Groundhog Day

According to On This Day, today is not only Groundhog Day, but also:

Candlemas (Wives' Feast Day)/ Presentation of the Lord/ Imbolc/ Imbolg/ Lupercalia/ Feast of Pan/ Feast of Torches/ Feast of Waxing Light/ Oimelc

and

Feast day of the Purification, St Joan de Lestonnac, St. Adalbald of Ostrevant, and the Martyrs of Ebsdorf.

Now I have to go look some of those up and see what they're about.

J and I are finishing up the Big Cats and starting on bears, pandas, and raccoons, which will mark the end of the our Kingdom Animalia studies. We own the IMAX Bears movie, and I'm checking out Netflix to see what they have on the subject. I've also checked out a bazillion library books on the subject. Once we're finished with bears, we're on to The Human Body (ody, ody) for 6 or 8 weeks.

We finished up our study of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Hanging Gardens (when I first read "the Hanging Gardens" I thought it was going to be something grisly, heh), and just started looking at Crete, the Minoans, the Minotaur, and the legend of Atlantis. J's familiar enough with the material that we could skip it, but he looooves it so much that we're doing it anyway. I think we're going to be building a volcano like the one on the island of Thera that erupted and caused the ocean to swallow their city. J will love the mess.

I think for math, we're going to try out Singapore and see if we like it. Saxon moves too slowly for J, I think, and he gets frustrated with how long it takes, even when I do serious skipping and cutting of repetitive lessons. We haven't been doing it at all this week. I just didn't bring it up and he didn't ask for the lessons, so there we are. I think the Saxon will work better for B's learning style. From what I've read, Singapore has a quicker pace and covers more material. Hopefully it will be a better fit for J. Since we haven't been doing lessons, he's been filling out multiplication grids over and over again and asking me all sorts of multiplication and division questions.

We've achieved a rhythm for his journaling this week, too. I wasn't sure how to fit it in, but J's been doing it on his own while I cook dinner in the evening. He's usually just finishing up when Dan gets home, so he runs out and they talk about it together. It's a nice way for Dan to hear about J's day and reconnect with us when he's been away all day.

Every afternoon, after lunch, we all sit on the couch under the comforter and I read to the boys. N usually nurses while I read, and usually, he and B actually fall asleep. I put them in bed and then J and I finish reading together. It's a nice ritual and has the added benefit of giving the little boys an opportunity to slow down long enough to get some rest if they need it. I think, so often, they just keep going and going and never realize how tired they are. I've noticed there's a lot less yelling and scuffles when they both give in to a nap during the day.

J also started using Music Ace software for music. He really likes it. I've been studying along with him and the software is really fun. We're working on his sense of rhythm, as it's been his stumbling block so far. We had studied piano last year from an Usborne book, and encountered the same thing. He just doesn't seem to hear the beat. Honestly, though, the program has tripped me up, too, so maybe he gets it from me. Dan was a drummer, so I can't say that he doesn't have rhythm, but, really. You should see that man dance. It's a sight to behold, and I mean that in a frightening way. Maybe rhythm is contextual or something? Like when he's playing the drums, he has perfect rhythm, but when he's dancing, not so much? Anyway, J may get his lack of rhythm from both sides, poor kid.

We're spending today doing ground-hoggy things and looking up some of those other holidays that elude me. That's social studies, right?