The kids are doing great with their schedule. They still look forward to getting started in the mornings. It's nice that they love Charlotte Mason's methods - there's nothing tedious or boring about them. One thing that they enjoy about this method is doing many subjects with short lessons (15 min max). I will even use a timer - the kids love that. Of course if there's something they want to keep doing, that's fine. This week they've been focusing on reading, writing, math, readalouds, art, science, history, and geography.

J is liking The 5 People You Meet in Heaven and W read Green Eggs and Ham and The Foot Book to me. J's writing was copywork of Rosetti and Wordsworth poems and W did nursery rhyme copywork and a page or 2 of Writing Sentences. J's still plugging away at the Teaching Textbooks program - she even picked out new yellow headphones to use with it and W's math is from a fun Flash Kids workbook, where he's skip counting by 2s (up to 20), 5s and 10s. He's still into the Magic Treehouse series and we're starting from book 1. He narrates back a great summary of the story, his favorite parts, and what he think will happen next. We have about 7 of the books and he piled them right up to read in order with me. Art has been everything from drawing to crafts to creative cooking. The other subjects have been mainly active readalouds, videos, and website games.

Yesterday I was cleaning out the dining room closet and found a double boiler used for melting chocolate. J was so excited at the thought of making chocolate lollipops that we went right out to Michael's Craft and got a bunch of stuff and got right to it when we got home. We got white and brown chocolate, dry-hard icing tubes in 4 colors. We had some old flag and snowman molds and bought some happy-face ones too. We had the best time! The kids were amazing at this! I have to say we made the most beautiful lollipops I've ever seen. When B came home he asked if we bought them - they were that cool. And the kids did it all: boiled, stirred, melted, poured, chilled, and decorated. I oversaw the process and joined in at various steps along the way. J wrapped each one up and wants to give them away at dance tomorrow. I did take pictures, but somehow they've disappeared out of my camera. Oh well. We want to do this again real soon. (another excuse to eat chocolate, lol)

We just heard that in the overall Junior category J TIED FOR 2ND PLACE!! And 3 of her teammates placed 5th, 3rd, and one tied with her for 2nd. This is out of all 8-12 year-olds doing all types of dance. It's so exciting when our studio is one of the highest scoring there. We only brought 11 kids from the studio (out of about 35 of us altogether). Most other studios average about 50-150 on their competition team and there are usually anywhere from 10-25 studios at each competition. The scoring was pretty tough at this one - we got her scores yesterday. For her 3 solos, with 3 judges scoring on a scale of 1-10 in 10 categories on everything from choreography to strength to emotional commitment, J got 22 10s, 65 9s, and 3 8s. She is so proud of herself and can't wait til next week.

Sooooo, today we went to the CIRCUS! Ringling Bros. comes to Madison Square Garden every spring. We haven't gone in 5 years. I love it because B gets us luxury skybox seats - which, if you haven't experienced that yet, I highly recommend. I decided to drive there - which took all of 10 minutes, but I should have remembered that a few years ago I swore I'd never drive in Manhattan ever again. The packed garage charged us $45 to park (we could have taken the train for $20) and getting back to the 59th St Bridge (the only one back to Queens without a fee) took forever.

But it was great anyway. We made it there early enough for the pre-show, where you can go out onto the arena floor and see some stars of the show do their thing. We got some cool pictures and some clown noses. 3 escalators and 1 elevator later, we were at our skybox and it was packed with food and drinks - and came with a beautiful private bathroom. It's like a hotel room. The kids sat up by the viewing window and B and I sat at on stools at the high table right next to the food, lol. More food was brought twice while we were there. The fridge was fully stocked with beer (but none of us felt like that at 11am). Several other families joined us (the room holds like 15 people). Thankfully we didn't have to spend any money there (just the ripoff garage people). The kids didn't even ask for a souvenir - wow. Here are some pics from today:

Out the car window on 34th Street

Outside the Garden

Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus

At the Pre-Show

Girl on Ring (the kids have this at circus class!)

Clown Noses

The Skybox

The Circus

We just got home from a great dance competition in NJ. J did her first vocal solo of the season and her 2 dance solos. Our studio didn't do groups for this one. The 3 highest scores to get were: High-Silver, Gold, and High Gold. J got Gold for all 3 of her solos! Our studio took just about all the overall high scores tonight. In one age group (seniors) 3 of our numbers took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place! It was pretty cool. The studio owner said J gets stronger every time she performs and now that she has technique and personality taken care of, all she has to work on is hitting the jumps with a little more power.

