Montecito 2010

Once again we went to Montecito with our chosen family, our friends.  We love it there.  There are activities for the kids and fun for the adults.  I felt more at ease this year and even though the lodge was packed we made the best of it.  This year we were joined by the Tootles, the Duttons, the Woodards, and the Stahls;  our family keeps getting bigger.  :)

Some archery for the boys.

And the girls too.

Dancing for the kids.

And some sledding too.

We came down the hill to see Aunt Mel and Uncle Tom too.  It was nice to see them and spend some time with family.

All in all it was a wonderful family vacation.

Diving Diva II

Well folks, Chloe is diving.  She'll have to keep working on it, but this was a mental breakthrough for the little engine who kept saying she couldn't.

Diving Diva

As many of you know, I am a bit obsessed with getting Chloe into summer programs and this summer is no exception.  We browsed through the city catalog and she got to pick what she wanted to do since Point Reyes camp was not an option this year.  One of things that she picked was diving and I feel that she made the right choice.  I personally think that she looks like a diver, bias?  Absolutely!

It was fun taking her to the pool and seeing her stretch out and get better as the day went on .  Following is a sequence of her best jump.

This is the warm up with the rest of her classmates.

Getting ready for jump.

Wait for it....

Wait for it.....

Getting some air.....

Taking the leap.

Sorry but even with it being on continuous sports mode I didn't hold the button long enough to get the actual dive.  It was a cross between a belly flop and a dive.  Having said that, she did great for it being her very first time doing this.  She's really excited about getting better and taking her lumps (belly flops hurt) as she goes along.

Chloe's 10th Birthday Bash

Our amazing daughter has finally turned ten; seriously where does the time go.  We decided that this year we would fore go the traditional party scene and have a party that would be both educational and good for our community, so we had her party at Kaweah Oaks Preserve.  It was a lovely day for a party although a bit windy.  Our dear friend Niki took us on a tour and the kids had a good time learning and taking in some nature.

There was plenty of monkeying around too.  The kids all seemed to have a good time.  For snacks we offered homemade granola, organic baby carrots from KMK Farms, organic mandarins, and of course cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  All told, with the help of her awesome guests, Chloe's party helped raise $300 for local land conservation. 

Thank you guys for making it such a lovely day and for helping Chloe make a real difference locally.

I'm a hockey mom through and through

 

So as most of you know we went up to San Jose today for Chloe to attend a hockey camp for girls that was hosted by the San Jose Sharks Jrs, so no real Sharks for me today.  It wasn't fun getting up and hitting the road by 6:30 am but it was all worth it.  Chloe loves hockey as a fan, and now she actually wants to play hockey.  How cute is she in all of that gear.  We also got the opportunity to visit the Smiths which was fun and made me really miss those guys.

 

We got there early and caught the end of the New Jersey Devils' practice who we play on Tuesday night.  Hooray!  Loved the Olympics, but missed my hockey.  They have a rep for having some big guys on the team, however, in suits they're not all that.

 

Ryan is helping tape the socks onto Chloe's body because she's so skinny. 

 

At first it wasn't all smiles since Chloe has never had hockey gear on and she's never actually ice skated, but # 13 from the SJ Jr. Sharks girls' team was there to lend a hand and offer moral support.

 

Once she was off and running she was the slowest, but that didn't stop her determination.  All the coaches saw how much effort she was making and were there to lend a hand.

 

By the end of the day she was a lean, mean hockey machine with the help of the awesome coaching staff.  After hockey clinic we headed over to the Smiths house to have some lunch and got the pleasure of finally meeting that insanely cute Thomas.

 

What a handsome boy eating his quesadilla while we ate some really good Thai.

 

Even when things weren't going so well, he's still a really cute guy.  Come on.

 

There was even time for some book reading.  Those are really cute kids.  Thank you Smiths for being such awesome hosts and sharing your darling boy with us.

Day 2

 

We had a busy day today.  I let Chloe sleep in because she's eating a ton, and I can only assume it's because she is growing.  Our day started at 9:30.

9:30 to 10:00 am  Breakfast.

10:00 to 10:30 am Chloe did an interactive online class via Elluminate.  She is taking a writing class with a teacher and about 100 + kids.

10:30 to 11:00 am Study island.  Please refer to yesterday's post about what this is.

11:00 to 11:30 am French.

11:30 to 12:30 pm Math.  We did more multiplication today using 2 digits.  She breezed right through it.  I didn't make her do two lessons because I was concerned about the amount of work we had to do.

12:30 to 1:00 pm Lunch.  Today we had some pasta with tomato sauce and some crusty bread.

1:00 to 1:30 pm Strategies for success.  This is actually another test prep thing.  She has to read and underline tips that will help become a better test taker.  Today's lesson was centered around reading the questions first before looking at the answers.

