Life is so Fun

Another fun week of sprinklers at the playground and biking with friends for W, dancing, meeting friends at the park and sleepovers for J, and school, tanning, out for dinner with friends, and work for K. K is loving work so much, she even worked an extra day this week. She wants to save up for a laptop. Her friends all work - one girl even has 3 jobs - so it motivates her to keep a positive attitude and enjoy it all. I love that she tells me all the funny stories of the day and we just get silly and laugh a lot. My friend saw her in the pizzeria today and called to tell me how cool it was that she's working, and of course how old we both feel, lol.

The big recital rehearsal was on Thursday evening. W and B are in the musical theater number. They're squeezing the entire "A Christmas Carol" into 15 minutes. W is a townsperson and a ghost, B is a townsperson and the Ghost of Christmas Present, and J, well put it this way, J has 5 costume changes in that one number. Altogether, J will be performing her 6 competition group numbers, her vocal solo, the big opening number, an acro number, a ballet number, and the 15-minute musical theater number. 11 numbers, 16 costumes, and she's also in "the pit" guiding her baby class through their 2 numbers (ok, they're not babies, they're like 7). She wouldn't trade any of it for the world. :)

W is staying on track with the AO schedule. He loves doing his work with B. Since B's been home (did I mention he lost his job in March?), he's been taking over the seatwork. I set everything up, mark which pages they're doing, and they get to it. It's nice seeing them together like that. There really is something so cool about seeing your husband reading poetry to your son.
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Here's W's recap for the week:

Spectrum Phonics Grade 2: (double vowels - EA, OW, AY, AI, EE, OA, OO)
CIMS Math: (addition & subtraction w/money as decimals, 3-digit addition) - He really loves math and is just flying through this.
Poetry A.A. Milne: 3 poems
Copywork: the day's poetry (one line and/or title of poem) - He's starting to get slick by picking the shortest poems with the shortest titles to avoid much writing, lol. We may have to come up with something else for copywork
Fifty Famous Stories Retold: "Picciolina" - He gave a great narration for this.
An Island Story: "The Coming of Arthur" - And another great narration for this one. I'm amazed at how well he's learned to do that. The whole premise here is that narrations are the precursor to good writing skills. We'll see.
Aesop for Children: "The Stag and his Reflection", "The Peacock" - He's starting to understand and figure out the morals himself. That's so awesome.
Tales From Shakespeare: "The Winter's Tale" - These are hard to understand when you're not used to the language. I don't even bother asking for a narration with these. He just listens.
George Washington: (D'Auliere) - I love this author. The story is interesting, the pictures are wonderful, and W relates to the character's childhood. He loved Ben Franklin too.
Little House in the Big Woods: 20pgs. - This is the homeschool book club selection for June. He likes the story. I always thought these were a bit "girly", but W likes the parts about hunting, food preparations, and wild animal encounters.

W marched in a Memorial Day parade on Sunday with his cub scout pack. It turned out to be a beautiful day even though the weatherman said rain. He had on his scout shirt and neckerchief and was given a small flag to carry as he marched. B and J were invited to march with them too. I stayed on the sidelines taking pictures. Afterwards, we met back at the lodge for hotdogs and soda. W had a great time running around with his friends. J's friend from dance was there, too, so they hung out together.

Monday it was nice out again so B took W to a different playground by the dance studio. There were lots of his cub scout friends there and parents that B knew. B got to sit and chat with everyone. W rode his bike around. They both decided that was their new favorite park.

J has been all over the place with friends this weekend. I swear that kid is never home, lol. I think she was at 4 different friends' houses in as many days. We've made plans this week to redo and clean up her bedroom so her friends can come over too. She hates messes and won't have anyone here until it's clean. Today she's at dance for 3.5 hours. Her first class is where she teaches the little ones. B was watching her last week and said she's so cute in there and the kids love her. She stretches with them first and then she mainly demonstrates steps and technique. She even has a shirt that says "STAFF" on it.

