American Revolution Road Trip: Minute Men National Historical Park

We had a long drive to Philadelphia on this day, but first, we hopped out of bed bright and early, packed our bags, found one more Dunkin' Donuts to get coffee and donuts from (even Syd, who clamored for Dunkin' Donuts every single one of the approximately eight billion times that we passed one, was finally over her obsession and ready to move out of Dunkin' Donuts land), and zipped over to Minute Men National Historical Park to see where the shot heard 'round the world came from.

What, you don't know that song?

Well, if you'd been traveling with ME you would have known it by now, considering how incessantly I sang it.

We started in backwards order, with the North Bridge, because I just couldn't wait to see it:

I'd say that these are my brave Minute Men, but they're on the wrong side of the bridge... Let's kick those darned rebel butts, I guess?

Ah, here we are on the side of freedom and justice!

And here's where I have to tell you that all those times that my children are embarrassed of me are justified, on account of I have no problem singing, loudly, in public, and even forcing my more compliant child to sing with me, even though she is visibly uncomfortable at the singing. Loudly. In, god help us, public:



See? I'm not ashamed of myself at all!

This Junior Ranger book was another thoughtfully-created, challenging one:

The harder the kids have to work, the more excited they are to receive their badges.

I really liked this memorial to the fallen British soldiers. It reads, "They came three thousand miles and died to keep the past upon its throne: unheard beyond the ocean tide, their English mother made her moan."

Still traumatized by enforced singing, loudly, in public, the kid made this face when I said, "Go stand by the British soldier graves!!!"

We attended a Ranger program here on the musket, and were pretty excited that we got to see it loaded and fired:

The re-enactor doing this demonstration told us, before he began, that he could load and fire his musket in 20 seconds or less. He loaded and fired, and I videotaped it, and then he asked the crowd, "Okay, who timed me?"

I helpfully piped up, "Ooh, I did!"

"How long did it take?" he excitedly asked.

"Ummm... 31 seconds?"

The re-enactor was NOT super pleased, so I quickly said, "Oh, but I'm sure I started filming before the ranger said, "Prime and load." They both immediately jumped on that and reassured the crowd several times that that's what had happened.

(Psst! If you watch the video, you can totally see that's not what happened!)

On the walk back to the museum, the older kid was all, "Dude, why did you have to show up that poor musket guy?"

"I didn't know it would be such a big deal!" I insisted, as my entire family, who, I might add, are rarely any help at all when I put my foot in my mouth in public, laughed at me.

I liked seeing these complete soldier mock-ups, but I'm a little dubious at all the light shining on them. There's even sunlight coming in through an unshaded window! That's not how we preserve precious artifacts!

I suppose that they must be modern recreations, to be treated so, but still, do you really want to have to replace them every decade?

We had to loiter in this museum for a while, because we wanted to see the movie (we ALWAYS want to see the movie, except when we're at Independence Hall. Their movie is the worst one that I have ever seen anywhere), and there was already a school group settling in to watch it.

Side note: I was super jealous whenever we came across a school group on this trip, because their tour guides dress up in historically appropriate garb. How fun is that?!?

Anyway, as I was browsing the gift shop and checking out the small museum, I was of COURSE eavesdropping as hard as I could on the conversation between the kids' tour guide and the park rangers manning the place. The docent was busily telling them that this class of high school kids from a school about an hour away was special because their AP US history teacher had made the unheard-of decision to actually take them to all of the American Revolution sites within driving distance. It had never before been done in the history of the school, actually visiting these places, and many of the kids had never been to a single one before. And they'd had to do fundraisers, and the teacher had to justify his curriculum to the school board, etc. etc. 

What an awesome teacher. And what a shame that it wasn't already a given. I mean, we worked so hard to get to Minute Men National Historical Park, fourteen hours from home, just from studying the American Revolution with an upper elementary and middle schooler, that I can't imagine living an hour away from the place, AND studying the American Revolution with an AP US history class (or any history class, from preschool on up), and not simply going there. There should be someone taking these kids to all of these great places every year. 

Maybe the schools spend that time and money on standardized tests, instead?

Okay, off my soapbox. You know what I also like?

