Happy Holidays

2011 is winding to a close.  This week we have focused on Hanukkah.  We have 2 menorahs.  No arguing over whose turn it is to light the candles.  This year we tried something new and so far it has been working.  Mister B lights the match and lights both shamash and Little Miss M says the prayers.

Yes, I let my child strike a match.  I realized last year that he was 12 going on 13 and should probably know how to light a match.  After years of "Don't play with matches" well, he needs to know how to light a match.  It is a life skill.  There isn't always a lighter around.  He used kitchen safety matches and practiced over the kitchen sink.  If I could find a book of matches I would have him practice with those, too.  Remember when restaurants gave out matches.  They don't really do that anymore since no one can smoke in a restaurant anymore.

My mini-rant on being unable to procure free matches is now over.

From our family to yours.....Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year.

The Met

Today we returned to The Met (http://www.metmuseum.org) for a one hour tour of ancient Greece and Rome.  Our tour guide was very informative and really was able to engage the group.  I always find museums much more enjoyable when there is a knowledgeable tour guide.  Without a good guide, just how many Greek urns can you look at?

Just finished our dirty water dogs outside the museum.

I made them to pretend to run as we always do when we go to the met.  Little Miss M was not totally feeling the moment

They shared a moment of kindness as they looked at weapons.

They are learning about a little stand with Medusa on it.

In Ancient Rome they are learning how sculpture has changed over the years from the stiff poses to more realistic.  Here they are also learning that Cupid's father is Chaos.

The end of a successful day.  We are on our way to get pretzels.

I hope to return soon for more museum fun.

Tuesday

Our bathroom renovation is moving along.  The plumbing, electrical, and building inspectors all gave their okays and our contractor has started putting up the sheet rock.  Exciting stuff.

This past Sunday the kids participated in the JCC RJ All Star Memorial Swim Meet.  This meet was held in honor of their coach who passed away suddenly by stroke over the summer.  It was an exciting meet.  Both kids did really well, shaving seconds off of their previous times.  Mister B even managed to place and earned our team 2 points.  Our team also won the meet.  All the kids swam their best to make RJ proud.

This week our studies continue. Mister B is learning basic geometry terms and Little Miss M is solving for the unknown.  For History they are learning about British Imperialism in Africa.  In science Little Miss made a cell out of Jello and fruit.  She started to eat it before I could get a good picture but here are a couple.

A bit hard to see in the pic but here it is after we removed it from the glass jar to see how a cell wall adds structure to plants.

Inside the bag.  The plum is the nucleus, there are grapes for cytoplasm and raisins for mitochondria.

She really liked this project.  Mostly because she got to eat jello, but I believe she has a better understanding of cell structure and how plant and animal cells differ due to the cell wall.

Mister B is continuing to learn about energy and how all energy emits heat.  Yesterday he was going around the house and looking at various appliances and how they vent heat.

Grammar, vocabulary, and critical thinking round out the day.

Thursday

The week is almost over and I feel as though nothing got done.  Or more accurately, nothing I planned got done.  Lessons are progressing and this week was filled with activity.

Tuesday: The kids had music class.  They learned about flats and sharps.  Thankfully, we have a wonderful music teacher because the only thing flats and sharps brings to my mind is forks and knives.

Wednesday: Discussion Group.  We watched Jumanji and everyone brought in their favorite board game.  Everyone gave a little presentation about the game they brought in and why it was their favorite.  They discussed the different games.  Then they discussed the movie-likes and dislikes, actions and consequences, and if they would like to play that game.  Then they discussed an essay by Benjamin Franklin and how life is like a game of Chess.  The discussion finished off with their breaking into teams and playing a Jumanji trivia game.  They had a great time.

The bathroom renovation continues.  The plumbing and electrical inspector come tomorrow and the building inspector comes on Monday.  One day I will have a bathroom.

The year is flying by....

Here we are at December already.  It feels like time is just marching by as quickly as it can.  How did that line go from Steel Magnolias....Time marches on and one day you realize it is marching across your face....or words similar to that.


