Highlights and Lowlights of 2005-2006 School Year

MY BOOK HIGHLIGHTS

Vanity Fair By William Thackery
Middlesex by Jeffery Euginides
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
The Crimson Petal and the White
Dumbing Down Our Kids
Developing Mathematical Talent: A Guide for Challenging and Educating Gifted Students by Susan Assouline
Math Power by Patricia Clark Kenschaft
Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley

MY BOOK LOWLIGHTS

Catholic Education, Homeward Bound
What Your_____Grader Needs To Know Series


BEDTIME READ-ALOUD HIGHLIGHTS

The Phantom Tollbooth
Five Children and It
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning

BEDTIME READ-ALOUD LOWLIGHTS

Mr Popper's Penguins

SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS


Mythology and Civilization of the_______Series
Barnes and Noble 100 Things You should Know About Ancient ____ Series
Galen and the Gateway to Medicine
Famous Men of Ancient Rome
It's Disgusting and We Ate It: True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History
Mathematicians Are People, Too
The Children's Homer
Gilgamesh The King Series
Story of Science Series
Archimedes and the Door to Science



SCHOOL LOWLIGHTS

101 Celtic Read-Aloud Myths and Legends
Galen:My Life in Imperial Rome



DODO'S INDEPENDENT READING HIGHLIGHTS

The Golden Book of Fairy Tales
Ring of Tricksters by Virginis Hamilton
The Pot of Wisdom: Anansi Stories
The Aesop for Children
A Collection of Rudyard Kippling's Just So Stories
The Children's Book of Myths and Legends:Extraordinary Stories from Around the World
A Children's Treasury of Mythology
Series of Unfortunate Events Series
Time Warp Trio Series
Apples, Snakes and Bellyaches
Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
I'm Still Here in the Bathtub by Alan Katz

DODO'S INDEPENDENT READING LOWLIGHTS

The Hundred Dresses by Elenor Estes

DODO"S FAVORITE PICTURE BOOKS

Berenstain Bears Series
Pigs by Robert Munsch
Cinderlily
The Three Bears
Farmer Duck
The Story about Ping
The Wolf who Cried Boy
The Princess and the Pea



SCOTE's INDEPENDENT READING HIGHLIGHTS

Bears on Wheels
The Complete Adventures of Curious George
Bob Books
See Otto
Simply Science: Now I'm Reading
More Spaghetti I Say
A Wocket in My Pocket
The Cat in the Hat
Dick and Jane Treasuries
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Snow
Dr Suess's ABC


SCOTE"S INDEPENDENT READING LOWLIGHTS

Fat Cat on a Mat
Happy Birthday, Moon

SCOTE'S PICTURE BOOK READ-ALOUD HIGHLIGHTSS
Caps for Sale
Gingerbread Man
No David!
David Gets in Trouble
Anything and everything by Leo Leonni, Eric Carle, Robert Munsch, and Tomie D'Paula

UGHABUGHA'S FAVORITE READ-ALOUDS

Mouse Paint
It Looked Like Spilt Milk
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Caps For Sale
Cats
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Teletubbies
No David! Series


CURRICULUM HIGHLIGHTS

Primarily Problem Solving from Prufrock Press
Mindbenders Warm-up, and A1-A3
Challenge Math Primary
Mastering Mathematics
ThinkAnalogies Software from Critical Thinking Press
Handwriting Without Tears PreK-Cursive Sucess
Story of the World + Activity Guide
Reading Skills 1 from Harcourt Family
Miquon math
Rosetta Stone
Prima Latina
Scholastic's Mental Math Kids Can't Resist
Dr Funster's Thinkaminutes
Child-sized Masterpieces
Drawing With Children
Rummy Roots
Audio Memory's Capitals Songs

THE JURY'S STILL OUT

Draw Write Now boxed set
Saxon Math
Building Thinking Skills Primary
Tops Lentil Science

NO GO

Writing Strands 3

Mapping the World by Heart

Primarily Reference Skills & Primarily Research

Red Hot Root Words

SOFTWARE HIGHLIGHTS

The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis

Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster

Writing Blaster

Kid PIX

ThinkAnalogies

FIELD TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

Disneyland

White Sands

Elephant Butte (Dam and manmade lake)

Wilderness Trails & Museum of Archeology

El Paso Zoo

FIELD TRIP LOWLIGHTS

Insights Science Museum (SEE: "The Science Museum from a Third-World Country Post)

A Geography Quiz

War-torn, third-world Afghanistan or scenic El Paso, Texas ...you decide.

1

2
3
4
5

ANSWERS

1,2 and 5=El Paso, Texas

3 &4=Afghanistan

How could I have forgotten?????

