Impromptu Learning

Maya has been sick all weekend; fever, cough, occasional nausea, fatigue etc. We are on day four now and she is still spiking fevers. Unfortunately she won't be able to enjoy going on a fieldtrip to a local college tomorrow with her class. I was supposed to work this weeknd but ended-up taking four nights of sick leave instead. I am so thankful that I work in a place that doesn't question when your children are sick and will let me take numerous nights off without penalty.

Elias did not have school on Friday so we were all home that day. Most of the day I let the kids watch movies and just play with their toys. Later on though I decided to have them work on a map of the USA. I found an outlice map of the US and printed it for each of them to look and and had them start naming states. I marked each states with its abbreviation as they named it off. The first dozen came pretty quickly, then Maya had to stop and think a little harder, Elias was pretty lost after the first 5. With some hints from me they finished the map in about 30 minutes. The last state was Oregon. I gave them the first 2 letters and the clue that my dad had been born there, Elias kept guessing Oreland regardless of how many times I told him that was not correct. Maya finally called my brother and got the correct answer. We then went off in our separate directions. ABout ten minutes later as I passed through the living room I noticed Elias painstakingly copying the state abbreviations on to his copy of the map. He even included my crude drawing of Alaska. I think he may have actually like the little lesson.

Hair doesn't do itself you know

Last weekend I did hair. I decided that Maya needed a hairdo other than the ponytail she usually sports. She washed and condtitioned her hair on Friday night, I then braided it in about 5 fat braids for her to sleep in. Saturday afternoon she watched a movie while I put her hair into multiple two-strand twists. She has really thick hair so it took the entire length of the movie to finish it (90 minutes). Next time I'll do it while it is still wet so I don't have to keep wetting it. She likes it because it is now "swingy". SHe had a number of compliments forom classmates, teachers, family and friends. We undid the twists this weekend and now she has a kink "dread" kind of look that is equally as cute on her.

Sunday afternoon it was Hannah's turn. She decided she wanted to be like her big sister so I did the same type of two-strand twists. It only took 40 minutes to do her hair and that included the detangling before hand. The difference was that I did her hair right after she got out of the bath and her hair is much thinner than Maya's. Monday night Hannah went to swimming lessons, since her hair is so fine most of the twists undid themselves. I re-did her hair in a new do, pigtails with a zig-zag part. Then I separated the pigtails into sections and coiled each section. Very cute hair-do for a little girl.

Last weekend I cut Elias' hair and, at his request, shaved a big "E" into the back. It is starting to fade now as his hair grows quickly. He told me a lot of the kids in his class liked his hair. I'll try and think of something different to do for Thanksgiving.

$$$

Elias is a good runner. He hasn't been running consistently in the mornings for the last few weeks, we've either been out of time or it's been too wet out. I had heard about indoor track programs for youth so one day I did a google search for programs in my area. I found one that was starting up November 1st. I e-mailed the program director and he then invited us to check out the program. So last night we went to the first training night. I paid a $25 application fee, filled out a form and Elias was off with the 20 other kids, running around the indoor track, working on running form, doing sit-ups and push-ups. He learned a lot about form, got a lot of exercise and wore himself out. I learned a lot just watching them coach these kids. The group was made of about 8 elementary aged kids and the rest were jr. high or high school age.

I reviewed all the info I was given when we arrived and asked questions. This program is for 7-18 yr olds, they have been successfully running the program for 10 years, they have had numerous students go on to earn college scholarships in various sports because of the rigorous training they received. The program costs $170 for each 6 week session. If I keep him in the training I will have paid out over $1000 by the end of June. $1000! This seems ridiculously expensive to me. Elias is only 7 yrs. old. Right now I have 3 children in 7 week long swimming lessons, I pay less than $170 for all three. I can't justify that amount of money for one sport for one child. So for now I will let him keep running at home and work with him on his form myself.

This morning Elias ran about a half mile, already his form looks better.