A day late...

But here's a picture of my sweet Micah on his birthday:

This is how he got himself dressed to go out to dinner. Because he's cool like that. ;) 

And, just because I feel like I haven't posted a picture of all three boys lately, here's one of those:

That was all. ;)

Eight.

My baby turned eight years old today. Eight! Oy. ;)

As with Asher, we didn't do anything crazy to celebrate Micah's birthday this year. Instead, we've done two things. First, Nathan & I took both birthday boys to see a live production of The Sound of Music on Saturday at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. (Noah had no interest in going and we got better seating with just four of us, so it all worked out, lol.) So, we dropped Noah off at a friend's (thanks, Deanna!) then drove the younger two around in circles for awhile just to mess with them. ;) (It almost killed me keeping the secret for so long, lol...as we'd actually been planning this since February when we heard they were going to do The Sound of Music, just after the boys had first been introduced to the show.) We still managed to arrive on time and sat down for lunch at our front row table before thoroughly enjoying the show, complete with dessert at intermission. Asher was especially impressed by how quickly people could change their costumes and both boys enjoyed being able to watch the orchestra in action. (Seriously, folks, if you're local and have the opportunity, we highly recommend this place. They do a fabulous job!) Here are the boys outside the theater as we were leaving:

The second part of our celebrations for Micah's birthday happened on Sunday...just cake and presents at home. It happened on Sunday, though, because Noah was just way, way impatient and had convinced Micah to be impatient, too. ;) You see, Noah and Asher, in shopping for Micah, had decided they wanted to spend some of their own money on new Nerf guns, too. Knowing that Micah wasn't allowed to do any shopping of his own in the month before his birthday, Asher thoughtfully declared that perhaps they ought not buy the guns yet...as it might be inconsiderate to open and play with them in front of Micah. To this, Noah argued that they were on (an admittedly pretty good) sale *now* and to wait until after Micah's birthday would end up costing them both a good bit more. In the end, we came to a compromise. The boys could buy their new guns then, but we would keep them hidden until Micah opened his presents. Hence, Noah was itching to have Micah open his presents. ;)

So. On Sunday, Micah had his requested lemon bundt cake and opened his presents...an ice cream churner, a Ben & Jerry's ice cream recipe book, an iTunes giftcard, a stuffed Minion, a stuffed bunny (which he named Mallow, since she's white like a marshmallow), and the Nerf gun stuff. Yes, those are the things he asked for. (Well, he didn't ask for the stuffed bunny. Noah came up with that all on his own because Micah's constantly trying to catch the wild bunnies in our yard, claiming he just wants to give them a hug. Micah's been hugging Mallow ever since, lol.) Micah's also thinking about a new hand mixer and other kitchen paraphernalia...and may well use his various birthday moneys from grandparents toward that. ;) 

And that was our celebration of Micah turning eight. ;) In keeping with tradition, I'll now list eight things about my boy:

1. Yes, he still has the mohawk. He only lets me spike it up on special occasions, though. ;)

2. He's very decisive, except when he's not...which is most of the time. ;) Let's just say that one really shouldn't take his first response as his actual decision.

3. He made a little home for all his stuffed animals in his room...complete with couch, Apple tv remote, Wii remotes, beds and blankets. (It's all made out of legos and containers that once held legos, of course.)

4. He just had me order shin pads for karate sparring for him, like Asher already has. But he decidedly did not want a face mask like Asher...because then how would he itch his face, he said. ;)

5. I literally just opened the door to the basement to find Micah and Asher singing "Climb Every Mountain" (from The Sound of Music) at the top of their lungs whilst simultaneously shooting each other with Nerf guns. Odd.

6. He loves Good Eats (Alton Brown), Mythbusters, and Star Trek right now.

7. He's in a hurry to grow up but is adamantly against growing old, lol.

8. He's mine. ;) (Unlike the other two boys who are starting to grow up and all and try to be their own people, Micah's still perfectly content to be my little boy...and I'm taking advantage of that for as long as it lasts!)

Two Random Notes

1. Well, it's official. Had to buy Noah men's sized pants recently. We walked in to get new khakis for JOAD (jeans aren't allowed for tournaments, lol) since they were on sale. Our initial intent was to head to the boys' section and just get the next size up, since we're big fans of the adjustable waistband and I knew from last year that we have just one size left in the boys' section. ;)

But, we ran into friends there and, after that, we couldn't possibly get pants in the boys' section since Noah's friend just pointed out the great prices he'd found in the men's section, lol. Turns out, Noah found a pair that worked. If falling off because you're a stick is working. ;) So. We then started looking at belts, since he insisted that they would fit with a belt. Turns out, they don't really stock extra small men's belts, lol. (And they didn't sell boys' belts at all.) So, we ended up with a small and an intention to punch some more holes in the leather. ;) (After the friends left, btw, I did check the boys' khakis anyhow. No worries. The men's pair actually fits him better, as it has a skinnier leg.)

