Hang Out and Post

[lakecat]

It's OK, MK. You are busy and I don't mind the delay. Good luck with the home schooling! 

[balloongal247]

13 minutes ago, Mouseykins said:

Very very busy lol! Thanks for asking!

My husband and i have made the decision to home school our oldest this year so I'm doing her school work most of the day. On my husbands days off he helps. This is our second week now and the first week was mostly getting everything set up. We're going into town today to get some more lesson materials for her. So far she's enjoying it and we've seen a lot of improvement.

(sorry I just seen this!)

For your homeschooling, make sure you take advantage of the many free online teaching programs out there.  Even if you don't have a free virtual school in your area that's run like a regular school, you could use the "self teach" type ones to supplement instruction in the topics that public schools tend to overlook that will be most valuable to her.  Things like foreign languages and coding.

[Mouseykins]

58 minutes ago, lakecat said:

It's OK, MK. You are busy and I don't mind the delay. Good luck with the home schooling! 

Thanks! So far it's going good!

49 minutes ago, balloongal247 said:

For your homeschooling, make sure you take advantage of the many free online teaching programs out there.  Even if you don't have a free virtual school in your area that's run like a regular school, you could use the "self teach" type ones to supplement instruction in the topics that public schools tend to overlook that will be most valuable to her.  Things like foreign languages and coding.

Thanks, we plan on using everything we can! She's only 6 so languages and such would be a bit complex for her right now. We are planning on teaching her music. She wants to learn the piano. In the school she was going to they don't have a proper music room or anything which is very disappointing.

[balloongal247]

Ah, programming skills for that age would be more drag and drop based teaching the logic flows of "how do I actually do this" and making animations, games, movies.  ScratchJr is a good resource for that. It's an MIT designed free program for programming, designed for teaching programming mindset, that doesn't even require literacy.  I've used Scratch to teach programming to elementary students in outreach programs.  ScratchJr is the one designed for kindergarten aged kids, I guess, or it's an iPad app?  Look for Scratch/ScratchJr.  It is the one that is geared toward the youngest children.  Goldieblox is a toy company that teaches engineering skills to kids, especially girls, as young as 4, coupled with a story to keep it interesting for them.  They do have one app building option as well.

There are many indications that it's easier to teach children foreign languages from very young ages, because all languages are foreign to them then.  You are just teaching multiple first languages.  That's why there are several kids shows all or part in other languages.  Apparently when my sister was a baby she started "talking" in ASL because she went to a preschool that also had deaf preschoolers.  If you can find foreign kids shows of the kind that point and repeat a lot, that can teach them foreign languages.  When I was little, my mom made us watch movies of some creepy bear speaking Spanish?

 

Honestly, I'm not sure what children learn/should learn at given ages.  One time I asked for a group of non-advanced 6th graders to teach algebra to, we also made them learn a little geometry.  I was thinking that was the age at which I'd learned it, but later realized that in my *advanced* 6th grade classes, I was learning "pre-algebra" math.  At least we were starting from scratch and could demonstrate that the program we were using taught them anything they did know by the end?  The pretest freaked them out though.  But, it's always good to teach the type of logic/critical thinking skills required by programmers.

[Mouseykins]

I'll look into that. I usually have her on her Asus tablet doing lessons on Education.com to supplement what she's being taught. During study time my 3 year old is on my iPad watching goofy videos on youtube kids. They drive me BONKERS! I'll look into something like that for her too. She's smart and already learning some of the things her big sister is just by copying.

The language idea is a good one and it would be nice for her to be able to speak another language. Right now we just don't have the time with the rest of the course work we need to get through. That may be a summer project though. I've been thinking about Spanish, because I know a little bit and there's a show called Handy Manny that the girls love to watch when it's on. The beauty of the internet is I'm sure I can find the episodes somewhere to stream.

Or I could sneakily teach  her German so when her Grandparents speak it she can report back to me what they're saying. Lol but I kind of have my husband for that.

I just bought a bunch of different paints and brushes for us to use. Including glitter and metallic watercolors! I think I'm more excited to try them then the kids are!

I'm actually starting a tumblr to record our homeschool journey. I have to work on some posts tomorrow and I'll put in the haul I got from Staples.

https://www.tumblr.com/blog_auth/homeschooled-littles

[balloongal247]

Handy Manny was an awesome show.  It's probably not in new episodes anymore, since the actor who played Manny has been on NCIS for the last year.  He's awesome. 

Glitter and Metallic watercolors sound fun to play with.. 

[Mouseykins]

My husband and I quite enjoyed watching it when it was on. Sadly they took it off of Disney Junior and put on other goofy shows.

