Week 3

This is an amazing field in all seasons. I may like winter the best! (Lena Thompson Memorial Park)

The kids hid behind a tree waiting for Charles to arrive.

Week 3 was an adventurous week. MLK Day was gorgeous outside, so we did some work indoors in the morning, and then went out exploring. The kids were so excited to just have an adventure with nothing they "had" to do. Charles was able to get out of work early and meet us on our hike, and the kids were super excited about that!

Leif thought it was pretty funny to surprise Daddy.

Leif getting a better view of the penguins.

Tuesday, we visited the Georgia Aquarium, which was emptier than usual because of the holiday weekend. Since Charles doesn't work until mid-afternoon on Tuesdays, we went in the morning and enjoyed several hours of an empty aquarium. Leif's assignment was to pick one animal and find out a few things about them, and draw them. He chose Penguins. These are African penguins, found off the coast of South Africa. Leif was totally bummed that they were not cold-climate penguins, and also that penguins in general lived in the Antarctic, not in the "north pole" as he had imagined. Sigh. We got to experience the penguins calling to each other, which sounds like a donkey braying. Because of this, they are also know as Jack-Ass Penguins, which I DIDN'T tell the kids! (couldn't they just call them Donkey Penguins?) Anyway, here is Leif's drawing, and a penguin craft:

Wednesday and Thursday were home days, and maybe because of our adventurous beginnings, Leif seemed less enthusiastic about getting on task this week. Which is to say we had several conversations that went like this.
Me: Here is your next assignment.
Leif: I don't want to do that.
Me: Lovely. (okay, I didn't really say that out loud) Okay, well, here are the next 3 things I had planned, pick one and get started.
Leif would pick one then and work. He just needed some control in the situation, which is honestly fine. I want him to enjoy learning, and start to desire to explore in learning, which can't happen if our days are just about checking off assignments.

Friday when we arrived at Home School-school, some of the kids were doing carpet work, which was "I-spy" mats, and as soon as we walked in the door, two kids called Leif over to their group and asked him to work with them. It was so great to see Leif included and invited into a group. This is only week 3 with a class which has been together since the Fall, so it was encouraging to see that Leif was included. When we arrived home from dropping off Leif, Owen wanted to do a home-school lesson (be free, child!) which was pretty cute.

Our obligatory front entrance photo at the GA aquarium.

Beautiful jellyfish.

Leif and Owen both loved the Jacks.

One of the divers in the big tank came to the window and was waving to the boys.

Seahorse! When we first found out that we were pregnant with Owen I was already 7 weeks, and she said he was about the size of a seahorse, so we called him "Baby Seahorse" for most of my pregnancy.

The leafy sea dragon, one of the creatures we studied our first week on home school, who uses camouflage for protection.

We got to see the dolphin do tricks for a trainer doing hand movements thru the glass.

Such a cool exhibit: The kids could ask Deepo questions, and the digital fish answered them and swam around. It was pretty amazing. Haven't you always wanted to talk to a fish and have him answer you?

This is how empty the aquarium was: Leif was laying on the conveyor belt in the main walkway staring up at the fish overhead.

Charles and Owen looking at the large tank.