Schoolwork is coming along nicely.  Mr. B is dabbling in Geometry.  Learning about planes, and lines, and segments, and other things I have forgotten since 10th grade.  Little Miss M is learning about reciprocal dividing and reducing ahead of time.  In History we are learning about the British influence on India.  In Science, Little Miss M is learning about cells, tissues, and organs.  Mister B is learning about the different types of energy.  

We have been under construction at home since we are renovating our upstairs bathroom.  We have been showerless for longer than I would have liked.  It amazing what you find when you rip down walls.

Day 1-walls coming down.  To the right you can see the junction box that was hidden by the medicine cabinet that was not properly taken care of.  A miracle the house has not burned down.

Turns out we have had a long term leak in the wall.  That is my disintegrating house.  This will need to be taken care of in the Spring.

The tub is being removed.

This is the leaky pipe that has been destroying my kitchen ceiling.  Apparently it has been leaking for years.  Due to our hard water the hole would seal itself and then the water would break through again and reseal the hole.

Hi, mom, that is Harry carrying out part of the tub.

Here is the hole in my kitchen ceiling.  It got much larger once they started banging around up there.

The good news is the new tub should be installed tomorrow morning and some kind of showering will be able to happen.  Showering at the JCC while the kids are in swim practice is getting old.

Thanksgiving is over :(

It has been a hectic few weeks.  Between Mr. B's virus that lasted for 9 days.  Yes, you read that correctly, 9 days.  Then gearing up for Thanksgiving.  We hosted this year.  Then a nice relaxing week-end of decluttering.  OK, that wasn't relaxing but it was revitalizing for me.  After all that I am ready for jumping back into routine.

Thanksgiving was spent at our home with my father-in-law, step-mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, great-grandpa, a couple of uncles, and an aunt.  A good time was had by all.  Everyone loved the food I prepared (which is always nice) and I had the perfect amount of leftovers.  As I told the family, the secret ingredient was butter.

The kids had a swim meet on the 20th.  My mother-in-law and step-father-in-law came to see the kids swim.  I warned them ahead of time that both kids had Hebrew School Sleepovers the night before, and Mister B was just getting over that long illness and this may not be their best performance.  Let's just say, it wasn't.  Although, Little Miss did manage to shave 2 seconds off her backstroke time-Yay, Little Miss M! 

This week we are getting back into the school groove.  A definite homeschooling perk is that Mister B did not fall behind during his illness.  On top of getting back into the swing of things our contractor started the remodel of our bathroom.  Lots of banging and demolition going on.  Plus, the discovery of some rotting wood from a leaky gutter that has since been fixed.  Also, the discovery of a suspected leaky pipe for the roof vent.  The last discovery yesterday was the discovery of the electric box of what was probably a light fixture.  No caps on the wire, no plate over the box.  Just tape and wires shoved into the box.  We are probably lucky the house has not burned down.

Essex County Enviromental Center

Today we headed out to the Essex County Environmental Center for a class about the Lenni Lenape.  Overall, the kids had a good time but there were moments where they thought it was boring.  As Little Miss said to me "The instructor is no Douglas."  Now, the instructor we had today did a fine job.  There is just something about Douglas at Pyramid Mountain that makes him awesome.   Mister B and Little Miss M got to try their hand at grinding corn, creating fire, and making clay pinch pots.

Trying out Blue Spruce needles as hand sanitizer.  It works.

Little Miss getting a piece of spice bush.  You can make tea with it.

We got to excavate some artifacts.

Getting ready to see fire being made.

The instructor made it look easy.

Mr. B gave it a try.  He concluded that this is harder then it looks.

Little Miss grinding corn. From her body language I would say this is not scintillating work.

Mr. B trying an alternative way to create fire.

Swim Meet

Little Miss M had her first competition meet on the Winter Swim Team today.  Mister B would have been there, too, except he is still recovering from that virus.  She was very excited and had a great time.

On the way to the meet.

Here is a little video of her swimming freestyle.

The glow of a swim well done.

Friday

Mister B is still ill.  I took him in for a strep test yesterday, even though I was quite confident that it was not strep I decided better safe than sorry.   I paid my copay to hear what I already knew.  It is a virus and it has to run it's course. 