I'll post pics when we play with the watercolors!

[balloongal247]

Miles from Tomorrowland is really good, though I think they may have completely changed it and made it a short, Mission Force One?  If so, I'm upset.  Sofia the First is also excellent.  And Elena of Avalor. I used to like Imagination Movers, but haven't watched that in a long time.

Milo Murphy's Law is really good, but it's on Disney XD, not Disney Junior.  If you watched Phineas and Ferb, Milo is the same creators and has a similar vibe.  If you haven't, you should.

[Mouseykins]

Miles, Sofia, Elena, Lion Guard and Doc McStuffins are the most popular ones in my house right now.

Imagination Movers was alright, they should bring that one back.

We do have Disney XD for the sole purpose of Star Wars Rebels and once season 4 is over I'll be getting rid of the channel if possible. As long as it doesn't get rid of Disney Junior lol.

In other news, I'm busy cleaning, doing laundry and tending to children tonight. Kind of in rush mode unfortunately. We got a call Thursday night at 9pm from my husband's parents asking if we're coming out this round while he's on days off. Since we're not, they were thinking they should come out to our place before the weather turns. Friday we weren't home so we could get groceries and I needed to pick up more school books for our daughter. Get a call at 10am this morning "We're coming out tomorrow". I got up late today so trying to get as much done and get ready for this week of school. They're bringing Thanksgiving dinner with them so have to make sure the kitchen is mostly cleaned and tidied. I hate short notice for things.

 

[balloongal247]

Watch Milo Murphy's Law.  It's SOOOO good.  The premise is basically that he's of the family after which "Murphy's Law" was named.  And so, anything that can go wrong, will--around him (or his father, but not his sister.  I guess it's passed down in the Y gene ).  They have all the episodes up on the Watch XD app.   And it's only like a dozen episodes, though it looks like more because most of them are 2 in 1, and the app has them listed as 2, but each one is only 11 min long, except for one that was a full half hour on it's own, and one that was an hour.

I think XD and Junior are usually on the same level of tv service.

[Zafie]

On 29/09/2017 at 11:09 AM, eloralestrange said:

Muffins. :) What's your favorite flavor?

My favorite flavor is chocolate chip! How about yours? :3

 

On 30/09/2017 at 8:02 AM, balloongal247 said:

Handy Manny was an awesome show.  It's probably not in new episodes anymore, since the actor who played Manny has been on NCIS for the last year.  He's awesome. 

Glitter and Metallic watercolors sound fun to play with.. 

Omg Handy Manny was awesome! My parents and I had argument over Manny's friend Mr. Lopart. I thought his name was Mr. Lopar but they insisted it was Mr. Lopart, so I had to google it and it turns out they were right. I think I miss-pronounced it because of the way Manny said it xD

[balloongal247]

10 minutes ago, Zafie said:

My favorite flavor is chocolate chip! How about yours? :3

Omg Handy Manny was awesome! My parents and I had argument over Manny's friend Mr. Lopart. I thought his name was Mr. Lopar but they insisted it was Mr. Lopart, so I had to google it and it turns out they were right. I think I miss-pronounced it because of the way Manny said it xD

I like all kinds of muffins. I actually like taking cake-type breads (like banana bread) and baking them in muffin tins instead of a bread pan.  It makes it a lot easier to eat, and a lot easier to freeze and take out portions if you can't eat a whole batch at once (or shouldn't)

Yeah, in Spanish, the t is pronounced with more subtlety than in English.  It's pronounced more like a d, rather than with the projection of the air puff (the kind that might make you accidentally spit, ya know?) that it is in English.  (I was a Spanish minor, and took a Spanish Phonetics class where I had to learn the details like that)

Wilmer's accent would be Venezuelan, so even if you are used to listening to Spanish, you might be more used to Mexican or Cuban accents (I feel like those are probably the two most common groups in the US), or maybe Spanish from classes.  And each region does pronounce some sounds slightly differently.  It's been several years, so I can't remember what linguistic characteristics Venezuela is known for.

[Mouseykins]

5 hours ago, balloongal247 said:

Watch Milo Murphy's Law.  It's SOOOO good.  The premise is basically that he's of the family after which "Murphy's Law" was named.  And so, anything that can go wrong, will--around him (or his father, but not his sister.  I guess it's passed down in the Y gene ).  They have all the episodes up on the Watch XD app.   And it's only like a dozen episodes, though it looks like more because most of them are 2 in 1, and the app has them listed as 2, but each one is only 11 min long, except for one that was a full half hour on it's own, and one that was an hour.

I think XD and Junior are usually on the same level of tv service.

I'll have to check it out. I may not like it, but my girls might.

