Getting Ready

W and I were skimming through a Summer Bridge workbook yesterday and decided to do a few pages.  We jumped around the book, stopping at whatever looked interesting. I'll admit, I didn't have very high hopes since we did absolutely zero academics this summer.  W didn't pick up one book.

First he unscrambled a bunch of 8-12 letter words, matching them to a word list.  This is something we've attempted in the past, but he couldn't grasp (which I attribute to the dyslexia). He also alphabetized several sets of 4 words that had the same first 4-5 letters (e.g. events, eventual, evening...).  We usually hit a wall or 2 with this kind of exercise as well.  He flew through both activities with no help.  I was so surprised.  How did it all just...click?

W's always had an issue with the letters in words.  Lately though, I've noticed  him enjoying picking apart different words he sees.  A few months ago for example, he saw the word "platter" and said that if you switch the "p-l" for an "s-h" it's "shatter".  This may be a basic concept, but for W it's a huge revelation.  Being aware of letters, patterns, phonics rules, and how it all fits together has been our main focus for over 2 years since I discovered he has dyslexia.  It's been 2 years of hands-on, mostly whole-language, multi-sensoral learning, getting his reading level to at least match his actual grade level.  I feel confident that it just might be working.

He also played around with US time zones, circling the correctly spelled word (which is a great activity for him), and some basic fraction review.  For a summer of no academics, he was certainly not lacking in skills.  We'll use the Summer Bridge book today, tomorrow and next week.  We'll start AO on the 12th. I'm so happy September is here.

K's first week of college is going well.  She loves it and has decided she'll have a 4.0 average.  Gotta love her confidence.  She and J are both going away for the weekend.  K is spending Labor Day weekend with her boyfriend and his family in the Poconos.  J will be at her best friend's beach house.  The rest of us would be going to my mom's for the weekend, but they they still might have no power out there.  The hurricane knocked out all  power and a huge tree fell in the backyard.  Almost a week with no power?  I wish they'd move back to Queens.

J is excited to go back to school.  Her knee is feeling great with all that physical therapy.  Tomorrow she'll complete 4 weeks (9 sessions) - and there's 4 more weeks to go.  Thankfully she has no more pain.  This year in school she's taking more advance ballet and modern dance. She's so ready to get back.

2011-2012 Schedule

We will be starting Ambleside Online Year 3 in a couple of weeks.  The following schedule is what we're shooting for:


2-3 AO Readings (Daily)  - w/oral, written, & creative narrations
Map work            (With most readings)
Timeline/BOC      (With history readings)    
Silent Reading      (Daily)
Spelling/Vocab    (Daily)
Math                    (Daily)
Poetry                  (Daily)
Copywork           (Daily)
Simply Grammar  (1-2x a week)
Writing Strands    (1-2x a week)
Spanish                (2x a week)
Nature Study       (Weekly)
Artist Study         (Weekly)
Dictation             (Weekly)
Composer Study (Weekly)

This should take about 2.5 to 3 hours per day with each subject taking about 10-20 minutes each (more for nature study).  We'll begin at around 8:30am-9am and finish up before noon.  W asked if we could spend less time on reading and math and more time on science and history - and that's what we'll do.  I will always believe that allowing kids to choose their own educational path keeps them excited about learning.  My girls did this.  They chose to homeschool and how they went about homeschooling.  They decided to try public high school and they actively chose which high school to attend.  W has always chosen his educational path as well.  It gives kids ownership.  It works.

Here are some of the books we'll be using:

History/Geography:
An Island Story (Marshall)
This Country of Ours (Marshall)
A Child's History of the World (Hillier)
Michelangelo (Stanley)
Bard of Avon (Stanley)
Landing of the Pilgrims (Daugherty)
Who was Marco Polo? (Holub)
The Complete Book of Maps & Geography
Basic Series Map Skills (Grades 6-8)
Basic Series World Geography (Grades 6-8)
Basic Series US Government, Economics, & Citizenship (Grades 6-8)
Everything You Need to Know About Geography Homework - Grades 4-6 (Zeman)
American History Homework Survival Guide - Grades 4-6 (Kantor)

Science:
Science Lab in a Supermarket ((Friedhoffer)
The Story of Inventions (McHugh)
The Handbook of Nature Study (Comstock)
Secrets of the Woods (Long)
ScienceSaurus (Houghton-Mifflin)
Science Homework Survival Guide (Dylewski)
Basic Series Science (Grades 4-5)
Basic Series Life Science (Grades 6-8)

The English Language:
Simply Grammar
Writing Strands
Spelling Skills 5
Word Study & Phonics 5
Basic Series Grammar & Usage

