Reaching the Next Level

Whew.  What a summer so far!  W has been enjoying having July off from academics and I think he'd like August off as well, so why not.  We'll just pick things back up in September.  I have all the supplies I need:  tons of notebooks, drawing paper, sketch books, dry erase markers & whiteboard, pens, pencils, and most of his curriculum.  All I have to buy is Saxon Algebra 1 (maybe, lol).

J continues to dance up to 3 days a week.  She was one of 3 girls selected (out of at least 30) to be one of the backup dancers for an up-and-coming singer.  All this paid work (and paid rehearsals) makes her a true professional dancer.  And so many more incredible projects are coming up.  She is also sometimes assisting her choreographer in his weekly classes.  Another music video she's in was just released yesterday.  And we just got back from...  Nationals!  We went to Atlantic City for a week.  J did great and her new studio was amazing.  We had such a great time.  We have always treated Nationals as our family vacation, and this was the best one yet.

K is almost finished with her cosmetology training.  She has about 6 weeks left.  For the last month or so she has just been taking clients all day.  She gets great tips and 90% of them re-book with her (usually for 6-8 weeks later).  She's already building her own clientele this way.  She is so happy that she threw care to the wind and followed her heart and found something she absolutely loves to do.

All of us have jump on the Mediterranean diet wagon.  I hear it's one of the healthiest ways to eat.  So, breakfast is a lot of whole grains, Greek yogurt, fruit, nuts, eggs, honey, etc.  Lunch is grilled meats, whole grains, fruit, feta, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, olive oil, fresh herbs, cucumbers, lettuce & tomato, pita bread, etc.  Snacks are whole grains, tuna, hummus, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, etc.  Dinners are grilled meats, fish, vegetables, salads, stir fries, brown rice, etc.  We feel better already.

I feel like all of us are stepping into the next level of our lives:  K's cosmetology career, J's college and dance career, W's starting 8th grade - only a year til high school, our new healthy living plan (not only eating but exercising too), my new job, and all the brand new things going on with B's job.  It's an exciting time and I'm so grateful.

October 2013

Autumn in Queens

7th Grade is shaping up nicely.  We have a nice rhythm going and W even complimented me on it this week, lol.  I'm happy to announce we have completed Saxon Math 7/6 and have begun Saxon Algebra 1/2.  I'm glad we took our time with 7/6.  I feel it made a difference.  We are also scrapping Apologia science.  I tried, I really did.  I enjoy the reading and the experiments, but W is fading fast.  He's not liking science anymore and that's not cool.  Also, the YE aspect that I vowed to overlook has started to become blatantly obvious and I can't function that way.  Science is supposed to be fun and interesting, and it's not.  We are switching to Holt Physical Science.  It's a big text and we'll use it for 7th and 8th grades.  It comes with a student text and both a parent guide and chapter resources CD Rom.  Since W doesn't like online academics, I'm not going to bother with the "interactive online edition" which is an extra $50.  We'll use the CD Roms, though.  If we like this program, Holt has Biology, Chemistry, and Physics for high school as well.  They come with labs, worksheets, videos, CD Rom companion, etc., so everything we need is there.  Well, that's the beauty of homeschooling - we can change what we don't like.

Ready to gut this thing

Lately, W has been teaching himself more and more things on his computer and about computers in general.  He created a new and better Minecraft server and more than half a dozen other kids are on it with him.  Being the owner and moderator has put him in a leadership position and he takes it seriously.  When he explains to me what he does and how he does it, it's like he's speaking another language.  I love that he's so passionate about it.  W is also attempting to build his own gaming computer.  He's been researching, making lists, and amassing various parts here and there.  I think it's an awesome project to undertake.  He knows it will probably take a long time but he's determined to get it done.  His other new passion is the mixed martial arts he's been going to classes for.  He goes 4 days a week now.  In just over a month, his agility and strength have grown incredibly.  He uses a wall calendar to write down and keep track of his classes and also to schedule in more cardio (skateboarding, jogging, and jumping rope).  His determination, creativity, and independence have skyrocketed just in the last few months.

