I MUST start updating this more often. It makes it difficult to remember what we've done. Essentially, I'm at the point where I have to give a portfolio summary for this first half of the year. B is 7 and would be in second grade. T is not old enough to be in school yet, based on the birthday cut-off, which he misses by a month and a half. I still consider him to be in K and it cheers him up to tell people that he's in kindergarten. T has just turned 5. Anyway...

Science:
This has mostly taken the form of nature studies this year. B has spent a lot of time learning about arthropods, both with library books and by first-hand examination. A month or so ago, he caught a Chinese mantid with a zippered insect bag that I bought him. We used a field guide to determine that it was a Chinese mantid, rather than a praying mantis. After keeping it for a few hours, he released it. Originally, he was trying to feed it leaves, but he learned that mantids are carnivores.

He also started a dead arthropod collection. So far, he has a wolf spider, a dragonfly, and a colorful moth that we haven't identified yet. Oh, and he has a mystery beetle. We learned that there are a tremendous amount of beetles.

We've also made leaf prints and learned about how different trees have different leaf shapes.

We've examined animal scat (deer) and animal tracks. For the deer tracks we found (and one little cat track), we cast them with plaster. Unfortunately, we're having a difficult time getting all the dirt/clay off the plaster cast.

We've also learned about different trees through the seeds that they drop. We've gone harvesting in the woods for acorns, sweet gum balls, beech nuts and hickory nuts.

History and Geography:
We visited the local history museum to learn a little about the history in our part of the state.

We've read various books about:
1. Guy Fawkes
2. The Great Fire of London
3. Kings and Queens of England
4. Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights movement ("Martin's Big Words")

We have some books about the Constitution and Colonial times on order at the library but it's taking forever for it to be our turn. I had anticapted reading them by now.

Also, dh's citizenship test preparation was interesting for the kids. They learned about the physical qualities of the flag and the names of some of the original colonies. I had to quiz dh to help him prepare and they wanted me to quiz them too.

The election in November was also a great lesson in civics and government.

This sounds crazy but we're been watching, "The Amazing Race" as a family to learn a bit about world geography and culture. We've been using a map to see where the teams are on each leg of the race. Some examples of Amazing Race spin-off discussions have been:
1. The Mongols (who were they? who are some famous Mongols? how far did they extend their empire?)
2. St Basil's Cathedral (they really liked that building so we looked it up in another book and read a bit about it).
3. The difference between the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets. We used my Russian phrasebook to see examples of words written in both alphabets, in addition to trying our hand in saying some Russian words.

T and I attended a kids' library event about Sweden. Unfortunately, B was in a class and could not come.

Arts:
1. Both kids have taken drama classes this fall.
2. B has taken two art classes at the museum: sculpture and print-making.
3. T takes dance lessons.
4. T and I saw a performance of "Poor Pluto", complete with a mini-performance by local symphony members.
5. We've visited the art museum.
6. We continue to listen to a wide variety of music, including jazz and opera.
7. We watched "Singin' in the Rain" together, in addition to scenes from "An American in Paris". T, in particular, loved these.

Language Arts:
1. B has started reading for pleasure. He's been able to read for quite a while but he just didn't. Now, he actually reads by himself, silently, and for fun. Some books that he's read on his own have been: "Star Wars the Clones Wars" (chapter book), "Chocolate Fever" by Robert Kimmel Smith, and several books in the "Secrets of Droon" series. He has recently started the Spiderwick Chronicles but I don't know how that is going.

2. B writes a lot and his spelling is improving.

3. B has been reading aloud to his little brother, which is nice for both of them.

4. We always have a family read-aloud each night, in which dh and I read to the kids. Some books that we've read to them have been: the first two Harry Potter books, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, "Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis and "The Hobbit" by Tolkien. We are still reading the Hobbit.

I'm happy to say that this (#4) is my academic area, where I feel best. I don't just read to the kids. I stop and talk about what we're reading. I ask them what they think is going on, what they think might happen, why they think certain characters are feeling a certain way, etc. I frequently paraphrase after reading something and translate. We talk about what certain words mean. And we often act scenes out.

T is very good at coming up with theories and he remembers an insane amount of detail from earlier reading. He was the only one who remembered Elrond's moon runes in "the Hobbit" when the dwarves finally got to the mountain and looked for the secret door. He has a hysterical set of theories about how Professor Quirrel was somehow behind every trick in the second Harry Potter book, despite our insistence that Professor Quirrel was dead. Sometimes, he's quicker than B to surmise what's really going on. I have a feeling that T's strengths are going to be in language arts, whereas B excels in science. It would be funny if we had one kid like dh (science/math) and one kid like me (liberal arts).

Because Lewis and Tolkien use very rich language, we have spoken a great deal about what certain things mean. I generally read word-for-word and then I follow up with paraphrasing if the meaning cannot be guessed by my tone of voice, expression and actions. The other night, we talked about the words "desolate", "bleak" and "barren" in Tolkien's description of the land affected by the dragon. I like for them to guess and tell me what they think these words mean if they can but I will always give synonyms afterwards. We also talk about how words sound ("desolate" has such a nice sound). Some words require actual translation, such as Tolkien's usage of 'attercop' for 'spider" (atter comes from 'poison' and cop means 'head'). We have a good time with the language in the books.

I feel confident that both kids understand what's going on in the books and that they are developing critical thinking and reading comphrension skills as a result of how we read to them. And they're having a lot of fun in the process.

#5. T is continuing to teach himself to read. It appears as though he's going to follow dh, Ben and I in in being a spontaneous whole-word method reader. One day, while talking via the computer to my ILs in England, he read FIL's full name from the bottom of the interface. On another day, he "Little Bill" from the text-only guide on the TV, despite the fact that we rarely watch that channel or that show. And then yesterday, he read "Jack Frost" from the text-only on-screen TV guide (no audio), despite the fact that he has never heard of that movie before.

Math:
This is something that we need to focus on next semester. The kids use math in their everyday lives. They both seem to have a natural number sense. They like numbers. Sometimes, they ask me questions like "what are 3 3's?". They seem to play with numbers a lot. Using dice has been helpful for T, who announced at dinner one night, " I want 5 pieces, that's 4 and 1. And that's 3 and 2. And that's..." My SIL and BIL recently bought them a card game called "Dr Who Top Trumps", in which you battle with various character points; the kids love it and it requires math.

