Summer of Silliness: Co-Pilot

I asked the boys if they wanted to come with me to run some errands.  They did not.  But Lex did give me his giant stuffed dog named Cat to remember him by and keep me company. He told me that it was a part of him, so it would be like he was coming with me, but without him having to deal with all the bother of actually coming with me. Such a sweet boy.

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of the school year, so I took the boys for their traditional end-of-the-year photos by the redstone sign.

Connor wanted to have his picture taken first thing in the morning, nevermind that the sun was right in his eyes.

Lex waited until later on in the afternoon for his photo.

If you want to see how much they have grown in the past year, check out this post from the first day of school in September, and this post from the last day of school a year ago.

Happy Summer Y'all!

Life of Fred

We use the Life of Fred series for math here at our Redstone Academy.  We have been ever since the beginning.  Here is our collection:

Yes, that's a college-level Statistics course.  No, we haven't used it yet.  Kevin ordered it for Connor, just because it seemed like he might be interested in it sooner rather than later.  If you have ever watched a football game with Connor, you understand why.

But we have used all the other books.  Apples through Jelly Beans are to be used from Kindergarten through 4th grade.  Then come the three intermediate books:  Kidneys, Liver and Mineshaft.  Those are supposed to be for 4th to 6th grade.  Afterwards begin the topic-specific books, like Fractions, which Connor just finished.  He will begin with Decimals and Percents next year.  Those are both part of the five-book Pre-Algebra series.  Those five books are middle school math.  So, Connor is really kind of ahead of his grade level in math, and he is doing great.

Lex is also above his grade level in the Fred books.  He finished both Honey and Ice Cream this year, and those two, along with the last book in the elementary series, are the ones that really get into multiplication and division.  Since there are only three books that really deal with multiplication and division, I'm going to re-do Honey and Ice Cream with him again next year before moving on to Jelly Beans and then the intermediate series.  That sounds just perfect for the beginning of 3rd grade.

I'm looking forward to many more years with Fred.  He's a funny little guy.  There is even a high school level language arts course that we will probably investigate in the years to come.

  

How Big is Lex?

Lex got measured today.  He is 70 lbs and 4 feet 5 inches tall.

Wordless Wednesday: Redstone Academy Edition

This week at Redstone Academy: A Photo Essay

This week at Redstone Academy

This week at Redstone Academy, we are studying the circulatory system in anatomy.

These coloring pages are Lex's handiwork.

This week at Redstone Academy, our Latin chapter is all about things you would find in a palace.

Connor got so involved in the comedy of his drawing that he forgot that he was supposed to be labeling the items from his vocabulary list in Latin.  The fat drunk knight is my favorite.

More coloring pages by Lex.

This week at Redstone Academy, Lex wanted to read all the Curious George books that he could find at the library.  Both the boys are somewhat obsessed with the Guinness Book of World Records.

Also, Connor finished reading The Hunger Games and is now working on Catching Fire.  He wants to watch the movies once he is done with the books.  Lex has also decided to read the books.  He's starting The Hunger Games now, but I don't think he likes it as much as Captain Underpants, because he keeps going back to those books instead.

Some family photos, so you don't forget what we look like.

Connor, age 9, sitting on a hay bale that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared again just as quickly, much to his chagrin, because he thought it was the perfect place to sit and ponder the meaning of life.

Kevin and I, photo by Lex

Lex, age 7, in black and white for some reason that I don't know

(Did you know our camera can take photos in black and white?)

Lex and I going to check out the desert bloom and prairie dogs near our house.  The flowers smelled amazing, and the prairie dogs are adorable and squeaky, as long as you stay far enough away not to get the bubonic plague.  Seriously.  That's still a thing, with prairie dogs.

And now, for a guest post by Lex:

Tik, age 2. He just got cut and his hair grew back quick and he LOVES kids. He's very friendly. He does bite. Why? you ask. Well, we accidentally can hurt him cause he's very small and loves being pet.

THE END

Three Teeth in One Week!

Tonight when he was brushing his teeth before bed, Lex informed me that he had *another* lose tooth.  And then he must have gone to bed and spent the entire time that he was supposed to be falling asleep working on getting it out, because a while later, and much after his bedtime, he reappeared to inform us that he had lost his tooth!

And here I thought he had been sleeping.

This child has now lost three teeth in the span of one week.  Soon we will be referring to him as Toothless, like his favorite dragon from How to Train Your Dragon.

In semi-related news:  he has been considering having a How to Train Your Dragon birthday party in October for some time now.

Well, after posing for photos for me, on his way back to bed, Daddy asked him to show him his tooth for a few photos.  And somehow during this second photo shoot, Lex lost his tooth.

