11-16-2008
Pictures!
Some pictures from around town:
Our Halloween costumes. Johnny is an Alien from Juipiter, Thomas a ladybug (he had several costumes during Halloween week), and Tabby is a chick: 
Our pumpkins, didn’t I do a good job?:
Look at everything we tie-dyed:
Johnny’s mask from Epcot:
Thomas with Strawberry his astronaut bear. We found this at the airport in Orlando and we had to buy it for him
Just because she’s so cute:
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11-16-2008
We’re Home from Disney!
We’re back from Disney World. I am still tired. As a summary, Johnny had a great time, Thomas loved the pool and had fun but was slightly intimidated by the characters and crowds, and Tabby was pretty freaked out the whole time. We had fun but I must admit I just don’t get it. It was a good trip but I’m not entirely certain why this trip is the pilgrimage every family must take versus say a trip to New York or something.
So the plane ride over went pretty well. Tabby slept through most of it and the boys were occupied with watching Wall-E. At the airport, we didn’t have to pick up our bags (they magically appeared in our rooms three hours after we got there) instead we just got on Disney’s Magic Express bus. Of course, there was a long line. The line looked bad but honestly it went quick. This pretty much turned out to be true for the whole trip. We probably never waited more than 20 minutes and most of the time it was 5 minutes or less. We were quickly checked in but we missed our bus so we had to wait for the next one. This turned out to be nice since we were the first one on the next bus got the front seat, which had an awesome view. The landscape was so different than in Chicago and I was completely occupied the whole 30 minute trip to Disney. There was a TV so once again the boys were occupied. I saw a wild alligator, all kinds of cool birds, crazy looking plants, lots of solar panels on roofs, and screened in swimming pools.
My parents met us at the bus and took us back to the condo. The condo turned out great. We had our own room, which is basically a normal hotel room. My parents had a room and poor Mitchell slept on the couch in the living room/ kitchen area. We had ordered food and stuff ahead of time and Disney kept everything cold and had it all waiting for us. The boys immediately headed for the pool and had a wonderful time splashing around. Afterwards we took the ferry over to downtown Disney for dinner. Downtown Disney was SO CROWDED it was hard to move through the crowds. Dinner was nothing special which was yet another theme of the trip. Average food severed in LOUD restaurants. We did head over to a cool toy store and the boys made their own light sabers!
The next morning I got the kids up early and we went to the Magic Kingdom. We were there early enough for the opening show. We got to see Mickey, Minnie, Chip, and Dale plus they did a bit of a dance thing and threw out confetti. It was uncomfortably crowded walking around but the lines were not particularly long. That morning we rode Dumbo, Pooh, Barnstormer, Buzz Lightyear, Carousal of Progress, and met Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, and Buzz. The boys both loved Dumbo but found Pooh scary. Johnny also LOVED the Carousal of Progress (really kinda lame). Next we went to eat at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and his friends. We were seated pretty quickly but the line for food was about 10 minutes long and the restaurant was full of screaming children. They did have the only decent cup of coffee I had all week though. After lunch we stopped to watch a glass blowing demonstration and my parents bought the kids balloons. Thomas’ popped as we were walking out of the park. We went back to the condo to take a nap but NO ONE napped instead they all headed to the pool again. Thomas did fall asleep on the way back to the Magic Kingdom that night. That night we rode on Aladdin’s Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Small World, and we saw Mickey’s Philharmonic. Poor Thomas was so frightened on that he peed in his pants! After swimming he had dressed himself and we forgot check to make sure he was in a pull up. We also forgot to bring extra pants so we ended up having to buy some pajamas for the poor kid. We also saw the parade and fireworks that night both of which were spectacular.
Our second full day we went over to the Animal Kingdom. I had high hopes for this park and was somewhat disappointed. It was once again uncomfortably crowded walking about full of people rushing towards a goal. The animal enclosures were absolutely incredible but they were hard to find since they were nowhere on the map. I found the mix of zoo and amusement park confusing. We saw the Lion King, which was Thomas’ favorite, played in the Boneyard, rode the Triceratops Spin, walked the Asian animal trail, saw Siamangs, and rode the Safari Ride. We got caught in the parade and ended up watching this. It was pretty neat looking. They also had kid’s discovery centers throughout the park where kids could learn something and get a stamp at each station. The people at the stations seem to really know what they were talking about and they really took time to interact with the kids.
