Spring Break (so far)

Yesterday was our first day of Spring Break, and I won't lie.  It was hard.  Too much free time.  Not enough structure.  I'm sure many folks think the homeschool family would see no difference between vacation and school.  Those folks would be wrong.  Without the schedule of school, the kids ended up bickering WAY too much.  Bleh.

So today, we are being a bit more structured about this.  Nothing like school, but also not hours and hours of free time.  The boys did spend about an hour downstairs with some LEGO creations.

 The brown paper around the outside is the force field.  The bricks are an island in the middle of the ocean.  That's the republic gunship on top of it.  (I knew that without asking!)

Close up of "the island."

After they had been down there about an hour, the first squabble arose.  I quickly transitioned them.  Everyone got to do one chore and then it was on to the next activity, which I hadn't planned...Luke came up with it.  BOX CREATIONS!

The boys have been reading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes lately.  Yes, they can be a little obnoxious.  But the imagination portrayed fits perfectly in this house.  Both boys found boxes in the garage and the creating commenced.

 They only just barely fit in one, so they decided to make two.

 Blurry, but still adorable.

 Paul is working on the dials for his time machine.

Luke is inside his transmogrifier - it's a Calvin and Hobbes thing.  When he pops out of it, he has been transformed into something different.  So far, I've seen a bunny.  It's fabulous.

After box time, we headed down to a new to us library in Clackamas.  The Daddy-Man found it and highly recommended it.  Sure enough, the boys spent an hour perusing and then reading.  We were able to obtain a card and checked out about twenty items, including a new Humphrey book and a new Calvin and Hobbes.  Delightful.

On another note, I've been reading a bit lately about education, including this article, What's Worth Learning in School?  I won't do a full commentary here, but I feel strongly that despite some of the obvious challenges with homeschooling (no personal time and no personal time), this journey does seem better suited to address the issues that are arising in education right now.

High stakes testing.  Teach to the test?  My kids have never taken a test.  Luke will be required to take his first standardized test this spring.  It will be a non-issue because I have refused to focus on it.  I have that luxury.  My job doesn't depend on it.  But Amy, what about your homeschooling "job."  Doesn't that depend on Luke passing that test?  Yep.  It does.  But guess what?  By spending the last four years reading high quality books to Luke (thank you Sonlight) and doing math with Luke, he is going to pass with flying colors.

Sometimes folks ask me, "But Amy, if your kids have never taken a test, how do you know that they are learning?" Well, every once in awhile while we are reading together, one of them will ask a crazy profound question or make an amazing inference, drawing a connection with an earlier era or another area of study.  That's how.  I don't need to make them take a multiple choice test.  I don't need to require a formulaic and painfully boring paragraph.   Memorizing every fact that I read to them is not how I want to measure their learning.  Right now, at nine and seven, I am satisfied with their ability to converse about what made Elizabeth I a radically better ruler than George I, or how the beginnings of Islam and Hinduism are similar/different from the beginnings of Christianity.  I'm not kidding.  We've talked about those things.  Crazy?  Yep.  Amazing education?  We think so.

End rant.  Stepping down off soapbox.  :-)

Orange Belts

I'm a little behind.  This happened last Saturday, and I mentioned it in a previous post, but I still haven't shared any of the pictures.

The boys and I tested for our orange belts in Taekwondo.  All three of us passed.  I had just broken my toe Friday morning in class, but was still able to complete all the testing components.  I was wobbly on my side kicks, and it took me two tries to break my board, but they passed me anyway. :-)

Warning:  shameless bragging alert.  Both boys are doing so well.  They are both getting stronger and faster.  Just today in class, they did 20 pushups, but not just regular push-ups.  Every other time up, they reached up and gave the instructor a high-five.  It looked SO hard!  (Yes, I took a Friday off from class in the interest of actually allowing the toe to heal...push ups with a broken toe...um...no.)

Anyway, I am also super pleased with how the boys have improved their focus.  Yes, they can still be squirrelly, but over and over today I heard the instructor saying things like, "Yes!  I like that!  Good job!"  And this was about stuff that looks HARD to me.  I mean, after thirty minutes of calisthenics, making your last ten sit-ups of forty look good?  That's amazing to me!  (Luke did that today.  For real.)

Black belts have to be ultra focused.  They have to undergo testing that requires a lot from them physically and mentally.  When we started this journey, I didn't really know if these peeps would be willing to work that hard.  After six months, I'm fairly certain that my people are in this to win it.  One hundred push ups and one hundred sit ups to qualify for black belt testing, huh?  Okay.  I'll train toward that goal.  How cool is it that?

Okay.  I'll go find the pictures.  It's always a little more complex when they were taken with the Daddy-Man's phone.

Standing at attention, ready for testing to begin.  Does anyone else think it's amazing that my children even do this? (Paul is the second one in and Luke is the fourth one in...I'm on the end...clearly.)

Doing Basic Form for the judges.  (I am supposed to be looking up...oh...self evaluation...so useful.)