Okay, so I got a bit caught up in the swimsuit business, and completely neglected to mention anything whatsoever about our schooling.

Oops.

Double Oops because there have been some big, really BIG changes this past year. Here is the low-down (Is that the slang? Sorry, I don't have my nerd-hip dictionary handy) on our end of the year happenings...

+++++++UNNECESSARILY LONGWINDED AND NAUSEATING BRAG ALERT ++++++++

(FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THE FOLLOWING)

UGHABUGHA

Chronologically PRE-PRE-K/ ability K

~Is now "Tee" years old! She is still embarrassingly attatched to her "bankie" (nevermind that before I had kids I swore that only neglected, emotionally crippled, non-breastfed kids did backward stuff like that) but thankfully not outside the house.

~Correctly IDs all uppercase and lowercase letters, and has basic sound correspondence accuracy at (estimated, I don't really "test" her) 80%. Oh, and she can write at least ten letters clearly enough to be understood. This one really impressed me, since my other two are small-motor challenged. I lost track on the math and need to schedule a Parent-teacher conference with her primary math teacher, Scote. She counts really well, though, and has one-to-one correspondence down.

~Has the cutest, sweetest speech impediment you ever heard...Hopefully to be completely annihilated upon the commencement of Speech therapy in August. She is my second one. It's really weird since my oldest, Dodo, spoke perfectly and like a well-educated little adult practically out of the womb.

~Favorite Subjects: "Beebee work" (montessori-type stuff), "kinda garren" with her favorite teacher, Scote, and "Hiss-ta-wee", especially the "bwoody violence" of ancient Rome.

~Favorite Book(s): No David! et al.

~When she grows up she wants to be a: Mommy

~Desperately needs: her own room, a new "bankie", a mother who cares more about hair-tidiness

~Is almost, but not quite ready for: reading

~Collects: words.

~Her latest favorite: (to my horror) "boo-tee cack"

SCOTE THE GOAT

chronologically K/ability 2

~Is officially a reader! Hurrah! He's been sight reading since 4, (he is 2 months shy of 6 now) but the handful of phonics lessons, daily guided reading, and addition of Harcourt Family Learning's Reading Skills Grade 1 and reading rods this year has bumped him into to actual reading/decoding. He can now read Curious George books and Dr Suess very well, even those pesky nonsense words (at least as well as any of us can). I am so proud of him! He is the first one of mine I actually had to "teach" to read.

~Still loves the Miquon, and is still too much of a rabid perfectionist to lose gracefully at any math game. Math skills are approaching 2nd grade.

~Favorite Subjects: Anything on the computer, and Science

~Favorite Book(s): Curious George

~Desperately needs: a haircut, to stop chewing on his sleeves in public places, ears that don't swell up bizarrely when any random body part is bitten by a mosquito

~Is almost, but not quite ready for: History (except for sitting in on Dodo's)

~When he grows up he wants to be a/an: inventor, paleontologist, superhero

~Collects: stuffed monkeys, football trophies (3 as of this season), building toys, and scrapes, scratches and bruises

SOSO THE DODO

chronologically 2nd/ability 4th and up

~Finishing up (finally! Man we went way into depth on this one, which was fun but time-consuming) Ancient History

~Has an extraordinary deep passion for: rabbits, mindbenders, challenging math, and (as always) voraciously reading

~Favorite Book(s): World Mythology, Fairy Tales, Poetry, Historical Fiction, Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events

~Favorite Subject(s): Latin, no wait...math...no, reading, no, definitely Latin, oh Logic counts? How about Logic. NO! How could I have forgotten History! Yep, definitely History. Or Latin. Or Math. Or Reading. Or Logic.

~Desperately Needs: More stuffed rabbits (not), her own room, neater eating habits (a total GOOP is she), to be continuously challenged, a friend who understands at least half of what she talks about

~Is almost, but not quite ready for: Saxon 7/6, Challenge Math Intermediate, Middle Ages, R&S grammar 4, Mindbenders B1 et al, and more formal Science

~When she grows up she wants to be a/an: mathematician/archeologist/ anthropologist/ Historian/Writer/Linguist/rabbit breeding Mommy

~Collects: stuffed rabbits, ceramic rabbits, live rabbits, state quarters, books, and knowledge at an alarming rate

"My Amish Swimsuit"

I could have sworn there was a post or two about my Springtime-inattention and angst, about a minor crisis of conviction, about reading The Phantom Tollbooth.

I thought I had already written about my desperate and unsucessful quest to find a film version of Five Children and It to rent after we finished the book. And why do I remember a a long,tear drenched post about my socialization-infatuation and subsequent activity mania of overscheduling the Spring? About all the evenings sacrificed (needlessly) on the altar of YMCA activities?