I do want to find ways of playing games involving multiplication, however, since they seem interested in that. I am working on some ideas for next semester to include more math in our lives.
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I can't think of anything thing else, although I'm sure I've left stuff out. I desperately need to update more often.

I made a solo library trip the other day. It was nice to be by myself for a change because I could take my time browsing. I picked up some random books that I thought the kids would enjoy. I got several on magical creatures, although I still have not found exactly what I'm looking for. I want a magical creature encyclopedia, with realistic illustrations of dryads and centaurs and things like that. Ever since we've read Harry Potter and C.S. Lewis, there's been a real interest in magical creatures. Their interest started even before that, when I got out a huge hardback book on gnomes, a book I had loved in my own childhood. I'm still looking.

I got, "A Wrinkle in Time" for myself. I own most of the other books in the series but I never owned the original for some reason.

I also got another spider book for B. It was in the same series as the book on Wolf Spiders that he enjoyed. The book is about orb weavers. B and I both love spiders and we've both been taken with a particularly pretty spider that makes a large web on our deck, one that we've determined is an orb weaver. We used a field guide to narrow it down, but the field guide doesn't include all species of course.

Anyway, when I got home, I placed the stack on books on the bench near the door. The kids found them and got very excited, more excited than I expected. B spotted the spider one and yelled, "Orb Weavers!!" I have to read it to him at some point. And they really loved the books about magical creatures.

Early this morning, I did something that I very rarely let them do, which is I let them use the computer. Computer usage leads to zombie-like behavior, horrible fighting and a bad case of the "I'm bored's". So we try to refrain from giving them computer time at this point. But I found a really great spider website. The website allows you to narrow down your search by state or region. So now, we can finally see which spiders have been recorded in our state. B was thrilled.

I showed B a picture of an orb weaver that I thought was ours, but he thinks that the abdomen is a different color. We need to investigate that one a bit more. I explained how orb weavers belong to the "Araneidae" family, so he could click on the links with that family name in it to see only orb weavers. Later, he wanted to see wolf spiders. With the help of wikipedia, we found that they are in the Lycosidae family. Then, just to satisfy curiosity, we looked up jumping spiders, because we get a lot of those inside and we like those. Jumping spiders belong to the Salticidae family. I told him that I was sure that salta was "jump" in Spanish and that it would make sense since Spanish comes from Latin. Later, he wanted to know who the Pisauridae spiders were; we found that they are the family of nursery web spiders; we then read about nursery web spiders and B was really taken with how maternal they are.

Earlier, I read him the myth of Arachne. He has really enjoyed Greek and Roman mythology, ever since I recently told him some myths. I think it started when I explained why the cat is named, "Artemis". He's very keen to hear more Greek myths so that's something I have to find for him. It's hard to find Greek myths that don't have rape and things like that in them. Still, there are many that would be fine for him.

I have to get back into the habit of blogging

I use this blog for the mandatory homeschool portfolio I have to keep. I just need to get back into the habit of using it. Sometimes, I forget that I even have a blog.

This year, B would be in second grade. T would miss the K cutoff by a month.

Math has just been life-learning so far this year. They're both into multiplication right now and they ask us things like, "What are 2 6s?, what are 3 3s?", etc. B initially had interest in doing formal math but now he's saying that he doesn't want to. I'm not sure how formal math will play out this year. T has been inadvertently teaching himself addition and subtraction facts when we play Parcheesi; he always wants to count the dice individually before making the total move.

As for reading, B reads at or above grade level. I'm not sure what he can read, because he seems to read fluently in general. I did find that one non-fiction picture book he read was 4th grade level, by the AR group. But he doesn't often sit and read. Instead, he reads environmental print all around him and he browses through his science books. The other day he told me that when a human egg and sperm come together that it's called a "zee-gote", because he read it in a book. I've discovered that he will read things like knock-knock joke books so I'm on the look-out for those. Anyway, in general, he's good with reading.

For read-alouds, we've recently read the first Harry Potter book and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Harry Potter sort of opened B's eyes to a more sophisticated kind of book. Every night, when I would finish a chapter, he would absolutely beg me to read more. He's done the same thing with the CS Lewis book. I plan on reading the other Narnia books to the kids. And I think they'll be Ok with the second Harry Potter book. I have two other books on my radar screen for the near future, favorites from my own childhood. They are "No Flying in the House" by Betty Brock and Wallace Tripp; and "Black and Blue Magic" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I think we're going to continue exploring the fantasy genre because both kids seem really excited about it. I have also been making a list of library books that have descriptions and illustrations of magical creatures. I was actually really surprised at how many encyclopedic books there are on magical creatures.

B's current obsession is with bugs, insects and spiders. Also, since we've moved to the country, there's just a general interest in nature and biology. We got a shipment the other day which included bug-catching supplies and a few nature books. For the bug supplies, we ordered a bug net that zips up. Up until now, B has been catching locusts with a butterfly net but then it's hard for him to observe the locust because there's a good chance it will get away. The zippered bug net will allow him to clearly observe the locusts (and whatever else) while keeping the locust safe and preventing it from getting away. We also ordered a small bug jar that has a lid with a built-in magnifier. The latter will be good for catching spiders. B has no fears or hang-ups about creepy-crawlies and I'm good at catching spiders; between the two of us, we'll catch stuff for him to look at. He really wants to make a grasshopper habitat but I think it might be too late in the year; I don't remember the locusts sticking around long after summer was over.

For the nature books, we got a field guide on dinosaurs and an animal scat/tracks identification book. Until I looked at the animal tracks book, I didn't realize that we could preserve deer tracks with plaster of paris. Of course, now that we've figured it out, we haven't seen any deer around for a while. But we'll find them again in the future and we know roughly where to look for their footprints. Oh! And we also ordered a set of 72 buggy pictures, half X-rays and half identification cards. They were a HUGE hit with B.

Several weeks ago, we bought an Audubon field guide for identifying bugs, insects and spiders. B often wants to know what sort of creepy crawly he is looking at. Unfortunately, such a general book can only include a small number of buggy species. We really need a book that is specific to our geographic area. In particular, we really need a book that only includes spiders native to our state. I'm still looking for more specific resources.

