Just another day at the JTA

Well, our first official week of kindergarten is wrapping up nicely.

Here's what went on today:

8:30 Helmets up! Ride bikes to school with Fisher. Constantly harangue children re: need for increased speed, as the day is rapidly a-wasting. Upon arrival at school, discover that Fisher has apparently lost the key to his bike lock. Resist urge to lecture re: necessity of keeping track of one's own $#%@#!!! possessions. Leave bike (unlocked) and Fisher (on verge of tears) and return home.

8:50 Play Set. This is what we do every day. It's just not JTA without a game of Set.

9:10 Read from "A Child's Garden of Verses." Rhys is working on memorizing a poem to "speak" for Papa, Grandma and Grandpa next week. (Papa, you don't know anything about this. It's a surprise.)

9:30 Time for reading! By Rhys, not by me! Work on today's letters, "Kk" and "Tt." Realize Rhys doesn't know what a turkey looks like. (If you're supposed to circle the t-t-turkey and you think it's a b-b-bird, you're going to be SOL on the standardized test. Which he doesn't have to take this year.) Read a Bob book--wow! Rhys has made progress literally overnight in his ability to relate letters to sounds.

10:00 Go over the poem again.

10:10 Time to study two things we never have enough of: Time and Money. Rhys now knows how to tell time with the hour hand. Apparently, it never stops being funny to read from your workbook: "It's 4 o'clock." and then announce loudly, "No, it isn't! This book is silly!" We also learn that 1 penny is worth 1 cent, 4 pennies are worth 4 cents, Elmer's glue is limitlessly messy in the hands of a 5-year-old and a double handful of pennies from Papa's secret stash has 164 pennies in it. That's $1.64, because "cent" comes from the Latin word for "hundred" and thus we can remember that there are 100 cents in a dollar. (Don't worry, Papa. We put the pennies back.)

11:00 Whew! Time for some outdoor exercise. We ride bikes to the skate park. Rhys, after a couple of nasty spills, masters the bit where you come zooming down the curved concrete lip really fast and have enough momentum to swoop over the little rise back up to the flat part.

11:30 Lunch time! Chef Rhys prepares PB&Js for us both, almost all by himself. I am "the waiter," per his decree, and thus have to get the spoons out myself. Rhys, whose job this ordinarily is, expresses delight at the role reversal. The sandwiches are a bit smashed, but tasty. Papa calls and tells us he stopped by Fisher's school with a U-lock for his bike; Fisher's apparently still in a bit of a snit. The mailman stops by and asks about my car. He's particularly interested in its mileage (33 mpg, bay-bay!), and after he's gone, Rhys and I discuss why good gas mileage is important.

12:15 Got to soak up some history. We watch a History International show, TiVoed for our convenience, on the archaeology of Ptolemaic Egypt. We get out our Atlas of World History (Vol. 2: Middle Ages... Fisher was reading Vol. 1: Ancient World, and now we can't find it) and track down Alexandria on the map. Rhys is impressed by how far it is from Colorado. Also, the shape of the Roman Empire in Africa looks like a blaster. We learn what an obelisk is and what gargoyles are; Rhys wants to see more gargoyles, so we Google them and find lots of pictures thereof. I suggest drawing our own gargoyles, but Rhys has a better idea: sculpting them out of clay.

1:15 Off to Michael's we go, in search of air-drying modeling clay with which to build gargoyles.

2:00 Back from Michael's; Rhys asks if we can wait until Fisher gets home to make the gargoyles, because Fisher will be sad if he misses out. Mama is suffering from e-mail withdrawal and sets up Rhys with a Fisher-Price computer game so she can come tell all o' y'all about what happened today...

...at the JTA.

Comments

[Jennifer Adams Donnelly]

Yeah, but Elmer's glue is FUN! I should get a bottle... I haven't "peeled my skin off" in years. Hmmm.. maybe that's why our kindergarten specified glue sticks.

And don't you love the Bob books? We did them this summer and went from not reading to reading a little... ok that sounds not very impressive, but it is.

[Melissa]

Every child needs to know the importance of good gas mileage LOL! Seriously, I wish all kids could get as good an education as yours.

[Jill S]

I've been eagerly awaiting tales of the JTA. You make homeschooling sound like a wonderful experience!

[Wanda E. Santiago]

Sounds like a full week of learning. Tha is awesome! Much love and hope his mouth is getting better!! Wanda

[Heather Stecher (Chacounne - Absolute Write)]

Hello :)

Just got here via your link on Absolute Write :) My upstairs neighbours and friends for thirty years homeschool their kids, who would be glad to put you in touch, if you'd like.

Also, since your youngest is into castles and knights, I can hook you up with the local SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) group, if you'd like. We are word wide organization that recreates the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Let me know if you're interested in either one.

Take good care,
Chac