The Homeschool Edit 8.21


  • On Tuesday we had our annual NOT Back-to-School Day, with a celebration at the beach where we checked out all of the seaweed that washed ashore (there’s a big storm down in Baja which brings us big waves), counted birds using our eBird app, and enjoyed an outdoor sushi lunch. We always like to do something special when our homeschool charter school has their official start day; however, we won’t officially begin academics until September once more of our curriculum arrives.
  • If you follow the news, you’re probably aware that California is currently on fire. We’ve been having a record breaking heatwave for the past week, so it was pretty much inevitable this would happen. NASA uploads their satellite imagery online and shows how far and wide the smoke is spreading. (The website is much more dynamic if you view it on your computer.) This morning we were at the beach and it was beautiful out, but as of this afternoon the smoke and ash have rolled in and I’ve closed all the windows and doors, turned on all of our fans (we have no AC and it’s hot!), and replaced our air purifier filters. Luckily we have some extra N95 masks from the last major fires in our area.
  • Finally, I’m trying to figure out what our plan will be for Halloween (yes, I went there, and normally we start planning our costumes in April!) Usually we celebrate ALL month long with community trick-o-treating events, pumpkin patch visits, Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland, and of course trick-o-treating around our neighborhood. This year will be different, and my cousin and I are trying to figure out how to continue our yearly Halloween Disneyland tradition without actually going to Disneyland. Any ideas?