Literature:
American Tall Tales (Stoutenberg)
Tales From Shakespeare (Lamb)
The Heroes (Kingsley)
The Princess and the Goblin (MacDonald)
Children of the New Forest (Marryat)
The Jungle Book (Kipling)
Various selections from the AO Year 3 "free reading" list

Poetry:  William Blake, Sara Teasdale, Hilda Conkling, & Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Nature:  Reptiles, Flowerless plants, Crops, Fish, Amphibians
Artists:  Fragonard, Bierstadt, Rockwell
Composers:  Mozart, Mendelssohn, Bartok, Hindemith
Math:  Teaching Textbooks 7, LOF Fractions (maybe)
Spanish:  Instant Immersion Spanish
Art:  Drawing with Children (Brooks)

We will also include lots of (afternoon) field trips and classes - using them as areas for more focused research (rather than for just a get-together).   W will continue with Boy Scouts and CCD classes and he's trying to decide between basketball, soccer, or karate for this year.

So this is the goal.  We may not even come close to the plan, but it's nice having it as a guideline to follow.


This is a cool site.  Beautiful shots of NYC:
Aerial Views of New York City

It's Almost Autumn!

Camp and dance and work.  Same stuff.  Sorry we're not being that interesting lately, lol.

J's physical therapy is now at the end of its 3rd week and J's knee is feeling pretty good.  She has no more pain during dance, but she's still afraid to do any grande plies.  She's been good about doing her exercises at home, too.

She's going to try and get those summer reading books done before summer is actually over.

I'm going to try and get to Target and Staples and see if there's any back-to-school sale stuff left.  I never made it there in July when I should have went.

I've added more field trips to our fall schedule.  I'm so excited to get to places we haven't visited yet.  Expect lots of photos in the fall.

J turned 15 last week.  She had a big co-ed sleepover at my mom's house.  15 kids.  I'm still exhausted, lol.

K starts college classes in 10 days.  Damn.  She was just 3 years old in her princess dress asking me what preschool would be like.

W has 10 more days of camp.  Then we can really start getting ready for the new year.  We're changing things up a little this year.  He's going to love what's in store.

IHIP is going out this week.  I'm using my regular old worldbook format.  Keepin' it simple.

Runner's Knee

J has been diagnosed with "patello-femoral syndrome", also knows as Runner's Knee.  From kidshealth.org, "Runner's Knee happens when the kneecap (patella) tracks incorrectly over a groove in the thighbone (femur) known as the femoral groove when you bend and straighten your knee. In healthy knees, the patella rests in the femoral groove and slides easily up and down when you use your knee. But when the patella is out of place, it can irritate the femoral groove and wear away the cartilage beneath the patella, leading to knee pain."  She's had this since February or March.  Neither one of us thought that much of it but then it started getting worse and she had to sit out of classes.

In June we went to the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries and that's where she got the diagnosis.  They gave her a bunch of exercises and stretches to do, but she didn't do them often enough.  Now that it's August and her knee still hurts, we got a new prescription from Harkness and J began Physical Therapy this week.  She needs to go 2x a week for 8 weeks.  According to them she should be good as new at the end.  She has a new stack of papers with a new bunch of exercises she has to do 2-3x a day.  Getting her to do them is the tricky part.

Nothing else really new going on around here.  We're just continuing the same old summer stuff we've all been doing:  Camp, Dance, & Work.  I'm counting down the days til the end of August when W and I can get started on our new schedule.  I'm part of a new local homeschool group and already started filling up my calendar with awesome trips and classes for the fall.

We're Back!

Nationals this year was GREAT!  J got an "Elite" placement award (the highest they give) for her solo and came in 3rd overall.  Two of J's large group numbers were chosen for the final challenge on the last day.  After each day's competition was 4 hours of master classes in Tap, Hip-hop, Jazz, Contemporary, & Musical Theater.  The kids had such a wonderful 5 days together.  Now we're all back to our daily routines. 

J is going to start reading her 2 books for school.  I'm getting everything ready for W's 5th grade year.  We are going right into AO Year 3 in September.  We pretty much finished everything we needed to for 4th grade and he's ready for a new year to start.  The plan is to pull back a bit on the reading and math, focusing a lot more on history, science, art, music, geography, and field trips.  This was W's idea and I think it'll work out really well.

Summer is in Full Swing

Camp is going well.  W loves being busy every day and going on trips.  They went to the American Museum of Natural History this week.

Dance is going well.  J teaches for 3 hrs on Mondays and takes classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays.

Work is going well.  K is still saving for a car.  She should be getting her driver's permit by the end of summer.

