Second Year of High School

I love August.  It's just another month closer to autumn!  And it's the time I get everything ready for the new school year.  10th grade is upon us and W's IHIP is mailed.

W started taking drum lessons a few weeks ago.  He's always wanted to, but I couldn't figure out the practicality of it as we live in a small apartment.  But I just found out there are electronic drum sets that hardly make any noise - but sound like a full drum set when headphones are on!  He tried a set out at the music store, so we'll probably pick one up one of these days.  For now, he uses a drum pad to practice on.  His other interests lately revolve around current events, politics, health, fitness, art, playing the ukulele, Muay Thai, computer gaming, and all types of engineering (computer, mechanical, construction, environmental, etc. - I feel like this is the path he's meant to take, but we'll see).

We're going to continue with our Great Restaurant Adventure this year.  We still plan on getting to all 70 cuisines by the end of his senior year.  Also this year I'm going to try and get back into field trips.  Last year he really wasn't into going to same old places, so I plan on finding some cool things places to go this year all around NYC.

We have already started the new school year.  With my working full time, W does some light academic stuff on his own during the week - mainly the English workbooks, math review pages, and history readings. On my days off we spend a few hours on new math lessons, science reading, lab work, and more English and history. 

High school is a breeze so far.  W knows what he has to do to get into his colleges of choice, so he does it.  He makes goals and does what he needs to achieve them.  I truly believe that this kind of determination, independence, and maturity is what comes from 10 years of unschooling.  And yes, our unschooling has always included curriculum.  The kids prefer it, ask for it, help pick it out, and do it on their own terms.  No stress, no hassles.

Here's some of what he's using this year:

Life of Fred High School Language Arts Series (3 books done, 1 left)

Daily Paragraph Editing (still the best thing ever)

501 Reading Comprehension Questions, 5th ed. (we're trying a few new things for English) 

Painless Reading Comprehension, 3rd ed.

Vocabulary & Spelling Success in 20 Minutes a Day 

Math U See Geometry (he asked for something different and likes it so far)

Short Lessons in World History, 4th ed.  (quick and easy)

Apologia Biology, 2nd ed. with all labs (secularly)

Once again, I'm looking forward to a wonderful school year.  Watching W turn into this amazing adult (he's over 5'11" now!) is the most incredible thing.

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.

September 2013

My favorite month!  Actually, at the end of August I stopped in Michael's and got some autumn decorations.  I couldn't wait.  September is the month I can have all the windows open and there's actually a wonderful breeze coming in.  B is looking to start making soup in the crock pot and Halloween is next month!

W was all ready to register for basketball, when he said he might want to try MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) instead.  So, I found a great place with a great reputation.  We went down for a free trial.  The first day was a consultation to see what W's fitness level was like.  He did a circuit of rowing machine, sit-ups, pull-ups, bench pressing, and jumping onto this huge tire.  Bottom line - he's incredibly strong with great form.  They said to try both the kids and the teen/adult MMA classes to see which would be a better fit.  Being 12, W is right on the outskirts of both age groups. The kids class was ok.  There were kids of all ages, including several 12 & 13 y/os.  He did fine.  Then he tried the teen/adult class to see which he prefers.  The older group is much more skilled and focused and I think that's what W needs.  It was a Muay Thai class (a form of kickboxing).  After warming up, they immediately went into sparring and combat.  W seemed to take to it pretty well and would like to continue. The owner of the gym and 2 teachers agreed that he would do better in the older class.  He now goes 3x a week.  We just got him his own hand wraps and boxing gloves.  I'd love to see where this takes him.

A new season of CCD and Boy Scouts began last week.

We started 7th grade this month.  Saxon 7/6 we're almost done with - probably finishing up by the end of October.  Lightning Lit 7 is a hit so far.  W loved Rikki Tikki Tavi and enjoyed the literary discussion about it.  We watched the cartoon on YouTube, too.  Now we're reading Tom Sawyer.  He still does narrations and I ask questions, so I know he gets it.  I do worry about the dyslexia, but so far it hasn't been too much of an issue.  I am noticing it more lately, though.  When he reads, he gets so physically exhausted in such a short amount of time.  I read that children with visual dyslexia and visual processing disorder exert so much more energy getting their brain to translate what they're seeing - no wonder he gets tired.  I am so thankful that we live in the 21st century with things like audio books, digital recorders, spell check, etc.  Even though he reads and writes every day, I'm glad those things exist to help him in the future.