Next week we have a 3-day comp and then another the week after. J will be rehearsing every day this week. She was there every day last week, too, and the first thing she says this morning is that she can't wait to start dancing today.

Kids.

We went to the really big Toys R Us in Times Square today. The kids got some gift cards on Easter and wanted to spend them, so I figured why not just go all out. One train and 15 minutes later we were in the store and WOW was it cool. The funny thing about living in NYC is that you never really think too much about visiting all those tourist traps - you think you'll just get to it one day. But since we've been homeschooling, I have this need to see everything with the kids that I've never gotten to see my whole life living here. After purchasing a Lego thingy, W decided his last $8 would be to treat himself and his sister to the really big ferris wheel inside the store. I took a ton of pictures of them in front of the guy in the Geoffrey costume, the really big animatronic T-Rex, the Candyland pieces, the Lego creations, inside the Barbie Dreamhouse, and of course, on the ferris wheel. We also walked a few blocks up to the big Build-A-Bear store on 5th Avenue. W got a black teddy bear he named Spike (along with awesome Harley Davidson leather jacket) and J got a yellow duck she named Jay Jay. :)




<

HaPpY EaStEr !!! We just got home from a day at BIL's for a great Easter dinner. It was so nice to see the extended inlaws and their kids. Last night we decorated eggs and this morning the kids woke up to find all of them hidden around the house. Then they search for their Easter baskets. That's part of our Easter tradition and the kids love it. Then I make sure they share their candy with me, lol. Hey, it's one of the 3x a year I can eat a ton of chocolate and not feel guilty about it (the other 2 being Halloween and Valentines Day).

The week went quickly. J had dance rehearsals almost every day. We did another dance fundraiser, too. She's been practicing her vocal solo - and from what I hear, did very well at the studio. She'll be practicing it all week for the Friday competition. Thankfully this one is just the one day and we can drive home that night (from NJ).

The kids and I made up a fun schedule for the week, incorporating all the major subjects with lots of arts and crafts. They seem excited about it. We'll see how it goes. I've been reading a lot more Charlotte Mason books and websites. That's the method they gravitate towards, so I'm trying to find out as much as I can about it. I'm always finding a new activity for us to try that I know they'd love. I'm glad they're having fun with it all. We'll finally be making a wall timeline and do a nature walk since the weather is nicer now.

On Saturday W had a basketball game! It was the last day of the clinic and the 16 kids played each other. W's team was blue and the other team was yellow. W had lucky number 7 on the back of his shirt. The scoreboard was lit up bright showing the Home and Away teams scores and counting down the seconds. It was so exciting! W scored the only basket for his team which was very cool. He also scored once in the wrong basket and tended to steal the ball from his own team members, but hey, I still think he's a natural at this. Watching a bunch of 7 year old boys play basketball is truly entertaining. The girls team went before them and I can't tell you how different that team is. The girls listen, they go right to their positions, they sit nicely on the sidelines, they cheer in unison. The boys, on the other hand, were chasing each other around before the game, tackling each other, wrestling the ball out of each others hands, going in all different directions on the court, and totally loving every second of it all. Ah, childhood.

The kids had CCD on Sunday. W did a little report on St. Francis, along with an awesome picture he drew and got an "A+ Great Job!" on it. He was very excited about that. He enjoyed doing the project and mentioned how much writing he's getting done, lol. We drove out to visit my mom for antoher birthday celebration for W. I think it was his 4th one. My sisters, nephew and niece were there, too. W's cousin is 7, too and I love that they get along great.

Yesterday morning J's copywork was a section of The Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson) and then we spent about an hour on a new vocabulary book. She loved it. It's all about understanding the meanings of new word by using context clues. They really set it all up in a fun way. We decided to try and use all the new words as many times as we could throughout the day. W did a few pages of Writing Sentences and sat with us during the vocabulary.