My sister had a beautiful baby girl on Thursday. We're all at mom's house on Saturday visiting.

And you know it's that time again...NATIONALS!!  J's dance Nationals are next week!  We're leaving for Connecticut on Wednesday and should be back sometime next Sunday.  J is doing her solo, duet, and 5 groups.  She's also doing several master class conventions.  The hotel gives free breakfast and has an outdoor pool.  We are set.  We just did some last-minute shopping - bobby pins, hair nets, eyelashes, eyelash glue, safety pins, and bandaids.  We got some booty shorts, tights, and a leotard in the mail today.  I'll go over all costumes and shoes on Tuesday as well as get all the packing done.  Can't wait!

July 4th Weekend

Camp so far is going very well for W. He is up and out by 7:30am. I pick him up at 5:15 instead of 6, since it's easier for me to make it to work. The girls have been keeping busy, too. K's working and trying to get to the beach as often as she can. She spent this weekend with her boyfriend and his family in the Pocono mountains. J had a pool party this week and 3 evenings of dance. Her summer classes include: Strength & Flexibility, Ballet, Tap, Combinations, & Lyrical. She will be assistant-teaching 3 classes every Monday - 3-5y/os, 6-9y/os, and the 10+ class. This is considered work-study and she'll get the summer classes at no charge. J went to her friend's summer bungalow for the weekend. W has been spending the weekend with friends and at the playground. He's building stuff again at home - he made a cool mallet and hatchet out of sticks, pieces of brick, and wire. You know, in case we need to kill some wild game to eat out here in this NYC wilderness, lol.

J's summer reading includes The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) and either The Death of a Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson or Longitude by Dava Sobel. The latter 2 books are for Earth Science. I'll try and pick those up this week. W is still reading Hatchet, a few pages every now and then. I do wish he enjoyed reading more. Maybe it's just novels he dislikes. He reads plenty on the computer and anything having to do with Pokemon. At least it's something. I'm trying to get some math and spelling in on the weekends, too.

Kick Off to Summer!!

K is officially a high school graduate. The ceremony was on Friday and it was beautiful. 67 kids walked across that stage to receive their diplomas. Then there was a barbecue in the schoolyard. We hung around for a bit afterwards, but then we all went out to lunch to celebrate.

Later that evening was J's big end-of-the-year dance recital. She was in 10 numbers - 5 in each act. In addition to her 5 competition group numbers, she was in the opening set, the musical theater number (as Sandy in Grease), then as a princess on stage with her baby class, and she performed her duet and her solo. J was so excited to be the one chosen to do the recital solo. And she did a beautiful job. The evening was hectic as usual, but these kids are pros at quick changes. We got it all done in under 3 hours. After the recital, we all celebrated by going out to eat (and having a few drinks, lol). What a great day that was.

Saturday was my day to relax.  On Sunday, we all drove up to Brewster to celebrate my niece's 9th birthday.  Her party was a big barbecue on the lake.  J did some paddle-boating and W spent the whole time in the water.  There were lots of kids there.  He even swam out to this wooden lake raft thing that was pretty far out in the water.  I mean real swimming - not just doggy-paddling.  W hasn't really swam since he had those free park lessons in 2007.   I had no idea he could swim that well.

A small section of Heckscher Playground - Check out the rock mountains in the background!

On Monday I took W to Central Park to meet up with 2 of his best friends.  We met in the Heckscher playground and the boys got right into a water gun war with a bunch other kids.  They made teams and ran around the playground getting soaked for over 3 hours.  W loved it.  It was so fun watching them.  I love that boys this age can just jump right into playing with each other and become friends for the whole day - and yet, never get each others names, lol.  After the water play, they ran around with light-saber swords and climbed the big rock mountains next to the playground.  I definitely have to get back there with him.  So fun.

W also started day camp yesterday!  He had been doing the camp-countdown for a couple of months and the day finally came.  I worried, as usual, but he loved it.  I dropped him off at around 7:30am and he was picked up around 6pm.  Then he went right back out to go to the playground with his friend, Matt, who lives next door.  By the time I got home from work at 10:30pm, he was asleep.  Well, at least this morning I got to see him and ask him how it was.  He mentioned cooking and outside play and crafts.  He saw some kids there from last year.  And now every Wednesday there's a trip - usually something local, like a big playground or bowling, but I did see the Bronx Zoo on the list for one of the weeks.  To me, this is so worth it.  He got right up at 6:30am on his own today to get ready.  There's nothing he loves better than a full day of fun with friends.  Oh, to be 10 years old again.

Senior Prom!

