Foil towers

So, in my efforts to fill some of spring break with things other than screens, yesterday I handed each boy a box of aluminum foil (the cheap 25 square foot boxes from the dollar store) and challenged them to make the tallest freestanding tower that they could using only the foil. They set to work with somewhat predictable approaches:

Asher thought for a minute and began constructing his tower quickly but efficiently...perhaps lacking a bit in quality control but fulfilling the objective, lol. Micah immediately began tearing the foil apart and trying to make "bricks" of a sort. Noah carefully shaped his foil and observed his brothers.

In the end, Asher will tell you that if you look at time-to-tower ratios, he clearly won. Noah will point out that his is technically the tallest and that he had foil leftover. Micah, though, was probably the happiest with his (after I stepped in and helped him come up with a plan since he'd started making foil balls and was getting close to just throwing them, lol).

And, afterward, Micah turned his into a fun, swirly grappling hook...

There you have it. :)

(PS I actually got the idea off of Pinterest. It had a whole lesson plan about structural integrity and such...with a first attempt like this, then some lessons and instruction, then another attempt. I didn't purchase the lesson but figured I could still use the idea just for fun at this point.) 

Twister

Apparently spring break makes my boys want to dig out old games. :) We haven't played Twister in ages but gave it a go this afternoon. Noah was the spinner/caller during the first round, and all started out fine...

I fell out early due to being unable to reach from one side of the mat to the other with a boy in between, lol...which left Nathan and the younger two...

...and in the end, to no one's surprise, Asher out-twisted Nathan for the win. :)

We played again after that and even got Noah to join us. (Asher took over spinner/caller duties.) But we weren't allowed to take pictures of that. I'll tell you, though, that I won by edging out a small boy, lol.

Fun, fun times. :) If you have a Twister game at home, I challenge you to go play!

Ten on Tuesday

So. We're on spring break this week and I figured maybe I should do some catching up. ;) Here, then, are ten random things:

1. Earlier this month, my pal Molly and I walked at Barr Lake again and had a lovely visit. So grateful that our schedules were able to work out at the last minute...love chatting with her!

2. Still very happy with our new windows. :) Only one little thing. Now that they're so much more energy efficient, my sunny spot (on the couch in our family room) isn't as warm and cozy. Sad. 

3. In terms of house projects, I'm also pretty darn happy with having rearranged things to move all the video games to the basement. Yay!

4. Last Wednesday, btw, some of the other lovely ladies from boot camp and I met up to do a wine glass painting session. It was fabulous...getting to see everyone in non-workout-clothes, lol, and enjoying some time painting and chatting and drinking. Awesome!

5. Recently, I saw this old Ranchero on my way to karate. It lacks an ugly orange stripe, but it very much made me reminisce about my dad, who drove one of these on our farm. I remember driving lessons in that old heap...my brother jumping on the hood of it while I was learning (fortunately not on a road at that point, just in the orchard)...the torn upholstery and ceiling fabric...hauling plenty of farm stuff in the back, including us and cousins. In any case, just a moment...a walk down memory lane. Thankful.

6. Last weekend, I hit an annual homeschool curriculum fair here and came away with some great finds! I was pretty stoked, as most of my finds came from the used/garage sale section of the event and I got smoking deals. :) Here's what I found: 

Okay, a couple of these I actually purchased from Amazon recently also, but most of them are from the fair. One of the things that makes me happiest is that I feel like I'm getting so much better at only getting things that I'm actually going to use. :) (Now to work on my plan for the rest of this year and next...)

7. Don't worry...if you're curious about that stack and my plans, I'm working on it and will post more details. I also have some book list posts planned soon, hopefully.

8. I'm also glad that spring break happened to be just after the switch to daylight savings time. We don't have an overly strict schedule here, thankfully, but it's been good to be able to ease into the new time. :)  

9. I've been doing my one-on-one nights with my boys still. So happy. :) With Asher, I watched "Eddie the Eagle" and dissuaded him from ever trying ski jumping, lol. With Micah, I watched "Race" and was reminded that he really takes things to heart. (Let's just say that even though he knew how WWII went he was quite mad at the movie and the actors in parts.) And with Noah, we didn't do any movies but instead spent a really nice evening eating dinner together and have some great conversations...reminding me that this boy of mine is becoming a man. Happy sigh.

