NT watched PBS's Cyberchase on logic (reasoning and proof again today). Then he was back to the tropical fish book (which I am thinking of hiding for awhile...).

The kids jumped off furniture and built pillow forts in the living room before going outside to play in the sunshine in the back yard. NT watched another ocean life DVD and talked to Maria on the phone about fish breeding for 37 minutes. Lizzy helped me bake a rhubarb pudding cake.

I signed NT up for park board tennis this spring (he can't wait!).

After dinner John and the kids walked over to basketball practice.

NT was up early for PBS's Cyberchase on logic (reasoning and proof). Then it was right back to the tropical fish book (*sigh*).

Lizzy helped me make breakfast and then we all admired the bright pink blooms on the cactus (Christmas cactus??) in the kitchen and discussed how long some cacti live (NT had this information filed away in his brain...).

The kids built forts in the living room all morning and NT watched a DVD called Deep Blue, on ocean life, of course.

We met some friends at IKEA in the afternoon and the kids got to play in the play area. Then it was off to the library where NT checked out a bunch of books on sharks before we dropped him off at ceramics class.

It was another busy weekend.

Saturday morning started out with NT's basketball game and then NT and I went to the dentist while John and Lizzy walked to the corner store and baked chocolate chip bars.

Lizzy napped Saturday afternoon while NT went to play with the neighbors.

After dinner John took NT to Camp Snoopy while Lizzy "taught" me how to play "chest" and then she and I watched ice skating on the Olympics together before bed.

Sunday morning NT was reading all about Guppies in preparation for an afternoon trip to the fish store. Lizzy helped me put together a rhubarb crisp to bake later in the day for dessert.

John and NT had a Cub Scout activity and Lizzy and I cleaned the house while they were gone. After Cub Scouts, John and the kids went to the fish store where NT traded in his remaining gourami for 3 guppies (he would have gotten more, but that was the number he could afford, he said).

Late afternoon, John, the kids, and the neighbors spent a huge amount of time out in the sunshine chopping ice to open up the storm drain in the street. They waded around in 6 inches of water in their rain boots and made all kinds of rivers and, of course, got pretty wet!

This morning NT flew out of bed to watch PBS's Cyberchase about math in nature.

The kids spent the morning building all kinds of forts in the living room, building with the Marbulous set, and generally making a huge mess of the house.

Lizzy went to Minna's after lunch to bake a birthday cake for Kiki while NT and I went to a homeschool program put on by Mad Science on air pressure at an Eagan library. Afterward, NT and I went to Bridgeman's for a treat. Lizzy went shopping with Minna at the co-op.

We saw another wild turkey on the parkway on the way home.

As we go about our days, NT and I talk about a lot of life issues, most of which I forget to write down, but a teeny tiny number of examples just from the past few days include: restaurant franchises (who owns McDonald's), how Elvis died, how come so many famous people die of drug overdoses, who is more famous (U2 or the Beetles) and why, who are the first and second most-wanted "bad guys" in the world and why, could you start your own organic fast food restaurant or not, why are some people's houses worth more than others, what is debt and why can't the bank just give us more money just because we want it...plus, I am constantly defining words.

I feel pretty confident he wouldn't be learning many of these things sitting in school all day, if for no other reason than that he wouldn't be as exposed to as many real-world things that prompt him to ask! :-)

The kids built with K'nex in the living room late this afternoon and then went out to play with the neighbor girl in the snow before dinner. John and both the kids walked over to NT's basketball practice this evening.

NT was up early to watch PBS's Cyberchase. Today's topic was math in nature.

We had a leisurely morning--the kids played football, war (*sigh*), and NT and I read through his entire book on tropical fish to find out what options he has for adding to his aquarium. Lizzy helped me peel some "picnic eggs" (hard-boiled).

This afternoon we decided to get out of the house so we stopped by IKEA (where the kids like to play in the play area) on the way to the library. NT checked out another arm-load of books on a plethora of subjects.

Just before dinner the kids watched a Magic School Bus video about how body parts work during athletic activity and then it was off to walk to basketball practice. Lizzy asked to go too.

NT watched PBS's Cyberchase this morning on dew points.

We had a blissful day off, for the most part. We made a big pancake breakfast and ate it leisurely.

