Spring Break week over here! SportsBoy was on his school's spring break, so Mr. Wonderful, SuperKid and I decided to join in on the fun! After a lot of indecision - should we go somewhere for break? for a few days? not at all? - we decided to hang out at home this week. Turned out to be a great decision. We all got some much-needed time to relax, hang out, play, and just enjoy each other's company.
Tuesday morning we finally made our way to the new aquarium in town. I think it's been open for a few months now, and the boys have been wanting to check it out. We've been to a couple of other aquariums (including Newport and Chicago), and the boys were happy to finally have one closer to home. We got there right as it opened and were able to get through the exhibits pretty quickly. The website suggests planning on 1-1/2 hours for viewing, and that was pretty much dead-on. We enjoyed our visit, but all agreed it was not a place we would rush back to. The touch tank was fun - we had never been up close and personal with a horseshoe crab before - but the manta rays and little sharks that were in there are pretty standard touch tank fare, and we have been lucky enough to experience that several times in other locations. The shark tank, clearly the highlight of the aquarium, was not working properly. The water was very cloudy - at places we could not see anything unless it was moving right against the glass. We received a discount on our admission cost because of that, but it was really disappointing. The prices, in our opinion, are just too steep to warrant another visit just to get to see the shark tank.
I had wanted to visit the West Side Market for lunch after our excursion to the aquarium, but it is not open on Tuesdays, so we drove into the heart of downtown looking for some food trucks. I wanted us to have a unique experience to highlight our "special day," so sitting in a restaurant or grabbing fast food was not going to cut it. We found two trucks on East 9th that we really enjoyed - The Nosh Box and Rocco Whalen's Shortribs 1. Good, simple food but getting it from the truck made it seem yummier and more special. Very fun!
We ended our big day with dessert at The Melting Pot. That was really fun - and very tasty! We all enjoyed it. SuperKid is super-picky, so he wasn't into dipping his dessert. He's also not that into sweets, either, but he liked dunking treats for the rest of us while he nibbled on the strawberries and bananas sans chocolate. The rest of us made sure every millimeter of our treats were covered in chocolate before downing them! It was a great way to end our "vacation day."
SuperKid had Classical Conversations on Wednesday, and we did not want to miss that, so Wednesday was a school day for us, though we did get into the Spring Break spirit by having dinner at a local restaurant (we don't eat out very often, so all the meals out this week were a big treat for us). The boys spent the rest of the break relaxing, playing games, working on fun projects and just hanging out. A true vacation!
Next week, back to work. I'm ready, but I don't know about the boys. SuperKid and I were just getting on a roll; I'm hoping we can pick up on the momentum we had. We'll see. It's a busy week here next week. I am nursing several injuries right now, so I have several doc appointments as well as a couple of physical therapy appointments next week. SK has his annual doc appointment, and I have a couple of meetings scheduled, too. Classical Conversations, two sessions with SK's tutor (I will talk about that another time), cub scouts and piano lessons round out Monday through Thursday. On Friday, SportsBoy joins us at home again for Good Friday. Yep, a busy week. . . That always seems to happen after a week of the good life! :-)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
The Week Before Spring Break
Next week is our Spring Break though the weather has been so amazing here that I keep trying to convince myself it must be time for Summer Vacation! A lot of people have asked me if I have a hard time keeping SuperKid motivated to work when the weather is so nice. Actually, I have a hard time this year keeping SK motivated to work regardless of what the weather is doing. It's just that kind of year, ya' know? The weather, however, makes it hard for ME to stay motivated. I love being outside for the warm weather. My boys? Not so much. Sigh . . .