In the afternoon we went to TRU to spend W's giftcards. He got a new Operation game, Shrinky Dinks, Rubik's Revolution, a Cube World thing, a huge Spiderman ball, a smaller blue ball, a video game, something for J, and a few other small toys. I saw "SET" and bought that. I have been hearing good things about it and just had to try it out. We played it last night when I got home from work and I think it's as great as everyone says. It took a while to get the hang of it, but Wow, when they got it, they got it. I can see how it really gets them thinking and examining details. And it was fun, too!

This morning the kids made a ton of Shrinky Dinks. I used to love those. We'll play a game of Set in a few minutes, I'll clean for an hour while the kids do some seatwork, then I'll pick up K from school, drop J off at dance at 4, drive home, and get the car service to work at 4:30 so B has the car to get J later. I'm tired already, lol.

J has 3 dance competitions in a row coming up: the weekends of March 28, April 4th, and April 11th. Well, at least I got the routine down now. She has lots of rehearsals too. And she'll do a vocal solo in at least 2 of them. She's had a slight cold, so she's done no singing practice at all, but I think she has so much more confidence this year. The kids' circus class show is April 25th, there will be at least 1 or 2 more dance comps in May, then it's the June recital - then summer is here already. That was fast.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast   Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Ok. You got me.

That little video camera is getting a LOT of use. W is making videos of everything and everybody and he and J are learning how to make stop-motion videos. It's uploaded onto the computer and they can watch what they've made immediately and edit parts of it. It's so cool.

On Wednesday, J and W went to the doctor. Both are in perfect health! I put the well-checkups off for a couple of years because my favorite pediatrician in the world retired and I didn't like anyone else. So a few weeks ago I figured I'll just use the replacement in the office and set up an appt for the kids. How happy was I to find out that my pedi decided retirement wasn't working for him and CAME BACK! Woooohoooo! He was just as wonderful as ever.

He mentioned that J needed a booster shot (DTP). He said the age used to be 15, but they lowered it to 11/12. I told him the kids are homeschooled and don't have to follow the school vaccine schedule. He always gave the vaccines at the far end of the timeline, which I loved. And he was fine with J waiting on that booster. And then he jumped into a few hundred homeschooling questions. He was genuinely curious without judgement. He said he was fascinated by it and I explained what we do and how we do it. I've always been off his beaten path (extended breastfeeding, soy milk, cloth diapers, family bedding, etc) where he'd look over his glasses at me funny, so he's used to me. He asks tons of questions and we end with him willing to do further research on it. I love him. (He is also the "question the pediatrician" doctor in a major parenting magazine) Anyway, J is in the 50%-ile for both height and weight and "looks like an athlete", lol. W is in the 90th%-ile for both height and weight. Yeah, he'll probably be a linebacker. Great visit, and when the pedi said to come back in a year, he added, "I'll be here!"

J's pics are up from the competition last weekend. Go to digitaldonner.com. Scroll down and click on "stage shots/order". Then click on "American Dance Awards". Then click on "Trenton". Then click on "270-279". Make sure you have 25 thumbnails per page. Go to page 7 (out of 14). Click on image #7970 (bottom row, middle) and that's J's carry-over number from last year. You can use the single forward arrow to see the rest of her shots.

We went to the Hall of Science again the other day after the kids' circus class. I got more info on the lab the kids can use and W is going to start doing the Science and Art Fridays they have there. We were only there a couple of hours. It was fairly empty and the kids had a great time. We were joined by an NYU student who is doing a paper on homeschooling. He wantd to tag along with us on one of our "field trips" and I think he had a fun time with us, lol. Hi T!

On Monday, J started a new book, "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven". W read Morris the Moose to me, which was amazing. I still can't believe how his reading took off when we cut out most of the phonics games, books, and websites. He does use phonics after staring at an unfamiliar words for 10 seconds, though, but attempting to teach him more will just go right out the other ear. I absolutely LOVE listening to him read.

Both kids went on to copywork after reading. J copied half of a huge passage from Shakespeare's As You Like It and W copied a few sentences from a new Frog and Toad book. Then J did another math lesson in Teaching Texbooks (with her earphones in) and I sat with W to do math workbook games. He loves "greater than, less than, and equal to". I learned inequalities in about 3rd grade and never learned to use the correct sign until high school. He picked it up immediately and sped through 3 pages of exercises (like 20 to a page!). After about 20 minutes of math, J did some spelling in a workbook and W went to lie down since he was getting sniffy and sneezy.

