Under Construction

POWER TOOLS: Today was not a normal day around the MPA campus. The entire main floor - where we spend 95 percent of our waking hours - is torn apart. We're putting a new hardwood floor down (a lovely cinnamon toasty maple) and that means we have to constantly shuffle and move things out of the way. EVERYTHING is in disarray and we're still in the midst of putting it down, which meant I had to juggle piecing and hammering with schooling. Which, of course, meant lots of worksheets!

Actually, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. The kids started off with some worksheets about maps - reading and using them. They both did great on that. Honestly, I credit the video games they play for that. On so many of the games they have to navigate through various communities or worlds - keeping track of directions, looking for landmarks and following paths is old hat to them. The map work was followed by some grammar (identifying nouns in a sentence).

Next, I had them break out their glockenspiels and we reviewed some of the songs they played during their music class last Friday. That was followed by about 15 minutes of them taking turns playing original compositions for one another.

Afterward, I got them away from the table and had them drill each other using addition flashcards. They had some fun with that and I think them asking each other the problems actually helps them learn the math.

After the flashcards, we migrated to the computer where they read along with four or five books online via the Seattle Public Library's BookFlix subscription. There were sequencing and vocabulary activities to go along with the books, so that kept them busy for about a half hour.

YARD BIRDS: A good bit of morning work under their belts, I told the kids to head out and enjoy the sunshine. They played on the grassy hillside, and probably went down the slide a couple dozen times apiece (while a concerned Kirby looked on).

After awhile they migrated to the alley and rode scooters (while a concerned Kirby looked on).

While they were outside, I whipped them up a very orange lunch. CJ thought it was amazing and that we should put the recipe on the Internet, so here it is: Cheddar cheese, Cheez-Its and carrots. ;)

The kids had an hour or so of free time this afternoon. Annabelle spent most of it painting. CJ spent most of it studying game tutorials on YouTube. No surprises there.

UFO SIGHTING: By 3 p.m. Christian and I desperately needed a break away from hard labor, hunching, kneeling, hammering and cursing. So we all set out for Ella Bailey park, about 7 (steeply uphill) blocks away.

We all love it there - the view of the sound, the Space Needle, the stadiums and downtown is breathtaking. However, what caught everyone's attention today was a big black floating object hovering over the park.

It had the words UFO Solar on its sides. I watched a guy set it up - it looked like a huge garbage bag. He held it over his head, opened one end of it, and let a gust of wind fill it up. He then tied off the end, tied a string to it, and I'm guessing the sunlight on the black plastic-y material heats it up enough to keep it aloft. It sure was a kid magnet. Every kid in the park ran toward/after it once it was aloft.

I went on YouTube and found a video posted by a guy who made his own solar UFO with 11 garbage bags and a couple of rolls of masking tape. Potential future MPA experiment!!!