Usually I find that a trip to the doctor will cure anything 10 minutes after you leave but not this time.  All day today his fever was between 99 and 100.  Around 4:00 it spiked back up. I am cautiously optimistic that this is the last hurrah and tomorrow he will be fine.

Thank you to All Veterans

A heartfelt Thank You to the Veterans who have put their lives on the line to defend the freedoms that I enjoy every day.

Wednesday

Mister B is still sick.  Whatever he has is viral in nature as the fever spikes and decreases throughout the day.  So far, it has been a traditional lower during the day and higher at night kind of fever.  His throat is not bothering him as much but I keep giving him a teaspoon of raw honey a few times a day. 

Much to his disappointment Mister B had to miss Discussion Group today.  Little Miss M enjoyed the group discussion a lot today.  She was a bit more vocal than usual and that is probably because her brother was not in attendance.  All the kids enjoyed the movie and they all had a lot to say about the symbolism and the cinematography and music used to create mood and tell the story.

A November Update

November has started.  So far, it has been a good month.  Last week, lesson progressed smoothly.  No railing against the universe and how mean I am to make them learn stuff.

Last Wednesday in Philosophy the kids continued their discussion on the purpose of education. They came to the conclusion that education is supposed to set you free.  The group has been busy designing a school.  They are learning that it is not as easy as it sounds.  Besides expanding the mind there are practical considerations.  One girl said students should be allowed to determine how long the classes would be.  Little Miss countered with "What if the students decide class should be one minute?"  I think they all have a better understanding of how blessed they are to have parents who are giving them the gift of homeschooling.

This week they have Discussion Group.  We are watching High Noon.  I watched it with Little Miss M this morning (Mister B is feeling under the weather-low grade fever.  He and I will watch it tomorrow).  I had never seen the movie before.  It is really pretty good.  I am not usually one for Westerns.  Seeing the movie in the context of the McCarthy era and is it or is it not a reflection of the times made it a little more interesting for me.  I am actually looking forward to watching it again tomorrow.

The Halloween that wasn't....

This year we had a snow storm the day before Halloween.  A large portion of the town is still without power.  My kids are bummed because their trick or treat plans fell through.  The friends they were going to go with have no power and they are staying with their grandparents.  I offered my two the option to go with each other but they said No.

Other friends stopped by to say hello and my friend told me that my children are the poster children for Homeschooling.

I keep my homeschooled children locked in the basement and when they try to escape they are seriously injured.

No hairbrush or fashionable clothes when you are locked in the basement.

Grab food while you can.

The boy tried to escape.  He was taught a lesson.

Week in review

Wednesday, the kids had Discussion Group.  They all did a little research on their favorite Halloween Monster or Symbol.  We all learned something about Bats, Jack-O-Lanterns, Vampires, Mummies, Frankenstein, and Werewolves.  The kids were also introduced to the new guidelines for the group.

1. The Talking Ball (we thought about a stick but thought that siblings would hit each other).  If you do not have the ball you do not get to speak.  The talking ball was a great help for the excessive talkers in the group.

2.  Everyone is responsible for keeping the conversation going.  Listen to what the discussion is about and build on it.

3. Paper and pencil.  If you do not have the talking ball and you think of something to say, write it down.  That way you will not forget when it is your turn.

It was a little awkward at first but they all seemed to be getting the hang of it by the end.

Thursday and Friday were the usual subjects.  Everyone is moving along nicely.

Friday I took the kids shopping.  Mister B was in desperate need of a new winter coat.  He now has one.  I was also in desperate need of a new winter coat.  Mission accomplished.

I thought about snow boots for the kids but then thought I had time.  I was in denial about the big snow storm we had last night.

Which brings us to last night.  Half of my town has no power.  2 very good friends of ours had no power.  So over they all came to sleep over here.  8 extra people camping out at our home plus 1 lizard. 

It was a little crowded in the house.  One family in the basement on air mattresses, Part of one family on the pull out sofa and love seat.  Kids sharing their rooms with some of the other kids.  It was quite the party. 

Music Class

The kids had music class today.  They really love going to this class.  I am very happy.  Having zero musical knowledge or ability I am glad we have been able to participate in this group.

