Highline Park & The Museum of Tolerance

Our homeschool group trip on Wednesday was to Highline Park right in NYC's meatpacking district.  It's an old elevated railway that was turned into a beautiful park.  Cargo trains used to bring produce and meat into the big refrigerator buildings.  The National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) is right there as well.  The class was all about the Highline's railway history. It was our first time to Highline Park.  Lucky for us it was also Fleet Week and we got to see dozens of these incredible boats and ships going by.  When the class was over, a few of us went to the Chelsea Market for some lunch.  The Market is real artsy and cool, and it's a total foodie's paradise.

W's class on the Highline

Schooner on the Hudson

On Thursday, we met up with our homeschool group again for a class and tour of the Museum of Tolerance.    We saw films, exhibits, and had great discussions on things like war propaganda, genocide (Holocaust, Rwanda, Sudan, Darfur, Bosnia, etc), communism, Nazis, immigrants, civil rights, gay rights, women's rights, bullying, and terrorism.  The films were shown on clusters of screens built right into the walls of the exhibit.  Our instructor was wonderful.  The kids (and adults!) were fully engaged and asked and answered tons of questions. I can't believe how powerful it was to have everything that's going on in the world shown to you all within 90 minutes.  It makes you want to stand up and scream and do something about it.  Lots to talk about when we got home.

Museum of Tolerance

Academics:
W has started blogging about his field trips.  I figure since we go on so many it would be a good idea to have him write about them.  I've been noticing more and more issues related to his dyslexia.  This has prompted me to increase the amount of time spent on reading, writing, spelling, and grammar.  So, the blog entries are about a paragraph's worth (maybe 5-6 sentences) on where he went, what he remembers, and what he thought about it.   He has also gotten back into doing copywork.  He rewrites 3 sentences related to History, Social Studies, Geography, or Science.  (I create these pages for him taken from books and websites) and we save them in a binder.  Readalouds with narrations have also made a comeback.  Right now we're reading Johnny Tremaine.  2 pages of his spelling workbook and 20 minutes of silent reading are also done daily.  Math is done daily and is focusing on everything prealgebra.  Over the next few years we will keep revisiting multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, exponents, rounding, estimating. probability, averages, area, perimeter, circumference, volume, angles, negative numbers, inequalities, order of operations, factoring, square & cubed roots, ratios & proportions, and measurements.  We started using a big 4'x3' blackboard to work out math problems on.  It keeps him more interested and focused and it's a lot more fun.  We're spending a good 1/2 hour a day on math now, but the time just flies by.  I'm happy we have gotten into a nice groove again and I'm really looking forward to September and 6th grade!

Singin' & Dancin'

The weekend was busy.  On Friday night W's show choir performed in a fundraiser gala.  It was really nice.  A live jazz band played, W's choir (a total of 9 kids) sang jazzy standards like "Take the A Train", there was great food, wine, and desserts, and they raffled off some nice gifts.  He was so nervous to perform, but once he's on stage, he's certainly a natural.  Singing seems to be his new thing.  I hope he sticks with it!

Saturday was J's last regional dance competition for this season.  Out of 24 teen solos, J received one of only 2 ELITE (equivalent to platinum) awards given and the 2nd highest score overall.  We definitely had some tough judges this weekend.  Sunday was group day.  J did:

• 4 production numbers (all 30 members of the company are in these) - tap, character, lyrical, & musical theater
• 3 small group numbers (5-8 kids in these) - contemporary, hip-hop, & tap
• 1 trio - musical theater

6 of these received the ELITE award and 2 received High Gold.  The trio, one of the production numbers, and 1 of the small group numbers were the highest scoring numbers of the day!  Now we're getting ready for the big June recital.  J will be performing at a middle school and a street fair in June also.  For the rest of the summer, she will be taking a "theater jazz" and tap summer workshop for 8 weeks in Manhattan (with a final performance at the Alvin Ailey Theater), 3 days a week will be at her studio for their summer intensive, and scattered throughout the summer will be classes at Broadway Dance Center, also in Manhattan.  She won 5 free classes and plans on using them up.

K is officially done with her freshman year of college.  She just took her last final exam (her final final?) yesterday.  She has a new job (no more health food place) at one of my favorite stores and just finished her training last week.  She loves it.  Summer can't get here soon enough for her.