The K12 Human Odyssey for history is just continuing from last year.  We're still learning more about Sumeria. The new geography program is great, too, so far.  It's a fun read.  A lot of the stuff we're learning can be reinforced with a few field trips, too.  And we're moving along nicely with Apologia General Science.  We did a few experiments this month and learned about experimental variables, surface tension, control groups, placebos, and blind and double-blind studies.   Here are pictures from our experiments:

Soap can propel a cardboard boat

Surface tension floats a paper clip

We visited the Sony Wonder Technology Lab a couple of weeks ago.  We haven't been there in a few years so it was all new again - they also had a huge renovation since we'd been there last.  W created cartoon characters, programmed a robot car, performed virtual open heart surgery, and played some cool PlayStation games.

 

J is now a senior at LaGuardia Arts!  She is taking English, Government, and Math, and 2 double periods (4 classes) per day of dance.  This semester includes: Classical Ballet, Modern (Horton), Modern (Graham), and Career Management.  This is going to be a crazy year filled with performances, applications, auditions, prom, and graduation.

Also this month, J:

• Went to several hip-hop master classes
• Stood on line from midnight at Good Morning America in Times Square to see a band called R5.  One member is Ross Lynch (from Disney's Austin & Ally and Teen Beach Movie) who J is in love with.  Only 25 people were picked to watch them perform live in the studio and be on TV.  She, K, and her best friend were all selected.  The got pictures with several band members (including Ross!).  I DVR'd the show and got to see them.  
• Got her senior pictures.  She looks gorgeous.  I still can't believe she's a senior.
• Is getting ready for the new dance season.  Lots of great things are in store.

Weekly Report 1/1-1/7

Happy New Year!  Celebration was at my house this year with the family and one of J's friends.  Lots of food and Dick Clark!  K and the boyf  went to this swanky, ritzy party in Long Island.  Boyf's whole family was there and they all took limos there and home.  K had an unbelievable time and looked beautiful in a long-sleeved, open-backed, blue velvet short dress with tan clutch & tan wedge heels.  She was stunning.  K's doing great at her job and school starts up for her again in a couple of weeks.  J's been crazy busy with dance.  Competition season starts next month.  Next weekend we're off to Atlantic City for a big dance convention.  She's getting together a bunch of info for summer dance intensives here in NYC.  She's not sure what she wants to do yet.  School is still going great (she got another A+ on an English paper, btw) and she just loves every second of it.  It goes by so fast, though.

W and I went to our usual weekly winter haunt again - the uber-cool homeschooler get-together at the pool hall in the West Village.  Pool, foosball, table shuffleboard, and ping-pong were on the agenda for him that day.  Some of the moms and I chatted while making these pretty paper star crafts.  I'm not really the crafty type, but mine came out pretty good!

W is almost ready for his yellow belt in karate.  He got a stripe added to his belt this week.  Test at the end of the month!  He got contact lenses this week and now he doesn't have to worry about his glasses sliding down or flying off.

We were scheduled for a trip this week to Wall Street for a class on the History of Money, but W came down with a sore throat, cough, & fever.  He's feeling better now.  He has responded very well to the relaxed academics and seems to be retaining a lot more.  He even came to me at 9:30pm one night to "do work".  We're moving really quickly through math, his reading is still at or above grade level (have we passed the typical dyslexic plateau level?), and he's picking up 5th-grade grammar very easily.  Science and History have been in the forms of readings & questions, documentaries, field trips, and projects/experiments.  It's fun and stress-free, just the way we like it.

This week's academics included:
Prime & composite numbers, Factoring, Greatest common factor, Equivalent fractions, Reducing fractions, Proofreading paragraphs, Prefixes, Dictionary pronunciations, The Giraffe, Pelly, & Me (Dahl), The history of money (Money Sense).

2 Field Trips

We went back to the Paley Center of Media (the old Museum of Television & Radio) on Monday for a great class.  It was called "The Fine Art of Persuasion" and it was all about advertising.  We watched and discussed different commercials - from different decades.  We learned about target audiences, how ads are the reason most TV shows are on at all, tricks of the trade, exaggeration, what companies what to convey, etc.  I learned a lot.  The adults enjoyed it as much as the kids did.  And the kids were so into it - all the kids had their hands raised constantly to ask and answer question.  After the class, I heard the instructor tell the trip coordinator that these were probably the smartest kids she's ever seen.

