Upcoming Events
Aug 13 - Venia's Vacation: Belarusse, Vienna, and..
Aug - 6 Topanga Beach Day (boogie boards and sandcastles)
July 30 - Summer Parkday
July 23 - Leather Stamping
July 16 - Ancient Rome
July 9 - Japan Past & Present
July 2 - Independence & H2O
June 25 Beach Day
June 18 Tenzi Frenzi
June 11 - Juggling Craft and Fun
June 4 - Stokes Theater & Plays
May 28 - Christina's Family Yogatime
May 21 - Bring your crafty projects & Potluck
May 14- Career Day
May 7 - Mother's Day Tea
April 30 - Art Show & Painting
Apr 23 - Earthday Show & Tell and Planting
Apr16 - 19 Joshua Tree Annual Family Campout
Apr 9 - HexiFlexigons - rescheduled
Apr 2 - Magic Tricks & Juggling Sticks
Mar 26 - HexiFlexigons - Geometry Gone Wild
Mar 19 - Potluck & Nat Amer Kid Presentations
Mar 12 - Nat Amer 2: Plains & Tipi's
Mar 5 - Native American 1: Inuit & Carving
Feb 28 - The Art of Debate
Feb 19 - Potluck & Chinese New Year & Korean, Vietnamese
Feb 12 - Valentyne's Day exchange
Feb 5 - Favorite Books
Jan 29 - Build an African Kalimba
Jan 22 - Patents and Inventors
Jan 15 Potluck, Patents and Inventors
Jan 8 - Boardgames and Beginnings
Jan 1st New Year's Playday
Dec 25 Merry Christmas No Parkday
Dec 18 Kwanza; Hannukah; Xmas; Solstice Celebration & Lunch Potluck
Dec 15 Caroling at Retirement Homes
Dec 11 Holiday Craft Day
Dec 4 Idioms by Maria Wheee!
Nov 27 Happy Thanksgiving No Parkday
Nov 20 Venezuela by Enrique & Potluck
Nov 13 Science Bloopers
Nov 6 Inside a Courtroom
Nov 4 Take your Kid to Vote
Oct 30 Costume Halloween Party
Oct 23 Bring a Poem
Oct 19 Campfire Potluck &Talent Show
Oct 16 Poetry Play Day & Potluck
Oct 9 Save Big Cats & Habitats
Oct 2 Making & Launching Rockets
Sept 28 Watts Tower Drumming Festival 10-4pm
Sept 25 Basket Weaving with NewsPaper
Sept 18 M&B Family Campout @ Sequoia Nat'l Park (No parkday)
Sept 11 OuterSpace Aeronautics or
Sustainable Farming & Husbandry (if cool enough for goats to visit)
Sep 10 M&B Free @ LA County Fair
Sep 2 Amazing Aeronautics
Aug 28 Beach Day
Aug 21 Pioneer Day
Aug 14 Five Year M&B Anniversary
Aug 7 Solar Ovens Part III
Jul 31 Solar Ovens Part II
Jul 24 Solar Ovens Part I @ Beach
Jul 17 Balloon Fun/Physics
Jul 10 Blind as a Bat (Braille & Sonar)
Jul 3rd (No Parkday Independence)
Jun 26 Tal Family
Jun 19 Kinetic Ball Run & Squirt bottle motion & Potluck
Jun 12 Summer Festival & Games
Jun 11 Full Moon Hike
Jun 5 Let's Get Tiny - Cells (Animal & Plant)
May 29 Lets get tiny - Cells (Animal & Plant)
May 22 Famous People
May 15 Beach Day & Potluck
May 8 Celebrating Mothers
May 1 Secrets of Water
Apr 24 Earthday & Planting
Apr 17 Games & Crafts Bring Your OWN
Apr 10 Nat'l Poetry Month
Apr 3 Cotton Magic
Mar 27 Bacteria Fun
Mar 20 Potluck & Organ Day!