Miniature models of historic battles! I don't know who is making these things and putting them in national park museums all over the country, but I freaking love them:

I also love taking pictures of my family posing in those hole-for-your-face things. And I've discovered that these soldier ones are perfect for photographing my tween, who can't seem to take a photo without throwing me some shade these days:

Throwing some shade is very soldierly.

Because everything that seemed a long way away back then is just a short drive now, it took just a few minutes in the car before we were at the site where Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott were confronted by British soldiers, as the were on their way to warn everyone that the Redcoats were coming.

What better way to celebrate than with one more recitation of "Paul Revere's Ride?"

We learned about the National Highway WAAAAAY back at Fort Necessity (read up on it--it's interesting!), so it was especially cool that here it was also the Battle Road, where skirmishes between British soldiers, Minute Men, and even innocent civilians occurred as the British marched forward then fled backwards.

Racing along the Battle Road!

Here's a marker from the National Road. Paul Revere rode half the dang night to get to this place, and it's only 13 miles from where he began!

As we traveled all this week, we kept coming across people who were traveling New England, as well, not to see American Revolution sites (although that's where we all commingled), but to see the autumn leaves. And they were gorgeous! And so, as we walked along the Battle Road, when we came to this well-placed rock in front of a tree showing off its beautiful autumn colors, I convinced my more amiable kid to pose for me:

The other kid hung about, just off camera, looking less belligerent than usual, so I invited her to pose, as well.

And lo! She did! And she genuinely smiled! And she did not push, poke, or punch her sister in every single frame (just some of them)!

It's an American Revolution road trip miracle.

American Revolution Road Trip: Boston's Freedom Trail

Let's hit the road again, shall we?

After spending the morning at the New England Aquarium, we lunched (ie. ate squished sandwiches and crumbled cookies) at Boston Common. The kids quickly tired of squished pb&j and wandered off to see if the pigeons liked it any better--they did!

This photo is awkwardly framed and puts the older kid behind a trash can not because I'm too lazy to get out of my chair, but because I wanted to photograph not the children, but all of the random tourists watching the children. There are two guys actually videotaping my kids there, and there's another small crowd to the right that wouldn't fit in the frame. Tourists are so weird!

 

The plan for the rest of our day in Boston was to follow the Freedom Trail as far as it went, allowing the children to earn their Boston Freedom Trail Junior Ranger badges in the process. In all, it took about seven hours, walking all the way!

I should also stop and note here: the Freedom Trail is the best tourist site that I have EVER seen. It's a long walking trail, but it's paved with a red brick line that goes the entire way from site to site, along the entire trail. I never had to look at a map, just follow the red brick road and stop whenever I saw something interesting!

King's Chapel Burying Ground, Boston's oldest cemetery, was actually my most anticipated stop, and I forced the family to spend ages cooling their heels here while I wandered around and took tons of photos.

It's hard to see, but the inscription is a misspelled quote from the Roman poet Persius, roughly translated: "Live and remember death; the hour flies."

This reads, "Bethiah wife to Enoch Greenlefe Resigning up her Spirit to her Creator in hopes of Mercy and acceptance through the merits of her dear Redeemer, departed this life Dec 28 1678 Aetatis Sua 28." Further down, and buried now, are the details for two children who also died.

This is apparently NOT actually where William Dawes is buried.

This is just about the closest that this Benjamin Franklin fan got to a Benjamin Franklin memorial, alas. I had big plans to visit the Benjamin Franklin museum and B. Free Franklin post office in Philadelphia, but after we got news that the younger kid's Nutcracker rehearsals were going to begin that weekend, we had to shorten the Philly leg of our trip to a single half-day of Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Franklin's grave, and cheesesteaks eaten in the car on a LOOOONG drive home.

I didn't photograph the Boston Massacre site, because there were a million tourists standing right on top of it, but we did see it. I also didn't photograph the Boston Tea Party site, even though we walked along the harbor after the New England Aquarium and before lunch, because they have filled in all of that area that used to be water. In some museum or other we saw a map, and the city of Boston and surrounding area used to be so much smaller--when you walk around the edges of Boston, you're walking on actual landfill!

I hadn't really meant to do more than look at Faneuil Hall, but for some reason the Faneuil Hall page of the children's Junior Ranger book was by far the most challenging, so we spent a lot of time there making close observations and answering riddles.

