This Week in School, Day 1, 7/24/2016 The next series of posts shares part of our journey while studying politics. It is political, because we studied politics. We are using the eclectic methodology called Project-Based […]
This blog will have musings about writing, homeschooling, secular science, and of course our travels!
Author: Blair Lee
I am a passionate advocate for innovative learning. I am also a scientist, educator, writer, homeschooler, public speaker, and world traveler.
Using RSO Biology 2 for High School Biology
There is a planned level 3 book that will use the Level 2 book with added material in each chapter and in each unit. In the mean time, I am getting many requests for how Biology 2 […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 2: Month 1: On the Road: The Rest of the Trip
8/23-24: Sinks Canyon State Park Early in my relationship with Jim I had to establish a rule. We can only drive so far before stopping. Jim is one of those people who will drive as […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 2: Month 1: On the Road: Custer State Park, SD
I think the year you study geology and environmental science, you should spend time outside looking at the subject of your studies, so we did. I did not keep a daily journal, because I had […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 2, Month 1: The Service Project
I’m going to depart a bit and tell you about what we learned. I think it is the best way for you to get a feel for the profound benefits of exposing young people to this […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 2: Month 1 (Post 1 of 3 – On the Way to the Service Project)
The first month of tenth grade might have been the best month we ever spent homeschooling. You might be thinking, “Well, Yeah! You were traveling and hanging out. How could that not be great?” 🙂 […]
A Present for You on Darwin Day
SEA Homeschoolers and Pandia Press are teaming up to give you a Darwin Day present! We hope you have the happiest of Darwin Days! This lesson is from one of the Famous Science Series from R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey […]
Science and the Secular Homeschooler
I live in Southern California. I taught science at community college, and now I write about it. Those two sentences convey a lot of information about how easy it is for me to negotiate my […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 1, Month 9 through the Year’s End
We school year round with lots of breaks. That doesn’t matter to a planner like me though. Every year I have a start date and an end date. The year-end date for this year was […]
The Scientific Method: Defined, Applied, Understood, Learned
How did you learn the scientific method? If I were to ask you what the scientific method was, would you rattle off a series of terms? Would you say to me hypothesis, procedure, observations, data […]
Sitges, Spain, Let’s Ride, June 14, 2015 but First the Antipope of Peniscola
The present castle in Peniscola was built by the Knights Templar from 1294 to 1307. It looks like a prime piece of real estate that would be easy to defend. From 1415 to 1423 it […]
There Were Mammooths in Andalusia?!? Going to Where the Mammoths and People Were, Orce, Spain and then to Peniscola Where the People Are, June 13, 2015
Sean woke me up early. “Mom, I have broken out in a bad rash, or bites, or something all over!” Well, that will get a mother up and going! We could not figure it out. […]
The Alhambra in Daylight and The Somalis and the Woman Who Seemed to be in Charge (we hope not), June 12, 2015
When you buy tickets for the Alhambra you have to choose between the morning or afternoon. We chose afternoon because the morning session started at 8 a.m. We had yet to even be awake once […]
Granada a Town that Must Have some Homeschoolers In It, June 11, 2015
The kids were ready to get to Granada. The house we were staying at there had a pool, and they wanted to swim in it. It had been warm and sunny for the past three […]
Seeing Seville on an Electric Bike, Flamenco, the Chinese Wedding Photo Fad, June 10, 2015
The Flying Dutchmen told us what a blast they had riding around Seville on a Segway. We called every Segway rental company we could find on the Internet and they were all booked. I looked […]
Our Man of La Menthe, Seville, and the Flying Dutchmen, June 9, 2015
We woke up in the hostel after a very good night’s sleep. The woman we met last night was at the front desk. She was wonderfully friendly. She did not speak English, so it was […]
Canyoning before Driving South, June 8, 2015
With 10 days left in Spain, the vagabonds hit the road again. We decided to head south to see Seville and Granada for 4 days total with one day on the road to Seville. The […]
The Geology of the Pyrenees, Kayaking for 2, and Rainwater versus Snow Melt, Ainsa, Spain, June 7, 2015
We want to go white water kayaking in hard kayaks! At least that is what 2 of us said. The other two did not. That was okay, clothes must be washed when you are on […]
Ready for some Action! Rafting in the Pyrenees Followed by a Dinner Unlike any Other! June 6, 2015
When you travel for an extended period everyone has a low energy moment. Today was my turn. I woke up feeling exhausted. I am usually the most up of the group, but not this morning. […]
Driving through the Pyrenees, The Peace Van Wags Its Tail, June 5, 2015
We really liked the Abbaye de Capservy, and we loved Odile! It was a wonderful stay. Jim and I took a walk up the road to the lake where you can fish. Then I asked […]
Carcassonne is Like a Castle from a Disney Movie, South of France, June 4, 2015
Today we visited Carcassonne. It was lovely! Like many of the places we have visited, there were almost no people. We have been told most Spanish and French people vacation in July and August. […]
Leaving Girona for the Abbaye de Capservy in the South of France, June 3, 2015
Before we left Girona we had to take one more walk on the wall. Again there was no one on it. I am sitting on an old fashioned […]
The Dali Museum, The Mediterranean, Vegan Tapas, a Nighttime Walk on the wall!!! June 2, 2015
The town of Figueres, Spain is about a 35 minute drive from Girona. There is a lot of history there, but we only went for the Dali Museum. We did not want to spend the […]
Why they Chose Girona to Film the Game of Thrones, Girona, Spain, June 1, 2015
I will not actually bore you with a written answer to that. The photos speak for themselves. Girona is magical. It is now one of my favorite towns I have visited of all time. […]
La Pedrera in Barcelona driving to Girona, Spain, May 31
Barcelona is a wonderful city to recover from jet lag. It is small enough so it isn’t overwhelming. The food is wonderful, even for those who have dietary restrictions. There is a mix of Roman […]
Last full day in Barcelona, Spain: May 30, 2015
We woke up late again. Even I didn’t get up early this morning. When I finally woke the kids up before noon they were STARVING! Even Sophia who almost never eats. Sean commented on […]
Barcelona, May 29, 2015
May 29 We woke up feeling pretty good. Sean immediately wanted to go deal with tickets to Primavera Sound. My shoes for the day. I would be back after getting the tickets to the concert. […]
On the way to Barcelona, May 27 and 28
At the airport in San Diego: May 27 It takes a long time to get from the West Coast of the U.S. to Barcelona. We left in the evening of the 27th from San Diego, […]
I Have 2 Conferences Coming Up this Summer
I will be speaking at two homeschool conferences this summer. If you plan on attending either of them, let’s get together. I will have copies of both of my science courses, R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Chemistry […]
The Homeschool History Project: Handcrafting High School: Year 2: American Government
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana I interpret this quote to mean that through studying history people are less likely to repeat past mistakes. I think this is an important reason […]
Handcrafting 10th grade: The Plan for 2015/2016
Eclectic? Absolutely! Academic? Of Course! Innovative? You Know It! It’s Organic, Too! (I am a chemist, after all! ;-)) History: American government & politics with writing History and the upcoming election will be the main focus […]
RSO Physics 1 is out!