K is back to school today. She really had a great week off. Work is wonderful. We visited her on Friday afternoon (we were already in the area running errands) and everyone there really is nice. They gave us free pizza and ices. I can see why she loves it so much, lol. She got paid on Friday and it was way more than what we both thought she'd get. She's on cloud 9. She put away 1/2 the money and is budgeting the rest for the week. She already got her hair cut on Saturday and went out to dinner with about 7 friends last night. When I picked her up she said it was so amazing to actually have her own money. I'm so proud of her.

Orienteering

W had a nice Urban Rangers class today at Central Park. This one was about "Orienteering", using maps and a compass to find things or know where you're going. W had a good time. Lots of his friends were there. It was really hot out and trekking through the trails, rocks, and woods wore me out. I'm glad we brought lunch and bottles of water with us. If I wasn't so tired we probably would have gone into the Met Museum of Art afterward. It was right there. But we're going with friends in a couple of weeks and I'd rather wait. I stole some batteries out of the TV remote, so I got some pics today:

Urban Ranger Homeschoolers with Park Ranger


















The view from the castle






















The road to the castle in the spring...



















...And last fall

















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W really stuck with his academic schedule this week. B got to work with him a few days, and W loved that. W is flying through the math and is convinced he's ready for the 7th grade stuff J is doing, lol. Here's his recap for this week:

Spectrum Phonics Grade 2: (silent consonants, double vowels)
CIMS Math: (place value w/money, using ordinal numbers, adding 3 numbers)
Poetry A.A. Milne: 4 poems
Copywork: the day's poetry (one line and/or title of poem)
Spanish: Numbers 1-10 (digits and words)
McQuerry Science: Ch. 3 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Fifty Famous Stories Retold: "The Ungrateful Soldier", "George Washington and his Hatchet", "Doctor Goldsmith" w/narrations
Blue Fairy Book: "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" (7pgs,completed) w/narrations
Aesop for Children: "The Hares and the Frogs", The Fox and the Stork", "The Travelers and the Sea" w/narrations
Tales From Shakespeare: "As You Like It" (5pgs)
George Washington (D'Auliere) - 1 pg w/narration
The Burgess Bird Book: "Old Clothes and Old Houses" w/narration
Paddle to the Sea: Ch 25, 26, 27 w/narrations
Class: Central Park Zoo School 5/18 - "Polar Expedition" (adapting to life at the poles)
Class: Central Park Urban Rangers 5/22- "Orienteering" (using maps and a compass)

It sucks having no camera betteries. I keep forgetting to get some.

Monday W went to a zoo class at Central Park on "Polar Expeditions". It was about knowing what it takes to survive the harsh conditions of the poles. They learned about adaptations and geography. Afterwards they pet some zoo animals and went around exploring the whole zoo. B took W this time. B hasn't been to the Central Park Zoo in ages and was excited to see it again. They watched the seal feeding and loved seeing the polar bears. It was a nice, easy train ride and a very short walk to get to Central Park. Actually everything is a nice, easy train ride and a short walk from my house, lol.

The rest of the week, W has been going to the playground every day. He meets up with his friends and plays tag and cops & robbers. This week he's been riding his bike every day as well. He finally grew into the craigslist $40 bike we got for him last year, lol. I was going to buy him a new bike for his birthday this year, but I just don't see the point. He scratches his bike up, crashes into things (lol), and it falls over sometimes even with the kickstand down. W's musical theater class was really fun this week. It's almost recital time and they're down to the wire.

J has been busy with dance this week. By Wednesday night, she had already put in 7 hours. Tonight she'll be there another 2 1/2 hours. They created a huge opening number for the recital and it's so good, that they may take it out for competition. We've been doing some more math this week. I think she's ready for the exam. That will be given the first week of June.

K worked Tuesday and will again on Friday. She still thinks it's fun and seems to take her responsibilities seriously. Her school is closed this whole week due to swine flu. She's been making lots of plans, hanging out with friends, and deciding what to so with her new money, lol.

Pizza, Regional Title, and W

K loves her new job. The pizzeria is so fun. She's the cashier, the phone-order taker, and will serve Italian ices outside in the summer. A few friends of hers already came in to see her. She gets a few breaks throughout her shift and all the pizza and beverages she wants. For 3 days a week of work she'll bring home well over $100. She couldn't believe how much fun it was. The people there are really nice. She already memorized the menu and the prices. The owner said she's the fastest learner they've had. I love that she's so happy. This is a great place, in a great location.

