Not Ugly Educational Posters

When I set out to set up for the year, I wanted to revamp our walls a little bit so I went in search of some decent educational posters.  We’ve had some useful ones in the past, but they were all very classroom looking.  That would be fine if our classroom was a classroom, but it’s also a dining room.  I wanted some things that would reference the room’s dual function while still looking nice on the wall for Thanksgiving dinner, if you know what I mean.  Things worthy of a frame up.

Obviously, I didn’t buy all the things I’m linking below, but I thought maybe someone else could benefit from some of the searching I did.  I promise I didn’t only search for science themed posters and art, but there seems to be a real lack of good grammar posters.

This is a cute option from Dazeychic on Etsy.  She also makes another one called Math is Marvelous that’s equally neat.

Here’s another neat science option, this one part of a set of three about flasks from Nerdy Baby.  They also have a very adorable, but less artsy option about a baby using the scientific method.

Continuing on the science theme, this print from Ink and Sword on Etsy is also just beautiful.  Ink and Sword has a ton of other great science prints, including several chemistry themed ones and a bunch of space themed ones with some beautiful colors and design.

I’m also digging this cool typographic image of the brain from Ork Posters on Etsy.  Ork Posters also offers an equally nifty image of the heart, done the same way.  They both come in a variety of colors, which is nice.

This earth poster from Brainstorm is part of a set of lovely earth science themed prints that includes the atmosphere and ocean as well.  They also make a beautiful set of star charts, some cool US maps, and a really quirky diagram of plant and animal cells (that is currently hanging on my wall).

Another one for science. There are some minimalist small science and math posters from FrameitPosters on Etsy, such as this one about the Higgs Boson coupled with a quote from Richard Feyman.  They have several others as well.

There were so many vintage options for botanical and zoological prints there’s no way I could list them all.  I was oddly drawn to the octopi and the fungi ones.  But there’s a lot out there in terms of pretty reproductions as well as vintage stuff.

For history, obviously, advertisements or art of the time can make a good frame up, but I was curious what else was out there.  I didn’t find much, but this fascinating little poster of the kings of England is really cool.  Also, this map of the American Revolution from Consider Graphics on Etsy is an excellent print, though a little more expensive than most of the other things I’ve linked.

I really wanted to find something lovely and clever for grammar.  There are vintage grammar (and science) posters abounds out there.  The shop LegalMissSunshine on Etsy has a lot of them, though you can find them elsewhere as well.  The old American ones, including the small grammar ones, are reasonably priced, but the beautiful French ones are definitely for collectors who can pay a great deal.  I really drooled over several of the vintage French anatomy posters since that was our topic for the year (anatomy, that is, not French anatomy).

Honestly, I’m surprised there weren’t more beautiful typographic punctuation and grammar posters out there as that seems ripe for poster art.  Crafty printers of the world, take note!

The February Blahs

I have the worst case of the February blahs I can ever remember having.  For the first time in years, I am just downright out of sorts without any particular cause and not just for a day or a week, but for weeks and weeks.  I just feel beaten down by February, by the kids being whingers, by the various commitments which are usually enriching but currently feel oppressive.  Yesterday, we managed to get outside and the world looked a bit brighter for a little while, so I am hopeful that my generalized funk will end when the sun comes out on a more permanent basis.

Regardless of our vitamin D levels though, some things clearly have to change.  I have been teaching a once a month class that is ending and I’m glad to see it go.  Destination Imagination is ending and while I have really enjoyed some things about coaching this year, I’ve already decided there’s no way I’m coaching again next year.  Shakespeare is coming up and I’m extremely excited about our group, but I also have decided to let it go for next year.  Looking to next year, I want to keep us to soccer, ballet, piano, and co-op and drop absolutely everything else by the wayside that isn’t a workshop or short term commitment.

This year has been so overwhelming.  I used to see homeschool parents saying they avoided outside commitments and I really couldn’t get it.  Now, I totally do.  It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that has gotten to me since I don’t think we’re that much more overscheduled than before.  I think the last four years of overdoing it have finally caught up with the introvert in me.  I just want to retreat.

Also, in the past, I have often traveled in February.  Paris, Rome, Africa…  even smaller jaunts across North America.  Come February next year, I vow to leave town. I will not be stuck in DC all of February again.  Travel is cheapest in the bleakest month, after all.

I know I’m not alone in my February blahs.  Everyone else probably has them too.  Bring on March.  The sooner, the better.

Legend of Korra Fever

Yep.  We loved it.  I love all the little touches making it look and feel like 1920’s Shanghai.  And I love that Nickelodeon has made a show with a strong teenage girl as the hero but which is clearly meant to appeal to boys and girls alike.  Please, children’s television producers, give us more like this.

Mushroom says, “It was a little sillier than Avatar: The Last Airbender.  Kitara was in it!  She started to tell about Zuko’s mother.  At the ending of the last season of Last Airbender, in jail, Zuko said to his sister, where is my mother!  But she did not end up telling it. [exasperated Mushroom sigh]  In the story, Korra mastered three elements: water, earth, and fire.  She’s trying to master air.  Korra went to an elements tournament where if you passed a line, the other team got to go closer.  Each team would have water, earth and fire.  The new bad guys are the triads.”

