On Saturday, we decided to go to the zoo.  Emily had an early basketball game at the rec center, and we came home, messed around, ate lunch, and were off!  While we try to avoid the Free Day like the plague, since it is always ever so crowded, we just happened to have chosen that particular day to visit.  It saved us $28 dollars, so well worth the free fun afternoon.

We arrived around 2:15, and found that, with the nice weather in the 40s, the animals were all out and active.  Well, maybe not ACTIVE.  More like waiting for their keepers at the doors to their enclosures to feed them.  We saw many animals that normally are not out and about when we visit—the arctic foxes and the wolves being ones I have never seen in 10 years of visits to the zoo.

The baby zebras were out and we witnessed 2 of them nursing, then running around on those long skinny legs playing.  The polar bears were quite playful too.  Their swimming hole had a lot of ice on top, so we witnessed the polar bears swimming under the ice and coming out on the ice.  We could see their black skin underneath their white fur.  One of the largest came over to the glass where we were standing and “itched” himself on it.  Very cool.

As always, a trip to the zoo is not complete without a trip to the pacaderm house.  And this time, we learned an extremely interesting fact about the Tapir.  They can shoot poop at least 10 feet.  I kid you not.  Thankfully, we were not the “lucky” recipients of the pooh in the face, but Emily was RIGHT NEXT TO THE CHILD.  We learned first hand why its not a good idea to lick the guard rails(as many children are liken to do).

I wonder if it is a defense mechanism of the Tapir, or for his own private amusement?

We have lost 2 of our dog companions this year to debilitating diseases–the first, Keppler, had lived with Kidney Failure for over a year. Maxwell, who we lost in the past month, was a beagle terrier mix of nearly 16 years. He had an untreatable form of skin cancer. We adopted these dogs while in college, and they were truly a connection to that time in our lives and in our relationship (living together before we got married). We miss them both dreadfully, but realized after Keppler’s death that we are indeed a 2 dog household. A couple of months afterward, we adopted a 3 month old Australian Shepherd Mix from a rescue in western Colorado. He had been slated for euthanasia in a shelter before being brought into the rescue. We call him Loco.

He’s grown into a gorgeous dog and is smarter than a whip. He learns commands quickly and potty trained in 4 days(wow). He loves to chase balls and is fiercely loyal, but very gentle with the kids.
Our most recent addition brings us back to two dogs:

Her name is Daisy. She is a 2.5 month old Basset Hound Pug (?) mix. Her mother was living in a Chicken Coop in Southern New Mexico. She was taken to a shelter where she had her litter of puppies. She and her puppies were slated for euthanasia. A day after the puppies were born, someone rescued them all and drove them to an animal sanctuary in Santa Fe, where her mother (a full blooded basset hound) was able to raise her puppies. This past week the mother and 3 of the puppies were transported to the Boulder Valley Humane Society, where we found them. I called the Sanctuary in Santa Fe to talk to them and was told that they believe the father was a black pug that apparently was either owned by the same family as the Basset Hound or lived in the neighborhood.

She is very sweet and extremely mellow (especially for a puppy!). She was a little unsure of us the first day, but is doing great now. She and Loco are really enjoying each other.

While researching the breed (and trying to determine whether she really does look like a Basset/Pug mix), I found that this is considered a designer breed. Yeah. Go figure. And I thought it was just a mutt. They call the mix either a Bassugg or a PuggleHound.

I never realized how much being a dog guardian gives to the kids. While taking care of our sick elderly dogs, the girls learned a lot about patience and compassion. They learned that what was best for our pet was not necessarily what made US happy, but something we had to do as the animal’s custodian. With the newer 2 dogs, they have learned the importance of pet population control, why its important to give unwanted dogs a good home, and take your time and find an animal whose disposition is a good fit for your family. We looked at one extremely adorable dog who unfortunately was scared to death of us. Right now they are learning how to care for something else and the consequence of not keeping an eye on a puppy and picking our toys up.

I am learning that I covet a full nights sleep.

I thought it would be interesting to share my pre-homeschool schedule that I created last August. As you can see, I really worked hard to schedule every conceivable subject. I was also extremely naive optimistic.

