Having a day off at home with sick kids is finally giving me time to catch up on our activities for the past month (I can't believe how fast the time has flown!).

NT has been faithfully watching PBS's Cyberchase each morning and picking up lots of math concepts that are actually geared toward 8-12 year-olds. He loves it. We've almost finished a 1st grade math workbook that I picked up at a bookstore for my own comfort. He hates every minute of it since it's boring and "too much like school", but I can get him to breeze through it during Lizzy's dance classes if I promise to play cards or Connect 4 after only a few pages.

NT has been going through library books like crazy. He has 40-60 checked out from Hennepin County and St. Paul libraries at any one time. Subjects are all over the map--his interests are broad: Tropical fish, chickens, Big Foot, Loch Ness Monster, Bermuda Triangle, Lost City of Atlantis, reptiles, inventions and inventors, acid rain, volcanoes, airplanes, building wooden toys, making space ships and boats, reptiles, UFOs, the Trojan Horse...the list goes on and on!

He has watched DVDs on a similar range of subjects, including reptiles, underwater sea creatures, the mechanics of roller coasters, evolution, the history of the chicken, rockets, and more.

We started seeds indoors in late March and have been watching them grow for weeks. We started seeds outdoors at Dowling in the past week and are keeping our fingers crossed! We discovered an active robin's nest near our patio and found a woolly bear caterpillar while uncovering perennials in the yard. The kids filled the pool yesterday for the first time this spring.

Now that the weather is nice, I've been printing off maps for NT to lead us on walks to "mysterious destinations" around the neighborhood, he's been doing all kinds of science experiments in the back yard, and we've been meeting friends at the park, zoo, and at play group.

NT and John have been busy with Cub Scouts. Most recently NT competed at the regional level in the Pinewood Derby and the Raptor Center visited their last pack meeting. John took NT to visit a television station downtown and NT was just awarded his Tiger Cub badge!

Lizzy has been taking three dance classes a week and NT continues with his ceramics class. We took a family trip to Duluth where the kids spent hours in the pool, threw endless rocks into Lake Superior, chased seagulls, and visited the Maritime Museum. The kids have been building endless forts in the living room and consistently inventing all kinds of contraptions with LEGOs and Magna Tiles.

NT and Grampy went to The Works' "Circuit Play" program in March, and the kids and I toured the State Capital last week with a huge homeschool group. We built airplanes at Leondardo's Basement and attended a "Motion Mayhem" presentation at the Wescott Library put on by the Science Museum. The kids have been swimming at the indoor beach with Grampy and Maria, and NT went kite flying with Grandpa Alan while Lizzy and I recently attended an excellent performance of the James Sewell Ballet company.

NT was up early to watch PBS's Cyberchase this morning. He came upstairs afterward to show me that he had learned to add three 3-digit numbers together so we fine-tuned what he had seen on the show.

After breakfast NT asked for our old digital camera and the kids took turns taking pictures for quite a while before they decided to build a pirate ship in the living room out of furniture, couch cushions and blankets, which soon turned into a bird's nest. They used two laundry baskets to make the egg that they took turns "hatching" out of.

After lunch NT went to the Science Museum to see Into the Deep at the Omni with Grampy, which he loved. Lizzy and I went to meet friends so Lizzy got to run and play and share dance steps with with two other little girls.

Late afternoon NT and Grampy returned and NT twice watched the Into the Deep DVD that Grampy bought for him to take home.

Though it was a fun day, it was a disappointing evening for NT. He and John walked over to basketball practice only to discover that it was cancelled for both this week and next, meaning that there are only two games left and no more practices for the season. NT was so upset. John took him down to their basketball "court" in the basement and they practiced for a little while down there.

When it was time to go to bed we went to feed the fish, only to discover that one of his new fish, a blue gourami, had gotten caught in the shipwreck and drowned. NT was devastated. His Siamese Fighting Fish had died earlier in the day (we were expecting that since he had not been well for some time), so it was a doubly difficult loss for him.

First thing this morning NT and I worked on time telling--digital clocks vs. clocks with hands. He attempted to teach Lizzy how to play Go Fish and then tried to get her to play football with him in the living room. She is getting weary of being tackled, so she wasn't a very willing player.