BalletBoy says, “I wish they’d make Korra Legos.  That would be awesome!”  Lego, I hope you’re listening.  Have you seen the prices on the used pieces from that one Airbender set? Insane, I tell you.

Home Again, Home Again!

Well, we had a pretty amazing trip.  In case you’re not aware, we just spent three weeks in southern Africa – mostly Namibia, but we had some stops in Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa as well.  It was beautiful and amazing and worth the suffering finances (please, please, don’t let anything go wrong with the house in the next two years!).

This is just a few snippets of our three weeks on the road.  I will say that Africa, especially Namibia where we spent so much of that time, was so much easier than I anticipated.  We’re reasonably well-traveled, being lovers of visiting the world, but I admit I was a little intimidated before we went.  Now I know I didn’t need to be.  The food was good, the supermarkets were plentiful, the people were mostly very friendly and the roads and drivers weren’t nearly as bad as we had heard.  In other words, if you have the time, money and inclination, then GO!

One of our first stops was Sesriem, in Nambia.  Above are Mushroom and BalletBoy in a little cave they climbed up into in the canyon and below is Mushroom sitting on one of the tallest dunes in the world.

For much of the trip, we were driving around Namibia in a truck with pop up tents on top of it.  We were, ahem, a little more lax about seat belts when we were in the national parks, driving really slow and the kids were nearly as thrilled about that as the sights.

We saw a lot of animals as we drove around and occasionally were driven around.  Giraffes, zebras, lions, elephants, hippos, baboons, a rhino, and more bird species than I could count.  It was like being in an aviary.  And we learned to spot the differences between various antelopes like impala, springbok, kudu and so forth.

Well, you get the general idea.  And as beautiful as the land was (with or without animals), sometimes we got a bit bored.  There’s BalletBoy and me mocking the Husband, whose tongue cannot curl.  Poor man.  There’s probably some springbok outside that truck that we’re totally ignoring.

I was really pleased that there were so many geology tie ins on our trip.  We learned all about how the Namib is the oldest desert in the world.  And the Tsumeb Museum was full of crazy minerals.  Like, really crazy awesome.

And, since it turns out there are unusual roadside attractions even in Namibia, we also took a small detour to see the world’s largest meteorite.  It was really, really big.

Continuing the geology theme, Victoria Falls was one big geology lesson (it was formed through volcanic activity).  Below is the Husband and the kids getting drenched in the spray.  It was truly one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been.

Okay, now this is all out of chronological order, but whatever.  We also got a nice dose of culture.  If you look closely, you can see the ancient rock painting in the picture of me and the kids.  We hiked a long way up a mountain to see it and there were lizards and geckos everywhere around us.  It was pretty cool.

And there were a lot of tourist cultural encounters.  Finding the supermarkets and fast food of a place is always an experience.  When we were in the fancy hotels instead of camping on top of our truck, we saw a good bit of singing and dancing that was somewhat authentic, I’m sure, but also somewhat staged.  Still, BalletBoy was pretty thrilled to be called on “stage” here to dance in Zimbabwe.  He was the only person to do so!

And when we were in South Africa, we got a lot of Apartheid history.  The kids had prepared by reading about Nelson Mandela and reading books like The Day Gogo Went to Vote, but it was still a lot to take in to see prisons and townships.  Mushroom was especially affected during our quick time in Jo’burg and we decided to skip doing much more with that when we were in Cape Town.  Instead, we just enjoyed the seals, the views from the mountain and the beach.

Now that I’m home and we’re all easing back into routines (though we’re off school until after Easter), I’m just feeling grateful for homeschooling and how it allowed us to not only take this trip, but to build learning around it.  We got to devote all our social studies to it beforehand for two months and I know we’ll devote a good bit of writing and project time to processing it afterwards when we start back with school.

Bon Voyage to Us

The Rowhouse is taking a little vacation.  We’re all packed up with a bag full of on the road amusements and homemade journals (plus, of course, underwear, shampoo and malaria pills).  I’ll post a picture or two from the road if I get a chance, but I’ll see you guys in April otherwise!

Week in Review in Photos

I kept thinking I’d get it together to make a post this week.  But with getting ready to travel, getting ready for Destination Imagination, hosting co-op and having a weekend visit from my mother, it just didn’t happen.  But here’s a few pictures from the last week.

We were sent a Flat Stanley by some of our Georgia cousins.  I’m sure they thought we’d take him to the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian and the White House and all that.  We did, but first, we took him to DC’s most famous restaurant.

We enjoyed the tunnel in the National Gallery with Nana Bebe before we did Stories in Art.  Really, the Stories in Art program just rocks.  And I suddenly realized that next year we’ll graduate to their Artful Conversations program.  Both are free.  I just love homeschooling in DC sometimes.

