solo bike ride

I went on an adventure today. I rode my solo bike to the library. The trip was something that I'd been wondering about for a while. The few books that I had to return and pick up fit neatly in my little pink backpack. The library is only a little over six miles away, but the trip took me over 40 minutes each way.

The route is filled with narrow streets, no shoulders, blind corners, and fast traffic. I was able to go through a few parking lots, a couple side streets, and a one sidewalk, but many of the hazardous sections of street were simply unavoidable. I'm not used to city biking and didn't have a rear-view mirror, so it was unnerving when a car would suddenly whoosh right by me. Once I ended up with a long chain of cars behind me because it took me a long time to get to the next driveway to pull over and let the cars pass. Another time there was a long piece of PVC pipe diagonal across my path, and cars filled both lanes of traffic. A car would easily drive over the pipe, but I wouldn't be able to. I had to squeeze the bike in the few inches between the pipe and the curb while hoping that the cars wouldn't hit me. I don't know if I grew up in towns with quieter streets, or I was simply blissfully unaware of the dangers when I was a kid, but biking to the library isn't as fun as it was when I was a kid.

a riddle ...

What is bright red?
What is powered by beings with antlers?
What brings a smile to those who see it?
What appears at the end of December?
What has a passenger with a red triangle hat with white trim?
What glides through the neighborhood without any feet touching the ground?

. . .

My Christmas Present!

biking to the park across the way

This past week the main use of the bike has been to go to the park across the way. Since Wander is home from work, I've been making him pull the girls while I ride my old bike.


The girls' favorite activity in the park used to be "gathering nuts for winter food." Then swings were recently installed in the park, and they spend most of their time swinging.


Here the girls enjoy a treat at the park before heading home. Note the bike in the corner of the picture.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve we had an early supper and then went to church. We arrived early enough to get a spot right at the front where the girls like to sit. The choir guitar ensemble played Christmas carols and the girls sang along. We peeked at the Nativity set up in the church and noticed that there was no baby Jesus in it yet, because of course he hadn't been born yet.

After church, it was bedtime for the girls. Sparkle dug out the packet of reindeer food that she got from school. After accidentally pouring the oats on the hallway floor, she swept up the mess and then carefully sprinkled the oats on the front lawn. Then it was off to bed.




Once the girls were safely tucked into bed, Santa visited and left presents under the tree in in our stockings. This morning we were awakened by the pounding of little feet up and down the stairs and down the hallway. Then came the pounding on my bedroom door. Wander and I were dragged downstairs so that the girls could open their gifts.

Sparkle got a tiara that she'd been asking for and Glitter got a *real* purse with a mirror! Both girls also got warm fuzzy slippers so that they will hopefully stop stealing mine. My favorite gift of the day was the 18" dolls that the girls got. I had a hard time waiting until Christmas to open the dolls, and I probably played with the dolls more than the girls. I would have loved a doll like these when I was a girl.



Wander got several books that he'd been wanting and an iPod. I got my Christmas present early, but that will take a post of its own.

We had a decadent family breakfast, and Sparkle is going to make one of her favorite lunches for us.

Joy to the World.

It's Jesus's birthday!

cookies

I baked another batch of cookies last night. I like baking sugar cookies with my cookie press. The cookies turn out nice and even. However, that also means that I have to wait until the girls are in bed before baking, so it's lonely work.



This batch is for my brothers and Santa. We mailed off the cookies to my brothers this morning. (They aren't Christians so it doesn't really matter if the cookies arrive before Christmas or not. I wonder if they'll be surprised to get the cookies.) We'll set out the cookies for Santa on Thursday night. I told the girls that after Santa has his share, whatever cookies are left over will be for the family. Sparkle is having a hard time waiting.

the park is not the woods

I told both girls to go potty before we biked to the playground. Both girls said that they went. Nevertheless, while we were at the park, I noticed a curious wet spot on one girl's skirt. This girl needs to learn that the park is not the woods. And she needs to learn better technique for when she is in the woods.

Language Arts Fun

Yesterday, when Wander was out of town and Glitter was taking her nap, I asked Sparkle if she wanted to cuddle with me. She heartily agreed and then asked if I would read a book to her. I suddenly thought of the new language arts program I had recently purchased.

Despite the fact that Sparkle is no longer being homeschooled, and that I already own over a dozen language arts resources, I couldn't resist when this particular language arts program went on sale. However, unlike all those other programs, this one I actually wanted to try.

