March 7th, 2019: TED Talks, Dad’s silly quizzes & birthday celebrations.
Work Week
On Tuesday night we watched another TED talk – and this one was on drawing featuring Graham Shaw. The talk was entitled: Why people believe they can’t draw – and how to prove they can. All of the kids were interested in the presentation. They made me stop it early on in the presentation so they could get paper and pencils.
We know Annie is a good little artist – and Dominick… well let’s just say he is kind of messy – but Gracie was the one that really surprised us! I put a couple of her cartoon characters below so you can see them. She even drew one of them on the chalk board at school the other day. It was great to see her inspired and enthusiastic about something new!
Why people believe they can’t draw – and how to prove they can | Graham Shaw | TEDxHull
Friday
Friday night I had a quiz for the kiddos right after dinner. A simple 5 question quiz – with a bonus question. The point of the quizzes is usually to try to drive a point home with the kids. I do make them write the questions as I dictate them.
Lately – the kids have been a little lethargic in the mornings and we have been really close to being late to school far too often. So I was trying to reinforce what we have been telling them needs to happen on school mornings. Likewise, with Annie we are really struggling with getting her to look at us when we are speaking to her….
April 5th, 2019 Quiz
- It’s a Tuesday in May – School day or non-school day? (Correct answer: School Day)
- Name at least 5 things you need to do on that Tuesday in May (from question 1). (Correct answer: Any five of the following – Eat breakfast, get dressed, put dirty PJs down the laundry chute, no sitting on the couch, brush teeth, put shoes on, get hair done, get coat on, get book bag, and be ready to go out the door no later than 8:08 AM!)
- I got a 93% on my science test. My dad is going to think________________. (Correct answer: Something to the effect of “I’m a dorkus” , “I’m not his kid”, etc)
- If there are 67 people in Wegmans (a grocery store) right now and 36% of them are experiencing dingleberries that day – how many people have dingleberries? (Correct answer: ~24 people – but I would give them credit for anything between 21 and 27)
- My dad is talking to me. I should be looking at his:
- a) My toes
- b) His dupa (butt)
- c) His eyes
- (Correct Answer: His eyes)
- BONUS: Respiration & photosynthesis – explain the relationship between these 2 processes. Use diagrams, words, and /or pictures (Correct answer: They need to explain how they are essentially opposite processes. Photosynthesis takes water and minerals from the ground, CO2 from the air and then uses sunlight to turn the raw materials into carbon or sugar chains – to store energy. The waste product is oxygen – which the plants essentially exhale. Respiration is what humans do and we take in the waste product of plants – the oxygen, and tear down foods like sugar chains (to use as energy). The waste product that we generate is carbon dioxide – which is one of the raw materials that plants use for photosynthesis).
Quiz Results
Scores, from highest to lowest. Gracie = 34 points, Annie = 33 points, and Dominick = 22. Neatness was a criteria I used – and that is where Dominick really did poorly. Annie was the only one that got any credit for question 4. She just guessed – but was within the correct range. Dominick got question number 5 wrong – because he mis-read the multiple choice answers. They all did well on the Photosynthesis / Respiration question.
What amazes me is that they are all such good sports with regards to my quizzes & stupid games! I do try to make them fun and make them laugh (hence the dingleberry language). I believe I have to appeal to their current sense of humor to draw them in and engage them – and right now potty humor is still the stage that they are pretty much at….. Even after doing my quizzes and stupid games for years – they are all still so enthusiastic when I ask them if they want to take a quiz or play a stupid game! They have fun, I have fun and Melani just rolls her eyes at us – so it is all good!
Saturday
Someone is turning 9 in a couple of days – so this was Dominick’s birthday weekend! His birthday is actually on Wednesday – but we can’t really celebrate it next weekend since we will be travelling.
So Saturday afternoon I took Dominick and two of his closest friend to a trampoline park (Planet 3) and then out to dinner at Consols – his favorite place for pizza. I think it worked out really well – especially since Dominick is more quiet and reserved. They had a lot of fun and and we all had a really good conversation at dinner!
Below are a couple of videos of Dominick climbing the rock wall, “jousting” and doing the cargo net at the Planet 3 trampoline park.
Sunday
We had an absolutely beautiful day here on Sunday – about 68° with some sun. The highlight of my day was spending some time outside with Dominick de-thatching the lawn with my new de-thatcher.
Dominick was such an awesome helper! I figured we would get up a lot of dead grass – but I was amazed at how much we did. We only did the front yard – and we probably got something like 5 garbage cans packed full of dead grass. All of it is now in the garden – and will soon be rota-tilled into the dirt to help improve the soil in the garden.
Dominick also spent some time riding his bike and climbing the dogwood tree in the front yard. But he really did help me a lot – and I enjoyed spending the time with him. It was a wonderful day – and I am glad everyone got some outside time!
I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
