...What was I thinking, lol? J, W, and I went to the American Museum of Natural History yesterday. My cousins from Montana flew in and we agreed to meet there. I haven't see them in about 12 years, and I'd never met their kids (11yog and 7yob) so it was perfect. The kids and I arrived at the 86th Street stop on the C train and came out into a line that went all the way up the ramp and around the block. Guards were shuffling people to the end of the line. So, we walked to the end with both kids shaking their heads wondering if this was real, lol (we've been here a bunch of time and there's never a line).
Then I heard a woman apeaking to another guard at the end of the line about memberships. Of course I ran over and said, WHAT? WHAT? WWHAT ABOUT MEMBERSHIPS? I have a corporate membership to all museums and I figured it would get us in for free, but what I didn't realize was that we could CUT THE WHOLE LINE! He told us to go back down to the entrance. The first guard back at the bottom of the ramp asked to see my card. I showed him my work ID. Then he slid open this chain-link metal barrier and we walked right in. Let me tell you - J and W were VERY impressed and proud of mommmy that day, LOL!
So we go in and The woman at the desk says I get "comp" tickets for myself and 5 guests. I didn't know I could get that many people in. I thought about my cousins on one of the lines in the museum somewhere. There were 4 of them. I counted out loud and said oh well, there's 4 of them and 3 of us. The woman looked at me and said, "oh, don't worry, I'll give you an extra one". What??!! How lucky was this day?
I found my cousins (which was a miracle, since there are 3 floors with entrances and lines out the door), waved them off the line, exchanged big hugs, handed them their 4 tix, and we were ready to explore.
I love that museum and try to get there at least once a year. My cousins said they were excited to be here since they'd seen the Night at the Museum movie (the kids also read The Cricket in Times Square. Guess where they were going the next day, lol). The museum was packed. I'd never seen it like that. It was still fun, though and we visited 3 out of 4 floors. After 4 hours we had sore feet and were hungry. We went went right out the front entrance and decided to get some hotdogs from the street guy. Mmmmm. They're so good. The Montanans raved about it as well.
They continued on to Central Park and we got back on the train to go home. I dropped J off at her friend's house (she went to the movies with a bunch of kids that night) and W, B, and I relaxed at home. K was out with friends as well from earlier in the day. I have work tonight and we're going to my mom's on New Year's Eve tomorrow. I'm so excited for the new year!
Today is my FIVE year blogging anniversary. 
Another great Central Park Zoo class this morning. This one was all about primates. The kids started out together at tables in a classroom. The instructor had a powerpoint slide show on covering various primate facts. She gave the kids activities to do to demonstrate the reasons behind having opposable thumbs, depth perception, and unpadded hands. They had to try and tie a shoelace and button a button without using their thumbs, cover one eye and try to grab a moving object, and try to feel what was in a covered bucket while wearing a garden glove. We learned about and pet a chinchilla (they're from the rodent family) and discussed how it's different from primates. Then we all went around the zoo to see lemurs and snow monkeys - the kids checked off the various primate behaviors on their own ethograms. W really enjoyed it and J helped the kids with their activities. It was cold today, but bearable. 
W has been voluntarily reading lots of poetry lately. Now that his reading is more smooth and quick, he can enjoy (and "get") the rhymes, humor, and wittiness of poems on his own rather than with mom reading them to him. A light has been slowly turning on and getting brighter in his world and it's awesome to watch. There are still many signs of his mild dyslexia (word/letter/number reversal, sounding out is the last resort, substitution of similar-looking words, omitting small function words like a, the, of, etc). As long as he takes his time and really focuses, I bet no one would even notice if listening to him read aloud. He now reads at an even pace with good inflection. He pays attention to the punctuation and has full comprehension and retention (LOL - say that sentence 5x fast). This is an incredible improvement since August. Even though he could read and made steady improvements, he would get sad and frustrated. Once we started playing the flash card (phonics & sight words) games, using the dry-erase shelf, and committing fully to the AmOn2 schedule with the narrations, copywork, and all those great books (that he would follow along reading with me), it was like magic happened. We also use the HoP Master Reader program once or twice a week and that's been helpful as well. He is so proud of himself and reads more than ever now.
Another game day today down in the West Village. After a quick train ride (less than 30 minutes), W and I enjoyed a few hours of fun with the homeschool group. Pool, ping pong, foosball, shuffleboard, and chess kept W busy for close to 3 hours. I played some pool, but had lots of fun chatting with a bunch of moms and meeting new people. J had slept over a friend's house last night and decided to spend today with her instead of coming with us. She'll be there next week, though. 
Today at the NY Hall of Science, W's class was all about being a science detective. They learned all about fingerprints - what designs they can have, how to lift them off a surface, and even took their own prints to look at. They learned about hair samples and chromatography. They talked about different ways to make coded messages and were given worksheets to decode using a double-wheel shaped decoder. They all received another gorgeous personalized completion certificate as well. Before the class W ran around the lower exhibit area with his friend C and then sat to watch a "Video Microscope" demonstration. There were many homeschool families there and again, it was such a pleasure to have the whole place to ourselves. When the kids class was about to begin, the loudspeaker announced, "Attention homeschool families...". It's so great that homeschooling is now more culturally recognized (not just legally recognized) and accepted as a worthy educational option. I'm so glad I'm a part of the transition.
This morning W had a Zoo School class at the Central Park Zoo. It was a nice day and the subway took about 12 minutes. I always overestimate how much time it will take, so we were there 45 minutes early, lol. These classes at the zoo are so wonderful. The staff, the exhibits, and the topics are always great. W was in the 7-10 year-old group and they learned all about "Earth's Biodiversity". They spent part of their time in a classroom of sorts and the rest of the time in the zoo's Rainforest. 
We put up our Christmas lights yesterday. Ok, B put up the lights. He gets his creativity on around the holidays. Soon he'll be making homemade ornaments and wreaths and baking up a storm. I do the shopping, the Christmas cards, and the inside decorations. This is the first year we got the outside decorations up before December 1st. 
W got to be a part of a great new program at the Hall of Science. They are usually closed on Mondays, but opened today to give workshops to homeschooled kids! They had 3 classes - one for each age group (K-2nd, 3rd-5th, and 6th-8th grades). W's class was called The Eyes Have It and was all about 3D perception and optical illusions. 
On Friday W was begging to do more phonics flash cards (I know. WTH?, LOL), so we grabbed the dry-erase shelf, some markers and got to it. We finished all the sight word cards (172 words!) and started on the phonics set. These have one word on one side and the other side has 2-4 other words with the same letter combinations (like eight, weigh, and sleigh). He wrote each word a few times, then made sentences out of them. He knows most of the words on the cards, but the continued practice of saying and writing them out are important for him to retain them. He definitely remembers them when he sees them in books he reads. Not to mention he just loves this activity. 
Yesterday's homeschool group Geography Club was all about England. We made cheese and chive scones for the English pot luck. W kneaded and rolled out the dough, grated the cheese, cut the chives, cut out rounds, and brushed them with milk. They came out really good. W is a natural in the kitchen, just like his dad. They were a pretty big hit, too! Other families brought teas, chicken tikka, homemade toffee, crackers and cheese, fish & chips with malt vinegar, and scones with currants. 