Mar14-16 Joshua Tree Annual Spring Family Campout
Mar 13 - No Theme due to weekend Campout
Mar 6- Birdwatching & Nesting Day
Feb 27 - Physics of Bowling due to Rain
Feb 20 - The Winter Olympics
Feb 14-17 Backyard Bird Count
Feb 13 - VOLUNTEER PLEASE. Valentines Day
Feb 6 - Taxonomy & the Darwin Challenge
Jan 30 - Lunar New Year of the Horse
Jan 23 - Simple Machines II - Pulleys & Levers
Jan 16 - Habitats & Keystone Species & Noon Potluck
Jan 9 - Cogs & Cams: Simple Machines
Jan 2 - Reconnecting after holidays & New Year's Celebrations
Dec 26 - No Parkday Happy Holidays
Dec 19 - Celebrate Holidays: Winter Solstice, Kwanza, Christmas & Hanukkah
Dec 12 - Solar Fun & Mask Making with Michelle
Dec 5 - Monarch Magic & Eucalyptus
Nov 28 - Happy Thanksgiving - No Parkday
Nov 23 - Fieldtrip to Monarch Groves in Goleta
Nov 21 - Monarchs & Eucalyptus Trees postponed
Nov 14 - Atoms, Protons, Electrons, Oh My!
Nov 7 - Autumn Leaves & Sewing with Heather
Oct 31 - Halloween Festival
Oct 24 - Spooky SeeSaw Algebra
Oct 17 - 3 City Geography & Int'l Potluck & 6:00pm Talent Show
Oct 10 - 2nd M&B Bug Faire
Oct 3 - Abacus Math Magic
Sept 26 - Bark Painting & Spirit Animals
Sep 19-23 Annual Sequoia Family Campout
Sep 14 Fieldtrip to Point Vicente
Sep 12 - Lighthouses & Prisms II
Sep 5 - Build Splash Toys @ Pool
Aug 29 - Lighthouses & Light I
Aug 22 - DeSalination @ Beach PD
Aug 15 - Weaving yarn or old clothes
Aug 8 - Hula Hoop II
Aug 1 - Hula Hoop I @ Beach A
Jul 25 - M&B's 4th Anniversary
All ages Talent Show
Jul 18 - Hawaii Day & Potluck
Jul 11 - Bubble Science Fun
July 4 No Parkday HOLIDAY
Jun 27 No Parkday HOLIDAY
Jun 20 - Crafts Free for All
Jun 13 - Gold Mining & BoomTowns
Jun 6 - Anyone? Or Lemonade Stands
May 31-Jun 2 Family Campout at Montano De Oro
May 30 - MayDay PlayDay II
May 23 - MayDay PlayDay
May 16 - Bats, Owl Pellets & Potluck
May 9 - Primitive Arts & Indian Trading Blanket
May 2 - Painting & Poems
Apr 25- Help Our Wildlife Thrive
Apr 18 - M&B Earthday & Potluck 5pm
Apr 11 - Missouri Day / Bees Part 2
HoneyLove.org
Apr 4 - Bees ($3/kid for candlemaking)
Ula's Birthday
Mar 28 - Feathers, Microscopes & Origami Cranes
Mar 21 - History of Sugar; Plant own sugarcane
Mar 14 - Robots & Circuitry $3/kid
Mar 7 - Rainy Day @ Skirball Free
Feb 28 - Felting & Fiber Arts
Feb 21 - Morocco II
and Islamic Prayer
Feb 14 Valentines & Asian New Year Traditions
Feb 7 - Huichol Yarn Paintings
& Esme's Bday
Jan 31 - Birth of a Nation
Jan 24 - Cancelled
due to RAIN
Jan 17 - Craft parkday
Jan 15 - USA Tour @ Skirball
Jan 10- Morocco Senses & Allah
Jan 3 - Free for All Playday
Dec 27 - Free For All Playday
Dec 20 - Xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Divali & Winter Solstice (Carols & Potluck)
Dec 13 - Morocco, Art & Mint Tea
Dec 6 - Pompeii Part II & Archeology
Nov 29 - Let's BOWL
due to Rain
Nov 22 - Thanksgiving - No Parkday
Nov 15 - Duct Tape Crafts & creations by C & C
and Lunch Potluck
Nov 8 - Ancient Pompeii & Mt Vesuvius
Nov 1 - Election & Voting Debate:
More trees or Waterslide
Oct 25 - Trunk or Treat; Dress-up
Halloween
Oct 18 - Peace Building &
Anger drop
Oct 11 - Superhero Rain
Oct 4 - Inks from Nature
Sep 27 Ireland Fun & Culture
Sep 20 -Sequoia-sized Boardgames
Sep 13 - 3rd Sequoia Campout
Sep 6- Heroes and Heroines - Kids Presentations
Aug 30 - Simile, Metaphors & Figures of Speech
Aug 23- Letterboxing II
Aug 16 - Letterboxing I
Aug 9 - Beach Day
Aug 2 - Modern Olympics II
July 26 - Ancient Olympics I
July 19 - Paper Arts: Bowls, Books & Beads
July 12 - Beach Day
July 5 - Statue of Liberty - 4th July
June 28 - Storytelling & Aussie Rainsticks
June 21 - Fun Games Field day
June 14 - Mystery Math = Algebra Fun
June 7- Silly Summer Day Fun