NT decided to build a ski gondola from the kitchen to the living room. He used what seemed like miles of red Christmas ribbon and did quite a few experiments to figure out how to get whatever object he wanted to move to slide on the ribbon. Meanwhile Lizzy was building a home for her purple pony with Magna Tiles. I have never seen her build 3-dimensionally with them before (just do flat patterns on the floor), so I was really excited to see that all by herself she had built a structure with a floor, four walls (2 tiles high) and a ceiling!

We played several rounds of Go Fish and Lizzy helped me play my hand by helping me determine if we had the cards that NT asked for and asking him for cards that we had. I shared with NT my strategy of remembering cards that he asked for that I didn't have at the time, so that if I did get the card in the future, I would remember to ask for them. He picked up on that very quickly and won two of the games!

After lunch we went to Leonardo's Basement for their first homeschool workshop. Of course, NT loved it just as he did the last time. He got to use paints, a hot glue gun, a hack saw and power tools all by himself--he can't get enough of that place! Lizzy stayed with me in the parents' meeting and busied herself for almost two hours "writing", coloring, and drawing.

We stopped by the co-op afterward and NT wanted to try something new for his co-op treat so he tried cardamom angel food cake. The frosting was a bit strong for him (and me!), but we were both glad he tried it!

At ceramics class NT got his first lesson in changing a tire. The instructor had a flat tire when he arrived, so he was showing the kids how to jack up the car, get the lug nuts off (they got to take a turn doing this if they wanted to), and change the tire!

NT was up early to watch PBS's Cyberchase on 2 & 3D geometry. He worked for quite awhile afterward reworking the LEGO model of his bedroom that he had made the day before. He built his "dream bedroom" out of LEGOs to show us how he wants his room set up (there are lots of fish tanks in it).

Lizzy had ballet in the morning and while we waited, NT and I worked a little more in the math workbook for my benefit, though we were interrupted by one of the other moms who sells Usborne books. We spent the rest of the time looking through her samples and they are really amazing. NT was actually jumping up and down with excitement over BOOKS!

The kids spent the afternoon building with K'nex and playing basketball in the basement...until NT decided to bring his dribbling practice up to the dining room, which lasted for quite a while.

Late afternoon NT had a Mad Science Class and then went to Minna's for dinner where they played card games and board games. Meanwhile Lizzy and I went to Irish step where Lizzy had a real live fiddler in class!

Highlights from the past several days:

We tried out the new play group last Friday. They were meeting for a class on endangered species at Woodlake Nature Center. NT at first refused to go and refused to "learn anything" but, wouldn't you know it, he learned a lot, got to touch a live turtle, met some new friends, and had a lot of fun.

Saturday morning NT had a basketball game and had a good-sized cheering section, as usual. He and John went to the fish store afterward and he brought home 5 new tiny fish for his tank--he has been reading about them over and over in his fish book.

Sunday Aunty Em and Craig took the kids ice skating and out for a treat afterward. We had homemade pizza and banana splits in honor of Valentine's Day while watching the Olympics.

Monday Lizzy had ballet and then the kids went swimming with Grampy and Maria at the "indoor beach" and out for a treat afterward. Late afternoon, NT went to play at the neighbors' while Liz and I went to Irish step class--it was a busy day!

All the while, NT has been keeping up with PBS's Cyberchase, reading his fish book like a fiend, inventing all kinds of things, playing like crazy with his Marbulous building set, devising and writing up all kinds of "secret plans" to "trick" his parents with his sister, and conducting all kinds of physics experiments in the living room which make a huge mess and drive his mother crazy. :-)

NT was up to watch PBS's Cyberchase on mixed numbers in fractions.

We were out the door early this morning to get to The Snowy Day at Stages Theatre with a bunch of other homeschoolers. While waiting for the play to start, NT and I talked about the different kinds of jobs people have to create a play--creative director, music director, choreographer, lighting designer, costume/make-up designer, etc.

After the play we had a quick stop at home to change to go check out the homeschool open house sample classes at Ballare where Lizzy takes ballet. Lizzy tried out the homeschool Creative Dance class and NT tried the hip hop class because he is interested in breakdancing...but they didn't do any.

In the end, the director and I decided to keep Lizzy in her regular class instead of switching to the new homeschool class because there is no year-end performance with the homeschool class. The performance is very important to Lizzy!

In between activities NT has been poring over his tropical fish book planning for the trip to the fish store on Saturday. He has all kinds of fish picked out. It will be interesting to see what he comes home with!

NT has invented all kinds of things today--from a sling shot to a paper surf board (to slide down the dance studio stairs) to a bird feeder made out of an egg carton. I can hardly keep up.

