February

The last 2+ weeks have been crazy:  dance competition, Valentines Day, wake, funeral, grandma's house, Pokemon party, sleepover, pool & ping pong in the West Village, K getting rehired at health food place, Lucy (our black-capped conure) laid her first egg, President's Week off from school, J's new boyfriend (!!), car repair, back to the gym, and furniture rearranging for delivery of new couches.  I definitely need a long nap.

National Museum of the American Indian

But alas, I just can't stay away from a cool field trip.  The other day we went back to the National Museum of the American Indian with the homeschool group.  Our group of almost a dozen tweens  (all about 10-11 y/o) had fun with leading their own trip.  Each kid got a turn picking a gallery to visit, then they had to lead us all there using the museum map.  We really enjoyed it - especially since many of W's friends were there.  We also met some new families.  I'm happy to say we have several more trips like that coming up.

I plan on spending some time each week getting W ready for his CAT-E test in May.  We've already been doing a lot of the 3 Rs anyway, so I'm thinking the test should be fairly easy for him.  I just hate tests, but we'll jump through these hoops if we have to in order to maintain our academic freedom.

W spent a lot of this week off on his skateboard, playing XBox Live, Myachi, basketball in the backyard, at karate class, making videos, and hanging out on the block with his friends.  He keeps himself busy and has fun without overdoing any one thing.  It's great.  I believe that many kids tend to "overdo" because parents put limits on things like TV, computer, video games, etc.  Kids feel they have to get as much in as possible before it's pulled away from them (usually in frustration or impatience).  If they never have to worry about that, it doesn't become that forbidden fruit and they self-regulate naturally.  This quality is important, especially through the teen years and adulthood.

It's going to be a great upcoming few months.  We have a lot in store.  I'm certainly feeling a lot of homeschool love and gratefulness lately.