Epcot was on the agenda for the third day. Epcot was much less crowded than the rest of the parks. I was pretty excited about the world showcase but honestly I was underwhelmed with it. The landscaping was interesting but it was very artificial. I was unimpressed with the food again (yes, we are food snobs, at least crème brullee snobs). Also I don’t like shopping so there just wasn’t much there for us. We started doing the passports and the masks but the kids gave up after about 6 countries. We did see the candy lady with was really cool. Johnny got to request an alligator and someone gave Thomas an elephant. My favorite part of Epcot was the Seas exhibit. The aquarium was incredible and they had manatees, sea turtles, dolphins, rays, and an impressive array of other fish. Johnny also got to be a dive buddy during a demonstration there. We spent over an hour there. We also rode on Journey Into My Imagination, Malestrom, Grand Fiesta, Soarin (I didn’t get to go), Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, and the Land as well. We ended up staying until just before the fireworks started, which was much too long a day.
So poor Thomas had been begging to go swimming the last two days but we’d get home after dark. The last day he finally decided he wanted to go swimming FIRST! Johnny agreed. We were planning to go to Epcot but we decided to honor their request and go swimming instead. The boys of course loved it and Tabby did too. She could not get enough of it! We finally dragged them out of the pool and went to Downtown Disney for the best meal we had the whole time we were there at Wolfgang Puck Express. From there we took a bus to the Contemporary Hotel and then the monorail to Magic Kingdom for the Christmas Party. We accidentally went the wrong way on the monorail, which turned out to be a good thing since on the way back the boys got to ride up front with the driver. This was one of the highlights of their trip. The Christmas Party turned out to be great! One of the reasons was that the lines were so short! The boys rode on the Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear twice, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, the Mad Teacups, Peter Pan, Cinderella’s Carousel, It’s a Small World, Dumbo, and Monster’s Inc. We also played at Pooh’s playful spot, had cookies and hot chocolate, watched Mickey’s Twas the Night Before Christmas, Mickey’s Christmas Parade, the fireworks, and had ice cream floats. The Christmas parade was pretty amazing. They had all the big characters and there were so many dancers and performers it was crazy! We finally got back to the condo at 11:30 pm. The poor kids were exhausted.
They did manage to wake up early enough for one last dip in the pool before we packed everything up to get back on the bus. We checked in our bags at the hotel and they printed out our boarding passes for us so we had nothing to do at the airport but get on board our airplane. I managed to forget Tabby’s birth certificate in the rooms but I called Disney later and they found it and mailed it to me. I must say I am totally impressed with the “cast members” at Disney. We ran into only one cranky bus driver. Everyone else was cheerful and more than helpful. They managed to make you feel special.
I asked the boys how they liked it. Johnny can’t figure out which part was his favorite. Basically he LOVED everything. He got very into riding all the different rides and by the end he was ready to ride just about anything. He also really enjoyed the parades and was just talking about the Animal Kingdom’s parade. The only thing he didn’t like was the Pooh bear ride. Thomas loved the lion king show especially the acrobats but I think the thing both boys loved the most was swimming in the pool. I had never saw Tabby as happy as she was at the Christmas show. She stood on my lap and squealed with delight the whole time. I was very impressed with Disney’s parade and fireworks. They were unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure exactly how John feels probably just happy that it’s over.
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11-03-2008
Math Education
So Johnny’s math education has been very haphazard. I figured since he can add, subtract, tell time, and understands the basics of fractions we’re pretty much okay for “first grade math”. So we don’t do things in a linear fashion instead things come up when they come up (usually on the eL for some reason). He tends not to know much paper and pencil math but does most of it in his head (since we don’t usually have pen and paper on the eL). He does enjoy doing math workbooks from time to time generally in bed when he should be sleeping but we have never followed any sort of curriculum.