We often get interesting looking spiderwebs on the outside of our house and deck. B really enjoys looking at the spiders. There's one spider in particular that really caught his interest (and mine!). It is brown but it has a pretty reddish tone to it. It makes a massive, meticulous web and it seems to move around every day. We still can't find the species name but we've narrowed it down to an orb weaver. The spider makes a new web every night and the web is a perfect circle suspended with support strings in a vertical position. The spider's cephalothorax (spelling?) is larger than its abdomen; we've learned these terms. And the spider hangs upside down, i.e. heads-down. All of these things suggest it is an orb weaver. I've taken some pictures of it and hopefull we'll identify it at some point.

That's all I have for now. If I blogged more often, I wouldn't have to write mammoth posts!

I love living out here in the country. I suppose this falls into the realm of unschooling myself but I've been surprised by the transformation I've made in the 3 months of living here. I grew up in the city and I was always squeamish and nervous about things like bugs. Now, it's like I can't get enough of being outside. If I can get 30 minutes outside by myself before dinner, I feel like a little kid who has been let out to play. I walk through our empty neighborhood (about 100 acres, nearly all undeveloped) and sometimes I explore different undeveloped lots.

I cannot wait until the dead of winter because then it becomes safe for me to explore the woods. Right now, I have to worry about ticks, poison ivy and the like and venomous snakes. When I do go into grassland or woods, I do it very carefully and with trepidation. I always watch where I'm walking and I stomp when I walk. When I get out and back onto the road, I do a tick check on my legs. Oh, and I do wear long jeans and big boots.

Dh loves it here too but he doesn't understand my strong desire to go exploring here. I've also become slightly obsessed with identifying trees and plants. It's typical me; I get topic obsessions that I will completely immerse myself in until something else good comes along. Right now, I want to know what all the trees are. I want to be able to identify things when I walk and get to know them.

Much to my delight, I found that I can enter our dense backyard woods via a small path near the border of our lot. Our landscaper dug up all the weeds and wild grass from the front yard and he drove his vehicle back there to dump them, inadvertently packing and widening the path. So now, if I walk around the kid's playset and go over the corner of the lot, I can walk down this path and be inside our woods. Obviously, I'm still very careful about where I step. So far, the only thing I've seen near my feet have been some species of bee; they seem pretty busy and uninterested in me.

When I walked around and into our dense woods via this path, I discovered something that I couldn't see from our back yard: big beautiful orange flowers on some type of vine. Further investigation led me to believe it was "trumpet creeper". It explains the presence of a hummingbird that follows me around, because the hummingbird likes trumpet creeper. Hummingbirds are so bold and curious; they have no issue with hovering right in front of my face and getting a good look at me. Anyway, so now I know why we have hummingbirds and what they are eating here.

I also found a curious round green fruit on the floor of the woods. I only found a handful of them. I suppose they were about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, green and kind of leathery looking. I have no idea how I started narrowing the search down but I ended up on a page about black walnut trees. It seems that this fruit looks exactly like a black walnut fruit. You have to crush the fruit beneath your heel, being careful to avoid the dye inside which stains everything. Then, you should find a pit which contains the walnut meat.

Today, B and I took the fruit that I collected the other day and we crushed it under my heel on the road. The paper towels surrounding the fruit got stained with a strong yellowish-brownish color. Inside the fruit was a small withered looking pit. We're going to let it dry out for a few days and then crack it open.

I took some pictures of a tree in the woods that is very near the fallen fruit and which looks like it could be a walnut tree. It is slender but of course, it is in competition with quite a lot of trees. The bark is very furrowed. The leaves are alternatively compound, creating a fringe-like appearance. I will have to watch this tree through next spring to see what its flowers look like.

On my walks, I've been intrigued by a very large tree that stands near the corner of an undeveloped lot. I do not know why it intrigues me but it just looks different to the other trees. It's huge and it's attractive but it just looks different. The other day, I noticed that it had nuts all over it. Today, I managed to get very close to it and take several pictures of it. The nuts on the tree are oval shaped and very spikey. Based on the bark, the leaves and the nuts, I think that it's a beech tree.

The neighborhood used to be an orchard but it was cleared. Dh discovered that there are still several apple trees around. I walked to the one nearest our lot but although it was covered with green apples, it appears as though insects or disease have ruined the fruit. But the other two apple trees seem to look Ok. I'm sure the insects and animals will eat all the fruit; deer love apples. But I hope that we can get just one good apple from one of the trees once they ripen.

Living here is like living in a giant science lab. I spend my free outdoors time trying to identify the various plants. I share what I know with the kids. We've read various books about the animals we've seen here. B spends a great deal of time catching locusts. He doesn't hurt them, but he likes to touch them and talk to them. Even T is learning to become a bit less afraid of bugs. When we're outside, it's just blissful. The kids and I are learning so much and enjoying country life so much. I feel very lucky.

B has *really* taken off with his reading. His biggest issues were perfectionism, confidence and practice. Wrt practice, reading obviously becomes much easier the more you do it, because you memorize words. He has not received reading instruction, unless you count watching "Between the Lions" and doing a few pages of "Explode the Code" (he lost interest in the latter). I'm not sure how he reads but he just does it and he sounds much more fluent now. Before, we could tell that he was sounding out every word. Now, he just reads words like he already knows them and he reads with tone.

I got a 'Henry and Mudge' book from the library and he read it in one go. I only had to help him with an occasional word. It's supposed be level 2.1 and he hasn't started second grade yet (nor received the reading instruction that school kids get). I feel good about the whole thing. The most important part is that he enjoys it and he's pleased with himself. After the Henry and Mudge book, he read a book about seahorses in the car. And he's been reading the "Mr. Men" books to T. I'd like to find some comic books and some joke books for him, because I think he would really enjoy them and it would help him practice.

We went to the Natural History and Science Museum yesterday, which we have not gone to in about a year. We got into a rut when we were in the apartment and I feel like we're over that now. Life is much better now.

The kids were really happy to visit the museum. It's one of B's favorites but T actually really enjoyed himself this time. It's amazing what a year of growth can do for a small child. Before, he used to get tired and bored about halfway through. This time, he didn't even want to leave.

The highlights, as always, were: the insect display with magnifiers, the dinosaur artifact room, the hominid evolution dioramas (or "the hairy people" as T calls them), the giant T Rex replica skeleton and the puppet theatre. B also really likes the room with the ancient sealife dioramas, a room that no one else likes. It's full of trilobite models and such. It's challenging trying to keep T content so that B can have his time in this room. I'm pretty bored in that room but I want B to have the time that he needs. Of course, T likes to spend an inordinate amount of time at the insect display, which is funny considering that he's terrified of insects. Oh, while we were there, B read "blue mud dauber". His reading has just exploded.