I'd also been on the fence about whether or not to go into Paul Revere's house, as it's an extra admission charge, but the kids' Junior Ranger books required it, so it was a convenient excuse to do so.

I made my more biddable child recite this poem fragment numerous times--basically anywhere that we found a reference to Paul Revere:

We have the entire first third of the poem memorized by now, so we should go back and do it again!

I did really want to go into Old North Church, but it was yet another extra admission charge and the kids weren't super feeling it, so we just admired the belfry arch from below. I'd have insisted if I thought that we'd have been able to visit the actual belfry arch, but I couldn't get a straight answer, and that usually means no.

Even though it was a ridiculously long walk from Old North Church to the Battle of Bunker Hill Memorial--across the bay to Charlestown, in fact!--and I was about to wet my pants by the time we got there, the kids were in much better spirits by the end of the hike, and happily ran back and forth between the monument and the museum to find all the rest of the information for their Junior Ranger books.

The sun was beginning to set as we finally finished up the Freedom Trail and, two plastic badges on two shirts, hiked the two miles overland back to the car.

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to random little towns, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Work Plans for the Week of November 14: Back on Track

Last week did not go as I'd expected it to. Some surprises, fortunately, were good. I didn't anticipate how much extra time our new family member would use up, from the additional walkies before we left somewhere to the extra shopping (she's a leash chewer, it turns out) to the snuggles to all of the playtime:

She's a great fit for our family, and I feel happy every time I see her with Will.

The kids also received a surprise invitation to participate in the Children's Museum of Indianapolis' Power of Children Symposium, an invitation-only all-day workshop for children with a history of philanthropy. Syd couldn't attend, because she lives and breathes the Nutcracker these days, but it made for an unexpected but wildly wonderful day in Indy for Will and I--she listened to a keynote speech by Ryan White's mother, was mentored by older children who've won awards for their service work, and did various community service and leadership activities with like-minded peers. I did some Christmas shopping and volunteered in the museum with one of their high school interns. It was excellent and exhausting.

Other of the week's activities derailed us in most upsetting ways. The children and I lost TWO of our most talented teachers and valuable mentors last week, on the same day, even. Their funerals were even on the same day, though in different cities, so that we could only choose one to attend. (Un)fortunately, the children are well-versed in funeral etiquette, so we got through it, and on the way out to frozen yogurt afterwards, Will even noted that the funeral had been "peaceful." When I questioned her about what she meant, it turns out that she'd heard her favorite aunt chewing me out after my Pappa's funeral about a sundry of things that I've done wrong in her eyes, and remembered that aunt suggesting that my Pappa would be ashamed of me (I remember that, too, Baby), and had expected this wonderful math teacher's funeral to also have rancor-filled diatribes.

And she loved that math teacher enough that she went anyway, and didn't say a peep about it. 

The fact that she also heard that other post-funeral rancor-filled diatribe, something that I did not know, and didn't say a peep about that to me, either... well, I don't know what to say about that. I suppose I should at least ask her if her younger sister was sitting there next to her at the time.

And then there was the election. You already know how I feel about that. We've had many family discussions about how to conduct ourselves in a country in which many of our citizens now feel empowered to express their feelings of racism, misogyny, and generalized bigotry. I've done a lot of thinking, mourning the country that I thought that I lived in, feeling ashamed that it's my own position of privilege that has blinded me to the dangerous disaffection of many of those in my country. And maybe I spent a little more time that I needed to watching movies with the kids, or hiding and eating their stolen Halloween candy while they played. One has to give oneself some time to mourn, yes?

But this week we are back to business as usual, and I will be happy to take no happy surprises to distract us if we can also avoid the unhappy ones. I'll be happy to have a normal, typical week of math, grammar, CNN Student News over breakfast--

--ballet, fencing, puppy playtime, and plenty of reading:

I'm going to take that wall of presidential candidates down today, though, and good riddance.

 Books of the Day this week include some living fiction and some fiction that I simply want the kids to read (I'm especially excited about Kiki's Delivery Service, the film of which we watched a couple of weeks ago), and some mythology that I previewed to make sure that it remains consistent with the sources that the children are using for the National Mythology Exam. Memory Work is more Sonnet 116 and geometry identifications, as well as various equations that the kids need to keep fresh. We've got fencing and ballet and ice skating and horseback riding this week, but this weekend we'll see a break from at least one of our university-hosted extracurriculars, as all the college students leave for Thanksgiving break.