I remember J being the same way at this age.  In many families twelve is a very hard age to be and to deal with.  As homeschoolers, I find it to be an exciting age where I get small glimpses of who they will be as an adult.  12 is when J's passion for dance started to soar and it's when she got the idea to attend a performing arts high school.  12 seems to be when my kids start really exhibiting the confidence, maturity, and drive to follow their dreams and become something awesome.

Speaking of J, she is having a great senior year so far.  She:

J's Jack-O-Lantern

• is now working with an agency and is getting paid performance gigs
• finished choreography on her new competition solo for this season
• auditioned for her school talent show (her school only allows the best talent in their shows, so we'll see what happens)
• is taking her SATs next week
• narrowed her college choices down to 9  
• already went through one audition (several dance colleges and conservatories come to her school to audition kids)
• will be assisting in her school's dance auditions again (these are in Nov and Dec)
• was part of THIS  (that's her in the photo "Fateful Woman").  It was on display at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Busy Busy Busy

Beautiful pink winter sunrise on my block

I haven't posted our homeschooling schedule since the beginning of December.  This is the one W thought of and we've been using it.  I still love it and so much gets done.  Here's how it's laid out:

Mon, Wed, Fri
Math
Spelling
Read-to-Me
1 AO Reading w/narration
1 Free Reading
Poetry
Copywork


Tue
Read-to-Me
Artist Study
Composer Study
Dictation
Spanish
Nature Study


Thu
5 AO Readings w/narrations
Spelling
Read-to-Me

W's duct tape wallet...and what his work table usually looks like

And W's new "Read-to-Me" is A Cricket in Times Square.  Yes, that's right.  He picked it and he is actually reading 2 pages each day out loud to me from that 6th grade-level book.  I cannot tell you how proud of him I am.  Backtracking to an easy reading book then up again to something harder tends to work with him. 

W chopping onions.  He did wash his hands, but the paint wouldn't come off, lol.

W has planned and made his meals for his scout project.  I did one with him.  He knows a lot about cooking.  Besides that, he has been modding Nerf guns, making new crossbows, and even made himself a trifold wallet out of duct tape.  All the while he continues to make tutorial videos about cartoon drawing, Super Mario Bros. on the Wii, and different ways to change-up Nerf guns - I should suggest making a cooking one!.




J had finals this week at school.  Then today her English quiz was to perform a monologue from "Fences".   And tonight is her school dance.  Thankfully, she enjoys keeping busy.  Tomorrow is her 9am pointe class, then she teaches her new baby class, then there's 3-4 hours of solo, duet, and group numbers rehearsal with her dance team.  After that, she grabs a quick lunch with her friends and heads to another friend's house to spend the day.  I'm exhausted for her, lol.

East Village

St. Marks Place

 Beautiful day in the East Village here in NYC.  W's Lego Robotics class was Thursday and I took some pictures as we walked around outside.  Here is one of the blocks we walked down.  The East Village, known for the punk scene, art, jazz, hippies, beatniks, CBGBs, Andy Warhol, Japanese noodle shops, tattoo & piercing parlors, incredible nightlife, Blue Man Group, Stomp, the Strand Bookstore, Tompkins Square Park, and an insane amount of bars and restaurants, is just...wonderful. 

Right Off of 3rd Avenue

Second Floor Window Display

W and his Lego Car

And of course the Lego class was a big hit.  W paired up with his friend, F, and together they created a brand new 4-wheeled vehicle.  The trick is to create something that can actually move and turn with a wired control.  All the kids get very into it.  W puts so much thought and concentration into it.  The instructor was great again and had all the kids interested and eager.

Glassblowing Workshop

First I want you all to check out the new book carousels I made in the blog sidebar. I'm so excited about how cool they are. The first one has some great books on using a Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. Further down I made one using many of the Ambleside Online Year 2 selections (that one is a ferris wheel - not a carousel, lol). We are currently using every one of those. Under that is a carousel of supplemental workbooks and stuff that we use and that W likes. Take a look!!