At the hominid evolution section, we talked about what the Latin terms for ancient humans meant and who "Lucy" was. The museum is a bit outdated, however. Their displays presents Neanderthals as "archaic homo sapiens" and, therefore direct human ancestors. We spoke about modern scientists' theories of Neanderthals being a separate species that went extinct.

We also spent a bit of time in the Earth section, talking about what causes earthquakes and where crystals come from. When we left the museum gift shop, in addition to two cheap toys, we left with a handful of geodes that we hope to break open this weekend.

We had a good day.

Obviously, I haven't updated in a long time. We're finally settled in our new house in the country. We all love it here. I can't begin to describe how different our lives are becoming since we've moved here. So far, in our own yard, we've seen: deer, turkey, a 5 foot long black rat snake and a really cool variety of insect life. We're on 4 acres but we're in the middle of about 100 mostly undeveloped acres. I find myself secretly hoping that no one else builds here for a very long time. It's like our own private paradise.

B calmed down a good bit. He was doing his blinking thing that he does when he's nervous. That started dramatically calming down when my in-laws came to visit. Then, with the move, both kids were much much better. They can now officially make as much noise as they want and they have space to spread out. It's been good for all of us.

In the academic world, B has really taken off with reading. With great difficulty, I convinced him several months ago that he could read a simple Dr Seuss book. He was convinced he could not. He read "Put me in the Zoo" and he was as surprised as anyone that he was actually reading it. That seem to open the floodgates. He started reading everything around us and his confidence started going up.

He still doesn't sit and read but when he does read stuff, he reads it with greater ease and speed. And every time, his confidence goes up. From the back of a Dick King Smith book yesterday, he easily read: "When Ben finds a bag of gold coins under the floorboards, he can hardly believe his luck. But it's Treasure Trove, and therefore belongs to the Queen, not the finder. How can Ben keep his treasure a secret, and will he ever be able to claim it for himself? A magical tale from master storyteller and award-winning author, Dick King-Smith."

The ONLY words he needed help with were: "therefore" and "claim". Oh, and he read "master" as "mister" initially. I don't think that's too bad for a 7 year old who has pretty much received zero reading instruction. I kept meaning to do word walls and such but I never got around to it. He's self-taught, basically, and I have no idea how he did it. He still writes his little story books and while he still writes phonetically, much of his spelling has improved.

He also read a section for "Undercover T-Rex", which was quite technical. And he read me some bits from "Life on Earth: the story of evolution." He still feels nervous or unready to sit and read to himself so we don't make a fuss about it. But he's getting more and more relaxed. We have a feeling that once he takes off with it, that will be it.

I got out some "Choose your Own Adventure" books that belonged to me when I was little. Both dh and I devoured those as kids. I told B that if he could read one of those on his own, that I would gladly buy him as many as he wanted. Of course, I will help him with random words.

I have lots more to post about our summer activities but I'm going to leave this for now.

Our lives have been so upside-down and stressful to the point where I don't really want to talk about it. The short version is that we're still not in the new house, but it's very close now. And as long as we're in this apartment, we are severely limited in terms of what activities we can do. We're all feeling the stress and irritation at this point.

I honestly couldn't say what we did in the last month, except that I know it's contained many park dates, a few trips to the local cultural center, a visit to the public gardens and a trip to the aquarium. And my in-laws visited for two weeks. Oh, and B made many things out of paper like he does. Many Lego and K'Nex structures were made. We've lived life and learned through it, while trying to remain patient about the new house.

After watching a "Smash Lab" episode about sand-pit construction, my little mad scientists immediately constructed a mock sand-pit from pillows. Dh had to disassemble it because it was a little too functional and therefore dangerous. I'm not sure what neat little educational box that fits into, but it's learning for sure. If my kids could use nail guns and welding equipment, I think we'd be in trouble.

I also meant to mention that when we went to the public gardens, both boys sketched nature pictures.

It's about a month early to be doing end-year assessments, but I thought I'd start one simply because I have some recent benchmarks. B would have been in First Grade this year, based on the school district's birth year rules. I get really confused when people identify their kids by grades that they feel they are working at, rather than legal definition. By legal definition, B was in First Grade this year.

As for reading, he can do it and yet he doesn't do it. He does not read for pleasure or information yet. But he reads things around him and he can read at least on grade level. As proof of this, I have two recent examples of his reading level. He brought me a book with ambiguous cover art and told me it was about hydrogen (which is what the title was). And at the Aquarium, while looking at a random bit of bone, I asked, "What does that say next to it?" He replied, "Whale." "Whale what?" I asked. He quickly and casually replied, "Whale vertebra". So there you go. He can read but he just doesn't sit and do it yet. From everything I've heard about boys, including my book-addicted husband as a child, most boys don't sit and read at this age unless forced to.

I have a recent writing sample that I'm including in the mandatory end-year assessment. He wrote a little book called "Tommy and Horses Invnchr". That's "Tommy and Hornsy's Adventure". Hornsy is a beloved toy triceratops. I will write his text, followed by translations. I feel compelled to say that we haven't done formal spelling lessons or practice so this is organic learning on his part.

Chapter 1:
"Oen dae Tommy wus in his haoos."
(One day Tommy was in his house.)

"Noc noc. Cum in."
(Knock knock. Come in.)

"'Hay Horse.' 'Hay Tommy.' But Hornse wus warnig a soot."
(Hey Hornsy. Hey Tommy. But Hornsy was wearing a suit.)

"And Hornse sed lets go icsploing. Tommy lict the ideeu."
(and Hornsy said, "Let's go exploring." Tommy liked the idea.)

"Soe Tommy sed Oca Honsie. Ua Uahoo. Facuoo Tommy."
(So Tommy said, "Ok Hornsy." "Yay! Yahoo! Thank you, Tommy.")

"The frgot sootcasise."
(They forgot suitcases.)

At this point, B dictated the next 3 sentences to my MIL and then copied what she wrote.

"Suddenly they remembered their suitcases so they went back inside."
"Thas you for reminding me Hornsy. Youire welcome Tommy."

Chapter 2:
"Weer going too the gunge."
(We're going to the jungle.)

"AAAAA" (There's an illustration showing them being swallowed by a whale.)

