Plus, it's the time I order the CAT test for the end of the year and I start getting twitchy about whether we've covered everything we "should" have. This year, my obsession is the division I didn't know would be on the test and which our math curriculum doesn't cover until 4th grade. I'm sure it will all work out.
What's been going on?
Katie
--badge ceremony at Brownies, she now has nice new additions to her vest.
--Looking forward to the Girl Scout camping trip.
--Made a pancake breakfast for mom and Zack "all by herself."
Zack
--got his Bear badge in time for the Blue and Gold banquet.
--looking forward to camping with the Boy Scouts and dad.
Me
--working again
--made a last-minute trip to Dallas to check out a hotel, got stuck there for an extra two days because of snow in the northeast. Why my colleague, who was going back to a foot of snow in Boston, got home 24 hrs ahead of me, who was traveling to an airport that never closed and no snow, is still a mystery.
--came up with the Brownie badge ceremony
--NOT looking forward to the Girl Scout camping trip.
--helping out with the VA Homeschoolers Conference coming in July.
Pete
--Working
--a trip to Salt Lake City again for a week
The kids have also been taking a music class with our Friday group. I find the teacher a little glum and talky, but the kids have liked it.
While I was in Dallas, they got their green-strip belts in Tae Kwon Do and are now a belt ahead of me. We all went to see the black belt test, which was grueling! Zack still can't wait to get to that though.
We've started multiplication in our math curriculum and they really like it--but don't ask them, they'll never admit it!
We've been on a few outings now that the weather has cleared up. The kids and Pete went to a model railroad show with the Boy Scouts. We went out to Shenandoah Caverns. Kate and Zack had never been in a cave and Kate was a bit nervous about it, but they had a great time. The site also has a display of parade floats, which are much bigger in-person than on TV!
I remembered late one morning that I'd signed us up for Geomania at National Geographic and we had to scramble to get dressed and into DC. We ended up missing about 1/4 of the program but did get to learn about longitude and latitude, a bit about what Columbus was really looking for and more about maps. It was great to go to the Nat Geo building too. There's a free museum that we will return to when we have more time.
We'll be starting an Occupational Therapy program called Astronaut Training. Originally this was just for Zack but when we got talking about Katie's reversals of numbers and letters and difficulty with left and right, she said to try it with her too. The program is designed to be done with two anyway, so Katie will step in a Zack's partner instead of me.
And now April is here.
Katie wants to start a vegetable garden and picked out carrots, Zucchini (at my urging), corn (really?!) and peppers. We also have a lot of flower seeds. I bought us some seedling starters this time. Last year, the squirrels just followed us down the rows, digging up all the seeds. Hopefully, if we can start them indoors, we'll get a better crop.
Last night we went to a triple feature at a drive-in in MD. All the movies were kid-friendly, so we decided to stay up (very) late and see them all. We saw Bridge to Terabithia and all cried big tears at the end; cheered up with the very funny Meet the Robinsons; and held our eyes open for The Astronaut Farmer--which I thought didn't come off as well as I'd hoped. It was fine, but I thought they could have done a lot more with the idea. All this for $16--plus another $10 for food but still a good value and a DRIVE-IN!
I've been shedding lots of extra stuff through freecycle and setting stuff aside for the upcoming BS yard sale. The house still seems over-full.
The bulbs the kids and I actually remembered to plant in the fall are starting to pop up. The weather is warming and the air smells fresh. That, plus the early daylight savings, has improved my mood considerably.
Hope the signs of spring are brightening up your days too.
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