And here's the rest of our week!



MONDAY: As I write, Will is taking a Hoffman Academy lesson on her keyboard, and Syd is working on trading cards for Persephone and Demeter. Will doesn't love Hoffman Academy, but I plan to make her complete at least the first 100 lessons. I don't care if she learns piano, necessarily, especially since she's completely disinterested in learning piano, but I want her to know the bare basics about reading music, and develop better rhythm and body awareness. Syd enjoys playing the keyboard, but has told me more than once that she doesn't want to take organized music lessons, so Hoffman Academy it is for her, as well.

Now if I could just find another hour in the day to return to my own instruments of choice, the violin and the guitar, I'd be quite pleased!

My strategy of writing each day's Math Mammoth down on the children's work plans was successful, in that yesterday I was able to discern that neither child had completely finished her math for the week, and so I made them sit down with me on a Sunday morning and do it. Mwa-ha-ha! This week, Will is continuing in geometry, and Syd is continuing in decimals.  Syd finds decimals frustrating, and loathes it when I bring out the Cuisenaire rods and Base Ten blocks to explain each new concept, but the method works, so tough. I had no idea when I bought my first sets of Cuisenaire rods and Base Ten blocks that I would find them so endlessly useful!

The kids also fell behind in Analytical Grammar and Junior Analytical Grammar, but I didn't have them make up that work on Sunday. We'll simply continue doing one exercise each school day.

This week's language arts focus is on the middle grade novel, Wonder. We're reading it this week solely because the public library is hosting a children's book club meeting on the book this weekend, but as I wrote out lesson plans last week, I realized that it is really the perfect thing to be reading if you're feeling sad and hopeless and worried about mankind. There are some mean people in Wonder, of course, some bigoted people, some cruelty, but the book is overall an uplifting one, with a message of tolerance and diversity and the idea of kindness as a choice that we can make over and over and over again every single day.

I finally caved and bought two copies of the Student's Quest Guide for Aristotle Leads the Way (although we're using a library copy of the actual textbook). This semester is busy enough without me creating yet another curriculum from scratch, not when there's a perfectly good one available for the text that we were already planning to use. I'd like to add more enrichment activities specifically concerning Ancient Greece, but I'm considering covering Story of the World volume 1 again next semester, so I may hold off and use them then. Will has already completed today's assignment from Aristotle Leads the Way completely independently, but I read the assigned reading to Syd, and she hasn't yet completed her Student's Quest Guide assignment.

This week's Greek mythology study is of Persephone and Demeter. Syd spends far more time on the trading cards than Will does, but Will loves the extra reading that she does, so both are evenly whole-hearted in their studies. It's nice to study something that deeply interests you! In fact, they're so interested in Greek mythology and all things Ancient Greece that I'm just about to change my planning for our first international trip from Great Britain to Greece.

For our daily journal time, there are pen pal letters to answer or story starters to try out. I mean to write with the children every day, but last week I only managed to do so once. Will has the habit of sneaking off to do her writing so that she can put in minimal effort, Syd got inspired to work on a multi-day story instead of the assignments, and you already know about me. I'll do better this week!

Will's Wordly Wise 7 finally arrived, so she can begin that this week. Syd hasn't progressed much in her own Wordly Wise in weeks, because she's remarkably able to skive off of it when I'm not looking. I will be more vigilant this week!

I have been more vigilant with Will's daily typing practice, after seeing her just poking at letters with her index fingers simply to end the practice session. Now she knows that she can expect spot checks, and performs with more diligence, and Syd always gives it her best shot, although she really struggles with frustration and bad temper when she's not immediately perfect at every single lesson.

TUESDAY: The reason why we're studying Persephone and Demeter for Greek mythology today is that the exercise in myth vs. science in the Student Quest Guide uses that myth. We're multi-tasking!

I had thought that we'd be done with our election curriculum last Tuesday, but I have to do just one more thing: a post-mortem. We have a lovely electoral college map that the kids didn't finish coloring on election night, so they'll finish that on this day and we'll discuss how the election turned out. I anticipate having a lively back-and-forth on the pros and cons of the electoral college, particularly as I go back and forth on it, myself, almost hourly.

