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 - Watching the day float away.
We decided to head out on a hike today after school - Tues is for Trails. So we went ahead with an adventure even though I was totally spent. It was a busy day getting Sam to school, cleaning up the house, doing some paperwork, entertaining Ben who misses Sam, then back to Sam’s school to visit for lunch (fried fish - couldn’t resist!) and then home to nap Ben, cram in some work, then back to school to pick Sam up, and off to the hike. I am really glad we went, though, despite being tired. It’s always good to be in the woods. Sam did some pretty incredible math again today and stumped mommy. He found a long bamboo pole which he said would be “Good for a measuring stick.” (Literally, right?) It was like having three kids along on the hike, though, with Tall Tom the pole bobbing around nearly stabbing Ben or me. I got bonked on the head once, and so did Sam. So anyway, the pole is two Sams tall plus two inches, so that led to lots of good math about ways we could say that. At one point we figured out it was 8 ft 6″ tall, so I asked Sam how else he could say that. I thought he’d say eight-and-a-half feet, but he said “two and a half yards plus a half foot”. It wasn’t until much later at dinner that Dave helped me out with my math and we realized we were six inches off. Oh well! It’s the mental gymnastics that counted, and to my credit I’d been bonked before I started the hike (tired, hungry), then bonked with Tall Tom the pole. We also came up with a little jingle for the kids at school “Stand in line, tall like pines!”
 - Look at this guy! He is so grown up! Here we go biking/running 1 mile to school
So this is the first full week of school and my policy is not to wake sleeping boys. So it got interesting…at 7:16 Sam rolled out of bed. I’d already been in to change Ben who had gotten up an hour earlier. Sam was still sleeping at 7am. They are usually both up at 0630 but Sam apparently needed some sleep. We managed to get him fed (yogurt and granola), dressed, on his bike and rolling in 15 minutes! Wow.
Today’s funny school story is a girl was “poking my body parts even though the teacher said ‘no poking body parts’ and she did it a second time, so I turned around and gave her my funny face” (Mom: “Did she quit poking you?”) “Yes, and she didn’t get a time out because she stopped.” Another boy fell out of his chair onto the carpet because he wasn’t sitting properly and had to go to the health office because he kept crying. They had to line up outside the classroom this morning before the bell rang - boys in one line, seated, and girls in another line, seated (criss-cross applesauce). I am still not sure of the rationale for this one other than so they don’t “Clump on their way in.” I volunteered immediately to help offset the clumping but it seems this is another tried-and-true rule. I am really trying to keep an open mind, but I have to say that there is little apparent time for learning given that every day a new rule introduced. You can’t possibly teach anything if you’re focused on compliance with rules. These kids are, in my humble opinion, being forced into a shoebox when they probably can handle a bit more wiggle room. After five years of hiking with preschoolers, I contend that young kids are more capable than we give them credit for being. I will continue to wait and watch, and listen. My neighbor is all set up with her Hawaii Tech Academy computer and curriculum. What an outstanding program that is! But I am hoping to give public school a fair shake as Sam and I both like him to have a physical building, classroom, and schedule to adhere to as an introduction to what school is all about before we consider going off the grid again. I am looking into augmenting his classroom time with perhaps an inclusion program or something to ensure he is being challenged at some point during the week.
Tonight while pulling Ben around in a wagon I asked how fast he was going. He said 5 miles an hour. Then I said “how fast would you be going if you went four times faster than 5 miles an hour?” Sam replied instantly “20″ Wow! And finally, while playing with Dad in the music “studio” (the office) he played a new song - “Don’t Steal My Bicycle” - Dave was hilarious singing the made-up words. It sounded a little country! Sam decided to call themselves the “Almond Brothers” band - I think because they loved some almond milk I gave them just before dinner. Aloha for now!
 We went on a beach hike today at one of our favorite places. I love the lava shelves here, the tide pools and the olivine sand - it’s green because it contains this mineral from the crater in the picture to the left (Ulupa’u). I did a little finger painting - mixed media madness really. Dave helped get the shape of Ulupa’u just right because I had been working from memory at the second beach we went to today. I saved some sand and sprinkled it on using spary adhesive. The shells are stuck on a mound of old glue stick glue.
Dave is not a big fan of my mixed media stuff but I told him what one of my friends (Liisa) said once – being an artist means one feels compelled to create. So…it doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be good LOL J. For me to keep a creation of my own, it has to instantly and sufficiently recall a time and place – experiences that I value. I like the textures (sand, shells, seaweed for the cactus on the slopes) because they all enhance my memory of the place. For me, it’s like making a 3D movie instead of a regular film. When I look at this one (wherever we stash it in the house - probably the bedroom!) I will remember all the times the boys and I jogged or biked around the fish ponds on a morning adventure, muddin’ through knee-deep puddles left by a heavy rain, rescuing injured stilts, even going to the commissary every week. If you click on the picture and blow it up you can see the sparkles in the sand!
 - Look at Dave soaring! He is quite a diver. The boys were very impressed today at the “cool”! Even little Ben jumped off the diving board today while Big Sam bagged some high dive jumps.
We enjoyed a trip to the pool this afternoon before hitting Target for a backpack for Sam. My Salvation Army pick was a good one for the first week of school until we had a better fix on what he really needs. Dave and I swam a few laps, trading off hanging out with the kids. I really enjoy swimming for exercise since my feet are still not totally back to normal. Plus my concrete stair skiing incident last week is still hurting the tailbone! (In a side note - Ben loves scratchies before bed - THANKS MOM! - so he asks for it on his neck most nights. The other night he requested ”On my tai-ow-bone, Mom.”) This morning was Sam’s weekly uke lesson with his sweet teacher Meylinn.
The Poi Boys: Here’s a movie of the boys playing in the back of the truck on the way over - Sam is playing on the uke Eddie Kamae gave him, while we are listening to one of Eddie’s CDs. They love a book about growing taro and request taro frozen yogurt, so the name “poi boys” just came to me tonight
It’s been an exciting and very full week around here with Dave back at work, me continuing to work against deadline pressure on a project that was slated to be done by now (plus other work piling in) and Sam starting school, which was the real focus of everyone’s attention. They start out gradually with a 2 hour KinderKamp orientation for kids and parents, then split the class up into two half days for half the class each. So Tues was KinderKamp, Wed was half day, and tomorrow (Fri) is the first full day for all 24 kids in the class.
Sam rolled into the routine very well, but just wonders how quickly all the kids will get with the program so there’s a lot less waiting around as activities roll one into the next. I spied on their recess time (with Ben - we went for a jog and came back to see what happens) and man there is a lot of sitting in lines for counting ducklings (they say “criss-cross applesauce” for everyone to sit down and cross legs with hands in lap). My friends told me this would be the case but I never guessed it would be so regimented. Of course we don’t want to lose anyone, but after 5 years of hiking with preschoolers it really seemed to be overkill. I would love to see me try to handle 24 kids one day, though!
Continue reading First days of school
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