Cousin Time!

The cousins came over to spend the night, which was about 2 months overdue for my kids.  I didn't even try to get a picture of the boys, as they could be anywhere, but Kyla and Cecily came up to show me their royal outfits.

Math Olympiad

For the last 5 months, I coached the 5th grade team at my kids' school, and had half of all the 5th graders (though, notably, not Piper) at weekly practices. We just took 10 kids to our districts Math Olympiad, and I was proud of the 3 teams--"we" brought home a gold, silver, and bronze.  The snow shaved off two weeks of practice, so we shoved probability into one week (which was unfortunate, since the only part of the test my mathletes got stuck on was the many questions about ratios), and skipped Olympiad practice all together.  Sigh.  However, I was glad to wrap up this math team, and immediately started recruiting for the 4th grade team, to start after Spring Break.  This year has been a fun break to take on math in addition to all things books as a volunteer!  And I'll have my revenge--Wesley gets to be an honorary 4th Grade Mathlete this year.  At least one of my kids will be on Math Team.

And, on a related note, Kyla just passed the qualifiers to sign up for Algebra as a 7th grader!  She and I were both really excited for that accomplishment.  Sure, she's really dyslexic, but she's also extremely book smart, and it's fun to watch her have achievements after years of extra tutoring and her feeling like the dumbest kid in class.  This kid is going to be fun to watch! 

Orange Belt

Wesley earned his orange belt today at testing.  Part of the assessment was to block an attack (in red).  I fully own my mother bias, but I was proud of him!

Piper Crafts Again!

Oh, that darling Piper.  She wanted to make cousin Taryn a birthday present, and so finger-knitted this cheetah, cleverly using yellow yard and brown stuffing for authentic coloring.  I love it's sassy tail and blue eyes.

Happy Pi Day!

I like that we've now fussed over Pi Day for a few years now, and my parents always bring themselves (and a PIE!).  I can't be bothered to celebrate St. Patrick's day, but I can get a shepherd's pie from Costco and even sneak down to the grocery store bakery after middle school bus drop off to get--for $3.14 off!--  rhubarb/strawberry and cherry pies.  We had plenty of room on the table for Mom's delicious, and homemade, pumpkin pie.  Fortunately, I've successfully lowered everyone's standards enough that they congratulate me for going to the trouble of buying the rest of our "pi"s!

Introducing a New Blog (for the nondescrimating reader....Grandma)

Part of homeschooling is having Wes starting his own blog that he'll be posting to regularly.

Goals:

• Creation
• Keyboarding skills
• Writing (convention) skills
• Reflection (okay, this is stretch goal!)

It's been fun for me to see what he comes up!

Read his deep thoughts at https://weswrite.blogspot.com/.