East River Ecology

Lots of science going on!  We joined our homeschool group for a couple of great trips exploring the East River.  The first one was on Friday for park ecology at Solar One in Stuyvesant Cove Park.  (Solar One is the City’s first solar-powered “Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center,” inspiring New Yorkers to become environmentally responsible city dwellers).  Our class was a Water Quality Lab where the instructor pulled up water out of the East River and our 5th-8th graders looked at and discussed its physical and chemical properties.  They looked for microorganisms and plankton using test tubes and magnifying glasses and they tested the salt concentration. Then the kids went on a scavenger hunt all around the park looking for various plants and birds.

Retrieving river water with some of the kids

What's in the water?

Scavenger Hunt

Yesterday we headed over to Brooklyn Bridge Park for "Seining the River Wild"!  This class took place on a cute, tucked away little beach right underneath the Manhattan Bridge.  To the right was the Williamsburg Bridge and to the left was the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge. The instructors, a few parents, and some of our 16-y/o homeschoolers put on waders, walked out into the water and dragged a 20-foot seine net through the water to catch various East River species.  These were put into clear gallon containers and identified and described by the staff biologists.  W and a few friends also did some identifying using a NY river species guide book.    They analyzed markings, fin and tail shape, eye placement, appendages, and size to figure out what they were looking at.  In about 8 trips into the water, we found:  

• Spotted Hake 
• Tomcod
• Bay Anchovy
• Pipefish
• European Green Crab
• Asian Shore Crab
• Sea Squirts
• Shore Shrimp
• Seven-spined Bay Shrimp
• Ribbed Mussels
• Oysters
• Sea Lettuce
• Rockweed

Pretty cool, huh?  Everything was then released back into the water.  As we watched them come in with the seines, I'm sure I'm not the only parent who prayed no dismembered heads or feet were pulled in, lol.  After the class, a bunch of us headed over to the park playground for a couple of hours.  It was a beautiful day.

The Beach

Homeschoolers under the Manhattan Bridge

A few river creatures we found

Seining

In academic news...
We have been keeping to the same academic schedule for a while:  2 pages of Spelling Skills Grade 5 (Spelling, Grammar, & Vocabulary), 1-2 pages of Flash Kids Test Prep Math Grade 5 for a nice review (drill?) of concepts, and either History (readings about Colonial Times), Science (anything of interest mainly), or 1 Lesson of DK Language Learner: Spanish.  We usually do 1or 2 field trips each week as well.  W is doing great with this loose schedule and it hasn't really changed in months.  I am slowly trying to increase his writing assignments, though, starting with chapter summaries.  We're currently working on condensing and fine-tuning the thoughts in his head so they come out smoothly on paper.  We're also going to try other writing activities like poems, songs, pen pal letters, letters to celebrities, scripts, etc.  Our main focus will be on mastering the "3 Rs".  Day camp starts in a little over a month and that puts an end to most of the academics for the summer.  I can't believe this school year is almost over.  Life just goes by so fast lately.

Center for Architecture and More Dance News

We started this week with a trip to the Center for Architecture in NoHo (North of Houston St.) right by Washington Square Park.  It's a cool little museum that's all about the built environment.  We had a class of 5 10-12y/o homeschoolers (it rained so we were missing a few families) who were pretty interested in learning about the architecture in the Middle East.  Once again, they were very engaged and asked and answered a lot of questions.

Center for Architecture

This week was Parent Observation Week again at J's high school.  I stayed and watched her 4 periods (3 hours) of ballet and modern dance classes.  I was so impressed with their focus, determination, and talent.  This school never ceases to blow me away.   J has 4 dance instructors this semester, each one hailing from some prestigious dance company and/or Broadway.  2 graduating seniors made it into Juilliard, and others went right into dance companies, and national tours of shows.  They mean business here and they certainly produce results.  Love this school.  Below is a quick video of J going "across the floor" with a friend.  Every dance class has its own live piano player.

Modern dance class

                                                                    Ballet Class


J and her dance studio spent this weekend at a NUVO dance convention in New Jersey.  She had 3 days (a total of 14 hours) of master classes by choreographers like Stacey Tookey and Denise Wall, among others.  There had to be at least 300 kids in the teen/senior room .  On Sunday afternoon they announced that J won a "Standout in Jazz" scholarship ($250) to one of several week-long summer intensives!!  I'm not sure if it's feasible to do, but how cool that she won!