Today was J's final regional competition. She did 2 solos and 6 group numbers. She scored Platinum on 6, Xtreme Gold on 1, and Xtreme Platinum on 1. In the Junior Solo category she came in first place overall and WON TITLE!! She got a plaque that says "Junior Miss XXXX 2009" and a jacket that says XXXX Title Winner across the front. She also made it onto their Extreme Team - a performance team like the one she did a few years ago. This is the 3rd performance team she's made it onto, all from different dance competitions! We aren't doing it (time and money are never on our side), but it's still so awesome to be picked!

W put up with the competition like a trooper. He hung out with his friends and made a few new ones. For an 11-hour day, he was surprisingly in a great mood throughout. He did a couple of days work this week - not as much as scheduled - but it's fine. Again, it's his choice what he wants to do. He knows that and some days he'll decide on one page other days he'll do 5 nonstop. He has a bunch of trips and classes coming up over the next few weeks so that's all part of his learning. We'll get to the schedule when we get to it. He's playing along well though, and still enjoys it all. :)

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Here's his weekly academic recap:

Spectrum Phonics Grade 2: 3 pgs (silent consonants)
CIMS Math: 5 pgs (addition review, place value to hundreds, adding coins up to $1)
Poetry: A.A. Milne: 3 poems
Copywork: the day's poetry
Our Island Story: "The Story of How the Giant's Dance was Brought to Britain"
Fifty Famous Stories Retold: "Sir Philip Sidney"
Blue Fairy Book: "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp"
Aesop for Children: "The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox"

(All readings include an oral narration. He's really good at that and has fun with it. He's starting to be a perfectionist with his handwriting now. If it's not perfect, he'll get upset, erase it all, and do it again. It doesn't matter that I tell him it looks nice. He wants it to look a certain way. I hope it's just a phase, lol.)

Alley Pond Environmental Center

Yesterday W went to "APEC" for a class on earthworms. We had a great instructor who really knew how to keep the kids interest going. They learned about the parts of an earthworm (segments, head, anus, clitellum, setae, etc) and got shovels to go out and dig for their own. "Clitellum" was certainly the word of the day and W knew that's where the worm's 5 hearts are. W found a bunch of worms and it was so cool to see everyone naming all the worm parts. After the dig, we walked through the trails. The instructor pointed things out and all the kids asked tons of questions. .She seemed almost amazed at how interested the kids were. I don't think she expected that, lol

The boys are having a blast camping. Dh said W was shooting BB guns, learning archery, playing mini-golf and running around getting completely filthy. Gotta love it. You're not an 8yo boy unless you can get completely filthy dirty fairly often. He's in an awesome troop. They do lots of cool things and go on about 4 or 5 camping/fishing weekends a year.

K went to a Regents test prep class early in the morning. She got out at about noon and took the bus over to a nearby pizza place. It turns out, that the night before she was talking with friends about wanting a job. This kid D, who grew up in Italy and has been in NY for only about 2 years, mentioned that his uncle owned a pizzeria and needed someone afternoons and weekends. She was nervous and excited and stayed on the phone with me the whole time on the bus and walking the few blocks to the doorway. 15 minutes later she calls me almost in tears that she got the job! This is a dream come true for her. I'm so proud of how she handled everything. She starts Friday.

J went over a friend's house for the afternoon. Dh's aunt drove me to work by 2. K took the bus home. Dh's aunt and MIL picked K up at around 5, went to church, picked me up at work at 6, then picked J up at the friend's house. And to top it all off, they took us all out for dinner! Wow. :)

Thursday we drove over to Brooklyn to pick up our new bird! She's adorable. We're all in love. We picked up some food and toys on the way home. W decided he is in charge of changing her water every day. We just sat, talked, and played with her for most of the afternoon. Then W did about an hour's worth of academics.