May 31 - Build Miniature Golf
May 24 - Sewing & Haiku Part II
May 17 - Haikus & Drums & Evening Potluck
May 10 - Rock Hunter Guest Speakers
May 3 - May Day Celebrations
Apr 26 - Fibonacci & Nature
Apr 19 - Thai New Year -Songkran & Potluck
April 12 - Spring Bling & Night Crawlers Planting season
April 5- Easter /Passover Crafts
Mar 29 - Ethics & Fairytales
Mar 22 - Detective Fingerprints & Crafts
Mar 15 - Prep for Joshua Tree
Mar 8 - Marbles & Physics
Mar 1 - Make Real Dream Catchers
Feb 23 - Pirates, Sea Captains &Tall Ships
Feb 16 - Wilderness Survival - guest Speaker
Feb 9 - Anatomy Guts vs Feeling Guts
Feb 2- Gravity Fun Games
Jan 26 - Cement Bridges Part Two
Jan 19 - Kids first Rock & Gem Show
Jan 12 - Global New Years Celebration
Jan 5 - Rockets-Aquarius M&B helped launch
Dec 29 - Cement Construction hand print tile
Dec 22- Kwanza, Hannukah, Bodhi Day stories & games 12/8
Dec 15 - Amy's Anatomy Obstacle Course
Dec 8 - Painting so it POPS! w/ out wind
Dec 1 - Painting so it POPS!
Nov 24 - Happy Thanksgiving - No M&B Parkday
Nov 17 - Fun with Manners & Empowering Etiquette & And 3rd Thurs Potluck (lunchtime)!
Nov 10 - History of Photography - Make Pinhole Cameras
Nov 3 - Butterfly & Bug Faire & Poems & Riddles
Oct 27 - Pumpkin Festival *Dress UP!!
Oct 20 - Empathy & Empowerment
Oct 13 - Braille & Visually Impaired
Oct 6- Atoms & Cool Molecules
Sept 29- Black Bears & Sequoias
Sept 22 - Sequoia Fires & Cones
Sept 15- Clay Creatures & Open-ended ?s
Sept 8- Beat the Heat Beach Day
Sept 1 - Lemonade Stand Commerce
Aug 25 - Back to Homeschool Play
Aug 18 - Saw Safely & make a Jacob's Ladder
Aug 11 - Biomes, Habitats & Soda Bottle Terrarium
Aug 4 - M&B 2Year Anniversary Party
July 28 - Finger Knitting & Natural Fibers
July 21 - Stone Soup Potluck & Storytime
July 14 - CrazyFun ScienceLab Experiments
July 7 - Independence Day Celebration @ Zuma Beach
June 30 - Nocturnal Creatures & Owl Pellets to dissect
June 23 - Book Exchange Circus
June 16 - Lewis & Clark, Quill pens from feathers & Potluck
June 9 ATC- Making Artists' Trading Cards
June 2 Petraglyphs, Pictoglyphs & Rafting the Grand Canyon
May 26 Historical
Figures that changed the World
all Kids Perform
May 19 Pharoahs, Pyramids & Crafts
And Potluck 5pm-sundown
May 12
Mars & Space Travel
May 5
Mother's Day
High Tea
Apr 28
Physics & Imagination=
Future Travel
Apr 21
Mask Making & Storytelling
Apr 14
Sound Waves
Apr 7
Geodesic Dome
Mar 31
Earthquakes & Tectonics
Mar 24
Show & Tell & Games
Mar 17
Family Campout Joshua Tree
Mar 10
Mardi Gras
Mar 3
Africa & Wangari Maathai
Feb 24
Brains: the Inside Story
Feb 3
Chinese New Year
Jan 27
Pioneer Parkday Part 2
Jan 20
Days of Yore
Jan 13
Fun & Safety
with Germs
Jan 6
Chess by Jahan
Dec 31
New Year's FreePlay
Dec 23
Kwanza, Hannukah
& Christmas
Dec 16
Engines & Cars
& Alternative Power
Dec 9
Microscopic World
Dec 2
Cartoon & Collage
Nov 25th
Thanksgiving Holiday
Nov 18th
Nature Crafts & Yoga
Nov 11th
Wind Turbines
Nov 4th
Indian Diwali Celebration
Oct 28th
Spooky Obstacle Course
Oct 21st
How Songs are Born
Oct 14th
Build a
Weather Station
Oct 7th
Prisms, Vision & Zoetropes
Sept 30th
Spanish CultureFest
Sept 23rd
Russian Culture & Potluck
Sept 17
Family Campout @ Sequoia Nat'l Park
Sept 9th
Chemical (molecular) Reactions
Sept 2nd
History of Flight
August 26th
Light, Refraction & Rainbows
Aug 19
Potluck
August 12
Turtles, Tortoises & YOU
August 5th
Honey, Bees & Wasps
July 29th
M&B 1 year anniversary
July 22
Inuit Culture & Games
July 15th
Bastille Day - French Independence
June 17th
Swedish MidSummerFest
June 10th
Catapults & Parachutes
Gravity & Lift
June 3rd
Our BodyGuards
Snot & Scabs
May 27th
Pollination, Fruit & Seeds
May 20th
Hawaii & Potluck Luau!