Today they learned about scales and how to sing them.  Listening to them sing the scales, us moms realized that they probably won't be forming a choir but that is okay because it was not the goal.

Our regular daily course work is moving along nicely and tomorrow they have discussion group.

Montclair Art Museum

Yesterday we made our way to The Montclair Art Museum (http://www.montclairartmuseum.org) for a homeschool art class.  We used to go to a lot of these but schedules being what they are this is the first one we have been able to attend in over a year.

The class was on Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), a holiday celebrated in Mexico on November 1st and 2nd.   I learned that the 1st is the day the gates of heaven open and deceased children are reunited with their parents for 24 hours.  On the 2nd everyone is reunited.  The kids talked about the different materials used in creating the folk art that goes along with the holiday.  Then they took a gallery tour of current folk art on display and related it to what they had discussed.  Finding the different materials used, looking at the overall picture created by the individual materials, and observing different kinds of folk art.

After the gallery they created their own skull masks using different materials.

Mister B tracing the outline of the skull for the mask.

Little Miss tracing the skull outline.

Decorating the mask.

Proper placement of the teeth is very important.

Choosing just the right angle.

Mister B and his finished mask.

Little Miss M and her completed mask.

Philosophy

Today in Philosophy the kids started designing their own school.  The last class they talked a bit about what it means to be educated.  Is it training?  Is it knowing a lot of facts? Is it being able to think for yourself?

Today they continued with this discussion and they talked about The Summerville Experiment.  A school experiment in the 60's that was a Free School.  In a nutshell: It operated on the theory that kids should be able to follow their passions and decide what they were going to learn that day.  The kids turned out well educated but one thing that stood out at the end was that the kids lacked job skills.  With that in mind, as the class was designing their school they tacked on a class about job skills.

This in turn led us parents to have an interesting chat about job skills and people who know how to think.  For example: People who know how to think for themselves but lack communication skills will be unhappy in office drone type jobs where you often have to perform mundane tasks that make no sense over and over and over.  The constant challenging of directions without proper communication skills will leave you unsatisfied and probably fired frequently.  If you have proper skills you can turn your challenges into promotions and increased job satisfaction.

While the kids are designing their school I am turning my thoughts to how to teach some of those important job skills.

Just keep schooling....

We are plugging away at our studies this week.

Little Miss M: Completed reading The Endless Steppe and is working on her book report.  In math she continues adding and subtracting mixed number fractions with different denominators.  She is continuing her mapping in Around the World in 80 Days.  In Critical Thinking she is continuing to work on outlining skills.  In science-stimuli and responses to stimuli.

Mister B: Is still reading The Giver and working on various writing assignments about the overuse of phrases in writing.  Math: Median, Mode, and Mean plus review of converting decimals to fractions to percents.  Science he is learning about metric measurements and converting measurements.  This has been going well because he already covered that area in math.  In history he is also mapping his way in Around the World in 80 Days.  Civics: What happens if you don't follow the rules of the group you are in?  Are there consequences to not following the rules and what are they?

Today we went to a friends house to join them for lunch in their sukkah.  It was very nice (good company) and very buggy.  Which reminded me why I don't have a sukkah of my own.  I hate eating outside.  Tonight we are going to our Synagogue to join other congregants for Pizza in the Hut (aren't we clever with our words?).  It will be an evening spent with more good company and hopefully few insects.

Wednesday!

So far this week, nothing too exciting.  We are getting back into the groove after the Holiday.   The kids had a good time with their cousins.  Mister B fasted for the full day.  I was very proud of him.

In math, Mister B is learning about mode, median, and mean.  I like this lesson.  Even I can understand what is going on the first time.  Grammar-review of plural and singular nouns, Literature-The Giver, History-Around the World in 80 Days and mapping his course, for Science he learned about where different units of measure came from and what they were used for.  For example, I was unaware that 1 foot came from the average length of a man's foot.  Seems kind of obvious now but trust me, it was a "well, duh" moment.

