perspicacious.org

Catch up time is on Friday mornings. If the kids get all of their work done they get to have centers. If not, they do their work during centers. It's a pretty good system, so maybe it will work for the blog, too. My center time can be a cup of coffee and a movie.

First of all, we had a nice spring break with pretty nice weather, and we got to enjoy the ice park before it melted away. We took the baby niece with us, and she was super cute and lots of fun. She ran everywhere and went down all the slides.

Second of all, Happy Easter. The weather is pretty nice here, as Easters go. We've had years of below zero windchill, and also years with disgusting mud everywhere are nowhere to put eggs, so a 15 above day like today is enjoyable by comparison. The kids' eggs were sorted and everyone had a color, so there was no fighting. And the ham was pretty good, too.

Third of all, R and I bought a house. Well a condo. And strictly speaking, we haven't bought it yet, just made an offer which was accepted by the seller. We have a few more hoops to jump through before it's ours. I won't say any more about it just yet, while we wait for things to play out. Wish us luck!

I've been trying hard to emphasize service this year, because I think it's to important for children to feel like they can make a difference in the world and have control over their lives. I also think most little kids are naturally empathetic, and it is nice to see them care for other people. I have tried to choose projects (with the children's help) that the kids can really have ownership over by doing the work themselves. (No collecting coins for charity, for example.)

Our most recent project was to sew rice-filled handwarmers for the support staff in the building. They can be heated in the microwave and then put in a pocket. Most of the handwarmers seem to be staying together, in spite of the seven year old stitching. It does seem a bit late in the year for a handwarmer project, and it is on the warm side today (35 degrees), but I think it's OK. The staff will appreciate the gesture.

So far this year we have also collected canned food (the kids "earned" the cans by doing a chore at home), and we also made thousands (OK, around 350) handmade chocolates. We sold the chocolates in the school commons and used the money to buy a sheep through the Heifer Project, International. After spring break we will use our class meeting time to plan another project. I am thinking something about the environment and Earth Day, but I'm not sure. I'll keep thinking about it. Any ideas?