They were very happy with all they'd got done. They do prefer a weekly schedule with their mornings full of academic learning. Maybe J's just got used to it from spending 4.5 years of her life in school. W just goes along with whatever she does. Well, we will keep at it this way until they're ready to change things up.

Tuesday they turned off the tv and asked if we could start. I grabbed a history book and read to them about the first colonists, Roanoke, Jamestown, Sir Walter Raleigh, England, and John Smith. J grabbed a notebook and wanted to take notes on it all. W also got out his pen and paper, but prefered following along with the flippy atlas map we have of the eastern states. They love American History. I'm going to pick up more art supplies this week so they can make projects on the history (and world history and science) that we go over. W enjoys the hands-on stuff more and J learns better when creativity is involved.

Their schedule is still a work in progress. And life will get in the way of it sometimes and that's ok.

We got to the hotel by around 4pm Friday and then to the comp venue by 5 to see the teens perform. We got back to the hotel by 8:30, ordered dinner in, and the kids went right to bed. J's Saturday was gonna be a long one and the weather was supposed to be cold, windy and rainy again. Saturday morning, I drove to get breakfast, got J dressed in her first costume (along with hair and makeup and team gear) and got us all to the comp by 9am. At about 6:15pm, J was dressed and ready for her 6th number of the day - her solo - and waiting backstage to go on when it happened...

The power blew.

In the whole town.

Right in the middle of some poor kid's dance.

It was surreal. It was dark, there had to be over 600 people in this small high school that had a few weak emergency lights, and little kids were screaming. W was scared, K was loving it, J took it in stride, B found J and kept everyone together, and I was pissed off that small towns with histories of power outages don't do enough to prevent subsequent ones.

Anyhoo, they did a quickie awards ceremony with a packed auditorium and no microphone, but it worked and I had a lot of respect for the emcee and whomever ran the competition. Everything stayed pretty organized and we were dismissed for the evening with further details to be announced.

Back at the hotel (which was in the next town over, so power was on) our whole studio just hung out at the bar, havind dinner and drinks and really enjoying the evening. It was only 7:30pm (we expected to be at the competition til after 10) and the kids were eating, swimming, and having a blast. I grabbed a piece of cake from the hotel store, stuck 2 birthday candles in it and about 40 people were there to sing Happy Birthday to W. It was so perfect. That morning we gave him his gift - a Disney video camera. He LOVES it. It's easy to use and he can edit his videos on the computer. And that night he got to be with his friends, swim, and be the center of attention for a bit.

On Sunday we had another early morning. The power was back at the high school and at 9am they were picking up where they left off. J did her 2 solos before 11am and we stayed until awards at 1:30. They did GREAT! There were a total of 20 studios there, and over 500 numbers performed over 3 days. This comps 3 highest awards are: High Silver, Gold, and Ultimate Gold (instead of the common gold, hi-gold, platinum). J's 7 numbers got 3 High-Silvers, 3 Golds, and 1 Ultimate Gold. Theirs was the highest scoring production number (1st place), their 2 small group numbers placed 4th and 2nd (in the overall small group category), and their large group placed 3rd (in overall large group category). After the Sunday awards, we said our goodbyes and took W to a big dinner out. He chose seafood (yum) and then we went to the movies. It was a really nice weekend, even with the blackout.

Today we start the new homeschool schedule. I'll post later or tomorrow as to how it goes.

Although we have a daily/weekly schedule, life tends to get in the way of it often. J has been asking for it again...a lot. She definitely does not like flying by the seat of her pants throughout the day with suggestions and ideas from me. She wants me to enforce the written schedule by laying everything out, sitting with her, and acting more like "teacher" than suggestion-maker or encouraging bystander. She wants to know what her week has in store ahead of time. She wants to learn a million things and wants to learn them "right" - and I'm the major factor in that. There are another million things she can and has learned without me (dance, computer everything, fashion, art, songwriting, etc), enjoys delving into those on her own, and learns more constantly. But she wants to excel at academics like her friends, and she needs my help keeping it all organized and complete. I get it now.

I have noticed also that W's whole attitude and behavior changes for the better when his morning has a rhythm to it and the tv stays off. He enjoys having a schedule and loves completing his "work" to show daddy later.