Little Miss M is reviewing multiplying and dividing fractions in math.  For grammar she is working on indirect and direct quotes.  Literature-The Endless Steppe, Science-she finished her chapter on environments.  History-Around the World in 80 Days.  Critical Thinking-Outlining and Summarizing and for Vocabulary-this week- the root Voc and Dict.

Yesterday, they had music class.  They learned about the different keys on the piano and the notes they make.

Today they had Discussion Group.  Since us moms needed to sit down and figure out where we want the group to go the kids played an assortment of games that required them to talk, such as, Would You Rather and the 1 minute game.  The 1 minute game had a variety of topics in an envelope and you had 1 minute to talk about your topic.

While the kids played we talked about where we want the group to go.  This is our 3rd year with the group and it was time to set some goals and determine if we all have the same end goal in mind.  It turns out we do: They should all have the ability to discuss a topic thoughtfully and be able to disagree respectfully and be able to back up your thoughts.  We decided that in order to get them to the next step we need to set some group guidelines/expectations of participation and preparedness.  We will also be introducing "The Talking Ball" .  You can not speak if you do not have the ball,  We feel this will help the shyer members of the group be heard and curb some of the more talkative members so there is better balance in the discussion.

May you be inscribed in the Book of Life

To my friends and family.....

Wishing you are all inscribed in The Book of Life for a good year.
May your fast be easy.

A New Week

Well, this week has gotten started with a hitch.  Mister B has been running a fever since Monday.  This makes him very unpleasant and he will have some catching up to do when he feels better.  I figure it is better for him to take the sick days and play catch up then to try to force learning when he is under the weather.  It is not as if he would retain any information and it would just  make life more difficult.

Little Miss, on the other hand, is enjoying her brother's illness.  With my undivided attention school work is completed in record time.  She has been done by 10:30 both days her brother has been ill.  Makes me wonder if it would be possible to work with her earlier in the day and have Mister B get started later.  Although, now that I typed that out he would probably spend most of his time complaining that his sister was done already.  Never mind, I will keep things the way they are.

I am hoping Mister B is better by tonight so he can go to Philosophy class tomorrow.  Plus, tomorrow evening I have to take them to be fitted for their swim team suits.

Never a dull moment.

L'Shana Tova

To my friends and family celebrating Rosh Hashana:
We wish you a Sweet, Happy, and a Healthy New Year. 

Book of Good Life song, by the Maccabeats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRaQSbuTiBg

A Quiet Week

This week we have been taking it light.  The focus has been on Math, Grammar, Vocabulary, and History.  For History the kids have started reading Around the World in 80 Days.  They will be mapping the route of Phileas Fog and doing research on the places he visited.

The Great Frog Dissection

 Yesterday we got together with a friend to dissect frogs.  Here Little Miss M is showing how she feels.  To dissect or not to dissect led to some interesting philosophical discussion in our house.

Gloving up!

Examining the eyes and the membrane.

Getting a good look at the eyes and nostrils.

Prying open the mouth to examine the tongue.

Who knew that the tongue is attached in the front not the back like ours?

The opened frog.

I can't believe you are making me do this!

Examining the stomach.

Little Miss is examining the stomach.  None of the frogs had any food in their stomachs.

Removing the lungs.  You can see an assortment of organs on the tray.

The last organ has been removed and it looks like Little Miss is contemplating the meaning of it all.  Although I think she was just wondering if she could take off the gloves now.

Tuesday!

Week 3 and so far things are moving along well.  So far this week I have managed to be patient and understanding.  How does that saying go.....G-d grant me the patience to accept the things I can not change.  My kids are kids.  With the normal ups and downs and envelope pushing tendencies of kids.  Some days their behavior has me hiding under the covers chanting that murder is wrong and other days I embrace their natural curiosity.  I am only human after all.

Little Miss M has been working on her vocabulary words (she got 90% on her test of last weeks words), diagramming simple subjects and predicates, learning the difference between fact and opinion, reading The Endless Steppe, adding and subtracting mixed number fractions, finding the volume of cubes and rectangles using fractions, and observing different environments using all of her senses.  Okay, she refuses to lick a tree but she is using the other senses.