Apple Store and Hayden Planetarium

I just loooove the Apple Store on the Upper West Side.  W had another class there last week and once again it was great.  It was called Making Music in a Garage Band.  The kids got some new yellow t-shirts, an iPad and headphones to use, and were shown how to create music.  They could use any instrument and piece it all together to make a song.  It was a fabulous 90-minute class made up of about a dozen 10-15 year-olds.  Afterwards, a bunch of us walked over to this wonderful little farmer's market right near Juilliard and Lincoln Center.  There were lots of food stands and tables & chairs.  W and I both got a prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, arugula, tomato panini and some fresh apple cider.  Mmmm.  What a lunch!

iPad fun at the Apple Store

Yesterday, we met up with some homeschooling friends at the Hayden Planetarium.  This is in the Rose Space Center at the Museum of Natural History.  Our first stop was to a special exhibition called:  Creatures of Light - Nature's Bioluminescence, and the next special exhibition we visited was called Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration,  These are fantastic. You follow a set route filled with interactive displays, short films, and larger than life models. A helpful guide went more in depth with what you were looking at. Each exhibit took about 45-minutes to explore.  Finally, we got our tickets to see the planetarium show:  Journey to the Stars.  I have always loved the planetarium since I was a child, and it's still amazing.  Click on all the links to  see what the place and the exhibits are like.  I highly recommend coming for a visit and checking these out.

Beyond Planet Earth - MARS

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Academics:

English: Compound words, dictionary pronunciations, antonyms, proofreading, capitalization.  Math:  Data analysis and probability, mini-test 100% (word problems, pictographs, finding the mean, probability, bar graphs).  Spanish:  Conversational lesson & audio: What's Your Name & review of prior lesson.  Science:  Weather:  atmosphere (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere)

WOW!! Totally Shameless Brag

J's Musical Theater Trio (J is in blue)

We were at another dance competition this weekend in Long Island.  J did 8 numbers on Saturday:  4 small groups (hip-hop, contemporary, tap, musical theater), 2 large productions (musical theater, contemporary), a trio (musical theater), & a solo (lyrical).  Everything got the highest awards - high gold and platinum.  But, I was so incredibly proud when J got a platinum for her solo.  This is a solo she choreographed from start to finish all by herself.  She chose the costume, the hairstyle, the song, she cut the music, and put it all together in less than a month.  She finished it a few days before the February competition.  At that point she hadn't done any cleanups, had enough practice, and didn't even dance with the costume on before the comp - but still made the top 5 with a high gold.  But this weekend she was ready.  It was told to us over and over that this would be one of the most difficult comps we had ever done, with really tough judges.  I think a couple dozen Teen Advanced solos performed, and to me, they were all so good.  They called a top 10 of only platinum award winners.  After they called the first 5, I figured J didn't place, but then they called her name.  She made top 5 at THIS competition!!

Then, they called her up to tell her she won a spot to perform in the opening number of their Nationals!  We aren't going, but it's great to be chosen.  Then they were giving out a scholarship to Broadway Dance Center in Manhattan.  I wanted her to win this so badly.  She's been there several times - taking classes with Tyce Diorio and Ellenore Scott.  They called about 7 kids' names and then last of all was J.  Omg!  I was dying.  Classes there are at least $25 each and she won 5 free classes!!

The next day the team had one more number - a tap production (which just means more than 17 kids).  They  received a platinum award for that and came in 2nd for overall production number.  I figured we were done for the day and then got the shock of my life.  They announced they were now about to give out an overall 13-and-over top Student Choreography award.  They went on about how many company students are choreographing their own dances and they want to recognize that.  And here there was only 1 winner.  When they called J's name and dance number I flipped out.  B and I were in tears that J was recognized and awarded for her choreography.  It is extremely hard for any choreographer to create a platinum-winning solo and I can't believe J did that at 15 years old.

She has already been approached by one of the 12-year-old company members to choreograph her solo for next year's season.