 Side Kicks!

 Luke's board breaking

 Paul's board breaking

 Luke receives his belt from Master Nirangen.  We all received them, but this picture was the clearest!

 Saluting the flags at the end of testing.

Our testing group - FUN!

Socialization

I have a theory. Let me start with the story of our day so far. We spent the morning at Taekwondo testing. All three of us earned our Orange belts! Woot! But I digress.

After testing, the boys and I headed for the library and now we are enjoying the nearly seventy degree weather at the local park.

Within five minutes of our arrival, both boys have entered conversations with other kids and are creating games for all of them to play together.  They include everyone regardless of age, something that is a complete enigma to their peers. But the public school kids will allow it for awhile.

Here's my theory:  I think that some homeschool kids are actually more capable of healthy socialization than many other kids. My kids don't spend any time worrying about what other kids think of them and it draws people to them. It's more fun to be around people who are comfortable in their own skin. My people have not been conditioned to look to their peers for their worth. At times, that can be disconcerting for those who live and die by those social rules, but for the most part, I think it's just attractive.  It doesn't hurt that both my guys are very verbal.

In addition,while being appropriately able to play with peers, they appear to be completely immune to the negative side of peer pressure. At one point, I heard a boy say to Luke something about daring him to do something. Luke plainly started, "I'm not doing that. It's too dangerous." Awesome, huh?

February Recap

Blog much?  Apparently not.  Regardless, I have a moment, so the quick catch up.

February - Gross.  Luke contracted the community version of c diff.  Doesn't sound revolting, but it was.  We spent almost the entire month walking that road.  Yuck.  Blessedly, we finally got it diagnosed and treated.  And then Erik and I ran away to Sunriver for five days.  So.  Good.  

Homeschooling - yep.  We do that business.  And despite Luke's February health issues...we didn't miss a single day of school.  That poor kid.  We won't talk about how often he had to run for the bathroom.  Before you judge me, you should know that he wanted to be doing school because it distracted him from his failing GI tract.  I'm serious.

Ministry - still doin' the same stuff, but Erik's responsibilities have increased at his Bible Study class.  It's been an adjustment as he is now responsible for preparing to teach the Bible passage to around 200 men each Monday night.  But we are SO blessed to be carried by Jesus Christ.  He is faithful and good.  We trust Him to provide all we need.

I wish I had pictures of the kids, but it's been a busy/gross/disgusting month.  So, I don't.  But here is a picture of the grammar lesson Luke did today!  He is learning to diagram adverbial phrases!  Oh, be still my English-teacher heart!  By the way - Luke is drawn to diagramming.  All the pieces fit into very specific places.  It is quite appealing to him.  Isn't it appealing to everyone?  ;-)

Mostly LegoLand

I know that this is late, but better late than never.  :-)

On December 29th, our family traveled south to Palm Desert to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa in their sunnier home.  The weather down there was NOT warm, but the company was!  We spent lots of great time watching football and enjoying the hot tub.  The boys even swam despite the high of 52.  Fifty-two degrees Fahrenheit and my people are walking down the street in their swim suits.  Oregonians.

On New Year's Eve we did something very special for the boys.  We took them to LegoLand.  I think it was the best day of their young lives.  It was super fun and awesome.  Really awesome.  I think I'll just post WAY too many pictures and tell a few stories using them.


First I have to tell you that the boys didn't know we were going until the morning of the 31st.  They had no idea.  So, this series of pictures included exactly how the boys responded to me when I asked, "Do you guys know what LegoLand is?"  They started to explain their ideas, and I responded by saying, "Well, we will just have to find out when we go there today."

 Paul smiled first.  Luke is still trying to explain what he thinks Legoland is...

 Then Paul jumped off the couch and did a little dance and Luke's brain parsed the sentence I had spoken.

 Paul proceeded to roll on the couch in utter delight.  Luke watched and continued to be jazzed.

And then we got in the van and drove for two hours.  I know.  It was quite a ways to go.  But folks, when you are within two hours of the place you are fairly certain will be magical and amazing for your people, you do it.

 We are driving down the lego-lined lane and the boys don't appear worse for the car ride.

 I can't believe they stopped and posed for this picture.  Thank you, boys.  I know it was hard.

 When it was our turn to pose by Darth, the boys spent a few minutes with their backs to me, just admiring the LEGO.  I had to tell them to turn around for the picture.  It was so cute.

We had a game plan for the day that involved doing the park in backward order to avoid crowds.  But then we  spotted Star Wars MiniLand.  I actually spotted it first and literally ran up the little flight of stairs saying, "Oh!  Oh!  Guys!  Come here!"  Eight or nine amazing scenes from the movies created entirely out of LEGO.  It was the coolest thing.

This is the part where I could post over 50 shots that I took of just. the. lego.  I won't do that to you.  I'll post one, maybe two.  I know my audience.  ;-)

 The battle for Hoth.  I knew that without asking my kids.  This is from one of the original films.  It is classic.