So, that's what it will be. Starting next week I plan on creating a new, fun schedule with the kids input, incorporating plenty of academics using the books, programs, activities, and methods they love so much. It may seem to swing away from the pure unschooling that I've become so fond of, but in a way, since this is what the kids want and are asking for, I believe it still falls under that umbrella. I still find a problem using any coercion or punishments with this, though. I'll direct, they have total input. Looks like a plan to me. Any feedback on this will be very appreciated :)

K sang beautifully in her school talent show this week. She sang "Only Hope" and it did bring me to tears. The theme was black-and-white and she wore a gorgeous black tunic shirt/dress with a plain white tank underneath, lace-bottomed capri leggings, and strappy wedge shoes. I curled her hair and she wore silver hoop earrings and bracelets. She loves performing. I think she'd really enjoy being a part of the community theater productions in the area.

We're leaving today for a competition in NJ. All of J's numbers (7 of them) are on Saturday. The older team has their solos tonight and their groups Sunday. We're leaving early on Sunday to spend the day celebrating W's 7th birthday - which is tomorrow! I can't believe my baby is 7!

Hey! Happy Leap Day! Just for the record, although most of you already know this, I wasn't sure, so this is what I hear: Leap year exists because the earth's rotation cannot keep up with our calendar - hence we lose 1/4 day every year. So, every 4 years we give ourselves another day to make up for the loss. Otherwise, eventually summer would take place in winter, and that wouldn't be good.

It's been very cold here this week. I think the windchill has been hovering at about 7 to 17 degrees. I'm glad spring is right around the corner. I still have to put up W's new basketball hoop in the backyard!

Being home has put the kids in the mood for academic stuff. J is still loving the Teaching Textbooks program and completed Lesson 3 the other day. There are anywhere from 4 to about a dozen lessons in each chapter and there are 17 chapters. Since she wants to finish Math 7 by June, she decided to shoot for a chapter per week. I love that she sets her own goals. I'll see if she wants to write her goals down and have some sort of calendar (or draw one of those big thermometers where you keep coloring in another layer of red) to keep track of her progress. She also did some Spectrum writing workbook. This was about the parts of a research paper and how to turn an outline into a rough draft. She remembered doing this in 2nd grade, but (as I figured) she forgot just about everything she'd learned and enjoyed relearning it on her own terms.

We also finished reading Sarah, Plain and Tall. She now wants the other books in the series. While she detests the thought of book reports (which stems back to them being forced on her as busywork in the back of the room in Kindergarten - almost like punishment for being above grade level) she likes writing up book reviews. She likes it being about her opinion - what part she liked, who she connected with, what made her laugh.

W (who gets prompted to "do workbook" when J does hers) did a few pages in the Kumon Words book, and a few word games in a puzzle book. His favorite are crosswords and coded sentences. He and J spent time reading together (aww) and playing a new game we bought called Rush Hour.

We went to Barnes and Noble again - I returned some Christmas purchases which gave me a $56 gift card to use (whee!). They both picked a magazine and W ran over to me with 2 small Frog and Toad books. He said he wanted to do copywork with these. I wonder if that new chair/desk thingy we have is prompting all of this new academic interest. After the recital we'll have the other one too, and it'll look like a real school in here! UGH, lol.

K stayed home from school the other day and at around 11am (when she felt better) she conferred with her siblings and all 3 came to me to ask if they could switch bedrooms. Sure, why not? So that was their project for the day. Moving the closets, beds, clothes, toys, books, and dressers (and sweeping/mopping) took about 6 hours total. It all looks great and everyone's happy.

At circus class yesterday the kids learned more acrobatics, jumps, flips, etc. It's great exercise and W certainly needs this (along with basketball) to stay active in these cold months. I noticed that J is not only learning new moves, but she is practicing using more control with moves. Control (hand placement, body form, advanced technique) is the only thing that prevents her dance solos from getting a platinum award - she's always a few tenths of a point short - and it drives her batty. I think this circus class will help her reach that next level of dancing. And the instructor is trained in dance and J looks to her almost as a mentor.

Yesterday, J read a great book called Our World to W. This is a book about how children live in other countries. It touches on communities. food, celebrations, and recreation. It starts with 5 African countries, then goes into the other continents. They have both decide they want to read about a different country every week and each will make a project about it. The first country just so happens to be Egypt - which we can segue right into nicely after learning about Ancient Egypt.