Anyhow, John was talking about algebra for some reason and Johnny asked about it so I started to give him some examples (i.e. x +2 =5). He did these with no hesitation. I started to ask harder questions and discovered he could do all sorts of problems, for example 7x=21, x^2= 25, x+5=3. I was shocked but realized that since he isn’t working in a linear fashion no one every told him he can’t do algebra before he does long division or that algebra is hard and reserved for high school. I think that kids see things differently than adults who have grown up in school. For example, I find the whole concept of negative numbers difficult after all how can you have -2 pieces of candy. Johnny had no problems with it. In fact shortly after we talked about it he asked me “ So numbers have no beginning or end?” Maybe it’s because the border between real and imaginary is so much fuzzier for them or because they’re minds are so ready to learn. It seems that all school does is suck that love or learning and imagination away.
Okay enough ranting. Tabby is getting so big! She is walking everywhere now. She says a few words, mama, boo, bo-bo, bye bye and she’ll repeat words you say to her. She can point to tons of body parts and seems to understand most of what we say. She loves listening and dancing to music and her Daddy much more than the boys ever did. She adores Thomas but he is also her chief rival (poor Thomas). She laughs at everything he does but also gets so jealous when he cuddles with me. She’ll squeeze herself right in between us. She is also quite demanding and pretty much gets her way whenever she wants.
The boys had a lovely Halloween and the Candy Fairy cam and left them lots of stuff for Disney World including autograph books, lanyards, and a stuff Mickey. They are getting very excited to go. I don’t think they have any idea what to expect but figure it will be fun especially seeing their grandparents and uncle. Plus they are excited to go swimming and find the ice machine at the hotel! Okay, I better get back to our tie-dye project before the boys explode from impatience.
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10-21-2008
Pictures
Our Garden:
Brussel Sprouts: 
Some potatoes that we grew:
Halloween Chocolates. Thomas had so much fun doing this. 
Our new swing set. I am insanely proud of putting this together myself. The boys are thrilled! Tabby is loving it as well. 
Our new chicken area:
Tabby helping with the dishes:
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10-08-2008
Super Party Planners
Johnny wants to start a party planning company. He has it all worked out. The name will be Super Party Planners and for $100 he will plan your party including menu planning, food preparation, decorations, activity planning, and he’ll lead all the games at the party (limit of 10 games). He will need 30 days notice and he plans on advertising through posters and banners (I had to talk him out of the TV commercials and print ads). There will be a 50% off sale and friends will only have to pay $5 but he’ll need some money for supplies.
He decided to start this company right after his Dinosaur party. We had a few friends over (no homeschool friends because it was on a weekend ????) and a huge list of activities including, a dinosaur bone dig, a dinosaur egg hunt, painting a dinosaur mural, pin the tail on the dinosaur, dino poop (puppy chow; muddy buddies), and dinosaur cupcakes.
Some pictures:
Taddie 1 our second tadpole. His legs are starting to come in:
Sugar Skulls:
Johnny’s list of the planets and their aliens:
Johnny’s picture of the dining room table:
Johnny’s Dinosaur Party Cupcakes: 
Finding Eggs in the Dino Nest:
The Dino Bone Dig with real dino bones (chicken bones): 
The Dino Mural:
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09-28-2008
Update
Opps, it’s been a long time since I’ve done an update. We’ve been busy around here as usual. September is our favorite month for museums (no summer crowds and too early for school groups). We’ve been all around town hitting as many museums as we can before the school groups show up. The boys have really been enjoying the Museum of Science and Industry lately but it’s so far away. It takes us at least 1 ½ hours to get there.
My new favorite trick for getting the boys home are the Playaways they have at the library. It’s a MP3 player with just one book loaded on it and you check it our like a book on tape. You plug in your own earphones and off you go. They are really small so it’s perfect for listening to on the El. The only problem is that Thomas inevitably falls asleep and Johnny can’t stop listening so ends up listening to the whole tape in one day. John and I also feel slightly guilty about having a tape read to our children.
