Marching In

ENTER THE WET: March 1 - we want to think that spring is justthisclose, but the reality is there's lots of ugly weather to come in the weeks ahead. And that is exactly what this month's calendar craft from the creative folks at Curiosity Wonderment and Exploration Co. illustrates.

These little crafts are never an easy challenge - they require lots of patience and some precision cutting. But the kids are learning the tricks. In fact, today while working on the project, CJ proclaimed himself "The King of the Rough Cut." In other words, he knows to cut away a lot of the excess before getting down to the fine stuff. :)

They were both really happy with their calendars when they were done and played with them lots today (the umbrellas are removable).

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the little poem on the puddle reads, "In a city where rain falls like hella, there's no choice but to have an umbrella, so get down in a huddle, stand in a puddle and let your voice ring out acapella."

MULLING OVER MARCH: It being the first of March, I brought out the white board today and wrote a phrase on it about the month that we've "all" heard - except for CJ and Annabelle.

"People say March is 'in like a lion, out like a lamb.' Do you know what that means?" They each shook their heads to the negative."Good!" I smiled. "I want you to think about it and even if you have no clue, I want you to write something explaining what you think it *could* mean. And it doesn't matter if it's 'right' or not, I just want something that it *could* mean."

Within about two minutes Annabelle produced, "The rain rains like a lion. (Relly hard) The flowers smell soft (like a lamb)."

CJ was having a harder time. He started writing something about a bear, but he couldn't verbalize or write how it connected to March, so he had to start over. After some heavy sighs and complaints, he finally settled on, "I think that you are talking abiout a flaloer because it's petals look like a lion's coat and it looks nice like a lamb."

Good enough.

TAKING NOTE: After a "mid-winter break" from classes last week, the kids were back to classes this week. First up this afternoon, it was music. Before they could go, they had to do homework. This week that meant transcribing a song.

LOW TECH: Shortly after music we headed toward a really big Goodwill store to pick up the latest acquisition for CJ's future video game museum - a pristine 1982 Donkey Kong "Game & Watch" which we 'won' on a shopgoodwill.com auction at a very good (relative to the eBay market) price. My goodness, the thing's graphics are SO primitive compared to even the soon to follow GameBoy. But back in its day, man oh man was it the hot stuff!

And CJ & Annabelle love the novelty of it.

YOGA CAKES: Imagine the kids' delight today when we got to yoga and found out it was a yoga friend's birthday. That = CUPCAKES!WHAT SHE SAID: I came across an op-ed piece, "Changes Schools Should Make to Better Serve Students: A Student's View," on the Huffington Post today about education reform. It's written by a mostly homeschooled 13-year old from Redmond, WA. I found myself agreeing with every point she made. ...