W was inventing a few games today. He has this weird game that comes with a lot of thick, flat, wooden circles. So he took the pieces and built us each a wall and a tower. The object of his game was to flick a circle over the opponents wall to knock down the tower. Then his next game was similar to checkers. He made up new rules and figured new strategies. Then we decided to make a domino rally out of them. He was having a blast coming up with new ways to use these little circles.

In the afternoon, we received a package in the mail. One of the props J uses this dance season is a folding chair with arm-desk attached. We left the prop at the last venue so we had to order another one (ugh, I know). They only come in sets of 2, so we're keeping the other one. Yeah, it's a really schooly thing to have, but the kids love it. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing "teacher" - not "school", which was funny to me. So they used the new chair and the big blackboard mom got them a few months ago and took turns being the teacher. J plans on using the chair as her own little desk area, for when she does some workbook or do some writing. She loves that it can go anywhere in the house and fold up and away afterward.

W has been more creative lately than ever. Last night he figured out that on his Nintendo DS he can create his own virtual flip-book and make cartoons. He was at that for over an hour, creating balloons that float up and off the screen, a line that turns into a huge claw, a person cartwheeling from one side to the other, and a all bouncing across the page. That was cool. Also last night he did like 4 pages (reading/phonics) in one of his workbooks - this is a really fun and different book for him. He is doing really well with a combination of whole-language and phonics, now that I know how to present it to him. He's enjoying reading now. This morning he was making all different kinds of paper airplanes, seeing what he could create that would fly the best. I love watching him when he's in creative mode. Oh, and I think MIL is finally coming around with us homeschooling. She likes buying him new workbooks and the other day she called from the store asking if she should pick up some 3rd grade ones for him. I said, No, 2nd grade would be better. And she said that he would probably find the 3rd grade book easy since he's so bright. I almost fell off my chair. So I guess I'm not ruining his life, huh?

J and I sat together last night to read Sarah, Plain and Tall. It's a book she'd read in 3rd grade, but loved it, so we read it again. I read aloud all the narrative parts and she read all the character parts, using different voices and accents. She also spent a lot of time yesterday (and this morning) on CCD homework and studying. She goes to the religion class every week and does well without much effort. It's interesting to me that she decided to sit on the floor with open looseleaf binder and textbook, writing out definitions and reading about the Exodus, the Tower of Babel, and the Prophet Isaiah. I think it's for a test next week. I've never seen her even DO homework for that class - especially when the next class is a week away.

I know this all stems from letting kids own their educations. If I had demanded she study and do homework, I would have probably been met with resistance or a battle. When I leave it up to her to decide what she should do, she takes the time to think ahead about what it feels like to be unprepared for class and takes full responsibility for what needs to be done. It works for K the same way. Once I stopped hovering and just let her own it all, her grades went up and she actually tells me all about her day, her friends, and her thoughts. One teacher emailed me to say that K did excellent work in class (on a written piece on apoptosis). This is unusual for 9th grade! She has become very independent, mature, and responsible lately, too. And she'll still stop to give me a hug or make a bunch of snacks while we enjoy a movie together. I love spending time with her. I'm incredibly lucky to have such a cool teenager.

The other day we went with the homeschool group to a local environmental center. I had set this trip up months ago and purposely scheduled it when the school kids were off and we'd have the place to ourselves, lol. The topic was "deciduous forests" and there was a class for the younger kids (5-9) and the older kids (10-14). J and W got their own class, which is always fun. I didn't sit in on the classes, but from what I hear, the teachers were really wonderful with them. After an hour or so they each did a nature walk, pointing out things they talked about. The kids also got to learn about some of the different animal they keep there - W was in awe with the snake around his neck and J melted over the black dwarf bunny she got to pet. I was very pleased with the turnout (33 kids altogether) and the weather! I think this is the first trip I planned without it raining or snowing. I'm definitely setting up another trip there in the spring.

CCD, circus class, and basketball were all cancelled this week due to President's week. Not dance, though! Actually, another day was added since the kids are off, lol. One of the main dancers in the older group, who has been with this studio at least 6 years suddenly up and left. The owner now has to redo all the older group dances and a couple of the combined group dances. Unbelievable. The next competition is in 2 weeks. But this is a very tight, very talented group of kids and I know they'll pull it together by then.

