We dissected owl pellets the other day, after much anticipation from everyone (except dh, who is a bit disturbed by it). We had previously read a few picture books about owls, so we could learn more about how they live and how the pellets come about. I covered the table with a plastic trash bag, got out plates and took all the hygiene precautions I could think of. Then, we dived into our pellets. B had his own. T and I shared one. T lost interest after about 5 or 10 minutes so then I was left to finish it. B and I both had our heads down and we really deeply enjoyed it.

It looks like we both got mice as prey animals. B is still supremely confident that he will be able to completely reconstruct the skeleton, even though the bones are brittle. The kit included a bone sorting chart, in addition to a detailed rodent skeleton diagram. I noticed that I have more than one prey animal in my pellet. It seems as though my owl grabbed several mice in quick succession before regurgitating. So, now I’m wondering if perhaps we *can* reconstruct one rodent skeleton if we pool all our bones together. We could photocopy the skeleton diagram and then glue the bones directly on top of it. I’m willing to give it a go.

When we wrapped up yesterday, we weren’t quite finished. Mice have incredibly tiny bones so we still have fur sections with tiny bones hidden inside. I promised we could go back to it today and try to sort them out. When it’s all over, I have three more unopened pellets for us to do; B was really excited about that. I don’t know how many more he will want to do before he loses interest, but they are so cheap to buy so I could reasonably buy a bunch more. I took some cute pictures of him. He looks like a tiny scientist hunched over the table; his expression is so serious.

I enjoyed dissecting the owl pellets too. If you don’t mind (sterilized) rodent fur and you like picking at things, owl pellets are for you. I seriously had so much fun. I think I was still working on mine when both kids were done. Fun, fun, fun…

I'm starting to think that my 3 1/2 year old could sound out words if he wanted to. He's more like 3 3/4 yrs old. Anyway, the other day I was trying to distract him so that B could have some time to himself for a change. I was helping little T cut and glue things. He wrote his name and then he wanted to write some other people's names. He's been writing his first name since he was 28 months old, no lie. He had written the first two letters of his name in an art class then so I had dictated the last 3 letters; I have no idea how he learned to form letters. But he really lost interest in writing letters and I think he may have forgotten how to form some of them. He's not that interested in academic stuff and he's not one of those kids who likes showing off what he can do.

Anyway, he wanted to write, "Daddy" but he needed help. He was telling me that there were D's in it. Then, he wanted to write B's name and he knew some of the letters in that. I can't remember what exactly we were talking about, but he was guessing letters that were correct that led me to believe he was sounding them out.

Today, he was telling me what he wanted to eat. In reply to something I said, he said, "I'm joking!". I teased him by saying, "You want chicken??" And he laughed and said, "Noooo...I'm JOKING." and I'd say, "You want chicken??" This went on and on until he said, "JOKING. It has a *G*." So, of course, I said, "You want jicken?" Then he laughed and said, "No. Next is an O." I really think that he could sound out and spell words if he really wanted to. He's probably lucky that I'm not one of those Moms who would jump on the prospect of working with him and "playfully" shove it down his throat.

We had an incident last month when he read the label "Blue's Clues" with no visual or auditory cues. We had lost our channels (again) and the only thing on the screen, besides the notice that we didn't subscribe to the channel, was a bar at the bottom that showed the channel number and TV show title. He had said, "It's Blue's Clues!" even though he didn't have anything to cue him other than the small text. I had asked him how he knew and he said, "because of the picture". There was no picture, so I think the "picture" was the label. We very rarely watch that show (twice a month?) because it never seems to be on. That freaked me out a little.

I should probably think about getting ready. The pool opens in 20 minutes and I made a promise that we would go today. We like to leave by 1030, because it's been hitting 100F and I'm paranoid that T will burn, even with sunblock. B inherited dh's skin and he tans very easily and darkly. T, OTOH, is glow-in-the-dark-white. Even if I look at the back of their necks, B is very dark just from walking around, whereas T only has a hint of color. I don't want my baby to get sun-burnt. Plus, it's just too hot at 11ish, even in the pool. I should go get ready!

This is a reminder to myself to borrow the following book from the library when we move into the new house:
"Make-a-Saurus: My Life with Raptors and Other Dinosaurs" by Brian Cooley and Mary Ann Wilson.

I have promised B that we will make a wire-framed paper-mache dinosaur when we move into the new house.

I hate to serial post instead of updating gradually. This is the third one in an hour! Now that the school year has started, hopefully I will make smaller and more frequent postings.

This is my attempt at capturing what we've done in the "world of education", for portfolio purposes. I'm also suppose to jot down where he's at, academically, at the start of the school year and I need to figure that out.