J went to dance class at about 4pm. Thursdays she has jazz tech and acro. She tried on about 4 costumes that she'll be taking group pictures in tomorrow. These are just to be worn in the recital next month. She has 10 other costumes that she competes with. And since all the competition numbers are in the recital - we're looking at 13 costume changes in 3 hours. And that's just for J. W's in the recital, too.

Today we were all up early since the contractor had to come back with the city inspector to make sure the wiring was done correctly. A couple of things need to be replaced, but it should be quick and painless. The contractor stayed most of the day today to finish up - and he did in fact finish. W got his academic stuff done pretty early today. Then he changed the bird's water and we sat and talked to her for a while. Here's what W did today:

At around 1pm we drove up to the Inwood section of Manhattan to the nature center for an Urban Rangers class with the homeschool group on American Indians. Our park ranger discussed the various trees and animals in the park and talked all about the American Indians who once lived in the area. This park is untouched and as it was for thousands of years. We climbed rocky areas and saw caves that were used for shelter. The ranger talked about the tools and furs the Indians used and the kids went into a full-sized wigwam. W had a lot of fun and met some new kids, too. Here's what the website says:

>>Inwood Hill Park is a living piece of old New York. Evidence of its prehistoric roots exists as dramatic caves, valleys, and ridges left as the result of shifting glaciers. Evidence of its uninhabited state afterward remains as its forest and salt marsh (the last natural one in Manhattan), and evidence of its use by Native Americans in the 17th century continues to be discovered. Much has occurred on the land that now composes Inwood Hill Park since the arrival of European colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries, but luckily, most of the park was largely untouched by the wars and development that took place.<<

This afternoon was picture day at the dance studio. W and J took a bunch of group shots. After all the picture-taking, J and her friends went to a dance at the nearby school. 3 of her best guys friends from dance go to that school and they invited the 4 girls on the team. She got home around 10:30pm.

In the morning, K is taking Regents prep classes at her school. She's sleeping over a friend's so they could go together. Dh and W are heading out to a camping weekend with the cub scouts in the morning. They have been looking forward to this for weeks. Everyone's all packed and ready to go. They're taking the car, so I'm going to have to play a little juggling game getting everyone where they need to be this weekend.

And the new bird is so friggin cute.


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W's academics this week:

- Read 7 A.A. Milne poems

- Daily copywork = First line of one poem (in cursive)

- Phonics workbook 7 pages (3-letter consonant blends, silent consonants)

- Math workbook 8 pages (Rounding to nearest 10, lines, line segments, rays, addition review)

- Read "Casabianca" (Fifty Famous Stories Retold) w/narration

- Read "As you Like It" (Tales from Shakespeare) w/narration

- Read "The Boar and the Fox", "The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion", and "The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat" (Aesop for Children) w/narrations

- Read Paddle to the Sea ch. 23 & 24 (now that we're near the end he wants to pick up the pace, lol)

- Read Parables of Nature "Training and Restraining" (this book is okay. Has a religious "moral" to it, but he likes the stories)

- Said each letter of Spanish alphabet and a Spanish word beginning with each letter. Learned how to say "I want" and "I need", "to go", and "to the" park, office, pool, work, home, movies, etc. We'll practice saying this all week in random conversation.

- Wrote "Franz Liszt" in script and watched the Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, and Victor Borge versions of the Hungarian Rhapsody No 2

- Studied and discussed "The Wanderer Above the Mists" by Caspar David Friedrich. Will created his own interpretation of the painting with watercolors, then wrote out the painting's title and author's name below it.

- We picked a wildflower/weed from the front garden and tried fruitlessly to identify it. I set him up with drawing pencils and the field guide, but he wasn't into it. We're going to start doing the handbookofnaturestudy.com weekly hour challenges, but it got too late today. W loves doing a good nature study. We'll try again next week.

This morning B drove K to school, made coffee, did dishes, and started cleaning out the basement. I know. I slept til almost 10am.

W and I do all the Ambleside Online "extra stuff" on Wednesdays. So today was a nice bit of a diversion. W had a lot of fun with it all.

