There are lots of things about homeschooling Elena looks forward to - one of them is cooking. Two weekends ago, we picked apples, and Elena used them to make her first pie! I had bought an apple peeler/corer/slicer, and Elena had such fun cranking it - it turns the apples into "fruit Slinkies." She also used the extra dough to shape the letters of her name, which you can see on the pie. We were all very proud of her (see photo of Lydia showing her enthusiasm), and we LOVED her pie! :)
Elena is also looking forward to the physical education parts of homeschooling. She will join Lydia in the YMCA's homeschool PE class, which is lots of fun. She has also just started the Little Ninjas class as a precursor to full TaeKwonDo. We are hopeful that the martial arts classes will give her more healthy, positive interactions with peers than she had at school, and will also help her to develop the self-esteem, confidence, integrity and respect she will need to succeed. She LOVES her class, and seems to feel so good about herself (and about everything in general) when she has just had class. This is a photo from her first day.
The Little Ninjas reminded us of Ninja Turtles, and Elena decided that Turtle should be her new nickname. We used to call her Chipmunk, because she pocketed unwanted food in her cheeks for hours on end. She decided that since she doesn't "do the chipmunk thing" anymore, she needs a new nickname. Hence, the turtle-y look of this website! ;)