In the last week, we talked about how owls eat and regurgitate. We're about to order owl pellets and so I introduced the basic premise to him. He's extremely excited about the owl pellets, because of the bones. I need to look into the cost of ordering a small animal skull for him. That might be a new house purchase, due to space considerations in the apartment. I also want to learn about which owls we are most likely to encounter locally. After watching the Dirty Jobs episode on owl pellets, dh and I want to buy or make an owl box for our rural property. Owls are one of my favorite animals.

Yesterday, I wrote some dinosaur names for B, upon request, so that he could copy them onto his paper creations. I underlined the word "saurus" and reminded him that it meant "lizard". He then pointed to "tyranno" and told me that it meant "terrible". We ended up on Wikipedia, looking up Greek word roots in dinosaur names. "Allosaurus" apparently means 'strange lizard'. Dh is reading a DK book called, "Dinosaur Detectives" to him at night. The dinosaur and fossil interest is still very strong.

Talking about Greek word roots led us to talking about the ancient Greeks. He doesn't understand timelines yet. But I roughly put the ancient Greeks at the time of Romans; he knows of the Romans due to knowing about Pompeii. We ended up spending a fair amount of time on the Internet looking at pictures relating to the ancient Greeks. We looked at pictures of the Parthenon and many pictures of pottery and sculptures. He got a big kick out of the various sculptures with missing body parts.

Somehow, we got off on a tangent about the ancient Egyptians based on things he was asking. He asked, "If people didn't have machinery, then how did they make things like the Pyramids back then?" We read and talked a lot about that. We found a virtual tour of a Pyramid, but I don't remember where it was; it may have been PBS. This led to a tangent about mummies. He used to be terrified of the idea but his strong obsession with anatomy led to a fascination with mummies. He recalled a Reading Rainbow episode that he really enjoyed about making mummies.

We talked about so many things and I don't even remember them all. He now wants to go to the British Museum in London after I said that I saw ancient Greek statues and mummy stuff there. In the end, we ended up at Flick group devoted to UNESCO sites. He was fascinated by the tree roots covering parts of a temple in Cambodia. I can't remember the name of the site, but it was one that I had investigated visiting a few years back. I think B got hit with a heavy dose of travel genes. Dh's family is very into travel, with one uncle having made it to most of the countries on Earth! My family is not the traveling type at all, but I've always dreamed of it since I was small. B and I share a lot of common interests. I cannot wait to travel more with my kids in the near future. We're starting to enter the age ranges where it becomes easier.

Ok, I think that's enough posting for today.

I also meant to say that we have finally closed on our house sale and we have moved into the apartment. I'm so glad it's over for now. It was kind of traumatic towards the end. The kids are adjusting well, after some initial behavior and emotional issues. We are all looking forward to the construction of the new house at this point. As for the apartment transition, it really helps that we're in the same area where we lived. And it also helps that the apartment has a really great pool.

The apartment is bigger than I thought it would be, but we're still cramped on space, obviously. It hasn't deterred B from making his daily paper creations. I can't remember if I've blogged about this or not. B discovered tape on the dispenser and he has since immersed himself in the world of paper creations. His first creations were a paper airport and a paper museum. I need to post pictures. When he makes paper buildings, he makes a floor with a foundation and wrap-around walls. They're really interesting.

Then, he ventured into the world of the body. He made some paper lungs with a heart in the middle. One Sunday, I found him making a flat paper bladder with a drop of urine, connected to two kidneys. He then affixed large and small intestines, a stomach and a liver. After a lung/heart sub-assembly was attached, he worked on a head. The brain was divided into three components: the brain, the brain stem and "this thing that attaches to the brain stem" (the cerebellum). I still have that one and once I locate the roll of laminate in one of the boxes, I will attempt to preserve it. Construction paper degrades so quickly!

He also made a paper dog bowl by curling strips of paper and attaching them to a base. It looks like rows of paper "O's" have been taped to the base and it makes a bowl. Yesterday, he made a flat paper camera with a slot for T. When they take pictures, they push out a small paper picture. I just saw B run by with another sheet of paper. There's no telling what he's working on. Yesterday it was an African drum for T, although it didn't work out to B's satisfaction.

B fascinates me sometimes by his absolute drive to create things. And whenever he makes things, there's usually tremendous quantity involved and evolution of product. It's very hard to keep up with in terms of saving vs cleaning up. And I find myself feeling inadequate on occasion in terms of my ability to feed and nurture this. It appears as though he's feeding it just fine by himself, however. He's the busiest little kid I've ever seen! I really need to look into art classes again this year, although it's a fine line between nurturing his interest and undermining it. We had such a positive experience with watercolors and clay at the Arts Center in my parent's city last year that we might brave the drive again this year. I just need to look into it once fall listings are posted.