Anyway, we've actually gotten a lot of work done in the past month and just this week I was telling Mr. Wonderful how much SK has accomplished. Hurray! My goal is to finish off the year feeling productive and proud of what we did this year - and not to be frustrated by the memory of the challenges we faced in the first part of the school year. We'll see how that works out for me . . . :-)
On St. Patrick's Day, SK played in his first full-blown Piano Competition. It was a great experience - he felt very proud of himself. He's just been playing for a little over a year, and I really am amazed at how well he plays. He thought he performed well and it turns out that he was right (we weren't sure since parents were not allowed to listen to the performance). He earned the highest rating - Unanimous Superior - which means that both judges gave him the highest mark. Congrats, SuperKid! Next up is our homeschool group's talent show (he will play Linus and Lucy - a song that he loves) and then in May he will play in a Duet Recital. All great experiences for him!
Sunday, SuperKid received his Arrow of Light Award. The highest award in cub scouting, the Arrow of Light signifies a scout's readiness to bridge over to Boy Scouting. Again, he and we were very proud of his achievement. Many thanks to the leaders and other adults who helped him accomplish this goal!
Monday we stayed focused and got a lot of schoolwork done, despite my urge to tell SuperKid to play Wii all day so I could go out and sit in the sun. :-) I will blog about our curriculum choices at another time, but I should mention that Monday was our first day of Saxon 6/5. We completed 5/4 last week (we did about half of it last school year) and SK was super-psyched to dive into the new book! It's always nice to see enthusiasm for math - and really, who isn't motivated by a clean crisp book that starts with some simple lessons? The first lessons are really building SK's confidence that he can master this book. Saxon's approach of jumping back and forth between concepts can seem a bit counter-productive at times, so it's nice that they let the kids build up some momentum and pride at the beginning.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed a homeschool program at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The program was about mythical creatures, and the instructor did a fantastic job of discussing not only the scientific basis (or lack thereof) for some of the best-known mythical creatures, but also just helping us think about what the world was like when these myths were first created.
Wednesday was our Classical Conversations Day. We gave our family presentation, which was a lot of fun. We introduced our family members and then talked about how our new puppy has helped us better understand God's love for us. SK has not been studying his vocab so he totally tanked in the surprise vocab game, but he made up for it by winning the math game later in the class. Several families referenced our speech during the class, which made SK feel really proud!
Yesterday's highlight was a Nature Walk with the binoculars SK won during a speech contest at cub scouts. The binoculars are pretty weak, but I don't think he knows that. It's not like he's ever seen a good pair, so he really doesn't know what he's missing. We noticed the plants budding, examined some fungi, talked about decomposing (which we studied earlier this year) and noticed squirrels, frogs and birds in their natural habitat. A great way to enjoy the nice weather and get school work done!
Today SK went bowling with our homeschool group, had a tennis lesson and a kenpo lesson in addition to his school work. This evening we're all kicking around relaxing - the perfect ending to a great week!
Thanks to Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers for hosting this post in her Weekly Wrap-up! Very fun to participate - I love reading the other posts!
Anyway, we've actually gotten a lot of work done in the past month and just this week I was telling Mr. Wonderful how much SK has accomplished. Hurray! My goal is to finish off the year feeling productive and proud of what we did this year - and not to be frustrated by the memory of the challenges we faced in the first part of the school year. We'll see how that works out for me . . . :-)
On St. Patrick's Day, SK played in his first full-blown Piano Competition. It was a great experience - he felt very proud of himself. He's just been playing for a little over a year, and I really am amazed at how well he plays. He thought he performed well and it turns out that he was right (we weren't sure since parents were not allowed to listen to the performance). He earned the highest rating - Unanimous Superior - which means that both judges gave him the highest mark. Congrats, SuperKid! Next up is our homeschool group's talent show (he will play Linus and Lucy - a song that he loves) and then in May he will play in a Duet Recital. All great experiences for him!
Sunday, SuperKid received his Arrow of Light Award. The highest award in cub scouting, the Arrow of Light signifies a scout's readiness to bridge over to Boy Scouting. Again, he and we were very proud of his achievement. Many thanks to the leaders and other adults who helped him accomplish this goal!