2. Randomly, as is his nature, Micah asked Nathan why Klingons only have one name but humans have two. Nathan (and the other two boys) pointed out that Klingons actually have more than one name, since they're known by their genealogy, too...as in Worf, son of Mogh. Nathan then pointed out that this could also be like Vikings of old...Worf Moghson. The boys then started testing out how their own names would sound...Noah Nathanson...Asher Nathanson. Micah, though, immediately went for Micah Mommyson. I love that kid. ;)

2013-14 Homeschool Plan: Everything else

Almost done. ;) Here are the last few odds & ends that we'll cover:

ART: I'm going to try for a project every other week using this book and others that I already have around here to pull ideas from.

ECONOMICS: I'm not tackling this extensively but have this book and a lesson plan guide that accompanies it. My plan is to simply work through a chapter every other week or so.

WORLD VIEW: Similar to economics...just working on some more intentional exposure to the topic. Last year, we worked our way through this book (supplementing with library books) to introduce the main world religions. This year, we'll use this one.

TYPING/HANDWRITING: I'm going to have all three boys work on typing skills using Type Fu. I've also got a handwriting/cursive workbook that I'm going to have Micah work through...because, though he's well advanced in most subjects, his handwriting is that of a seven year old. ;) 

MUSIC: Micah's the only one who will end up with an actual music class this year. He's taking piano at Options. I'm still working out how and whether we'll pursue other music...perhaps just online videos on their own (for guitar) or just continued practice on piano and recorder (and drums in Asher's case) on their own or maybe I'll try to find a class for Asher, who'd love to take clarinet lessons. (Sadly, Options didn't have any music classes for Asher that he hasn't already taken.)

PE: I'm fairly sure both Asher and Micah will have PE at Options this year (and they're looking forward to having Ms Toni again). They'll also both continue with karate twice a week.

(And, hey, because Micah turns eight shortly and Asher's small enough to warrant staying in this age group, they're both in the same time slot again!! It's been three years, but we're back to the two of them being in the same classes and it's lovely. ;) (They'd been divided due to age, such that we'd go to karate twice a week but one would sit with me during the first class and the other would sit with me during the second class.) Ta da! Just saved me more than 1.5 hours each week!)

Asher will then also have his extra karate stuff for demo team each week. Noah will do swim team again 2-3 times a week. And Noah and Micah will both do JOAD archery again, practicing 1-2 times a week from mid-September to end of April-ish. I think that's enough PE. ;)

Whew. And that's what our homeschool plan is for next year. (Oh, and I updated the curricula lists for each boy over to the left for a quick glance sort of dealio.) Thanks for hanging in there! ;)

2013-14 Homeschool Plan: History & Geography

History is another of those subjects that we do together. We do both world and US history. For both, we're just going to be continuing what we did last year. :)

So. For WORLD HISTORY, we'll cover Volume 3 of Story of the World. This year, I'm going to work at more intentionally incorporating projects and games (like Timeline, which I recently discovered but haven't tried yet) and will also start giving tests each session. 

For US HISTORY, we'll cover the 1800's...books 4-7 in Joy Hakim's A History of US. We'll supplement that with lessons out of Critical Thinking in US History-New Republic to Civil War. We used both last year and will simply continue. I really like how the Critical Thinking program offers more ways to look at historic events and encourages kids to think about how information is presented.

As with history, we do both world geography and US geography. 

For WORLD GEOGRAPHY, I'm making my own plan. Since we'll have six sessions, I'm going to cover one continent each session (and omit Antarctica...sorry, Antarctica!). During each of those sessions, we'll spend the first week reviewing the countries, landmarks & physical features. The next week will introduce some stories from that continent. The third week will cover history of that continent. The fourth week will cover current events on that continent. And the last two weeks my plan is to have the boys work together to plan a trip to that continent...what would they want to see? how would they travel? what currency would they need? how many time zones will be covered? what customs will they need to be mindful of? The list goes on...I'm hoping it will be as fun as it is in my head.

(Obviously, this will all be limited and not all-inclusive, but it should give the boys a nice picture of each continent and we can work from there in the future.)

It may be worth noting to some that I initially thought perhaps I'd just read through "Around the World in 80 Days" and follow that travel plan and study the areas passed through during the year. I even found some lesson plans online to help. But then I actually tried to read the book. And I decided my new plan is more interesting and comprehensive. ;)

For US GEOGRAPHY, I'm going to go through the 50 states again...this time adding in things like postal abbreviations and the history of how that state got its shape, altogether instead of separately as I've touched on in the past. As with world geography, I'll build in more time for review and also for planning road trips. :)