October 4th

We've been so busy I haven't gotten around to updating much! Last tuesday we did go to the corn maze and it was a LOT of fun. Then on Thursday TJ went swimming. We did a lot of reading, math, geography and social studies. We also reviewed Japanese (but no - TJ still hasn't decided what he wants to ask his Japanese penpal - lol! I think he's being shy but we'll get there!). For science we did some experiments with toadstools and mushrooms that we found in Grandma's yard. We also used the microscope to view mold and fungus spores. On Friday was Joe's birthday and not much was accomplished due to Mom being busy getting stuff arranged for that.

This week is another crowded week. 1st, I have a looming deadline for a series of articles and have to get quite bit of work done during the day too. Then today we went and saw a presentation at MTU called Rainforest Reptiles. TJ really enjoyed the show and got to pet a Chinese alligator. He also got to see a large alligator snapping turtle, an African spur tortoise, a black necked monitor lizard, a Burmese Python, a venomous viper (of some sort - can't remember the name), Chinese alligator and American alligator. TJ says there was one more but neither of us can remember what it was. Either way it was a great science presentation! On Thursday TJ has swimming. On Friday there's no public school but TJ (and the other two kids) are going back out to the corn maze; then going to chess club and gym - with the homeschooling groups.

In between time he's going to finish Matilda and start another Roald Dahl book (which will complete his 3 needed for the Roald Dahl contest) plus he gets credit on the Book It! Program. He'll finish Alabama and start ALASKA (we're looking forward to that because it's Aunt Aimee's state!) in geography. We'll start the colonization of America in Social Studies and finish the Chapter 1 in science as we talk about the importance of plants and how the various parts work together to keep the plant alive. In math we'll continue to do multiplication drills and work on book theory - pattern recognition and mental math skills. In Japanese we're continuing to practice the hiragana alphabet while learning more common phrases. Whew... I just hope we get through it all!

Until next update: ittekimasu (roughly: see you later or I'll be back later)