On Tuesday we did a guided tour of a local supermarket.  I love these kinds of trips.  It makes you pay more attention to what's going on in the normally boring places you regularly go to.  We were brought to almost every food section and the kids got a baggie of stuff to eat from each of them.  Topics included:  organics, artificial colors & flavors, locally-grown produce, types of bread/grains, MyPlate (which replaced the food pyramid), unit pricing, understanding ingredient labels, and healthy living.  I think W got a lot out of it.  Both of the trips this week were for 5th-8th grade.  I'm really happy there are so many trips and classes for this age group.

J's school is performing Guys & Dolls next month.  If you'll be in the city for any of the show dates, I encourage all of you to experience this.  It's Broadway quality and only $20/adults and $10/students - you can order them right on the website.  Other than that, J's doing really well again this year.  She still loves it more than anything.  At the dance studio, they're in the throes of new choreography for the 2012 competition season. There will also be plenty of workshops, conventions, and outside classes this year, too.  K is enjoying college and doing great and she's still in training at her new job.  Her birthday is next week - on Thanksgiving!    W is still going very strong with karate.  Three days a week doesn't seem enough for him.  I have every Friday off in December so all month he can do 4x/week if he wants.

Academics

We'll be staying with fractions now for a while.  First we're reviewing the basics.  He gets it and seems to like fractions (he's probably just glad to be away from all those multiplication and division drills, lol).  I'm using a lot of different tools:  online videos and games, workbooks, manipulatives, using fractions throughout our day, and we took out the big blackboard.  I don't want it to get boring.  Spelling Skills was another 20 words along with categorization and "if-then" exercises.  In the bridge book he did a page on synonyms and using a thesaurus and common abbreviations.  And we read about fruits and vegetables in Science Lab in a Supermarket which  went nicely with our supermarket field trip.  He he did a written narration with this.  We started reading The Landing of the Pilgrims (w/a narration).  W did more independent reading as well.  We mailed the first quarterly report out this week - same format since 2005.

This Week - Academics & Karate

I still feel good about letting go of curriculum.  I thought I'd have doubts, but I'm good.  

W's favorite book is Spelling Skills.  I agree with him - the book has everything.  This week he learned 20 new words and did a bunch of definition and antonym stuff with them.  Then he proofread a paragraph, finding the spelling mistakes and adding correct punctuation.  He also learned about "subject" and "predicate" and did a page on those - and when a word can be both a noun and a verb (e.g. poison, soil, etc) and how it gets listed in a dictionary.  38 more pages and we move on to the next level.  

For math, we started out the week with the Flash Kids 5 and by Thursday W asked to go right to TT7.  We're starting it in the Fractions section (Unit 4, Lesson 28).  He's done very well with the previous weeks' multiplication and division review.  He has the tables memorized and zips through long division with no problem.  I do feel he's ready to move on.  The great thing about fractions, decimals, percents, etc. is that all the math basics will constantly be used.  And even in the fraction lesson, TT7 threw in a few large-digit multiplication and division problems.   

He also did a few pages in a geography workbook (earth's makeup, other planets), a reading comprehension exercise in a summer bridge book - which I knew he'd be great at thanks to all those narrations over the years, and lots more independent reading.  We're going to focus on colonial and pioneer life this year for history - from about the late 1600s to the late 1800s.  I have a gazillion books, websites, and documentaries saved for this.  For science, we're going to try and spend a week on each worldbook topic (biological adaptations, biotic communities, animal and plant classification, etc) along with regular nature study (notebooking).  It's easy this way - we'll be using the  NY Hall of Science a lot, along with workbooks, websites, and science shows.  Gotta keep it simple.

Karate and fitness are W's new obsessions right now.  He goes to karate 3-4x a week and to the track 2x a week.  At karate, he's learning the 20 moves in the Kihon Kata, and the basics of Kumite (sparring) and in about 2 months he can take the test for his yellow belt.  At the park, we run around the track twice, then W does a bunch of reps and sets on all the exercise structures that are found every 50 feet around the track.  It's mostly sit-ups, leg-raises, push-ups, dips, lunges, pull-ups, and stretches.  Hey, it's good for him and it's starting to branch off into nutrition and other healthy living.  I love when he gets so into something.

MOBiA & Karate

The Museum of Biblical Art (MOBiA) was where we went with the homeschool group this week.  It's another one of those places I'd never been to or even heard of.  It was really cool.  We looked at a bunch of very old family bibles (from the 18th century) and talked about what families kept in there - such as pressed leaves, locks of hair, important dates, etc.  We saw some fancy covered bibles that salesman went door-to-door with and how families could purchase a nice bible 1 book at a time.  Afterwards, we all made our own books with beautiful fancy covers.  The pages were accordion-style from construction paper and the covers were heavy frame-backing cardstock that we glued foam shapes onto.  Then we covered the whole thing with shiny gold or silver foil paper that molded to the foam shapes underneath.  It did look like a fancy bible cover.