The boys also discovered the children’s garden on the museum campus. There is a climbing structure that the boys just LOVE! There is also a fountain and a couple of hills to play on. I’m surprised we’ve never made it there before it’s the perfect place to blow off some steam between our long bus ride and the museum.
Our chickens are doing well. We had one with a limp for a while but it seems to of resolved itself. Phew, since we had no idea what to do. They are all still laying well. The most annoying thing about them is that they keep tearing up our sod and get into the garden now and again. Penny the pecker seems to have stopped pecking.
The garden is doing okay. It hasn’t been as productive as I hoped partially because every now and then the chickens get in and do some serious damage. Also for some reasons the tomatoes just aren’t ripening and the squirrels stole every ear of popcorn we had going. I did find a bunch of potatoes in the pot when I dug down. I can’t wait to dump them and see what’s inside. Also I see tiny buds where the brussel sprouts are starting.
We are in the midst of our CSA season. We get a box of vegetables every week from Angelic Organics, a box of fruit every other week from Angelic Organics, and a box of meat once a month from Cedar Valley Sustainable. All of this means I barely have to buy any groceries. We also get chicken feed from Cedar Valley instead of eggs. This is such a great deal since we were having it shipped before. Besides this means that our hens eat local as well since the farm grinds it’s own chicken feed!
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08-27-2008
Progress Report
This time of year always gets me thinking about “school” and how we are doing homeschooling. We are pretty much unschoolers except for the fact that I’m a bit uptight so end up introducing different things to the kids when I can. I also freak out occasionally and want to buy a curriculum. Some days I feel like we pretty much do nothing but Johnny at least seems to be learning. So to reassure myself I thought I would do a narrative for us to use as a benchmark and to reassure those grandparents who are reading this. This is for Johnny. I started doing one for Thomas but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense at this point.
Language Arts:
Johnny is reading simple words and can sound out many more words. He started reading through some of the easy readers but stopped. I’m not sure if they were too hard or too boring. He does continue to try and figure out words in our daily lives and will read books to Thomas and Tabitha. He enjoys writing and his handwriting is getting better. He is starting to use capitals and lowercases but does not have a firm grasp on when to capitalize. He also makes basic mistakes. For example, play comes out “plae”. Johnny enjoys us reading out loud to him and can follow chapter books read through many nights. Currently we are reading through “The Enchanted Forest Chronicles” by Patricia Wrede. He can use an index, table or contents, and understands how to alphabetize. He understands what vowels are and is beginning to understand parts of speech.
Social Sciences:
Johnny understands how to read maps and draw maps. He understands east, west, north, and south (on a map versus in real life). He has a basic understanding of the different continents and U.S. He knows some American History (presidents, civil war, revolutionary war) but not a lot. He does know quite a bit about prehistory (the different periods of the earth, evolution of dinosaurs, ice ages, early man, etc.).
Math:
Johnny does basic addition and subtraction and some long addition but he doesn’t have a firm grasp on borrowing. He understands basic multiplication and is beginning to understand basic division. For example he was able to tell me how much 6 dozen was. He can tell time although he does not know things such as “a quarter to two”. He understands what fractions are but cannot manipulate them. He can count money and knows his basic roman numbers (I, V, X, C).
Science:
Johnny has a slight grasp on scientific inquiry but cannot yet design an experiment with a control. He can design basic experiments such as “Will the space flown basil grow as well as the non space flown basil?”. He can measure things using a balance, measuring cup, graduated cylinder, and electronic balance. He does not yet understand significant figures. He can identify many trees, seeds, plants, birds, tracks, and bugs. He understands evolution to a certain degree although he is somewhat confused about the whole “related” thing. He can classify organisms fairly well. Do not call a gibbon a monkey around him! He can also identify habitats and continents where animals belong (not plants).
Fine Arts:
Johnny is starting piano lessons and can play little tunes such as “Old McDonald”. He can sing simple songs including two Chinese tunes. He can sing in round and identify many different instruments. Art is by far one of Johnny’s favorite activities. He will create art on his own or with books. He was taking different classes but has refused more art classes since he does not like to be told what to do. He is beginning to see “styles” of art and can identify pieces by a certain artist sometimes. For example he will see a piece by Mary Cassat that he has never seen before and will ask if it is by her.