I think they're in the same package, I'm not sure anymore lol.

4 hours ago, Zafie said:

My favorite flavor is chocolate chip! How about yours? :3

 

Omg Handy Manny was awesome! My parents and I had argument over Manny's friend Mr. Lopart. I thought his name was Mr. Lopar but they insisted it was Mr. Lopart, so I had to google it and it turns out they were right. I think I miss-pronounced it because of the way Manny said it xD

I miss Handy Manny! Awe I can see how that would happen. We always thought it was funny how clumsy Mr. Lopart was and he never wanted to ask for help.

 

[balloongal247]

On 9/29/2017 at 10:09 AM, eloralestrange said:

Muffins. :) What's your favorite flavor?

I'm making coconut pumpkin nut bread and muffins now.  The recipe made two loaves, so I used half the batter in a muffin tin.  I really like doing that.  It gives nice convenient portions, takes less than half the time to cook.  You don't have to try to cut a loaf into equal portions of the correct number of portions--especially important to people who are trying to accurately count calories.  Easier to freeze and defrost certain portions.  Easier portability; in the past I've made a couple batches of muffins before going camping, and brought them along for breakfasts and snacks, they were great since they didn't require cooler space, and you didn't have to try to cook them over a campfire.

[Mouseykins]

That sounds really yummy!

I enjoy making banana chocolate chip muffins for my family. It's a great way to use up the soft bananas that no one will eat. Plus it's healthy. My 3 year old isn't much of a muffin girl and will only eat little bits, so I'll sometimes make little mini ones.

This year for Halloween we bought a pumpkin for the girls and I to carve up. I want to make some desserts with them and probably some pumpkin spice muffins. I'm wanting to roast the pumpkin seeds too for a healthy snack.

Oh tonight the girls got to use the new watercolor glitter paints tonight and it took a bit to get the glitter in the paint, but they look really nice! I'll post a picture later tonight on my blog. My husband is playing Battlefield and our internet connection cannot handle me taking a picture and uploading it over wi-fi which it automatically does.

EDIT: Picture is now posted on my blog.

[Zafie]

On 01/10/2017 at 2:44 PM, Mouseykins said:

I miss Handy Manny! Awe I can see how that would happen. We always thought it was funny how clumsy Mr. Lopart was and he never wanted to ask for help.

Yes it was a great show. I use to watch it with my little sister and at times I think I enjoyed cartoons more than her. I wonder why he never asked Manny for help... Maybe he was embarrassed?

[Mouseykins]

That's my thinking too. I have a couple of the DVD releases my girls watch every once in a while.

My 3 year old is enjoying watching Masha and the Bear on youtube kids. It's in Russian, but she still likes it. I'm not sure what all she's understanding with it though, but it keeps her occupied when her sister and I are doing school work.

@balloongal247 Have you seen the new Sofia episode: Ivy's True Colors? My 3 year old is in tears after watching the episode and she wants to watch it again, even though it makes her cry. It's a good episode if you haven't seen it. I'm getting her another tissue to watch it again. Poor girl!

[balloongal247]

Yes, I have.  It was good. Though I think the original Ivy episodes are about the only ones I haven't seen, at least fully, so I might not have fully appreciated it.

[Mouseykins]

It's a good episode! My 3 year old has been watching it several times and has now stopped crying when she watches it. She used to cry when watching Frozen when she was about 2. It was the part at the end when Anna gets turned to ice. I had to sit with her and tell her to watch and see that Anna would be alright. My oldest has never gotten emotional over a show, just shows how different they are.

Sunday night it snowed here and it's melting now. The girls and I have to go out to the post office and the store for some milk, so hopefully it's not too icy out there.

Since taking my daughter out of school I was thinking of having a Halloween party, but I'm still deciding what I want to do.

[Naamah D.]

Speaking of muffins, I don't really eat them anymore. Excessive gluten makes my knees hurt. 

 

Mouseykins, it snowed where you live? Lucky you. I wish it would snow where I live already because two of my favorite winter activities are tubing and sledding. Just out of curiosity do you still have your dogs? 

My real life Kougra (my cat Jude Dudley) likes to eat plastic so we have to keep plastic out of sight. Our other real life Kougra would rather cuddle than have cat treats. His name is Tucker. 

[Mouseykins]

Yup it snowed, but it's all melted now though. Which is fine by me!

I enjoy the beauty of winter, but not the extra work and the mess involved with having snow.