Halloween was fun, as usual.  J had several parties at the dance studio on the weekend and her high school always does Halloween pretty big.  They even open up the dressing and locker rooms 15 minutes before and after school so the kids can get into their costumes when they arrive and out of them when they leave.  After school is a grand Halloween parade/contest in the school's smaller theater.  Always a packed house for that.  W went up to the main avenue with a friend.  At 10 years old I think they've figured out that the stores are easier to hit and they give out cool stuff.

Academics this week included more long division practice in the Flash Kids workbook.  I'm confident W's got that down now.   I might have him do 1 long division problem a day just to keep him on his toes.  All in all we just stuck with math, spelling, and reading this week.  Halloween, B's birthday, my sister's birthday, my niece's Christening this weekend, and the official start of the holiday season has kept all of us a bit distracted this week.  We'll get back on the AO track next week.


Oh, and W finally started taking karate classes (that I've only been promising him for about 2 years).  We found this amazing place with great prices and great teachers.  He took an introductory class on Thursday and absolutely fell in love with it.  I think he was a natural - very strong and sharp and he gave the sensei his full attention.  His 1st official class on Saturday was about an hour and a half long.  W learned punches, blocks, and played a game with round kicks (out of 25 kids, he came in fifth place - not bad for his first class!  Saturday was a combined class.  His usual class will have only about 15 kids in it).  The sensei was impressed.  W will be going 3x a week (we pay for unlimited, though, so we'll go more days when we can).  I am really loving his enthusiasm about it.  I hope it's everything he wants it to be.

And here's 2 pictures of my beautiful 4-month-old niece.  Her Christening was this weekend.

.

FOOTBALL!

So, W went back to football practice this week and decided he wants to join the team again.  It was a good few hours and W felt he did really well.  They're practicing in a school gym for a few weeks and then they'll move out to the park.  I'll admit, the drills are tough.  But W is tough, too.  I told him that in order to be really good at anything, you need to work hard at it.  It might not be fun all the time, but it will be worth it in the end.  He thought about that and agreed.  He may eventually hate football, but at least for now, he's giving it a chance and putting his all into it.  Back in the summer of 2008, W played defense. I kinda think he'll be doing that again this time.  :)

Mets

B took W to a NY Mets game today. It was "Trick-or-Treat Bag Day" and all the kids got a bag. There was also lots of activities for the kids, like a batting tee and a dunk tank. They were thisclose to being in the Jumbo-tron, but missed it by one person over. All the kids there were able to run the bases at the end of the game, with the parents meeting them at home plate, but it started raining half-way through the game. Since that literally put a damper on things, W had enough and was ready to come home. I picked them up by the 7 train and saw that W not only got a trick-or-treat bag, but a small Mets bat, and a sheet of baseball cards. He thought the new CitiField was awesome.

---------------------------------------------------------------

On Friday W was begging to do more phonics flash cards (I know. WTH?, LOL), so we grabbed the dry-erase shelf, some markers and got to it. We finished all the sight word cards (172 words!) and started on the phonics set. These have one word on one side and the other side has 2-4 other words with the same letter combinations (like eight, weigh, and sleigh). He wrote each word a few times, then made sentences out of them. He knows most of the words on the cards, but the continued practice of saying and writing them out are important for him to retain them. He definitely remembers them when he sees them in books he reads. Not to mention he just loves this activity.

We read some Burgess Animal Book and watched a video of Pilgrim's Progess (part 1 of 9). Math is still from The Complete Book of Math (haven't gotten the TT5 yet) and he did a lot of basic multiplication up to 12x. He's very good with arithmetic, "gets" multiplication and division, and has memorized much of the table.

J did 3 LoF chapters and a bridge (an LoF recap of previous chapters). She also did 2 chapters in the Barron's Life Science book. I love that she's at an age where she's taking the initiative to get work done. I think she spent over an hour working on the science. J is very focused and prefers to stick with one or 2 subjects, rather than jump around to many different things. One day she'll do just math and science, and the next she'll spen an hour reading a book, and the next would be history and writing. Having control over what she does and when she does it causes her to enjoy it and put her heart into it. I love that.