"WYYYYYY"
(Wheee!!! An illustration shows them going down the whale's throat.)

"Wut isdis"
(What is this? An illustration shows them examining a blood vessel inside the whale.)

"I no clim"
(The illustration shows them deciding against climbing up the whale's throat.)
"Ticl ticl."
(Tickle tickle.)
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
(An illustration shows them being sneezed out of the whale.)

"Wy mad it"
(We made it.)

"Cum on Hornsy. But Hornsy is lucnig at the chree frog."
('Come on, Hornsy!' But Hornsy is looking at the tree frog.)
"Gribit."

Chapter 3:
"AAAAAA"
(An illustration shows something nearby with huge teeth and a menacing face.)

"Hoo or yoo"
(Who are you? Quite possibly my favorite part of B's book, there's an illustration of a strange police box in the middle of the jungle.)

"Im the doctr. Bie bie"
(I'm the doctor. 'Bye bye!' This is a Dr Who reference. Apparently, the Doctor saved them from the menacing jungle creature.)

Chapter 4: An illustration shows Hornsy and Tommy sleeping in their beds.
"Eet fast Tommy."
('Eat fast, Tommy.')
Other illustrations follow.

Chapter 5: An illustration shows the Zula Patrol arriving on the scene.
Another illustration shows Tommy and Hornsy and a big heart.
"I lov uoy"
(I love you.)

Another illustration shows Tommy and Hornsy eating donuts.
"Hi. Im Spidr-man. Im Bat-man."
Other illustrations follow.

"Dis book has bin ilustradid bie Ben. Tommy is mie bruvr."
(This book has been illustrated by Ben. Tommy is my brother.)

We've been watching the two best kids' shows lately. Normally, I don't have a lot of regard for kids' shows. But sometimes, I see that my kids learn from them. Like when B was figuring out reading but didn't want us interfering, "Between the Lions" helped him make a lot of connections on his own. TV has its redeeming features.

Anyway, they started watching this really sappy show on Disney (ugh) called, "Little Einsteins". The title by itself is kind of obnoxious. The show seemed pretty harmless, however. I swear that most little kids' shows now seem to use the "Dora the Explorer" formula; if you watch kids' TV then you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, they have learned so much from this show; I was really surprised. First, T started going on about "adagio" and "allegro", etc. I don't know what most of that means tbh, so I was a bit confused when T would urge us to go adagio. He really got into that. And second, they've started recognizing pieces of classical music. Some were pieces that most people know, like the Nutcracker stuff. But when I had a classical music station playing the other day and something from Handel came on, B yelled, "That's Annie's Love Song!" (a LE episode) and they were both so excited. One time when they were watching the show and the cartoon characters introduced Schubert, B turned to T and said, "Oh Schubert. We know Schubert".

So, sappiness and obnoxious title and all, my kids are learning a lot from this show.

The second show is one that an online friend told us about the other day, a Nick Jr show called, "Ni hao Kai-lan". It's like Dora the Explorer, but with Mandarin. She seems to use a LOT more Mandarin than Dora uses Spanish. I was really impressed with it. I'm studying Mandarin right now and I've been teaching some to the kids. So they are obsessed with this show now and they recognize some of the words that I had taught them like "ye-ye"/grandfather.

This morning, T asked me how to say "slippers" in Chinese again. They had watched their first episode yesterday, one that used the word for slippers and we had only seen it once. I honestly didn't remember how to say "slippers. Then, B piped up with, "It's duo-xie". I don't know if those are the words but that's what it *sounded* like he said. I couldn't believe he remembered how to say "slippers" from one viewing of one episode!

Anyway, those two shows get a thumbs-up from me for now.

I'm trying to remember what we've done lately. We recently saw a live production of Pinnochio. All four of us went. It was really good, perhaps the best production I've seen from the Children's Theatre so far. Dh thought it was remarkably similar to British Pantomime. British Pantomime is a weird Christmas play ritual that features a traditional fairy tale where the leading lady is played by a man and the leading man is played by a woman. There's lots of audience participation ("He's behind you!!"). I've been once; it was a blast. With any luck, we'll be in England this Christmas and my kids will finally get a chance to see a real Pantomime.

T is really enjoying his drama class. I arrive to pick him up before the class is actually over, so I can see what they're doing through the window. He's always really into whatever they're doing. My father said, "Does he need any more dramatics??". This class is right up T's alley.

I think B and I are going to the open art gallery night downtown. Both my kids like art but it's more of B's thing and it's just nice for us to do something together. The weather is great and downtown is so beautiful. We've looked inside the windows of various galleries before but it will be great to actually go inside and see what they do. I hope to go by my photography instructor's studio, but her studio is a bit further away from the main area.

Speaking of photography, my recent revived interest in photography has passed on to B. They kids got a V-tech toy digital camera for Christmas. B has been making full use of it. If I can find our old, original digital camera (which is very light), I'll let him use it. One day while T was in class, B and I took our cameras to the park. He took some great pictures. He has a good eye for things. I copied at least one picture idea from him and we both raced toward another thing (the base of a suspension bridge) at the same time because we simultaneously saw its interesting geometric shapes. When our lives calm down with moving madness and such, I plan on taking B downtown really early in the morning when I retake some of my downtown shots. I figure it would be a fun photography outing and then we could get breakfast afterwards.

I think we're going to the park today. Earlier today, T was building a Lego pyramid and B was making a Dalek puzzle. I think they're playing with the Playmobile airport right now.

Well, my kids are still sick. And I hate it, because I feel motivated to go places but instead, we're stuck at home. We're all starting to get on each other's nerves.

Yesterday, they did a page or two of "Explode the Code". Then, they got bored and put the workbooks away. B really loves the absurd questions that he has to answer in the workbook. Normally, he would balk at reading something like that but he laughs a lot at the funny questions. T is getting bored with "a", "at", "ag", "ap" and all things "a". We're skipping ahead, because he clearly knows "a" cvc words backwards and forwards and it's just unnecessarily repetitive at this point.

Afterwards, they drew and wrote on their own. B wrote "The Umazing Spidrman" and drew a picture. T wrote "Batman" and decorated it with stamps. Then, he got upset that he couldn't draw Spiderman's web like B.

Honestly, they're driving me a little nuts. They're fighting more often, because nobody feels well and we're all tired of being stuck at home. You know it's bad when introverts are desperate to leave the house. Sigh.