Guggenheim Museum

A piece by Kandinski

We met up with the homeschool group again this week for a trip to the Guggenheim Museum.  Here's another museum I've always meant to get to, but never did.  We had about a dozen kids, all  about 10-12 y/o.  Our tour guide was friendly and fun and first sat with the kids right on the floor of the main lobby to talk about the structure of the building.  It's a strangely shaped place created by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1943. They talked about aesthetics, sounds, history, and architecture.  Our first stop on the tour was to a gallery of artwork by Vasily Kandinski, who created these geometric collages stemming from his synesthesia (music and letters are perceived with colors).  They had discussions about the artwork and we found out that the whole museum was created to house Kandinski's art.  We walked to the top of the spiraled building and passed by many pieces from John Chamberlain.  His art was mainly from crushed and battered cars.  He used all parts of the car except the glass and the tires.

Talking about Chamberlain's sculpture

A sculpture on the main floor

The final part of the class was in the computer lab in the museum's lower level.  We had a new instructor who showed the kids how to use a program called Sketch-Up.  It's a cool 3D design program from Google.  The kids all had their own computers to work with and started with a basic x- and y-axis.  They created rectangles and triangles and then 3-dimensional shapes.  It was fun and W will probably download the program at home.

Using Sketch-Up

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in Central Park.  We got some quick cart food and headed over to the pyramid playground by the Met Museum.  The park was packed with kids and W had a blast forming a huge game of manhunt with the homeschool kids and about 8-10 other boys from the park.  It was so beautiful out and we could have stayed there all day.  


W's interest in singing has recently resurfaced.  He remembered how much he enjoyed being in that kids musical a few summers ago and seems to want to pursue that further.  So, I found him a youth show choir that meets on Saturday afternoons and he started today.  This 12-week session's theme is jazz and so far they're working on singing and dancing to "Take the A-Train" and "It Don't Mean a Thing".  He absolutely loved it and cannot wait to get back there next week.  


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Academics this week:

English: Spelling (20 new words, definitions and classification), Sentence construction, Mini-Test (vocabulary, pronouns, punctuation, sentence construction, using interrogative & exclamatory sentences), Collecting data from various references to write an essay, bibliographies, using a dictionary (guide words, pronunciation guide, syllables)

Math: Area of right triangles, squares, & rectangles, Mini-test (graphing coordinates, area, 3D shapes, metric measurement, congruence), gathering & communicating data (charts & bar graphs), finding the mean

History: American Revolution: Loyalists & Patriots

One Direction, SNL, & Rudy's

J and her friend (S) had exclusive passes to go see the dress rehearsal of Saturday Night Live this past week.  The guest host was Sofia Vergara and the musical guest was none other than my daughter's newest boy band crush - One Direction.  S's mom and I brought the girls in by subway around 6pm.  It was getting crowded inside the NBC Studio building.  Packs of teenage girls were everywhere.  S's cousin (who works for the show) came down to escort them right up.  It was great to see them walk right past the crowd and into the elevator.  They had 2nd row floor seats.  They got to see the whole show and One Direction was right in front of them performing their 2 numbers.  I'd say about 10 feet away.  J & S called a few things out and got their attention and the boys smiled and waved at them.  Needless to say, both of them were crying and dying.

S's mom and I walked around looking for a quiet place to sit and have a beer while we waited for the girls.  That's not easy in the Times Square area.  Finally we found the perfect divy-looking "old-man-bar".  It turned out to be the best place ever.  Looks were certainly deceiving.  $3 bottles of beer, free hotdogs, great music, mixed crowd, and a fantastic bartender.  I found out later that this place has been here since it was a speakeasy in the 30s.  It's called Rudy's Bar & Grill and it's on 9th Avenue right in Hell's Kitchen.  The history of the place is not to be believed.

We walked back over to pick up the girls around 10pm.  We passed right through the middle of Times Square.  I forgot how breathtakingly beautiful it is at night.  I fit right in with all the tourists as I whipped out my camera and started taking pictures of it.  The girls were waiting outside for us and couldn't wait to flash us their show passes.  It seemed to draw some attention.  Half a dozen girls ran over to them asking how it was and if they got to see the band and how lucky they were.  Then out came Leslie Mann (from The Change-Up) who took some pics with fans and jumped right into her awaiting Escalade.  We finished the night off with a vanilla ice-cream cone with chocolate crunchies on it from the Mr. Softee truck right there on 50th street by Rockefeller Plaza.  The subway home took 15 minutes and B was right right there to pick us up.  What a great night!

