Fun stuff

We have a lot of fun homeschooling!

Media recommendations

The Brick Bible

To deepen our secular learning about the stories from the Bible, we turn to a retelling of the Bible using LEGO bricks.

Fun stuff

Irresponsible Day 2022!

For the third year, we take a day to be completely IRRESPONSIBLE!

Geography and cultures

A trip to the Japanese Tea Garden

Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden is now free to San Francisco residents, so we learned about Japan and took a field trip.

Geography and cultures

Impromptu France

How an unplanned "trip" to France took shape—without disrupting our daily routine. Too much.

Fun stuff

Ciabatta!

I coached Wanda through making her first loaf of bread, a ciabatta.

Book recommendations

Book Day Supreme

A very special Book Day: a field trip to Alibi Bookshop in Vallejo!

Methods

Our winter break

Every winter, from the day after Thanksgiving through to the week of Wanda's birthday in early January, we ease way up on our schooling and take a break of sorts. I've written before about how we manage our breaks. [https://homeschool.humuhumu.com/easing-back-into-homeschool-routine-after-a-break/] Wanda and I decide together how

Book recommendations

Books we've loved in 2021

We're sharing some highlights from the reading we've done over the past year.

Fun stuff

A day of Swedish Christmas, with Kalle Anka

You know Kalle Anka better as Donald Duck, and a Swedish Christmas isn't complete without him.

Geography and cultures

Holidays around the world, via Acorn Airlines

Wanda and I yust go nuts at Christmas. We spend each December learning about how the world celebrates, with our very own fictional airline.

Social

Homeschool socializing

A look at what homeschool socializing was like in San Francisco, before the pandemic goobered everything.

Geography and cultures

Happy Diwali!

We celebrated Diwali [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali] today, the Indian festival of lights. I'm a sucker for a light festival. We took a trip to India on Acorn Airlines (our fictional school airline, it's totally Pinterest-barfy, I'll post about it someday in case you need some text-based ipecac)

Fun stuff

Forest field trip

Yesterday we went foraging for chanterelle mushrooms in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon. I grew up in Seattle, and while I love California—deeply—most of its forests don't quite meet my lofty, spoiled standards. I've long wanted Wanda to get to experience my idea of a forest. We're

Fun stuff

My school uniform

As you read through all of these posts, and picture in your mind what our days are like, you'll need an important piece of information: I'm a bear. (This is what I wear every day. I like to be warm. Plus I can keep things in my pouch.) 💬Join the

Fun stuff

Our First Day of Fall tradition

Welcoming the new autumn season in true city kid fashion: with fake fall leaves.

Science

Dressing like a scientist

Really, I just thought Wanda in a lab coat would be adorable, and I was RIGHT!

Fun stuff

Fake camping in the fake jungle

We took last week off to go camping, only not really, because California is on fire. The lower level of our house is themed to be a nighttime jungle, and Wanda had the brilliant idea to set up our tent in the jungle and "camp" for a week. The downstairs

Book recommendations

The Curie Society

The Curie Society [https://eepuniverse.com/title/the-curie-society/] is a new graphic novel from MIT Press [https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/curie-society], the first in a planned series. It is about three brilliant young women who are recruited into a (fictional) covert organization, created by Marie Curie herself back in

Fun stuff

Fancy cupcakes made easy

Simple and inexpensive ways to make your cupcakes deluxe, and so you can whip them out easily and make ordinary days special.

Fun stuff

Irresponsible Day 2021!

Following in the tradition Wanda started last year [https://homeschool.humuhumu.com/irresponsible-day/], today was IRRESPONSIBLE DAY! Cookies for breakfast! IRRESPONSIBLE!Intentionally misspelling “butthole” to circumvent this stupid app’s swear word filter: TWO KINDS OF IRRESPONSIBLE! And also STICKING IT TO THE MAN!! Smell our buthole, stupid app!Balancing

Science

PBS's It's Okay to Be Smart

I want to shine a spotlight on my favorite science education YouTube channel, It's Okay to Be Smart [https://www.youtube.com/c/itsokaytobesmart], by PBS. Biologist Dr. Joe Hanson has been making these videos for the better part of a decade now. He and the whole It's Okay to

Book recommendations

Book Day!

BOOK DAY BOOK DAY BOOK DAY!!! These just arrived from Alibi Bookshop [https://alibibookshop.com/] (order from them online here: https://bookshop.org/shop/alibibookshop), except for a couple I picked up from the library this morning. BOOK DAY! 💬Join the discussion [https://www.facebook.com/humuhumu/posts/10160170462412699] of

Science

Taste the diffusion rainbow

We wrapped up a few days of learning about Brownian motion (the wiggly nature of atoms & molecules), diffusion, and concentration gradients with this Skittles + plate + warm water activity. I don’t often do flashy science activities; I only want to do them once Wanda has the foundational understanding to really

Fun stuff

Shaving Cream Day

Today was SHAVING CREAM DAY! I can highly recommend buying twelve cans of shaving cream (make sure its the foam kind, not the gel kind) and 10'x20' of plastic and transforming your living room for a day. This was a blast. We got some learning in: we learned about the

Media recommendations

Table Top Shakespeare

If you could use a distraction over the next few days, consider brushing up your Shakespeare with this fun “Table Top Shakespeare [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emYGXzCQa0o&list=PL-blz3DjyJIyhGeDEPROuy6WqwDd6mTKO] ” series on YouTube. A talented storyteller tells the plot of the play in plain but engaging English, using regular