I could totally see B as an artist someday. So many people devalue and discourage that due to the "starving artist" image. I had a friend whose parents refused to pay her college tuition if she majored in art. If that's a route that he wants to follow, then I would support that. He always has a lot of diverse ideas about what he wants to be when he grows up, just like I did as a kid. Right now, however, he wants to be "a surgeon, a regular doctor and an animal doctor." T wants to be a fisherman and a cook.

I think we're officially in the 2007-08 school year; I think it started in July. If that's the case, then I need to get down that B attended an animal camp at the Science Center in August. I got a little carried away with camp sign-up this year, because they are in high demand and I was worried that he would end up with no camp. So I signed him up for several as a "just in case". The problem I'll have next year is choosing, because the three camps we did were fantastic. I would definitely do the camps that are run by the University's Ecology Department again. I would sign T up too next year and I'd probably volunteer in his camp. The Science Center camp was also fantastic, but in a different way.

Whereas the Ecology camps focused heavily on outdoor activities and crafts, the August Science Center camp used its substantial lab resources to form the bulk of the program. B was able to hold a variety of animals that live at the Center, including frogs, toads, a giant millipede, a turtle, a tarantula (ok, he passed on the spider), and others...One day when I arrived to pick him up, the children were all holding something small and pink in their hands. When the Moms got a closer look, we saw that the kids were holding baby mice! B was thrilled that his camp group was taken down to the aquatic lab and allowed to go behind the tanks, where the Science Center people work. On another day, each child caught a tadpole in a tank with a net and then released it outside in the pond. In addition to the hands-on animal activities, the children also heard animal stories and made crafts.

What was also nice about the Science Center lab is that parents and siblings were invited to do things with the camp at the very beginning and end of each day. So, we had a chance to pet George the Iguana on one day. We were able to use the touch-tanks in the Ocean Room on another day. Whereas B loves to touch the animals, T is adamantly against the idea; it was still nice to have the option and to see things. The main classroom was also very hands-on. If we arrived early for drop-off, T and I could wander around. B could also wander and touch various things while waiting for everyone to arrive. I watched a group of boys through the class window admiring and touching some small taxidermy specimens one day. B was holding a small animal skull and appeared to be deep in thought. It was a great experience.

The Science Center is normally open one day a month to the general public. The school district uses it the rest of the time. We enjoyed having some access to the Center during that particular week. The only thing that slightly annoys me about the camps is that they are very strict about organizing by grade level. Next year, B will be old enough to take a basic rocket camp, which he is desperate to do. He must be a rising 2nd grader to attend.

Actually, I had to teach him what his grade level was, in case anyone asked. Sometimes people ask him where he goes to school and he will either say, "I'm homeschooled." or he might get nervous and say nothing. I told him that if anyone asked him what grade he was in, that he should say he's starting First Grade. He asked, "What does that mean?" I replied, "If you went to school, they would put you in a class based on the year you were born and they call it a 'grade'." Having to explain it like that to him made it seem even more bizarre to me. Poor T, if he attended school, he'd be nearly 6 right after K starts because of the cut-off. I understand a general grouping is necessary for organizational purposes but I still cannot wrap my head around annual cut-offs. If I were a school person, I guess the Montessori practice of grouping grades would appeal to me.

Anyway, my thoughts are all over the place as I'm still trying to wake up this morning...camp was a big success and he had a great time.

Ok, here is a general update regarding our summer.

B had two day camps this summer. It was the first time he had been away from home for such a period of time (2.5 hrs a day), not including family visits. Initially, I was so nervous. I had to call my husband from the parking lot on the first two days to get some encouragement to leave. I knew B would have fun, however. In the first camp, he seemed to be by himself most of the time, which brought back some horrible childhood flashbacks of being the odd one out in situations like this. In the second camp, however, he was very sociable to the point where I hoped he was behaving.

In the second camp, one of his two best friends was a little girl who appeared to have a crush on him; she would stare at him while he did stuff and knock his ball-cap repeatedly. Kids would call his name when we were in the parking lot and everything; it was a very interesting situation to see him in. Usually, he’s so reserved. I found it fascinating to see him exhibiting stereotypical guy behavior with the boys, as he’s not really a stereotypical boy boy. Boys do weird things like flick each other as a way of showing affection. When they’re older, they use verbal teasing to show affection; my dh and his work friends do this. I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand boys, but there you go.

