Thursday Photo Dump

 I will post about the various brackets that have been up in our house soon, but I am pretty sure that KU lost last year on the day I did a similar post...so..yeah, not going to take any chances.  Despite the majority of time being devoted to certain sports themed activities, we are finding plenty of other ways to spend the day.  For example, Play Doh.  We have also recently added Kinetic Sand to the outdoor activities.  I have no pictures, but Molly and Will spend literally hours outside playing with this chemically enhanced concoction.  Thanks, Uncle Brian! John spends the same time finding ways to dump sand on the ground. 

 The boys are diligently (for the most part) making their ways through their curriculums.  Will recently finished his math curriculum which is pretty cool.  Now he gets to study anything that strikes his fancy.  Most recently he elected to do coordinate plane work.  I love him working on math problems.  He just gets it.  I was showing him a challenge problem involving the substitution method for solving a set of linear equations.  I was gearing up to give a lengthy explanation with the end result being a crystal clear understanding.  But, before I can even start, he just gives the answer.  Lucky kid. 

 When they aren't playing or doing school work or checking NCAA bracket standings, they are often found reading.  Turns out Dom especially loves non-fiction.  I've started loading up on various simple biographies at the library.  He will read several over the course of a week.  Recently we had him give a synopsis of Jesse Owens.  It is interesting to hear what stood out to him.  He told us about his childhood and going to Ohio State and that he got married.  He never mentioned the color of his skin or the fact he went to the 1936 Olympics.  He knew about that, since we asked him follow-up questions, but he was more interested in other parts of his life.  We will be making it a habit to have him summarize at dinner.  It makes that conversation more interesting, too!

 John and I are trying to perfect our selfies.  John is a natural.  Me...not so much.  But, it does work well for me to not look at the camera :).

 The above picture was a momentous day for me.  Dom has struggled with writing for his entire time in school.  I've been told many times this is not unusual for boys...but, that doesn't mean they get a pass.  They have to learn at some point.  One day I was looking over the suggestions his English curriculum gave for writing assignments.  One was to write a story.  He got very animated and asked if he could do that.  I told him sure, what did I have to lose?  He then proceeded to ask if he could make a title page.  At first I said no because past experience has shown that he will spend a long time on that and not actually write a single word.  But, I quickly relented because I realized he would sit pouting for the same amount of time and not write a single word.  However, I was completely wrong.  He made a lovely title page and thin filled the next pages with writing.  And it was pretty interesting.  He drew from his love of history and I could tell there was some influence from J.K. Rowling.  But, it was all his words.  I was so proud and if you have talked to me on the phone in the last few weeks, I've already told you all about it.  But, I'm hoping to have him type it up and illustrate it.  We'll use extra large font so that it looks longer than it really is.  I remember always being disappointed by how short my work would look when I would type it from a sheet of notebook paper.

 After a several month hiatus, we've been going to the park weekly to meet up with some friends.  It's good for everyone.  Molly is always easy to find.

 As an educator, I'm always looking for teachable moments.  One such moment came when we were down to the last half pint of chocolate milk.  And everyone wanted it.  The easiest solution was to split it evenly.  Coincidentally, this happened during the section on measurement in the boys' math books

 The boys did a very good job and as a result everyone received 2 ounces of chocolate milk.  Win/Win/Win!  The highlight for me aside from the lack of whining and complaining, was Will's exclamation that Math is Awesome! 

The weather warmed up and we have high hopes for our yard.  I have no idea how long those hopes will last, but John at least is very eager to help.   The hat provides just the right amount of sun protection.

And, we'll just end with a picture of Molly.  She overheard me talking to my sister about it feeling like summer and ran to get the appropriate attire.