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?

We all agreed to go to the game place this week instead of Mad Science. We had a blast! A bunch of J's and W's friends were there - and my friends, too! It was Mardi Gras week and we had masks, horns, beads, candy, and coins to find on a scavenger hunt. One mom made a beautiful "kings cake" and a few kids decorated that with icing and purple (justice), gold (power), and green (faith) sprinkles. J and her friends (about 8 kids total) went across the street for pizza after a while. W met a new friend - 10y/o S - and they played together the whole time. And it didn't matter to him one bit that S is a girl, lol. They played chess, foosball, ping pong, and pool. Love that place.

Later that day, J and I went to her new high school Open House. Normally, school open houses are in autumn and you go to check out the school and see if it's one you'll consider. LaGuardia's open house is only for those who were accepted. So, we went. My mom, sis, and B all came too. We stayed mainly on the dance floor, watching demo classes of ballet and 2 different modern classes (Graham & Horton). J was very impressed at the level of training she saw. That was one thing that pushed her toward an arts school in Manhattan over any other borough. LaG also has a very rigorous academic program and J prefers that. B and I stayed to check out the rest of the building while J went with my mom and sis to grab a bite to eat. Demo classes were being given in all the main subjects and families were able to sit in and see how the classes are run, what the teachers are like, and see sample schoolwork on the walls. I loved it all and I know J will really thrive there. One of my favorite things was the gorgeous city view from each classroom. What an amazing place. J already bought some LaG clothing. ;)

Miscellaneous Goings-On

J's first dance competition of the season was a couple of weeks ago. This one was local and one we love doing. She was in 5 groups and 1 solo. No vocal this year. She's just not as into it as she is dance and tossed it for now. I'm proud of her that it was something she'd always wanted to try and was really successful at it for 2 years (even winning junior title at one comp last season). She's thinking she might sing for the recital in June. Anyway, J's numbers were all top scoring and one lyrical group number won best choreography overall for the day. That was really exciting. Now J and her friend Mich are working on a duet to take to the next comp in March. The choreographer they have is unbelievable (new to the studio this year) and the girls will have it nailed in only 3 hours of rehearsal time. For the March competition, J will be in 6 groups, a solo, and a duet. I love competition season!

Tuesday, W and I went to another Mad Science class. The 10-class series revolves all around the same detective theme. W enjoys it, but has been longing to get back to the game place in the West Village. J, too. So that's where we'll alternate going until mid-March when the science series is over.

Daily academics are going well. The kids and I fixed up the morning schedule and we're very happy with it. Here's a look:

Monday, Wednesday, & Friday:
- W and I do 2 AO readings with narrations while J reads some classic literature.
- W does 1 lesson in TT5 and J does 1 or 2 LoF chapters.
- I read a poem aloud and both kids do poetry copywork.
- W does 1-3 pages in his language arts workbook while J does a page or 2 in her writing workbook.
- W and I do another AO reading w/narration and a few pages from a "free reading" book.
- Then it's: Nature study (Mon) using the Outdoor Hour Challenges from handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com, French (Wed) using livemocha.com and various books, and Timeline (Fri - for W), where he creates a few index cards of different people and events we've read about during the week.

Tuesday and Thursday:
- W and I do 2 AO readings w/narrations while J reads science (Tue) or history (Thu).
- W does a page or 2 in his math workbook and J does a chapter or 2 of LoF.
- I read a poem aloud and both kids do poetry copywork.
- W does 1 lesson in his HoP Master Reader program while J does a few pages in her English workbook
- W and I do another AO reading w/narration and a few pages from a "free reading" book.
- Then it's: Artist Study (Tue) and Composer Study (Thu), where we look at lots of paintings/works from the focus artist/composer and learn about their life.

This is so simple and works beautifully. J is glad to be hitting the books, getting ready for school in September. She even has summer reading to do for the school. She's confident and feels ready to take this on. The rest of this school year looks to be really busy and fun. We'll be pulling back on many of the homeschool group classes mainly to do our own thing (with only 1 or 2 other families). The kids definitely prefer it that way. I can't wait til spring.

Concert

J and her friend Amanda (who she met doing that show last summer) went to see Selena Gomez last night. The concert was at the Grammercy Theater on Lexington and 23rd. J had a fantastic time. The opening act was a band called "Days Difference". Selena was great and the girls were glad to get a few waves from her. They were 3 feet from the stage. They saw the boy band downstairs and got a few pics with them. Outside, Selena walked right out past them to go into her limo. J said it was such a fun night.

