The last week in April / First Week in May

I've been spending time "journaling" about our vacation to the Smokies and expect to post that soon, but in the meantime I want to take a little time to catch up on this past week, since it involved some really good stuff.

Monday we went to Homeschool Days at Old Sturbridge Village. We have a membership to the place, but have never participated in their HS days, which they have run about every three months this past "school" year. Well, we all agreed that it was excellent, and look forward to returning to the next HS day.

They actually run little workshops which are about 50 minutes long, throughout the day.

Early in the day R took a Woodworking workshop where he made a boat, which he is thrilled has a string on it so he doesn't lose it, while E took a workshop about different games of the 19th century. He said it was ok, but didn't like being the only boy.

After that they both took "Print" where they got to work an old fashioned press and also made marbleized paper. They were happy that a friend from playgroup was in that with them too.

A break for lunch came next, where they got to run around in the lunch building, which is normally for school kids, with the several playgroup families who had also come for the day.

We took a break from workshops after that, and while session three was running, we headed down to the sawmill which we are thrilled is up and running again. Seems like it's been getting worked on forever. R said that it wasn't as great as he remember though. He did have an excellent time with the blacksmith, who actually permitted him to go behind the rope and pull the bellows. He also got to shape a nail, while E and I ran around in circles out in the rain. (Okay E ran, I watched.)

We didn't have time for much else (which was just as well, since it was raining) before our next session. The boys took a "Home" workshop together, wherein they got to make butter, and pancakes over the open fire. This was another class in which friends participated too.

I have to say the HS day at OSV was way better than I expected. Their Education Building is beautiful and open; really quite well conceived. Plus all the instructors were really terrific with the kids and didn't expect classroom rigidity. And they were all fine with the parents hovering about.

We really can't wait to do this again in the fall when they continue.

Tuesday I gave haircuts to the boys and Nagy Papa. After that we did a few errands and ended the day with R's soccer practice.

Wednesday we spent the afternoon at the playground with our playgroup friends.

Thursday we went to our classes at White Memorial. I'm so glad i found those classes; both boys really love them. R is disappointed though that the friend he made will be participating with the next age group up for the rest of the year, so was not in his class this time, and will not be for the next time either. He said it was still fun anyway.

E's class is from 9:30 till 12, and R's is from 1 till 3:30. Luckily it's broken up with time spent with friends though. E's best friend Q, and his sister C, take the morning class with him, and between that and the afternoon session we've spent the last few times at their family's restaurant having pizza for lunch.

It was a very long day. We had to go from White Memorial to our local library (which we have switched to Thursdays since so many preschool programs happen on Wednesdays and parking is impossible) and then to R's soccer practice. E and I dropped him off and came home. I had a quick snack and B walked in just in time for me to leave for my monthly womyn's circle.

Friday was a day like never before. Before we had gone on vacation, E was complaining about something or other, and said he wished he could be in charge. So I told him to pick a day sometime after we returned from vacation. Well, Friday was that day.

It was pretty funny, because B had actually decided to work at home on Friday, without having realized E was in charge. I spent quite a bit of time laughing at him Thursday evening, but E actually gave him a break and left him home get his work done.

We set a budget of $40, which is actually way more than I would spend on a given day, but since he was in charge he felt that responsibility should come with an endless supply of money. So yeah, a budget. I explained to him that the most I ever spend on myself (other than clothing) is an occasional CD for $13. So he could spend $15 on himself. Well of course, the whole rest of the day was planned around how to spend the rest.

Ready?

He made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast. I pretended to be him and first thing ran downstairs and started jumping on his trampoline, which really cracked him up. Then I watched TV all morning until he started yelling at me to get dressed because he wanted to "get on with" his day.

He did have a few things which needed to be fit into his schedule. So he wrote one out. First, we went down to Hamden to pick up our raw milk. Then we stopped at the library to pick up videos. Then to Stop and Shop for groceries.

After dropping all that off at home, we went to McDonald's for lunch, where he made us order off the dollar menu. Then we went to the mall so he could spend his money on a Webkinz.

We came home and watched lots of TV. When E is in charge they could watch as much as they wanted.

Dinner you ask? Well, I'd have thought he'd definitely want Chinese Food or Hometown Buffet. But he didn't have enough money left after his Webkinz, so we had Reese's Puffs. Yes, sugar coated cereal. For dinner.

He had soccer practice at 5:00 and when we got home he plopped himself in front of the TV for a good long time. He actually went to bed at 11:07 after I warned him that he'd probably be afraid to be the only one in the house awake, so he'd probably want to get to sleep before B and I turned in. He just did not want the day to end.

The next day when I got up I asked him what he was doing watching TV (they have to earn TV time now, by reading). He explained that "yesterday I gave myself some free TV time for today". That kid.

He asked when he could be in charge again, and I told him not for a long time. He did not make sure we had eaten any vegetables during the course of the day, and he did not do the laundry he needed to do; he is not so great at being in charge. He shook his head sadly, but understood; "being in charge is hard".

Tuesday is R's turn...