8:00 Get Dressed/AM Chores
8:15 Breakfast
8:30 English
9:00 Handwriting
9:15 Math
9:45 Dinner Prep
10:00 Take Dog for Walk
10:30 Violin
11:00 Social Studies
11:30 Unit Study
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Free Time
2:00 Art
2:30 Science
3:00 Spelling
3:15 Computer Time
3:45 Rosetta Stone
4:00 Play Outside/Friends
5:30 Dinner
6:00 Dinner Cleanup
6:30 Straighten Up Rooms
7:00 PJs/Teeth/Outloud Stories
7:30 Reading on Own
8:00 Lights Out
In reality, a day in our life went more like:

Wake up sometime between 7:00 and 8:00
Breakfast/Get Dressed/Hair and Teeth Brushed between 8:00 and 9:00
Start Math at 9:00 and work until done with lesson–time depends on child’s willingness to learn and focus.
Read a social studies chapter out loud and discuss/read a science chapter out loud and discuss 10:30-11:30
Practice violin at some point in the afternoon (30 minutes)
Do some sort of Art of choice (5 minutes to 2 hours, depending on interest)
Read(anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5 hours)

Pretty loosey goosey. A bit more than I like, but it was a semester of adjustment and I am still trying to find my “voice”, as well as looking for a social network (and finding a great one. I love NICHE!). I think I have been more realistic this semester–I have things schedule for AM or PM instead of planning in half hour increments. Hopefully this will help keep us on track.

Why worry? You ask. In reality we did school more than the required 4 hours a day. So why try and fit in more?

Well, my husband and I discussed her progress over break. Was she happier? Yes. Was her learning adequate? Yes. We know she did more than she would’ve covered in school. Could she have learned more? Absolutely. Did she want to learn more? Yes. She is the kind of kid (right now) who needs direction and for you to put the learning in front of her. She’s more than happy to do it. But she doesn’t go in search of knowledge. Perhaps this is because of her 2 years in public school—she definitely had more of an inner desire to learn before Kindergarten.

I’ll let you know how these first 5 planned weeks go.

I have been reading several articles and studies on the affects of gaming/violence on children.  I think I am going to limit her gaming time even further to an hour at a time a few times a week, instead of every day.

Yup.  You are viewing the worst mistake Santa ever made.  The Nintendo DS Lite.  You know all those people who say that playing video games or watching violent media has nothing to do with the rise of teen violence?  Well, after personally experiencing the drastic behavioral changes of my child after she has access to this thing, I think they are all full of shit.

The games are all rated E for everyone, but I swear the interaction between the game and her brain causes behavioral changes when she is done playing.

This is what I have noticed:

1. Surly to everyone
2. Disrespectful
3. Can’t follow simple instruction
4. Needs things repeated several times
5. Cannot interact nicely with her sister
6. Grouchy Grouchy Grouchy
7. Actually pushed her sister(!)  This NEVER happens in my family.  NEVER.
8. Did I mention Grouchy and Disrespectful?

She has even noticed that she gets “grouchy” after she plays the game, and we have come up with a plan–she cannot play the game until late afternoon, when ALL of her schoolwork is done/violin practice is done/she has spent time interacting with her sister.  She can play during the hour in the late afternoon her sister watches TV, when I am getting dinner ready.  When school starts again, she needs to finish her 1st semester math workbook(which has patiently been calling to her for the month of break but she has been ignoring) before she gets ANY nintendo time.

Ugh.  If I had known it would cause so many behavioral issues, I wouldn’t have let Santa in the house with it.

Anyone out there noticed these kind of behavioral differences after their kids are exposed to video games?

We are getting ready to get back in the homeschool groove.  I have planned the first 5 weeks’ lesson plans and we are officially beginning classes on January 8th, the day after her once a week options program(out of the house) begins again.

I am assuming at this point she is officially bored enough, seeing as how she has been picking fights with her sister pretty frequently.

I don’t think I am likely to let this kind of lapse in routine happen again…I think its been hard on everyone.  It’ll definately be much easier when Camille is home full time and we aren’t working around her schedule too.