Lifestyle of Learning: Volume 15

It is time, once again, to share what it is that we have been up to.  It just seems as if the week has flown by.  Take a peek at our lifestyle of learning for May 5- May 11.

Although the exhibitors had to set up in the snow and endure a really cold initial day Artsfest was still up and running.  Bishop and I decided to go check it out on the slightly warmer last day of the festival.  There were some artists present that we had never seen before and some of them even took their time to explain how they produce their art.  Of particular interest was pen making, monoprinting, and crocheted wire.  There was music and dancing and the visual arts everywhere that we went.  We were totally inspired.

Bishop continued his exploration of the human body.  He took a look at the immune system, skeletal system, and muscular system.  We have some odds and ends to finish with those systems, then we will move on to variations related to the human body.  We will explore DNA and fingerprints and more.  Then we will move on to our grand finale of activities and then on to our next unit of emphasis - art!

Bishop worked toward completion of the chess merit badge...

and scoped out the Discovery Center with some friends.

They learned about electricity and how it travels always seeking the ground.  The current is running through the young man in the red shirt and then through Bishop.  The point of contact on their hands smelled a lot look burnt microwaveable popcorn when they were done.  They thought it was really cool.

Then we spent the next hour or so exploring the Kapla blocks.  These things are so cool.  I see more building in our future.

Maceo and Bishop also continued the logical analysis of arguments for and against Christianity.  Bishop read The Rangers Apprentice, watched MythBusters, Deadliest Warrior and Time Warp, and spent the night with some friends on a week night (I love homeschooling).  Maceo continued his informal logic studies and attended choir where he is preparing for the end of year performance.  Maceo is working towards high school credit in Film History and Film Analysis and he definitely made great strides towards that goal this week.  This week he viewed Citizen Kane and discovered the work of Woody Allen.  At our independent theater he had the opportunity to view the documentary Room 237 which is an analysis of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, engaged in related discussion and wrote a review for the documentary.  He was thrilled to learn that this theater will be doing a Stanley Kubrick retrospective next month.  He is very excited about seeing Kubrick on the big screen, especially 2001: A Space Odyssey.  He added another foreign film to his list of viewed films exposing himself to french film making and the french language.

The big news of the week is that Christian has returned home from his month long adventure in South Korea.  We are thrilled to have him home and his personal experiences have become learning experiences for us as well.  He accomplished so much during the last month.  He showed us all of his pictures and shared details of Korean history and culture.  He brought back pine bud beverages for each of us to try (think Christmas tree in a can) and explained their currency to us.  It is all so cool and we look forward to the possibility of our own adventure in Korea.