Monthly Archives: July 2016

Experience Level

Current events are discouraging, disheartening, frustrating.

I’ve turned to fiction for happy endings and characters with empathy.

This was a good read.

Yup. That’s a cat on the kitchen table. I moved her before she got in my coffee.

I’ve added that one to Ellie’s future reading list.

I’ve been pre-reading loads of “middle grade” fiction lately since Ellie has hit an interest-level/reading-level conflict (meaning: her reading level is higher than the books written for her eight-year-old interest level). It’s becoming difficult to find material that challenges her reading skills (because sometimes you need a challenge and not another book about fairies) without challenging her experience.

My Rule of Thumb for Picking Books for an 8 Year Old (based on anecdotal evidence not science)
If the main character is 11, it’s almost always OK about Age Appropriate Topics and Situations.
If the main character is 13, it might be OK.
If the main character is older than 13, forget it. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good book. It’s just not a good book for the moment.

Everything is Neat Again

I’ve only got three tabs open in my browser. I can see the top of the table in my office for the first time in months. Science camp is over.

We made one last contraption in the living room before I put the rest of the stuff in its place (Physics was Friday). Take 3 was the best recording, but the final car didn’t launch so Michael decided to put in Take 14’s ending (this way you can watch one video instead of two):

We did some really great stuff this week.

I want to buy April a cupcake for saying, “Let’s do a science camp.”

So I don’t Forget: Monday-Botany, Tuesday-Electricity, Wednesday-Meterology, Thursday-Chemistry, Friday-Physics (simple machines, laws of motion)