J and W has a great glassblowing class yesterday in Long Island.  After a brief overview, J chose to make a bowl and W, a glass.  The glass is liquid and is kept hot in a 2000 degree oven.  It is swirled onto the end of a long pole, and then you blow into the tube for the far end to created a small bubble of air in the liquid glass on the other end.  Then the glass is dipped into some finely crushed colored glass - to give your piece some color.  The pole frequently goes back into the oven to keep the glass soft and liquidy and also has to keep spinning or it will drip right off onto the floor.  Various metal tool are used for shaping and cooling.  This was one of the more interesting workshops we've ever taken and the kids enjoyed it a lot.  Today we're going back to pick up the bowl and glass they made!

Going With the Flow

The previous post was made in response to a bunch of emails I recently received regarding homeschooling. I tend to get lost in thought sometimes and just have to get my feelings out. I can really empathize with parents who are so fed up with the school system and know in their hearts that homeschooling might just be the answer - but they're held back by the unknown. It's important to realize that nothing is ever set in stone. There is always the option to change what isn't working, whether that means coming home, going back to school, changing curriculum, or taking a well-deserved breather from anything structured.

Speaking of structure, W and I redid his schedule to include less AO books and more workbooks, science experiments, internet research, and hands-on projects. I still read to him - we've just started Wind in the Willows - and he reads out loud to me (his fave now is If You Lived in Colonial Times). He does copywork and poetry every day, we do nature study once a week, and narrations are important. I really do believe that narrations of the books we read are the precursor to good writing skills. The AO books we're keeping are: Joan of Arc (Stanley), A Tree in the Trail (Holling), Seabird (Holling), Pagoo (Holling), Handbook of Nature Study (Comstock), all the free reading - Understood Betsy (Canfield), The Wind in the Willows (Grahame), Robin Hood (Pyle), A Wonder Book (Hawthorne), Tanglewood Tales (Hawthorne), Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (Sidney), Thumbelina and Other Fairy Tales (Anderson), Pied Piper of Hamelin (Browning), Five Children and It (Nesbit), Farmer Boy (Wilder), The Story of Doctor Dolittle (Lofting), Brighty of the Grand Canyon (Henry), Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Atwater), Chanticleer and the Fox (Cooney), Along Came a Dog (Jong), The Door in the Wall (De Angeli). The Charlotte Mason methods and principles are staying put as well. You see, W loves the curriculum and the method, but he doesn't like being tied to a specific timeframe. I get that. I enjoy having a guideline/starting point and I'm comfortable with the endless tweaking of it to suit our needs. We should all live by that thought. Nothing in life is really constant - especially when it comes to kids. We always need to go with the flow. "Unschooly, eclectic AO" is more W's style. Love that, lol.

W's cub scout Pinewood Derby is tomorrow, J has 2 private dance lessons today (for her solo and her new duet) and 3 hours of group classes - the next competition is next weekend, and K had a blast on her college overnight trip. She visited 3 SUNY schools starting with Albany - then Oneonta, and then Sienna - and finished at Marist. She left yesterday morning at 6am and will be home tonight at around 7pm.

W's new passion is weapon-making. He's fascinated with putting together his own contraptions. He has made homemade blow darts (out of aglets and pins), sling shots, and awesome crossbows made from chopsticks, disassembled pens, rubberbands, tons of tape, and big clips. I have to hand it to him for creativity. The crossbow is so cool and works well. The chopsticks are used as the main frame, the empty pen cylinder is where the ammo goes (which is the ink tube of the pen - with the tip still on or fitted with a pin). The clip holds the rubber bands in place and acts as a trigger which then shoots the "arrow" out really fast. He's very careful and keeps all his supplies together in one place. It's fun to watch him. And he made these all on his own without any help. Check it out in action:

Antheraea Polyphemus

Well now. If you remember, way back in August B and W found a big, juicy, green caterpillar/worm thing in the park. They brought it home and it was just starting to make a cocoon. We named it "Heimlich" after the character in "A Bugs Life" - because it looked just like him. It was semi-attached to a couple of twigs and leaves and we put it in one of our old fish tanks. It was out of the way on a bookshelf in W's room. It moved furiously one day in November and I thought that was it. Now it's dead. It just had a seizure or epileptic fit from not being in the park where it's supposed to be. The cocoon was white and hard and never moved again. But we left it alone, just in case.

