, play dates, chores, gymnastics, Shakespeare, reading about fairies, building a display for her rock collection, maintaining her pet snail's habitats, getting involved in conservation, learning Hebrew, etc.

I am not really complaining... not really. I can't even imagine what people with more than one kid do.

I just wanted to write about what it can be like to have a kid with multipotentiality. I certainly don't wish she were just 'Piano Girl," I am really happy and excited for her and all her interests and talents.

But trying to fed those interests and not give into the pressure to make her "piano girl" or "science kid" but to find the time, money and resources to let her explore all the world... well that is what I do with my days. :)

kissed a boy

*sigh*

all I can say is *sigh*

Z was playing with friends after her science class today and she came running over to me all flush and pink, she grabbed me and pulled me down to her mouth and whispered in my ear "I kissed Joey!"

At first I was kind of upset and I think she could tell. I said something like 'Why did you do that?"

She said "I don't know. I just like him so much!"

She looked at me warily and, seeing my expression, her face fell and she looked ashamed.

That made me feel really bad. So I tried to hide my misgivings and smile. But I had to ask "What did Joey think?"

She said "He said he was too young for that."

I nodded. I agree.

Then Z climbed up on my lap and almost started to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she said "I did something wrong!"

Then I thought about it and changed my mind.

Really she is an innocent little girl who is the type who gets crushes. And she only kissed him on the shoulder (I think think they were just standing next to each other and she, really quickly, leaned over and kissed his shoulder.

She just has a lot of love. I decided then to support her.

When I was a girl I had a huge crush on a boy for EIGHT YEARS (from 3rd grade to tenth) and I was too shy to do anything about it. I was usually too shy to talk to the boys I really liked and instead would "go out with" boys I liked less.

And just because she was so overcome with puppy love that she kissed a boy doesn't mean that she will grow up to be a hootchie.

I have decided not to wish my daughter didn't want to kiss boys at this age and instead see it as a sign that I have an affectionate and loving child who also is brave with her heart and willing to take a chance.

Okay my kid is weird

weirder than your kids probably.

Z gets so involved in her pretend and play-acting that even when we leave the house she keeps it up and at the library today she was muttering stuff under her breath and acting out that evil mermaids have tied her up, tortured her and forced her to be their servant.

Then while I am in line to check the books out she is hiding under a display table (still muttering), pretending to be caught. Then then gets up and asks (quite loudly) if I will be the Grand High Mermaid and order her about.

I play along and try not to notice the reactions of the other library patrons...

Z's competition

Z had her piano competition last night.

She was _so_ the youngest in her program. The next oldest was probably nine and it went up from there with most of the kids older teenagers.

Amazingly Z played really really well. She played first and she sat so nicely for the next two hours that the Chairperson singled her out for praise at the end of the program.

Here are some pictures of her with her jacket still on in one of the practice rooms before the program.





Even though Z performed great and had a very good experience I still have issues with competitions. A competition is not about how good you are but about how good you are at that moment, and how good you are at performing in front of an audience and with a lot of pressure to "win."

I don't think that is what being a musician is about. Where will winning competitions really lead you?

I would rather Z spend less time practicing for competitions and more time exploring and creating music.

I have a video of her competition but I have having a hard time putting it on youtube. If anyone wants to see if let me know and I will email you a link.

unschooling makes me antsy

I am feeling lost and not knowing what to do with myself.

I have been trying to keep myself busy with projects:

I have worked a little on rewriting my NaNoWriMo story.

I have been pampering the snails and the cat next door (it is not as fun to pamper our own cats.)

I have been going through old magazines that I have been saving and writing down recipes from them.

I am making my own holiday wrapping paper with Z.

I am washing a lot of things by hand.

Not surprisingly none of those things are really doing it for me. I need to learn to knit...

Some Random Pictures

on the mantle


on the windowsill in the kitchen


the library


Z in the woods on Friday


Making homemade Hanukkah wrapping paper


Renaming all her stuffed animals in her room


snail habitat


corner of the kitchen counter