Tuesday, October 11, 2005

We are still eating the leftover pizza and Italian hero from my niece's party the other day. W likes it for breakfast. He gets a full lunch at school as well that he just raves about. We drove him to school and decided to leave the car there and walk home. J wanted to make it a nature walk and pick some flowers and leaves to bring home. We got out the Mid-Atlantic field guide and found most of the items. We had a White Snakeroot shrub and Silver Maple, Red Maple, Yellow Birch, and Scarlet Oak leaves. We had lots of pink and purple flowery things and some weeds, but couldn't find them in the book. She put each specimen into a baggie and labeled it. She included the Latin name and 1 cool fact from the guidebook.

AS I was flipping through the guide, she noticed a page on the food chain. She got excited and told me she knows about that and wanted to draw it. She grabbed paper and a pen and drew an ocean food chain with a whale at one end and plankton at the other. She gave it a title and decorated it a bit. Then she got some more paper and crayons and did leaf-rubbings of the leaves and flowers we couldn't identify. All of a sudden it was time to pick up W. I saw she put a backpack on and I told her she might not want to bring it since we were going to the playground. She said her workbooks, notebook, and pens were in there and she wanted to do some at the playground. Hmmm. ok.

They played with Sarah and her sister Daniella again. I love that there is a big playground behind the school. It was wet and dreary today, but kids don't care. After a while J and Sarah sat on a bench, far away from any noisy kids, and got out their workbooks. W and Daniella ran to the other side of the park and were trying to throw large acorns into the basketball hoop. We picked up K a little while later. At home, K made herself an omelet and went right on the phone and into her room. I think I'm going to buy a book called "Hold on to Your Kids" by Gordon Neufeld. I've heard good things about it and I believe it might keep us in the right direction where K is concerned. She's a great kid and I just don't want to see her grow up too fast.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, we were doing leaf rubbings last week. Not a ton is down here in the south, foliage is alot different here--LOL! But it's neat. My oldest has become obsessed with the acorns all around. :) I've never heard of that book, but man, kids are so hard. Right now my big thing is the first loose tooth of my almost (Dec 10th) six year old. I never lost teeth so young. ROFL! I think when the tween years hit, I'm going to be having flashbacks of my attitude. Eek! Hopefully all will flow well.

Anonymous said...

hi city mom.

i currently live in denver, co and my husband and i are discussing moving to new york with the main intention of homeschooling our son there. he is in private school here, currently in 2nd grade, and he has expressed a huge interest in becoming a filmmaker. he's talked about doing that since... well, since he could talk! we think the opportunities in ny would far outweigh what we could expose him to here in colorado. do you think we're crazy? we know we'd have to rent a small apartment there (we also have an 18month old) but we have a tiny house now, so we're used to it. the boys share a room and our house is only 700 square feet. we feel it would be best to help him learn about filmmaking via a homeschool kind of program, one that we would tailor to his needs. we are thinking we would do that for a few years (maybe we'd move there after he finishes 4th grade, then homeschool in ny for 5th-9th grade) then put him in a high school that is arts-oriented, either there or back here in denver. he's a smart kid, but has always been kind of non-traditional - we think he'd fit in great in nyc. anyway, i'd love to know your thougths - or anyone else who reads this - is it do-able? is it crazy? i'd love some advice and encouragement. thanks!

NYCitymomx3 said...

Hi Jane. First I want to say that there is nothing like homeschooling in NYC. There are so many amazing things to do and see that any interest will be thoroughly satisfied and then some. That said, I am wondering how much your ds's current filmmaking interest is influencing this decision to move here. I'm assuming he is only 7. Kids change interests fairly often. My dd had an intense fascination with becoming a marine biologist shen she was 7. This lasted about 3 years when she all of a sudden said she's not so interested in that anymore. So, be prepared if that does happen.

On the other hand, NYC is a wonderful city for a budding filmmaker. Right here in Queens is the Museum of the Moving Image. Several times a year you can run into a movie/tv drama being filmed and watch them work. It's so cool. You can definitely tailor your homeschooling to facilitate his interests. That's the beauty of it. He can learn so much through studying film and being a part of the rich life here. And you can easily find a high school geared toward that.

Keep in mind the cost of living here is pretty high. An apartment in Manhattan (700 sq. ft) will probably run you over $2000 a month. In Queens or Brooklyn it's a little less ($1300 to $1800). We live in a small apartment and I love it. For some reason, large houses make me very uncomfortable. LOL.

So, you are the only one who can decide if it's do-able. I would say so since I don't know your financial situation. Good luck with what you decide and please let me know how it turns out.