-Each quarter in Social Studies, Quinn has to do a project.
They are given three choices in which to deliver the project – one of which
always seems to include a diorama. He is very hands on and prefers creative
projects so he tends to pick the diorama. His first two have been very creative
and scored him high marks. For the 3rd quarter, he chose something
slightly different. He made a model of a steam engine to signify that
development in United States history (the unit is mostly geared towards
Westward Expansion). He used mostly Styrofoam, with some spray paint and
created a very unique and creative project. Thank goodness I took pictures of
the final result, because his teacher is keeping it on display in his class and
he got a 100 on this effort!
-April Fool’s Day came and went without too much fanfare.
Overheard at our house – Keely to James: ‘Dad, I wore flip flops to school
today.’ to which he responded that she knows she is not allowed to wear sandals
until the end of the year, and not flip flops at all and to which he was given
a prompt ‘April Fools!’. James to Quinn when he asked what was for dinner:
‘We’re going out to eat!’ and when Quinn surprisingly asked, ‘Really?!?!’ he
got a sharp ‘April Fools’! All harmless, but a little bit of fun on what was be
an otherwise normal weekday.
-This weekend we visited Gunston Hall, George Mason’s home.
It is located just down the road a bit, at an exit off I-95 where Quinn happens
to have a basketball game each Sunday. Keely was just recently discussing learning about and
seeing photos of the home in class (it’s Virginia Studies for 4th
grade) and when she saw it at the exit on a sign, she was insistent that we
make a trip there. I love that she loves history and actually wants to visit
places such as these (I wasn’t really like that as a child) and I love that we
live so close to so many historical places. Now we have visited Mount Vernon
(Geo. Washington), Monticello (Tho. Jefferson) and we hope to add Montpelier
(James Madison) and Oak Hill (James Monroe) to the list this summer. Keely
really wanted to compare Gunston Hall to the other two we have seen. I know she
loves the fanciness of the houses, and imagining what life would have been like
in those days. Something that she said fascinated me and showed me that she’s really
thinking about what she is learning – why would Geo. Mason have had slaves if
he believed in free rights for all people? Honestly, I could answer her other
than that he was a bit ahead of his time in that belief. Anyways, the house was
quite lovely and a bit more practical than the other two historic homes. I
would choose Gunston…for the size and practicality of the house, and the
peaceful grounds on the banks of the Potomac. I also thought it was humorous to
think that in those days, Geo. Washington was his closest neighbor – because of
the ease of arriving by boat. It was a lovely spring afternoon, spent exploring
a lovely piece of Virginia (and really US) history.
-I have new hope for my running legs returning after two
runs this weekend – one a slow, painful 4 miler and one a speedier almost pain
free 4.6 miles. I am feeling stronger and I think I just need to pick my days –
when I feel good, I can run but when I don’t, I probably just need to know not
to push it (even if the weather is nice or if the stars align for a run). It
also helped that my soccer game was canceled on Saturday due to unsafe field
conditions. I think it would have prevented the good run I had yesterday…but it
was also bad because now when I play again (2 weeks since the first game) I’m
not sure my muscles will remember and I could end up just as sore as last time.
Hopefully next time out my mind will realize that my body is not 20 and it won’t
be as bad afterwards. I’m still looking forward to another game, just being a
little more realistic about how far I can push this aging body.
And that’s only 4 things, but I’m going to post anyways
since a new week is upon us. A little over a week until we head to Florida for
some hopefully sun and fun with the family J
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