Monday we stayed focused and got a lot of schoolwork done, despite my urge to tell SuperKid to play Wii all day so I could go out and sit in the sun. :-) I will blog about our curriculum choices at another time, but I should mention that Monday was our first day of Saxon 6/5. We completed 5/4 last week (we did about half of it last school year) and SK was super-psyched to dive into the new book! It's always nice to see enthusiasm for math - and really, who isn't motivated by a clean crisp book that starts with some simple lessons? The first lessons are really building SK's confidence that he can master this book. Saxon's approach of jumping back and forth between concepts can seem a bit counter-productive at times, so it's nice that they let the kids build up some momentum and pride at the beginning.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed a homeschool program at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The program was about mythical creatures, and the instructor did a fantastic job of discussing not only the scientific basis (or lack thereof) for some of the best-known mythical creatures, but also just helping us think about what the world was like when these myths were first created.
Wednesday was our Classical Conversations Day. We gave our family presentation, which was a lot of fun. We introduced our family members and then talked about how our new puppy has helped us better understand God's love for us. SK has not been studying his vocab so he totally tanked in the surprise vocab game, but he made up for it by winning the math game later in the class. Several families referenced our speech during the class, which made SK feel really proud!
Yesterday's highlight was a Nature Walk with the binoculars SK won during a speech contest at cub scouts. The binoculars are pretty weak, but I don't think he knows that. It's not like he's ever seen a good pair, so he really doesn't know what he's missing. We noticed the plants budding, examined some fungi, talked about decomposing (which we studied earlier this year) and noticed squirrels, frogs and birds in their natural habitat. A great way to enjoy the nice weather and get school work done!
Today SK went bowling with our homeschool group, had a tennis lesson and a kenpo lesson in addition to his school work. This evening we're all kicking around relaxing - the perfect ending to a great week!
Thanks to Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers for hosting this post in her Weekly Wrap-up! Very fun to participate - I love reading the other posts!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Is It Summer??
The beautiful weather continues - 80 degrees here the past two days, and well on it's way to 80 again today! Unfortunately, we've had indoor activities the past two days, so we've only been able to take advantage of the weather in the evening. Maybe that's for the best - we couldn't be tempted to skip out on our school hours, but we still had time for the boys to play with the neighborhood kids after school.
Tuesday SuperKid spent a great afternoon at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History Cleveland Museum of Natural History. They host monthly homeschool programs, and this month's was really interesting - Mythical Creatures. The program tied into their visiting exhibit, Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids. Honestly, we thought the exhibit was just okay, but I was really impressed with the study program. They talked about how and why ancient civilizations came up with these creatures. While some, it is speculated, were merely metaphors for life situation (the phoenix), others were likely thought to be actual animals, probably because groups of ancient people came across the remains of several species in one place and assumed that they were the remains of one type of animal. The instructor punctuated the verbal lesson with touch boxes - various relics under large boxes with holes just big enough for the kids to reach in. The kids felt around the inside of the box and then drew a picture of an animal that best represented what they felt. One box, for example, had a snake skin, wasp nest, antler and owl wing in it. This really helped the kids understand how these misconceptions could happen. Great lesson!
Yesterday was our Classical Conversations day. This is our second year in the program. Last year we participated in the Foundations level of the program. SuperKid loved it and earned the Memory Master designation. But he didn't want to do Foundations this year, so we decided to focus on Essentials instead. I really like doing just a half-day (it's a very tedious day for the parent - especially the morning in Foundations) but next year we will probably do both. Even though we were not participating in Foundations this year, the Director gave us the opportunity to do a Family Presentation to the group, which is something SuperKid really wanted to do, so we went in early yesterday to do that. SK talked a little bit about each member of our family, including the four pets, and then I talked about how our new puppy, Winston (aka Mr. Naughty) has helped us better understand our relationship with God. I know it sounds like a stretch, but trust me, it was very simple to use our pup's interactions with us as vivid and fun-for-the-kids examples of how much God loves us and why it is important to be grateful and respectful to God. Kids, and moms, love naughty dogs so at least we weren't boring! lol
SuperKid is doing math, reading and writing this morning - and then we finally get to enjoy the good weather during an afternoon Nature Walk. SK gave a speech at Cub Scouts last week that won him the second place prize - a pair of binoculars that we can't wait to try out. We'll wrap up the afternoon with a piano lesson and then take SportsBoy to his tennis clinic. Typically I would fit in a workout after that, but because of my injuries I'm very limited in what I can do. So I'll probably actually cook something for dinner :-) and we'll have a nice quiet evening together after tennis.
