Seens like a long time since we attended to our blog. It's August 2010, and "back to school" fever seems to be everywhere. So, why not start writing down our activities once again? School has not yet started for most of the elementary kids, but at the Farwell School, the learning never stops.

Today the Nobel Pirate (7) attended a breakdancing class. He's been learning new ways to move his body, and watching him, I could see his brain working to coordinate multiple limbs. The effort made his forehead wrinkle. The Coffee Grinder move caused him a bit of trouble. It involved holding one foot in front while balancing on the other foot and hands, then spinning the free foot around and hopping over it while holding the full body weight briefly on the other hand.

Meanwhile, Puppy Artiste (4) and I meandered over to the grocery store, where we talked about the nutritional qualities of fruit, popcorn and muffins and discussed the different types of sugar in each. We also discussed the marketing display technique of putting food samples out. She agreed that it was a good way for the store owners to make a profit (and we did buy some delicious kettle corn after trying it).

Driving back home, the three of us had a talk about planning for the future. Puppy thought that if you plan to be a cowboy when you grow up, the chances are good that you will become a business person instead. She has no illusions about becoming a cowboy, but instead plans to become a singer, dancer and veterinarian. Nobel Pirate disagreed, insisting that indeed he would become a pirate later in life, as well as a singer/dancer too.

Back at home, we listened to a bit of German Muzzy music, and then played a great game of Jetboat Harbor, A Small Vowels Game. The star vowel of the day? Short "o", with the favorite "o" word being "mop." Both Pirate and Puppy ended up in tears during the game when the other player stole their favorite "o" but each recovered an "o" on a subsequent turn, and fairness prevailed.

Later today we will be visiting the library, both to return books (about 50) and to take out a few more. For not being full readers, these are the most book-readingist kids I've ever seen. Somehow I suspect that their current lack of reading skills will not be a long term problem.