The Diosa Dotada Endeavor

So, I know I promised a fun-filled follow-up post on the craziness that was Athena’s first Odyssey of the Mind Tournament, but this one is going to be a regular old boring weekly update post. I’m saving that other entertaining post for a new venture I’m going to try out called Secular Thursday hosted by Srmt Mama. It’s just too terribly appropriate for that venture. The writer in me can’t help but tailor the story to the perfect presentation. So. A few more days to wait for that one.

In the meantime, we had a great week leading up to the tournament. We were actually able to not leave the house for two days in a row. While I am (as some of you may already have deduced) a raving extrovert, it is occasionally downright blissful to spend two, back-to-back days at home, just us. It’s amazing what gets done for one thing. Athena finished her latest math book and we’ve moved on to the next level. She also read bunches. We’ve started playing this game where I leave her written clues all over the house and they lead her to various things. We watched a program on the arabesque style of Islamic art together and reviewed the foundation and rise of Islam for this coming week’s History Club meeting. She began adding Alkali Metals to the giant Periodic Table she’s building on the wall in the playroom and we both cackled hysterically watching these videos from University of Nottingham’s Chemistry Department. We mostly watched the Alkali Metals videos over and over again. Athena pointed out that it seems to her that the only sane and safety conscious person working in the lab at that university is the woman. Interesting observation there, kid!

Thursday, our co-op had a good ole’ fashioned field day. They got the chance to have sack races and three-legged races and play tug-o-war and hula hoop and play kickball and all that good stuff. Artemis was an outstanding spoon/egg racer and can get around in a sack/pillowcase awfully well. Apollo mostly stuck with the bubble station and playing on the playground. Athena, on the other hand, was completely enamored with the hula hoop. That girl went hooping crazy! So much so that we actually got her a hula hoop of her very own as a congratulations gift for her performance at the tournament and then took her to a Hooper Stahs get together at a park downtown on Sunday. The child hooped so much that she got a bona fide hooping injury. She has a hoop-width bruise on her left hip! But that didn’t stop her from emphatically suggesting hula hooping at today’s Girl Scout troop camp planning session for our upcoming troop camp out later this month.

We made it to the art museum after hooping in the park and were able to bring Patris Maximus along as well. We worked with colored pencils and oil pastels, as well as, a bit of collage to create still lifes that reflected the era in which we live. We also spent a bit of time sketching in one of the Impressionist galleries. I’m beginning to really get a lot out of these sessions at the art museum, myself. The children have a good time and Artemis is really in her element. But I can feel and see my own artistic sensibilities reawakening. It feels wonderful. I was really happy with my own work this week as opposed to merely setting an example for the kids.

This coming week, we are kicking off our physics month with our co-op. We’re starting with a simple machines unit. We also have History Club on Friday. I have college friends in town next weekend, but at some point soon, I’ll start spilling a few new resources and some plans that are already beginning to take shape for next school year. Also, keep an eye out for my contribution to the Secular Thursday venture. At this rate, I might be posting here twice a week at least.