SportsBoy has one more day of school before Spring Break starts - hurray! We're all looking forward to it. We're not going anywhere, but we do plan to explore some fun things around town, relax and play some tennis. SportsBoy has try-outs for his Middle School the week school starts back, so he's got some work to do if he's going to make the team. There are about 30 boys going out for 12 spots, and SB has not been that into tennis since his former coach left. Within the last week, though, he's decided it would be cool to make the team - so we'll see what happens.
Okay, off to swelter in the summer-like weather! :-)
Yesterday was our Classical Conversations day. This is our second year in the program. Last year we participated in the Foundations level of the program. SuperKid loved it and earned the Memory Master designation. But he didn't want to do Foundations this year, so we decided to focus on Essentials instead. I really like doing just a half-day (it's a very tedious day for the parent - especially the morning in Foundations) but next year we will probably do both. Even though we were not participating in Foundations this year, the Director gave us the opportunity to do a Family Presentation to the group, which is something SuperKid really wanted to do, so we went in early yesterday to do that. SK talked a little bit about each member of our family, including the four pets, and then I talked about how our new puppy, Winston (aka Mr. Naughty) has helped us better understand our relationship with God. I know it sounds like a stretch, but trust me, it was very simple to use our pup's interactions with us as vivid and fun-for-the-kids examples of how much God loves us and why it is important to be grateful and respectful to God. Kids, and moms, love naughty dogs so at least we weren't boring! lol
SuperKid is doing math, reading and writing this morning - and then we finally get to enjoy the good weather during an afternoon Nature Walk. SK gave a speech at Cub Scouts last week that won him the second place prize - a pair of binoculars that we can't wait to try out. We'll wrap up the afternoon with a piano lesson and then take SportsBoy to his tennis clinic. Typically I would fit in a workout after that, but because of my injuries I'm very limited in what I can do. So I'll probably actually cook something for dinner :-) and we'll have a nice quiet evening together after tennis.
SportsBoy has one more day of school before Spring Break starts - hurray! We're all looking forward to it. We're not going anywhere, but we do plan to explore some fun things around town, relax and play some tennis. SportsBoy has try-outs for his Middle School the week school starts back, so he's got some work to do if he's going to make the team. There are about 30 boys going out for 12 spots, and SB has not been that into tennis since his former coach left. Within the last week, though, he's decided it would be cool to make the team - so we'll see what happens.
Okay, off to swelter in the summer-like weather! :-)
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
What a Weekend!
SuperKid had an amazing weekend! He started off bright and early Saturday morning with a Piano Competition. He has been playing piano for just over a year, and I have to say I think he's really good. I don't know a lot about music, so that may not be the greatest credential - but others who do know music agree with me. So there! lol Anyway, SuperKid and Mr. Wonderful fought the St. Patty's Day traffic (parade day, of course!) to get downtown for the early start time. Luckily, they were so early they had no trouble finding parking (first sign that the Luck o' the Irish was with them). They checked in, SuperKid went to the practice rooms - and next thing they knew, SuperKid was zipped away to perform his music in front of the judges. No parents allowed.
He came out all smiles and seemed very pleased with his performance. He usually feels pretty good about his performances, though, so it was hard for Mr. Wonderful to gauge just how well he may have done. But no time to ponder - they had to leave downtown to grab some breakfast and make it to swim team practice by 10:30. Then home for lunch, to the club for tennis practice and then back home for all-important play time (it was a beautiful day to play outside, by the way - 75 degrees on St. Patty's Day in Cleveland!?).
