Summer library fun (not)

I have to get this out. We're participating heavily in our library's summer reading program. My girls are young, but I have high expectations for their behavior and my own and I always have.

Today, some people came to give a small performance of a musical that's going on at our local arts center. The event started at 2:30. People poured into the library and sardined themselves onto the step seating in the so-called "auditorium." They need air conditioning in there, because it felt like it was at least 80 and smelled like wet dog. We were at the top, so theoretically we should have been able to scoot back and lean against the wall. Well, no - some people got up from the ledge in front of us and decided to wedge themselves in behind us. Literally, zero room for me to even put my hand behind me and lean back - nothing. No reason whatsoever for them to do that either, except that they wanted the wall. I was already annoyed, and we moved down to where they'd vacated. I put the girls' books behind my back to avoid anyone planting themselves there again.

So the performance began, but people kept streaming in. Five or so minutes, okay. But at least fifteen minutes and more after it started, people were still coming in, walking in front of the performers (who were all in costume in this heat, not paid, and trying very hard), missing several songs. I couldn't believe it. How rude can you get? I'm surprised nobody took a phone call in the middle of someone's solo. On top of that, there were some young toddlers who started to get fussy - okay, I've had young toddlers before, but if you have a kid that's going to get loud how about sitting off to the side with them so you could quietly and discreetly slip out when they get out of control? Don't plant yourself in the middle of everyone.

And then, then behind me someone had a child with no volume control and insatiable questions. Maybe 3 or so - yes, I have had 3 year olds before. I have also had kids with a hard time keeping quiet and wanted to ask a lot of questions. But for Pete's sake, tell the kid to ZIP IT. If they won't, then see above and discreetly slip out. I couldn't hear the lyrics in several songs (which, apparently, were funny) because I had him in my ear yelling questions at his mom who didn't seem to get that he was being loud and rude.

Becca was silent and completely riveted by the performance. Sylvia was silent but kept draping herself all over me. Not good in a packed hot house.

I hate summer.

Rebecca meets Rebecca

American Girl has done me in. The new Girl is named Rebecca. Why couldn't it have been almost any other name? I would have been fine. Even if they'd spelled it differently I could have held off. But no... it's Rebecca. So I ordered the first book in the series for Becca and she is in love. She was determined to finish it today to show me that she likes it and should get the next book in the series. So she sat in her room way past her assigned "quiet reading time" and finished the book! So off we go to the bookstore tomorrow for the next in the series. The bookstore is also holding a drawing for a Rebecca doll, so we entered it. Becca's very crafty - she thinks that it's too bad they ask for the parent's name on the entry slip because if they saw that her name was Rebecca too... well, they'd naturally have to award her the doll, right? And now she's nervous that she won't win it. Santa might have to bring a doll to us this year...

"How do you pour kids?"

That one's from Sylvia. I was being silly about something and said, "You poor kids!" and we were playing with cups and water at at the time, so she took it as "pour" and asked, "How do you pour kids?" I just shook my head and laughed.

DH took the girls up to his mom's over the past weekend and he happened across a program on the History Channel (or National Geographic, I forget which) about Alexander's tomb. Becca heard "Egypt" and "Alexander" from the next room and ran in to see the show. She actually sat down and got interested in the show! Sylvia wasn't happy about losing her sister's attention so she kept trying to make noise and distract her. MIL kindly took Sylvia in the other room and painted her fingernails, reasoning that, "Any six year old who wants to watch a show about Alexander's tomb should be allowed to do it in peace!" LOL

They're loving the library's summer reading program, even though it's kind of a joke because the library doesn't actually reward reading this year. They go and sign up and get entered into a drawing for every 5 books we check out. But it's on the honor system, so who knows if the books are truly read? Of course we'll read ours, but that's not my point! We also get special activities in and out of the library, which is fun. But at least last year we got coupons at the end of the program, and my girls actually had the joy of turning in a full reading log. This year we just have a checklist, which Sylvia is filling out at an alarming rate. It's not a big deal, because summer reading is just gravy for us, but still - my girls are reading a LOT and it would be nice to let someone besides Mommy and Daddy notice it.

We started a plant experiment with our bean seedlings today. The girls got some simple blank books from the teacher supply store for Plant Books. All of our notes and pictures go straight in there - it saves me a couple of extra steps this unit (the human body unit was extra challenging!). I gave Becca some sentences to copy into her book describing the experiment and she added "hypothesis" in at the appropriate place. She almost spelled it correctly on her own too!

Where do you go when you don't know what a word means?

We were driving home from Becca's choir concert and talking about Word Girl. DH asked Becca, "If you don't know what a word means, where can you go to find out?"

I knew her response a split second before she said it.

"A computer?"

Yep... 21st century kid alright! Don't get on me, we do have and USE a dictionary, but we haven't gotten to full-on dictionary skills yet.


Becca won two silver medals (floor and balance beam) and two bronze medals (bars and trampoline/vault) at her gymnastics competition. She was great at choir, sang beautifully and had a short solo part. Sylvia had her first gymnastics exhibition and was beyond adorable. She did a great job - I was pleased with how well she did, given that this was her first semester in class!

That boring math

We're 17 lessons from the end of RightStart A. Becca was showing a little impatience with it today (it's a K level math) and I asked her if it was too easy. "Well, not too easy..." Uh huh. It's a little too easy but math sometimes freaks her out, so she likes it a little easy. I tried to gently talk to her and tell her that we were going to move on and it might get a little more challenging soon. She said she didn't want to go back to "that boring math that we used to do" (Singapore Math) and I reassured her that she'd still get to use the abacus, play card games, and have a lot of fun. She was so excited she wanted to do the remaining 17 lessons today! I guess she really hated Singapore - it moved quickly but wasn't fun enough or something. I liked it, but that was the parental perspective, and if she's not learning from it that's a moot point. She wanted to know if RightStart went up to Level Z and was worried to find out that it only went up to E and then Geometry. I assured her that they'd probably make more books as she advanced and it would probably take her to high school level math. High school seems far enough away for her to not be too worried about it. Maybe I'll try to pick up the pace for our last few RS lessons and go on into Level B. I'm just nervous about hitting a wall again like we did with Singapore.

She's also enjoying some fun math supplementation from MEP (Mathematics Enrichment Programme). This is adapted from some Hungarian model... something like that. Exotic countries have the best math, apparently. It's getting a lot of play on the WTM boards right now, so I've printed off the early sheets for Becca to play with since RS doesn't have many worksheets. Oh - MEP is free. Don't all stampede over there at once! She shows a real interest in these sheets - they help her thinking and logic skills too, and she gets to use colored pencils and draw pictures. Here's the link: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm

It's not a science book, sweetie.

Headed to the library today to grab some African folktales for our next unit and more reading material for Sylvia. I got a ton of Anansi tales, including one retelling titled Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. Becca helped me put the books in the bag, noticed the title, and asked to read it in the car. So I handed it to her and we drove home. The library (tiny though it is) is very close to our house. When we got home, Becca said, "This book doesn't tell us why mosquitoes really buzz in people's ears!" She was about halfway through and I had to explain that this wasn't a scientific text, but a folktale!

We made paper today (actually, we recycled it, but it's close enough) and Becca finally got to have free rein with her Ancient China box! Heaven!

"How do you say ice cream in Latin?"

That's what Sylvia asked me last night during her pre-sleep snuggle. I promised her I'd look it up and tell her tomorrow.

By the way, it's gelidum cremum. Sylvia was tickled when I told her!