The camps were run by a local university’s science department. The topic of the first camp was “amphibians and reptiles”. The topic of the second camp was the Earth, with the implication that they would be focusing on geology and fossils. The second camp turned out to be very high level, with mentions of things like the water cycle and plants and such. B still enjoyed it, but I think he was a little disappointed that they didn’t focus more on the geology aspect of it. As he said, “They only mentioned *three* layers inside the Earth. They didn’t talk about the inner and outer core, just the core.” But he did really seem to have a blast due to the crafts, nature walks and social opportunities. I think the nature walks were the highlight for him in both camps. The location was a fabulous wooded public garden with tons of wildlife.

I would sign him up for the camps again. Next year, T will be old enough to do one too. I was very impressed with the camps and the people who directed them. It was a good experience for him. And now our garage is absolutely full of the things he brought home every day: Magnolia leaves, snake skin, rock collection, paper mache Earth, frog sculpture, painted volcano receptacle suitable for baking soda/vinegar eruptions, the well-known plastic bottle “cyclone experiment”, painted wooden decorations, etc.

When his camp was in session, we had to get up and frantically get ready to be there on time. I didn’t have to leave the house until 8:20, but, as funny as it sounds, it was a real crunch for us. I was, truthfully, relieved on non-camp weeks to just stay in my pjs. In a way, I felt like it was a tiny taste of school and I have concluded that school is still not for us. If he attended first grade this upcoming year, he would have to be outside our house at the bus stop at 6:50 am. The thought of getting him ready for that time makes my head want to explode. Also, I noticed that, as he’s an introvert, he tended to melt down at some point after camp was over; I could not deal with that aspect of school and I remember it very well from my own personal experience.

The camp experience has underlined the need for more homeschool socialization, however. This fall, we are definitely going to work harder at hooking up with our homeschool group. Last year, in K, it didn’t seem to be such a need for him. Also, in the beginning, I had a two year old who still wore diapers and napped! Homeschool outings were usually exceptionally challenging. It will be SO much more pleasant this year, now that my “baby” will turn 4 early in the year and he is much more compatible with group situations.

The rest of the summer so far has been filled with playing, getting the house ready to sell and some outings. We’ve done the typical outings of parks and museums. The kids mostly play all day. B’s interests still remain in construction, human anatomy, and the like. He still is uninterested in reading, even though he has shown that he actually can read a fair amount. Yesterday, he brought a science book over to me and said, “This says ‘oxygen’.” And dh sat with him as he choppily read the first page of a Thomas the Tank Engine book. But he is almost entirely uninterested in reading so I don’t push it. I try to avoid talking about it at all right now.

Both kids still love being read to and there is a big interest in audio books right now. Yesterday, they laid in the floor for two hours just listening to audio books! A favorite is the classic Winnie the Pooh series. We have a free CD from the Sunday Times, narrated by Bernard Cribbins. I need to buy a full CD of all the stories, but the narrator needs to be British…I think it would be equally strange to hear a British person narrating the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Some things just require a native speaker.

The kids have started to memorize some of the Pooh interchanges and they replay them with each other. A favorite is from the story in which Pooh goes visiting and gets stuck, “I said, is anybody at home?!...You needn’t shout so loud. I heard you quite well the first time.” They do that one to each other a lot, although they usually stumble over the words. At night, we’re reading the original Pooh stories. The language is so clever and funny that I laugh out loud too. We laughed for a long time over “the Brain of Pooh”.

This week, we went to short jazz concert for children. It’s part of the free children’s concert series held by our city’s orchestra. Both my kids have a higher than average exposure to and appreciation of jazz music, since I really love jazz. Still, B tends to get bored during these things. I don’t know why I had never thought of bringing coloring books, but it worked really well this time. Because public interest in the concerts is so high, we had to arrive really early to even get a seat at all. The coloring books were great for the wait.

The musicians played an electronic keyboard, the bass, the trombone and the drums. We were a bit disappointed that they did not play the trumpet or clarinet but it was still very well-done. When we came home, B took away the idea that jazz is American music, with drums from Africa. He also remembered the concept of improvisation, although I doubt he actually remembered the word. At one point, the musicians did an improvisation of “Mary had a little lamb” and it was an excellent way of demonstrating what improvisation meant. T walked away from the concert with an imaginary trombone which he played at home. He also attempted to give a talk about the trombone in his fake deep voice, but it was interrupted by an imaginary child singing in a falsetto voice. We laughed and laughed; I hope he keeps the ability to make people laugh. He’s so funny and colorful.

I need to post this now, because I have a lot of cleaning to do today. I think I’ve typed enough, at any rate!