The kids brought a bunch of their invention materials up to the living room where they spent much of the day inventing things. They tried out some of their inventions in the tub early afternoon. They "played" chess and some tackle football and made a pink and white feather boa nest for the dog under the dining room table. He loved it and was curled up in it for most of the day.

We spent a good amount of time out shoveling and playing in the snow. Lizzy helped me shovel the neighbors' walk. NT and I talked about how sometimes the neighbors shovel for us and sometimes we shovel for them--we all try to help each other out when we are able.

Late afternoon we took NT to ceramics class. We were early so NT showed me how he works the foot-powered pottery wheel. It was really neat to see how adept he has become at working the wheel!

Tonight NT got to bring home his fired projects. He proudly displayed each item for John and I just before bed. He made a lot of cool stuff!

Friday I dropped NT at Minna & Grandpa Alan's while Liz and I went to her gymnastics class. NT ended up spending almost the whole day there. Minna had visitors who brought their fiddles so NT got a chance to play Minna's little violin again in the morning for the first time in quite awhile. In the afternoon Grandpa Alan taught NT how to play chess, which he has been wanting to learn for several weeks now. He LOVED it and started begging to get his own set.

Liz played by herself with the Magna Tiles for much of the afternoon and then she and I made cookies.

Saturday morning NT had a basketball game. This week's fan club included Minna & Grandpa Alan, Grampy & Maria, Auntie Em & Craig, and Kiki. Afterward another parent approached him and told him he played a good game and was really good at staying with the ball.

Saturday afternoon Brenna came over to play and John took Liz over to Grandma Ruth's.

Today the kids went out to play in the snow and ended up pulling apart some of the corn cobs that Grandma Ruth gave them to feed the squirrels, though all the kernels are likely to get buried in the new snow!

After lunch John and NT took some fish water in to the fish store to get the water tested and were given the thumbs-up on water quality (though no word on why it's still cloudy, but no one seems to care, including John & NT...). Then they stopped to pick up NT's very own (cheap plastic) chess set.

We watched the Super Bowl in the evening and had lots of yummy snacks made by John!

Last Friday we went with a homeschool group to see Mr. McGee and the Biting Flea at the Children's Theatre and met some new friends who invited us to try out a new play group not far from us which we will do on Friday of this week. After the play we spent a little bit of time at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, but NT was disappointed that there wasn't any artwork up that was done by kids, like the last time he visited, so we didn't stay long.

Saturday NT had a big audience at his basketball game--Aunty Em, Grampy, Maria, Grandpa Alan, and Minna all joined us and got to see NT make the first basket of the game for the second week in a row!

Afterward we went to the co-op and then John took the kids ice skating (Lizzy's first time!) late afternoon. Grandma Ruth and Bob came to play in the evening and the kids stayed up late taking "pictures" with the old camera they brought and playing all kinds of board games.

Sunday NT and John went briefly to a Cub Scout event and then we had a quiet day. We all stayed up late to watch the Grammy awards. NT wanted to see the Black Eyed Peas perform and Lizzy likes all the singing and dancing ladies.

This morning NT was up early to watch Cyberchase on gears ("algebraic thinking").

Lizzy had ballet class and NT practiced punting his hackey sack up the stairs the entire time. He was trying to figure out how to get the ball to go straight, as opposed to curving or hitting the ceiling--it was an interesting scientific experiment!

The kids played all afternoon and then NT went to cooking class. It will be early to bed tonight!

Today NT was up early to watch PBS's Cyberchase on factoring.

The kids changed yesterday's wooden "dance floor" into a "tennis court" this morning, complete with pipe cleaner tennis ball.

NT had his first Science Museum class for the Homeschool Engineering: Machines that Move series where, among other things, they each made and tested their own anemometer.

Lizzy went to spend the morning with Minna. They played the little violin and baked banana muffins.

NT and I stopped to check out the new library on Lake Street on our way home from the SMM. We decided it didn't have a very good selection of books (compared to what we're used to at Southdale), but NT did find a book on Chess, which he spent much of the evening reading. We also requested some books online about lacrosse.

The kids played more "tennis" in the late afternoon and built all kind of things with the Magna Tiles in the living room. Then they helped me grate all the cheese for dinner.

We tried a new recipe (Three Cheese Manicotti) for dinner. NT gave it only 1 star (because of the onions).