Being sneaky, I didn't tell Sparkle that the book I chose, "Grammar Island," was a school book. (She would have balked, especially since she is officially on winter break.)

We read the first several pages. I tried to discuss the lesson with Sparkle, but she wasn't used to the idea of discussing a book; she kept wanting to turn the page to see what was next. Sparkle seemed to enjoy the book but quickly hopped off to other things when we were done.

Fast forward to today. Wander was at work and Glitter was again taking her nap. Sparkle asked me to cuddle with her again. She picked out a book for me to read to her, but when I hesitated over her choice she suddenly suggested returning to "Grammar Island." We did a few more pages today, learning about about nouns and pronouns.

The lesson mentioned several names. Sparkle immediately recognized the name Robert Louis Stevenson as the author of several poems she likes (e.g. Rain). She found the name "Long John Silver" amusing and thought "Jim Hawkins" sounded familiar. So, after we put the book away, I dug up a copy of "Treasure Island." Although I generally dislike abridged books, at least this version is right around Sparkle's reading level. I showed Sparkle the author's name and the list of characters, and Sparkle's interest was hooked.

Sparkle set to reading the book. Although Sparkle normally reads silently, she started reading several sentences aloud to me, emphasizing the pronouns with joy and excitement "I ... he .. it .. " She was taking what we had just discussed in the textbook and was identifying pronouns. Sure she made mistakes and didn't think of nouns at all, but she was voluntarily applying the lesson to the world around her.

More Math Games

The past few weeks Sparkle and I have been playing math card games during Glitter's dance class. Another girl, who also has a sister in the same dance class, has been watching us and often joins in. It's fun playing these card games with three people, and Sparkle tends to be less competitive when there's another kid involved. This last week, the other girl's mother asked me about the card games because apparently the girl has really enjoyed them and has been talking about them at home.

The other day we were playing addition war. Each person draws two cards and adds them together. Whoever has the highest number wins all the cards. Repeat. We usually play until we run out of time or we go through the entire deck. It usually takes us a while to add up our numbers. I'm a usually a little faster than Sparkle, but I often get distracted because I'm trying to add her numbers, as well as mine, to make sure she does her sum correctly. Early in the game we thought that we all had the same number, but it turned out that one of us had added incorrectly. Then later in the game all three of us really did have the same sum. I had to take a picture.



The strange thing is the cards are really plain and the games are nothing fancy. The cards are a single solid color with a number printed in the corner. No pictures. No dots. The games merely involve adding or subtracting numbers. There are no pretty pictures. There are no cute characters. There is no plot or storyline. Often we don't even bother to keep score or see who won. Yet the kids enjoy playing. So I'm rethinking my idea of using worksheets to practice math facts and enjoying the games instead. (I still think some written practice is important though, especially for numbers in the teens and multi-digit numbers with zeros.)

A busy day

This morning Sparkle had a Winter Party at her school. Glitter and I got to visit her class and enjoy the festivities. I got to peek around the classroom and see the stuff that she had been talking about, like the heart-shaped paperweight/picture frame on her teacher's desk with the picture of her teacher and the teacher's husband. They even had extra goodies and Glitter spent the entire time with a series of candy canes in her mouth. When one was gone, she magically got another one.

Here is Sparkle with her teacher at he favorite part of the classroom - the "smart table."


Then this afternoon, after early release from school, we joined the homeschool group for the cookie exchange. We met at a park and set the cookies on the table. Then the kids ran off and played and played and played. The kids got to eat as many cookies as they wanted, but mostly they chose to play instead. I think that I was the only mom who ate more than two cookies.

On the way home Glitter asked when she would have her nap. I asked her if she wanted one. She said no, and I asked if I could have it since she didn't want it. She agreed. However, halfway home, she fell asleep in the car. So I didn't get to take a nap after all.

Math lesson

Sparkle eats cafeteria food for lunch at school. She pays for lunch with a prepaid account and she just punches in her number when she gets to the cashier. When her balance gets low, I go online and put more money in her account using a credit card.

Sparkle normally gets whatever is on the menu for the day. However, every now and then she gets a hankering for some of the other stuff, like the cookies and ice cream they offer. Those extra items are "a la cart" items and cost extra. After the first time she got an ice cream, I had a little talk with her. She was free to get these extras whenever she wanted, but she must pay for them herself. She could charge them to the account to make things simpler at lunchtime, and then after she got home, she could reimburse me for them. Okay, that cut down on the overpriced lunch extras.