Thursday was K's senior prom.  She had been looking forward to this since like forever.  As a toddler she was obsessed with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and always wanted to have her beautiful royal ball with her prince charming.  I have to say...she got it.

She started the planning at the beginning of the school year on the hunt for the perfect dress.  She must have looked at millions of websites, magazines, and TV shows.  Finally in March she found it.  The store had it in a different color, but she had it ordered and it arrived a few weeks later.  At the end of April we had the dress tailored and she went and found the shoes and jewelry to go with it.  Throughout May she wrote up list after list of what she needed to get done.

Two weeks before prom, she had her hair cut and highlighted.  A few days before prom she had her nails, toes, and eyebrows done - and did 10 minutes at the tanning salon.  Then on prom day, she had her hair styled into a "waterfall braid".  4 or 5 women at the salon were working on K's hair to make it look like the hair in the photo she brought.




 Then we went straight to a friend's house with 3 other girls to get her makeup professionally done.  This makeup artist has a bunch of famous clients (including a few Real Housewives).  While she was there I went and picked up the white rose boutonniere sprayed with silver glitter to match K's dress.

By 3pm we were home and she got dressed.  We took pictures outside with MIL.  Dh's aunt and MIL's best friend came over to see her.  Our first stop for pictures was at K's boyfriend's house.  He looked amazingly handsome with his tux.  K pinned the boutonniere onto his lapel and he slid the corsage onto her wrist.  We took lots of pictures with his mom and sister.  The second stop was K's best friend's house.  More pictures with both couples, the moms, some other friends.  My last stop was another friend's house.  This was where the party bus was picking up all the kids at around 6:30pm.  We got there at about 5pm.  20 kids, their dates, and lots of parents were there.  We took another million pictures.  There was a beautiful spread of food for the kids (finger sandwiches, a huge sushi platter, bowls of chips, etc) and the home had lots of "Class of 2011" gold & mylar balloons, plates, & napkins.


The prom was held in a gorgeous wedding hall out in Long Island.  K said everything was great.  She took a lot of pics too.  After the prom, they all changed into their "after-prom" clothes and the bus took the kids around Manhattan until about 4am.  She said it was so fun and one of the most perfect nights ever.

Summer Ideas

W has been losing interest in academics lately.  I figured it out to be because of math overload (with a large amount of spring fever thrown in).  I didn't realize we were hitting the numbers that hard.  It was killing his enthusiasm.  We usually start with math and it sets the tone for the rest of the morning.  If he's burnt out with it, then it affects everything else.  So I asked him to write himself out a schedule of how he'd like to do daily academics.  He wrote down just about everything we already do:  AO readings, copywork, spelling page, silent reading, etc., and he added  - ONE page of math.  Ok.  I can do that.  We have been doing a whole lesson of TT5 each day.  I scaled it down to 1/2 a lesson instead.  It worked.  He zipped through the first 13 problems (which include the 5 practice ones) and will do the other 14 problems on Monday.  So once again this shows me that it's usually best to give kids a say in how they do things.

W just finished learning 3-digit x 3-digit multiplication and is now starting units of time.  I can't help but reiterate my love for TT5 and how it gives the perfect amount of review on previous topics.  I love that the lesson is brief and to the point.  I love that he gets only a few problems (in different forms) to practice the new concept - just enough, imo, to really "get it".  I love how the rest of the problems are review - maybe 3 or 4 of them for each topic.  He's still going over radius, diameter, types of quadrilaterals, long division, decimals into fractions and vice-versa, big number subtraction, and money word problems.  He really understands it.

We are also still enjoying Seabird, Pagoo, Robin Hood, An Island Story, & This Country of Ours.  We are starting Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors (Lamb) soon and he's certainly taking his time with A Cricket in Times Square.  I might see if he'd like to start one of the new books I got a couple of months ago for silent reading.  He likes Cricket, but not as much as he thought he would, lol.

All W's classes and homeschool group trips have come to an end.  It was a really great year.  Over the rest of the spring and summer I'd like to take B and the kids (and friends) out to some fun summer events - street fairs, festivals, outdoor theater, beaches, outdoor concerts, and even some great neighborhood walking tours.  I'd like to get back to the NY Hall of Science, too.  We haven't been there in ages.  We are all so incredibly busy (B & I both work, W has summer camp, J has dance workshop and intensives, K will be adding more work hours) that I do hope we can all make time to do things as a family.  I'm grateful for our 1 week away in Connecticut in July.  And my sister's baby girl is due in July too!  I'm already loving this summer!

New Car, Fishing, & Babies

Great week.  Wayfinders had a 6-hour adventure day on Tuesday, we bought a new car, B & W went on their annual Fishing Derby camping trip with the scouts, and Sunday was my sister's baby shower. 

