Some new stories -- September 2008

Sigh, it has been awhile. I shall try to do better at keeping up with this blog but life has a way of challenging my time management skills.

Where to begin? Well, Jason is 7 now and in March will be 8. That, in the HS world 0f Washington state, means that I need to start thinking about submitting a DOI. I actually have the thing written and printed. I will need to submit it the first term that he is 8. I am thinking that that probably means Spring Term. Hmmm...

Now, thinking about this, and about the fact that with the submission of the DOI comes the requirement that Jason have yearly assessments of his progress done, I went ahead and did some home 'assessments' using ones I found on the web. His math skills need work, not a surprise, but his reading? According to the San Diego assessment, he is reading at the 11th grade level. His vocabulary and comprehension are truly impressive. The words whose pronunciation and meanings he stumbled over are ones that many adults would miss. What most impressed me, however, was his understanding of word meanings and his ability to communicate those.

And then there is Xander -- he really wants to learn to read, for the same reason that Jason started reading independently, he is tired of waiting on other peoples' convenience. So we are going to work through the 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons' and see how that works.

Last night we read some books on Ancient Greece for part of our bedtime reading. The first book, count your way through Greece, sparked all sorts of interest. So... we are going to make Greek food Sunday night, boys are going to help. They want to make bahklava. We will see on that one!

I did find instructions on how to make Rose Water, a primary ingredient in the recipe and darned expensive if one was to buy it. That would be fun -- and a good lesson in condensation as well. Think I will see if I can find all the bits for it.

And then there are the Art projects -- Xander saw the pictures of Ancient Greek Metal work and decided that that was what he wanted to do. So I told him that we would flatten and stretch some coke cans and he and Jason and I can tap designs in them. He, of course, wants to build the Tin Woodman out of the cans. That is a little advanced for any of us at the moment... And then there are the Greek Red/Black Vases. I told the boys that we would make our own clay, create the vases, fire and paint them. Now I have to come through. Looks like a trip to the Art supply store is in order -- we need to get paints and I need to locate some flourescent fabric paint (white) for Xander's Halloween Costume. (He has decided to go as a Ghost Pirate Skeleton...)

Another thing that came out of reading the book was... skeletons. Yep. The book was talking about the two major industries in the Greek Islands, fishing and sponge collecting. The first is in trouble because of over-fishing and pollution but the second is a growth industry. Bad news for the sponges. However, the book also mentioned that sponges are the skeletons of Marine animals and so I found myself promising the littlest one that we would find some/buy them, and compare them with cellophane sponges as a 'science' experiment. Hmmm... the things I get myself into!

Okay, enough for this update. Will write more tomorrow.