Week 2

The kids are still enjoying the new schedule. Yesterday W did some handwriting practice, math workbook, phonics workbook, and we read from the Burgess Bird Book, Paddle to the Sea, and Aesop. He loves it all. It's great seeing so much enthusiasm from him.

We haven't done much yet with foreign language, extra reading, or nature study. I think we have to build up to those. Although, last week W got a pet lizard (a green anole) and observing it and feeding it live crickets is pretty fascinating. We now have 4 goldfish (3 comets and a black moor), 3 African Dwarf frogs, 2 hamsters, 2 hermit crabs, and a lizard. That's more than enough nature for me.

J started with math and then we did readings together about the 19th Amendment, Natural Law, and Einstein. We also started reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. I couldn't stand Shakespeare in school. It was dissected to death and all the enjoyment was sucked away. J happens to be very into it. I'm liking it a lot now as well. I "get" it now.

Basketball registration is this weekend. Cub Scouts starts next week, too. W and K will both take Musical Theater with J at the dance studio, and K starts private guitar lessons this weekend. J's dance classes are in full swing now and she's assistant-teaching one of the younger classes again as well. So much great stuff happening around here.

Determination

This morning we went to archery. J felt like trying it, too, this time and fell in love with it. After 3 hours, she could have stayed another 3 hours. She was popping the balloons and hitting the bullseye on almost every shot. The photo on the left was taken by the guy running the place. She did very well and he told me he knew J was a dancer from the way she carries herself, that she has so much poise, is really focused, and takes direction very well. I wasn't shocked at that, since I know J takes very quickly, easily, and usually incredibly well to knew endeavors, but I had to laugh a little on the inside. My J, who not so long ago was singled out to be put on medication for being too hyper and too unfocused in school. She was told she "wasn't a good fit" for the full-time/self-contained gifted program she'd been in over a year (called "The Academy for the Intellectually Gifted" - a name that still makes me rofl). She was very extroverted and popular (and bored and uninterested) in the classes and that clashed with the kind of children the teachers were used to in that program. I'm just glad she got out when she did. What I think is important is that J learned a lot from her school experience and it only cemented her decision to homeschool even more. Her education is now what she needs it to be: hands-on, experiential, and in context. And I believe this is the reason she can now approach anything new with drive, determination, and confidence. I have no doubts that she'll continue to succeed at anything she wants to.

On Sunday, we spent the early part of the day at a local street fair. J's studio performed about 12 numbers to a nice-sized crowd. It was hot, but everyone had fun. J did her dance solo, sang a song, and was in a few group numbers. Then they got to do the whole set over again a couple of hours later! This week also starts her new class season. 1.5 hours of ballet was slotted for Monday evening and the kids looked beautiful. I was off of work yesterday for my birthday, so I got to watch the class a bit, but I probably won't get to do that again for a while. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the new choreography for this season.

Archery

W gave archery a shot today and really enjoyed it. There were a bunch of boys his age there and he made some new friends (and loved seeing his old friends). The kids each got their own targets and were fitted with arm bands, clipped on a big cylinder of arrows, and learned how to use the huge bow. W started out shaky, but within 30 minutes he was shooting straight, very near the bullseye. The instructor pinned a balloon to each target and W hit it every time. It was so cool to see the quick progression from not being able to hit even the wall around the target to popping the balloon in the middle on the first attempt. So we signed up for the fall season!

He decided that for now he'd like to put football on hold for a while. He's been getting knocked around pretty hard and cannot stand the intense drills. It probably would have been fine once a week, but once they started this 4-days-a-week schedule (Saturdays and Sundays at 8am!), he just lost his drive for it. I don't blame him. I mean, he loves the actual games, but since those are only once a week, it doesn't make the rest worth it to him. Maybe another time. I'm relieved. Although I never said anything to W, I was very nervous watching all these 6-8 y/os getting the wind knocked out of them 25 times in 2 hours.

Cub Scouts and CCD starts up again next month, too. J is all set to start her new solo choreography, group technique, and 12 weeks of vocal training within the next few weeks. K is looking forward to her sophomore year of high school. She needs a few more supplies, a haircut, an eye exam, uniform clothes, and lots of other clothes before school begins next week. Ugh, nothing like waiting til the last minute.

W's scrimmage game was so much fun to watch today. The team they played against are in a totally different NY league, so they won't be playing any "real" games together. This other team had mostly 8-9 y/os so they were bigger and more experienced. W's team got in a few good tackles, though. Each team got to do 10 plays per quarter. I think W's team learned a lot today about teamwork and game rules. I still think it looks so rough and B and I both keep reminding W that it's ok if he feels it's not the right thing for him. We just keep taking it day to day and we'll see what happens. W has 2 practices and 2 more scrimmages this week. I'm tired just thinking about that for him.