NT had basketball practice last night and then spent the rest of the evening reading his chess book. Lizzy and I read books on the couch and tried on some of my jewelry.

For the most part, we had a nice relaxing weekend to finish up our activity-filled week.

Saturday morning was NT's basketball game. The team did much better this week and NT made the first basket of the game with Auntie Em and Craig there as witness!

After the game, Lizzy and I went to the co-op while NT and John went to the fish store to find out how to fix the cloudy water in the new tank. NT also traded in the two common platys he inherited because he didn't want them to have their live babies in his tank, knowing that the baby fish would eaten right away. They learned all kinds of things about how to care for the fish and the tank.

Saturday evening John and Liz made everyone's current favorite dinner on NT's menu--German oven pancakes with sour cream and strawberries.

Sunday morning we all pitched in to clean the house. In the afternoon it was football mania with back-to-back playoff games. John made homemade popcorn for a snack and then sloppy joes for dinner. I contributed homemade apple crisp for the half-time dessert during the Vikings game.

All weekend the kids played with the Magna Tiles, read books, and made up all kinds of their own physical activity "challenges" in the house since it was wet and sloppy outside.

Today NT was up to watch PBS's Cyberchase on refining and optimizing inventions. Then the kids brought up some huge sheets of scrap wood from the basement to play with (Magna Tiles and cars were involved, of course).

Lizzy had ballet and NT and I worked on some new math flashcards I picked up for him. He didn't love them, but I was impressed by how much he knew or was able to figure out...like how to add 53 + 25 without a piece of paper and pencil (or a calculator) and how to solve for "x" in a simple equation.

This afternoon the kids shoveled snow and played together until it was time for NT's cooking class where they made homemade pretzels. Then Liz helped me make dinner--biscuits and sausage with gravy--which NT gave only 2 stars. During dinner NT and I had a conversation about how he doesn't like jazz (always my dinner music of choice) because it's too slow and there's no singing (at least on the CD that's currently in the player...).

NT watched PBS's Cyberchase this morning. The topic was deductive reasoning.

NT was in a crabby mood, so I chose the music selection and put in hip hop again, since it really seems to perk the kids up.

Lizzy had ballet class this morning and NT worked on one of his numbers workbooks the entire time. He read all the clues and found all the numbers. He worked on some spelling as he went along. He learned how to check his answers in the back of the book and practiced looking things up by page number.

We went to the library and NT checked out 27 books on football--books about each of the different teams. He laid them out all over the living room floor when we got home and looked them over while listening to the audio book Dinosaurs Never Say Please by Bill Harley.

Before leaving for his cooking class, NT helped me make homemade egg noodles. We measured out the size of the noodles with a ruler so we knew we were cutting them to the size the recipe called for.

While NT was at cooking class, Lizzy and I discussed how icicles are formed. We read several picture books while we waited to pick NT up after class.

Back at home, we cooked the homemade noodles and decided to give them only 2 stars and cross them off the repeat list. They weren't too bad, but they were a lot of work to chew!

This morning NT watched PBS's Cyberchase on spending money.

The music selection for this morning was hip hop and the kids were so excited about it that they threw an impromptu dance party in the living room.

Lizzy helped me make the beds and knead bread and then she and NT did a "play" that involved a large furnace filter box that they could fit inside of.

All by himself NT came up with the idea to climb inside the box and put Magna Tiles on the inside and outside so that moving the one on the inside would "magically" slide the Magna Tile on the top. He placed tiny plastic dinosaurs on the tiles on the top and then the kids hid inside the box and slid the dinosaurs around from inside. Half-way through he realized that if he had each dino on a different color and the tile below matched the color of the tile above, he could be outside and tell Lizzy which color to move and she could move the dino he wanted. The whole thing was very clever and really cool!

NT worked hard again on writing his name in cursive and then wrote another "Top Secrit" letter to Ezra--this time in cursive!

We read some of Lizzy's books and NT listened to an entire Encylopedia Brown book on CD and then watched the original classic version of The Wizard of Oz while Lizzy took a nap.

Late afternoon Minna took NT to his first ceramics class of the session, which he loved!

This evening Lizzy asked if we could go back to the house with the Christmas lights synched to music so we stopped on the way home from dropping the car at the repair shop.