Excitement and Worry

Wow. Such a crazy week here. I've been doing as much research as I can on J's new school and the more I read, the more impressed I am. There are so many articles and amazing youtube videos. J is really happy, but was a little unsure since none of her friends made it in. It's scary when it's just you. Then the other day she found out that one of her best friends from 3rd grade (that she still keeps in touch with) will be going there for dance, too. Both girls are just giddy happy.

So, now that we know where she will be going, it's time to buckle down harder on J's homeschool work. Even though this is a performing arts school, the academics are very rigorous. J has done very well on her standardized tests and must have done well on the writing sample she had to do for the school. So, I'm not too worried about the academics there. I guess I'm just worried about the newness of the experience. Going to school every day in Manhattan, spending 3-4 classes every weekday morning on dance, I do worry a bit about the pressure. J is extrememly resilient and nothing really negatively affects her, so I'm sure she'll be fine. I still worry, though.

Other than that, this week was filled with lots of snow, lots of friends, a 24-hour flu for me, and J's first dance competition of the season. Her studio did very well - J's small group number (6 kids total) won overall best choreography of the day. Next comp is in a month.

Hopefully this will be a nice, quiet weekend. :)

ACCEPTED!!!

J found out on Friday that she was accepted into Laguardia High School for Performing Arts. The full name of the school is Fiorello LaGuardia School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. With it's 6% acceptance rate, J knows this is a really big deal. I can't even begin to tell you how ecstatic we all are about this. It's so exciting and it's really happening. My little girl is going to high school. 

Then LaGuardia sent us a congratulatory letter the next day.

Hayden Planetarium

Yesterday we went on a cool homeschool group trip back to the American Museum of Natural History. This time we went into the Hayden Planetarium to watch a movie about visiting the moon. It was called "Field Trip to the Moon" and was J and W's first time there. It showed what astronauts see when they go to the moon. Orbiting the earth was cool - we saw the day/night boundary and how big the oceans and the Sahara Desert really are. Planetarium shows are so freakin cool. Afterwards we got worksheets about the moon and Earth. We stayed in that one area - near the model of the moon and the moon rock, and the Hall of Planet Earth. J enjoyed the worksheet and was busy finding answers to the questions. W was too interested in the rock cart, where a couple of instructors discussed many different types of rocks - all being igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic. Then we went down to the first floor to see more exhibits about space. They saw what they would weigh on Mars and Jupiter and learned about the lifespan of a star. We headed home right after that - no one felt like seeing the museum again since we were only there a month ago. I loved this trip.

Mirrors

Today was W's last NY Hall of Science class in their first ever monthly homeschool series. His 3rd-5th grade class was all about "Reflecting on Mirrors". They discussed characteristics that cause mirror reflection, light's interaction with various surfaces, and the angle of reflection. He loved it and came out with a "magic box" he made - cardboard and an angled mirror make it look like anything you put into the box disappears. Before the class we watched a demonstration on "Airplay". W got to be a volunteer showing how strong air pressure can be when it creates a vacuum.

These classes were such a great idea and I want to thank Sylvia P. from NYHS for putting these together. She said there will be another session in September! Homeschooling has really come such a long way since we started. It's awesome that homeschooling has finally hit the mainstream in this city. Resources for us are appearing everywhere and I love being a part of all of it!

HEY, it was 5 years ago yesterday that J started homeschooling!! Wow that went by fast.

Mad Science, Clay, and Cartoons

Yesterday's Mad Science class was about being a detective and learning how to classify evidence found and put clues together to try and solve crimes. The kids learned about "circumstantial evidence" and worked on their memory skills, too. Trash left by 4 different "suspects" were collected in bags and the kids needed to remember who left what and what the suspect might have been doing at that time. The next mystery-solving-activity was matching up different scents to 5 new "suspects". The kids were given bottles of various scents and then has to smell each of the suspects (stuffed animals) and match them up. It's so fun to work in groups like that. W's table has 4 or 5 boys who all work together really well. Looking forward to next week!

W is also still focusing heavily on claymation. A new batch of clay and a downloaded computer animation program has lit an even bigger fire. He has already made over 15 8-second movies starring characters such as "Big Mouth" and "Crazy Bug-Eyed Pointing Guy". He explained to me how he does it - repeating things the instructor from the Museum of the Moving Image said. Ha! I knew he was paying attention. He spent hours and hours on this the other day, getting so excited that it actually worked. He makes the characters and adds various props. I can't figure out how to save his movies, but when I do I'll post one or 2 here.

W's fascination with cartooning hasn't waned at all either.