1:30 to 2:30 pm Science.  This is actually the course that I will be focusing on today.  Chloe's keywords for this lesson were fluid, pascal, and pressure; you guessed it we did  air pressure today.  It was a really fun lesson and Chloe really liked the experiment.  I tried to take pics of the can, but couldn't get a picture that showed the before and after very well.  Today's assessment was actually doing the experiment and having Chloe answer the following questions.  Her answers to these are also included.

1. Which has greater pressure- gas molecules or liquid molecules?  Liquid molecules have more pressure.
2. Which takes up more space - gas molecules or liquid molecules?  Gas molecules take up more space.
3. When you heated the can, into what state of matter did the water change?  The water changed into gas.
4. When you turned the can upside down in the water, could air get into the can?  Air could not get into the can.
5. When you place the can in the cold water, it cooled.  What state of matter did the water change into then?  The water changes into a liquid.

I like the lessons in Science because each has an experiment that helps make the lesson tangible.  


2:30 to 3:00 pm break.  Chloe wanted to take a shower so that she was ready for choir tonight.


3:00 to 3:30 pm composition.  Chloe focused on writing a summary of the book and evaluating plot, characters, and setting for a book report.  I will actually focus on composition once she has finished her book report.

3:30 to 3:45 spelling.

3:45 to 4:45 Literature.  More Robinson Crusoe today.  Will read the actual book tonight before bed.

Join us tomorrow for Math, spelling, Literature, vocabulary, composition, state history, history, art, study island, and French.

Day 1

Well today was a crazy as it started not so well.  Chloe spent the night with my folks and my dad didn't bring her back till around 10:30 am and we just finished school at 6:00 pm.  Needless to say, it was a grueling day.  I thought the best way to do this was to let you know what we accomplished and show examples of one subject a day, so it may take longer than a week.  I will do a better job documenting actual time spent on each subject beginning tomorrow.  I was so focused today and getting what we needed to get done, that I didn't log times.  I apologize.

Our morning started with Study Island which is a place where kids go to get ready for the state exams.  Today Chloe did a less in organizing writing in which she scored a 90.9 % and also a lesson in 3-dimensional solids in which she scored 76.9%.  As I have stated earlier, Math is not her strong suit, however, the beauty of study island is that they'll give her puzzles and lessons in the areas she needs help with in order to get her "up to speed" sort of speak.  Chloe is responsible of making sure that she does Study Island and that her efforts get progressively better as part of her student's responsibility.

Study Island was followed by her online French class.  Chloe wanted to do this on her own, and she will not pass to a new lesson unless she pronounces things correctly and passes a daily quiz.  She's doing well, but not sure what she's doing as she won't share.  I only know that she passes daily when I log her in and see that she has moved onto the next lesson.

Literature followed with a lesson in Robinson Crusoe, a kid friendly version not the actual book.  She had to read the sections and answer questions.  She has to use complete sentences, etc, and I will show an example on the Literature day.  As part of Literature she has to read out loud to me and I decided to have her read Robinson Crusoe, the actual book.  We read it together, so it makes it special and fun.

Math was next with 2 lessons in multiplication.  I like to double up on the easy Math lessons so that we can take as much time as needed on the harder lessons.  She passed her assessments with flying colors, although she needs to take more time to read directions.  At times Math takes twice as long as it should because she doesn't follow directions, and I make her erase her work and have her start from the beginning if needed.  Luckily, that didn't happen today.

Language Arts was next with lessons in spelling, grammar, and vocabulary.  I will share her spelling list and exercises on Friday because it takes all week to get through spelling.  In grammar we focused on apostrophes that show possession as well as contractions.  In vocabulary she is doing a review of units 1 - 4, and had to do some work showing that she understood their meanings and could use them correctly.

History's lesson today highlighted George Washington's Farewell Address.  We've been following the French Revolution up to and including the beheading of Louis XVI, the terror, and Napoleon Bonaparte.  Chloe learned how the Americans at the time wanted to help, but how Washington felt that staying out of European wars was more prudent.  I will be highlighting History on Wednesday as it has her doing some research in which she has to compare Napoleon to Julius Caesar, so it should be fun.

Lastly, we did Art.  The picture at the beginning of this post is Chloe's interpretation of a haystack.  She's studying impressionism starting with Monet.  I personally don't like this genre of art, but she seems to be enjoying the unit. Her assessment questions were T and F and are as follows:

Which of the following is true about Claude Monet's paintings?
1. Some are part of a series.
2. They never show the same subject.
3. Some show the same subject.
4. Claude Monet showed the same subject at different times of the day or during different seasons.
      Answers: T, F, T, T


Join us tomorrow for Math, spelling, Literature, composition, Science, strategies for success, study island, and French.