This morning NT was up early for PBS's Cyberchase. The topic was the importance of zeros.

The kids did their new morning routines for the first time in the new year. Our new routines include taking a job from the FlyLady Job Jar and quickly getting it done. At first NT was skeptical, but then he said the job didn't take very long (pulling all the toys/trash/misc. out from behind the couch) so he wanted *another* one to do!

NT's routine also includes choosing a CD for us to listen to each morning while we are getting ready for the day so the kids can be exposed to all different kinds of music. Today's CD was Caribbean music!

While getting ready to leave for ballet, NT and I discussed the difference between offense and defense using the example of the Vikings football team, of course.

While Lizzy was in her ballet class, NT worked on a game that involves figuring out how to get a little ice cream truck out of a traffic jam. It can be very tricky and he kept busy the whole 45 minutes with various "jams" I set up for him.

After ballet the kids went swimming at the "indoor beach" and to lunch with Grampy & Maria. Then we dropped NT at his arts-&-crafts-turned-cooking class. We got the call this afternoon that the class had been changed and he decided to try the cooking class, even though he was skeptical. Of course, he liked it and is already looking forward to next week!

Tonight NT worked way past bedtime in his room practicing writing his name in cursive. He has been asking for weeks to learn cursive, so I picked up a book and some tools/paper for him today. He worked for over an hour practicing his first name and was timing himself to see how long it takes him each time--48 seconds is his best time so far!

This morning NT tried out a class at Leonardo's Basement where he joined six other boys for a half-day of "building stuff". First he got to take apart an old tape recorder and then he got to design and put together three of his own inventions, including one with a circuit that lit up a Christmas tree light.

Before we left for the class he asked why it was called "Leonardo's Basement" since Leonardo Da Vinci was a famous artist, and he was going to class to build things, not paint things. So while NT was in class, Lizzy and I went to the library and checked out several age-appropriate books on Leonardo Da Vinci.

We looked over the books this afternoon after class and discovered that Da Vinci was also very famous for being an inventor. We read that he lived over 500 years ago and learned about the Renaissance period. We discussed the definition of "ancestors". One of the books even has directions for lots of cool inventions that NT can do mostly on his own...after we collect a few things like cereal boxes and paper towel rolls.

While we were at the library, Lizzy and I discussed the courtesy of walking up and down the right-hand side of the stairway so as not to block others who were going the opposite direction.

This afternoon the kids listened to Marlo Thomas' Free to be You and Me on CD while building with their Magnatiles, setting up and running an obstacle course that they put together on two floors of the house, and setting up their own bowling alley using some of our over-sized cardboard blocks as pins. Nicholas tried out different balls to figure out which one was the best size and weight to knock over the "pins".

Later the kids helped me grate the cheese for the homemade pizza we made for dinner tonight.

At clean-up time we talked about estimating and NT estimated how long it would take them to clean up the living room and then we played "beat the clock" to get it done. He overestimated the amount of time he thought it would take them by quite a bit!

Lizzy helped her daddy make a special dessert tonight to eat during the Vikings game, which NT and John are watching now. NT is getting really good at following the game, picking up the terminology, and understanding how the teams can get points in different ways.

This morning NT helped me make breakfast (Minna showed him a great way to crack eggs that works well for him every time!) and then John took the kids for a run around the neighborhood. Afterward, they played outside in the snow for quite awhile and then went sledding at the golf course.

This afternoon the kids and I walked over to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a movie based on the book of the same name by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett. It was Liz's first movie in a theater and she loved it.

Since the theater only takes cash and we rarely carry any, I borrowed cash from NT. John took the opportunity to explain to NT that he should charge me interest and explained to him that's how banks make money. I also had NT figure out how much it would cost for the three of us to see the movie ($2 x 3 people) and asked him to figure out how much change I would get back from the cashier.

Earlier in the day NT asked me how people could afford to retire--where do they get money? I explained the concept (and importance) of saving and investing for retirement.

We also discussed, at length, alternate meanings of the word "sharp": That looks sharp and Be there at 5:00 sharp.

The kids were engaged in imaginative play together for quite awhile this afternoon.

This evening the kids helped John put together Liz's castle, NT and I walked the dog around the neighborhood and looked at all the Christmas lights, and NT watched PBS's This Old House before bed "so I can give Daddy some tips".