Foreign Language:
He is taking a Chinese Class and can say basic words and count. He enjoys combining his love of numbers with his love of Chinese.
Goals for the coming year:
My only real goal is for Johnny not to hate any subject. I really do not want to turn him off of any subject and for him to continue learning to read. After that there are a few things I’d like for him to be able to do.
Thing’s I’d like Johnny to learn:
- I’d like for him to be able to identify basic parts of speech.
- I’d like him to be able to do long addition and subtraction.
-I’d like him to understand significant figures and the idea of a control.
- I’d like for him to read more fairly tales
Johnny’s goals for himself:
-Learn about amphibians
-Learn about the evolution of life
- Learn about Uranus and Neptune
Gosh this makes me glad I’m not teaching any longer and writing narratives for 18 students instead of just one!
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08-23-2008
Tabby’s 1st Birthday
Tabby’s birthday was today! I can’t believe my little baby is one. She is such a big girl these days. She is taking many steps and getting better at walking everyday. She likes to “talk” but the only real words she says are “bye, bye” and maybe “mama”, “dada”, and “no, no”. She is incredible opinionated. She SCREAMS when she doesn’t get exactly what she wants. She loves her brothers especially Thomas, dancing to music, and playing in water. Her favorite thing to do is play in the sink while I’m making dinner. She still nurses all the time but she also eats tons of food. Her favorite might be pasta. She loves to drink from our cups but she doesn’t swallow stuff and just lets it dribble down her chin. She sleeps pretty well from about 10 p.m. – 9 a.m. and takes naps twice a day.
Johnny had a nine step plan for her birthday. I can’t remember what they all were but it was very complicated. They decorated the house in the morning and we made a train cake (I think this is the third train cake I’ve made). They went and played in the pool and we had pasta for dinner. We bought her a balloon but Thomas HAD to have one too. We ended up with three balloons. It was a lovely first birthday.
Decorations:
Three little feet: 
In the pool:
Tabby’s First Birthday Cake:
Tabby eating cake:
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08-11-2008
Our New Toy!
So we finally got around to putting up our sling swing. It’s a wrap attached to some hooks in a beam in the ceiling. The kids LOVE it even Tabitha. The boys are finding all sorts of crazy tricks to do. I’m slightly worried about my wraps.We’ve been busy lately enjoying the wonderful summer. We’ve had friends over for burgers, attended the Ecuadorian Independence Day parade, attended the Korean Street Festival, gone to the zoo, gotten ice cream, played at parks, and played in the sprinklers in the last week. It’s been so much fun.Our garden has been fun this year as well. We’ve been doing the square foot garden method and we have 2 beds making 40 square ft all together and than a bunch of pots on the deck. We had TONS of stuff planted and have recently been harvesting tomatoes, soybeans, basil, squash, kale, and green beans. My popcorn was looking great but yesterday the squirrels got them ALL! Johnny and I were both really upset. Johnny is planning on standing guard from now on.The swing (Why is Thomas is in a pull-up and babylegs? Who knows!)
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08-09-2008
Tabby’s First Steps
Tabby just took her first step! She stood up and took 2 or 3 shuffles. We were so excited that we all cheered. Tabby started clapping and fell down. She is doing all sorts of new things everyday. She keeps adding new words to her vocabulary (I think). She plays keep away with Thomas all the time. They’ve actually already been in a couple of fights. Tabby also is very good at making her opinions known or she’ll scream her high pitch scream until you give in. She is a pain to go out to eat with now though since she likes to drink water and spit it out. She loves going up and down the slide these days. She climbs up the slide gets to the top, lets go, and slides down her belly. It’s really funny to watch.
Johnny just got through with his first summer camp. It was an art camp at Lill Street. He liked it okay although personally I thought some of the projects a bit too “cookie cutter”. He doesn’t want to take another art class. I think it’s because he doesn’t like people telling him what to do. He is starting piano on Thursday and science class this fall. It seems like science would be the last subject that he would need to take a class in considering John and my background but he really wants to do it.
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