Time to Waste

Ahhhh, what to do? What to do?? After the crazy busy week last week, I feel like I'm forgetting something, lol. I keep walking around going, "What were we supposed to be doing today??" and then I look at the calendar and realize that there is nothing there. Ahhhhh.

So we did school and read a book and now we're playing our respective video games or blog browsing. Ahhhhh.

Cameron started the day with Timez Attack while I was in the shower. He's on his 4's now! Who would've thought that multiplication could be so fun? After breakfast we finally moved on to /ûr/ in stir words in Phonics. He was quite happy to finally be done with /âr/ in hair. Not so happy to find a two page lesson, but we got through it just fine. Next was Grammar where he acted out all the action verbs while I read a silly poem. Cassia did not get to do it though because she was laying in her bed in protest to my horrific request that she make her bed. I said if you're going to tell me that you don't know how to make your bed then you can just lay there until you figure out how to do it. So she did. For about two hours. What stubborn children I have!! She wasn't even upset or anything (though she was very upset and screaming at me when I told her to lay down), she just lay there playing finger games until the need to go to the bathroom finally brought her out. I had even already told her that she could come out, but she wouldn't because she was afraid that I would force her to make her bed. I am having flashbacks to my own childhood when I would sit on my bed for hours at a time when my mother would tell me to clean my room. Feels like payback. Obviously, I need to find a new technique.

But where was I? Oh yes, school. Next was Math where Cameron really breezed through a page on multiplying by threes. Last week he was struggling and counting them on his fingers. This week he knows them. Thank you Big Brainz. Next was Spelling in which he did both the entire Spelling Workout lesson and the first section of Spelling Time. And then we finished off the school day with History where we read a little about Ancient Africa. I was actually pretty disappointed in the chapter because there wasn't really anything on Ancient Africa! It basically just reviewed the civilizations that we learned before and then said that people had lived in other parts of Africa, besides Egypt, too. The rest of the chapter is African Folk tales. Hopefully my library books will come in soon so that we have a little something more to go on.

Something really cool did happen during that History lesson though. Last night we were at my brother-in-law's house and we watched a National Geographic video on the Genographic Project. My MIL had participated in it and sent in a DNA sample and in return had gotten a report of her ancient ancestry and a copy of the NG series that explained the initial compilation of world DNA in an attempt to explain the first human journeys out of Africa. I'd seen portions of the series before and Greyson was causing his usual mayhem so I was only half watching and not paying any attention to whether or not Cameron was watching. Anyway, today while I was trying to read about Ancient Africa from SOTW, he kept interrupting me with things like, "I know there were people in Africa! They started out here," pointing to the map, "and walked this way," tracing the route exactly as had been shown on the DVD, "and walked all the way to Australia!" So he was watching! "Those people were our ancestors! They were the ancient humans!" Cassia, who had fallen asleep during the movie, was very interested in his explanation so he spent a very long time explaining the migration of the early humans over the Ice Age Super Continents. LOL, if I hadn't been so annoyed that he kept interrupting me while I was trying to get through this chapter, I would've been really impressed. OK, I was impressed anyway. I think that boy is on his way to becoming a socio-archaeologist!

And speaking of future careers, the reason we were at my Brother-in-Law's house was that Monday we went to homeschool day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and BIL lives much closer to it than we do. Their homeschool day is an incredibly generous affair where they let all homeschooled children ages 4 - 17 and one adult per child in for free. They had tons of activities, demonstrations, and workshops set up and they even had a behind-the-scenes tour for teens. Way cool stuff. You did have to come in a group and register in advance, but that's a small price to pay for so much value - especially since they then sent a big cd-rom of educational supplements! We had the best time. Cassia told me that she wanted to take care of the jellies. I told her that she could definitely do that when she grew up. Later in the day, we saw the otter keepers bringing them their toys and she said that she wanted to help bring them their toys. I said that she couldn't because only the staff was allowed into the exhibit area. She looked at me with that look that she's been perfecting since she was a toddler and said, "Mommy, I meant I want to do that when I grow up." Duh. So then I told her that she was going to need to study marine biology then and she agreed. So her future is now set and ready to go. ;) Cameron liked the sharks. Greyson liked his shoes. ;) Actually his favorite part was a recreation of a tidal wave crash that goes over your head. He'd just stand there and laugh. We did get some cool pictures but they are, of course, on DH's laptop.

This was the first time I've really gone to a major homeschool event. I was just electrified to be surrounded by so many homeschoolers. There were all types, sorts, and stereotypes there and I loved it. One thing I did notice was that there was a much more relaxed atmosphere of parenting than is usually present in a big public space like that. It's hard to describe but there wasn't that big push for the kids to "behave" or not to wander off or anything. I'm not saying that everyone was well behaved, I'm just saying that the homeschool parents just aren't as concerned with minor wanderings. Kids were all over, learning on their own, and everyone was cool with it. Usually you'll find some overbearing dad freaking out because a child wants to linger somewhere when the family itinerary says that it's Time to Move! LOL, or maybe that was just me feeling more relaxed than usual because I knew that I was in an aquarium full of people who respect my educational and parenting choices. In other words, I didn't feel like a freak for once. ;)