Josiah has had a lot of work to finish out his school semester. This past week he had to write a paper on Stephen Hawking and this coming week he has to make a shoebox diorama on him. His director divvied out all the astronomers they've studied this semester and Josiah was glad he got Hawking so he wouldn't have to re-research anyone. He is supposed to decorate the box in a way that shows Hawking's work, but does not name the actual astronomer. The students in the other levels have to guess for each diorama. He could just paint his whole box black to represent Hawking's research on black holes and be done with it. But Josiah has painted the floor and walls different colors in anticipation of his 'room.' It should be good.
The boys had their last KSM for the year. To celebrate, they had hot chocolate and pancakes. Henry was waiting for his friend to come before getting in the pancake line. He forgot his friend was out of town and so never got in the line. They had games and a contest for who was dressed the most festive. Josiah won 3rd place with his Grinch shirt. He drew it last year with regular Crayola markers, so I can't wash it. Next year it'll smell as Grinchy as it looks. (photo from last year)
Caroline had her last meeting at church as well and her class enjoyed some cupcakes.
The main event this week was our annual Market Day at CC. The day before, Josiah perused through four of his sketch books and picked out only 11 pictures that he was willing to sell. While he was in class, Henry, Caroline, & I took turns manning his table. It was a slow start to the day, but by the end, he had sold 8 pictures ($2 a piece), gave away 2, and pulled the Tasmanian Devil picture off the table to keep for himself. Total profit: $0, because he then spent it all at other kids' tables.
One of Henry's classmates bought the "No Refunds" sign that Josiah made and taped it up at the table where he was selling his paper folding noisemakers.
Caroline spent a lot of time with her friends. She also was my gofer - we tried to buy something from everyone, so she would scope out the tables and make the purchases for me. Henry hung out with friends the whole time. He is not a shopper. Before our potluck lunch, all the classes gave a tin whistle concert. Henry's class played Silent Night and Joy to the World.
Caroline's class played We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Au Claire de la Lune. All the classes were only required to learn Mary Had a Little Lamb, but the tutors were ambitious this year and taught each class two songs. The best was the youngest class of 4-year-olds. They played a "joyful noise." They got up on stage and played whatever 'notes' they wanted for 60 seconds and then took a bow.
At lunch time, Josiah manned his own table and shared it with a classmate that was hoping to sell a few of his own drawings.
In the afternoon, Josiah's class gave speeches. They were required to give a 1-2 minute memorized speech about freedom by an American. There were a few that recited the Gettysburg address. One gave an excerpt from Patrick Henry's speech. Josiah chose Ronald Reagan's speech at Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin in June 1987. Josiah's portion ended with "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" He was in his element and threw in a good bit of emotion.
Henry has been into push-ups lately. He does a lot of pushups and sit-ups on the regular. Often he'll come up and tell me his stomach hurts. Not a hunger hurt, he says, it just hurts. That would be related to the pushups you're doing 3x a day. Now he likes for us to feel his rock hard abs.
Josiah enjoyed a birthday party this weekend. All his friends are turning 14 now, so the parties are going later and later. I went at 9:00 p.m. to pick him up and they were just learning how to play Speed Uno. They were laughing so hard and having fun, so there was no interrupting it. 45 minutes later they were finally moving on.
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