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Last Sunday, he figured out that he can play against other opponents online with Wii Mario Kart. Somehow playing against actual people from around the world is more exciting to him than just competing against the virtual characters.
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On Monday, Rick and Gerrick ventured out to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival while I had a friend come over and visit.
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On Tuesday, Gerrick and I visited The Farm School along with some friends for Coalescence Day. I was tremendously impressed with the people at this wonderful little multi-age school and with the evident mutual respect between staff and students. The Farm also has a satellite program for home/community-based learners who for whatever reason choose not to register with the LEA. I have planned to register with this program beginning with the 5th grade year to avoid required testing; however, I am seriously considering signing on with them now just because I like them so much and want to help support the program. I didn't take many pictures because I was just enjoying being immersed in the experience. This one photo was taken from the main solar building's back doors; each door leads to a separate outdoor classroom--walls with no floors or ceilings! There is a garden room, a compost room, a play room...
After spending some time at the school for opening circle and a tour (for me) and a game of kickball (for Gerrick), we hiked to the swimming hole where we had a potluck lunch and enjoyed the afternoon.
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While hiking back to the car, we took the opportunity to closely observe a few of nature's many little treasures.
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| --Pipevine Swallowtail, Larva-- |
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| --Eastern Box Turtle-- |
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| --unidentified caterpillar-- |
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| --sassafras-- |
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Gerrick is a big fan of The Lord of the Rings movies. There has been lots of LOTR play this week, and he has been reading and watching online reviews of the new LEGO LOTR sets. He has a copy of the visual companion book for each movie and has been spending a good bit of time looking through them. I picked up a copy of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring for a dollar at Goodwill today, and he is super excited for Rick to start reading it to him tonight so he can find out what kind of good stuff was left out of the movie!
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Not surprisingly, he also made a few things with LEGOs this week, including this "grabber" inspired by the Crazy Action Contraptions book. I'm not sure the cat enjoyed it as much as Gerrick did.
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On Friday evening I went horseback riding and out to dinner with a good friend. Though I'm extremely thankful for all the time I get to spend with Gerrick, it's also important to me to get out and do things on my own from time to time. I haven't blogged about any of those outings before and I may never again, but I think it's relevant to note that Gerrick knows I have interests beyond facilitating his.
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| (This is a horse I rode last fall.) |
Have a great week!
That swimming hole looks fantastic! And the medieval tournament - what kid wouldn't like that? We too are big LOTR fans, which reminds me, I need to add those to our reading list...
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