Wednesday, the girls went to an hour-long microscope study class at the Science Museum of Long Island. They learned about the many parts of a compound microscope and looked at pond water drops. They also learned about protists and mezozoans. We hung out for a while afterward, the kids played, the parents yapped. Forgive me if I'm city-centric, but there's just something real odd about Long Island "museums". They're not like NYC museums. They're stuffy and musty and snobbish and pretty bare. Ok, I've only been to about 3 or 4, but jeez. Long Island parks are weird, too. There's too many rules involved. You never see age limits on NYC park areas. It's just understood (areas with baby swings and smaller equipment does not need a sign that says "This area for 7 and under only" on it). You never get reprimanded for playing in a certain areas - areas that are off limits (new lawn seed, equipment fixing, etc) are sectioned off temporarily with a fence in NYC. Long Island supermarkets are more expensive, Long Island gas is more expensive, and you can't just walk a block to the deli for a paper and some bagels in Long Island. It's waaaay to dark and scary to walk around in LI, and even if you wanted to walk around, there's nowhere to walk to (except a neighbor's house). So, sorry if I sound cynical. I'm a city girl and can only take the suburbs in extremely small doses.

Friday was Book Club and while the girls were there, W hung out with some other kids in the children's part of the library. He's kind of sweet on another hs girl (BR) who's almost 7. He gets all goofy and show-offy and made a point to ask me if she was coming that day. They played great together for about an hour. Then he disappeared on her when Book Club was over and the bigger boys came out. Isn't that a typical guy thing to do? LOL. After that was Game Day. W played a bit with BR, but mostly with his Brooklyn friend, F. All the kids had a fun time outside in the 80 degree weather with games and scooters.

Today was the big recital rehearsal. We got there at 10am and got home about 4. It went well, and I think we're all ready for the recital in a few weeks. J and her friend M are both in like 10 numbers so M's mom and I will have a dressing room right off the stage for the girls' quick changes. K and W were both naturals on stage today and B's band is doing 3 cover songs during the show (The Who, Elvis, and Queen songs). So this recital is a huge family affair. We found out we're definitely doing the Nationals in Virginia Beach this year - YAY! So exciting.

Tomorrow after the kids come home from religion class, we're heading out to my mom's for the day. The girls have to take a standardized test this year and according to the hs coordinator, we HAVE to have a certified teacher administer the test. Just another completely pointless hoop to jump through. I will never understand why she feels the need to enforce the NY regulations to the fullest extent. We're fine on our own, thank you. Homeschoolers aren't trusted with educating their own kids. The .00001% of parents who homeschool only to hide abuse, have seemingly ruined it for the rest of us. But, hey, I do believe the rulemakers will either decrease regulations in a few years when they see how homeschoolers blow the public schoolers away academically, socially, and emotionally --- or they'll increase the regulations because the utter success and wonderful-ness of homeschooling will threaten everything they stand for. And we can't have that now, can we.

So I found a NYS certified teacher and he will be administering the test to the girls tomorrow. Such a pain in the ass to coordinate some actual free time to do this. At least it should be over quickly and we can still have a nice Mother's Day. I'll mail back everything this week and I should have the scores soon after. Just in time for their 4th quarterlies. Thankfully the reporting for this year is almost over.

I'm looking forward to a great summer!