So, anyway, later SuperKid's piano teacher sent out an announcement - SuperKid had received the highest rating - Unanimous Superior! Woo-hoo! Such a great accomplishment for him! And for the other kids who received the same rating - congrats to all! SuperKid's teacher is truly amazing - she really expects - and gets - a lot from all of her students!
Then on Sunday, another great achievement! That afternoon, during a break in his Cub Scout Pack's Pinewood Derby, SuperKid and his fellow Webelo IIs received their Arrow of Light Awards. The highest honor a cub scout can earn, the Arrow of Light signifies the achievements of the Webelo II and his readiness to bridge over to Boy Scouts. Cub Scouts, for those of you who don't know the program, is basically leader-led. Boy Scouts, however, is more self-led - so earning the Arrow of Light is kind of a coming-of-age event, if you will.
I had big tears on my face during the ceremony. I thought back to many years ago, when SuperKid was being diagnosed, and recalled the doctor's warnings that our son would likely never speak or play or be a part of society. And here he was, earning the Arrow of Light! Way to go, SuperKid !!
I am so very grateful to the many people who helped SuperKid achieve this award. His den leaders truly recognized his talents and made sure to give him opportunities to prove and stretch his capabilities - just as they did for all the other boys in the group. SuperKid is not the most popular boy in the den - he is still a bit socially awkward - but I have to say that it warms my heart when the other boys recognize his talents. At his last Homeschool den meeting, the boys had to give two speeches. SuperKid's speeches were really good, and it was so amazing to see the boys come up to him and say, "Good Job!" and talk amongst themselves about how good his speeches were. My heart melts at times like that, let me tell you!
So all in all, an amazing few days. Hurray for SuperKid and his superhero-like weekend!! :-)
He came out all smiles and seemed very pleased with his performance. He usually feels pretty good about his performances, though, so it was hard for Mr. Wonderful to gauge just how well he may have done. But no time to ponder - they had to leave downtown to grab some breakfast and make it to swim team practice by 10:30. Then home for lunch, to the club for tennis practice and then back home for all-important play time (it was a beautiful day to play outside, by the way - 75 degrees on St. Patty's Day in Cleveland!?).
So, anyway, later SuperKid's piano teacher sent out an announcement - SuperKid had received the highest rating - Unanimous Superior! Woo-hoo! Such a great accomplishment for him! And for the other kids who received the same rating - congrats to all! SuperKid's teacher is truly amazing - she really expects - and gets - a lot from all of her students!
Then on Sunday, another great achievement! That afternoon, during a break in his Cub Scout Pack's Pinewood Derby, SuperKid and his fellow Webelo IIs received their Arrow of Light Awards. The highest honor a cub scout can earn, the Arrow of Light signifies the achievements of the Webelo II and his readiness to bridge over to Boy Scouts. Cub Scouts, for those of you who don't know the program, is basically leader-led. Boy Scouts, however, is more self-led - so earning the Arrow of Light is kind of a coming-of-age event, if you will.
I had big tears on my face during the ceremony. I thought back to many years ago, when SuperKid was being diagnosed, and recalled the doctor's warnings that our son would likely never speak or play or be a part of society. And here he was, earning the Arrow of Light! Way to go, SuperKid !!
I am so very grateful to the many people who helped SuperKid achieve this award. His den leaders truly recognized his talents and made sure to give him opportunities to prove and stretch his capabilities - just as they did for all the other boys in the group. SuperKid is not the most popular boy in the den - he is still a bit socially awkward - but I have to say that it warms my heart when the other boys recognize his talents. At his last Homeschool den meeting, the boys had to give two speeches. SuperKid's speeches were really good, and it was so amazing to see the boys come up to him and say, "Good Job!" and talk amongst themselves about how good his speeches were. My heart melts at times like that, let me tell you!
So all in all, an amazing few days. Hurray for SuperKid and his superhero-like weekend!! :-)
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Missing the Bus
So today, something new happened to us. SportsKid, who is not a morning person (show me a 13-year-old who is!) missed the bus to his Boys' Choir Ensemble Competition. The paperwork from his teacher said the bus would leave at 6:45 am. We took that to mean we needed to be there by 6:45. We got there at 6:46. No buses or cars in sight. We went to the high school, thinking the bus might be there. Nope. Back to the Middle School. We knocked on the door to catch the attention of the janitor who told us the bus had already left. Really? He thought it had pulled out a little before 6:45. It must have. It would have passed us on our way to the school if it had left any later than 6:42.
