He said, "Now I can see in HD!"

A More Masculine Take on Valentines

They're valentines and they're bookmarks.  Not too girly for a boy of almost-ten to create for his classmates.

A Very Cute School Photo, Right?

A Sad Day

Boylee just demanded the truth about Santa.  Tears all around.

Meet Papa Pedro

Today was the last day of muppet camp.

First Day of Muppet Camp!

Amazing!

Just Because

Autumn in Studio City

Summer Highlights!

There are several shots of Boylee.  What a great camp.

(I can't get it to embed - click HERE.)

The Halloween Costume

Not His Halloween Costume

Radioactive Rooster!  

Boylee's 4th Grade Classroom

Reading is a big part of the curriculum - because "The more you read the better you write, and the more you write the better you read!"

Last Thursday's schedule.

Boylee's reading timeline.

Last week we celebrated the publishing of their personal narrative.  Boylee wrote about a time he went to the beach and almost got sucked out to sea!

It's a small classroom.  This is the entire thing!

Finally Boylee's upstairs -- the real mark of being a big kid (at our school, anyway).

Nightswimming in Central Cal

Where it was ten hundred million degrees.

Boylee's Quote of the Day

"It's every nine-year-old's dream to be eleven."

School!

Oh, the end of summer is so melancholy.  Except it isn't really the end of summer yet, is it?  Nevertheless, school is starting.

Yesterday we met Boylee's teacher and took a quick glance at his classroom.  Ms. P is young, pretty and seems very gentle.  But she's been teaching 4th grade for several years, so I'm sure she's stronger than she looks.  From her bio we see that she's got a strong background in art, and loves photography, French and yoga.  Sounds like an interesting combo.

Boylee's fairly happy, but not particularly thrilled to be going back.  He's glad to be seeing friends again, and is interested in being upstairs at school after two years downstairs with the younger kids.

I will keep you posted!

Boylee's Blog

http://mineshaftcentral.blogspot.com

Art Camp

When we got back to town we did one week of a fabulous art camp, run by two staff members of our school.  The week's theme was sculpture.

The camp venue is a quiet spot in Griffith Park, so the kids are outdoors all day.  And it was HOT.

This sculpture they built collectively over a few days.

A hike in the early part of the day, before the real heat set in.

Book sculpture project.

Boylee with his.  It has a thread at the top so it can be hung up.

Running through a sprinkler!  Relief!

The instructors dismembered a big pile of stuffed animals, and then the kids mixed & matched various pieces, and sewed them together to create a unique animal of their own design.

They also made some small clay sculptures...and spent a lot of time spritzing either other with water bottles.  Boylee came home every day filthy - which generally means he had a great time!

One Last Thing About Camp

Part of the fun of camp is the elaborate weekly schedule.  Click on it for a close-up!

bbs- Boylee