J and her friend on the way to NBC Studios to see One Direction at the dress rehearsal of SNL

J's access into SNL 

S's mom and I were in the Times Square/Hell's Kitchen area while we waited for the girls.  

NBC Studios & Apple Store

Another great trip yesterday with the homeschool group.  This time it was to the Apple Store on the Upper West Side for a class on Digital Photography.  We had almost a dozen kids - all 5th grade & up.  Each child got a yellow Apple t-shirt and their own iPad to use.  The instructor was young, cool, and funny and really kept the kids interested in what was going on.  The kids took a bunch of pictures of themselves using all the crazy filters.  Then they opened up iMovie to piece a bunch of them together along with music, sound effects, and their own voices.  The class was 90 minutes long and afterwards the kids hung around the Apple store for another 1/2 hour playing on iPads.  W and I went with a couple of others to Ollie's Noodle House for a nice lunch.  I love the Upper West Side.  Lincoln Center is right there and of course LaGuardia High for the Performing Arts, too!

Making a movie out of pictures

Another awesome field trip was the NBC Studios tour last week.  I didn't go, but W did.  They visited the studio sets of a few TV shows and did a mock newscast on the Today Show set - W was the weatherman.  I had done this trip years ago as a teenager.  I remember seeing some celebrities, like Soupy Sales, Victor Borge, and Connie Chung walking around the hallways.  We only had like 6 channels of TV in the 70s so I knew more about who was on the major networks.  W hardly watches NBC at all - or much TV at all, really.  I'm not sure W would recognize anyone.  He had a good time, though.  We had gone to the West Village pool hall the day before and W went home with a friend for a sleepover - they brought him to the NBC Studio tour the next day.

I was once again overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude yesterday thinking about how lucky we are to get to homeschool.  I literally get teary-eyed thinking about how W has such a wonderful balance of academics, friends, trips and classes, and most importantly - plenty of time to follow his interests and enjoy childhood.  The older he gets, the more there is out there for him.   I'm glad J got to have that experience as well - and as brief as K's homeschooling journey was, she definitely got a lot out of it.  

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Recent Academics include:

English/Lang. Arts: Types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative), run-on sentences, fragmented sentences, outlining a research paper, dissecting paragraphs, homonyms, correct usage of verbs, pronouns, & superlatives, 

Math: Pyramids & prisms, graphing coordinates (x & y axis), similar and congruent shapes, equivalent fractions, metric conversions (milli-, deca- hept- kilo-), approximate measurements, estimating area of irregular shapes

History: The 13 colonies, life in colonial times, The start of the American Revolution

Well, Yeah.

Stolen from Twinkle, unpluggedmom.com, and College@Home.  Thanks.


Created by: College At Home

Superheroes!

Today we joined our wonderful homeschool group for the Superhero Tour of New York!!  We all met by the Empire State Building and started our walking tour.  Our guide was great - young, fun, and interesting.  Every location on the tour was a place we knew or probably walked by frequently.  The cool thing is finding out things we don't know about these places.

Add caption

 Check out this fabulous itinerary:
• Empire State Building The NY landmark has featured in countless Superhero adventures, find out which ones!
• Flat Iron Building Not only was this The Daily Bugle in Spiderman, it has featured in countless other films too
• Chrysler Building Spidey's regular perch when he's using his spider-sense, this incredible skyscraper has a long association with Superheroes
• Batman The former Park Avenue offices of Batman creator Bob Kane, and Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit
• Marvel Enterprises HQ Learn about the history of Marvel
• Grand Central Station Find out which Superheroes have battled in this magnificent train station
• Fantastic Four The ‘real’ location of the Fantastic Four’s fictitious Baxter Building
• The News Building Step inside Clark Kent's workplace, The Daily Planet offices are here
• New York Public Library Where Uncle Ben told Peter Parker, 'With great power comes great responsibility!'
• Spiderman The Green Goblin’s Gothic Manhattan mansion
• United Nations Where Batman and Robin saved the Security Council from the "fearsome foursome" of Joker, Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman
• The apartments of Lernore Lemmon (suspected of killing George "Superman" Reeves ) and across the street Kirk Allan (the first Superman 1948) - no they did not knew each other!
• The hidden bar where comic book artists have been drawing superhero cartoons on the walls since the 1960's
• The Superhero Tour incorporates some of the greatest New York architecture and NYC Hotels as seen in the Superhero movies 

The Chrysler Building

The revolving globe from The Daily Planet

Grand Central Station

The "hidden bar" is called The Overlook.  Originally, cartoon artists would go there for drinks and instead of paying their tab, they would draw something on the wall.  So many famous artists left their mark here and I felt privileged to end the day there having a great lunch with friends.  