Yesterday, B asked how much 3 30s were, because he was trying to figure out roughly how many days were in 3 months. After I told him, I asked him to tell me how much 3 3's were. We also used 2 3's to determine what 2 30s were. T announced that 2 5s were 10 and I taught him that 2 50s were 100.

I brought home workbooks from my Chinese Mandarin class. The workbooks are actually designed for Chinese children, so they have lots of cute cartoons in them. My kids loved the books. They were insatiable in wanting to know what all the words said. It's good for me, but it's not pleasant when it's 7am and I'm still struggling to wake up. It is really good for me, however, and they enjoy it. They learned words like: butterfly, big, "the Great Wall", flower, green, etc.

I taught them the words for Grandpa and Grandma, the father's parents only. When I said 'paternal grandmother': nei-nei, B heard me speak in the third tone and he used his hand to make the third tone gesture when he repeated the word. I was pleased that, even though they only remember a few words, B can hear and identify the 4 tones. I wish he could take my class; I think he'd love it.

I finally left them to look at the workbook by themselves and I heard B tell T, "Oh, that's ge-ge, older brother." I had taught him that a a few days ago; he used the correct tone, i.e. the first tone.

Languages are sooo much fun. And even though we're not aiming for fluency, I'm sure the multiple language exposures are good for their brains. They'd never get this in school. They'd get one Spanish word a week, which used to really upset my oldest niece because it's such a tortuously slow way of being "fed" a language. Although, I should say that they could do an immersion magnet school if we could ever get off the wait-list. It's a trade-off, whichever education method we choose. Oh well. So far, they've had good exposure and language practice with Spanish, German and Mandarin. They've had minimal exposure to a few other languages like French and Polish. I don't know what we'll try next.

Well, we went to the opera the other day. It was so good. T, in particular, really enjoyed it. He loves any kind of musical production, whereas B could take it or leave it after a point. I think that last year's opera might have been better, but this one was still very good. After the opera, at T's urging, we met the "princess". And then we briefly got close to the villain, who waved at T. I have a feeling that T is going to be my little opera/concert/musical/ballet buddy, whereas B will be like dh and just not get a lot out of it.

T also loves old musicals on TV whereas B gets bored with them within 2 minutes. The last time I put on a Gene Kelly movie, T was trying to imitate their dances. I keep meaning to look for "Singing in the Rain" for them, because after the slow intro, it gets really interesting and engaging.

Both kids have worked on some "Explode the Code" workbooks recently. Because we don't know how much B can read, we started him on a basic level to fill in any gaps and to build his confidence. I think the activity was on 'silent e' and he's apparently good with that. T is plugging away on his "Explode the Code Level 1". He really surprises me with what he can read.

T can glance at a picture with three word choices and, even though the picture is very vague, he immediately says "pat" which means that he's scanned all three words and selected the one that most closely suits the picture. We did a sentence activity but he got frustrated with the sentences so, instead of reading them, he just pointed to the sentence that had the noun that matched the picture. So, for example, a picture of rat has two sentences: "The rat is fat. The cat is fat." I ask him which sentence has the picture word and he immediately points to the rat sentence.

The issue he has, which B had and most (?) little boys have, is that he just doesn't have the patience to sit and do it. He CAN do it but he just can't keep his attention there for more than a minute; it's probably a developmental readiness issue. I think that most little boys are too wiggly and disinterested to do that sort of thing. Even with mine having freaky attention spans, neither had the focus to do workbooks for more than a minute at this age. The issue is that B wants to do workbooks and whenever he does them, T wants to do them too and he doesn't want to stop even when I can tell he should.

T gets frustrated when he can't do what B does. He puts a lot of pressure on himself and he has high expectations of himself. And, based on multiple comments he's made, he doesn't think he's very smart. I have "The Optimistic Child" and I keep meaning to read it. It's funny; you're not supposed to praise kids, but what do you do when your child thinks he's not smart? I see that a kid who isn't even 4 1/2 typically doesn't teach himself to read, but all he sees is that he's not reading books like us. He's really hard on himself. I have to read that book.

I don't know what our plans are for next week yet. It seems like the month of February has flown by!

We have made a bunch of field trips lately that I need to mark down. We've been to the Science Center a few times. On one trip there, B made a hand-dipped candle. Dh wants to make a fire pit at the new house. I think we could easily do hand-dipped candles there.

We've had a field trip to the main police station. A lot of it went over my kids' heads, but they still enjoyed it. A highlight was meeting a canine unit.

We visited a new cultural center nearby that has a small art museum, history museum and science center. The science center was the highlight for both kids. B loved the bone room and the Tinker-Toy exhibit. T loved a giant semi-customizable marble run machine.

B's finished his pottery class and we're evaluating other options. T is taking a drama class.

I think that's it for field trips. Oh! We're going to the opera soon, a kid-themed one. We attended one last year and it was a HUGE hit with my kids. We're looking forward to this.

We've been working on the "Explode the Code" and Singapore math books here and there. Dh had the chance to work with both kids over the holiday, just so he could get an idea of what they are doing. So far, they still love workbooks and get upset when we put them away. But T is resisting the writing portion of his "Explode the Code" book. Based on his age, we're letting him skip those sections. With B, we encourage him to do them simply because his pen grip and letter formation is not typical (and he's much older). T has a great pen grip, but I can't convince B to change his.

Dh was surprised at what T did with his workbook. There was an assisted spelling activity. A drawing is shown (e.g. hat) and for each of the 3 letter places, several letters are given. The child has to choose the "h" from a few other letters and then choose an "a" from a selection of letters and then choose the "t". T did it very quickly; dh was surprised at how well he did. Because T wants to do everything that B does and because he's doing some things that are a bit unusual for his age, it's hard to remember that he's not even 4 1/2 and that we should back off him. If he doesn't want to write, it doesn't matter. It only matters that he enjoys himself. Of course, it's the same for B, but since B is 6 1/2, I'd really like to try to correct some of his penmanship issues before it becomes even more of an ingrained habit.

For B's math, because he thinks he's not good at it, we decided to just start from the beginning in workbooks, so he could develop confidence. I figure it didn't hurt to give him some easy math so he might feel more confident. So, he's doing Singapore Math from the beginning, but dh works with him on other math topics on his own. B is good at calculating sums in his head, but I've noticed that he often calculates for simple sums. I think that once he memorizes those and has to calculate less, it should be easier for him. So, we play the quiz show game with the Magnadoodle, in which I fire off quick and easy math questions, in addition to sight words. He enjoys it and it seems to help him.

