The Mad Month of May

     It's the lovely month of May.  Mostly, that means I am one exhausted mom.  End of year school trips, plays, parents evenings, track meets, shows, award nights - the list of events that I am supposed to attend goes on and on.  It's fun and heartwarming, yes.  I am happy to support my children.  But I have spent a lot of time in the car lately, which makes me feel frazzled and unbalanced.

     To kick of the end of the school year season, Eleanor (age 7) had a school trip to the San Diego Zoo.  Eleanor is enrolled in a unique home school program which is administred through a school called the Mountain Valley Academy.  She has a teacher, and a class, and she goes to school for two days a week.  The other three days she is at home with me.  The teacher assigns all the work and supplies all the materials, and I choose when and how we do the work.  It's a fabulous arrangement.

     Theoretically I am all in favor of homeschool but practically I have never been in a position to do it, either because of the particular personalities of my children or because I barely felt like I was keeping my head above water with family life, even with my children in regular school.  But when we moved from England, Eleanor was having a hard time coping with all the changes.  She just didn't feel comfortable in the American school system, and I think she was feeling insecure anyway with being in a different country.  She never wanted to leave me, and she would cry whenever she had to go to school.   So, when we moved to San Diego, I told her I would homeschool her. 

     I was bracing myself for difficulties and frustrations, because I am a very busy person and in general I tend to make things difficult for myself and therefore go around in a state of perpetual frustration.  So I guess I was just bracing myself for life as I have always known it, but the homeschool element was just going to add to it all.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  I felt very supported, because I could ask her teacher any questions I needed and I never felt on my own.  At the same time Eleanor could live life at a more relaxed pace and adjust to all the newness in her own time.  She was ahead of her peers in terms of school work, because she had had a whole extra year of schooling, so she was able to do second grade work instead of first grade work, which helped keep her boredome at bay.

     Anyway, I digress.  Alot.  So, we had a homeschool field trip to the zoo.  One parent had to go with the child, so that would be me.  And we got to pay a special school rate, so we got to see one of the world's finest zoos at a very good price.  I had Eleanor all to myself - or, maybe, she had me all to herself, and it was great.

     They have a great variety of animals, and sadly not all my pictures from this trip are easily accessible.  But here are some highlights.

   

A Mongolian Camel.  Notice he is shedding his coat.  Apparently in the Mongolian desert they experience extreme temperatures of both hot and cold.  So, he needs a very warm coat in the winter, and a very thin coat in the summer.
 



This picture was taken by Eleanor.  I guess this is the view of a 7-year old.

Camels.  Yes.  We saw their tongues.  They are as long as your forearm.
 



A tiger.  Apparently he hides often, so we were lucky to see him play with that big ball you can see in the tree.

Elephants.  They have about 5 of these that I saw.  They keep them in a very large, dusty area with lots of logs and poles everywhere.

A rhino.  His very thick, wrinkly skin reminded me of Rudyard Kipling's story 'How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin'.

 

 

Koala bears.  Apparently baby Koala bears are the size of a thumbnail.

     Later that week, Imogen had her final week of track.  She's in the 8th grade, and although she did do some competitive running in England, this is the first time she has been on a track team.  The 8th grade track experience has not been particularly organized or rigorous, as far as I can tell.  For instance, it seems the kids get to pick their events, something which was not an option for me when I ran track.  So, a few kids run the distance races, and lots of kids run the 100 meters. 
     They had a track meet in Ramona, so I took the kids to watch her in that.  She ran the mile, and I was very proud of her for agreeing to run that race, as most of her teammates seem to eschew long distances.  Here she is, finishing second out of three:

And here she is just off the starting line for the 100 meters:

     The next big event we had was Abigail's performance in The Little Mermaid.  Hours and hours of extra rehersals and driving to and fro meant that I really hoped all this effort was worth it.  Abigail was cast as a Mersister, and she did great!  Her dancing was flawless and she sang with gusto.  She has an incredible stage presence, with a huge smile on her face the whole time.  No self-consciousness there, then!
    After the show, the main characters in the play were outside available for pictures.  Georgie and Verity were brave enough to get a hug with Ariel:

Here we are in the lobby before the show:

 

 

     The next day was Mother's Day.  Abigail had a show, but here is a Mother's Day picture with 5 of my 6 children.  The suit I am wearing in this picture was made for me by my own mother when I was 19, and I wore it to honor her.  Really surprised it still fits!

 

 

      The next event was Eleanor's class production, which was a Patriotic Program.  They sang about 10 patriotic songs, none of which Eleanor had ever heard, I suspect, before having to learn them for this program.  I love my country and I consider myself to be patriotic, but full-blown American patriotism is not something my children are used to. 

Eleanor, reciting a nursury rhyme at her school production.  Practicing those public speaking skills, part of any respectable education in a democratic country!

     Samuel also had a school play around this time.  The fifth and sixth graders put on a production of Mary Poppins.  It was a truncated version, to be sure, but it was still really well done!  Samuel had the part of Uncle Albert, and he was one of the best actors, if not the the best actor in the cast, if I do say so myself.  He has excellent voice projection and good expression when he delivers his lines.
      Then, Imogen had an awards night for her academic performance in 8th grade.  This was a great achievement, since Imogen has come into a completely new educational system this year, and has also had to adjust to not one but two new schools.  So, the fact that her GPA was high enough to attend this achievement night was an amazing accomplishment.

Imogen with friends at her Academic Achievement Night, May 2014