A wall in the Overlook Bar

W and I are both really enjoying the homeschool life lately.  Maybe because the weather has been beautiful for the last few weeks, but I especially feel a nice sense of calm.  Using the Worldbook course of study as our guideline has been perfect.  We have a great list of what's typical for 5th grade and we cover each subtopic as we like.  It's working.  And neither of us feels stressed.  I love being able to go very in-depth with certain things and revisit subjects until I know for sure he knows it.  I have no doubt he'll be more than prepared for high school.

St. Pat's & Other Stuff

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  As I am more than a quarter Irish and dh has a smidgen somewhere in there, we are having our annual corned beef & cabbage dinner complete with Irish soda bread, rye bread, carrots, & potatoes.  I look forward to it every year.  I refuse to have it any other time - it doesn't feel right, lol.  K is going to another one of those swanky parties with the boyf and his extended family and J is babysitting all day with her friend.  Both won't be home til tomorrow, so dinner will just be the 3 of us.  Well, thankfully, this dinner tastes just as good the next day, so the girls can have theirs on Sunday.

J went to pointe class this morning and then taught her usual 3 dance classes.  W went to karate this morning. He did sparring today.  He is getting better at the movements, but tends to punch like a street fighter.  He does take direction well, so I'm sure that will fix itself before his orange belt test next month.  K is just so happy to be back at the health food place that she even enjoys last-minute covering for those who have called out.  She loves being surrounded by the healthiest food: brown rice wraps, smoothies, fresh juice, homemade oatmeal, etc.  Speaking of healthy food, I decided we are all going to start on a Mediterranean-type diet.  I already made my list which includes things like lots of fruits, vegetables, extra-virgin olive oil, fish, whole grains, brown rice, nuts, and red wine.  I found some great recipes, so I think they'll love it.

In other news, my 25th high school reunion is next weekend.  I have reconnected with more than half of my graduating class through facebook and I can't wait to see everyone.  I went to my 10th and 20th already, but now so many more people are aware of it and will be there.

W's Academics This Week
English/Language Arts:
Using context clues to figure out what certain words mean, The different types of fiction & nonfiction and how to identify and compare them (sci-fi, poetry, myth, textbook, newspaper, instruction manual, biography, etc), Vocabulary words, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homonyms
Math:
Using charts & graphs, Finding mathematical patterns, Equivalent fractions, Long division, The value of an unknown, Geometric figures (from triangle to dodecagon).
History:
Various reading, websites, & documentaries on The American Revolution
Science:
Earth, clouds & weather.  Reading & websites.
Spanish:
DK Language Learner Lesson 1.  W and I had fun with it.  We're both learning together using the book, the CD, and playing the games.

American Folk Art Museum

We met up with the homeschool group again this week for another one of those child-led museum explorations.  This time we hit the American Folk Art Museum. I have never been here before, so it was a trip I looked forward to.  It's really small (one floor) and they didn't have a museum map, so each child picked a gallery and a piece to discuss with the others.  We moms left them to it, standing in a center area between all 3 galleries to keep an eye on them.  The idea of 10-12 year-olds looking at artwork and discussing it together without being guided sounds like it could never work, but you'd be surprised. I certainly was.  Once again, they took the responsibility seriously and rose to the occasion.  

An hour or so later, we were lucky enough to get a tour from one of the workers there.  She was great.  She brought us to several pieces of artwork and told us all about their history, artist, and meaning.  The tour was fun and interesting, but I do think the kids get more out of these trips when they have to come up with their own ideas.

