Day 28 - Weds Oct 21, 2020

We started the day with a bike ride to Hap Magee. Mila and Jonah tried to make a new friend, but the girl didn’t want to wear a mask, so we said “PEACE YO!” and went home for piano lessons

After piano, we worked on our “square breathing” technique.

Math time! Wednesday is hands-on day so we played a game: Place Value Hopscotch.

Continuing with Point Lobos week, we watched a Monterey Bay Aquarium video on exploring the tide pools of Point Lobos. Then we read about the seasons of the ocean (which they recited to Jules over dinner!) to understand what sorts of wildlife we may see this time of year. We finished up by coloring in a page about the rocky intertidal zone. Tomorrow we’ll label them and learn about each animal

Day 27 - Tues Oct 20, 2020

Guess what’s back? back again? School is back. Tell your friends.

Today our mindfulness meditation is the Inhaling Iguana. I’ve taken to drawing the animals on the board where I give them a prompt for reflection time. Today, the critics were out in force:

”that doesn’t look like an iguana dad. Maybe a chameleon. Iguanas don’t catch flies. You need to watch more Wild Kratts”

-Mila and Jonah 😂

Not my finest parenting here for Jonah 😬

For math today, I worked with Jonah on making 10 and adding on using “10 and ones” strategy. We used linking cubes and some other printouts from Singapore Math

He had to count by by making a group of 10 and adding the excess ones, the he found the long form number, and the numerical representation

Linking cube monster RUN!!!!

After finishing math time, M&J used the linking cubes to measure themselves and make towers

We did ELA time (spelling test, tracing, and reading comprehension).

Then, to prepare for this upcoming weekend trip to Point Lobos, we started learning about the plants and animals we could find there.

To finish the day, we did piano and reading. Jonah rocking the solar system

FALL BREAK - Baba Visit Oct 13-19, 2020

Baba Tanya visited for the week, so we took a break from school for the most part.

Jonah is ready for his life as a wealthy white male in Silicon Valley

Jonah helped build 2 wire shelving racks

Jonah found his undersized BMX helmet

Trip to Hap Magee Park

Day 26 - Mon Oct 12, 2020

Mamas home!

This mornings mindfulness meditation was the Hugging Hen. These reflections are 😍😍 jonah’s says: “it felt good like I love my mama”

Mila and jonah were very proud of their piano practice sessions today and requested videos. Here is Jonah

After school Jonah helped me fix a flat on his bike and then we rode to Rancho Romero (the neighborhood elementary school) to bike the hallways and play tag

A Baby Shower and a Birthday: Oct 9-11

This weekend was Alyas baby shower AND her birthday! Mila performed this song for her

Meanwhile, in Arizona…

Day 25 - Thurs Oct 8, 2020

We did a fun mindfulness activity today - the Focused Flamingo. And afterwards, they asked to do the Attentive Alligator meditation again (woo)!

Then Mila did a spelling test (this one was a gimme, but her hand writing is officially the nicest in the family) while Jonah worked on his handwriting as well

Then it was writing time - I asked them to write some facts about volcanoes or make up a story involving a volcano. They both went the nonfiction route. Milas writing style is so great.

This was fun 😀

Day 24 - Wed Oct 7, 2020

Another full day of school with piano lessons. We’re learning about volcanoes this week and today we had “art class” so we worked on shading pastels from red to yellow and then the kids drew volcanoes

Day 23 - Tues Oct 6, 2020

We did a full day of school today, but all I have to share is this

Day 22 - Mon Oct 5, 2020

Today’s mindfulness was Engaged Elephant and we tried to focus on only one thing. I gave them an item to hold and they had to focus on just that.

Then we had a pretty hilarious yoga session

We did math workbooks, spelling/tracing, and big books of reading comprehension. Then mila made fork lightning using the sun and some streamers she taped together

We opened Dragonwood and played for the first time. This game is awesome!! Fun adventure, lots of strategy, and a bunch of math. Mila seems ok with it and Jonah loves it

ADORABLE PHOTO - Sat Oct 3 2020

JULIA MAKES PARTNER - Fri Oct 2, 2020

Did we school? No way!!! Had to get prepped for Julia’s partnership celebration!

1) what an amazing day, feels surreal, goooo Jules!

2) so great to be able to host and celebrate with family over here in East bay. GG and Poppi would never have made it to Mtn View

I got Jules this cake, isn’t it the cleverist, (he said humbly)? Mom decorated with a bunch of awesome party stuff :)

The kids wrote congratulations cards and then read them to everyone as a toast, which was so cute

We had some virtual roasts from Tanya and Alya, and then it was my turn. Here is the speech, errr toast, I wrote for her

The kids did these great piano concerts in honor of Julia after toasts.

Towards the end of the night, Mila and Jonah took GG to their room to show her things and play, which is heart melting. Here is Jonah wheeling her back to say goodnight

And last but certainly not least, the newest partner of Fenwick Tax, Bailey Stein!

Go Julio, go Julio, go go go Julio

Day 21 - Thrs Oct 1, 2020

I made a block schedule! At Julia’s strong suggestion of course.

