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Tag: PEN-F

He loves building, with a wide variety of toys. Today it’s all about LEGO.
They had a great time today playing with Ponies together. They started by brushing hair and building the castle, and the game continued from there.
We spent the whole morning at the coffee shop, reading and listening to music.
He’s been creative with his building lately. Today he created the Sun.
More ponies! They’ve had a blast with them al week long.
She’s decided that taking notes while reading is a great way to learn.
The kids decided to plan out their day, and N immediately set to work writing up a list of the things he wanted to do.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 51

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

Live animals are still the true purpose of visiting the zoo, but a temporary exhibit of animatronic Dinos is a lot of fun.
Knitters gonna knit!
Well, maybe not a master yet, but he is very good at puzzles. More importantly, he has a lot of fun working on them.
It’s nice to take some time off. So the day before my birthday I did just that, and among other things spent time in the Vikings exhibit at DMNS.
A cloudy sunset over Boulder valley.
We had a LOT of fun at the pool this morning.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 29

M is absolutely shark-crazed right now. He plays with shark figures and stuffed animals, reads shark books, talks about sharks constantly, and especially enjoys watching documentaries about sharks!
We encountered a fair bit of rain while backpackingl, but N was prepared!
He’s geared up and ready to go!
It’s always fun to look at the assortment of books the kids pick out at the library. Their varied interests are well reflected, though books about animals usually make up the bulk of their borrowing.
Novels and Minecraft books make for a nice, quiet morning.
N found a recipe for Ice Cream Sundaes that he thinks looks delicious, and set to work reading it so he can make them properly.
She’s still working on mastering her chosen second language!

The Unschooled Lens – Week 28

It doesn’t matter how grown up they seem to be getting, a good picture book always captures the attention of the whole family.
This morning we headed up to NCAR to study weather. The Cloud and Tornado exhibits are always a big hit.
July 4th always seems to be one of the best days to go to the museum. Most people seem to want to be doing things out of doors, which means we get to enjoy a favorite museum and a new exhibit without the normal crowds!
He really loves trains. Good Guy Trains, Villain Trains, Robot Mech Fighting Trains, you name it. Today he was building Police Trains.
I love this picture. He looks akward and there are some wonky reflections on his glasses, but he’s been practicing some trademark grins lately, and this seems to be one of his favorites.
This is a pretty good way to spend an evening before heading to bed. Building puzzles and coloring in some new Star Wars coloring books.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 27

The kids have recently found a new favorite show. Masterchef Jr., which seems pretty perfect for kids who love to cook.
We set put on a hike today above Boulder. We didnt quite get to our destination thanks to my bad knee, but we covered over six miles and had a lot of fun.
A didn’t want what the rest of us were eating so he was given permission to find his own dinner. He settled on reheating a bowl of peas and comsumed them with gusto.
T loves books. Luckily she has a lot of people to read to her.
We spent some time this afternoon learning a new board game, Kiwetin. Despite a few problems with the rules, we managed to have quite a lot of fun.
She spent a good long while coloring this page for Mrs. hatter as a “welcome home picture”.
A loves math and has a natiral flair for constructing interesting symmetrical patterns. He was dissapointed to run out of tiles.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 26

A said he wasn’t going to go easy on his Papa, and he didn’t. He also didn’t win, but it was a very good game. His chess skills are improving rapidly.
Our first attempt at a backpacking trip didn’t go to well, but N had fun and is excited for our next attempt.
They’ve begun playing their first Legend of Zelda game and love it.
My kids really like the Cars movies, so I took them to Cars 3 today. I actually liked it more than the previous two (though that isn’t saying much) and the kids absolutely loved it.
T and Mrs. Hatter spent the morning at the farm and had a whole lot of fun. T loved the birds and the ponies and the stairs and the trees. Basically everything about the place filled her with wonder and excitement.
The kids really enjoyed visiting the Art Museum today, especially this particularly colorful exhibit.
These two spent the better part of an hour plaing with old micro machines. They really love trains right now.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 25

A big family lunch to celebrate graduation day for the kids’ Aunt and Uncle! N particularly enjoyed sitting next to his Uncle, telling jokes, making silly videos and talking about our hiking plans for the next couple summers.
N was very proud of today’s build. It is, obviously, a power generator designed to power a large energy sheild. It can be dissasembled for repaid and includes a number of tools on a rack for maintainance. He told me exactly what each of them is for and how it all works. Clearly he put a LOT of thought into this.
The kids have been interested in playing chess more competitively, so we’ve been having small family tournaments so they can practice using clocks and other tournament rules. We did this twice this week, and they had a blast!
N actually took this picture at the Zoo. He’s been interested in using my camera instead of just their small tough camera, and today he was practicing with my telephoto lens. He really liked this picture, and so do I!
Not satisfied with regular buildings and log cabins, A has been using the Lincoln Logs in more creative ways recently. This is a work in progress – a quadruple catapult. It didn’t work quite as well as he hoped, but maybe next time he’ll solve his problems.
M has an infectious personality when he’s happy. And as you can see, he was very happy walking around with Mrs. Hatter, who took this picture.
Before eating he simply had to build something out of DUPLOs. Thus the Boat-O-Mech was born! G was very proud of this creation, as he is of everything he builds.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 21