Check out the dancers in the subway the other day:

More 5th Grade Stuff

For the remainder of 5th grade, W will be doing the following:

• Language Arts - Simply Grammar, Spelling Skills 5
• Writing - Journaling, oral & written narrations, Writing Strands
• Spelling - Spelling Skills 5
• Independent Reading - His choice
• Math - Typical 5th-grade standards (various 5th Grade workbooks & test-prep books, Khan Academy)
• History - Colonial America & the American Revolution (books, websites, projects, timelines, documentaries, field trips/classes)
• Geography - Mapwork related to colonial times, states & capitals, countries & capitals, oceans (atlases, flash cards, websites, workbooks)
• Social Studies - US Government, Presidential Elections, CNN Student News (books, websites, documentaries)
• Science - Weather, plants, cells, basic physics (books, websites, experiments, documentaries, field trips/classes, nature study/journaling)
• Health - Nutrition & fitness (smart shopping, exercising, documentaries)
• Spanish - DK Language Learner  (I just bought this.  I'll let you know how it is)
• PE - Karate 4-5 classes/week, Free play

W is considering enrolling in this accelerated secondary school which goes from 7th-12th grades.  I'm not very keen on middle school at all, but it's his choice, and it's one of the very few schools I actually approve of.  They give an admissions test next year and W will be taking it.  He may not want to actually go when the time comes, but at least he'll have taken the necessary steps to have that option right up to the last minute.  It's my job to make sure all doors are open for him if he does choose to go there.  He also will be taking the California Achievement Test (CAT-E) in a couple of months.

So, based on that, we are also doing some test-prep.  There are test samples online and I just bought a couple of prep books for him to practice with.  I promise this will not make our daily academics any longer.  We still spend about 2-3 hours on the academic stuff each morning.  Afternoons are still always free to pursue interests and just be a kid.  I'm not going to stress over these tests.  I know they hardly scratch the surface of what my son knows and understands.  W has never really taken a test before, so he's a bit nervous, but is eager for the experience and to see what it's all about.  I'm sure he'll be fine.

February

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

National Museum of the American Indian

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

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

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

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

And it's Competition Time Again!!

Performing at the competition

J's first dance competition started on Friday night with solos.  They called up their top 10 and J placed 5th overall in advanced level solos ages 15-19.  After they called up the 10th to 6th place solos, she was convinced she didn't place at all.  The top 5 announcements were very dramatic - they'd play your music before announcing your dance.  Hearing the music first made the audience go crazy!  I was so proud of her this year since it was the first time she has choreographed her own solo.  She chose and cut the music, choreographed the whole thing, put together her own costume.

She had never run the number while actually wearing the costume, hadn't gotten to clean it up, and finished the final choreography on Tuesday!  Her immediate team of 5 kids won the highest award and first place for both of their small groups and the entire team won for best production number. Her team also won the 5-foot tall trophy for the studio for the most high-scoring numbers at the Elite level.  Great weekend! So proud!

Science & Wall Street

We're trying out Life of Fred Fractions again this week.  Now that W has the 4 basic math functions just about mastered and is reading pretty well, I think he's ready for it.  He enjoys reading the story and that helps the math problems actually make more sense since they're usually in context.  (A cool thing I discovered is that graph paper is great for working out all kinds of math problems. W pays more attention to what he's doing and makes less mistakes than when he uses regular paper).

Science this week is all about doing projects and experiments using the scientific method.  We're breaking it down piece by piece, using the ScienceSaurus book.  We visited the NY Hall of Science this week, too.  We hadn't been there in ages, so it was nice to be back.  He tried out many of the experiments - everything from light and sound to peripheral vision and molecules.  So hopefully he walked away with a better understanding of how to use the scientific method and why those steps are important.

W has also done a good amount of reading and spelling.  He really likes doing the Spelling Skills exercises (proofreading, analogies, & fill-in-the-blank stuff) and zips through them in minutes now.  Grammar this week has been all about plurals and possessives (e.g. knowing the difference between boys, boy's, and boys' and using them in sentences correctly).  He's still reading the Star Wars book - which I think is way too hard for him, but he's drawn to it and picks it up several times a day.  Besides, he's challenging himself and that is usually a very good thing.  He's even asked me to buy him the other books in the series.

