Eclectic Parent

The Greeks are Coming

Karen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:47:04 +0000

Ever since the first viewing of the trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief, D has desperately wanted to see the movie. After hearing about it for weeks, C jumped on board. I finally found a copy at our used bookstore because I try to get them to read - or listen - to the book before seeing the movie. They love it. And it has inspired tons of google look-ups (Greek architecture, Minotaur and satyr images, descriptions of the gods and a family tree). While I sometimes struggle to get them to listen to a chapter a night, we’ve flown through half the book in three days - and that’s only because I couldn’t read anymore. We also found a copy of D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths today and were reading blurb about different characters from the book as reference.

B, who is too young for Percy Jackson, has been listening to her brothers. While they were debating whether they’d choose to be the god of the sky, seas or underworld, she decided she liked the sound of the beautiful goddess of love. So she found a pink scrap of cloth and made herself a toga to wander the house in. That’s the spirit.

Mexico…day 2, 3

Karen — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:15:18 +0000

Yesterday was taken up by a long snorkeling trip for the boys. They love seeing the sea turtles that this area is famous for. While they snorkeled B and I walked along the beach collecting shells with one of her cousins. The rest of the day was the usual eat, swim, snack, play in the sand, eat, swim. B and I took our second dance class. The staff always laughs to see her out there learning to salsa or merengue.

Mexico…

Karen — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:27:31 +0000

We haven’t been writing because we’ve been packing and moving and holidaying and just go, go, go. But then the 4th annual Mexico trip arrived and we luckily get to sloooow down. Travel took all day with two flights separated by a long layover and a 90 minute van ride. But we got here; here being about 90 minutes south of Cancun.We got here in time to see everyone, grab dinner and head to the show. Then off to bed.

Day two started with the boys going to archery. Then we lazily wandered between swimming, playing in the sand, eating and swimming again. B painted pottery while the boys played. After dinner all the cousins - plus an uncle and daddy - headed into their favorite Mexico game: manhunt. They came up with it a few years ago and it’s a cross between tag and hide-and-go-seek. They play boys versus girls with kids ranging from 5 to 19. That lasted until it was time to head to bed, which happens hours later here than at home. Just another thing for them to love.

Happy Belated Halloween

Karen — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:32:49 +0000

Finally got the pictures uploaded. Halloween was the usual candy filled fun. Had a party the day before with our homeschool group and then went trick-or-treating on Saturday. Kids had a blast. Boys decided to wear the same costumes as last year because they’d outgrow them soon and B whipped together a quick cowgirl outfit mostly from things she already owned. Phew…that was easy.

And my personal favorite…when they got the giggles over switching headgear.

More Science

Karen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:24:49 +0000

After spending Saturday at ASU’s Earth and Science Exploration Day, we headed to the Arizona Science Center today. The kids enjoyed the robot exhibit and spent a lot of time with pulleys and counterbalances. The liquid nitrogen demonstration is always a big hit and this time we saw the fire demonstration as well. I think their favorite this time was literally a bed of nails. After laying down, you pressed a button and 1000 nail lifted you up. Long explanation about weight distribution sort of passed them by - they just thought it was seriously cool.