Today, all of a sudden, I hear some weird, fast fluttering and lo and behold - there's this huge, brown moth in the fish tank. No, I mean HUGE. With closed wings it's the size of my palm. It is NOT a luna moth. It looks more like a female polyphemus moth. These do not eat - and they live only 1 week. In that time they must find a mate, lay eggs, and die. Poor thing.

I can't let it go yet (there's about 2 feet of snow outside today). I put some sugar water on a cotton ball for her, but what do we do now? Anyone?

England

Yesterday's homeschool group Geography Club was all about England. We made cheese and chive scones for the English pot luck. W kneaded and rolled out the dough, grated the cheese, cut the chives, cut out rounds, and brushed them with milk. They came out really good. W is a natural in the kitchen, just like his dad. They were a pretty big hit, too! Other families brought teas, chicken tikka, homemade toffee, crackers and cheese, fish & chips with malt vinegar, and scones with currants.

W wrote out a whole notebook page of information on English sports. He glued 4 large pictures to all sides of a manila folder to show the audience. He went on the small stage and read his report out loud to everyone and showed his pictures. I was so proud of him. Last year we stopped doing the geography club because W was a little self-conscious about his reading. But this year, he's has so much more confidence in himself.

After all the food and all the presentations, it was a perfect time for chess, while all the moms chatted.

Beczak

We had a great class at the Beczaz Center on the Hudson River again. This one was called "The Great Water Mix-Up". There were discussions on the river's salinity levels and pollution. The kids each were given a salinity meter (plastic, looks like a scale), filled it with water and observed the reading. There were samples of salt water, fresh water, and brackish water and they had to guess which was which based on the reading. The reading determined how many grams of salt were in every 1000mL of water (0 to 7 is fresh, 8-26 is brackish, and 27-35 is salt). Then the kids formed 4 groups. Each group was a company created to clean up polluted water. They were each given play money, a list of supplies to choose from, and a large cylinder of polluted water. This water (Beczak created) was polluted with oil, dirt, and chemicals - just like real bodies of water. The kids had to figure out which supplies to buy that would work best in cleaning up their sample. J's team bought a pipet, some cottonballs, and a screen. W's team bought a bottle of fresh water, a screen, and a funnel. It was hysterical watching them all come up with their own methods.

The kids' play was yesterday and WOW did they do a fantastic job! W's show was the first act and he hammed it up big time. He got so many laughs and people were coming up to B and me afterward raving about him. Just like the rest of us, he's very comfortable on stage. J's show was the second act. These were the more seasoned older kids. It was really funny - popular kids (rich girl, space cadet, beauty queen, triplets) fighting with the outcasts (nerd, emo, new-ager, clean freak) and then all coming together as friends at the end. Cheesy, but real cute. W can't wait to do this again next summer. J will have aged out, but she'll be so busy with tons of other things. The picture above is the whole troupe, the production team, and a $5000 check granted to them from the Aviation Development Council in Queens (they sponsor community-based programs). Now we have 3 whole weeks of NOTHING SCHEDULED. Woooooohoooooo. But we all know that after one week of free-time, we'll all be itching to get back into the swing of things. I think I'll take the kids on a few museum trips. :)

W's Weekend

It was Pinewood Derby Day at cub scouts yesterday. B and W made an awesome car out of a block of wood, some wheels, and some paint. The race was great! The Tiger and Wolf dens raced together. There were at least 20 contestants. W was undefeated for 10 races until there were only 2 cars left - his and Noah's. It was tense. It was exciting. And then it was over. Noah beat him twice and won the trophy. Then the Bears raced, then the Webelos. The 3 winners went up against each other for the final round. The ultimate winner got the nice trophy and bragging rights for another year. W was very pleased with his 2nd place finish. I was proud of him for being proud. Inside though I wanted to scream and throw things. So close, ugh, so close. We'll get 'em next year.

This morning W celebrated his first Sacrament of Reconciliation. We got to the church by 11, had a short mass, and about 30 kids got in line to get some sins off their chest and says some prayers for penance. W was so nervous about it, but afterwards said it was easy. He memorized the entire new modernized Act of Contrition and was proud to tell it to the priest. This is the precursor to the next Sacrament - First Holy Communion - in May. MIL offered to buy his suit, so I need to start looking for a nice one. We're off to my mom's tomorrow for W's birthday.

