It's already April!

First, on a personal note,

today is my dad's 65th birthday.

April Fool's baby...

if you knew him, you'd see that the date fits him just fine. :)

Happy birthday to you, Larrabee!

Now...

we're off and running for school!

We wrapped up our first two Writing Workshops this week.

Oh...it has been bittersweet for me.

I have had such a great time with these kids

and I can't believe five weeks is over with so quickly.

One of the girls in my first workshop
brought these flowers to me on Tuesday.
They are so beautiful.

All of the kids and parents were so sweet and so kind.

I got many gifts which I totally wasn't expecting,

(and didn't need, but I will definitely use them

and am incredibly grateful for them.)

Thank you!

Here is a group shot of my second workshop.

One child is missing from this photo...

this second one was a large group,

but the kids were so awesome.

I had a wonderful time with them. :)

Here is Maya working hard on her poetry at the computer.

I wanted her to submit for the contest by this past Wednesday,

but I've decided to give her until the actual dead line of April 13th

to complete and submit. Turns out this kid has a lot to say...

and many poems to choose from.

I'm not going to rush her and let her take her time.

I know whichever poem she chooses to submit

will be a great one 

and I want her to feel that it's as perfected as she can make it.

Something really cool has happened this school year.

It is hard to teach the same subjects but on two different levels.

Not impossible, mind you, but difficult.

When I try to bring the level down a notch for Scott,

he seems unchallenged and unhappy.

In several subjects, such as science, history and geography,

I have been teaching at Maya's grade level,

and Scott's been working hard to keep up.

I don't have the same expectations out of him, of course.

There is a three and a half year age difference between the two...

but he does remarkably well.

Maya has helped him along a lot.

She helps him with his maps

and the different assignments I give them.

She's learned a lot by guiding Scott

and they have grown a lot closer in the last year.

Today, Maya helped Scott with a piece of music on the piano.

She's a patient and gentle teacher

and the two of them work well with one another.

If you can't tell, I've got a huge amount of Mommy pride 

welling up inside right now. :)

We have some fun stuff planned for April.

Scott is taking a two hour water color class on the 6th

at Bond Park with a homeschooling mom

who is also an art teacher.

While he's in class, Maya and I are meeting up

with some friends we've met through one of our workshops

and will spend some time with them.

I start workshop number three on Thursday, April 8th.

This one will run for four weeks instead of five

as I will be taking a break mid-way

to go and visit Georgia with my family.

We have the poetry contest deadline 

for Creative Communications on April 13th.

Scott has already submitted his poem,

and we should hear what the results of the contest are

by the first of June.

Wish the kids luck!

I found out this evening that there were
more than 700 entries
in North Carolina's Museum of Natural Sciences
Shark Art contest.
That's a heck of a lot of sharks!!!
Scott was not a winner,
but I'm really proud of him for entering.
Yay, Scooter!

I'm sure there will be more to come for the month.

I will be posting again soon.