Mineralogy Day 5

Curse those darned bridges! The boys had a Life of Fred bridge and I asked each of them to do it on their own. Let's just say that neither of them crossed the bridge on this first try; there must have been a math troll hindering their progress.

I really don't know what it is. Test anxiety? Not paying close attention when we aren't working as a group? Whatever it is, I don't like it! We had tears from both boys; I understand that tears are good, that they are a release of tension, but I don't want so much tension to begin with.

Anyway, today they did the bridge, no grammar and no math facts. Then we did our main lesson (volcanoes), but honestly I had lost them by then. Luckily they know a lot about volcanos, especially Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. St. Helens. They drew a picture in their MLBs and we called it a morning.

Our afternoon lesson was cooking; the boys peeled 10 pounds of potatoes and we made mashed potatoes for dinner and also for the freezer (using a freezer recipe). We also mixed up a raw ice cream base and made a triple batch of tapioca pudding.

Papa and T-Guy spent part of the evening putting together their model trains for their monthly trip to volunteer at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. The boys take turns going with Papa; J-Baby went last month. Volunteering has been wonderful education for the boys; they've learned quite a bit about electricity (train layouts have lots of electrical components) and the San Diego area (they run on a layout that depicts San Diego), and also have learned manners and social skills working with the other members of the railroad club as well as talking to museum visitors. J-Baby often acts as an unofficial docent when he is there, taking visitors to see some of the other layouts in the museum.

Comments

I totally hear you on the tears thing -- I want them to feel OK to express their frustration and "get it out", but oy, it's hard to see them so frustrated, especially when it's over something you've purposely put in their paths. A constant struggle here for sure!!

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