I have a lovely children's book on George Washington from the library, one of those that is written to the child and includes fun (if not always terribly enriching) enrichment exercises. I won't have the kids do the entire book, as we're finished with our American Revolution unit, but I would like them to at least read the chapter on Mount Vernon, and there's a recipe for hoecakes included in that chapter that will work quite well as our cooking lesson for the day. Our new oven even has a stovetop griddle!

The Good Turn for Goodwill project has Girl Scouts (in friendly competition with the Boy Scouts), collecting donations for Goodwill. It isn't formally educational (although we will talk about economic disparity as we work), but I welcome the time that I'll spend with the kids, thoughtfully going through our possessions and separating wants from needs from neither. We'll also be collecting other donations are our homeschool group's playgroup, and while Will and I are at fencing on this night, Syd and her dad will deliver the final donations to Goodwill.

WEDNESDAY: Syd didn't finish last week's Animal Behavior MOOC assignments, but I'm okay letting those slide for her as long as she completes the reading/watching. Will completed all of her assignments last week, so she can take the test for real, and Syd can take it "open book," ideally absorbing the content then, if not before.

We also didn't do our geoboard activity last week, and that's solely my fault, as I had big plans for us to make our own large-scale geoboards from scratch. Syd and I spent that entire day instead making two matching skirts from scratch for a playmate's birthday party, so I can't say that it was time poorly spent. We'll try again this week!

We did complete the backpack first aid kits last week, and that, combined with a Girl Scout meeting a couple of weeks ago in which the kids learned hands-only CPR, and a prior field trip to the police station, means that each child only has one or two more activities left to complete her first aid badge. On this day, Syd will research how to comfort and care for an ill person, and Will will begin an online class to teach her how to care for a child--I keep wanting her to take the Safe Sitter class at our local YMCA to meet this requirement, but it always conflicts with fencing, sigh.

THURSDAY: Will has been resistant to writing essays lately, and pretending that she doesn't know how (even though she's been writing essays for years, the little rat), so I'm pretty stoked that this Animal Behavior MOOC has so many opportunities for essay writing. On this day, after completing their assigned reading/watching, the kids will each brainstorm a specific positive behavior that they'd like to increase the frequency of in a specific individual, then break down the steps to take when planning this as a project. And no, Will, you cannot write your answers in list format!

FRIDAY: Syd is less proficient in essay writing (although she's far more willing to work at it than Will is!), so I'm using some extra reading on Treacher Collins syndrome, which Auggie from Wonder has, to inspire the guided writing of a good paragraph.

You'll notice that our Thursday and Friday are lighter than the rest of the week; I've noticed that my enthusiasm runs down as the week progresses, and I simply don't have the energy for multiple assignments that need me to mentor them. I may try to put more independent work assignments in these latter days, but for now, I just need the extra freedom to push a kid through any late work and to begin the next week's lesson plans.

Will is missing ice skating class on this day. I normally try very hard to never schedule something that would cause a child to miss an extracurricular (that I've already paid for!), but in this case, it's well worth it: we're going to drive to a university a couple of hours away from here and go see Bill Nye!!! The kids and I are madly excited.

And, AND, we've just learned that Neil DeGrasse Tyson is coming to our own university in March! We're going to see him, too!!!

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: Barring more surprise invitations, this weekend should be much more restful than the last. Will's Mandarin class is for sure cancelled, although I don't know about ballet yet, and the kids' book club meeting on Sunday will give me and Matt a little time to run errands without bored children having to drag along and help.

And then next week, we'll have just two full school days before a holiday that I declare WILL be restful, if I have to break my back to make it so!

American Revolution Road Trip: New England Aquarium

I think this is the last non-American Revolution activity that we do on our road trip, but with two kids who love sharks, and one kid who wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up, when you pass an aquarium on a vacation, you go in:

How adorable is this? The younger kid was thrilled, and I'm pretty excited that I happened to have my camera up and ready to catch it!

 The New England Aquarium has a lovely, large chondrichthyan touch tank, and the kids and I spent almost an hour there, our hands in the water, petting sharks and rays:

Please observe how much of this child's sleeve is IN THE WATER. A worthy sacrifice for petting this ray, of course.

