hour of code

Finished an (‪#‎hourofcode‬) hour of code with kids today at Traditions Montessori School. 30 minutes with eight 3-4 year olds; 45 minutes with seven 5-6 year olds, and 70 minutes with seventeen 6-12 year olds. We used Scratch Jr. this year, and it was a success.. must have been anyway.. my kids are now playing with it.

​ I'll have to video the ones that the kids made when they got home.. pretty cool magic happening here.

pre-preteenage stress

Last night, we didn't get home from dinner until 7:30 and Zoe had a lot of homework to still accomplish, but she was at the end of her rope.  She put a lot of pressure on herself to get it all finished and in the end I had to physically get her to move away from her homework and get ready for bed.. She was in bed by 8:15, but was crying and wanted me to leave her alone.. push me away, turning away, telling me to go.  But I could tell she needed me.  I stayed with her.  Quiet when I could, just sitting there.  Offering and giving massages despite half hearted refusals.  Identifying with moments when I was stressed, tired, and crying. In the end I gave her a visualization of the leaves falling from trees, walking amongst them, blowing one as it fell in front of her, to let if float higher, letting it fall to the ground, finding another.  Still crying, but settling, until she finally fell asleep.  In the morning she gave me a hug and apologized for giving me a hard time.  [Wow!]  I told her I understood and that we all have those moments, especially when we are both very tired and very stressed.

A glimpse of the future?  or perhaps we will have a handle on it?  I'm not sure.

After school skate!

Advent calendar

4 days into her first lego calendar and Zoe has already decided that she is not going to do them in order, so she can get the other friend...

She will go far in this world.. Out of the box thinking... Literally!

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Growing, learning..

I feel like it has been so long since I wrote much on the blogs.  Zoe and Finn are growing in leaps and bounds, not just height, but in all they know.  It is so fun to hear their knowledge come out in words exchanged with friends, things they teach us like

Z: mom, let's play a game, each of us are a part of speech.. What do you want to be, I think Finn is and interjection.

M: remind me what that is

Z: like " ouch!"

M: oh yeah, that fits Finn

Or like when Finn was doing two digit math in his head.. 32 - 23, and he had to jail (a picture of a 3, that was changed into a 2), and he got the right answer.  

They recently performed in the thanksgiving program at school.  Zoe had three long speaking parts and her teacher told me that she could have easily recited the whole play and was always willing to take a part from anyone who gave them up.  Finneas also had one speaking part and I could easily hear him belt out the songs.

Both Mrs Bethke and Mrs Ledbetter spoke at length with me on how excited they were by the achievements of both kids.  It made me remember how far both of them have come. 

 A year and 4 months ago, Zoe came to the school without reading or writing in English, she was still doing letter reversals and numbers too.  She is now reading Harry Potter and any other text she can find.  She masters her spelling easily, seeing the corrections and remembering them.  

A year ago I had a conversation with Mrs Keelan and Mrs Ledbetter on whether Finn was ready for first grade.  He was having trouble with sounds.  Over the last 4 months he has mastered his reading, and whenever he sees something new, it becomes a permanent part of his knowledge base.  He is taking on his math by storm too.

More soon...

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Bruce Gooch Has Invited You to Try Grammarly Premium for Free

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>  >  >  Bruce Gooch >  has invited you to try Grammarly Premium >  Your friend Bruce Gooch has invited you to try Grammarly Premium for a week (for free). Bruce Gooch thinks you'll love using Grammarly to ensure that all of your daily writing (emails, blogs, social posts, essays, novels) is mistake-free. >  Accept Invite >  We think you'll ��� it >  >  Thank you! The Grammarly Team >  P.S. Bruce Gooch will also earn a free week of Premium as soon as you claim this offer. It's a friends-with-benefits reward, redefined. >  >  Bill Winterberg, Journalist, Atlanta "The service goes beyond the basic spell check and grammar check built into the word processor, as Grammarly can identify correctly spelled words that are used in the wrong context." >  >

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F: raise your hand if your name is Amy

Z: I am almost a Amy, in a really complicated way 

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
(801)-828-5038    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You are invited to view "Amy Gooch's photo"

View Photo Message from Amy Gooch: Zoe and her best camel friend If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fER4pqS68vHfjwDtWnqpIMivDSytxpkAU9oiW6ycZ5c?feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

presidents and unicorns

Z: "Mom, is it against the law for a woman to be president or has there just not been one?"

M: "Just not been one"

Z: "Oh good, because I want to be the first woman so I can make laws, like there really were unicorns"

The artiste

I am such a fan of this artist

3 years and 8.75 years old

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
(801)-649-3923    (SLC Virtual)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

siri.. remote please

Zoe: "Siri, give me 5 different way to find your remote".. yep, she lost the tv remote and has not moved off her butt to find it.. but Siri may help..

mud -> water-> homemade water park

Zoe and Finn were bare foot, saying good bye to their play date.. ended up walking, then dancing, then wallowing their feet in the mud.  Then took them to the hose.. now they are completely wet, having a great time... Zoe was still muddy and wanted to come in, I sent her back to get the hose and remove the mud.  Meanwhile Finn has the tiniest amount of water in the kid pool is running and jumping into this round slip and slide.  Zoe on her way off the porch mooned me.