It's snowing today! And a good amount, too! We'll be out playing in a little while! (and shoveling).

The weather here has been so werd lately. 60 degrees down to 20 then back to 60. Everyone I know is sick. Thankfully not us, though B went through a slight flu-ey cold-ish thing that lasted 2 days. I'm glad spring is right around the corner. I can't wait to spend days outside with the kids.

J got her new Teaching Textbooks math program the other day. She couldn't wait to get started on it. I sat with her as she started on the first lesson and she kept saying how much she loved it. I wish I had something like this when I was her age. I think she was at it for almost an hour when it was time to leave - and she was upset to have to cut it short. It's done on the computer with CD Roms and a big workbook. I'm going to get her some earphones so she won't be distracted by any noise.

We were at my mom's this weekend. K's Sidekick 3 was all mangled, so mom took her to the store where it was bought and it was replaced with a Sidekick Slide. The guy said the "3" was very crappily made and it's not even around anymore. Mom ripped him a new one and said she wasn't moving from the store until he did something about the broken phone. Go Ma! At least he replaced it. Usually the replacement is a refurbished phone. K got a brand new one.

So school is out this week for K. She's sleeping over a friend's house tonight, but plans on spending the rest of the week doing the ridiculous amount of homework she got. School sure knows how to kill family time. Jeez. She'll also be practicing a song for the talent show next month. And she's thinking about going on the school ski trip. I'm glad she's making the most out of her school experience. As long as she's enjoying it, that's what's important to me.

I bought some books at Borders today. A huge flip-book atlas mappy thing, a couple of books on knights (the kids' new interest since the armor exhinit at the Met), one on cultures of the world (J loves it and read some during the car ride home from Mom's), a puzzle book for W (which he did a few pages of on the car ride home), a couple of new readaloud novels, and a book on converstaional Spanish (both kids love that one). I think I'm just going to leave them out on the table throughout the week (along with some other books/resources/games that are getting forgotten about) and let the kids just go at them.

The circus class is getting better and better. J is learning more flips and is starting to try aerial cartwheels. W is gaining confidence with one-handed cartwheels and mini-trampoline jumps onto big mats. J used the trapeze again, hanging upside-down and flipping off of it. The instructor told me she is VERY good - she only needs to be shown things once and she gets them and she enjoys thinking of new things every week to challenge her. Here is a pic of the kids on the mat. In the foreground you can see 2 women practicing aerial silk acrobatics.



At home, J made soup (organic tomato and roasted pepper, really really good) and chicken nuggets for lunch. W did a couple of pages in his writing workbook, read me a bunch of stories from a cute website, and did reading activity game cards with J and me. J spent time on the American Girl website and then both kids sat together going through our baby books, "awww-ing" at every picture and caption. I ate way too many chocolates today. B gave us all a box this morning - I found a box of sugar-free ones for him, which (due to it having lots of sugar alcohol) happens to have more grams of carbohydrates than my sugary caramel ones. The kids are playing Gamecube together now and K is at the juice bar across the street from school with her friends. There's no dance today (J got the day off!), but I have work at 6 and then it's home to a nice dinner and our family screen-time watching Lost! Yay!

It was a great weekend! Friday started with workshop classes from 5-10pm. They had 3 different teachers teaching 3 different styles of dance (tap, jazz, and hip-hop). Saturday morning was more classes from 8-12, then a lunch break, then right into shooting a music video from 12:30-2:30. Saturday evening was the solos competition. Sunday morning started all the group numbers. J was done with her 5 group #s by about 11:30am. The older group from our studio (about 8 13/14 year-olds) had their dances from 11:30 to 3:30, so we stayed to watch them as well. (Out of seven possible awards to receive, High Gold and Platinum are the top 2). J was awesome. She got:

Jazz Solo - High Gold
Open Solo - High Gold
3 groups - High Gold each
2 groups - Platinum each

J's solo received 2nd place out of 13 in the jazz category. Our studio came away with first place in most of the intermediate and teen group and duet categories. There were 11 studios there from all over NY, and NJ. At the end of the final awards ceremony, they showed the music video the kids shot the day before. It was ok - very short, not many close-ups, not what I thought it would be, but overall the experience was worth it. J got some good experience with different choreography, casting, and video shooting.