In the afternoon, W and I played a game of chess and then B took him out to the playground for a bit. He got home and fried up some sliced turkey. For an 8yo boy, he is a very good little chef. Thankfully he has his father's cooking gene and not mine.

While W was at the playground, J and I spent about an hour doing some 7th grade math review. That standardized test is in a couple of weeks and she wants to brush up on the math skills. Since she's done mostly 8th grade stuff this year, she just wants to make sure she remembers the 7th grade stuff. She went over her friend's house at around 4pm and I went to work at 6.

After a bit of cleaning and a great breakfast made by dh (he made this incredible bread pudding from the leftover 4 baguette loaves we had from W's party) W did some academic stuff. He loves Aesop and loves the battle stories a lot. Shakespeare, well, he can take it or leave it, lol, but still likes listening. Dh drove J to her friend's house at around noon - she's moving to Spain in a week, so they want to spend as much time together now as they can. Then dh and W went to the cheapo clothing store to try and find more pieces to the musical theater costumes for the dance recital. They're doing a Scrooge piece and the kids are various characters like ghosts, guests at Fezziwigs party, townspeople, etc. 19th century clothing isn't so easy, lol.

Rain rain and more rain today, so no playground for W. He bounced around the house practicing his ninja moves for a while, then played his new DS games and some Wii. When K got home from school, we all watched really funny You Tube videos and had a snack. W went around measuring things with the tape measure and was thrilled that he now measures 54" - finally at the "Twizzler" height and can go on all the Hershey Park rides!

J and her friend dyed the underneath part of each other's hair platinum blond, and then dh drove her to dance. She assisted with the 7yos (and can't wait to direct them from the "pit" in the recital!). Then she had her company tap class where they all went over their competition numbers a few times. Dh drove me to work by 6 and drove W back to the dance studio to join his sister in the musical theater class. He really loves all the singing, dancing, and acting. Total ham. Fits in well with the rest of us.

Communion

W's First Holy Communion was on Saturday! He looked gorgeous in his suit. The ceremony was nice and they set it up so the parents sat in the rows behind all the children and got to go up and receive with them. The extended families and friends sat behind us. The kids had songs to sing and prayers to say. We took a lot of pictures inside and outside of the church, a few with the Monsignor, and some with the family. A girl in his class wouldn't leave without getting pictures with W. I think she has a bit of a crush on him - W ate it up, lol.

After picking up a few more things for his party and J's friend, Samantha, we headed out to my mom's to celebrate. Rain was in the forecast from Friday to Sunday nonstop, but my mom said all she had to do was put a Blessed Mother statue in the front and back windows (facing outward) and it wouldn't rain. And would you believe we had the most gorgeous sunny day?! About 30 people were there. We had lots of food and cake and we hung out til almost midnight. The kids ran around playing manhunt and roasting marshmallows over the fire pit. W changed out of his suit as soon as he could, lol. It was a great party!

Thursday was an easy, relaxing day. J had dance at 4:30, W went to the playground by the dance studio, and then had Communion rehearsal at 7:30. Today B took J and W shopping for some last minute stuff for tomorrow and for pieces of costume to wear in the dance recital (white tees, sweatpants, necktie, etc). I actually went out and got a haircut (I think I go bi-annually). Now I just have to finish up some more grooming for tomorrow. B is going to cook lots of Italian food tonight. J had dance practice at 4:30 and is going to see a show at one of the performing arts high schools. Her whole team is going (6 kids). It's so nice that the studio does all these things together.

Things are changing again at work. My whole department is outsourcing and completely disappearing from our building, so 40 of us will be purely sales from now on. I always did retention, collections, and a few sales for the last 3 years. I think it will be nice to focus on just sales from now on. I'm a little nervous, though.

This will be the last daily academic recap. I'll just do a weekly one from now on.

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W's academics today

~ Elementary Life Science (McQuerry) Ch. 2, crossword, definitions

~ We read a short bio on Caspar David Friedrich. W studied "The Cross in the Mountains" for about 2 minutes and W created his own interpretation with crayons on drawing paper, then wrote the title and artist underneath in cursive.

~ We went over how to use a dictionary. I never realized how much there is to know when you show someone else.