On Friday we met up with the homeschool group for a trip to the Museum of Finance down on Wall Street.  The class was all about financial markets.  They discussed:  risk & reward in investing, the 3 major financial asset classes, what causes financial market fluctuations and crises, stock market crashes, the reason for bonds, and information technology in the field of finance.  We learned what commodities and futures are and how stocks really work.  W really liked it.  I knew he got a lot out of it when he gave his dad a rundown of what's what from the class.  This is a great subject we can study so much further.  

FAO Schwarz & W's Yellow Belt

We met the homeschool group on 5th Avenue Tuesday for a behind-the-scenes tour of FAO Schwarz.  One of the toy soldiers took us around.  We've been to the store dozens of times, but it was very cool learning what makes the store tick.  The kids played with a Barbie Foosball table (that cost $25000), talked with the "nurse" who was holding the newborn dolls in the newborn nursery, saw where the Muppets are made that star as extras in the Muppet movies, and of course, played on the BIG Piano.  And as usual, W found the Myachi guy and spent forever with him - learning new tricks and performing for the customers.

On Saturday W took his yellow belt test at Karate.  He was more nervous than I'd ever seen before.  I knew he knew the moves, but he was so afraid of failing.  Out of about 30 kids going for new belts, 6 were testing for their yellow belt.  I thought it would be quick, but it's a huge event.  The owner (a world-renowned karate master) sits at a table judging every move, writing notes down, and whispering to his assistant.  It's pretty intense.  He did very well - absolutely nailing the kata.  So, now he's a yellow belt and will start "kumite" (sparring) soon.

Academically, W is doing a good amount of math, spelling, & reading.  After FAO, we went to Barnes & Noble with a few others.  After a while, when it was time to leave, I saw that W was sitting on the floor completely immersed in a novel.  I called him over and he begged me to buy it for him.  Well of course!  He was reading Star Wars IV, A New Hope (not a kid's book).  He read it the whole subway ride home and then at home over the next few days.  Wow.  I'm so proud of him.  Apart from the occasional "what is this word, Ma?", he is reading it completely independently with full comprehension.  Things like this make it all worth it.

J is almost done with this season's choreography.  There have been non-stop rehearsals for the upcoming competitions.  I think in total, she spent about 17 hours at the studio this week.  Add that to the 3 hours of dance every day at school and I say thank goodness she loves it.  2 more weeks til the first comp!

K started her new semester of college.  She's happy with her classes so far and is determined to make this semester even better than the last one.

Macy's, Myachi, and The Pulse

Outside Macy's

The guide was fabulous

We went with the homeschool group yesterday on an historic tour of the huge flagship Macy's in Herald Square. This is usually geared toward high school age, but all of our 10 & 11 year-olds loved it and asked tons of questions.  We started in the "Cellar" and worked our way to the 4th floor.  In one section of the store are the original escalators from 1902.  It was so interesting how much planning goes into the marketing and merchandising that makes this store so successful even after 154 years. There are 11 floors and about the same square footage as the Empire State Building.  We were told why makeup and perfume are always on the first floor, why the designer floors create an entirely different "boutique" for each designer's area, and noticed how the teens clothing floor had completely different music, decor, and eateries.  The guide told us all about the Thanksgiving Day parade, how they have the real Santa Claus there every December, what they do for Black Friday, the annual flower show, the holiday windows, the employee training, and the whole history of how Macy's came about.

W and the Myachi master demonstrating some tricks

After the tour, a few of us got some pizza and went to the big Toys R Us in Times Square.  W scoped out the Myachi master and spent almost an hour learning some cool new Myachi moves.  W brought his little video camera and made a cool interview video with the guy - who was more than happy to participate, lol.  It was a great day!

Last weekend we took J to Atlantic City for The Pulse!  It's a huge dance convention with classes taught by the best choreographers in the country.  J and about 15 others from her dance studio spent 2 days dancing with Tyce Diorio, Desmond Richardson, Laurieann Gibson, Wade Robson, Brian Friedman, Cris Judd, Robert Hoffman, Dave Scott, Gil Duldulao, and Brooke Lipton.  It was incredible.  They even got to perform a number in the big showcase - in front of all the famous choreographers!  The highlight for many of these teen girls was meeting the ICONic Boyz, who were there to take the classes too.  Great experience and great weekend.


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W's academics this week included:
Least common multiple, reducing fractions, equivalent fractions, factoring, possessive and plural nouns, continents, & reading.