 The children were there so long and so patiently that they eventually attracted the notice of the zookeepers at the exhibit, and were used as models of how to properly touch the animals. I struck up a conversation with one of the zookeepers, after he'd shown my children a little shark hiding sneakily but still in touching distance, and mentioned to him that we'd been studying sharks for the past three months, and had, in fact, just finished dissecting one. He was fascinated, and immediately began quizzing the younger kid about what all she'd seen during her dissection. He heard about the shark's organs, and all the disgusting things that we'd found inside its stomach, and then quizzed me about where on earth I'd found a shark to dissect on top of our kitchen table.

Fortunately, he thought that dissecting a shark on top of one's kitchen table was great, not weird.

Okay, he thought it was weird, too, but still great!

And yes, I had my arms in the water just like the kids. I studied chondrichthyans for three months, too!

We finally managed to tear ourselves away from the touch tank, and wouldn't you know it, there was an entire aquarium full of stuff to see!

This is the one who wants to be a marine biologist, if that look on her face didn't tell you as much.

Lookit! A shark egg! We've also seen this at Shedd Aquarium, and it's never not cool:

I'm not much of a gift shop shopper, and I didn't buy anything in this shop, either, but I SUPER wanted two full sets of these tentacles, nevertheless:

Next time: Freedom Trail and all things Boston!

Freedom and Justice for Everyone (Especially if You're a Republican)

I haven't been sleeping well lately, and so last night, when my body wanted to fall asleep long before the election results were in, I didn't fight it. I woke up briefly in the middle of the night and actually went for the remote control so that I could see who won, but Matt woke up to my rustling and convinced me to go back to sleep instead. I'll be curious to ask him when he gets home from work tonight if he already knew and was just saving me from being too upset to go back to sleep.

So it wasn't until I woke up this morning and turned on PBS that I saw. And yes, I cried when I told my daughters. I told two little girls that a man whom they have heard bragging about sexually assaulting women, whom they have seen mocking a disabled man, whom they have watched call another adult a "nasty woman" during a national debate, won the US presidency over a competent politician and administrator with decades of experience who also just happens to be female.

We live in a little liberal bubble in our university town (if you'd like to know where, look for the southernmost of the three tiny blue dots in the red state of Indiana--that's us!), and until this election, my children's main association with racism, sexism, and generalized bigotry has been with our previous trips to visit family in Arkansas, and in histories and historical fiction. Until this election, they believed that misogyny was primarily something practiced in the rural south or in the past. I knew better, of course--I've lived in this country for 40 years, so of course I know better. But I let them believe that, because they're my little girls, and I keep them safe under my wings, and I give them the gift of living their young lives thinking that the world is a good and fair place.

Because of this election, however, and thanks to our new president, these little girls, and little girls all over the country, are now realizing, if they haven't had to before, that our country isn't a good and fair place for you if you're not white, and male, and heterosexual. I knew that already, and I'd been keeping it a secret from them, hoping that by the time they were adults and out from under my wings, our country would have progressed far enough that they could hear about it as yet more history.

So it happens that I'm not, as I'd hoped, raising girls who will reap the benefits of American progress as they come of age; instead, I'm raising girls who will have to join the fight for a country that actually lives the ideals of freedom and justice for all. So be it.

My post's title is taken from the lyrics of a Wally Pleasant song. 

Work Plans for the Week of November 7: Geometry, Lightning Bolts, and a Presidential Election

Last week started strong but ended a little rough, when on Thursday we went back to the Humane Society (our second time that week) to meet a couple of new dogs whose descriptions Will had liked, and came home with Luna!

I was a bit overwhelmed that they sent her home with us right away, as we'd previously filled out an application on another dog, Jacob, and had to wait a couple of days to hear that someone else had adopted him. In an also overwhelming plot twist, when I went to the front desk to ask for an application for Luna, the woman at the desk told me that she was just about to call me because the people who had adopted Jacob had returned him after two days and we could have him, as well. So poor Will had to decide right then between Jacob and Luna, both of whom she'd fallen in love with. It wasn't until she had agonized and agonized and decided on Luna and I'd asked for all of Luna's info and had a conversation about her and filled out her application and had it accepted on the spot and was standing at the desk filling out more paperwork that I learned that Luna actually had more medical problems than I'd been told when I had asked for all of her information. Not only had she been treated for heartworms, as I'd been told, but she was also on "cage-rest" for another month, which I was first told meant that she literally had to stay in a cage for a month, but then, after some back and forth, it was decided that Luna could walk around and play gently, but just couldn't get her heart rate up. Oh, and she has a skin condition and needs medicated shampoo. 