 

times of high stress

Zoe came home and decided she really wanted this special sandwich I made for her once in her school lunch.. it came with sprinkles.  In continuous begging for details, it came out this was her lunch kit birthday on her 5th birthday (yes, how does she remember these things????!!!).  Finally after trying to talk to Bruce about it I realized it must have been a Nutella sandwich (before I found out they have more sugar than icing) and that I added the sprinkles because it was her birthday at school.  well we have no Nutella, no icing.  this resulted in a breakdown (not the first of the day, I've been having near panic attacks with my work all day).. and finally, I covered bread in peanut butter, telling her she needed something of substance, it was clear that sugar on its own was not the answer, and then set up a bar of honey, jelly, bread, and sprinkles.  Finally, we worked it out, I continued to work, they sugared up.. all is well.  I even got a thank you minutes ago for the sprinkle sandwich.

Sound of Music

Watched half of Sound of Music (the sing along version) with Zoë tonight... for the first time.  Rite of passage and happy mama.. we were studying up for her school performance of the good night song this Thursday at European History week.

about 1 hour in, she changed her clothing and came down and practiced dancing to the music.

I remember every summer watching the Sound of Music either by myself or with my mom too.

Happy April Fool's Day

Today was April Fools Day... I did a little mess up on the kids lunches, wrapping each in tin foil and putting them in the wrong place, etc.  But Bruce topped us all.  He came running home at 9:30am, shouting, "Amy, I need you help with something"

I went into the other room and eeked, and shouted, "What did you do.!". he shaved, wore chinos and a blue shirt.  It was shocking.. he looked just like the guy I married.. not the guy I was married to.  He was wearing his brother's clothes  (but in a different size).

He couldn't wait to tell the kids.. so he met us after school.  Finn played shy and it was clear he had no idea who was standing next to me, he was clinging to my skirt, hiding behind me. Even Bruce talking to him wasn't making sense.  It took him a long time to get it.  The teachers were watching me and thought I was getting frisky with someone else.. they were kind of shocked too. When Zoe finally came over, she had a hard time with it.. she covered her eyes as if to wipe it away.  All night she has been giving him a dirty look and told me she hopes the beard comes back tomorrow.  Finn has pretty much the same feeling for now.  I hadn't thought of it, but they've never seen him fully shaved.  

what a day!

April fools!

Happy April fool's to our kids.. All messed up lunches

Finneas: if you want your kids to be quiet, let them do this...

Mermaids

Zoe was getting buried as a mermaid in sand

This is great, if I toot you can't hear it

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

3 pictures for you

Today it rained and rained and rained.. we finally went to buy boots.
It took three stores to finally find pairs for the whole family. We
celebrated by braking them in... well.. I stood in the water and took
pictures. They were soaked, just from spashing.

and they wanted to do it again after diner.

Mom, I can't find "need" in the dictionary ..

M: what letter are you looking at

Z: "o"

M: laugh!!! Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed 

z: it's okay, I like it when you laugh, especially if I did it

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Studies of Picasso

Zoe's study on Picasso and those of her classmates

Ear piercing

Zoe got her ears pierced at Big daddy's tattoo parlor. These guys were amazing. Super fast, no tears, just clean, hand held needles... Crazy!

Look what I can do night at school

Last week:

Last night was "look what I can do night" at school

Zoe showed me the letters Y and Z in Egyptian, middle eastern, Greek and Roman. Turns out the letter Z was used as a symbol for weapon in Egypt and the Middle East. She also did a few other jobs.. I am impressed by all the different areas she examines in her day.  She is definitely getting a better grounding in grammar than I ever had.

Finneas showed me a numbers task with wooden trees and pegs representing apples and leaves.  Then he read some text and showed me some sorting and counting coin task.  He also San huge coin song they were working on.

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Then we went for yogurt to celebrate the bravery of Zoë

Story book character day:

Jack and Annie from Magic Treehouse books

perfume part 2

M: Does it really have ear wax in it?

Z: It is probably glue

 

perfume

M: Zoe, you smell good, are you wearing perfume?

Z: I'm wearing my own perfume.  Do you want some..?  It has soap, water, perfume, glue, earwax, ice, water.

She had me at earwax.

kissing with tongue

The other night we were finished reading in bed, and Zoe snuggled in close.. and Finn, always having to out do his sister, climbed up on top of me, and proceeded to kiss me good night, saying, "This is how Daddy kisses Mom"... and he was all tongue.. I had to put my hand in-between... wow.. he is persistent.. and I was laughing so hard.. we all were.. it was just too much.

He pays so much attention to the world around him.. 

reading!

The kids received Magic Tree House books #1-48 for Christmas and they are hooked. We read 1/2 to 1 whole book a night.. we're on #9 I think.  Last night Zoe told me, "Read faster, I have to know what is going to happen".  The other night they had a sleepover with Liz and she refused to sit in with us while we read, she only wanted to play legos. Not Zoe and Finn, they stayed in bed with me, while I read the story, their friend in with the legos.  Now I understand how reading to your kids makes them readers too.. proud mama!

peee...

 I was just reading Finn's blog.. I'm making up for lost time and trying  to make him some baby  books (memory books).. and I found 

http://finneasgooch.blogspot.com/2011/01/pee-pee.html

Well last night, after much laughter coming from the bathroom (they were in the tub), I went in to get them out before things got out of hand.  I found a cup near the tub.. usually they are all over, filled with different colored potions... well I just threw it in the tub and told them they couldn't leave water out, or the cats would drink it.. well it turns out this tiny 1 cup measuring cup had pee in it.. yep.. I poored it nearly on them, in the tub.. they took a shower.. wonder if they'll do that again?

Zoe is screaming at the top of her lungs, crying, "I have to go see that squirrel. It is my destiny, it is what I was made for.  We just left the oak trees of campus, where she tried to feed a squirrel.

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~