New things around here

We saw our first leaf bug.


And we found our first (live) frog (toad?).


Trevor started his new co-op today. With about 20 families and just a science class offering, broken down by age groups into three classes, this is vastly different than our old co-op of 300 families and 170 classes. Trev's class is pretty big, 15 kids. The teacher, bless her heart, is not a big science person but teaching because she was asked to. There were two of us moms helping out in the class today, and we had to think on our feet to keep the class moving and occupied once the material was covered. The other mom seems to be pretty creative, and I'm hoping I can pull together some fun stuff that can be worked into the class also. Trevor is encouraged by this. He doesn't care so much about the class and is there hoping to make some friends. Although helping out to this extent in class is not on my list of things I want to do, it seems that God may have a slightly different plan for me. (Story of my life, lol!)

Holly is not taking the class. Science doesn't thrill her to begin with, and she didn't really care for the thought of being in a class of 7-12th graders.

Tonight we drove waaaay out for Trevor to join a homeschool chess club. He taught himself how to play chess on the computer and continues to be interested in playing. This class is an hour away, but lasts for two hours and only meets twice a month. He thought the drive (or the ride, in his case,) would be worth it. There were ~18 kids there, all boys except the teacher's two girls, and he had a fun time.


(Holly and Trevor have joined forces and banned me from taking photos of them.)

When Trevor tired of playing, he built instead.

* * * *

Note to self: Buy reliable and detailed maps, no matter what the cost.

Neither GPS nor Google maps are a dependable way to get anywhere. My GPS doesn't even recognize my street, but has recommended I turn down two other streets 1-2 miles away. Good thing I didn't turn when it told me to, because the roads do NOT go through, and I could be lost in the woods for eternity. Instead, when I turn down my street, it declares me to be lost and not on any street at all.

I googled directions to chess tonight, which were confirmed by my GPS. After driving down several twisty, two lane, country "roads" for seven miles, Robert wondered how he would ever 1) get out and 2) return to pick us up. We asked the chess teacher if there was an easier way to get out. Sure enough. Two blocks away was a main highway, leading straight to civilization.