Museum of the Moving Image

I scheduled a homeschool tour and class at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. I actually did it. I haven't booked a trip in ages. J has been more or less lukewarm on homeschool group participation - she has a large, core group of best friends (schooled and homeschooled) that she prefers to spend time with apart from the structured homeschool group activities, but she was willing to go. I know that homeschoolers are harder to find between the ages of 12 and 15, but we got a great group together. This museum is wonderful. We started with a tour that was all about the evolution of film and video games. The kids listened intently and got to try out almost everything. They re-dubbed popular movies with their own voices (that was funny), they cranked and watched a movie from 1902 (A Trip to the Moon) on a kinetoscope, they learned about animations and made their own stop-motion movies (W LOVED this part - he was able to participate in a bunch of things). Finally the kids had a 45-minute workshop on using the Scratch program to create their own video games. It's a crude program made by some MIT students a long time ago, but it's cool. We all hung out afterwards at the nearby Panera for a great lunch. The kids had a fun time eating and laughing together. And then before we knew it, it was almost 4pm. This may have inspired me to book more teen trips.

On Tuesday, we went to another awesome Mad Science class. This one was about being a detective. We looked at different fingerprints (which was a great follow-up to the NY Hall of Science class a few weeks ago), learned about blood types, and used different senses to figure out what was in various boxes. The blood type part was really great. We all put drops of synthetic blood in different wells in a tray. Adding another chemical may or may not cause a reaction (in this case jelling up) and this determined what type of blood each table got (A, B, AB, or O). The Mad Science instructor is so funny and engaging, that all the kids loved it again. J spent the hour completing 2 chapters of LoF math and reading a few chapters of her book.

A MAD Morning

...as in The Museum of Arts and Design! W's first of 2 art classes were held at this museum right smack in the middle of Columbus Circle. I've never noticed the tall, white, single building before. Now it's the first thing I see, lol. Inside, there are lots of sculptures, made of various materials. Mainly paper, wood, and fabric. So interesting. And so many beautiful pieces. W's class was about using paper to create things based on a concertina (accordion) folding technique. The kids envisioned cityscapes and cut out their own from long pieces of colored paper. These were collected at the end of the class and were all looped and hung together from one main point so it just looked like this cascading, colorful, city mosaic-mobile.

Before they began their project, we were taken down to a couple of the galleries. Huge pieces, some the size of a whole wall, were hung throughout the 5th and 4th floors. The kids all sat on the floor and discussed what they were looking at. They were asked what it reminded them of, what was used to make it, and what was the feeling surrounding it. W enjoyed this a lot. At the end of the class his friend's dad told me saw W doodling some cartoon characters and he was impressed. It turns out he's a cartoon artist. He decided that it would be a great idea to create a cartooning/art class for these 4 or 5 boys (including his 2 boys). How lucky is that? Hopefully we can get this started really soon!

Check this out: It was 44 degrees at 4:44pm yesterday.

Science Week

Monday was another great homeschool day at the New York Hall of Science. We got there around 10:30am to catch a chemistry demonstration. We watched how liquid nitrogen can freeze water in 30 seconds and make a latex balloon shatter like glass. There were discussions about the properties of matter and we saw how boiling water in a soda can creates a vacuum when immersed in ice water. W's class was at 11am and this one was called "Journey Into Microspace". He learned all the main parts of the microscope (eye, nose, arm, stage, light, base) and checked out different micro-organisms (diletus, volvox, euplotes, paramecium, amoeba, blepharisma, etc). After his class, he got an awesome certificate and we stayed to explore the science center for another hour.

Tuesday was the first of a series of 10 Mad Science classes with the homeschool group. W loves the Mad Science workshops - he hasn't done one in a few years, but he remembers how fun they were. It's basically an hour-long science class "performed" by a comedian with a trunkload of props and lots of hands-on stuff for the kids to do. The price was right, a bunch of his friends signed up as well, and it's right in Queens - definitely a yes for us. This class was all about spies and gadgets. W was in a group of 5 other boys his age and they got to try out different gadgets. First was a metal detector. Small pieces of metal were hidden under a big layer of newspaper and each child had to find where they were. The next gadget was a pair of night-vision goggles. They used these to see a page of objects in the dark and see how many they remembered. Then they all got to try out walkie-talkies. They learned about channels and frequencies, too. W loved it and can't wait to go again next week.

