Amateur paleontologist and kid, A.J.R. shocked the world today when he presented one huge sauropod thigh bone to his dogs Bucky and Satchel.

After discovering a bone of the dinosaur Brachiosaurus in his backyard, A.J. spent a whole hour washing the bone to make sure it was free of germs. It then took him five hours to drag the monstrosity into the house. Bucky and Satchel were ecstatic upon seeing their new toy. A.J. predicts the bone will last them ten years.

Now, if only they can figure out how to get their teeth around it.

• Penguins: A.J.'s been reading about Gentoo penguins in a book Alan bought him quite a while ago (this is in addition to the many library books he has and reads from every night). We also read this one together one evening. He really likes that they are very fast swimmers (about 27 miles per hour). He was also tickled to tell me that the babies' feathers are not waterproof; since their parents' feathers are waterproof, they go swimming and bring back food for their babies!
• Whales: A.J.'s still into the ocean, although maybe less intensely now. We read through Whales: Strange and Wonderful this week. He really likes comparing how big each whale is; this book lists the length for each one (the corresponding Sharks: Strange and Wonderful does the same for sharks). An issue of his Zoobooks also has a two-page spread comparing a bunch of different whales and their maximum sizes and weights, which he also really likes. The numbers always get him!
• Big Cats: We went to A.J.'s friend L's 4th birthday party this week. I wasn't sure what to think when I saw that the computer was on and the kids were playing with it. A.J. spends so much time on the computer at home that it was nice to have a day that was supposed to be without the computer. He did get a talking-to about politeness, not pushing (he's not used to sharing so much!), and taking turns. However, later he picked out a book from their shelves, sat down, and read the whole thing while we mommies talked. It was an Usborne Discovery book, Big Cats. He seemed to enjoy it and told me a few tidbits later (including how lions lunge for zebra's throats *shiver*). I'm still getting used to mothering a boy, especially as those typical boy things start to come through (not to say some girls don't like that stuff, too). I've been okay with a little violence on the computer and about his reading about monsters and predator/prey relationships because at this point, it has not translated for him into a blurriness between what's real and what is not and what is acceptable in real, human life versus what you might see in a story or in a game (said pushing being something he did before any of this). I'll keep an eye on that as we go along and change things if needed. Dad is happy that they have found a common interest in the role-playing computer games (A.J. likes to sit and watch as Dad plays Diablo II, although he is not allowed to play it himself).
• Chinese numbers: We read through Count Your Way Through China this week. A.J. took time while we were reading to draw each character (numbers 1-10 in Chinese) and to write down the pronunciation (we were both learning these for the first time along with the little tidbits of Chinese history and culture included in the book). The next day, I printed out some of the higher Chinese numbers, and he practiced the characters some and made up his own numbering system--he called them Cane numbers. Most of them were even more complicated to draw than the Chinese ones!
• Greek Mythology: Since A.J. loves this role-playing game, Fate, so much, I thought he might enjoy some stories about monsters. We turned to www.mythweb.com and read an illustrated story about the labors of Hercules/Heracles. I think he was kind of mixed on that one, not something he'd seek out himself, but not totally boring either.
  
• Sculpey Fun: We got out some Sculpey this morning to make caps for the knitting needles we (really I) made when we got together with the little homeschool co-op last week. I made the caps, a bead for myself, and a little toy shark for A.J, and A.J. made some beads and also two "Sculpey chains." I then baked them to set them. Sculpey is always fun for both of us. He once spent hours at my sister's playing with it (she has a "pasta machine" that you use to soften up the clay, and he really enjoyed running the Sculpey through that and then making stuff).
  

Friday, September 15, 2006

We got together with some friends yesterday for homeschooling activities. A friend of mine, also a homeschooler, lives in a semi-mountainous part of this area. She invited us, as part of a small homeschooling co-op, to get together for some fun. We met at her house. At first, we snacked and looked around. It’s quite gorgeous there, and they’ve got animals, which A.J. always likes. They were “growing” butterflies and had hermit crabs and a betta in the house. They also had an indoor/outdoor cat and some chickens and ducks and a great garden. My friends’ sons were quick to tell me they used to have gerbils, but, well, let’s just say that their cat is a very good mouser...

Anyway, another mom and her 6-year-old son joined us and led the kids and moms in some fun yoga, including frog and snake poses (of course, my ever-expanding stomach kept me out of some of these poses!). A.J. participated in about half of this but was also interested in playing with one of the kid’s “expandable” balls (the ones that fold up really small and then fold out to be almost as big as the kid) and hunting gnats (he thinks it’s great fun to try and eat them ;)).

Inside, we felted wool for the first time. You take some wool and dip it in soapy water (or just a certain kind of soap) and shape it and dip it and shape it and dip it. As it was our first time, we tried for a simple shape: balls. A.J. said this was his favorite part, although he didn’t last a whole long time, but I did notice that the younger children (particularly A.J. and the 4-year-old girl) lasted a bit less time at each activity, so I suppose that’s normal. We brought some extra home to work on it a little bit more later.

We spent time indoors and outdoors playing, and of course, the moms chatted. It was lots of fun, and we might make getting together with this group (there are also two other moms and their kids who were not able to make it) a regular thing.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Well, today is a work and get-stuff-done day (grooming the pets, getting house stuff done) for me and Dad, so A.J. has been spending some time playing on his own (which he does very well). He’s been playing a lot of Fate, a computer game with quests and such but has also been drawing and coming up to talk to me frequently about how his game is going, etc. Two or three times a day, I also sit down to help him with a quest or something.

I tried to interest him in a little Spanish review, but he was very nice about letting me know that he wasn’t too interested right now--too distracted by the game he had been involved in.

I wanted to write about some of the stuff A.J. likes to do on his own and with us:

·         Playing on the computer (playing games, making tables of stuff for sale or game stuff in Microsoft Word, and making books in Storybook Weaver)

·         Making up new versions of the games he plays on paper with drawing and writing and creative thinking

·         Drawing pictures of ocean creatures and their prey (today one picture was sperm whales and giant squid)

·         Reading: Some of his more recent library books that he reads on his own or we read together have included The Ocean Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallota, Dolphins by Michael Bright (Discovery Channel/DK/BBC series), Extraordinary Fish (in the same series), and Rays by Kris Hirschmann (Creatures of the Sea series). He’s also looked a bit at the Egyptian Book of the Dead, to look at hieroglyphs. These are in a game we’ve been playing off an on (Mysteries of Horus), and the book has a list of some hieroglyphs. He has made up some of his own since. We get about a dozen new library books every 4 weeks or so. He never wants to turn them in, but he always likes the new ones. A couple of times, I checked out videos, but he never gets around to watching them. He’d rather read the books!

·         Jumping on the beds or just about anywhere ;)

·         Going for walks around the neighborhood with me and sometimes dad (we don’t do this enough, but I’m working on it!) and looking at all the different birds, flowers, and other animals