We did a really fun set of jumping routines, including squat jumps. Then we did a mindfulness exercise at the Zen Zoo called “Detective Duck”. If you ask me, all this mindfulness stuff is a bit quacky, but … jokes over — it wasn’t funny and I actually really like these sessions 🤪 Jonah’s says he felt like calm like when we were throwing rocks into Lake Tahoe 😍

The kids took a few hours to do their new LEGO builds

And then for creative writing I asked them to write about their LEGO sets and draw a picture. Jonah’s handwriting which had been improving recently, kinda fell off here, although he did correctly spell “flaps” on his own, which is pretty cool

Stoned octopus alert!

We finished the day with math workbooks, piano and reading, per usual. Kids are really on a roll with piano right now it’s been awesome. And Jonah’s reading is next level. Today he read Max Axiom to me, which is like 3rd grade

OFF DAY - Wed Sep 30, 2020

Couch cuddles ✅ Waldo search ✅ Good way to start the day

We had piano lessons with Ron at 10am and then the house cleaners came. By the time we ate lunch it was like 1pm. I dropped the kids with Gammy Karen and did a big grocery run. Hooray homeschool schedule flexibility.

Day 20 - Tues Sep 29, 2020

Much smoother today… we had a great 10 min yoga flow and quick mindfulness session called “Crouching Cat”, which was just cat-cow yoga move 🤷🏻‍♂️

We then did our super awesome plate tectonics wrap-up activity. The kids cut out the continents, colored-in key features like fold mountains and reptile and plant fossils, and arranged the continents into the current Earth configuration. Then each kid took a shot at shifting the continents to recreate Pangea. They got close, but not quite there, so I did a final shift into what scientists think Pangea looked like

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After a snack break, we moved onto math. We used a white board and Base-10 blocks to solve addition problems and learn more about place value. Today, I am on a roll. Choo choo.

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Then we worked on reading comprehension using our workbooks.

The piano and reading practice and that’s a wrap!

Day 19 - Mon Sep 28, 2020

This is what we were supposed to do:

We ended up doing math workbooks with a health serving of detention:

That alien is super cool, but the look on his face says “you call this a punishment? Ok dad…”

We ended up getting math, ELA, piano, and reading practice in, but we were a bit of a train wreck so no plate tectonics today and not many pictures or stories to share. Get ‘em next time!

PAPA’s 61st BDAY! - Sep 27, 2020

Wildfires, ruin many days like a Liar Liar, but not today, not Big Papa’s 61st birthday. Really nice to drive 4 minutes, not 65, to get together for this.

Day 18 - Fri Sep 25, 2020

Since we’re doing daily yoga and mindfulness now, we got the kids their very own yoga mats!

After a 5 minute mini flow, we did a new mindfulness activity: the Zen Zoo. Today we visited the Attentive Alligator at the Zen Zoo — it is a short meditiation. Afterwards, we reflected on how we felt

Next, we did a plate tectonics fill in the blank activity (typed up by yours truly)

For math and ELA time, we did Rainboku and crossword puzzles. Friday funday!

Brief break for SUPER CLIFF FLIPS

We finished the day with piano and reading practice. Here is Jonah reading Narwahl

OFF DAY - Thur Sep 24, 2020

We had to go to Mountain View for a pediatrician appointment, so we stopped by Bubb! The kids biked around the old stomping grounds, took a photo in front of Ms Erikas classroom, and played on the swing set

On our way home, we stopped by GG and Poppy for some hangout, Mah Jong, and Chinese food

Day 17 - Wed Sept 23, 2020

Well, well, well… finally caught up on the ole blog 🤪

Our day started with piano lessons with Ron and playing in the backyard.

We started school same way as always — welcome song, yoga, and mindfulness. Today after our breathing activity, we talked about how our bodies and minds feel when were mad. Then I asked them to draw pictures of themselves when they’re mad

Then, during lunch, SCIENCE ALERT! I got all teachy with it and white boarded a plate tectonics lesson while the kids ate. We even busted out the stuffed globe to talk about the Pacific Ocean and the Ring of Fire.

Then the kids watched this great BrainPop video while I ate

After lunch, we did math workbooks and Big Books of Reading Comprehension. They each had a fun crossword as one of the activities

After school, the kids played together in the backyard while I rode the Peloton, then they made marble mazes together before TV and dinner

Day 16 - Tues Sept 22, 2020

School was a bit on and off this morning, because, drum roll please, our washer dryer was delivered!!!

We started off with a new morning song (will have to get a video later, note to self), another smooth 5 min yoga flow (trying to get sun salutation rhythm going with them), and mindfulness practice. We talked again about how mindfulness practice can help us focus and I explained the upstairs and downstairs brain concepts from “Whole Brain Child”. They were super into the brain stuff which was cool.

We did Khan math today. Great for Mila and fun for Jonah, but it lets him just guess and drag so 🤷🏻‍♂️

After lunch, we cuddled on the couch and read about plate tectonics, including converging plates, subduction zones, and Pangea

We finished school with piano and reading, per usual. So nice having that in an established routine again. Underwear Boy was back 😀

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At 3:30, we were just heading out for a bike ride to Hap Magee, when Gammy called and invited us to swim with Rosie and Toren. I plopped the kids in the pool and hopped on the Peloton before joining in the pool. Jules said “not today, work!” and rode the Peloton and jumped in too!!!!

We hosted back in Alamo a celebratory dinner afterwards with Gammy and Papa, because the Bonita house closed today! Yippppeeeee