Mister B has been busy with his vocabulary words (he got 100% on his test of last weeks words), diagramming compound subjects and predicates, reading The Giver, learning the rules of writing, brainstorming ideas for writing, converting fractions to decimals and decimals to percentages, figuring out sales tax and tips, studying about a Sumerian astronomer, and learning about following the rules of society and why we do follow those rules and what we learn from the various social groups we belong to.

Tomorrow they will be dissecting a frog.  I had originally thought we would go with a virtual dissection but a friend called me and asked if I wanted to join her on the dissection.  I thought, well, even though we are really not up to that this opportunity landed in my lap so I should go for it.  I will post about it later in the week.

We did it!

Week #2 completed!  It actually went quite well.  So far this year is off to a better start then last year.  Last year it felt like it took forever to get into the groove.  This year we just got right into it.

Little Miss and Mister B are progressing in math and grammar nicely.  Little Miss M is learning about observation in science.  Observing living things and non-living things, determining if things move too fast to observe (the river) or too slow.  Mister B wrote a paragraph on why he enjoyed reading about Newton.  He likes the way he observes thing.  He said it would never have occurred to him to question why an apple always falls down.

I am hopeful that next week will be as successful as this week.

The week continues...

Yesterday was the first Discussion Group of the new school year.  Everyone was excited to be back and to hear what everyone did over the summer vacation.  Each child took a turn presenting their "What I did over my summer vacation" report.  It is amazing how much they have all grown in regards to their abilities to stand up in front and give a report.

Mister B talked about swim team, swim camp, and volunteering at the library.  He is definitely comfortable talking in front of the group.  He makes eye contact and looks at different people throughout the presentation. He needs to work on content.  He needs to elaborate.  Another area he will be working on-not interrupting when others are speaking.  He gets a thought and out it comes.  Granted, his comments are darn funny.  The boy has a sharp wit.  Time and a place is the lesson of the day.  He needs to be more respectful when others are speaking.

Little Miss talked about swim team, swim camp, and the friends she made over the summer.  She has also shown great improvement in her confidence in speaking in front of others.  She now needs to work on not reading straight from her text but looking around at the audience.

Some of the things the others did: Visits to Lake George and Camel Back beach, summer camp and trips down the shore, and growing a garden and how landscapers can be hazardous to your newly growing garden.

Week 2 is on it's way...

So far, so good.  We are settling into a routine.  Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and be ready to dive into to learning by 9.

Mister B is still grumbling about his increased work load.  Too bad.  If he wasn't complaining then it would be too easy.  We are not going for easy, we are going for college.  Mister B gets a little more control over his schedule this year.  Math is always the first subject and then he gets to decide the order he completes the rest of his assignments. 

Our largest hurdle in these first weeks of school is his absolute hatred of writing.  Every writing exercise is greeted with such an attitude of displeasure.  We are working on attitude improvement when unhappy with an assignment.


Little Miss M took her first Chapter Quiz in science today.  She did quite well.  90%.  As we went over her test we identified areas for her to work on in the upcoming year.  She needs to work on her handwriting.  Writing slower will help.  She needs to work on elaborating her answers.  She needs clearer descriptions.

For Literature she started reading The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig.  One of my favorite books when I was a girl.  She will be using various graphic organizers during her reading of this book to start developing skills in analysis.

Little Miss is also grumbling about her increased work load.  She is quite appalled at the addition to vocabulary quizzes in addition to spelling.  It is no longer enough to do the workbook and copy work. No she has to be able to recall the information a week later.  Development of study habits is important.

First Week of School has been completed.

Okay, my title says it is completed but technically Mister B is still working on science and then he has to do Civics.  He is working on Science now-reading a bit about Aristotle.  When he completes that he will move on to a question on Justice in Civics.

Overall, I think it has been a successful first week.  We had a few bumps.  Thanks to all the rain from Tropical Storm Lee I am still cleaning up water from the basement.  Yesterday and this morning I was clearing ruined things from the basement and dragging them out to the curb for garbage pick up along with all of my neighbors.  If nothing else, it prompted me into getting rid of those broken toys I have been meaning to toss.  School bumps were the usual grumblings of getting back into the routine along with some boundary pushing.  Those moments are always so much fun.