At this point I was just like "fine, whatever. We'll figure it out," and made the desk person help me make a list of everything that I'd need to go buy for a dog. Which we then did, dog in tow, leaving her in the car with Will because the humane society sent us away with what they called a "slip leash" but was more like a piece of rope with an o-ring at the end. You threaded the other end of the rope through the o-ring and were left with a rope and a loop that tightened dangerously around your dog's throat when she pulled, and slackened completely when she was still. It was... not optimal.

So obviously Syd and I spent over a hundred bucks in the pet store and still came away with a collar and harness that didn't end up fitting, so Matt and Will had to go back to the store after horseback riding class and came away with a collar that still didn't fit, but a harness that did, so she's wearing her harness now, although I don't think we put it on correctly.

Anyway, Luna is home with us now, playing gently and walking around and not getting her heart rate up and laying in laps and napping on the couch and having her ears scritched and her belly rubbed. We call her our "awkward houseguest," because when no one is paying attention to her she'll stand in the middle of the living room floor, looking awkward and uncomfortable and wagging her tail hopefully every now and then, poor puppy. 

That being said, the kids still did amazing with most of their week. Our Greek mythology study is a hit, with the kids working for hours longer than I thought they would on their Greek god/goddess family trees, Syd even doing research to get more details than were provided in her reference book:

She KNEW those titans all had names, and was NOT going to settle with simply calling them "Titan 1," Titan 2," etc.

Also new last week were Analytical Grammar (for Will) and Junior Analytical Grammar (for Syd), and memory work for Sonnet 116, whose meaning is kind of obtuse to the kids, but they're muscling through:

The only new study that we have this week is SAT prep for Will, although I did order student books for this Story of Science book, so we can begin that next week. I've deliberately got more open-and-go curriculum choices this semester, mostly because Will is so much more capable of working independently these days, and takes pleasure in getting her work done. Syd is a little sneakier, and I have to keep an eye on her or she'll slyly simply not do her work. I've had to write down specific lessons in Math Mammoth on this week's work plans to keep Syd from muddling up, "losing," and essentially just not doing her math.

Books of the Day this week include some fiction that I'd picked out for the kids, a couple of interesting graphic novels that I thought they'd like, and another Dear America for Syd to try out--she loved the one that we listened to in the car, but some of them are a little dense for her independent reading. This week's memory work includes Sonnet 116, labeling and defining quadrilaterals, and continuation of "Paul Revere's Ride"--we're almost a third of the way through! Other daily work consists of Wordly Wise for Syd, and word ladders for Will until her own Wordly Wise comes in; keyboard practice using Hoffman Academy; and either 10 minutes of journaling or writing from a list of story starters and journal prompts that I've written (this is my newest attempted solution to Will's deliberate attempt to put as little effort as possible into her journaling), or answering a pen pal letter.

And here's the rest of our week!

MONDAY: Will and I are at the walk-in vet right now for Luna's free check-up; so far she's finished her Analytical Grammar assignment (pronouns) and is now working on calculating the area of polygons. Syd is home with a highlighted list of independent work that she was instructed to have finished by the time we get home--we'll see how that goes! 

Daily work on Typing.com is going okay--Syd is working hard, although getting hugely frustrated and throwing fits and insisting on practicing each day until she's received a perfect score, while I have to either sit at Will's elbow or pop by at random, frequent intervals to keep her from just hunting and pecking her way through the exercises, sigh.

A new work for Will this week is SAT prep. I looked through a bunch of SAT prep books to find one that I like, and throughout the next couple of weeks, Will is going to read the introduction and test tips and then take the diagnostic tests untimed. If she does very well on the verbal portions and not execrable on the math, we'll spend this semester working more formally through SAT prep and then have her take the SAT for real next semester. If she does okay on the verbal and execrable on the math, I'll drop the SAT  idea and instead start researching a different diagnostic test for her. My goal is simply to have a record of a very high test score from a nationally recognized test to use in applications for whatever programs for high-ability young learners might come her way. 