Could all those potential blogs really have passed me by?

I'd feel guilty if all my dear, devoted readers weren't non-existent and non-interested to boot.

Well, at any rate, summer is upon us.

Of course, here in the g-forsaken desert it's been in the upper 90's for at least a month regardless of season. We spent 7 hours melting in the sun at Scote's flag football playoffs two weeks ago and I swear my feet are still sunburnt around the distinctive triangular shape of my sandals.

A cactus could wither and die in that heat. And that was still Spring...Still mild, if you will.

Summer around here means no more Park Days unless you want 3rd degree burns from the plastic play equipment, no more field trips that are not air-conditioned, no more picnics outside before 6pm unless you are next to a large (man-made, as they are all around here) body of water, no more "Go outside and jump on the trampoline so I can get this done" breaks.

Sad.

It also means mornings at the Y outdoor pool, which the kids unabashedly love and I unabashedly loathe.

It's not the pool I hate (who could hate a pool in these temperatures?) but I am not so fond of exhibiting myself half-nude in the glaring, unforgiving morning light to all and sundry. Who can lounge comfortably with peach-fuzzed arm danglies swinging free and soft, burning pink in the sun? Fleshy lumps oozing from elastic waistbands when you bend over to pick up a small child, or towel?

I can't. At. All.

So I try to cover up the best I can without looking like a middle-eastern refugee or some pseudo- Amish religious modesty-nut.

I wear a tankini top that covers my whole belly, boy short bottoms two sizes too big so they don't dent my hips, covered with a sheer black swim tank that covers the tops of my chest that always want to pop out while swimming, and then a white swim dress overtop. If there are a lot of people around I swim in the dress.

If I could find a long-sleeved swim dress I'd wear it. I've considered wearing surf-gear but it would attract too much attention, since there is no surf at the wading pool.

I think this compulsive covering-up seems bizarre to most people, since to be honest my figure is not too bad, at least when it is covered up, and I see much, much worse flopping blissfully unaware all around me. I fluctuate, but have never surpassed a size 5P, but I am ultra-short so this isn't as tiny as it seems. Besides not being obese, I seem young enough to care about fashion and/or sex appeal.

I don't.

Never have.

I am also roughly ten years older than people take me to be. I still get carded for lottery tickets, okay? Last season's football coach thought Scote was my brother. But I am an unabashed Geek. Capital G. Sex appeal would be anathema to me!

I would be quite comfortable wearing one of those old-fashioned frilly-knicker-thingy swimsuits from the turn of the century. With some sort of oversized/floppy headgear to shade my entire face, and I'd still be happy to make use of one of those clever "bathing machines".

How could anyone think that dressing that way is oppressive?

It would be liberating for me. Isn't it more devaluing to parade around showing every one of your cellulite dimples, stretch marks, and with every single errant stubbly hair on the back of your thighs bristling for the amusement of random passersby? Fearing that at any moment a key part of your anatomy will free itself for their further amused scrutiny, and most likely one you used for a total of three years of breastfeeding (3 separate times...I am not quite that weird yet), and so as a result said appendages are tough as leather and impervious to the elements? So that, concievably, you could saunter around unaware of said unvelied, dangling, and unattractive appendage?

It is truly a frightening place for a woman, the public pool.

This post may be unintentionally coming across like I have a self-esteem issue.

Like I am one of those whiney "just-a-salad-for-me" or "if-only-I-could-lose-these-5-pounds" tiresome ladies, but really I'm not. I could look like a model and I'd still be more comfortable out of the scrutiny. I like my privacy. I like my private parts...well....private. I like not having to care about how I look to other people. Part of my introverted Nerdy-ness, I suppose.

Ah, the sacrifices we make for our children.

Sigh.

Narcissus, the dwarf

Dwarf rabbit, that is.

My (not so) little Dodo turned 8 today, and chose as her present a tiny black dwarf rabbit. I suggested we name him after one of Snow White's dwarfs, but Dodo said this was "lame".

She named him Narcissus because she said that when he was hopping around her room for the first time he hopped over to the mirror and tried to sniff it. She said this means "he fell in love with his reflection and wanted to make babies".

Let's hope not.

We had quite enough of that hanky-panky before Rosey got married to Evil Veela, had babies, tried to have more babies immidiately after their birth, and promptly got fixed.

Before all that, Rosey "fell in love" and tried to "make babies" with my calf, my shoulder, and Ugha's stuffed giraffe.

The poor deluded thing. I can understand he couldn't possibly avoid falling in love with me. but didn't he realize I only mate with men who do not eat their own feces?

Or at least I try to, anyhow.

~EH