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He lives for puzzles.
N has been teaching his little brother how to play chess. He’s been developing his own methods to teach him the basic concepts of the game. He’s very proud of his teaching skills.
Today we built a 3D puzzle together. It was a first for the kids, and they loved it!
He recently decided to embraced reading and his skill at it. Here he is, finishing a book completely on his own for the first time!
They love building contraptions with this vintage Erector Set.
Gaming with cousins and an aunt can be a lot of fun.
They had a blast today, all costumed up along with some assorted cousins.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 43

He gets very excited about new discoveries in Minecraft.
She’s concentrating hard, trying to decide out how best to draw a tiger.
She wants to be as capable as her big siblings, particularly when it comes to climbing on playground equipment.
This is his idea of a quiet afternoon activity.
For some reason the kitchen has been a favorite playplace lately. They’re doing a lot of different things right now, but they’re also together.
He’s been moving beyond DUPLO bricks lately and has is very proud of his most recent LEGO build.
The entire morning has been consumed by the construction and operation of a DUPLO railroad. H has been a great big sister, helping M to design amd build it all.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 42

Growing up gorilla is just like any kind of growing up. You make mistakes. You play. You learn. You do it all over again.

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

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He enjoys learning to cook. Baled potatoes are pretty basic, but he still had fun.
N is a great big brother. This morning he played Sneaky Snacky Squirrels with the little boys.
Their love of animal documentarys knows no bounds. Africa is their latest choice.
Today he spent a couple of hours constructing spaceships and “weird mini-figs” to pilot them.
Sometimes it’s just nice to get out of the house together and go for a walk.
She loves slides. A lot!
Today we decided to build with DUPLO bricks together, the result was an arctic Space Base, complete with a railroad to keep it supplied.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 41

After walking around hte Longmont Chalk Art Festival and th Rose Garden, they just had to rest.
After seeing two chalk art festivals this year, they’re quite fascinated by it.
They’ve been working on ambitious chalk art. A jungle scene, complete with monkeys, a sloth, a moose, a beaver, and a cherry tree. Maybe they don’t quite understand jungles yet, but that’s okay.
They love the new Dino exhibit at DMNS!
They’ve been discovering some techniques to smooth out their chalk art a bit.
The lkids love it when I craft pizza from scratch. N enjoys helping me, but tonight it was all me.
At this point, Amos is preparing to play his third ever tournament game. And win it!

The Unschooled Lens – Week 40

We really enjoy the Ninjago tv show as a family, so today I took five of the kids to the new movie. It was quite a disappointing movie, but we still had fun together!
We’ve been trying out some new games lately, and Gigamons is turning out to be a big hit!
N set up shop at the park to sell sand cakes and sand cookies to his siblings. They paid him in sand. In short, it was a typical day at the park!
For her half-birthday, she picked out some pony stuffed animals from the toy store. As you can see, she really loves them!
It was a cold and rainy day, so we headed down to the library and spent a while reading. Just the sort of morning I really enjoy.
M loves water. Swimming, taking baths, playing in the sink, you name it. So sometimes, like this morning, I fill a sink with water and leave him to his own devices.
Mrs. Hatter had a cart that needed assembling. N, our family builder, set to work and put it together quite deftly and with no help to speak of. H did come along eventually and helped screw on a couple of wheels, but otherwise it was all his work.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 39

On my last day in Portland, since the convention was over, I spent the day wandering around the city, photographing bridges and the like. I’d never walked across the Broadway Bridge before, so that’s where I headed first.
He loves trains almost as much as he loves sharks. This morning he was all about building DUPLO railroads.
She loves writing, and spends quite a bit of time every day working on her story. I’m not sure what it’ll be like when she’s finished, but I’m excited to read it!
There are a lot of shark documentaries available these days, but this one is his favorite at the moment.
We spent in the morning up in the mountains walking around a lake. It was nice to get up high where the air was cooler.
She loves looking through portholes on playground structures. This time we were at a playground that we’d never visited before, and you can tell from the expression on her face that she loved it!
He spend a lot of time building. Nine times out of ten, what he’s working on is a new supervillain, complete with a fictional biography and list of powers and abilities. This boy loves building super villains, but even more than that he loves making up stories about them.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 38

Her hair is a bit messy, and she’s still in the dress she wore to church, but books are far more importwnt than any of that!
They just keep finding more and more of these little guys.
This is their preferred method of swinging, and they’re really good ar it.
This bridge is new to me, since it was built since the last time I was in Portland. It’s also really cool.
To kick off Home Dad Con, some of us went on a photo walk across the Burnside Bridge.
Early the next morning, before official convention activities began, it was time for a trip to Stumptown for some amazing coffee.
I went by Cup amd Bar a couple of times, and this time I ordered their drinking chocolate, which is served alongside whipped cream and sparkling water to offset the incredible richness of the chocolate itself. It was really, really delicious.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 37

He doesn’t play or build quietly, but his very loud results are fascinating.
He’s fascinated by space and recently watched The Farthest, a new documentary about the Voyager space probes, and then he decided to build one of them out of LEGO bricks. I think he did a great job.
She was grumpy and did not want to be there, but she made it through. Unfortunately she’s going to have to get used to it.
They’ve decided to design and build their own restaurant in Minecraft, called The Fresh Fish.
They’re consulting a Junior Rangers map while looking at down at the landscape below them.
Construction on The Fresh Fish is going well. The dining room is nearly complete, as is the takeout counter.
New paper, pencils, and drawing books can make for a great afternoon.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 36

He loves sharks and he loves shark books. This morning he’s particularly excited about Whale Sharks!
They found a caterpillar in the yard. They next day they had a cocoon!
They both love climbing, and T is constantly trying to climb everything that her big sister can handle.
There’s no shortage of good books around THIS house!
An empty cardboard box is a World of possibilities to a creative young mind.
Chess club starts soon, so he’s working to prepare for it, and doing very well!
The kids play chess, and so do I. My board is set up for my next game in the Colorado Open chess tournament.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 35

They found sizeable Mantis after chirch this morning and had a great time watching it and coaxing it onto their hands.
We spent the morning at DMNS, enjoying the eclipse and accompanying activities.
They always seem to find something with which to pursue a new experiment.
She absolutely loves this series!
We’re nearing the end of our current book and the growing tension is keeping them remarkably engaged.
He loves building his own circuits!
Another month, another Bitsbox! This week it’s about monsters and aliens. They don’t waste any time diving in once a new kit arrived!

The Unschooled Lens – Week 34