Our new car is a 2012 Mazda5.  It's a "micro-minivan" that seats 6 and has a perfect amount of storage room.  It's silver and the interior is black.  I love it so much.  I'm so glad to get rid of the Nissan we had - the tires were bald, the transmission was days away from breaking down altogether, and the whole inside and outside was a mess.  Now I can drive without worry in something I think is really beautiful.  It's smaller, better gas mileage, and one of the highest rated for safety.  Yay!

The Fishing Derby this year was a lot of fun.  Now that W is a webelo scout, he got to sleep in the lean-to with his friends the first night and in a tent the second night.  No more staying in the cabin with dad.  He loved it.  The lean-to was scary, since it had cracks and it looked like it was going to rain.  He was with 3 of his best friends, so that made things a lot better.  The tent was waterproof so he was happier the 2nd night.  After the very long day of fishing and running around, the boys were out cold pretty quickly.  I was worried about it, but B said he was only nervous for about a minute.  I'm so proud of my son.

My sister's baby shower was in this beautiful yacht club right on the water.  I bit the bullet and actually got a haircut and manicure.  I planned on getting the pedicure, but chickened out.  I can't stand people touching my feet.  LOL. I'll get over it.  Pedis really make your toes look awesome.  A mani-pedi and eyebrow waxing costs only about $25.  I think I can make time for these.  Anyway, my sis got just about everything she registered for.  The baby girl is due in about 6 weeks.  This baby has enough clothes to last til winter.  I will be spoiling this kid rotten.  I love little girls. 

This week J has finals.  She's spending any free time in the school library studying.  K is still gearing up for prom and graduation. And I am sooo ready for summer to be here.

5/21 to 5/27

J's last regional dance competition of the season was this past weekend.  She did great - scored a High Gold award, even when she forgot a whole section of the dance.  She was annoyed with herself, but that morning was crappy and I don't blame her for not being fully there.  Her groups numbers did phenomenally well, with great placements (8th, 5th, & 2nd in the top 10 of all teen groups - competing against dozens and dozens of teen group numbers from other studios).  Now all that's left is the recital and then either a Nationals or something similar in July.  Still not sure what we're doing yet.

Tuesday evening was the big recital rehearsal.  The kids worked on the opening number, ran through the mainstream numbers, and ran some company numbers.  J's group of babies were adorable. They are dancing to Beauty and the Beast and J gets to be on stage with them dressed as a princess.  She's thrilled.  

J got an A on her English essay.  The assignment was to write your own creation myth.   I remember when she told me about this assignment.  She worried about it having to be 3 pages.  I thought she felt it was too much, but her next sentence was, "I don't think I could write less than 4 or 5."  Again, this is coming from a kid who did her own thing as an unschooler for 6 years.  That kind of freedom allowed her to build up a level of maturity and independence where now that she's in high school, she so enjoys putting 110% to everything.  It's pretty cool to watch.

W had his last Sunday School (CCD) class.  His report card was great and the teacher said he is a wonderful student and did great on classwork and tests.  I got a bit teary-eyed with that, because he got a 35% on his last test.  He was upset with himself and felt very stupid.  He'd never told his teacher he was dyslexic.  So, the next week he mentioned it and said that it takes him a little longer to read and needs a little more time to take a test.  W has no issues with it and is comfortable talking about it.  The teacher allowed him to re-take the test the following week.  The first time it was open-book.  The 2nd time it wasn't, but W still got a 70%.  He was over the moon with joy and so proud of himself.  I was too.

He has recently told me that he likes writing.  That was my cue to try a written narration.  He hasn't done much writing except for copywork and maybe some spelling and dictation exercises, but I knew he was ready.  We started with his independent reading book.  He read his 2 pages and wrote 2 sentences of a summary in his notebook.  It had proper flow and correct punctuation.  I was impressed at his style.  We'll do these once a week - more if he wants to. 

Nothing else really new with academics this week.  It's pretty much the same books and we're almost finished with those.  He did his copywork, poetry, narrations, etc.   In math he's doing 3-digit x 3-digit multiplication now.   We still use only the textbook for TT5 and he now zips through a lesson in about 20 minutes.  I'm glad we already have TT7 -  I wouldn't want to buy a whole new program if he's only using the book.

We've had a really great year so far.  I'm looking forward all the activities coming up in June!

5/14 to 5/20

It was a rainy week here in NYC.  We didn't go to Chess or Wayfinders.  We did catch up on some academics, though. 

W's new idea is to read 6-8 pages a day of his book (Cricket) instead of just 2.  He said he would still read 2 pgs at a time, but do this several times a day.  Sounds good to me!  Let's see if he does it.