May 13
Ladybugs, Silkworms & Praying Mantis
May 6th
Knots, Pirates & Explorers
April 29
Earth Day Part 2
April 22
40th anniversary of Earth Day
April 15th
Japanese Girls' & Boy's Day
April 8th
Bridges, Cantilevers & Treehouses
April 1st
Magnetism part II: Physical Force of Nature
March 25
Magnetism part I: I'm attracted!
March 18th
Desert Life
March 11th
Global Timelines
March 4th
Spring Bling:
Worms, Dirt & Seeds
largest trees in the world (by mass). Due to the brilliant architecture of each Sequoia, the older trees are almost completely impervious to forest fire damage. 2010 M&B photos illustrate the fun & wonder. Forest in the Fall and Desert in the Spring. Check our family campouts in Joshua Tree Nat’l Park in 2009 and 2010.
Legend of the Silver Pinecone
I grew up in NC and had my first child there (homebirth). On top of the wealth of small-mindedness interactions I had there, I never once saw anyone breastfeed in public. So, once a week I would go to the poshest mall and nurse in public and did it whenever/wherever my child was hungry. I felt people needed to see it. Eventually someone in their life would be doing it (optimistic) and if I was the one they saw first, maybe their loved one or relative wouldn’t receive all their confused feelings because they had the chance to process it the first time by witnessing me.
All of this natural, instinct-driven attachment parenting led my family gently through the gates of homeschooling. When people ask me how long I have been homeschooling, I don’t have a quantitative answer. I simply state that our lives never changed. We didn’t shift schedules or lifestyles to enter mainstream school. So we have no start date.
Kids will be inventing their own creatures by combining two animals (or more) into one. By morphing the top half of a cat with the tail of a fish – Voila a new species. They will sculpt them, name them and who knows what else. ALL the clay is being donated by 
What happens when kids draw or paint? Oftentimes, parents, teachers, or elders say – “What is that?” Due to past experiences for the child, I witness the energy shift and a struggle begin with in the child. Bodies slump; they take deep, preparing breaths; and sometimes art supplies drop from their hands. They are pulled out of “being in the art”to fulfill someone else’s need. Who has witnessed a child’s frustration when a well-intentioned comment about what they have drawn doesn’t match at all to what they were creating. Have you also ever noticed, that when kids are working in proximity to each other, they OBSERVE each others work, and usually wait for the actual artist/owner to speak about their piece before offering any comments. Most young kids are intuitively aware that the journey as well as the end product belong to the person who is creating. Hmmm…
Are our inquiries stifling the creative juices flowing through their hands holding crayons, pencils, or paint brushes? And why does the art piece have to be something? The stimulation of the process is the main event for these early years: the bumps on the paper, the firmness of the tool in their hands, the way pigment thins as it is smeared across the page. All these “mini-experiments” are impacting their brains along with the smell of the room, the rumble in their belly, and the light casting shadows. And if the artistic idea they started with isn’t spoken aloud, a child will confidently, freely, let it morph into something else. Or maybe the magical journey of blurring colors into oblivion or the intense release of rubbing a crayon to a nub becomes so uplifting, the initial image is unwittingly 
sacrificed. We parents, waiting in the wings for evidence of burgeoning Picassos, may be coveting that initial image too greatly. With emphasis on genius, we could be preventing a more natural education of their world from developing.
To inhibit critique and foster maximum creativity, I am asking everyone (including myself) to practice open-ended inquiries with each other during CLAY play. (This can be done with drawing and painting as well.) The idea, is that through 
A good question to start with is, 
With follow up question like, 