30% off at the Pandia Press Memorial Day Sale! 30% off! Pre-order RSO Physics 1! Visit our website to get 30% off your entire purchase. The discount includes the pre-order of our newest title, REAL […]
Music and Spain
Originally posted on wisebread:
I have had a passion for music all my life. I was eleven months old when my love of music was discovered. We were at a party, and I wanted to…
What’s Your Story and Handcrafting High School at the CHN Conference, June 25 – 28
What’s Your Story Have you ever read something and wondered, “How do they do it?” How did the author take an idea and create a written work that can transport you or teach you? Or […]
The Friendly American
When I travel, I have one trait that identifies me right away as an American. I am the friendly type. Americans are known for being alarmingly sunny and friendly when we travel, and we are known […]
Leaving for Spain: 20 Days Out
I have been casually planning for our upcoming trip to Spain. There are some things that I take care of before we leave. but most of our trip we leave unplanned. When I travel I am […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 1, Month 8
What a crazy month April was. We moved for the third time since the summer of 2012, and we aren’t in the military. First we moved from the mountains to San Diego where there is […]
Time to Focus: Week 2 through 4, Fourth Grade Writing
A Handcrafted Education: It’s Innovative, It’s Eclectic, It’s Academic, It’s Homeschooling The next three weeks Sean worked on narrowing the focus of his writing. I like to call writing with a […]
It’s Innovative, It’s Eclectic, It’s Academic, It’s Homeschooling: What We Did for Writing in 4th Grade, the First Week
In fourth grade we did something particularly eclectic and innovative for writing. This will not be for everyone, and when we did it I felt as if I was taking Sean’s hand and jumping into […]
Cusco’s Flag
I have been posting a blog post a day. I thought, why break a perfect streak! I need to get back to posting about the Peru trip, but by popular demand today I am going […]
The Benefit of Homeschooling, It’s Innovative, It’s Eclectic, It’s Organic, It’s Academic
By Blair Lee, A Voice from the Middle There is a revolution going on right now in education. It’s called homeschooling. I am part of a fringe group in this revolution. You don’t hear a […]
Moray and Maras, Cusco, Peru, Day 5 of Our Trip, April, 2012
One of the recommendations for people who are hiking into Machu Picchu is that they acclimate in Cusco for 2 to 3 days first. All of the preparation just to walk 37 miles over several […]
Cusco, Peru, Day 4 of our trip, April, 2012
When my husband Jim told me he had booked a trip for us where we would hike into Machu Picchu over several days, I was not pleased. In fact, I was irritated about it. It […]
Cusco, Peru, April, 2012: Days 1 through 3
Before traveling to India in December of 2013, I wrote my travel blogs on Facebook. I have been meaning to transfer the photos and information to my WordPress blog for a while. When the daily photo […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 1, Month 7
Some months a handcrafted education looks like a carefully detailed pattern has been followed as if I bought something from Butterwick, cut it out carefully, pinned everything meticulously, and sewed all the pieces exactly to […]
Physics for Middle School and High School
For the past few months, I have been receiving emails asking for my help figuring out science for next year. The emails are from parents who are hoping RSO Astronomy and Earth Science 2 will […]
Practicing Science: Where’s the Starch?
This is another previously unpublished lab. I thought of this lab too late for it to go into RSO Biology 2. The content reviewer for Biology 2 is a high school biology teacher who also helps […]
Handcrafting High School: Year 1, Month 6
Oh my goodness! What a busy month February was for both Sean and me. There were times this month when I felt like I barely had time to breathe. I actually realized TWICE! that I […]
Why Are We All So Different? Answer Key
Why Are We All so Different? Lab Sheet Answer key Assuming no mutations, how many genetically different offspring can two parents with 2n = 6, 3 pairs, of chromosomes have? 8+8+8+8+8+8+8+8 = 8×8 = 64 […]
Why Are We All so Different? A previously unpublished lab from R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Biology 2
I believe adamantly that science is well taught only if there is a careful pairing of labs with theory. Sometimes it is difficult to think of labs to pair with the theory. Thinking of a […]