From the math quiz show game, I've learned that he knows addition doubles (e.g. 2+2, 4+4) up to at least 20. I've also learned that if we ask him in progression (first 2, then 3s, then 4s) that he automatically just gives the number that is 2 up, i.e. you simply skip count by 2s to 20.

The other night, dh used the Magnadoodle to do some extra math with B. He asked him what 3+3+3 is, to which B immediately replied, "9". Dh showed him that he could write it as 3*3. They did the same with 2s. I think B answered "5" for 3 2s, before correcting himself. They practiced writing these in multiplication formats. Dh gave him the trick question of "3", to which the answer he was looking for was "3*1". It all seemed to go well.

B also did some "Explode the Code" workbook work. I'm using a similar approach of starting him on an easier level, not only for confidence but to see if there are any gaps.

We don't have a regular time when we do these. We just do them when the kids feel like them, at this point. I'm not sure if we'll develop a routine or not.

Ok, so at B's request, we've started formal math. Yesterday, we dissected numbers. I showed him to dissect 32 into 30 and 2. He dissected a list of numbers like that, e.g. 98 is 90 and 8. We then moved into dissecting higher numbers like 130. When we did numbers in the 100s, however, he wanted to write it as 30 and 10, i.e. dropping one of the zero place holders in the 100. I did a strange drawing on 30 sitting on top of 100 (with strange voices, which the kids cracked up at). Then, he understood that when we take 30, all of the 100 is still there. I feel like he has a basic grasp on place value, which is what I was trying to teach him.

At supper, we went a bit further. I asked how many 10s were in 20. He knew that. So I asked him to dissect 32 in a similar way. He answered, "Three 10s and a 2." I feel that he has a good grasp on this. It seems like it's easier for him to 'dissect' the numbers mentally than it is for him to write it out. He can do it in his mind easier than he can do on paper. I've reserved a "Montessori at home" book at the library and I hope to get some hands-on math games from it.

Today, we went to the big homeschool store. We left with some Singapore Math, Explode the Code and Dover coloring books. Each child got an Explode the Code book, but only B got a math book. I don't think T is ready for written math yet.

When we got home, B blew through some Singapore math pages. I deliberately started him at a lower level so that he *could* blow through it and build his confidence, while checking for any basic gaps.

T worked on his "Explode The Code 1" book. In one set of exercises, T matched consonants with drawings that began with those consonants. As mentioned before, he doesn't know all the consonants but he was easily able to match them with the appropriate drawings. I just had to tell him the sounds of a few consonants. He got all of them correct except for one; some of the drawings are very ambiguous, tbh. He also did a word match; for example, which word matches 'fat', 'hat or 'fat'? The words were all -at words and he easily read them all. I stopped him at this point because I was a bit burned out and I thought he would benefit from having a break anyway.

Earlier this morning, while I was struggling to wake up with my cup of tea, the kids traced a number and letter worksheet, to help them learn the correct way to form those objects. T mostly drew on his. B still forms some of his letters backwards. T actually writes some words backwards sometimes, but I know that's developmentally appropriate. T announced that a 2 was a backwards 5 and that a 6 was an upside-down 9. They are both very enthusiastic about this so far.

In random homeschool news, I taught them some Mandarin the other day. I think it's hard for them as children to distinguish between the 4 tones in Mandarin. I used my hands to indicate which tone was which. One sounds like a command, one sounds like a question, one is constant like singing a note and one sounds like an incredulous question. They learned, "how are you?" "I am very well" and "thank you". When my Chinese class starts, I thought I might try to teach them some Mandarin if they are still interested. We also talked about the characters. I got out a Chinese teacup that has characters on it and we talked about how the characters originated from a pictorial language like hieroglyphics. For example, the pronoun characters all begin with the same character, which originates from a picture of a stick man. B found this interesting, as he has recently been trying out Egyptian hieroglyphics. I keep meaning to find and print out cuniform for him, but I think we would benefit from some history stories to give it context. Although I have mixed feelings about it, I think we're going to get "Story of the World".

This post is just full of random hs things.

In the new house, and this goes against everything I thought I believed about early childhood and academics, I think I'm going to see if T is receptive to me working with him on reading. He already can read simple Bob books (but not all in one shot, b/c he gets tired). He knows how to blend words, although I'm not quite sure how he figured that out. But yet, he doesn't know the names of all the letters yet. It's funny. He can sound out and read small words, but he forgets what an "N" is. The other day, he was writing at the table. He was trying to write, "Day in Spanish" and he had written "DAE". B did not help him at all; he had just sounded it out and worked it out himself. He had problems writing Spanish, because he forgets what an "N" is. Whereas B was always heavily resistant to instruction, T seems happy when someone sits with him to do stuff. So, I'm going to see if he's receptive to some (gasp) formal instruction.

What's crazy is that he isn't legally allowed to start Kindergarten for two more years, based on his slightly late birthday. If we used school, the earliest he could do K would be 2009/2010. I'm trying to figure out how this works with homeschooling. I would like to simply ignore the birthday cut-off (less than 2 months from his bday) and start legally tracking him next year. I don't know if I can do that or not. I'm just thinking of long-term. What if my kids want to go to school at some point? I would rather T have the option of doing the higher grade. Anyway, it's a long way away.

In other random hs news, T was asking dh questions about the Sphinx so dh Googled some stuff for them. Then, dh printed off a hieroglyphic sheet for B. B was so happy; he wrote his name in hieroglyphics. Then, he started inventing his own pictorial alphabet. I want to print off some cuniform for him too, since he was so interested in pictorial text. Actually, if my Chinese book wasn't in storage right now, I could show him that, because the characters are derived from pictures. For example, the first character in the pronouns is based on a picture of a person.

Right now, they're playing with Legos. We had a busy week with two days of very active outside play so they're enjoying some introverted bliss of quietly playing. I've barely heard from them today.