After a while, when Sparkle stopped reporting eating a la cart items, I stopped checking. And then her account go low, I went checked and turns out she had purchased a couple of extra items in the past week. Okay, so when she got home we talked about it. I pointed out the items she had purchased, and crossed out what she had already paid me for. Then I had Sparkle add up how much money she owed me. Then we checked how much money she she had available. Sparkle was currently rather low on cash, and she didn't have enough money to cover the cost of lunch extras. So, she paid me what she could, and I had her calculate her new balance.

It took Sparkle a couple of days to earn enough money to pay back for all the lunch extras, mostly because, between school and homework, she doesn't have much time for earning money. Each time she earned money, I would have her calculate her new balance and write it down. Sparkle was really good about using her spare time to earn money to pay me back, instead of running off to play. She finally got enough money to get completely out of debt by vacuuming out my car. She didn't like being in the garage by herself, so she got Glitter to keep her company. I suggested that she give Glitter some of her extra money as a thank-you gift for helping her earn the money.

All in all, I think that the experience was very educational for Sparkle. She got to learn about working to pay off debt. She got to learn about making purchasing choices. She got to do a bunch of math. And I got my car vacuumed out as well!

I don't think that Sparkle would look back on the experience as fondly as I do. She didn't like being in debt and the math wasn't fun.

Seeing Santa

This morning Santa visited our church. The men's club had donuts and drinks set up for all to enjoy while waiting his arrival.



At first Sparkle said that she wasn't sure what to say to Santa. I suggested that she ask for many blessings and whatever else he thought would be good. She was also a bit nervous about answering the "have you been a good girl" question. We told her to tell the truth, and Wander suggested she say that she had tried to be as good as she possibly could. However, once in Santa's lap, Sparkle's trepidation disappeared and she ended up with a long wish list for Santa. I wonder how she will take the disappointment on Christmas morning.


Glitter didn't want to approach Santa at all. With a bit of prompting I got her to tell Santa that she lost the purse he gave her last year and she'd like another one. Glitter didn't want to stand by Santa for a picture either, but I pointed out to her that it was rude to refuse to stand by Santa after just having asked him for a gift.

Christmas Showcase

Our homeschool group had its second annual Christmas Showcase. I think the show was a fabulous success. Even Wander, who would really rather not watch a bunch of kids on stage, was impressed. At first I didn't think that our kids would be in the show, since they didn't make it to any of the rehearsals and Sparkle isn't really part of the class anymore. However, the groups were very kind to let my kids join in the songs. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get very good pictures.

Sparkle got to join her old friends singing three songs. She didn't know the words, but was able to read them and join along, rather like in church. Sparkle is the second girl from the left. She is wearing a red sweater with a white collar and cuffs.


Glitter got to hold up animal puppets to a song. She is the kid looking at the camera, wearing a white sweater, and holding her puppet lower than the other kids.


Both girls got to join all the other kids for the final song. Sparkle is in the middle, but Glitter is hidden behind another child. I really miss this fabulous bunch of families.



Wander took this picture of us because, when we were looking over our pictures from the past year, he said that there aren't enough pictures of the two of us.

Sparkle's Tooth

Sparkle has been constantly wiggling her loose tooth. She came home from school and had to show me how far it would bend. She said another kid at school told her to think happy thoughts and twist the tooth to get it out. I told her that would hurt and Sparkle agreed with me. Sparkle told me tales of how one kid lost a tooth while eating spinach and accidentally swallowed the tooth, and another kid lost a tooth while playing in the pool.

Then this evening as Sparkle lay reading by the fire she calmly got up and went to look in the mirror in the kitchen. Then she got a tissue and stuck it in her mouth. She had finally lost her first tooth. She danced around the house holding her tooth and kept checking back at the mirror to see. She repeatedly asked me to look at her tooth and the gap in her mouth. She practiced how, when Daddy came home, she would greet him with a big grin and ask if he noticed anything different about her, then she would show him the free tooth.



While Wander was a bit melancholy to see such evidence of his girl growing up, Sparkle was ecstatic at this further proof that she was a *big girl*. She put her tooth in a baggie under her pillow in hopes that the tooth fairy will take it and leave something else in its place.