 This is his Happiest Place on Earth, people.  No question.  They asked to go to Disneyland because they have friends who have gone recently.  We took them to LegoLand instead.  We were right.

 The Battle of Naboo - not as classic, but impressive nonetheless.

 It's the palace on Naboo.  And it's made of LEGO.  I'm a dork.

 My kids are so happy in this picture.

 Paul with Wicket, the Ewok, his very favorite Star Wars character.

 Paul with Yoda, my mom's favorite Star Wars character.  We love Oma!

 Luke with Luke Skywalker.  Duh.  ;-)

 Paul with R2D2, the sassiest Star Wars character.

 This is so cool.  Yes, Paul is making sounds like Chewbacca in this picture.  He's so awesome.

After a good forty five minutes in Star Wars MiniLand, we headed for Castle Land and our first rides.  Ever.

 Fun faces with the village blacksmith who is made entirely of LEGO.  I know I keep saying that but it was just so much fun!

We deliberately chose a mellow ride to start off with because it was their first time ever on amusement park type rides.  The Knight's Joust was perfect.  I know this ride is made for four year olds, but I think it is awesome that my nine and seven year old loved it.

We don't have any pictures of our next ride, but it was the boys' first roller coaster experience.  It's called the Dragon and it was PERFECT for them.  It starts by taking you through a whole bunch of indoor scenes created from, yes, more LEGO.   There was a HUGE dragon guarding his hoard.  The boys were  completely enthralled.  Then it takes you outside and you ride on an exciting twisty, turny roller coaster.  It was the perfect size and speed for them.  They really liked it.  I was SO glad.

Our next ride was an archeologist themed ride (yes, they stole this idea) called the Lost Kingdom Adventure.  You sit in a Jeep type vehicle and use a plastic gun with a laser target to fire at targets all over the place as you ride through an archeological adventure.  We did this one twice!  It was very popular.

 Pretending to hold the LEGO blocks while waiting in line for the Lost Kingdom.  Adorable.

After this, it was nearly lunch time, so we headed for the place where we could get hotdogs.  Yes, they were expensive, but not actually as bad as I thought they would be.  A hotdog meal with chips and drink was $8.95.  I budgeted $10 for each person for each meal in the park.  This was under budget!  But then California charged tax and it wasn't under budget anymore.  Oh well.

After lunch the boys just REALLY wanted to explore more of MiniLand, the area with the outrageously awesome LEGO models.  So, we did!

 It's New York City.  Erik and the boys are standing in the upper right, to give you an idea of the scale.

Then we went back to Star Wars MiniLand.  Yep.  Another hour or so, people.  Every model needed to be examined and talked about.  I took SO many pictures for the boys.  It was so delightful to see them so delighted.  And I want to take this moment to tell you that despite the presence of all these amazing models AND multiple shops where every LEGO imaginable was for sale, my beautiful boys did not ONCE ask us to go into a shop or purchase a single thing.  Not. One. Thing.  It was awesome.  They just enjoyed looking at everything and soaking it all in.  We are blessed.

 The sun finally came out and these smiles didn't fade the entire day.

We talked the boys into leaving MiniLand to do the driving course.  It was SO adorable.  They both stayed on the correct side of the road and drove very well.  And they were cute doing it.

 Paul driving - ACK!

 Cutie.

 Unfortunately, the afternoon sunshine messed Luke's picture up a bit, but he's still precious.

It totally impressed me that they drove these little cars so well.  I guess I've watched them play MarioCart (a driving video game) and figured they would be ALL over the place.  Nope.  And I just realized that Luke is five years from getting his permit to drive a real car.  Oh dear.

 These Bangsund Men love maps.  Examining this one and planning our next move was something they enjoyed throughout the day.

Back to MiniLand!  I'm serious.  They could not get enough.  This time we spent over an hour looking at all the OTHER models.  This was one of my favorites:

 The capitol building has over 400,000 LEGOs.  And the band in front marches for real.

 We found coffee!!  Don't worry, the boys are drinking hot cocoa, but they were delighted with the fact that their drinks looked like coffee.  We are cute.

Daddy found the next treasure:  the actual workshop where the engineers work to build all the models in LegoLand.  Sidenote:  Erik discovered robotics as his passion in the fourth grade when an assembly brought robots to his school.  Luke is in the fourth grade this year.  He loves Legos.  Watching him examine this workshop was super cool.

This was the point at which my phone died and I discovered that the battery on my real camera was already dead.  But really, all that was left of the evening was the dropping of the 2015 LEGO brick and the fireworks.  All this was slated to begin at 6pm, but there was some technical difficulty, so it actually occurred closer to 6:20.  It was still AMAZING.  My kids had never seen a fireworks show before.  LegoLand handed out special 3D glasses that when worn made the fireworks look like LEGO bricks.  For real, people.  It was magical.

We were back in the car by 7pm, grabbed dinner at the nearest Chic Filet and were back to our hotel and in our beds by 9:30pm.  Best.  New Year's Eve.  Ever.