I wanted to add something to my fall/winter 2007 assessment of B for our portfolio. We have a better idea of where he is in math based on some questions he's asked in the last few days. He's been asking questions about addition doubles. And then yesterday, he asked me, "How much is three 4s?" When I replied, "12", he said, "That's what two 6's are!" When I mentioned this to dh, dh said that B had rattled off the sums of two 2s, two 3s, two 4s and two 5s for him. Based on how quickly he said them, dh thinks he's gone beyond figuring them out and has memorized them. From what I can tell of First Grade expectations, this is in line with those, except that they focus on memorization. I would rather see number sense precede memorization, rather than the other way around. I say that as someone who is absolutely terrible at math but who dutifully memorized everything I was asked to. I feel good about where B is in math. In the new house, I've promised workbooks.

Fall-Winter 2007 Homeschool Assessment, for our portfolio

Well....I got kind of slack with hs blogging. It's just been a crazy time. First, we all got sick with various things that seemed to stagger so that someone was always sick. Then, there was the holiday craziness. Finally, we're all in a rut living in this apartment. Whenever we visit the new house that's being built, T cries when it's time to leave. I think we're all desperate to have our own house again, where we can make as much noise as we want, spread out as much as we want, make messes and have a yard to play in. It's looking like two more months on the house front.

So I find myself at the end of the homeschooling fall-winter session already, where I have to record B's progress for legal purposes. I don't have to turn it in, but I have to keep it in his personal portfolio at home, by law. So, while I'm thinking of it, here is what I have for B in fall-winter 2007, "first grade".

**Language Arts:
-Although B doesn't sit and read for pleasure yet, he reads at or above grade level. He frequently points out words that he's read. A recent example is reading a magnet, announcing it said, "Polish Art Kenter (Polish Art Center)". He seems to have gone from laboriously sounding words out to reading small words effortlessly and quickly.
-B frequently writes, using inventive spelling that follows phonetic concepts. Example: Hee floo uwae (he flew away). He enjoys writing small books and making greeting cards for people. I posted an example of one in this blog not that long ago. I'm keeping samples of his work.
-B still writes some of his letters backwards.

**Maths:
-I have not formally assessed his ability in this area, but I plan on doing so in the new house when our lives are a bit more normal. I know that he can mentally add sums up to 10 or 15 in his head. He can add single digits to double digit numbers (e.g. 24+4) if he counts out loud (25...26...27...28). In the past, he has added single digits to double-digit numbers without counting but those are isolated incidents. I feel confident that he's at grade level for math. He's taking an interest in very basic multiplication, mostly the doubles of numbers. He often asks things like, "What are two 8s?"
-I consider spatial skills pertinent to Lego building to fall into this area. It's pre-engineering or something like that. He frequently builds very complex Duplo creations. They are structurally sound, very complex and sometimes contain moving parts. He's going to enter a Lego contest in February.
-B started getting an allowance, which has helped him develop math skills. He is now more interested in how much things cost and how to read price tags. He took a loan from us at one point and had to repay it. While we did not charge him interest, we talked about what an interest-free loan meant, which led to some interesting discussions about how banks work.

**Arts:
-B has taken two art classes this past semester. One was a drawing class that focused on shading techniques. The other was a class about making things from paper. B learned art techniques and terminology such as "photo montage". He also learned about some famous artists, such as Pablo Picasso. We have made several trips to the Art Museum.
-B frequently draws and makes 3d paper creations at home. He would do more with other supplies if we had the space for it. He wants to make a robot out of metal cans and other parts.
-We listen to a wide variety of music, such as jazz, African music, classical music, Latin jazz and opera. We discuss some elements in the music. We try to identify which instruments we can hear in classical pieces. We recently watched a bell choir holiday concert on TV. B has expressed an interest in taking violin lessons. Thanks to the 'Little Einsteins" cartoon, he has an awareness of some composers' names; often, they are composers that we have listened to in the car and we talk about that.
-B acted in a Christmas pageant.

**Social Studies:
We don't have a systematic approach to history, but we have a lot of interesting conversations.
-- We've had many detailed conversations about the Vikings, with connections to geography. B is very interested in the Vikings and he can identify their origins and many destinations on a map.
--We've had some detailed conversations about Egyptian mummies and how they were made. We saw a Reading Rainbow episode on this topic and we paused the show many times to discuss things related to it. We have talked about hieroglyphics and we've looked at examples.
--We've talked about slavery, segregation and integration, after watching a Reading Rainbow episode together. We talked about this in relation to our community. We kept it on a very high level.
--We've talked about Jewish culture, on a very high level. We saw a Reading Rainbow episode about Levar's Jewish friend; they made challah bread together. And B drew a picture of a menorah after watching a Blue's Room episode about the holidays.
--We've talked about poverty and we volunteered to buy Christmas presents for a needy boy B's age.
--We've talked about taxes on a high level. We've talked about some things in our community that are funded by taxes, like our local recycling facility. We took a field trip to a local recycling center.
-B remains very interested in world geography.

Foreign Languages
-We have been working on learning some Spanish. We have watched Spanish TV shows, such as "Plaza Sesamo". We have watched the Muzzy Spanish CD. We have learned some Spanish phrases together. I have read them well-known books in Spanish, such as "Good Night Moon" and "Harold and the Purple Crayon". The kids have learned a Spanish song from the Dragontales cartoon: "Buenos dias, buenos dias. Como esta? Como esta? Muy bien, gracias. Muy bien, gracias. Y usted? Y usted?" They understand what the phrases in the song mean in English.
-The kids have also learned some German, after choosing the Muzzy German tape from the library. They have learned the phrases: Ich bin (name), Ich haba hunger, nein, gross and klein. B has also learned how to say, "Good afternoon" but I don't know how to spell it. Dh has taught them some Bavarian greetings. B recently had the chance to speak some German with real Germans.
-We have very briefly spoken about other languages and tried to associate some geographic locations with them. There has been a very brief exposure to Chinese, Polish (they learned the word for "man"), French and Russian.

**Science:
-We've dissected owl pellets, but we have not yet reassembled the rodent skeleton as B hopes to do.
-We've taken some field trips to science museums.
-B drew many detailed anatomy pictures from memory, after browsing through (reading??) his DK anatomy books. He can correctly draw and name the: heart, lungs, brain, brain stem, liver, gallbladder (he doesn't know the name for this one), stomach, intestines, colon (he doesn't know the name for this), and appendix.
-We've read about animal cells vs plant cells, on a very high level. B made an animal cell from cardboard. He remembers that they have a nucleus and he remembers the term "organelles".

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I cannot think of anything else that I should record here, so I'll leave it at this. What I need to do now is buy some pocket folders like I did last year, so I can organize the samples of his work.