Our homeschool group had a field trip to a recycling plant today. It was very good, but we weren't able to see a lot, due to safety reasons. We did see the trucks being weighed and trucks loading stuff. We saw some recycled "squares", squished up stuff. It was very loud and smelly and chaotic; the kids loved it!

Our host gave a great talk about recycling. She was enthusiastic, which was wonderful. I'm not sure what my kids retained from it. I think B learned that aluminum comes from inside a rock. He may or may not remember that plastic is made from oil. He learned that paper is recycled by shredding and mixing it with water. He had seen a cartoon version of this on "Charlie and Lola" so he had a general idea to begin with. Overall, it was very good.

I learned a ton. I learned that I have been putting things in the recycling bins that our county is not equipped to take. Even though OJ cartons and yogurt pots are recyclable, our county does not recycle them. I also learned that our facility sells the recycled materials and that China is their biggest customer. It was very interesting, although I feel sad that I cannot recycle as much stuff as I thought I could.

Right now, the kids are watching some TV. They're watching a Reading Rainbow episode about art. They just finished watching, "Plaza Sesamo", which I taped for them over the weekend. They both seem to enjoy it very much, although as it was ending, B said that he wanted something in English. But in a small dose, they enjoyed it. We talked about a new word: pan or bread. I translated some of what they were saying but not most of it, because then it would just be me talking over their show. I was surprised at how much of it I could still understand because I have lost so much Spanish. It's funny to me that I couldn't remember how to say simple words and phrases like "eating", "running", "hard work" but I could understand them when I heard them. I think my goal of reviving my rusty Spanish is definitely attainable now. I only wish we still had the Spanish channel; we should have it in the new house.