On Saturday, Peter and I received the news that Kelly did not make it into Hacienda (the science magnet), and her spot on the waiting list to get in was #278. Peter, in particular, was crushed. Last year, when the waiting list had only 130 children, she was 3 up from the bottom of the [...]
This April has not been a good month for me, but I’m trying to make it work. In particular, field trips and parties make for nice diversions, and this month alone (among other fun adventures) we had a wonderful visit to the Exploratorium; found a lone banana slug in the remote Portola Redwoods; and had [...]
At the Indian Health Center, I learned that on April 18th, a local Barnes & Noble was going to be hosting a four hour activity/storytime/music extravaganza. So, naturally, Kelly and I were going to be there! I made sure to get there early, because I expected it would only get more crowded over time. Outside [...]
The Santa Clara Valley Gem and Mineral Society (essentially a geologist and rock hunter club) had a brilliant idea to improve attendance and interest in its annual show: they recruited the youth leaders amongst themselves so that Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Cub Scouts could earn badges learning more about geology while at the show. [...]
A few weeks ago, we went for a homeschoolers’ hike at Villa Montalvo, and to our surprise, we found a banana slug on the way, which delighted the children, particularly the younger ones. So this weekend, I thought I’d take Neil and Kelly out to someplace with loads of banana slugs to look at and [...]
Today I was in a black mood again, because it was time to get Kelly’s TB test read, and then return to grovel at the school district enrollment office. I figured if I did everything the very first thing in the morning, I might have a chance for making up for it with a better [...]
It is 5:30 a.m. and Peter is standing in line at the San Jose Unified enrollment center (which won’t open until 8 am) hoping that this year Kelly can go to a school without morons, sociopaths, and parents who show up with their children, like, whenever. Although Peter is doing the work on this, I [...]
My children and I blazed through earth science, and we’re on to biology. It’s one subject, at least in its “lab” component that works well for both Neil and Kelly. Kelly marvels and observes while Neil extracts scientific principles from the experiment. A few weeks ago, I got some worms for a few experiments. Our [...]
I’ve been doing very light blogging, because I’ve been putting all my writing efforts into this current gig I have that pays me for doing writing, which I love. But I still love blogging, so you can still expect to see the rare, in-between entry. This last week has been one of great anxiety. Charybdis [...]
I have to say this year has been exciting, and at times spectacular for me. In February, I got to revisit Germany for the first time in many, many years. I had a great time, but I missed my family much more than I expected to. And one lasting part of the experience is that [...]