He has gotten over the hump of long division.  I don't know what it is about it that makes kids crazy, but we faced a wall with it as well.  I believe the answer boils down to practice and patience.  One of the reasons I love Teaching Textbooks is that it's a spiral math program that keeps returning to previously learned concepts - unlike a mastery-type program where I think W would forget what he learned the year(s) before.  Getting to do a few long division problems in the middle of each new lesson was what really helped.

I feel W is just about ready to start on written narrations.  I think it goes hand-in-hand with AO Year 3, since by that time, so much great literature has been read and narrated.  I'm curious to see if what he writes down  will be as nicely flowing as when he narrates out loud.  I'd like to try doing one a week for the next month, then 2 a week starting in September. This is probably the third time I'm saying I'll get to this, but we're really going to give it a shot this week.

The Weekly Academics:

An Island Story (Richard the Duke of York, King Henry VI, War of the Roses), Robin Hood (Finished chapter 3), Joan of Arc (finished!), Seabird (Chapter 18), Excellent narrations of all readings, Spelling Skills 4 (Long O words, definitions, synonyms, capitalization), TT5 (2 digit x 2 digit multiplication, estimation, review of circles, quadrilaterals, & long division, and Math Quiz: he got 100%!), A Year of Poems (poetry & copywork), A Cricket in Times Square (2 pages/day), ScienceSaurus (the meaning of observation).

Dance Competition

April Competition Pic

This weekend we were in New Jersey at our 2nd to last dance competition of the season.  There were a total of 19 different studios there competing from all over NY and NJ.

J was in a solo, a duet, 3 small group numbers, and 3 large group numbers.  She performed Friday evening and then again on Sunday morning.  Adjudications were given on Friday night and overall placings were Sunday afternoon.

Solo (lyrical):  Overall Teen Solo Winner
Duet (hip hop):  Overall Teen Duet/Trio Winner
Small Groups - this means there are 4 to 9 dancers in that number:
          Jazz: Overall Teen Small Group Winner
          Modern:  1st runner up overall
          Open (combines dance styles):  2nd runner up overall
Large Groups - more than 10 dancers in the number:
          Open:  Overall Teen Large Group Winner
          Jazz:  1st runner up overall
          Tap:  2nd runner up overall

"Overall" means that not only did they win in their particular category (e.g. Teen Jazz Small Group) but got the highest score for all teen numbers in ANY category.  Needless to say I am so proud of J and her whole dance team.  I screamed and cheered so much my voice is gone today.

The last competition of the season is next weekend.  By then we'll know which Nationals we are doing in July. 

W found another little brother from another studio and hung out with him for hours, playing DS and trading Pokemon cards.  I'm so glad about that.  These things can get real boring for a 10-year-old boy.  K spent the weekend at my moms in Long Island.  They went to the mall, got their hair cut & colored, wrapped favors for my sister's baby shower (that will be in June), and just enjoyed some great girl time.  K's prom and graduation is coming up and she's been busy preparing for that.  She gave herself enough time for her new hair to "settle", her prom dress is at the tailor getting altered, she's making her hairstyle and mani-pedi appointment soon, the party bus is paid for and ready to go, and the after-prom 4-day vacation trip is awaiting them.  K is an amazing planner. 
        

Thinking Out Loud

Although I had wanted to get to Ambleside Online Year 3, before the start of W's 5th grade, I'm starting to realize that for him, AO3 and 5th grade will be great together.  I have come across so many people who prefer to do this.  And with W's mild dyslexia, holding off on the readings is probably best.  He is just starting to come into good reading flow.  He reads well independently and his comprehension is great - even with difficult Shakespearean language.  This past year has been so amazing.  The strides W have made in all areas is unbelievable.  I love AO.

I have recently decided to increase the rigor a bit.  Up to now we've always gotten to the academics when we could, on days without classes or trips.  The classes and trips always come in waves, peaking in fall and spring, slowing down a bit in summer and winter.  This is probably why AO2 took 2 years to complete instead of 1.  I don't want that to happen with AO3.  So, we're going to try adding in more seatwork time. 

W wants to spend more time in Manhattan, visiting places he loves or hasn't been to yet.  I don't want to curb our field trip/outing time (because there's just so much to do here), but I also want to leave room for everything else.  I work from 6pm-10pm, so evenings are out.  Early mornings are doable.  We normally start academic stuff at around 10:30am, but there's nothing wrong with starting at 8:30am, right?  I'm up at 6:30am getting the rest of the troops out of the house.  W is usually up before 8:30, so I think that's what we'll do.  