W spent most of the weekend in the pool and hanging with the other little brothers. K is friends with all the dancers and had a great weekend with them. All the kids had a blast (as usual). My mom drove up on Saturday. She loves being with us and watching J dance. We got home by about 5:30pm on Sunday. It had started snowing heavily right before we left, but driving was fine. Next comp is in a month and we're already getting excited about it!

The kids went to their circus class again this morning. There are 6 kids in the class and we were the only ones there for about 20 minutes, which was cool since it was like a private lesson for them. Today they learned new leaps, falls, jumps, acrobatics, and some TRAPEZE! Omg. It was great seeing them today. J's face was one big smile throughout the whole class and W was constantly happy-dancing between his turns. W learned better cartwheels and roundoffs and J learned how to do a front handspring. B met us there after 15 minutes so he got to watch almost the whole class today. He probably won't get to do that again. He had an early doc appt and took the day off work. Here are some pics from today:







I emailed my quarterly reports yesterday. Mr. Harrington, the new NYC homeschool coordinator, emailed back saying no more emails (or faxes) will be accepted. Sigh. New guy, new rules. So then I emailed back saying, OK, I'll snail-mail it, but please be sure to email me verification that it was received. So then he calls me. He is a very very nice man and apologetically stated that there are just too many hs'ers to send quarterly responses too, but he will send one if I really need it. Actually, it's fine with me. I only need a response to the IHIP and at the end of the year. I understand the office is disorganized and he is picking up the pieces of what was left behind. He seemed adamant about not requiring anything of us that isn't in the regulations. This is good, since it could possibly mean he won't be nitpicky about wording and will most likely stay off our backs. So I'll be mailing everything - regular mail. Yep, I said it. I refuse to spend more than the 41 cents it takes to mail a letter. If they don't receive something (or conveniently "lose" stuff like they have in the past) I'll just resend it. I am so not sweating this. Oh, and I did receive letters of IHIP compliance today in the mail for both kids.

J and I spent the day running around for last minute shopping for this weekend. Her workshop includes being in a music video. Friday night is all the workshop classes and Saturday morning/afternoon is casting and creating the video. Their doing a jazz, tap, and hip-hop number for it - all with different clothes. Then right after that is the competition. J's in 7 numbers for this one. It's the most she's ever done. Today we bought black gore boots, foot undeez, capri jazz pants, $70 worth of M.A.C. makeup, sneakers, shorts, hair spray, bobby pins, hair ties, and margarita mix (oh wait, that one's for me). Tomorrow I'm getting a hair cut, the girls are getting mani-pedis, we're all finishing packing and doing the big once-over for all the costumes, shoes, and accessories. EEEEK! I can't believe it's comp time again!

We've been full of dance mania around here. J's first competition starts on Friday and we're all pitching in for the mad last-minute scrambling. K's been such a big help, stoning costumes and helping with hair and makeup. She and W are really looking forward to a weekend of friends and pool time. J will be in workshop classes Friday night and all day Saturday, so the rest of us are looking into stuff to do in the area. The competition begins Saturday evening and continues on Sunday morning.

Sunday was the big dress rehearsal, where all costumes, makeup, and hair were shown to the studio owner. It was the first time I got to see all the numbers and I was really choked up. I feel very organized this year for some reason. I still have to stone, sew, and shop, but I'm not panicking like I usually do.

While we were at dance on Sunday, K had a rare stay-home-and-relax day and went out to dinner with MIL. B took W to basketball and both of them got haircuts. It sucks that basketball ends next month, but W got a big basketball hoop for the backyard that we're putting together when the weather isn't so cold and rainy. He'll get to practice playing all year! W's also been into card games like War lately (which lets me check off "concepts of equality and inequality" from his IHIP checklist, lol).

Over the last few days, the kids have been getting creative: painting with acrylics, making sock babies, dramatic playing with puppets, taking pictures, re-organizing their stuff, taking care of their hamsters and fish, doing activity funbooks, cooking, choreographing, exercising with Fit TV, donating old clothes, reading, making music, and inventing games. We should be getting new Metrocards soon, so we can plan more museum trips. I'll ask about it when I email my quarterly report tomorrow.