Matching Dresses

Glitter has grown enough that she now can wear the first set of dresses that I originally made for Sparkle years ago. Here the girls are in matching, homemade, blue dresses.

Tandem Test Ride

I've been interested in a tandem bicycle ever since reading about the adventures of a family biking across the country on a triple tandem.

We have a "half bike" that attaches behind Wander's bike that the girls love to ride. However, that still leaves at least one kid in the buggy behind my bike, as Sparkle can't ride fast enough to keep up with an adult. Neither kid likes the buggy and they fight over who gets to ride the half bike. Plus, I'm so short that the half-bike doesn't fit behind my bike, so we can only use it when Wander is available.

A bit of online research showed that there are lots of tandem bikes and lots of configurations for adding kids with half-bikes and buggies. I also learned that a typical tandem bike wouldn't work for our family. While it's fairly easy to size a single bike to a single rider, it's hard to fit a tandem because it must fit both riders. Most tandems would be impossible to fit Wander (6'5") and me (4'11") much less the kids (ages 6 and 3) without getting something custom made. Then I stumbled across Bike Friday, which makes a Family Tandem which adjusts for riders from 6'5" to 36".

Luckily for me, the Urban Bicycle Gallery in Houston recently started carrying Bike Friday bikes and had a tandem in stock available for a test ride. We brought along both the half bike and the buggy to try them out with the tandem. Tom at Urban Bicycle Gallery was extremely helpful during our test ride. He adjusted the bike several times so that we could try out different rider positions. He found a different seat post to accommodate the difference in our heights. He ground down the attachment for the buggy. Then he stood back and let the bike itself speak for itself.

We tried the tandem by itself first, then added the buggy and the half bike. At first it looked like there wasn't enough room below Sparkle's seat to attach the half bike, but Tom managed to make it fit.

Riding the tandem, especially with the half bike or buggy, was rather like driving a car with a trailer attached. You stick out farther than normal, it takes longer to get up to speed, and turns aren't as tight. At first the wobble from the kids freaked me out, but after sternly telling the kids to keep still, I got used to it.



The plan is for me to use the tandem and half bike to carry Sparkle to and from school. This setup has lots of advantages. The tandem is safer for Sparkle, as it keeps her attached to me. The tandem is faster, as we don't have to go at Sparkle's solo speed. The half bike is more fun for Glitter than the buggy. We don't have to deal with leaving Sparkle's bike at school, especially on days when she has to be a car rider, or when the weather turns yucky. Biking is also good physical exercise and saves wear and tear on the car.

When I was a kid biking was a regular part of my life. I biked to the library, school, the mall, dance class, and wherever I wanted to go. I delivered my paper route from the back of a bike. I rode in snow and rain, uphill and down. I'm hoping that the girls will grow up to enjoy biking as well.

Snow and Ice

Here's Sparkle trying to catch snowflakes in a park on Friday.


Here are Glitter and Sparkle with sheets of ice they found at a farm on Saturday.

Trimming the Tree

So I cheated and we didn't put up *all* the ornaments this year. We put up the most important ones, and left a bunch of decorations in the holiday boxes. On the other hand, both girls got to help hang ornaments this year. (Last year Glitter was too small to help much.)




Although it's hard to tell in the picture, we have colored lights on the tree this year.

I also had a brainstorm. All those flimsy, crafty, paper, staples, and glue ornaments that Glitter makes at school and Sparkle makes on her own go on a different tree. The girls get to see their creations but they don't clutter up the main tree.

Snow

Sparkle's school let out early due to impending bad weather. We had lunch at home and then it started to snow. Before I realized what was going on, Sparkle had rushed out the back door with no coat or jacket to play in the snow. I called her back in and insisted that she at least wear a coat outside. Although she and Glitter complied, a few minutes later Sparkle snuck back outside with no coat and *bare feet*. When I insisted on shoes, she grudgingly put on her flip flops.

They Do Exist!

When I was a child, the best ice cream in the world was Marble Slab ice cream. I only had it once as a child while visiting a far-away town. Then I got older and moved where no-one had ever heard of Marble Slab. I started to think that Marble Slab was just a figment of my imagination. Then I got a little bit older and moved again, and walking through the mall I saw a Marble Slab! It does exist and is, as far as I'm concerned, the best ice cream in the world. It has childhood memories behind it, which no combination of ingredients can match.