Right now W's regular weekly outings are late enough in the day so an early start could actually work.  W said it was a good idea.  He is more of a morning person anyway.  Ok, good.  So now I'm going to stop worrying about taking so long with AO2.  We can relax and enjoy the final weeks of it.  W will continue with TT5, Word Study & Phonics, and daily independent reading throughout the summer.  He'll be going to day camp every day starting at the end of June, so spending about an hour on academics each day shouldn't be a big deal.  He definitely needs to keep up at least the bare minimum over the summer before starting AO3 in the fall. 

I feel good about it, W thinks it'll work out well, and I'm looking forward to summer and starting AO3 in the fall! 

4/30-5/6

It was a beautiful day for "doing Manhattan" this week.   The sky was blue, the trees and flowers were in bloom, and temperature was just right.

Tuesday was our weekly Wayfinders get-together.  The kids spent 3 hours doing some cool improv games and playing Capture the Flag - which is always more fun with 40+ kids.  W could do this every day.  He spent a good while at the end analyzing Pokemon cards and battling friends with them. 

On  Thursday, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We went a few months ago on our own, but this time we were part of a homeschool group tour.  I love tours - you really get a good idea of the whys and hows when looking at something.  This was a group of about 15 4th-7th graders and we focused mainly on Ancient Egypt.  We walked through tombs and temples, learned about Hatshepsut, and discussed some of the mummification process.   








This week's academics include: 
AO Readings w/narrations:  Robin Hood, Seabird, Joan of Arc, & Pagoo, A Cricket in Times Square (independent)
Math: TT5 - long division, radius, diameter, circumference, quadrilaterals (rhombus, trapezoid, parallelogram).
Word Study:  Short & long vowels, Hard C/G, Soft C/G
Poetry/Copywork:  Christina Rosetti poems.

National Museum of the American Indian

Today we went on a homeschool group trip to the National Museum of the American Indian.  It was a wonderful workshop on Bentwood Boxes.  The kids were shown a cute movie about how the night sky became lit with stars, the moon, and the sun by being let out of an old man's cedar bentwood boxes by his grandson.  We were then brought into an area where we saw masks, boxes, and glass depictions of the story.  Finally, the kids were part of a workshop to make their own bentwood boxes, stenciling a traditional picture onto the front of it.  We hadn't been to that museum in a few years.  It was great to go back. 

The Sphere before 9/11

The Sphere after 9/11

 A bunch of us then headed over to Battery Park.  The kids ate a quick lunch and ran around and played.  The park keeps a remnant from the World Trade Center - a large brass sphere sculpture that was destroyed when the buildings came down.  It breaks my heart to see that.  In front of it is a memorial plaque and the eternal flame for the victims of 9/11.

 In the afternoon, W started his first of a series of advanced beginner chess classes in Brooklyn.  It was a quick 15 minute subway ride from lower Manhattan.  There was about 12-15 kids total.  I have been looking for something like this for a long time. 

In a Nutshell 4/23-4/29

Academics this week was pretty much the same as last week.  We read, he narrated, did copywork, math, etc.  Nothing new really.  Wayfinders was great.  He loves it.

K went to speak to an advisor at college.  She now has all her classes and schedule ready for the fall.  In about a month she goes to an orientation and gets her ID card.  It's a pretty campus and she can't wait til the end of August to start.

J had another dance competition this weekend.  This one was in Long Island and we stayed overnight at my mom's.  Her solo placed 5th overall, her duet placed 4th overall, and she was one of only several kids chosen to go on this big 6-day trip to.....New York City.  Sigh.  The next competition is in 2 weeks in New Jersey.  We'll be staying at a hotel for 2 nights.  I love competition season!

Next week is busy and I've been bringing the camera everywhere - so watchout!  LOL

J in Front of Juilliard

4/16-4/22

This weekend (and almost all week), W played with his friend Matt from next door (who turns 10 this week).  Nerf gun wars is still the game of choice and thankfully we have a nice backyard to play in.  He also went to the playground for hours, playing basketball and manhunt.

Tuesday Wayfinders in Central Park was lots of fun.  It was a rainy, muddy adventure, and W loved every second of it.  There looked to be about 40 kids - mostly boys between the ages of 9 & 12 (with some older and younger thrown in too).  The premise is a sort of game like Capture the Flag.  Each were given a foam sword (think: pool noodle) and were told to battle and then die like you mean it, rolling on the ground, writhing.  I thought the guides were hysterical.

