My daughter and bats

My daughter loves bats.

She bought herself a plush bat a couple years ago and named her Black Susan. When we adopted a dog who assumed that anything on the floor was "game" for chewing, Black Susan lost a fang and got a hole torn in her head.

I was in Minnesota when this happened. Madelyn took it well, but she did let me know over the phone:

"Black Susan needs you to fix her, Mom."
"Leave her by my bedside, and I'll fix her when I get home."

Adventures in writing

Our writing practice is the most flexible subject so far.

One day they recorded sensory observations. It seems the dog "tastes" like "the couch." Based on that, I guess there's some scientific experimentation, too.

Another favorite: socks "smell like sour milk."

Alternative Ed--2nd week, October

It's the most wonderful time of the year--for me. I could sack all the holidays in favor of that handful of golden-lit days in October when the temperature hangs between 55 - 75 degrees and the trees are radiant with fiery hues. According to The Weather Channel, this week was to be That Week. So we had an alternative education week.

October, 1st week

I found this lecture in an NPR story comment:

TED Talks: Gaming Can Make a Better World

It was not part of our curriculum, but it kept Nate's interest and tilted my perception of how "useful" video games can be. The original NPR story was about "gamers" solving a scientific problem of how proteins fold. Once they turned the problem into a game, it was solved in ten days.