So at 6:51, we set off for a town about 35 minutes north of us. We were both in a foul mood, though I was able to let it go much more easily than SportsKid was. He had never planned to join Ensemble this year, but at the choir try-outs his teacher talked him into it. He had aged up to a new school, and I imagine it felt good to be wanted. He was probably a little nervous and unsure of himself, not knowing if he'd find his place in this new building with new teachers. And so, when this teacher so badly wanted him for her ensemble, he signed up. I think he knew immediately it was a mistake. This teacher is really frazzled, the music they sing is not great, and it takes away from time he would like to be spending on other things. So at 6:51 on this Saturday morning, he was not happy that he missed the bus to go to something he didn't want to do anyway. Insult to injury, you know?
I drove him to the competition and on my way home, I got to thinking. It seems like lately I have been missing the bus. Lots of buses, actually. Sometimes it seems that everyone else in the world is finding themselves, leading lives they are proud of, accomplishing things. They are on the bus. So why is the bus always leaving me behind? I used to be on the bus. I used to be early for the bus. Now, I'm so late for the bus I wonder if it even exists. I know what time it's leaving, but I just can't seem to catch even a glimpse of its taillights. What happened - how did that change?
I wish I knew. I wish I could figure out how to get back on that bus. I wish I could say that I know this is just a phase, and surely the bus will come around for me again. But what if it doesn't? What if my time on the bus is over? What do I do then? Could it possibly be that there is no place for me to go? That this is where I'm meant to be for the rest of my life? I don't have a bad life. Probably lots of people think they would like their bus to bring them to a life like mine. Our family is safe, happy and secure. We have what seems to be such trivial worries compared to others. Yet, I feel incomplete. I feel like I could be doing more, contributing more, feeling better about myself. For some reason, I really feel like I need to get back on that bus - I'm just not sure how to catch it anymore.
So at 6:51, we set off for a town about 35 minutes north of us. We were both in a foul mood, though I was able to let it go much more easily than SportsKid was. He had never planned to join Ensemble this year, but at the choir try-outs his teacher talked him into it. He had aged up to a new school, and I imagine it felt good to be wanted. He was probably a little nervous and unsure of himself, not knowing if he'd find his place in this new building with new teachers. And so, when this teacher so badly wanted him for her ensemble, he signed up. I think he knew immediately it was a mistake. This teacher is really frazzled, the music they sing is not great, and it takes away from time he would like to be spending on other things. So at 6:51 on this Saturday morning, he was not happy that he missed the bus to go to something he didn't want to do anyway. Insult to injury, you know?
I drove him to the competition and on my way home, I got to thinking. It seems like lately I have been missing the bus. Lots of buses, actually. Sometimes it seems that everyone else in the world is finding themselves, leading lives they are proud of, accomplishing things. They are on the bus. So why is the bus always leaving me behind? I used to be on the bus. I used to be early for the bus. Now, I'm so late for the bus I wonder if it even exists. I know what time it's leaving, but I just can't seem to catch even a glimpse of its taillights. What happened - how did that change?
I wish I knew. I wish I could figure out how to get back on that bus. I wish I could say that I know this is just a phase, and surely the bus will come around for me again. But what if it doesn't? What if my time on the bus is over? What do I do then? Could it possibly be that there is no place for me to go? That this is where I'm meant to be for the rest of my life? I don't have a bad life. Probably lots of people think they would like their bus to bring them to a life like mine. Our family is safe, happy and secure. We have what seems to be such trivial worries compared to others. Yet, I feel incomplete. I feel like I could be doing more, contributing more, feeling better about myself. For some reason, I really feel like I need to get back on that bus - I'm just not sure how to catch it anymore.
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