~ We read 4 pgs of "Little House in the Big Woods".

W, J, and B went to Old Navy this morning. J got a couple of tank tops and a shorts outfit. She found a giftcard from last year. W got 2 pairs of flip flops. Since the weather is very summer-like, he's been dying to get out of his socks and sneakers. When they came back, our friends came over to give us their goldfish and frog. They are moving to Spain very soon and are cleaning out the house. We've always had fish, frogs, etc, so we were excited for some more.

W had First Communion practice this afternoon at the church. B dropped him off then swung around to drive J to dance. She's the assistant teacher on Tuesdays at 4pm for the 7yo ballerinas and tappers. W had musical theater with her at 6:30, then J had tap and contemporary choreography til 8:30pm for the upcoming competition. K called me after school to see if it was ok to get her "cartilage" pierced. Um, what? It was ok with me, as long as she pays for it and doesn't come home with a 3-inch metal rod through 2 sections of her ear. She came home and showed me a pretty little gold stud near the upper part of her ear. It looks really nice, actually. I might just get one myself (along with the tattoo my mom wants to get with me - as soon as I get up the nerve, lol).

K's also been freaking out over the swine flu that some of her friends are getting. Her high school is about a mile away from the one on the news. Another high school a few blocks away from hers supposedly had some kids with "flu-like symptoms" who were sent home. All these kids know each other and hang out together. I just want to keep her home until college. But she is still going to school - and washing her hands about 39 times a day. I don't know how these kids can even concentrate with all this crap going around. ugh.
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W's academics today:

~ 3 pages in CIMS math workbook - counting coins up to $.50 (visual and word problems) and a dot-to-dot finding only the even numbers in the 200s.
~ 1 page in Spectrum Phonics on 3-letter consonant blends
~ We read an A.A. Milne poem "Knights and Ladies"
~ Copywork was the first sentence of that poem in cursive
~ We read "The Inchcape Rock" from Fifty Famous Stories Retold. W gave a narration afterward.
~ We read 4 pages of "As You Like It" from Tales of Shakespeare (Lamb). It's a bit hard to understand for an 8-year-old, but we discuss it as we read. I think he kind of likes the older language. He'll read the original in a later year.

Last Zoo Class

W's last zoo class at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn was today. They spent time on the pond rug discussing the previous classes and what they learned. They pet a giant rabbit and W got to show everyone the skin that his lizard shed the other day. He was happy that the kids came over to him to touch the skin and ask him questions. Then everyone got to explore the Discovery Center. We walked through it every week before going into the classroom, and W always tried to stop and play first, but was always told "not this week". He was so excited to finally get to play. It has various "centers" and live animals like turtles and a tarantula. He loved the frog-feet gloves, the animal info cards, and the "what animals eat" center. J, B, and I enjoyed exploring a bit too.

We explored the rest of the zoo a bit after the class was over. We went through the "Discovery Trail", where we saw kangaroos, red pandas, porcupines, and bright-colored birds. They had "lilypads", "eggshells", "turtle shells", and a "spider web" for the kids to play on. In one area are 2 families of baboons. They are great to watch. The rule is not to smile at them or they think you're being aggressive by showing your teeth. I've heard they jumped at the glass at a few spectators once.

Before we went out in the afternoon, W spent about an hour-and-a-half on academics. I'm going to start keeping track (on the blog) of what he's doing. I can't believe it's April already and we're still following this curriculum. I mean it's great and all and we take our time with it, but I really thought he would have canned it by now. He loves the routine each day and he loves the feeling that he is learning so much. Of course I know he would be learning tons even without this schedule, but if it makes him feel proud, then so be it. Since this may be a daily thing, I'll keep it separate with a broken line.

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Today's academics:

~ 3 pages in his CIMS math workbook on coin value and counting coins up to $.50
~ 1 page in Spectrum Phonics (2nd grade) on 3-letter consonant blends
~ We read A. A. Milne's "Teddy Bear" and W's copywork was the first sentence from that poem in cursive.
~ We read "Hengist's Treachery" from An Island Story. W gave a great narration afterward.
~ We read "The Leap at Rhodes" from The Aesop for Children. We discussed the story and the moral.
~ We finished Ben Franklin (D'Auliere) and W gave a narration about the last years of Franklin's life.

