He came down at 7:25. He sat on the couch for a few minutes, then I started reading Nick and Tesla #2. He listened and asked several questions as he started playing with the soft tape measure. He quickly figured out how to roll it into a tight spiral. His next move was to unroll it, feed it through the slot as on the coffee table, then taped the other end to my forehead. He went and opened the kitchen door and made sounds like he was surprised by something. When I asked what was outside, he did a funny dance over to me and said, “Fungus.”
He watched Wild Kratts and I worked. He stopped when he wanted to do an imagining game based on Wild Kratts. Similar to the blue mook story, but I find an aardvark in the jungle, and it digs a big burrow in my yard. We then worked on the iPad and got out the main circuit board. He played with the circuit set and hummed while I made mango and oatmeal. He decided to eat his oatmeal cold and raw today, and ate most of it, but then told me, with a smile on his face, “You can eat the rest of my oatmeal, scrap boy.” That turned into a game of him wanting me to eat all the cardboard and paper in the house and we went around and ‘ate’ it all.
For table time he used the light table app I had used for Lunch Robot and he traced a picture of Ruby from Max and ruby. Next we read Can I Play Too? and he read a few words, then we practiced 6s. He initially said two of them but did a lot more. We talked about pinch grip and he practiced it, doing a whole line of increasingly big 1s. I talked about the fingers working ‘independently’ and that became a word of the day. We watched the Hebrew numbers videos, then transitioned into ‘Coding’ time. We looked at the coding apps I’d downloaded, and he wanted to start by trying CodeSparks. So we started a trial with that. We played around with the scene maker part then switched to the puzzles part. This is the usual algorithm creation part, which August is familiar with from coding class and the Nancy Drew app. He really liked that, and worked through them quite well, with some help.
Somewhere in there Shmuel had shown up, and then the workers. Early, as he had said they would get there at noon. August and I went down and saw the new tank and panels that would be going up. August later told Carly he was glad he is doing homeschool or he wouldn’t have been able to see all of that.
I went to get us lunch (I made a pizza and got out some sushi) but kept coming back to help him. Eventually, time was up on coding, but I let him watch a BrianPop video while I finished lunch. We ate and watched a little of the race. Shmuel asked for some water, so we delivered a pitcher of water and glasses. We looked at the old and new solar panels and discussed why the new ones would work better (not dirty, black, not all rusted) and saw them haul a new one up the ladder.
We talked about going for a little walk to look at the garbage piles, but August wanted to take the car. He said he likes sitting and listening to the music. I suggested we could do that on the couch, but it turns out he really likes the car because he likes his car seat: “But I don’t have my comfortable carseat…I seed Skoda Mama out there so it’s possible.” He talked about it keeping him warm. I finally got him out on the walk, but as we were just a house or two away Shmuel called to me. He needed us to turn on the hot water. We went in and turn on the sink. A lot of rusty water and sputtering for a few minutes. Interesting for August to see. While we waited, we then watched Wintergatan #76.
Once the water was up and running, we went out for a walk. Only got as far as the recycling bins when he found a dead beetle. It was a species we haven’t seen before. So we took that back and put it in a bug catcher. We then went for a walk around the Holly block. At the northeast corner he found a toner cartridge for a laser jet printer. We came home and took it apart. We started inside, but as we started to get screws out and I was worried about toner leaking we moved outside. We got it all apart, and some toner was coming out. August had fun washing it off with the house, and used his spraying modes “super spray, light shower…”
He cleaned off the wall and porch, then went inside and went to the bathroom. We were wondering if it was his first time in the bathroom today, which would be crazy as it was after 2. Then I realized that I think I remember untangling his pajama pants this morning, but I think he forgot to wash his hands, as I don’t remember him using the water from the jug by the kitchen sink.
He had taken his watch off to go to the bathroom so it wouldn’t fall in the toilet. He told me of a super fast machine that runs on celery.
We got headed to school to play with Eve. He had really wanted to go swimming as well, so I took our stuff. As we got walking though, I realized I’d forgotten the floaties. We weren’t far away, but he decided to save it until tomorrow instead of going back.
He hummed his new tune that he’s been singing the last few days. At school we dropped off money for Shani at the elementary school office, then went down to get Eve. Eve and August ran off to the playground, and Heather showed up a minute later. The two of them and Zoe played with the scooters, riding down the sidewalk hill. August rode down once, but otherwise spent all his time running back and forth, trying to run as fast as they rode. He’s really been into running lately, and trying to go faster. I think he realized he wasn’t as fast as other kids and has been trying to get faster, although I also don’t think he would admit that.
Amelia was leaving, so asked the kids to help put away the scooters. They took them over to the sheds, and we saw that they are putting rocks down like a stream bed in the water pump thing.
Back at the playground, they played on the swing. August and Eve were small one-eyed animals that I carried over to the play structure. I can see how August and Eve are friends, as they come up with the same sorts of games. They then went over to the kitchen area, where Zoe was playing restaurant and played there the rest of the time.
Heather went to get her bag from her room, and I saw someone stop and talk to her on the way. When she came back she gave me the good news: Shary, the elementary school principal, and just announced to the elementary school staff that she is leaving at the end of this year—not next year, as previously planned.
They had to leave about 3:45. August and I headed up to the library. We talked to Liz for several minutes and August sharpened pencils. I told her I was homeschooling August now, and she talked about how the preschool was half-day when her Eve was going a few years ago, and when Eve went to kindergarten they thought Liz was crazy for asking if there was a half-day option.
We went and looked at Elephant and Piggie books and chose four. We ended up reading them all there in the library. I didn’t check them out, as I figure they’ll make good Table Time reads. We looked at graphic novels and got a couple of the Amulet books (6 and 7), The Big Bad Fox, and Monster on the Hill, and I found The One and Only Ivan, which Liz and her Eve have both recommended to us in the past. I also got The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!, and I told August to find a book on the ‘New’ shelves and he found Creepy Pair of Underwear, which is by the same author/illustrator pair as the Creepy Carrots book that we have on the iPad. A nice find.
We went up front and Eve checked out our books and she and Liz noticed that they are all their family favorites: they also like Amulet and the Creepy Pair of Underwear. On the way in, August had found a battery pack, maybe for a robotic vacuum cleaner, in the recycling bowl and I agreed we could take it home and test it. On the way out he added two D batteries. I suggested that tomorrow we could bring the multimeter to school to test all the batteries.
Carly had already walked home. We walked home and I got to work making another dish of the coconut curry with mushrooms and tofu this time, and no actual green curry. Turned out perfect for the two of them, and I added curry into my bowl. We ate, then he played with the circuits on his own and made his own circuit and showed us. He was really proud of it. He had connected both battery packs, then the motor to them, not using the board at all.
I went upstairs to work, and he did alone time and Carly brought him up for a shower. I went in with him at 8:30. I read Creepy Pair of Underwear and part of Amulet #6. He told me, “When robot babies are born they start at 100 and count down to zero…they die.” But it wasn’t years, and actually took billions of years. As we were going to sleep, I rolled with my back to him. He told me I could lie on my back and have my head pointed away from him, but I couldn’t have my back to him. I actually fell asleep before he did, and he woke me up saying he wanted the covers on him. He finally fell asleep at 9:35.
Tracing Ruby:
Pinch grip 1s:
Trying Codesparks:
Turning the hot water back on:
Taking apart the toner cartridge:
His recent tune:
Riding the bike thing:
