Happy Cinco de Mayo!

In our neighborhood, this is a huge celebration. Our streets are (mostly) blocked off, the police have blocked major intersections, and there is a street fair a few blocks away. We went and wandered through, briefly, last year, but this year, thanks in part to STAR testing, we're skipping it.

I debated a lot about the testing. However, in the end, it came down to the facts that A) we get a lot out of the charter school we use, and to get their funding, they do have to do testing, and B) I don't think it will hurt the Elf to know how testing works and what it is. Having said that, I have not taught him "to the test", and we are doing our best to put no pressure on him. He had his first portion of it yesterday, and coming out said he felt really comfortable, and that "the test wasn't too hard at all".

We're wrapping up our unit on China - this week we're making a model of a section of the Great Wall out of matboard. And we've been making a lot of recipes from this book. We've also enjoyed a variety of stories, documentaries, and more. The kids did some calligraphy work (which I'll have to scan, etc at some point), and they've colored various coloring pages. We have also been having fun with insect studies. We watched Microcosmos, and then Eyewitness Insect, and Eyewitness Butterfly & Moth - really informative but still exciting for the kids. Now, while we continue insects, and move on to Japan, we're also going through idea after idea for the charter school's science fair! The kids are also really into audio books lately, which make for great car entertainment. We've listened to Chitty, Chitty Bang-Bang; a collection of Roald Dahl stories (narrated by the author himself, which we loved); Mr. Popper's Penguins; and now we're listening to A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning (narrated by Tim Curry, way cool).

And other than that, Fairy has a loose tooth (her first one!) along with a nasty cold, and Elf has a birthday coming up. He's requested a camera and a watch, pretty easy requests to fulfill. Oh, and a Black Forest Cake. My mom says I wanted one of those when I turned 7 or 8 too - the traditional one made with almond meal apparently. We're also looking at getting (Craigslist maybe?) or building a loft bed for him, in order to free up more space in the kids' room. Fairy says she does not want one, as it would be too hard to get out of during the night - her bed will go perpendicular to his, underneath. She still, at 6 years old, does not sleep through the night. I think now part of it is that I work past her bedtime 3-4 times a week, and she wants to check to make sure I am home. I think I need a different shift, or better yet, a different job!