The kids worked through the reading comprehension activities for "Sonnet 116" last week, so this week it moves to daily memory work, and they'll spend a week focusing on their MENSA for Kids reading list. Usually they'll get interested enough in some of the books from the list that they'll knock out several before they set the list aside again for a bit. They'll have several to write down first thing this week, though, as we've listened to almost the entire Dark is Rising series in the car over the past couple of months--it's very weird!

Our Animal Behavior MOOC was what mostly got sacrificed to the chaos of the latter part of the week. We did the hike for the kids' animal observation, but they didn't write it up, and they didn't even start the next assignment's animal observation. We'll pick it up again this week, hopefully more attentively. 

The kids are LOVING their Greek mythology study. Will's extra reading is pretty dense, and I'd been worried that she wouldn't enjoy it, but she seems to be really into it so far. I've got a couple of fun enrichment activities planned for the study, but the kids' main project is going to be making a trading card for each mythical character, with a name (Greek, Roman, and English) and hand-drawn image on the front, and facts on the back. This day's reading is all about Zeus. 

TUESDAY: Math Mammoth this week is still geometry for Will and decimals for Syd, and most of the other assignments for this day are continuations from Monday. One special thing for this day, however, is the final assignment for our elections unit! I was dying to vote early so that I could stop paying attention to election coverage, but one of the activities for the kids' Girl Scout voter badge is to visit a polling place on election day, so there you go. The kids have a final reading from Election 2016, and we're also all going to stay up late on this night, of COURSE, to color in electoral college maps and watch the circus. I'm actually a little bummed that Will and I have fencing on this night, because I'll be missing two entire hours of coverage!!!1!!!

I want the kids to read each passage in the Greek mythology texts at least twice, in preparation for the National Mythology Exam, and it won't hurt to have the extra time to work on each trading card, as well. That way they can get some artistic consultation and help from Matt in the evenings.

Election Day is a school holiday in our district, so the public library is holding a Harry Potter party to keep the kids entertained. You know we're going to be there with our Hogwarts robes on!

WEDNESDAY: The Animal Behavior MOOC's assignment for this day is the other one that got left behind last week, so the kids can complete it on this day, and then, hopefully, we'll be back on track and won't get behind again. I'd like to finish this class during our three-month semester, and then, if we're still liking MOOC's, I have another one on my list to try!

Lightning bolt cookies are just for fun, and as a substitute for the cooking curriculum that I'll likely start back up with next week. The first aid kits should be fun, too, but will also fulfill a requirement for each kid's Girl Scout First Aid badge. 

THURSDAY: The Animal Behavior MOOC's assignment on this day is to observe a wild animal for at least ten minutes, then write an observational essay. I considered taking the kids to the zoo and making a day of it, but honestly, I'm still feeling a little run-down from our vacation and Halloween and insomnia and blah, blah, blah--I'll try to get back to our weekly day trip next week, but for this week, well, the instructor also gave the students a list of webcams and said that using a webcam is acceptable, so webcam it is!

Our Greek mythology study moves from Zeus to Hera on this day; the kids will read the text a couple of times and make a trading card for her.

FRIDAY: We'll have to get busting on school on this day, as Syd's school day will end in the early afternoon, when she heads off to a sleepover birthday party--crap, I just remembered that she has, as usual, planned an elaborate homemade gift, WHICH SHE HAS NOT YET BEGUN!!! I guess I know what we'll be doing in our free time this week!

Will has a little more time for school on this day, so she'll be taking another SAT diagnostic test, but both kids will be doing a geoboard project with me. I've long wanted to make a really large-format geoboard for the kids, and I wish I'd done it when I first wanted to, back when the kids were preschoolers, because I'm going to do it this week, anyway. As the kids get older, I realize more and more how many of the manipulatives that you make or buy for little ones remain useful even through the middle grades, at least. A geoboard for a preschooler is great for fine motor skills, shape recognition, patter making, studying symmetry and design, and just for creativity, but a geoboard for an older kid is great for studying polygons, area and perimeter, Pythagorean theorem and the study of triangles, and, if I have time to make the second geoboard that I want to make, even the geometry of circles. I can't wait to get started!

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: Ballet, Mandarin, more ballet! I need to spend more lesson plan time adding in our Story of Science and Spanish studies. I need to get my family to the apple orchard. 

Mostly, though, I need to take a nap!