He was standing in the living room and he dropped it.  There aren't that many places it could go, I swear, but we could not find this tooth.  I think our house was built on some sort of tooth black hole or Indian tooth burial ground with mystical tooth disappearing powers.  So, Lex wrote a note to the tooth fairy, just like all the ones that Connor had to write a few years ago:

Spoiler alert:  He only got $10.  This tooth fairy thinks $25 for a tooth is a little steep.  Especially at the rate that he seems to be losing them.

Nerf Star Wars in Slow Motion

So, what did we end up doing with the legless Star Wars figurines that came in the chocolate eggs?  This.

Hey There, Tooth Fairy!

Lex's tooth finally came out on Friday afternoon, and he was super excited about it.

The Tooth Fairy came to visit him that night.  He said to me, "I know you are Santa Claus and I know you are the Easter Bunny, but I'm not sure if you are the Tooth Fairy."

After careful consideration of the matter, he is pretty sure that I am the Tooth Fairy.

Hurry up, Tooth Fairy!

Lex has had a loose tooth for a little while now.

While brushing his teeth for bed tonight, Lex discovered that his tooth was really very wiggly and loose, so he decided to try to pull it out so that he could put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't come out.  Also, Lex isn't squeamish about blood.  He had it dripping off of his chin, and onto his keyboard while he was playing Minecraft.  Because obviously when you fail at pulling out your tooth, you get right back to what you were doing before that.

Fortunately, he was wearing a red shirt, because he kept wiping his bloody chin on his sleeve.

Maybe it will come out in time for the tooth fairy to visit tomorrow night.

Future Brain Surgeons

...or mad scientists.  It could go either way, really.

Artist at Bedtime

Last night, after a long day of playing Prodigy Math yesterday, I thought that it would be a good idea to sneak in one more activity before bedtime.  After I had prised the children from their computers, I set up a family drawing challenge.

Apparently I was a little reckless with the word challenge.  I mean, we are talking about little boys here.  Ones that take competitions and challenges very seriously.

It was after 8:00 PM when we started drawing.  Which is fine.  It's a good activity to settle them down a bit after computers and before bed.  And Connor finished his drawing really quickly.

Lex, on the other hand, took his time.

Around 9:45 PM, it was getting out of hand.

"Good pictures take a long time," he told me.

"If it's a competition, then I'm going to win.  That's why I am taking my time.  It takes a long time, but I want to win."

At this point, I had totally forgotten ever mentioning anything about any sort of competition or challenge at all, and just wanted him to finish so he could go to bed.  He reminded me that I had said "challenge."  I set a hard and fast limit of 10:00 on his artwork.

He finished at 9:58 PM.

Here is his prize winning Minecraft inspired artwork.  His prize?  Staying up until 10:00 PM last night.

Prodigy

My kids are obsessed with another new video game, and this time, I'm totally fine with them playing it for hours without end.  Even during school!

Because somehow, this totally fun and addicting video game is also math.

I'm serious.  I've been watching them play, and I've been helping them with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals, fractions and Cartesian coordinates, while they battle wizards and collect weapons and awesome pets that can evolve into more awesome pets.  It's like the Legend of Zelda meets Pokemon meets Mortal Kombat meets math.

They asked if they could do it first thing this morning for school, and they kept at it until lunch.  Then, they got right back to it after lunch.  Lex didn't give it up until close to 4 pm, and Connor wasn't finished until 6pm.

I read them some stories while they ate lunch, and we did a quick Latin lesson, but otherwise, today they did math.  So much math.  Because once that's what they want to do, there is no reason to stop them.  Days like today, I love homeschooling so much.

Movies at the Park

Me:  Why are you putting rocks on the slide?

Lex:  It's for special effects.

Me:  Special effects for what?

Lex:  You'll see.  I need you to take a slo-mo video of me.  Start when I say and don't stop until I say.

Me:  Okay.

Lex:



Me:  That's actually pretty awesome.

Lex:  I know, right?  Can I see my video?


P.S.  Watch with the sound turned on.  It's better that way.

Kid Made and Kid Approved

The boys made their own lunch today, and it was a new food, and they liked it and ate it.  I consider this a win!

What did they make?

Homemade mini corn dogs!

First, they made corn bread mix from scratch.  Then, they spooned it into our mini muffin pan.

Next, they inserted cut-up hot dogs into the corn bread.

Finally, we baked it at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.  (Note to self for the next time we make this.)

Lex said that he likes cooking more than he likes school.  Possibly because he can't eat his Latin worksheets.

But the mini corn dogs?  They were delicious.

I ate mine with ketchup, honey and spicy mustard.