This morning J and W had CCD class. He’s making his First Holy Communion next week and is getting prepped for that. He has a gorgeous Perry Ellis suit that has been tailored to fit. He’s so excited that he’ll be now able to “eat the cookie” at mass. He spent this beautiful (and really warm) Sunday afternoon at the playground. He and his friends made-up and played lots of games. They also had a water fight. The sprinklers weren’t on - I guess it’s still technically too early in the year - so they improvised with the water fountain.

W is setting up a 13″ tv in his room. This tv was mine from 20 years ago! It won’t have cable connection, but it will have a dvd player under it. W has a loft bed and a huge underneath area for all his toys, chairs, hamper, and now the tv. J already has a tv and dvd player in her room.

In the late afternoon,the kids helped B with the barbecuing. W and J were riding their ripsticks and bikes. That ripstick is really hard to manage. I actually tried it one time. And wouldn’t you know it, W soon came upstairs with a bloody knee. After dinner we just took it easy watching America’s Funniest Home Videos and a movie. Then I went over all of W academic stuff for the upcoming week making sure we have everything we need. J is focusing mainly on math and reading this week.

Disney Earth

I took the kids to see Disney Earth with the homeschool group yesterday. I love movies like that. Even back in the 70s when The Wonderful World of Disney used to show a short clip of animals in nature with that cowboy narrator on Sunday evenings. This movie was very cute. It was also sad, watching how the circle of life can be cruel. The footage taken was incredible and we got a glimpse at the end to see the cameramen in action. J was glad her friend L came, so they sat together, and W had a couple friends there he sat with as well.

I mailed out their 3rd quarterly reports last week and I'll just assume it was received. I also ordered J's CAT-E, the test she'll be taking next month. J has been going over lots of 7th grade math over the weeks to make sure she's ready. W is moving along well with his AO Yr1. I found 2 old CIMS 2nd grade math workbooks that J's 2nd-grade teacher let her have when the school completely changed the math curriculum. We have Part 1 and Part 2. W loves them best of all now. They're plain, no color, very to-the-point, and have these exercises that seem to get through to him. Not something I would look at from the cover and say, "hey that looks great!". We're almost through the first book after just starting a few weeks ago with it. So, I am convinced now that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, heh heh. I don't know if these books are available anymore, but I'd like to seek out the higher levels for him.

Meerkats

W had his zoo class today and they talked about animal behavior and enrichments. Enrichments are what zookeepers put in the animals' cage that will create a positive reaction. The main one being appropriate food, and the other one being toys. The instructor put some stuffed monkeys in a glass pen and asked the kids what kind of environment they would need. The kids said things like "trees", "water and food", "places to get out of the rain", and "stuff to play with". We had walked around the zoo earlier and noticed the monkeys have baby toys, the goats have what looks like punching bags (for them to butt into), and the parrots have lots of fun-looking hanging things. The instructor brought in a hen, put her in the pen and tossed in some mealworms. The hen started clucking loudly and gobbled up every last one. It was obviously a "good enrichment" since it evoked a cute positive response from the hen. Common sense, yes, but still a lesson in there.

The kids then made some fun things for the meerkats. They put mealworms in a toilet paper tube and wrapped the whole thing in decorated paper. We went over to the meerkat pen and one of the zookeepers walked right in there and strategically placed all the "enrichments" around the pen. The kids watched as the meerkats found each one (and climbed high to get a few), rip them open and reach in to eat the mealworms. This proved to be a good enrichment since the meerkats got very active and playful. Cool class. Would have been even cooler if it wasn't pouring rain outside.

Before we left, W did 2 math pages, 2 reading pages, some copywork, read an A.A. Milne poem with me, and narrated back a story from Fifty Famous Stories Retold and one Aesops fable. B read the stories to him and as luck would have it, one story included this line: "the boy named Richard was called Dick" and the other one had this one: "The farmer took his ass to the market". From the other room I hear this riotous laughter. I think B was laughing harder. After a little while, B called to me, "OK, we're done reading about Dick and ass now." (insert more riotous laughter)

Men.