I think the year is off to a good start.  I am hopeful that the good things will continue.

First Day of School!

We had a rainy start to the 2011/2012 School Year.  The flood waters have receded.  The basement is almost dry.  However, today, we are back under a flood watch due to the continuous rain from Tropical Storm Lee.  I am hopeful that this time the water won't enter the home.  Now back to our start of the school year report.

Our first official day back went pretty well.  We started with the First Day of School Mug Shots.  I still can't believe I have an 8th grader and a 6th grader.  After the pictures were taken we sat down and got to work.

The day started with Math and was followed by grammar.  This was followed by science.  After that Little Miss did independent reading and she colored some maps.  She know knows the State Capitals for Pennsylvania & Ohio (I certainly didn't know).  While Little Miss was doing that Mister B started his Civics course.  Today was a discussion on "What is Civics? Why is the study of civics relevant to my life?"  Then we discussed the ideas of equality, justice, and freedom.  Once civics was done Mister B moved on to Literature.  He will be reading The Giver by Lois Lowry.  Today he read a short bio on the author and received his vocabulary list and his chapter assignment to be completed by next Wednesday.

Once all of the above was completed we headed over to Philosophy.  They did manage to have a brief philosophical discussion but today was more about getting reacquainted after not seeing each other all summer.  Over the next 2 or 3 sessions they will get back into the swing.

Tomorrow is a new day and we shall see what it brings.

Flooding Update

It seems I spoke to soon about the lack of water in our basement.  We ended up with a couple of inches down there.  Thank goodness the floor in the finished part, the laundry room, and one of the closets is raised off the floor.  I am also thankful that the majority of things I store on the floor are in plastic bins.  That said, we borrowed a shop vac from a friend (because there is not a pump to be had) and have been vacuuming up water since Friday night.  At first, it felt like I was not even making a dent.  I wondered if the water I was dumping down the slop sink was just spewing back in.  It wasn't.  The basement is physics at work.  Where the slop sink in, the floor is at the lowest point.  I was vacuuming up the water and the water from the rest of the basement was flowing down hill.

The downside to the raised floor is that I have to wait for the water to trickle down to the area where I can vacuum it up (which is the storage closet in the laundry room).  Most of the exposed floor in the furnace room is now dry.  One big damp spot in the corner that is getting smaller every day. 

Now I am left with a new problem.  The gross musty, mildewy smell.  The parts of the floor that I can scrub down with a vinegar solution will get done but there is that whole big section under the raised floor.  I have now way of cleaning that up.  Now we are shopping around for a dehumidifier to help with the dampness.  Price is an issue.  The really good ones are a few hundred dollars.  The internet is both a blessing and a curse.  We read reviews until we are too paralyzed to make a decision.  

Even with the few inches of water in the basement we are still luckier then most of our neighbors.  I am trying to count my blessings.

We survived the flooding

There has been lots of excitement by us these past few days.  Hurricane Irene didn't do too much damage.  The same can not be said of the flooding she caused in her aftermath.  Here is a link to some pictures of the flooding: http://fairlawn.patch.com/articles/day-3-fair-lawn-versus-irene#photo-7568936

We were incredibly lucky.  The river did make it to our house but only started filling the driveway before the river crested.  We did get a few inches of sewer back-up in the slop sink in the basement and one of the basement walls is a bit damp with some seepage.  Compared to my neighbors nothing happened to us.  My friend's parents live one block away.  Their basement was filled to the ceiling.  They spent all night bailing water to keep it from getting into the rest of the house.  Many of my neighbors experienced similar.  Many people also had a lot of sewage spewing into their basements.  It makes me glad that we hubby and decided many years ago not to put a bathroom in the basement.

School starts in our area the Tuesday after Labor Day.  It will be starting for everyone except the students at the middle school my two would attend if we did not homeschool.  The middle school had a boiler room full of water and some overflow into the auditorium.  Fortunately, no water made it into the classrooms or hallways.  However, between pumping out the water, the clean up, etc, they are anticipating that school will start on the 12th but they admit it may be longer.

Of course, my two thought a delayed start to the school year sounds awesome.  I pointed out that losing vacation time and/or having school end later then everyone else was not ideal and that we will be officially starting the school year next Tuesday.