J knocked out her dance essay in about 2 hours. I knew she would.

And J turned 12 yesterday! B took her into Manhattan on Friday for some shopping and some lunch. We spend Saturday at my moms, went to dinner, and came back for cake. We stayed over and B, W, and I left early this morning for W's game. The girls stayed out there, went to the beach, and did a bit of shopping (of course).

I got a few more books at Borders yesterday: The Hobbit, Island of the Blue Dolphin, A Cricket in Times Square, the new Clique book, Nate the Great, and the Complete Works of Shakespeare (34 plays and a bunch of sonnets and poems). I only spent $37. I love the educator discounts! I want to start a new readaloud this week and finish it before we begin the AO stuff. W's been doing a new (really fun) reading/phonics workbook the past few days and J's been reading more, too. Now that she has her own room, she has more privacy and peace. She has a high loft bed and underneath will be a cute futon/couch where she can read and relax. It's being delivered this week! K loves the look so much, that she decided she wants a similar setup in her room. Apartment living demands creativity and good use of space. I'm getting pretty good at it, lol!

J went to the Knitting Factory in Tribeca tonight with her friend S (and S's mom) to see a band called "Honor Society" . Never heard of them, myself, but the girls are into obscure boy bands lately, so why not. They got up close to the stage and had a fantastic time. During one of the songs, S's mom happened to look up - the Knitting Factory is a smallish place and has a few balconies (B's band played there earlier this year and he explained the place's layout) - and 5 feet away, on the first balcony was another boy band. These guys are a certain trio of brothers named Nick, Joe, and Kevin. Yep, the Jonas Brothers were in the same club as my kid. S and J made immediate eye contact with them and were thrilled that Kevin smiled and waved to them. So this now means that Kevin is the nice one and his brothers...not so much. It probably won't matter next week when the girls are at their concert at Madison Square Garden next week.

Speaking of B's band, they're still NYC regulars. They just had a gig Friday night in Greenwich Village. He loves it, it's cool, and they make some bucks. Over the years they've also played at Desmond’s, Kenny’s Castaways, Village Underground, Continental, Hogs & Heifers, Otto’s Shrunken Head, Lit Lounge, Tribeca Rock Club, Don Hill’s, Snitch, Le Bar Bat, Ace of Clubs (Acme Underground), and tons of others. They crank out demos and are always writing new songs. They've even been on the radio a few times. Not bad for what basically amounts to a hobby - and an inexpensive one at that! None of the band members really have any grand ambitions to "make it big". They all, thankfully, have pretty nice day jobs. And besides, I keep telling B that all the real money and fame is with children's music! He's considering it, lol.

J still hasn't started her essay for dance. It's due tomorrow. I think she's like me - prefers to wait until the very last minute and then does a pretty good job. I figure, why do it early? I would constantly second guess myself and revise it too many times. The first draft is always the one you really mean, anyway. :P

W had football practice again tonight. Now he's up to 3x a week. I know he loves it, but the roughness is kinda worrying me. I mean, he's a tough kid, and certainly holds his own, but still. I think we'll just take this week by week and see what happens. He's on the front offensive line during every practice. That's probably going to be his place for the season. Not sure exactly what that entails (not a football person), but I do know he runs into the other players a lot. B will fill me in on the rest of the rules before Sunday's game so I know what exactly I'm rooting for. LOL.

W and I went to the Queens Botanical Garden yesterday. I haven't been there since a 5th grade school trip. It was nice and peaceful with pretty flowers and trees. I liked how all the different gardens had the plant species labeled so you knew what you were looking at. W thought it was ok. He liked reading the signs, learning about the gardens, and coming up with his own theories on why things were the way they were. His favorite part was the "bee garden" where lots of wooden bee "houses" were and we could see the bees going in and out. He also loved the visitor's building where he could look through pamphlets and check out the different objects and books for sale.