I took the girls out to a jewelry party at my sister's house last night. It was a cool party with lots of women and some gorgeous bling. My little sister (the chef) made incredible finger foods and desserts: skewered chicken, rice paper beet/cucumber wraps, smoked cheeses on crackers, and so much more. I bought an ankle bracelet and my mom got the girls something each. We left after 11pm and I don't think I got to sleep til after 3am. I'm not cut out for late-nights anymore. Ugh, I was a tired mess all day today.

We slept over my mom's and went out for breakfast this morning. Then I dropped the girls off at home and I went to work. J and K went over their friends' houses this afternoon. W spent the day at the playground. He had a huge game of freeze-tag going on with over 10 kids. In the evening we played chess - he loves it. Then we read together. AO gives a list of "free reading" that I just figured we'd never get to. But since he was sleepy and mellow, I suggested something light like Little House in the Big Woods. J loved that book and I think he likes it now too. It would be so great if we can get back into the evening readaloud. It mellows my kids out even more - and me too.

Week Recap

Last Wednesday was a nice relaxing day at home. W did A.A. Milne copywork, 3 math pages, lots of reading, reading comprehension games, and we read some Ben Franklin bio, Aesop's, and Our Island Story. He played Wii for a little while after that and spent a few hours wit B at the playground. J spent the day at a friend's house and slept over. Thursday the kids had 4H club.

Friday W went to the homeschool group book club. They read The Lorax and I now love that story. W had cub scouts that evening and J went with her friend to see The Hannah Montana Movie. My sister picked me up around 3 and we drove up to Warwick, NY to see my cousin D do an acoustic set at a local coffee house. He played guitar and harmonica and sang with an adorable girl from the neighborhood. I was so proud of him and happy that I got to see him before he heads to the Navy. Saturday, the girls enjoyed a day out with friends, I worked, and W and B went to the park and cooked dinner together. Sunday was Easter and we all went out to my mom's house. Yesterday, W did more morning academics - B has been home for a while and can see what W does. We were supposed to go to the zoo class, but there was an accident or something bringing the BQE to a complete standstill, so we didn't make it. W went to the playground instead. It's teeming with kids since school is off this week. K has been busy, too. She's spending lots of time with her friends and is getting ready to be "in the court" at a sweet 16 later this week. She and 4 other girls (with matching dresses and shoes) and 5 guys are helping the birthday girl "debut". I think there's even a waltz involved. Tanning and getting a mani-pedi are in her plans for the week.

W has been really getting into his workbooks and readings. He still loves math and is now starting to really enjoy grammar. He's moved on from phonics and has started with punctuation and parts of speech. He flipped his book right to a short test and got everything correct - even though we never really went over much about sentence formation and past tenses. I guess all that reading and copywork really sinks in! With our history readings, he asks to look at a map to understand more about the countries in the stories. It's so interesting how he just gets it. We're both having a lot of fun together with it all.

Beczak on the Hudson

We drove up to the Beczak Environmental Education Center in Yonkers this morning. W was part of a class about food chains in the Hudson River. The view of the river and Palisades Mountains was absolutely breathtaking. The class was held inside the center. They learned about how striped bass eat atlantic silversides, which eat amphipods (like sand fleas), which eat zooplankton, which eat phytoplankton, which drink drops of water which may contain the PCBs from certain factories. So since people eat striped bass, people are also ingesting PCBs. They also discussed (and demonstrated with a large model) how fresh water from the Adirondack Mountains flows down the Hudson into the Atlantic Ocean. We were in an area of the river where the water is partly fresh and partly salty - "brackish". I forgot my camera, so I found a picture on google of what the view looks like (although this one is in the fall, and it's now spring, well, you get the idea, lol).

After the class, a few of us hung around and went down to the shoreline to climb on the rocks and throw pebbles into the river. It was pretty windy and chilly, but the kids didn't seem to notice. It took less than 30 minutes to get home. I love that there are so many new places to see so close to our house. I feel we haven't even scratched the surface of all that is out there!