1) Watching Chickadee pack up for school and carefully loft the new pink flute case that Otto surprised her with “because I’m proud of how hard you’ve worked with the marching band.” I never knew how much I would enjoy watching two people trying to pretend they’re not totally smitten with one another.
2) Khan Academy, and the fact that Monkey cannot get enough of it.
3) Surrendering to unschooling, and realizing it’s going to be fine because Monkey disappeared for an hour and came back with the periodic table, several carefully-drawn atom diagrams, and a page of notes he took on alkali metals because “this is incredibly interesting.”
4) Spending an hour splashing in the pool with my kid this afternoon (“this totally counts as gym… or recess… or both!”), and watching the dog disappear and reappear with various leaves tangled in her ears.
5) The fact that while we frolicked inside our finally-done fence, Fence Guy remembered his offer and dropped off a couple of bottles of wine for us. Red for Otto and white for me. I grudgingly admit this was a very sweet gesture.
Hey, it’s almost like it’s Love Thursday, or something.
I knew we’d suck you in one day. . .I mean, um, welcome to the world of unschooling!
All of that brings a smile to my face, also.
Yay! Deep breath of relief for an all-is-well day! You’ve all earned it. Totally.
**raises celebratory glass in commiseration**
yay for all 5! but i’m particularly yaying for khan academy. i’ll be using it in my class next year. thanks for sharing!!
♥♥♥Happy Love Thursday♥♥♥
Yay for things that make us smile! Hadn’t heard about Khan Academy. I think I might just love it for me! Thanks!!
Hooray! I’ve missed Love Thursday so much!
Unschooling with a curious Aspie is quite the (nice) adventure. I just wish mine were curious in a few more PRODUCTIVE ways. I mean, the in depth studies of Dungeons and Dragons and World of Warcraft were nice and all, but I really would like him to be able to move out of my house someday, and being able to recite all the stats of every class of monster just is not that lucrative. I keep hoping he’ll become insanely interested in science or finance or engineering. Maybe next year…
Khan Academy looks awesome!
When hippie school opens, will he go every day? I looked back thru all posts mentioning hippie school and didn’t see that you mentioned how it works. I’m just curious :)
I cannot tell you how much I would’ve loved to have the kind of education Monkey is going to be getting. The freedom of being able to explore on your own, discover knowledge with earnest enthusiasm? God, yes.
So happy to “see” you smile! It’s been a while and while your stress can make for interesting reading, we wouldn’t really wish it on you. Sometimes we need stories about “lady bits” and good days.
Waiiiitt… are you doing homeschooling?
*clink* OH HAPPY DAY!!!
High five, friend!
xoxo,
kathy
Mir. I seriously cannot thank you enough for referencing Khan academy. My 11 year old who in many way reminds me of Monkey, sat with me for twenty minutes just now and could not get enough of the videos. He’s earmarked several to watch tomorrow.
And NOW he understands negative numbers.
Hooray for Mir!
I LOVE Khan Academy. I’m 26 years old and use it for myself.
(To tell you about my level of anathema towards math – mathanema? that sounds rather wrong – I have degrees in English and history because, in addition to my innate love for English and history, THERE’S NO MATH.)
In my experience, math tends to be taught by people who are naturally good at it but don’t always know how to explain a concept or process to people who… maybe aren’t so naturally good at it. Salman Khan, on the other hand, manages to get things across in a way that makes sense to me, and there’s the additional advantage of being able to scroll through what you already have down and repeat the sections that you don’t. Glad it’s working out for you and the Monkey.
So happy for you in a totally nonstalkery way!
I must confess, though, when I saw the name of the academy, my first thought was “Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!” a la Star Trek.
Thanks for the tip on Khan Academy! Someone in my house is going to LOOOOVE it.
Love Thursday!!!! Yeah!!!! Bring that back!!!
I’m so happy ’cause you’re so happy! ;-) Course, wine always helps!
I was recently introduced to Kahn Academy as I, for some foolish reason, as a 40-something year old young lady ;-), have decided to return to school and earn the degree I just didn’t quite finish WHEN I SHOULD HAVE! Next up??? Algebra. Hopefully, by the will of God (and Kahn Academy), I.can.do.this.
I was doing some research on the TED talks for work recently and I was really fascinated by some of the topics. I meant to watch a few when I got home last night, but forgot. I’m so glad things are going well!
Cheers!
We love Khan Academy too. At least, I love Khan Academy. My older son ended the year a little behind in math, so we are doing lots of math over the summer. Both boys are assigned to do 2 sections each day, and while they complain a bunch about it, I have noticed that they usually complete more than what is assigned, so I think it is just complaining for the sake of complaining. Their mom-imposed goal is to complete up to the pre-algebra challenge by the end of summer, which they are both on target to do. I am working through it as well, with the goal of completing the whole thing by time school starts in September. I actually find it really relaxing, and Salman Khan’s explanations have helped to resolve confusions dating back to middle school.
Take a look at the George Lucas Educational Foundation’s Edutopia site, who’s motto is “What works in education”. It’s mostly geared toward teachers, but I have used tons of the ideas and resources I’ve found there with success. I also like Teaching That Makes Sense.
So sweet :) thanks for the smile!