Callback Craziness

J's callback for Professional Performing Arts School was today. I drove her and B right to the school. The letter said it might take a few hours, so it was easier for B to go today since I had work tonight. It ended up taking over 7 hours. She handed in her academic record, test scores, a 4x6 headshot, and her callback letter before the audition. The callback audition was a couple more intense ballet and modern classes, and for some - an interview. There were about 15-20 in her group and more than half of them were sent home. J and about 6 others made it to the interview stage. They let her down to get something to eat, but she went right back upstairs again - bringing her pizza with her. This interview was based on J's academics. They misplaced her paperwork, so the questions were scattered and the whole thing was a bit rushed. She felt good about all of it, though. As usual, she made friends so the day didn't feel so long. Now we wait about a month.

In other news, Game Day in the West Village was awesome this week. J made more friends and is so excited to know there really are still a LOT of homeschoolers out there her age, lol. I'm planning on being a part of more Manhattan stuff so she gets to see them more often. I scheduled a trip for 7th to 10th graders coming up right here in Queens. J isn't so interested in participating in many homeschool activities and classes anymore, so we just found something interesting and booked one ourselves, lol. If this one goes well, we'll do another one.

Makin' Stuff

B took W to the Home Depot Workshop for Kids yesterday. He was really looking forward to it since he hasn't been there in a long time. The project was a wooden block calendar. He also got to make an adorable wooden wagon.


W has been in major creativity mode lately. It started a few months ago with clay animation, then pencil sketching, and now cartoon drawing. He's not making actual cartoons, just interesting characters. He has been watching videos on the computer on how to draw different expressions, bodies, eyes and mouths, and backgrounds After using mainly old, lined, notebooks, we took him to Michael's and got him a nice art pad and drawing markers of different thicknesses. I'm glad he's all into drawing now since we'll soon get back into nature journaling. I think new drawing notebooks just for that will be next on the list to buy.

What Are We Reading?

We are taking our time getting through AO Year 2. We've just started Week 7. We took a lot of December off and some time around Thanksgiving and Halloween, which slowed us down a bit. W has had a lot of homeschool group classes throughout autumn as well. January is awesome for us because, like September, it's a time for new beginnings. It's the time where you get to re-evaluate what works and what doesn't and re-assess your goals. We've been lucky. The AO curriculum and TT5 are both working out very well for W. So far, there's nothing we want to change. We just want to try and get in more nature study, more art projects, and more French. We tend to move a lot faster in the winter and spring, so I think we'll finish the entire Yr 2 curriculum by summertime (it should work out great since my new thing is taking off December, April, and August). Here's what W and I are currently reading/studying:

Our Island Story (hist) - The Norman kings of England. We're enjoying British history, especially since recent research on ancestry.com has uncovered relatives in England as far back as the mid-1600s.

A Child's History of the World (hist) - Castles in the Dark Ages

The Little Duke (hist) - Young Richard is starting to accept the responsibilities of his dead father

The Burgess Animal Book (sci) - Porcupines, Beavers, Gophers

Tree in the Trail (geog) - Closing in on the 18th Century

Understood Betsy (lit) - Betsy is starting to appreciate and feel more independent with the relatives she dreaded living with. With initial hesitation to this being a "girl book", W has now claimed it as his favorite.

Romeo And Juliet (lit) - Romeo was just thrown out of the Capulet's party.

Farmer Boy (lit): The new teacher taught the bullies a lesson

Doctor Dolittle (lit): The doctor and his animals just escaped from the African king's prison.

Artist Study: Wrapping up Sanzio (Italian Renaissance), now starting John Singer Sargent (American 1856-1925), then Claude Monet (French Impressionist) in the spring.

Composer Study: Finishing up Ralph Vaughan Williams (20th Century British), now starting Edvard Grieg (1890) & Jean Sibelius (nationalists). Then it's Maurice Ravel (1915 - Impressionist) in the spring.

Nature Study: Done now with insects & invertebrates, now we're starting trees. It will be garden flowers and weeds in the spring.

Poetry: Finishing up with Walter De La Mere and we're beginning Eugene Field and James Whitcombe Riley and then some Christina Rosetti in the spring.

French: Having so much fun with this. J has decided to continue French study in high school.

Math: Rounding & estimating to the nearest hundred, word problems, and now, Roman Numerals (up to M)

Master Reader: Reading and spelling drill. Breaking big words into small chunks, 2-syllable words with 2 consonants inthe middle, words with 3 consonants in the middle, 12 essential sight words.

Museum During the Holiday Season...

...What was I thinking, lol?

J, W, and I went to the American Museum of Natural History yesterday. My cousins from Montana flew in and we agreed to meet there. I haven't see them in about 12 years, and I'd never met their kids (11yog and 7yob) so it was perfect. The kids and I arrived at the 86th Street stop on the C train and came out into a line that went all the way up the ramp and around the block. Guards were shuffling people to the end of the line. So, we walked to the end with both kids shaking their heads wondering if this was real, lol (we've been here a bunch of time and there's never a line).

