As part of the ALP (Advanced Learner Program), Bean's participating in an iEARN Learning Circle this semester. The kids are doing projects of their own device relating to heros. Bean had his heros narrowed down to Julius Caesar, Daddy, Superman, and Archimedes. Yesterday he settled on Archimedes, and told me that he wanted to build-- get this-- a replica of the Antikythera Mechanism. So not happening around here! We will probably end up building a water screw-- I will have the boy write out some ideas for materials, and then we'll make a shopping list and have a quiet mommy & son trip to Home Depot or Walmart to find out what's actually cheap (and therefore feasable). He would also like to build a trebuchet and a death ray... we will see. Perhaps he'll come up with a timeline of Archimedian inventions. Who knows?

In any case, that's what I woke up to this morning. "Mom, let's look up Archimedes' Death Ray online!" Usually I get, "Will you make oatmeal? I'm staaaaaarving..." Today, Archimedes is The Man. *heh* It's a good thing I think this is cute. :)

Hm. Perhaps I'll check Freecycle for materials for the water screw. It would be sweet if we could pull this off without spending any cash. *heh*

Okay, so it's not *actually* spring yet. It's still winter, and for those of us in Pennsylvania we're well aware of it despite the disappointing dearth of snow.

As of this morning, BeanBean has completed the following:

Math 3: 43%

Language Arts 2: 67%

History 2: 55%

Science 2: 75%

Art 2: 49%

Beginning 2 Music: 11%

We haven't done today's schoolwork, which will be math. As we've hit the units on measurement, I expect that he'll complete two units in about 45 minutes. I'm also behind when it comes to logging things into the OLS; Last week I forgot to log his LA assignments *and* his Science for some reason. In any case, he's actually farther along than that. After we finish the math, we'll watch a recorded Elluminate session about the iEARN Learning Circle in which he's participating and he'll get to work on that assignment. He's going to be doing a project on a hero... so I figure the top choices will probably be Archimedes or Julius Caesar. I could be wrong, though; The boy is full of surprises.

 Bean's become more obsessed with music, so I'm trying to get him enrolled in The Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster. They have a financial aid program calledThe Bravo! Fund which would allow him to study there, and I think it would be a fantastic opportunity for him. I know that it would thrill him beyond belief to have real lessons on *something*. Renting a violin is about $30 a month, so if I can't find anything for him on Freecycle or Craig's List (I've been trying!!) I may try to find something else to squeeze and go rent one from a local music store. I'm trying not to think about money, though, beyond the standard "If I Win the Powerball" fantasies. Money is horribly depressing. :(

This morning was the biweekly phone conference with Mrs. K, the ALP director. She's come up with two sets of assignments to submit to Mrs. T (Bean's teacher) so that she can have him promoted in Language Arts, Science, and History. Math is easy enough, I've just been sending unit assessments which are more than adequate to the task. Mrs. T is much happier with this set of assignments, and is looking forward to seeing Bean's work. I'm going to start putting those together this afternoon as well... if I can get Mike to take the kids out of the house.

In other fun news, Bella has become completely obsessed with letters and numbers. She loves counting and geometry, and is learning her lowercase letters (she already knows the capitals). She's a bit more than halfway there. Last week, for the first time ever, I sat with her as she played some games on Starfall. She was just so cute! Yesterday she told me she was "doing schoolwork" and brought me a preschool skills workbook she'd found somewhere. She was having the time of her life with it, though I admit that I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about it as I was in the bathroom at the time. *heh* Even though I know that she'll be just fine if I don't work with her, I feel guilty that I hardly have the time or energy to do things with her. If she gets half an hour of ABC time from me in a day, it's a lot. :( She asks constantly...