http://www.whataboutsocialization.com Living, playing and homeschooling in the Chicago suburbs. Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:49:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Many of my book friends are feeling a little cramped in their current locations, and are raring to move on to new places and new adventures. I told them I'd help find them some new friends. If you'd like to invite any to come stay with you, let me know ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2009/04/07/clearing-off-the-bookshelves/ American Science & Surplus is probably one of the coolest stores on earth. They specialize in selling the kinds of stuff that you would never go looking for, but that you have to have when you see it. Living in the Chicago area, I'm lucky to be only a 15 minute ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/10/12/american-science-surplus-warehouse-sale/ So I've been gathering together a couple of resources for the co-op's PE program in the fall. One of the other board members, who taught public school in her pre-homeschooling-mama life, passed along her early 1980s college textbook on the subject, in hopes that I might be able to ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/06/22/that-clears-everything-right-up/ The next installment of our Warning: Science in Progress! video blog is finally ready. This one was a blast to put together, not least because we are sporting our brand-new lab coats from American Science and Surplus. In this episode, we demonstrate the use of a capacitor using a simple circuit ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/05/28/science-in-progress-2-the-circuit-that-would-not-die/ This afternoon Lydia announced that she had found some grammatical errors on a Wikipedia page, and so had gone in to edit the page to correct them. Since her grammar kung fu has always been quite strong, it was no shock that she was able to spot the errors, or ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/05/02/discovering-the-wiki-in-wikipedia/ As I talked about earlier, Lydia and I are working on learning electronics together using the Arduino programmable microcontroller. Here's the first episode of our video blog, in which Lydia demonstrates the "hello world" of electronic circuits: The Blinking LED. http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/04/17/warning-science-in-progress-episode-1-arduino-blinks-into-existence/ I'm so excited! I've been working with a small group of women on a new co-op to start in Fall 2008. And it's all starting to come together! We have a get-to-know-us event coming up that ought to be fun-- making Artist Trading Cards. Website is still getting ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/04/16/the-community-co-op/ Lydia and I have started working on electronics together. I've finally got a decent kit of materials together: a collection of basic components as well as an Arduino programmable microcontroller. My goal is to help her understand the way electronic things work, to help her become a maker and not ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/04/14/science/ (My Great (x3) Grandfather McKinney in the Civil War) For the last week or so, I've been ditching the schooltime classical music in favor of a bunch of Smithsonian Folkways recordings. Woody Guthrie & Mahalia Jackson are every bit as important as Puccini. More relevant, too, since we're studying ... http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/04/10/random-braindump/ (our snowy backyard) I'm really ready for spring. How about you? http://www.whataboutsocialization.com/2008/02/16/impatient/