I’m not sure who is anticipating it more, me or the kids.  

We went to a HP party at the library today.   Aubrey went as Luna Lovegood

Here is a picture of the whole crew

Alex was Ron (note the spell-o-tape on his wand) and Jordan was Tonks (her hair was pink and the pig nose was supposed to be temporary.)

They had a blast at the party.  There were almost 50 kids.  First they got sorted into houses, then they did various fun activities that I’m glad weren’t at my house.  They made dragon drool (oobleck with green food coloring),  mixed potions and put into their own vial with a dropper (various cola flavors with labels over the container with things like mandrake juice, etc.), did a bertie botts flavor contest (guess the flavor—luckily no gross ones), made wands, had a broom race and a few other activities.  

Aubrey is with a friend at the local Borders books for the party, but they’re going over to the small independent bookstore to grab the book at midnight.  My friend (her friend’s mom) just called—I don’t think she knew what she was getting into when she volunteered to take them, lol! 

We all sat around and wrote our predictions on slips of paper and discussed and initialed which ones we agreed with and when we finish the book (tomorrow for Aubrey for sure!) we’ll compare and see how many we got right. 

Oh the excitement!

Alex has trouble winding down at night.   Sometimes 2-3 hours after he officially goes to bed he is still playing quietly or popping out to check on the grown-ups.   He also ponders things.  Sometimes deep things, sometimes math things, sometimes silly things… 

 The other night I thought everyone in the house was asleep but me (I was reading) when he quietly opened the door and came in and said he had two questions.

The first?   Does space go on forever?  We had a brief discussion about the stars and space and what forever means when space goes on for much longer than a human lifetime.   Then I asked what his second question was.

 ”Can I cuddle you?” 

I love 8 year olds.

I sat on the couch and read (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) while Alex sat in his room at his desk coloring (??? THAT was a new one for him!) and listening to an audio book (Chamber of Secrets for the ***th time), Jordan cuddled our foster bunny and read in her room and Aubrey lay on her bed reading (in our family room, as her room has been completely emptied and is being redone, from the ground up–oh, she is reading Piratica II).

The introverts perfect homeschooling day.  Doesn’t happen much around here, since apparently I’m the only one in this house.  They’ll need some extra exciting outing tomorrow to shake it off I suppose. 

It is funny that I call it “3rd grade” because the kids don’t seem to have much of a concept.  Even when I tell them (because someone has asked what grade they are in), it doesn’t stick because it has so little daily relevance and they have to ask me again next time they are asked.

Nevertheless, I have been perusing the Rainbow Resource catalog (now there is a HEFTY project!) and mulling over what others have said works for them and am starting to form a plan.  What I don’t have at the moment is money, so for right now it is a plan.

Math:  For Alex I’m going to pick up Singapore 3A and 3B, but skip the text and instructor’s guides as it seems we never use them.   He seems to pick up on my explanations fairly quickly or be able to figure it out by working through a couple of workbook problems with me.  I’m considering the Math Mammoth Blue series for both of them to supplement when we need more direct instruction.  Jordan will continue with Math-U-See with some additional montesorri type and some math drill to help her get her math facts down quicker.

 Language Arts - This is the subject that I’m feeling the need for some more formal instruction.   I’m leaning strongly towards Learning Language Arts Through Literature with a supplement of a  Daily grammar editing to get them some more practice with grammar topics.  Also leaning towards Sequential Spelling to try to help Alex’s abysmal spelling skills (did I spell abysmal correctly?).

For Handwriting, they are both interested in learning cursive and I already picked up the HWT cursive books.

 For History we are going to do Story of the World volume 2.  I think I’m going to get the audio version because we just finished book 1 on audio and they enjoyed it and have asked me to play it over and over when in the car.   I’m waivering on the activity book.  They like doing activities occasionally, but not all the time and I’m wondering if we get enough use out of it to justify the expense or if I could just supplement my own activities. 

 For Science we will continue with our Noeo science Biology in a rather haphazard leaning towards unschoolish manner.   And all the field trips to the science center, nature center, and all the books and videos they find at the library.  I’m also hoping that the nature center will offer their way cool homeschooling science lab that I didn’t think they were quite ready for last year.

 Art - I would like to actually try to do stuff.  I have Drawing with Children and Discovering Great Artists.  Everyone has loved them when we’ve done them–but we just rarely pull them out.

Music - I’m totally not a music person.  Maybe we’ll listen to some?   I’ll try to hit some of those free concerts?  If anyone expresses an interest I’ll try to find the funds for lessons?

Phys Ed - Well, between them they’ve got horseback riding, tae kwon do, soccer, gymnastics, classes at the community center… So, that is covered, lol.

What am I missing?  I think I’m going to get something easy and occasional for geography.  We have volume 2 of a Map workbook series about an imaginary village that they really really enjoyed last year that we’ll work on.

But a lot of this will require me to come up with some funds, and until then I’ll be winging it with a library card, some internet usage and what I’ve already got, lol.

We had rain for days and days and days here about a week ago.     We did inside stuff for a while, but after a bit the kids couldn’t take being cooped up any longer.    They played in the little rivers in our yard and did “science experiments”.  They got wet.  And muddy.

Well, the last day of summer school came and went and the kids were ready—and I was really ready to have the kids home to do fun Summer stuff.  

They all said they were glad they went, but have no intention of going there in the Fall.  Alex liked his teachers but Jordan thought the teachers (same teachers) were mean.   I gleaned that the teachers treated the kids like trick dogs—fed them scraps (candy) when they sat nicely or answered questions correctly.  (Alfie would be soooo apalled!) One nice thing, I really let things that would have bothered me roll off because I knew it was so temporary.  The amount of candy they were given was just ludicrous.

 They did pre tests and post tests covering the materials–to show how much they’d learned I suppose.  But unless they are going to be mailed home, they didn’t actually give me the results.   Alex says the teacher announced his A+ to the class.   Jordan says she couldn’t answer some of hers and the teacher yelled at her and said she should have done better (Jordan can interpret a glance of disappointment or a brisk word as a yell, so I’m not sure what actually went on and since the term was about over I didn’t intervene).   The disturbing thing is that after taking the post tests, suddenly Jordan started getting disciplinary sheets sent home.   I found it odd that there were absolutely no problems until the teacher had an assessment on her classroom performance, and then suddenly multiple “think sheets” a day for the rest of the term.  Either the teacher’s perceptions changed, or Jordan picked up a vibe from them and it changed her behavior.    Of course, all through the program Jordan came home telling me all the things she was learning about and Alex said boo, but Jordan just doesn’t test well and he does. 

They are ready to get and spend their money.  I think I may have some roller coasters in my future.