We celebrated Mardi Gras in style with a pot of jambalaya made by our budding chef Mushroom with some help from Nana Bebe.

Finally, with a little help, we realized that all those wacky finger games the kids keep doing have actually made their fingers double jointed.  It’s especially weird on BalletBoy’s fingers.

Thankful Homeschool

Sometimes I struggle with my kids.  Sometimes I wish we had unlimited funds for exciting things.  Sometimes I dislike that the porch is pretty much falling off the rowhouse.  Sometimes I see all the things that are wrong, from that crack over there to that tantrum Mushroom had.

But really, we are very lucky.  We have plenty.  We are healthy.  We love each other.  We are able to mostly live the way we chose to live.  I’m blessed with wonderful children.  I’m thankful for BalletBoy’s focus and easy going nature.  I’m thankful for Mushroom’s passions and his ability to express himself.  I’m thankful that they both have amazing imaginations.  I’m thankful for the big table where we learn every day and where we’ll break bread for Thanksgiving.

YouTube Science

I’ve been really enjoying a science on YouTube lately.  Some of the videos I’ve seen, I’ve linked here in my science posts, others I’ve found on the wonderful The Kid Should See This.  However, others are just from awesome YouTube channels.  If you’d like to also enlighten yourself and your kids, here’s a few options:

Minute Physics
This channel explains various concepts in physics, especially in weird quantum physics, in about a minute.  They use hand drawn illustrations and a spoken explanation.  It’s extremely well done.

Steve Spangler
These are extremely simple, quick, well-produced videos that show experiments you can easily do at home.

The Periodic Table of Videos
At least one video about every element.  Plus a bunch of others.  These are some chemists with a bit of a sense of humor about themselves.

Sixty Symbols
Much in the same style as the Periodic Table of Videos (perhaps because both come from the same university) this set of videos attempts to explain every astronomical symbol there is.

MelodySheep
This one is really, really weird.  Mixes of famous scientists (and occasionally other celebrities) explaining basic concepts remixed to sound like they’re doing some sort of trance music.  No, really.  Check out Morgan Freeman, Michio Kaku and Richard Feynman all trip hopping.

Smarter Every Day
Kid friendly videos about basic engineering concepts, often featuring the video maker’s kids and toys like water balloons and tinker toys.

NOVAOnline
Short excerpts from the famous PBS series, including the NOVA Science Now video podcasts.

Veritasium
Another academic enterprise, this time from Australia.  The host often interviews people on the street then talks to professors to explain concepts.

Sagan’s Cosmos
Excerpts from various programs by the famous scientist and author Carl Sagan.

National Geographic
Excerpts from National Geographic’s wide array of videos.  This one requires more sorting because they have so many, some of which are basically just ads for the magazine or their shows, but many of which are nice little short bits from longer pieces.

BBC Earth
Another set of excerpts, this time from BBC’s wildlife and nature programming.

Robert Krampf, the Happy Scientist
The Happy Scientist offers an expensive set of pay videos, but he also has a YouTube channel with free videos where he explains all kinds of science concepts with enthusiasm.

The Real Bill Nye
A collection of Bill Nye excerpts.  I probably link these pretty often in my science posts.

Science Friday’s Video Pick of the Week
Not a YouTube channel, but a nicely curated collection of interesting videos on all sorts of subjects.

I’m sure there are others I have never even heard of.  Just the other day, I learned about a cool little 15 program called Backyard Science which can be found mostly on YouTube (uploaded by different people – here’s a link to the search that yielded lots of results). Anyone have any other favorite spots for science videos?

When Books Attack

Prepare yourself.  This story is straight out of a horror movie.

Picture it.  At the end of the day, a tired me goes upstairs to get ready for bed.  I pause by the bedside.  There’s a lot of library books waiting for me, but I’m ready for sleep and decide to pick up an old book from the windowsill instead.

The book is an ancient paperback copy of The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.  It’s a well-loved book, one of my favorites, one I can dip into for a few pages then dip back out of and go to sleep.  I’ve had it since middle school and it’s seen better days.  The back cover is bent.  The front pages are yellowed because of a lemonade spill circa 1988.

I take the book and get in bed.  I lean back, open the book and…

HUNDREDS.  OF.  ANTS.

They’re everywhere, crawling in and out of the pages.  They can easily do that because THEY ATE A HOLE IN THE BOOK.

I scream, of course.  I fling the book on the floor, also of course.  By then they’ve already spilled out everywhere on the bed and me.  They’re teeming on the floor.  They’re everywhere.

I spend the next half hour killing them, scrubbing the floor, changing the sheets and trying desperately to shake off that shivery disgusted feeling.  So much for a good night’s sleep.

And the poor book!  My wonderful, well-loved copy!  Poor Harry!  Poor Damarians!

If it were a horror movie, you know that as I pick up the next book, the audience would be crying, “No!  Don’t!”

Eat the Kid Instead!

From last week, on the way home from the wedding, we met animatronic dinosaurs who tried to eat the Husband.  He fed them Mushroom instead while BalletBoy looked on in horror.