L'Shanah Tovah!

Rosh Hashana was this week.  We wish you and your families a Sweet and Happy New Year.  May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.

No school on Mon. & Tues. of this week for Holiday celebrating.  We saw family on the first night and friends on the second night.  Apples dipped in honey, brisket, and other assorted traditional foods were enjoyed.

Wednesday was a philosophy day.  The kids finished up the first book on Logic and are ready to move onto the next book which deals with Ethics.  Lots of thought provoking conversation on Reason vs. Excuse.  How are they different?  Is violence against another person ever justifiable?  Is lying ever acceptable?  One instantly wants to say no, but, if someone is threatening you if you don't tell them where someone else is do you lie about their location?  So much to think about.

The kids are plodding ahead in their studies.  Little Miss M completed a paper on Henry the VIII's wives.  Mister B has been working on an essay about himself for a writing course he is taking.  Little Miss is learning about percentages and pie charts while Mister B is reviewing Greatest/Lowest Common Factors & Greatest/Lowest Common Multiples. Mister B is also busy with Spanish-learning to count to 100 and the days of the week.  And of course, some science for both of them.

Some days really make my head spin.

Week 2

Little Miss M is starting to get a handle on her workload.  So far, this week has been a little easier with her.  Mister B on the other hand, well lets just say I have had moments when I have been prouder of myself.

Everything with him has been a battle.  Part of that is normal teen envelope pushing and part of it the fact that I am still not feeling 100%.  I really miss my sweet toddler.  I am hoping this sullen, everything is a battle stage passes soon or one of us may not survive.

On the upside swim practice for the club team they swim on started last night.  They both got a solid nights sleep.

Day 2 of the new school year

Day 2 was off to a slightly better start then day 1.  No slurpees at 9:00 the night before (Thanks dad for the sugar crash on the first day of school).

I have to say, neither one is enjoying the majorly increased work load.  Mister B is especially feeling it.  My answer: Too bad.  That is life.  Deal with it.  Then I also explained that since this is a short week I have been cramming in the information and that over the next few weeks he will be able to start figuring out how many days each week he will need to work on each subject to meet his deadlines.  He may decide to do a little each day or block his day with intense focus on a couple of subjects.

Today he had his first Spanish Class through http://spanishonline.okstate.edu/.  He seemed to enjoy it.  And like all good classes, it started with an easy lesson.  Today was all about greetings.  Hola! Que tal?  Muy bien, y tu? Adios!  Buenos dias, buenos tardes, bueno noches.  I also like that the textbook is available as an ebook so I did not have to shell out over $100 for it.  Mister B liked using it, too since it is interactive.  This is the first ebook we have used because I am old school and like holding a book.

Little Miss M also complained about her work load.  This is the first year where she will not normally be done by lunchtime.  She had to continue her school work after lunch.

I am confident they will adjust.

What I see as an upcoming source of possible strife...Mister B's friends whispering (loudly) that he should go to high school with them.  They want to see him and hang with him.  I get that.  He gets that, however, the siren song of friends can be very appealing.  Then we talked about how he will be swimming for the high school team (Yay, me-major victory since the school district originally said no) and he will be involved in going to football games with friends and other social events.  9th grade should be an interesting ride.

The School Year Has Begun!

We officially started our school year yesterday. It was a rainy, dreary day so no outdoor pics.  Then the battery in the camera died so I was only able to get these 3 shots.

Little Miss M is in 7th Grade

Mister B is a High School Freshman!

Don't they look thrilled!

It was a bit of a challenging morning.  Getting back into the routine after summer fun is an adjustment.  Fortunately, they had philosophy class and that broke up the day.  For the first day of school Little Miss M worked on Math, English, Science, & History.  Mister B focused on Math & English. 

When I was getting the pics off the camera I discovered a whole bunch of pictures that I never downloaded.  Oops.  Here are a few shots from the summer.

Outside The Met.

Street entertainers.  A very good Capella group. 

Getting ready for the Ballroom Dancing showcase.

Waiting for her race at summer swim meet.

I don't know what he was looking at.