Football is going well. Next week, the team has their first scrimmage game with another team a few towns over. They'll be going together by bus and all the parents will follow and meet them there. W is really excited about it. He's starting to really love football now. He was having some fear issues with a drill called "nutcrackers", where two boys just run into each other full-force - the kid with the ball is supposed to get past the other without getting tackled (or fumbling the ball). One big kid terrified W the most the last few weeks. W would get tackled right away, getting the wind knocked out of him a bit and asking to please not get paired up with him again. But yesterday W went right up to the coach and asked if he could try once again to go against that kid because he needed to do this to get over his fear. He did it, and did it well without fear and was so proud of himself. He admitted his fear, faced it head-on (literally!), and proved to himself he can do this. That took a helluva lot of guts, imo. I'm so proud of him. Here's W during a defense drill (at the beginning he's on the left)

J had a fun week at dance, having to choreograph a number with 2 friends and perform in front of the parent audience. They wore purple, white, and black, and I know they put their hearts into it. I had work, but B went and said it was great. The new season's choreography starts next week and they're having a pizza party on Friday. She still hasn't started her essay, but I'm like that, too. I do my best work when it's last-minute. Not sure why that is, lol.

Another thing I've come to realize is that I function best with schedules and lists. Deep down I knew that, but when we embraced unschooling, I felt I should learn how to be more spontaneous and creative. I lived without my daily lists for a while - only making the occasional shopping, Christmas gift, or cleaning list. But now, ever since AmblesideOnline has become a part of our lives, I am starting to make list after list and schedule after schedule and I'm LOVING it. I made a daily AO subject schedule. I wrote down the weekly schedule. I have a list of their books. I have an extra-curricular calendar list. And I've stated making daily to-do lists for myself again that I cannot believe I lived without for a few years. Everything's on my daily list - and then I check things off as I do them. I've become a total list/schedule junkie again. All I needed was that little taste...

All W

B, K, and I watched W at football practice on Sunday. We brought our fold-out chairs and relaxed with coffee and rolls on the grass. I loved every minute of it. The boys started with a lap around the park, jumping jacks, and running exercises. Then the 10-11 y/os went one way to practice and the 6-9 y/os went the other way. W's group started with the tackling dummies. The coach is a great instructor and I can see W has a lot of respect for him already. Listening and following directions are a must - and a lot of these kids are learning that the hard way. W got a lot of praise for his tackling - lots of high-5s and "YES!s". B was impressed with W's form, too. I'm sure B won't miss any of W's practices. In the above video, W is the kid in the middle with the white shirt - you can see the coach clapping for him at the end, lol. The last 1/2 hour was spent with the boys learning their first play. They put W as tight-end and they ran a few plays like that. I'm curious how the kids are going to do with equipment on. Of course my first thought was how cute W's going to look and wondering what kind of photo package I can get, lol. After practice we picked up J (who's singing solos with her friend A in the church choir) and headed out to my parent's house for Father's Day.

J spent the day yesterday at A's house, and W and I went to the Hall of Science. It's one of his favorite places in the world and he asks to go very often. Thank God we get in free (and live 5 minutes away) or we wouldn't go so much. He had a blast, as usual, making sure we hit every floor and every section. We only caught one demo (laser light) since we got there so late. But we do it on purpose to avoid the deluge of unruly school kids. We did run into a few kids who were just loud and obnoxious - W came right over to me and said, "See? This is why I choose not to go to school". I LOL'd and was thankful about that as well. Here are some pics:



W ended up getting 2 patches at the cub scout awards ceremony last week - one for the parade and one for fishing. He got a birthday party invitation from one of the kids and a bunch of them are already planning summer playdates. It's nice that one of his new friends lives right up the block from us. I might look into other summer activities for him if he's interested, too. The kids will be doing a lot of CM activites over the summer to ease gently into Ambleside's Years 1 and 6 come September. We've already got the whole thing planned and they're very eager to get to it. So the summer will have lots of readalouds, nature studies, a bit of copywork writing, listening to more classical music, visiting more museums, doing more art projects, and J will continue with her math program. I'm happy that they're happy with it. I'm still getting used to the heavier emphasis on academics - they still need to prod me into action most mornings, lol. But I'll get there. I do think we're in for a terrific summer.

Today was the last day of the kids' circus class for the season. They loved it so we're thinking about signing up again in the fall. The did a lot of cool things today. First, they walked in, crawled in, and glided along the outside of the huge hamster wheel. This looked like a lot of fun and I wanted to jump in there with them. Then they did tricks on the big circus ring. The instructor was inspired by the Circus of the Stars that was on last night and had them hang, swing, and spin on it. Finally it was trapeze time and they did some cool tricks on that and flipped off of it onto the mat. It was sad to see it end already. The instructor came up to me at the end of class and mentioned that she thinks J would be great in their kids company. I asked about it and she said the kids practice every Friday afternoon and get to perform often. She also said it's only for kids who are "selected". J just looked at me with her jaw on the floor. She couldn't believe she was actually selected for this team of kids. They know she has a heavy dance schedule but they want us to consider it anyway.