December reminds me of summertime in a way. We tend to have a lull in the scheduled seatwork and pick it up again with a vengeance the first week of January - just like the first week of September. This week we've just been hanging out, watching Christmas shows, making cookies, and doing a minimal bit of the scheduled academic work. W is still reading lots, learning parts of speech, spelling, doing arithmetic in his head and on the computer, learning to cook, and going to dance, cub scouts, and the Home Depot kids workshop. Today he made a football goalpost, an art easel, and a leaf press. B said it was great and W loved it. They plan on going every month. I'm also thinking of taking the kids back to the art museum every week for the art workshops. I spent some time today revisiting all the free or cheap stuff to do around town and I can't believe how much there is. I take advantage of the fact that we live here and will get to it one day. I guess that's why I didn't visit the Statue of Liberty til I was an adult, lol.

J is reading for her book club, doing lots of computer stuff, going to dance and voice classes, and spending lots of time with her best friends. She does lots of sleepovers and hopefully soon, when this apartment is finally finished, we can reciprocate. So even though we take breaks from the written schedule, they're still learning so much. Actually, I've been noticing lately how many connections they make to everything around them. It's fascinating to witness. W adds and subtracts rapidly in his head, understands hurricanes, reptiles, and loves talking about the history stories we've read. We drove past "Albion Street" one day and he quickly pointed out that Albion was the ruler of ancient Britain. K has been working very hard in school, challenging herself to get nothing less than a B come spring. She's become pretty determined and has high aspirations for herself - lol, and still sleeps til noon on the weekends. Today she went to Manhattan with one of her best friends to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and do lots of window shopping.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ahhh, New Year's Eve. A time of new beginnings, new hopes, and new ideas. We're going to a black-and-white-attire masquerade party tonight. It starts at 8pm, but I'm working til 9, so B is leaving the kids there, picking me up, and we'll be back there by 9:30. He made spinach dip inside a round sourdough loaf to bring tonight. This is with the dance company, and it's at the studio, so the kids will be hanging out with lots of friends to bring in the new year.

They are still having a blast with the Gamecube. B ordered some more games for them (they're cheap since Gamecube isn't really sold anymore, woohoo) and they're loving it. The girls and I played Mad Gabs agian today and it was just as funny as the other day. B is out buying those masquerade masks that the kids will decorate when they get home and wear tonight. I'm trying to straighten up a bit and then get ready for work soon. The tree and decorations are coming down tomorrow and then this place will get a good mopping. This was a nice holiday season. I think 2008 will be a fantastic year (8 is my lucky number). 2007 wasn't bad, though. The kids have been happy and healthy, and school and homeschool has been awesome so far.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

The weekend was relaxing. On Saturday I worked, J had dance, K went over a friend's house, and B and W ran errands. Sunday the kids had CCD and W had basketball. Monday J went on a homeschool group trip to the DNA Learning Center in Nassau. The kids did DNA Extraction from harmless bacteria, spent an hour in the computer lab, and delved into The Mystery of Anastasia using forensic techniques to identify the remains of the Russian royal family, and the missing princess Anastasia Romanov. Then they got to have a full tour of the Biomedical Facilities. J and I checked out this website before we went: http://www.dnai.org/. It's great! We loved the section in Applications called "Recovering the Romanovs". It was just fascinating.

J asked if we could please remember to do what's on our schedule every day - and maybe now we can add more things to it. So, we discussed what she liked and didn't like, how she wanted to go about it, and looked at a bunch of websites and other homeschoolers' schedules online. She still enjoys Charlotte Mason and was particularly intrigued by a schedule from a website called Mater Amabilis. It's a Catholic Charlotte Mason curriculum. So we wrote down things we liked from that and coupled it with what she liked from before and came up with a brand new daily schedule that she's very happy with. She says 2 hours every morning is perfect. I ran it by W and he said he liked it too. So I created a new schedule for him based on hers. Once again, they are excited to get on it. This is how it goes when the kids direct their own education. I bet if I demanded they have a schedule and chose what I wanted to do with them all day, they would fight me to no end.

