4/9-4/15

Tuesday's Wayfinders was rained out, but he enjoyed time with friends the whole afternoon anyway.

Wednesday was an all-day set of classes on the Upper West Side.  W checked in at 9:30am and started his day with Cake Decorating.  He learned a lot of new words (like "fondant") and got to eat what they made.  After that was Chess.  It was great that he finally had some good, formal chess instruction.  He plays well, but loved learning some new strategies.  After that was lunch, then Photography.  I gave him my small camera to use in the class.  The instructor showed them how to center a photo, cool things a regular camera can do, etc.  The last class was Cartooning and Graphic Design.  Needless to say, this was his favorite.  The kids came up with ideas for their own comic books and W said he learned some great things.

I spent the whole day in the nearby Barnes & Noble.  6 whole hours to relax and read and browse.  Ah...heaven.  It was Educator's Week, so I got 25% off my purchases.  I got this really cool science book, 2 new novels for W to read (at around the same level as his current book), & 2 Flash Kids math workbooks.  The math workbooks are basic review.  I want him to go over all the 4th grade and 5th grade math.  We still love TT5, but he'd like to switch it up a bit.  We'll go back and forth.  The novels I got for him are:  Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (because he's been on a survivalist kick) and Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.   The listed reading levels for these books are 6.3 and 5.4 respectively.   This is right where W is right now.   I'm so proud of him.

Friday's music class was called "Mock Rock Band".  The kids got to alternate playing bass guitar, acoustic guitar, and drums trying to make some sort of music with those, lol.   W thought it was really fun.  He's still leaning toward the bass guitar as something he'd like to maybe continue with. 

At Cub Scouts W is working on his Athlete Badge.  There are 20 activity badges for the Webelos to earn - 4 in each category:  Physical Skills, Mental Skills, Community, Technology, & Outdoor. W has already earned most of these.  In the fall he'll move up to being a Boy Scout. 

I'm looking forward to a full academic week.  The girls are off from school, so I don't have too much running around.  W has Wayfinders and a science class scheduled, K will be working, and J has some dance stuff going on.  I can't believe summer's only 2 months away.  This school year went extremely fast.