W went home with one of his best friends and slept over.  On Wednesday, they had an awesome Pokemon party at the house.  Tons of Pokemon decorations, prizes, goody bags, pinata, etc.  The kids wore Pokemon T-shirts, Pokemon was playing on the TV, there was a table with How-To-Draw Pokemon books and tons of paper and colored pencils, and I counted more than 15 kids there.  I got there at around 4pm to pick W up and then go to work. I was so impressed at how this mom put together such a cool party so quickly.  I have party-planning-phobia and get nauseous even thinking about throwing parties.  She inspired me, though.  I may have one myself one day.

Academics this week included the new math workbook.  Flash Kids 4th (and 5th) grade gives a great review of what W has already done in TT5.  The thing I've learned about math is that my kids may have seemed to master a concept, but without continuous practice, it fades a bit.  The review workbook ($6.95 - $5.25 after discount) is a great idea for now before we continue onto pre-algebra.  He'll be reviewing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, place value, angles, perimeter, area, decimals, graphing, & inequalities.  Then we'll finish up TT5 before the fall and combine that with Flash Kids Grade 5 and he'll do fractions, measurement, percents, exponents, and more advanced versions of the basics (like multiplying with exponents and graphing coordinates).

We also read more of Robin Hood.  The original language is difficult (reminiscent of Shakespeare with it's "dost thou art"s), but I decided to stop paraphrasing.  I now read it as is - with as much inflection as possible - and W gets it.  I asked him what he thought was going on in a certain part and he gave me a great narration, along with his own thoughts on what might happen next.   We're also continuing with Joan of Arc.  We're almost done with that one.  It's not his favorite, but I do try and make the bloody battles really exciting for him, lol.  He did a whole page in the Spelling Skills book.  As he read me the new words, I noticed he said behind for beyond, cannon for cotton, button for bottom.  If I have him slow down and try again, he usually gets it right.  He is definitely getting more right than wrong, though. The 2 spelling activities were classifying and answer the questions.  This gets W to write out the words which helps him remember how they're spelled.

In the Spectrum Phonics & Word Study book W looked at a picture and circled the word as to what the picture was.  Now that sounds simple and I remember similar activities being done in preschool, but again, it was like it was made for him.  One of the pictures was of a desk.  The 4 words given were:  deck, disk, dock, and desk.  W tends not to look beyond the first and last letters, so he chose "deck".  I told him to look at it again and he caught the mistake.  So this is the kind of thing he needs to overcome.  I feel it's because he rushes through his reading and skims over words too quickly, and that causes one word to look like something else.  Thankfully when he reads books he has to backtrack and correct himself or it won't make sense.  The other activity in that book was changed the given word with a new vowel so it makes sense in the sentence.  This can get tricky for him, but he got them all correct.  I love this book. (The one I have is the OLD version with the pig on the cover - NOT the new one with the light blue cover.  The new version has changed the inside contents as well.  I just prefer the 1999 version not the 2006 version).

W also read a few pages of Cricket in Times Square.  He's taking his time with it, which is ok since it's all about understanding.  I'm also thrill about him still loving those Pokemon cards.  He reads them constantly.  One very popular method of helping a slow reader is by having them read nonsense words.  This way they have to use more than just the immediate picture of the word, they have to actually sound it out.  Pokemon is full of that and I don't even have to schedule it into our day! 

The girls love having the week off.  K is more than ready to get to the end of senior year.  She has a meeting next week with an advisor at college to create a schedule for the fall.  Prom is on K's mind all the time, too.  She chose this beautiful dress and MIL offered to pay for the shoes and hair.  In lieu of a limo, about 15 of K's friends will take a party bus to the venue.  I love that idea.  It's huge inside, with a great stereo system, flat-screen TV, refrigerator, and bathroom.  Way cooler than a limo.  The picture to the left shows what the inside generally looks like.  K has also been working and hanging with friends all week.  And we joined a gym together!   We've been going every other day.  I love going with her.   

J has been busy with dance and friends all week.  I spent some more time planning her summer.  Her school requires continuous dancing throughout the summer.  She'll certainly be busy all summer.  She's starting with a workshop in Manhattan for a week, then Nationals for a week with her team, then the rest of the summer is dance almost every day - in Manhattan.  She's so comfortable navigating through Manhattan now.  Subways are easy and she revels in the whole atmosphere. 

On Tuesday this week J was part of a master class with Ellenore Scott (top 4  in season 6 of SYTYCD).  Not many knew about it and only 5 people were in the class.  J brought 2 friends and 2 older girls showed up. Later in the day, Ellenore was giving a master class at Broadway Dance Center, which I know was packed, but this earlier class was at a lesser-known studio.  I thought it was the luckiest thing ever.  So much individual attention and focus.

Happy Easter.