Las Vegas Kids Marathon

Joey had the brilliant idea to have reading charts for Luke and Isabel where the more pages they read the closer they get to the finish line.  At the end they get to pick a restaurant for our family to go out to.  I am not very crafty, so this is the best I came up with.

Yes, I named their charts, "Rainbow of Reading."  Sorry LeVar Burton, I totally ripped off the name of your PBS show.  Luke needs to read 10,000 pages and Isabel 1,000.  Her pages include me reading to her.

A friend told me about this Las Vegas Kids Marathon.  Running is probably the perfect sport for Luke (no contact) and Isabel will probably like it because she enjoyed watching the women's marathon on TV from the Olympics this year.  Twice a week they get together at the local elementary school with other kids, and a couple of teachers get them running (I assume.)  Then once a week they are supposed to do it at home and after 10 weeks they will have acrrued 26 miles. Today at 3:45 is their first class? session?  I think Luke and Isabel will gain a sense of accomplishment from this and have a lot of fun being with other kids.

My Little Cub Scouter

Now that Luke is eight, he has started going to cub scouts.  I had two brothers who went through it all, but I guess I didn't pay much attention because it is all new and strange to me.  Luke LOVES it.  His leaders do really cool stuff like making rockets out of 2 liter bottles that they shoot off and they once played waterballoon human battleship.  We got him his cute little cub scout shirt and booklet.  In order for him to get his Bobcat Patch at the next den meeting, today I helped him pass off eight requirements.  It went pretty quick since it was mostly learning and memorizing the cub scout promise, motto, salute, handshake, sign and I can't even remember what else.  Seriously, I mostly like cub scouts.  It's a great opportunity for Luke to play and work with other boys, have other great men to look up to and they teach honesty, teamwork and other good values.  They sure push that patriotism though dont' they?  I keep my mouth shut.   

I also spent some time reading Among the Dolls to Isabel and pushing Sylvia on the swings at the park.  I feel like such a good mom when I have spent a little time doing something with each of my children that they enjoy.

MOPS

This morning Luke played at Nicco and Colter's house (homeschooled kids around Luke's age) while the two girls and I went to MOPS or "Mops School" as Isabel calls it.  Every other Tuesday morning moms can get together, have brunch, a speaker, do a service project, socialize, etc. while our children are just down the hall, having storytime, playtime, etc.  I already have a great network of women and moms in my neighborhood and from my church, but with homeschooling, this is a great chance to have a few hours to be able to carry on a conversation without my children interrupting or eating my food.  As always, I loved it today and it was a good break for me. Afterward a woman approched me that had heard that I homeschool and wanted to know if I have a homeschooling group that I belong to.  I explained that I have a few women in my neighborhood that I do a few thing with, but no not really.  She said that the Hope Baptist Church (the MOPS meetings are held at a Hope Baptist Church here so a lot of women from MOPS attend there) has a group for homeschoolers that do feild trips etc.  I told her that would be great if she could email me and invite me along sometime.  Now here's the fun part:  We exchanged info on our children's ages and she made it very clear to me that even though her oldest is five, she is in first grade because she started Kindergarten with her last year and is way ahead.  Then she asked me what curriculum I use, I said none (which is kind of a lie because I use Math-U-See for our math.)  She acted a little shocked and confused (by what a bad parent I am I assume) and then said, "Oh, so you have your teaching degree?"  HAHAHAHA.  I guess somehow she would think it was okay that I don't use a curriculum as long as I have a teaching degree.  I said no and explained (which now I am so irritated that I felt like I had to explain myself to her) that my kids are so young and i haven't felt the need to use a curriculum.

Hey, maybe I misread her.  I am not offended and would be glad to join them on their homeschool group field trip or whatever (if she'll even email me now.)  BUT, I personally don't ask people what curriculum they use (unless I was looking into one and wanted some opinions) because I don't care.  I've run across a few homeschoolers that are very judgmental and will only be your friend if you use the same curriculum that they do.  Sounds silly, but I swear it's true!  People are weird.

After MOPS we went to the library (first time in a long time) and Luke was so excited to see what books we brought home for him.  I overheard Isabel reading a book to Sylvia.  Isabel reads great so long as she's not reading to me.  I think she feels a lot of pressure and then starts to doubt herself.  It makes me feel so bad and I swear I don't slap her wrist if she gets a word wrong or anything.  I told her that I love to hear her read but she doesn't ever have to read to me if she doesn't want to, so long as she enjoys reading in bed at night...which she does!