Sunday, March 30, 2008

on the ice

An afternoon of ice skating made a nice addition to the old phys ed column on Saturday. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

field trip!

Oh yes, Annie is one lucky girl to have a Daddy who teaches at a community college. It allows her to do some things she probably wouldn't be able to do otherwise. A big for instance:


We've been studying birds this quarter for science. Rich just happened to need to set up a lab practical for his vertebrate zoology class. Hence, Annie got to accompany him up to school Friday afternoon and help him dissect a pigeon. Now one might think that
being a vegetarian and all, that this might bother her. Apparently not. She seemed to be of the opinion that since her dad had to do this for his class anyway, that it wouldn't hurt for her to learn something from it.



While there, she was also able to examine some bird skeletons.




And then, for a change of pace, they also visited the Mercer Gallery there on campus.



Yes, Miss Annie had a very fun, informative afternoon indeed.

Friday, March 28, 2008

decisions...

Well, that time of year has arrived when plans have to be made for the next school year. I have to admit that before Annie reached "school age" I never realized how many decisions would have to be made about the kids' educations. And even if I had known, I don't think I would have guessed how agonizing all these decisions would be. What's best for one child might not be what's best for another. And what's best for a child at one point in life, might not be what's best at another time.

Anyway, I suppose the biggest decisions have been made. Annie will remain at home. Gray will go to public school (at least until we see how things go there). And Max will go to public school.

But a few decisions remain in regards to Annie. First of all, should we stick with the September through June school schedule, or switch to a year-round schedule. We're leaning towards the year-round schedule...we figure that that would allow for all the things she does during the summer to "officially" count.

And secondly, and more importantly, do we skip 6th grade and move her right to 7th? Because of the way the regulations work here, we're going to have to skip some grades eventually. Otherwise she'll finish with community college and then be stuck in limbo waiting to finish high school. But is now the time to skip? We're familiar with the "subject requirements" for 6th grade, as they are the same as for 5th. But they change for 7th and 8th grades, so we would have to familiarize ourselves with the changes. Mostly, I suppose I worry that if we do skip 6th grade, something will come up that I hadn't considered, and then it will be too late to do anything about it. I know...idiotic to think that way, but my brain doesn't always do what I tell it to.

Anyway, just wanted to get those thoughts out of my system. Hopefully, the next post will be a more cheerfully learning type entry. :)