10. What's the deal with vegetables?! I'd never really thought about it. How, though, do you define what makes a vegetable? Seriously. If you go look up definitions for "fruit" and "vegetable" you'll only be more confused. Really.

Okay, back to tackling my spring break list... ;) 

3.14 X 24

Yup, it's that time of year again...Pi Day, and also the anniversary of the day Nathan and I met. :) If you want to see what we looked like way back then, check out this post I did a couple years ago. 

In any case, so very grateful to have this man in my life for so many years! Since he's working today, we went out yesterday to celebrate...nothing fancy, just a movie then dinner at The Melting Pot and some walking around of Old Town and such. Sweet.

And on our way home, we stopped and picked up some pie for today...because we're geeks like that and because pie is awesome. :) We couldn't decide on just one (well, we knew boys wouldn't all like the same type, lol) so picked up a half key lime, half chocolate and a full almond lemon pie. We've not had that last type before but are looking forward to trying it. I figured, though, I'd best take this picture this morning, before boys get to them. ;)

So, happy Pi Day to you and happy anniversary to my love!

Parent Teacher Conference

For whatever reason, February always finds me rather introspective regarding our homeschooling journey. So. Much of last month, I had a rather lengthy parent-teacher conference with myself. :) For the sake of recording it (and because I know I appreciate reading about other families' homeschooling journeys, myself)...I figured I'd share. (Warning: Unlike how I imagine a proper parent-teacher conference goes (though I've never had one personally anyhow), this one doesn't really have any organization...it's more like a brain dump.)

• I just added it to my calendar...need to order materials for our required testing this year. Gonna wait till June to actually administer the tests, though...
• I'm in charge of Micah's book group next month. I need to figure out what to do for that. After February's book group, those are pretty big shoes to fill. :) They had a lovely time discussing their book, The Fantastic Family Whipple. It's about a family of world record breakers. So, the kids set about trying to break a few of their own...

(Micah came out on top by managing to grab and eat two M&M's with chopsticks whilst blindfolded (there was a time limit)...which was tricky given that the boy doesn't know how to use chopsticks, lol.)

(He didn't do as well during the timed sticking post-it notes to another person thing.)

• I was recently reminded (through our local homeschool group) about a book I read years ago, The Way They Learn. It was a good reminder. As I'm trying to sort out the next few years, it was actually useful to dig it out and re-read it. The last time I did, I don't think Micah was old enough to really have a learning style. :) I'm finding, though, that the way I homeschooled Noah isn't working as well with the younger two as they're getting older. Noah was (until age 12-13ish) considerably easier for me to homeschool...because we have such similar learning styles. Asher and Micah, as luck would have it, have learning styles almost opposite of mine. Of course, lol. Gotta give that some more thought...and adjust our game plan. 
• Speaking of our local homeschool group...I'm thankful that it's still there for me and so glad it exists. I feel like my personal involvement has gone in waves. When I first started homeschooling, I was so dependent on the group for advice and help. As I got into my groove, I became really involved...overly so. And then I stepped back and focused on my own gig. :) And it was good. These days I try to contribute back with recommendations and thoughts but maintain some distance regarding responsibility.
• I'm realizing recently, though, that my close homeschooling friends with kids the same age are no longer homeschooling. My tribe has moved on to some extent...most of the boys' original homeschool friends are now in school. And, while I still love and enjoy these ladies--the moms I learned to mom with--our conversations are different now. And they should be. But sometimes it makes me a little sad/lonely.
• For reasons unknown, all three boys have issues with negative numbers. I'm trying to find a better way to explain. In our math at home (with Asher and Micah obviously...Noah's in calculus at Front Range Community College, so I suppose he's fine), we can handle solving linear equations with two variables in multiple ways, but apparently we can't figure out which direction we're going on the number line when negative numbers are involved. Ugh.
• In looking for opportunities to foster independence, I'm looking into summer camp possibilities this year. I have no idea really what I'm doing. Any suggestions?

And that's just a sample of what's been going on in my head. :)