Liz surprised me and "cleaned" her room all by herself this afternoon (the floor is picked up and there is a "mountain" piled up on top of her bed, her toy box, her shopping cart...), and she has spent quite a bit of time this afternoon performing with her microphone on her "stage" (today it's the couch). If only I could find her a class where she could sing and dance at the same time!

It will be early to bed tonight!

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!

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...).

We have been so busy the past few days that I've had a hard time keeping up!

Sunday we had brunch at Minna's with a number of our Seattle relatives who were visiting. Of course, during most of it, NT was glued to the Vikings game in Minna's den.

Late Sunday afternoon NT and Liz went to Grandma Ruth's to decorate Valentine's Day cookies and play with Bob. They came home with a huge stash of craft supplies (and a glue gun!) from Grandma Ruth and a whole bunch of notebooks and pencils and items for NT's Leonardo DaVinci inventions from Bob.

Monday morning Liz had ballet and NT worked with his new multiplication flash cards while we waited. We went to the library and NT checked out a number of books on medieval knights & weaponry, and some books on different types of spy planes, etc.

In the afternoon NT went to Minna's for a walk with some of the Seattle folk and then back to the condo to work with his new glue gun. Meanwhile, Lizzy and I met some of our new friends for a hike by the river and a warm-up afterward at the Riverview.

Tuesday NT asked if we could go to the Science Museum to see the Titanic exhibit once more before the exhibit closes. We saw that exhibit and explored many others, including the Egyptian mummy, which we discussed at length with a docent.

We went to the historic 5.8 for lunch and learned about its history and how it started. We talked about the Prohibition and what a speakeasy was.

Late afternoon NT had ceramics class where they are currently working on tea sets.

Today Liz visited with more Seattle folk at Minna's with Auntie Em for brunch while NT and I went to check out The Works where they had a homeschooler program on estimation and budgeting today. NT really liked it and is looking forward to visiting again soon.

When we got home Maria met us with a HUGE surprise for NT. She found a 20 gallon tank with all the equipment (including fish!) for NT, who has been wanting his own fish tank for a very long time. We spent the afternoon cleaning and filling the tank, and then NT and Maria went to the fish store to learn more about what to do to try to keep the existing fish alive. NT is beside himself with excitement!

Tonight NT and John are at basketball practice.

All week NT has been keeping up with PBS's Cyberchase and we have been practicing a lot of math as it has applied to our everyday life. We have been reading another Hardy Boys' mystery. NT has had his globe out and has been figuring out where places are, like Wisconsin and Iceland. The kids have been building things like crazy with the Magna Tiles and jumping on the trampoline in the living room and making obstacle courses all over the first floor.

I think we're all ready for a day off!

This morning we chose an acoustic guitar CD, Fingerdance, for our morning music. At first NT claimed to be unimpressed, but later he requested that I put the CD back on.

We played a trivia game that NT made up, and then he worked on some tinfoil inventions while pretending that he wasn't listening to the Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle audio book. Since it seems to him (by the title) that it is a book that girls would like, he wants no part of it, but I caught him listening when he didn't know I was around.

Today was Lizzy's first day of "big girl" gymnastics--a class that parents don't have to be in. NT and I watched from the lobby and NT worked on two different math workbooks--which also involved writing and spelling--and his ice cream truck brain-teaser puzzle while we were waiting.

We grocery shopped for much of the afternoon. Along the way NT and I discussed a surprising number of "big life" stuff. We talked about who Elvis Presley was and how he died. We talked about what it means to overdose on drugs and how that can sometimes happen. We talked about why it seems like that happens to a lot of famous people.

We also talked about how "St." is an abbreviation for both "Saint" and "Street". We talked about what a saint is and what it might take to become a saint.

We talked about pro football contracts and how they might be negotiated and how a player gets signed to play for one team or another.

We talked about how hard he would have to work and how long it would take him to save the $5 he wanted me to spend to buy little individually-wrapped Bonabel cheeses that I think are outrageously expensive (over $1 apiece!).

This evening we tried a new recipe for dinner--Croque Monsieur--and NT gave it four stars--five stars when he tried mine with the fried egg on top. I am so proud of him for really stepping out of his comfort zone and trying new foods from the cookbook we are working out of together.

Tonight NT and John went to the Cub Scout pack's game night and had a lot of fun. NT was excited about it all day and was not disappointed. They didn't get home until after 9 p.m.!

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.