This morning they started out painting with watercolors. W's been begging me to buy him modeling clay ("NOT Play-Doh!!"), instead, I suggested making our own. I found a recipe using cornstarch, water, and salt. It came out pretty good and they played with it for over an hour, took a 20 minute break to dance around the living room to Christmas music, and went right back to the clay. After lunch we'll try a bit of the new schedule and see how it goes. I love homeschooling!

And here are the totally-me results of this personality quiz. Innately I am a structured, logical, high-energy, realistic leader. And the longer we homeschool, the more I notice the kids have these traits in them as well. Cool.

You Are An ESTJ

The Guardian

You're a natural leader and quick, logical decision maker.
Goals are important in your life, and you take many steps to acheive them.
You enjoy interacting with others, mostly through work related activities.
Your high energy level means you are great at getting things done!

In love, you tend to bring stability to relationships.
You feel comfortable being in charge, and you enjoy being a provider.

At work, you take charge. You thrive in structured environments and don't mind enforcing the rules.
You would make a great teacher, judge, or police detective.

How you see yourself: Realistic, stable, and pragmatic

We made our own chewing gum yesterday! I bought a kit from a friend of mine and it had a bunch of different ingredients for us to mix together. There was corn syrup, confectioners sugar, fruit flavoring, peppermint flavoring, and chicle. Chicle looks like the pellets you feed the animals at the petting zoo, but it's real sticky once melted. J and W each took a flavor and mooshed all the melted ingredients together. The sugar acts like flour in that it keeps all the sticky in so it's not all over you. Then they rolled it out with a rolling pin and cut it into small pieces. We all tasted it on the count of 3. It wasn't bad. It was strange in taste and texture, but it was definitely gum.

W was reeling off some more multiplication facts today - some of the 2x and 3x tables. He's starting with the philosophical questions again. He usually does this when we're alone together. J went over her friend A's house early this afternoon, so it was just the 2 of us today. He askes about really big, interesting things he wants to understand and offers his own take on why things are the way they are. We played a few games of Triominoes and afterwards he sat on my bed with a Richard Scarry book before we picked up K.

I'm reading Guerilla Learning again. It's reminding me not to be the kind of parent who is over-involved in K's schooling. I'll admit, I can hover. I have been known to email teachers, nag about homework, tests, and projects, and basically be Big Brother with her school happenings. The new me needs to let her have school as her own endeavor, to do with what she pleases. I want to start keeping my focus on providing an amazingly wonderful home-life for my kids and stop worrying so much about what's theirs. School is K's outlet and getaway. The more "on her" I get about things, the less it remains hers. She loses the enthusiasm to put full effort towards it and keeps quiet about what goes on. Since the new me has emerged, she has started doing more than what's asked of her at school and relates tons of great stories about her day. High school is a time of greater independence, privacy, and maturity. She needs it. No more hovering, nagging, or worrying. She can come home to my hugs, my ear, my smiles, and my homemade eggnog - all for her.

WOW! We went upstate to a fantastic colonial historic site today called Mt Gulian. The kids learned so much. They were told about Dutch trading and got to simulate real trading by running stores, selling things like hats, glasses, rum, and blankets in exchange for (small felt cutouts of) animal skins. They learned about the Algonquin Indians who lived right in that spot on the Hudson River. J ran one of the stores and had to figure the monetary value of the different skins - bear skins were worth 200 shillings, deer=100 shillings, squirrel=30 shillings, etc. After lunch in the 250-year-old barn, they made their own bows and arrows out of twigs and rope. They spent the rest of the time running around the grounds, trying out their bows and arrows, and spotting different animals and insects. It was a very cool experience.

Today was also K's first day volunteering at a local educational center. She took the bus down by herself and started working right away. She put away supplies, vacuumed one of the rooms, brought animals out to show the kids (ferrets, bunnies, guinea pig), and was the teacher's aide for an after-school preK class. Here she read stories, brought kids to the bathroom, helped wash hands, brought out animals again, cut out paper shapes, set up art/paint supplies, and help the kids with their projects. She loved it. It's something she was thinking about doing last year, but kept going back and forth about it. This year she feels more confident and independent - and she'll get credit for it for school. It's great - she'll be volunteering every Wednesday from 2-4:30pm.