Then I heard a woman apeaking to another guard at the end of the line about memberships. Of course I ran over and said, WHAT? WHAT? WWHAT ABOUT MEMBERSHIPS? I have a corporate membership to all museums and I figured it would get us in for free, but what I didn't realize was that we could CUT THE WHOLE LINE! He told us to go back down to the entrance. The first guard back at the bottom of the ramp asked to see my card. I showed him my work ID. Then he slid open this chain-link metal barrier and we walked right in. Let me tell you - J and W were VERY impressed and proud of mommmy that day, LOL!

So we go in and The woman at the desk says I get "comp" tickets for myself and 5 guests. I didn't know I could get that many people in. I thought about my cousins on one of the lines in the museum somewhere. There were 4 of them. I counted out loud and said oh well, there's 4 of them and 3 of us. The woman looked at me and said, "oh, don't worry, I'll give you an extra one". What??!! How lucky was this day?

I found my cousins (which was a miracle, since there are 3 floors with entrances and lines out the door), waved them off the line, exchanged big hugs, handed them their 4 tix, and we were ready to explore.

I love that museum and try to get there at least once a year. My cousins said they were excited to be here since they'd seen the Night at the Museum movie (the kids also read The Cricket in Times Square. Guess where they were going the next day, lol). The museum was packed. I'd never seen it like that. It was still fun, though and we visited 3 out of 4 floors. After 4 hours we had sore feet and were hungry. We went went right out the front entrance and decided to get some hotdogs from the street guy. Mmmmm. They're so good. The Montanans raved about it as well.

They continued on to Central Park and we got back on the train to go home. I dropped J off at her friend's house (she went to the movies with a bunch of kids that night) and W, B, and I relaxed at home. K was out with friends as well from earlier in the day. I have work tonight and we're going to my mom's on New Year's Eve tomorrow. I'm so excited for the new year!

Schedule

Here's what our weekly academic schedule looks like. The CM focus on science, art, literature, and history meshes really well with the types of classes and trips we often do - and we have so many of them on the agenda over the next 3 months. Using almost 100% kid input, this schedule includes only what we love and it fits very nicely into our busy lives. The kids are happy and I almost feel guilty at how enjoyable and easy this is...

...almost.

Monday
Reading - lit (J)
Math (J,W)
Poetry (J,W)
Copywork (J,W)
2-3 AO Readings (W)
Free Reading (W)
Nature Study (J,W)

Tuesday
Reading - sci (J)
Math (J)
Master Reader (W)
Poetry (J,W)
Copywork (J,W)
Artist Study (J,W)
2-3 AO Readings (W)
Free Reading (W)

Wednesday
Reading - lit (J)
Math (J,W)
Poetry (J,W)
Copywork (J,W)
French (J,W)
Composer Study (J,W)
2-3 AO Readings (W)
Free Reading (W)

Thursday
Reading - hist (J)
Math (J)
Master Reader (W)
Maps/Geog (W)
Poetry (J,W)
Copywork (J,W)
Timeline (W)
2-3 AO Readings (W)
Free Reading (W)

Friday
Reading - lit (J)
Math (J,W)
Sci Ess. (W)
Poetry (J,W)
Copywork (J,W)
Science Exp or Craft Project (J,W)
2-3 AO Readings (W)
Free Reading (W)

Merry Christmas

As usual, my favorite holiday was wonderful. We stayed over my mom's house on Christmas Eve - B made crabmeat-stuffed flounder, fried shrimp, and pasta with red clam sauce. In the morning we had bacon, eggs, and bagels while opening gifts. The kids did well again. They got lots of electronic devices and the younger 2 got new bikes. I got new sneakers and a 23" computer monitor (woohoo). Christmas afternoon, we had a lasagna and fresh ham dinner at mom's and then headed out to B's mom's house. It was great seeing a bunch of B's extended family - sister, brothers, nieces, nephews, aunts, cousins, etc. Dessert there was very Italian and of course, homemade: struffoli, zeppoli, cannoli, and a nice assortment of cookies.

K is off all week and my cousins from Montana are coming to NY for a few days. I can't wait to see them. I'll be their tour guide around Manhattan on Tuesday, but other than that, nothing is planned for the week. I'll probably catch up on my cleaning and organizing. I'm excited for a new year. I have so many new plans and goals.

5 Years!

Today is my FIVE year blogging anniversary.



It's amazing how far we've come since that first post in 2004.


I want to thank all of you out there for your continued encouragement and support that always keep me going.



Here's to another 5 years!