From a school standpoint we are ready to go.  The new books are on the shelves.  Supplies are organized. 

This year Mister B will be using:
Math U See Pre-Algebra
History Odyssey-Modern Times
Oak Meadow English
Growing with Grammar
Oak Meadow Physical Science
Oak Meadow Civics

Extra Curricular:
Philosophy
Music Appreciation
Discussion Group
Swim Team

Little Miss M will be using:
Math U See Epsilon
Growing with Grammar
Critical Thinking Skills
Assorted Reading -Poetry, Biography, Non-Fiction
Oak Meadow Basic Life Science
History Odyssey-Modern Times

Extra Curricular:
Music Appreciation
Philosophy
Swim Team

Plus, we will be doing units on whatever else strikes our fancy.  I think this will be an exciting year.

Coach RJ Anderson

Yesterday my two started swim camp.  When I picked them up they told me their coach was taken away in an ambulance with a heart problem.  It turns out that he had a stroke and he passed away today.

Mister B and Little Miss M are very sad.  They really liked their coach.  I really liked their coach. Through his leadership, Coach RJ Anderson inspired the kids to excel at swimming.  He had passion a true passion for the sport and his loss will be deeply felt by his team, The Bergen Sharks.

Summer School

This past week summer swim team ended and I stepped up our summer review.  During swim team it was just too much effort for me to get Mister B and Little Miss M to sit down and do the work.  Practice was early in the morning and then we spent a couple of hours at the pool and by afternoon everyone was drained.  If I got some schooling in 2 or 3 times a week I was content.

Bringing us to this past week.  Swim Team ended on Tues. and out came the books on Wed.  Following our normal school year routine has worked out much better.  School then pool.  Since it is summer we only do 2 subjects a day.  Math and something. This is working out much better.

This afternoon they tried out for a different swim team then the one they were on last year.  Mister B really likes the team he is on but I explained that if this is something he seriously wants to pursue then we need to do our Due Diligence.  It may be the team we were on last year is the team we should be on but you have to see what other teams/coaches have to offer.  They both did well today so we shall see.  Mister B hated to admit that he liked these coaches a lot.  Due Diligence can be an eye opener.

Central Park Zoo

I can cross this one off the bucket list.  Finally went to The Central Park Zoo.  My sister came into town with one of my nephews.  (She took each boy on his own weekend trip.) We decided to play tourist and do something we have never done.

 Here we are at our awesome parking spot across the street from the entrance.  I never have this kind of luck.  Not only did we not have to pay for parking (even though hubby scored me an excellent coupon) but we were right across the street!

Here we are deciding where to go first.

Sea Lions rock!

Chilling with the Sea Lions

This was an excellent photo op in the shade on this incredibly hot day.

The Sea Lions performed for us.

They are just so gosh darn cute.

Wonderful clock on the way to the children's zoo.  It moves when the hour chimes.

After the Zoo we headed to www.dylanscandybar.com for a snack.

So much candy!  How to choose?

Posing with the candy.

We had a great day.  We saw the feeding of the penguins and the feeding of the Sea Lions.  We saw a red panda, monkeys, a polar bear (very sad, the other polar bear died a couple of months ago.  Hopefully they will be able to get a new polar bear soon so the one that is left is not lonely.) lemurs, parrots, and assorted other rain forest animals. The snow leopard was hiding somewhere cool so we did not get to see him.

Our original plan included Top of the Rock and Serendipity for Frozen Hot Chocolate but it was close to 100 degrees out and the wait at Serendipity was an hour and a half.  So Dylan's was a great option.  We spent an hour just wandering around the 3 floors of candy looking at stuff.  Yes, you read that correctly-3 floors.  My sister picked up a couple of packs of candy cigarettes.  Who else is old enough to remember them?  My kids were horrified that cigarettes were a candy.  Mortified that my sister and I used to love to blow out the white powder so that it would look like we were really smoking.  The 70's were a fun time.  You know those cigarette executives sat around trying to figure out how to hook the kids on smoking.


Hopefully we will get together with my sister and her family soon.