Another childhood memory that no-one seemed to know about was the "I See Sam" readers. I have a distinct memory of a little box of these tiny staple-bound books of my very own. I was so possessive of these books because I could read them myself. I must have been about five years old or younger. As I grew up, none of my friends had ever heard of them and as I looked into resources for teaching my children to read, I couldn't find them. Once again I wondered if I was imagining things.

I ended up using a different method to teach Sparkle to read. Then I found a web site selling the "I See Sam" books at cost prohibitive prices. Then a bit more searching turned up some free versions that appear to be in the public domains, and thus free to print and use.

Nuview Elementary School's web site has nicely formatted .pdf files ready to print of 16 books. Click "Sam Books" in the menu on the left.

Mrs. Sakamoto's teacherweb page has 52 books that look like scanned copies of physical books.

For more info on the "I See Sam" books see www.3rsplus.com or iseesam.com.

I'm off to print some books for Glitter.

colored pencil holder

Back in November I was on a quest to find the perfect colored-pencil container. I even got Wander to glue together some PVC for me.



I don't know when we'll have a need for a portable colored-pencil container again.

Pretty Glitter

Here's a pretty picture of Glitter at the gardens back in November. It's been a month since we last went and I don't know when we'll go again.

Last month's science class

Here are some pictures from last month's science class.

Sparkle got to learn about electricity and Pompeii.


Meanwhile I wandered the main exhibits with Glitter. There were lots of school groups. Glitter and I got to sort shells. Glitter got to be pretty good at separating swirly snail-type shells from flat clam-type shells.

Photos from October

A while back I was having computer problems and photo problems. So, lots of my blog posts didn't have photos to go with them, and I took some photos that I didn't blog. I am in the process of adding photos to the existing blog posts, but that still leaves the photos without posts. Instead of going back and creating posts for those photos, I'm just dumping those photos here in this post. Oh well, it's ugly but at least the pictures will be posted.

Here Sparkle's Little Flowers class put together a decorative pot of flowers to give to the priests.


Here Glitter asks for a drink of water from Wander (off camera). I think that she is at a birthday party in a park.


Here the girls draw at the gardens. I was on a colored pencil container kick, trying to find the perfect container for transporting and using colored pencils.


At the science museum, I was watching for the pendulum to knock over the block. After making Glitter wait and wait, I missed the big moment when trying to listen to an announcement over the loudspeaker.


Sparkle sewed a green felt frog pincushion at her girl's club.


Sparkle lead a decade of the rosary with the homeschool group in a park.

first grade spelling

I think I've figured out Sparkle's weekly spelling lists. Each list has ten words plus one bonus words.

The first five words on the list come from a high frequency word list. The school has a list of high frequency words with five words for each week. The list probably doubles for reading as well as spelling.

The second five words on the list are from a word family. All five words have the same basic ending, but a couple of the words also have a suffix, like 'ed.'

The bonus word is one of those motivational words. There is a big display near the entrance of the school with these words in big letters.

We practice these spelling words using the same method that we used for spelling. We analyze the spelling of each word, and then I dictate sentences using the words. Any misspelled words are analyzed again and Sparkle uses them in an original sentence.

Although the spelling load is light for Sparkle, I don't feel the need to supplement much. The high frequency words are good practice because they are high frequency and present a variety of spelling rules/patterns. The word families are okay, but at least a few of them have a suffix that we can discuss. The bonus word is usually multi-syllabic so it provides practice analyzing a longer word and doubles as vocabulary study.

(Oh, and that not supplementing much, well, when making dictation sentences sometimes I have to use a harder to spell word to create a sentence that makes sense. If she gets it, great. If not, then great, another chance to learn something.)

Glitter helps at home

Glitter helps me vacuum. She figured out how to turn the vacuum on from watching me. She hasn't yet figured out how to get it to roll flat on the carpet.


Glitter also helps with the laundry. If she is helping with the laundry, she isn't getting into other sorts of mischief. The laundry basket is about as big as Glitter, but she feels really big carrying it downstairs.

on the roof

Sunday afternoon Wander hung the Christmas lights. He really hates rigging the lights but he does it anyway out of love of the family.




Even though he's tall, he doesn't like the extra height from being on the roof.


Sparkle liked helping run clips and extra strands of rope light up and down the ladder.


Meanwhile, I setup the tree, garlands, and other decorations inside the house.