J was also excited to be a part of "ballet 2" and soon "acro 2" in the summer dance intensive. These are the highest levels and she really wanted to be in those. She's starting vocal training next week, too. She'll be trying out the new coach we found to see if they "connect" at all. She seems pretty set on the song she'll be competing with next season and we just need to copy what we downloaded onto a CD and have it cut to under 3 minutes. So next season, in addition to the 5 or 6 group numbers she'll be in, she'll have 2 dance solos (if we carry over one), a dance duet, and a vocal solo for competition.

W has football practice every Sunday morning during the summer. He's getting his uniform and equipment next week, too. The coach said they ease the kids into getting used to all the heavy gear. They start out with just helmets and move forward from there. I had a nice conversation with the coach today. I called to get the summer schedule and found out he played for this team himself starting at age 9 and continued throughout his teens. He played football in high school and college and went semi-pro. By that time he'd started a family and was still working full-time and after a few years he knew his family was more important and put football away for a while. I'm glad W's got him. He's awesome with the kids and really knows what he's doing. W gets a cub scout patch tomorrow at their awards meeting. That's it for scouting for the summer. It picks up again in September. And W is asking to take tap dance lessons over the summer. His friend is in the little dance company and W wants to learn to tap like him, lol. I'll see if we can swing that for him.

And my darling teenager is thrilled that her last day of school is Monday. Then it's just 3 Regents exams and she's out for the summer. She's been keeping busy at friends' houses, street fairs, movies, shopping, etc. Typical teen stuff. I'm not sure what she want to do during the summer - probably more of the same, lol. She did express interest in taking musical theater again in the fall at the dance studio. I'm glad. She is great at that kind of thing, but doesn't like to commit to anything long-term. She's the kind of kid who has tried everything (gymnastics, dance, aikido, violin, drama, cheerleading, cooking class), loses interest after a while, and wants to move on to the next fun thing. She's definitely a free spirit.

Football

W had his first football practice yesterday. He'll start in the 5-7 group this year where he'll learn all the basics of football and get used to the training. There were about 10 kids in his group - most of them 7 y/o. They started with jumping jacks and laps around the park. Then they learned proper "stances" and the coaches threw the ball around to them a bit. After that, they practiced ramming into tackling dummies. It was great to watch. W said that was his favorite thing - which I so knew would be, lol. They also did other drills, like knee-up running, relay races, obstacle running, and agility on the running ropes. The coaches are akin to drill sergeants - they are very no-nonsense yet really treat the kids with maturity and respect. W likes that and responds very well to it. It was rough, it was tough, it was disciplined, and best of all it was incredibly fun for him and he cannot wait to do it again!

We are just taking it easy until after Labor Day. K is all ready for school and J and W are ready to begin their new schedule. We were going to start this week - as a practice week - but J wants to wait til K is in school. She's distracting, I guess, lol. W wants to start ASAP but not without J. We all decided to just wait til next week. It's ok. I'm still re-organizing anyway. I redid the girls' room the other day. 4 big bags of garbage and 5 big bags of donated clothes later, it's looking great. The church came this morning to pick up the donated clothes. Ahhh. I love getting rid of stuff. This week I'll work on fixing up W's room. His room is just slightly cluttered, but his bookcase needs purging and his drawers need reorganizing. Then I'll work on buying new storage pieces for everyone.

Dance starts up again soon. First a street fair, then the parent meeting, then auditions all about a week apart. For auditions, the kids have to pick a song, create their own dance and costume, and perform it for everyone. J's just about completed hers. She's been practicing out in the backyard for a few weeks with K cheering her on. She's got about 3 weeks to go. W's enrollment for basketball is in 2 weeks and K starts school on the 4th. She has a student convocation on Aug 30th to get more acquainted with the school and get her locker. There are a few school clubs she's interested in joining already. I think this is going to be a really good year.

Today was the kids' first day of swimming lessons! J and W are signed up as well as J's best friend A. They all said they really enjoyed it. The instructor was a cool young guy who made them laugh. There are about 15 or so kids in the class. We are scheduled for 2x a week for the next 3 weeks. Yesterday was the registration day. It look so crowded, but I realized there are different age groups, different levels, and different days of the week. They worked it out to a comfortable amount of kids in each group. I love all the free stuff going on in this city! Here are some more NYC park events coming up!