The freedom to be creative!

So, in the middle of third grade, after five months of trying to get Henry's needs met at the public school, we realized we had to find a different solution for him, and that was Realms of Inquiry, which has been fabulous for Henry. He's been there three years.

One of the things that I can laugh about now is how annoying his third grade teacher at public school was. She refused to accept his papers unless he had written his name - Henry - on them. At the time he was in a phase where he liked to use his initials, HLR. But the teacher would pretend to not know whose paper it was when he put his initials on it. She was completely inflexible in this, and it drove us crazy.

To contrast, I just got a pile of papers back from Realms, and I made a list of all the different ways he wrote his name on the papers - and his teacher didn't have any problem with it!

Henry
Henbeery
Octothorp
Henri
Enrique
enryHay
Enny
Koqute (Henry in Kyyrvish, a language he invented)
Atrax
a symbol that looks like a cursive p with a vertical line through it
and his name in Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

I love teachers who can teach creative and gifted students!

My kids always amaze me

Henry is finishing a book tonight, it's number 7 in a series. And he was excited to tell me how the author has become a better writer over the course of the books. He specifically mentioned that the author's descriptive writing is more interesting and detailed in book 7 than in books 1-4. I love that he can not only enjoy books, but also evaluate the quality of the writing, too!

Physics for four-year-olds

Out of the blue one day, Abigail says to me, "Mom, a slide has a different name." I ask her what she means, and she responds, "A slide has a different name! It's an incline plane!"

Beat THIS excuse!

Last week my kids were outside riding their scooters around after diner. Suddenly I heard a crash, and Cameron came in crying. He said that Henry had crashed into him on purpose. His elbow was bleeding, so I patched him up and then called Henry in to get his story. "I didn't do it!" was his response. Fast forward to the next day. I pick up Henry from school and he's ready with this story: "I know why Cameron crashed last night! There was an earthquake on the border of Utah and Colorado, and the shocks from it were felt all the way to, and halfway through the Salt Lake valley. I checked the time of the earthquake, and it happened at the exact second that Cameron crashed on his scooter. The earthquake made him crash, not me!" Maybe he should consider a career as a sci-fi writer.

The Biggest Word You Ever Heard

So my family is in the process of selecting songs to record when we get together this summer and in the future. One of the CDs we're creating will be all Disney songs. Thinking about all this fun music, I walked downstairs, singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: "Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lad, me father gave me nose a tweak and told me I was bad. But then one day I learned a word to save me achin' nose - the biggest word you ever heard and this is how it goes! Oh..."

Then I pointed to Cameron. He looked at me and said, "Antidisestablishmentarianism?"

The rules to Abigail's game

Abigail asked me to play "Go Fish" with her, and then she sat me down to explain the rules. Here they are, in case your children would like to duplicate this quality parent/child time. :)

The rules:
1. Play a card face up.
2. Don't play a card until Abigail tells you to.
3. Don't start until Abigail tells you to.
4. Follow directions.
5. This is a fish game.
6. Don't play a card unless Abigail tells you it's the right one.
7. If it's the right card, play it down.
8. If it's the right card, Abigail will tell you to play it down.

Can you say "micromanager"?

Fill your mind like Abigail

Last weekend we visited my mom and step-dad and spent a night at their cabin. My step-dad and his sons are avid hunters, and there are a number of "trophies" mounted on the walls. Abigail was understandably wary about the large animal heads, and she asked my step-dad about it. He kindly took her around and told her about how the animals weren't alive any more, and that what she was seeing was just the animals' skins with marbles for eyes. He told her a little about a taxidermist and the different kinds of animals she saw - elk, antelope, badger, deer, pheasant - and then reassured her again that what she saw was just the animals' skins. A few minutes later she came to me and said,

"Mom! The animals are just their skins, and - and - (she tried to gather her thoughts for a minute) and - my mind is really full - but the animals are just their skins!"