Yep I still have my pup! Mouse is 11 years old now and still acts like a puppy, therefore I'm inclined to believe she's still a puppy. Sadly we did lose her Mum 6 years ago. Angel had serious health problems and we put her to sleep. She passed away in our living room on her blanket with her favorite toy. Since the time she was purposefully overdosed on a tranquilizer to stop her heart and end her pain and suffering she was not alone. My husband and/or I were with her. He made her a lovely box and we laid her to rest in our yard, in my flower garden actually. Whenever I'm there weeding or planting I always talk to her. Even though she's not here with us anymore, she's not truly gone.

What's really funny actually, is Angel loved to climb into the laundry baskets with clothes in them. Didn't matter if they were clean or dirty, it was comfy. Though she seemed to prefer the clean clothes. A couple weeks ago Mouse was looking for a spot to lay on the couch and it just so happened that there was a laundry basket full of freshly laundered clothes. She climbs into it, looks at me with those adorable brown eyes saying "What?!" and I just about fell over laughing. I couldn't believe she climbed into the laundry. As far as I can recall I've never seen her do that.

Your cat is silly! Wonder why plastic is so intriguing.

Edit: Monday we made a spur of the moment trip into the city and I took our girls over to the Space & Science Center while Dad was across the street at his physio assessment. We were there from 1 - 5pm and we had a blast! I was hoping to take the girls into the planetarium, but it's being renovated so we made do with all the other exhibits and activities. The girls even got to pet and hold a bearded dragon on their laps! Pics and full details are posted on my blogs.

raising-littles.tumblr.com and homeschooled-littles.tumblr.com

If anyone is interested!

[Duma]

Pets just love soft stuff! Make sure you always check your laundry machine and dryer before turning it on! It would be horrible if they ended up being inside of it while it's turned on.

I wish we had snow already, still 10 to 13 degrees Celcius here at noon. Well, now that I think about it maybe it can wait for another month. I don't think I would like snow very much when I have my drivers license exam in a month.

At the moment I'm in the middle of trying to make onigiri for the first time (rice is cooling down). Went to this cool japanese supermarket the other day, about the only one I could find in the neighbourhood, and bought a bunch of stuff. Since it was not exactly cheap and a half an hour away with public transport I decided to just try at home. My normal supermarket sells sushi rice and nori so I can just make it myself. Or at least I hope. If it turns out okay, I might just make it a lot more. I'm a bit japanese obsessed at the moment. Trying out lots of kinds of their food, trying to teach myself the language (listening, reading and writing), watching anime (that's what started the obsession actually). I even bought myself a kendama.

[Mouseykins]

Mouse weighs like 20 pounds so I'd know if she was in there when I took the basket down to do the laundry.

Lately Mouse has been going outside constantly and it's driving us bonkers having to open the door and close it right away after she comes in so I said to my husband, "Two words for you. Doggy door!" So he replied back with, "Two words. A stuck!" A is our 3 year old and she most likely would try crawling through the doggy door and end up getting stuck in it.

We got snow today! Probably about 3-5cm total. I have no idea I wasn't outside today. It was rather windy and still snowing a bit this evening. Having snow when you take your drivers exam next month might be a bit uncomfortable. But if there is snow then at least you can prove that you can drive in snowy conditions.

My husband was working tonight and since I don't have my drivers license the girls and I stayed in and didn't go out trick-or-treating so our little girl doesn't catch a cold. A's too young to understand or care. K was a bit disappointed but she understood why we weren't going. I told her when we go shopping next I'd buy them a bag of lollipops and tomorrow if we go for our walk I'd let them wear their costumes. Dad was nice and brought them a few lollipops and a couple of chocolates each from work.

I'm happy we didn't go because I've been trying to get most of the junk food and candy out of my house, and they don't really need any more of it.

I don't know much about what you're making, but I hope it's good!

K, my 6 year old actually tried sushi a few weeks ago and enjoyed it and she is the pickiest eater of them all. I was shocked! She demanded we get sushi from the store and ate one at home.

 

[Duma]

ROFL A would do that for sure, and it wouldn't surprise me if K tried it too if her little sister was able to do it. Back when I was little we used the chicken door to get into the farm. I think I managed until I was 12 years old or so. I knew whenever my head fitted through, I would fit through completely. At school we had these metal fences and I would just go between the bars, no problem. I bet your girls would do the same .

 

My onigiri turned out great to be honest, I made 2 with salmon, 2 with tuna and 2 with pink shrimps:   

If K likes sushi maybe she'll like this as well!

 

[balloongal247]

@Mouseykins, they have animal doors keyed to collar tags or maybe even microchips, where it'll be locked unless the right pet is the one trying to open it.  That way no animals or small children can wander through or get stuck.

I like veggie sushi.  Not sure I'd like it with raw fish and stuff...  I like my foods fully cooked!  I have the stuff to make it, but I don't do so very often.