We had the park almost to ourselves for a picnic lunch. The kids had an absolute blast!
We started revamping our home library spaces, ut he couldn’ wait for us to finish. He had to have books!
She recently learned to cook one of her favorite foods, and decided to make dinner for the whole family. It was delicious!
He seasoned and mixed the beef, formed the patties and started learning how to use the grill. Another delicious dinner.
May in Colorado usually has one good snowfall, and this year was no exception. These three simply watched the snow fall for the better part of an hour.
Our two blue-eyed kids are the youngest and the oldest. And they’re great friends.
It’s chaos to look at, but amazing creations emerge from it on a daily basis.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 20

We decided to go for a walk before bedtime. Some of the kids wore pajamas, and T found a great stick!
We had a special treat tonight after the little kids went to bed. We toasred mashmallows on the grill to make s’mores while we watched Rogue One!
Mrs. Hatter is currently doing the bedtime readings with one of her favorite books, A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park.
One of the best parts of programming your own apps is sharing them with others! That’s what’s happening here.
Every aspiring gemologist needs some good books to study. H loves this one.
Books are an important part of Unschooling, especially in our house, and it’s never to early to start. M has been particularly book-crazed of late.
We don’t eat out a lot, and when we do it’s usually just fast food to eat in the car or at home. So eating in an actual restaurant (even a fast food joint) is a special event and a lot of fun. They enjoyed themselves immensely.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 19

This is one of N’s favorite board games right now. He’s trying to figure out some basic strategies, and is improving rapidly.
The picture title explains it all.
They love books. All books.
They had a blast at their first book signing, and really enjoyed meeting a real life author!
H drew this for her A for Star Wars Day. The Phantom Menace is his favorite Star Wars movie right now, thanks to Darth Maul and his doubl-bladed lightsaber.
A graham cracker and a seat next to her biggest brother makes this toddler one happy girl.
This morning I’m taking a little bit of time off to sit in one of my favorite local coffee shop to drink a mocha and write.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 18

N wanted to help refinish an old school desk, and had a blast trying out the orbital sander.
N picked his favorite dinner tonight, which natural meant German food!
They love spending time with their Papa, and he doesn’t seem to mind reading to them.
She loves books. A comfy chair, a pillow, a blanket and a book are all she needs to be content.
It was an extremely competitive, rowdy game, but Nana won in the end.
We spent the morning at the Denver Art Museum with a few cousins. Fun times, but we’re going to miss them when they move!
Papa spent part of an afternoon playing board games with the kids. The kids are really good at Mancala, and Papa lost as many games as he won,

The Unschooled Lens – Week 16

They enjoy video games. Particularly LEGO Video games and all the problem solving and action they involve.
They love the Star Wars exhibit at the art museum. Sadly, it’s about to end, so this was our last trip to see it.
He’s getting pretty good, and really enjoys his Ricky Ricotta books.
This is how I spent my morning at the coffee shop.
The Viking exhibit at DMNS is pretty cool. H particularly liked learning about Viking fashions – dyed clothing, jewelry and the like. The boys were more important interested in boats, armor and weaponry.
It’s always fun to find a simplified version of one of our favorite board games to share with the kids.
They don’t seem to particularly care who reads to them, as long as they get to spend some time in a fun book.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 13

The sidewalk is a bigger art canvas than anything they have inside, and using chalk is always fun.
He loves computers and programming, so coding his own apps is a dream come true!
N celebrated by helping to make Cherry Berry Wonderland pies! He was very proud of his handiwork, and of course they tasted great!
H reads all kinds of things, and many more advanced novels, but the My Little Pony books still have a special place in her heart. She never wants to pass up a new one
She wants to be just like the bigger kids, even when means watching their yoga video and getting in their way.
The new tiger exhibit at the Denver Zoo is very cool and the kids love it. I hope to finish a new post about our experience soon!
N loves ladybugs, and all other kinds of beetles. He’s also our one child who’s not squeamish about holding bugs. Its not uncommon for him to come running inside with something he’s caught before dashing back off to look for another one.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 11

Giving old childhood toys to your kids can be a whole lot of fun of everyone involved. The kids love my old collection of Micro Machines.
Sometimes my bread doesn’t emerge from the oven looking very good. Today it did!
A asked N to teach him how to make scrambled eggs. They both took the impromptu lesson very seriously, and the eggs turned out nice,
Programming has interested them for a long time and they’ve tried various apps to learn more about it. Bitsbox is becoming quite a hit, as they can write and customize their own apps.
They decided to rebuild one of her old sets together, and required a snack of Cheetos to sustain them as they worked.
Sometimes the best art projects are the really big ones.
We made blueberry muffins this morning and she was an excellent assistant. She even got to make some without blueberries, just the way she likes them.

The Unschooled Lens – Week 10