Sam's First Sewing Project

December 08, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam had the first day of his new term yesterday.  He seemed generally interested, taking a new science class and his costume design class.  I think he misses his old science teacher a bit, so the new one is on probation.  In his sewing class, he was directed to sew something, so he made a little blue bag.  Not bad for a first attempt.

Unfortunately Sam was pretty sick this morning, so I kept him home.  Joanna and I haven't been feeling great either, but the call of duty is strong.  Hopefully he can get caught up soon.

Term's End

December 02, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam's last day of the term is today.  He's out of school Friday, and has new classes come Monday morning.  The new ones are art, drama, and Behind the Seams:

This class designs and sews the costumes for the spring musical. Students do not need previous sewing experience but must be willing to learn and to make items for the school instead of personal use. Students learn basic sewing techniques, both with a machine and by hand. Interested students will also be selected to help backstage during the show. To earn a C2 or higher students must be independent workers, willing to make mistakes and redo their work, willing to give their time in many different types of sewing projects and be able to learn and be tested in basic vocabulary and techniques. Credit is based on improvement, work completed and cooperation.

Sam told me he enjoys Roosevelt more than elementary school, which is a relief after a bumpy start of the year.  In addition to Jordan, he has a new friend Conner, a fellow Gleek who's also into semi-obscure games like Minecraft.  This morning he was excited to go to his Check It Out class, where they were putting together a movie. All-in-all, he seems to be doing pretty well with school and life and such. 

Of course, he did lose another tooth yesterday.  He put it on a plate, which I promptly put in the dishwasher.  After he pointed out my folly, I rooted around for five minutes with a flashlight until I found the thing with Berry's assistance.  This morning Sam got another funny note from the Tooth Fairy.  I told Sam that I'm happy to pay him a dollar for the privilege of writing funny letters.  He suggested two dollars.

Twelve Years

November 30, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam turned twelve last week.  Joanna and I were flabbergasted to realize that in ten more years he'd be graduating from college.  Sam certainly seems old these days.  He stays up later than the younger kids, is treated with a fair amount of adult respect.  His homework has expanded immensely this year, and he'll often work from after dinner until past eight on homework.

He continues to settle into school, playing chess nearly every day and getting a new best friend named Jordan.  He loves his video games, and has purchased a fair number with his birthday money.  This morning I tried to talk to him while he started up Metro 2033 and was loudly shushed.  I sheepishly looked at Joanna and we burst into laughter.  Sam explained that it was hard to understand the Russian accents.

I like the boy he is, and proud of the man he's becoming.

3 Hours of Homework

October 20, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam worked on homework from after dinner until bedtime. It was surprising just how much stuff he had to do. Roosevelt seems to have quite a bit more homework than in elementary school. We helped him write a limerick on density, research a paper on submarines, and do some math. He has more for today, and this weekend I'm hoping to help him work on a PowerPoint presentation. The topic is crying as stress relief, which may come in handy.

Figuring out what Sam does in his free time takes a bit of detective work. Lunches are spent in the library with the chess players. He evidently plays with them on occasion, even though he claims to be worst player in the bunch. He was talking about game variations that I've never heard of, like Bugout and Subspace. I like hearing that he's making friends and working himself into a little community of sorts. They seem like a cool bunch, made up of quite a few "frenchies," the folks from the French immersion school where chess is played frequently.

He's out of school this Friday, so I'm taking the day off of work. Hopefully we can get time to catch up on his homework, as well as get some play time in. Should be fun.

The Tooth Fairy Cometh

October 11, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam, Emma, and Duncan all have wiggly teeth.  Sam was the first to lose one of his, popping out while Emma and I were bike riding.  He was especially excited, as he's trying to get money these days.  As is traditional in our family, I gave him $1 and a note from the tooth fairy.

Homework, Homework, Homework

September 14, 2010 by Adam in Sam

I like helping Sam with homework. We get to chat, I use my rusty teaching skills, and there's a sense of mutual accomplishment at the end. Last night was his first batch of significant homework assignments - math, art, and a bit of poetry. We chatted about percentages and various ancient cultures. I made him a cracker plate and he rewarded himself with one after each math problem finished.

I think he's generally okay with Roosevelt, despite the occasional adventure. He somehow managed to cut his neck on the way home yesterday, in addition to getting lost. Fortunately he's a resourceful lad, and he recognized landmarks to guide him home and improvised a band-aid out of tissue and tape when he couldn't find the real ones. It's fun watching his confidence grow.

As a reward, we finished watching 2012, agreeing that it was a fairly boring movie, punctuated by horrifically awesome special effects.

Lost Tooth

August 02, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam's had a loose tooth for awhile now.  This morning when I woke him up, I noticed a big molar up on his bookcase.  Since I'm a relatively fair dad, I gave him some money and a note for his tooth too.

Archery

July 07, 2010 by Adam in Sam

I managed to convince Sam to go to one camp this summer, a four-day archery camp. It seems they do a lot of other things besides shooting bows, but he seems to come home each day relatively cheerful, telling stories about assorted misadventures.

Yesterday he told us about the scrape on his knee, which he got playing "hamster ball." Evidently they take a big plastic ball, zip a kid up inside it, and fill it up with air using a leaf blower. He said it was loud, uncomfortable, and he had a great time moving it around an obstacle course.

This morning I gave Josh instructions that he had to put sunscreen all over, as it's going to be 95 degrees today. Last night Sam asked what happens if you sunburn your bones. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Outdoor School Wrap-up

May 24, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam's teacher passed along some photos of his outdoor school experience, which I'm posting here.  My general impression is that Sam didn't especially like outdoor school, though it was memorable.  He made some comments about singing a lot, and that normal school would seem so easy compared to outdoor school.  Hopefully he built a little character along the way.

Outdoor School

May 20, 2010 by Adam in Sam

I was a little worried about Sam, who wasn't very excited to go to outdoor school this week. This morning I got a report from Dave, one of Sam's teachers, along with this picture.

Any anxiety Sam had before coming has seemingly washed away. He's doing great, and has a great cabin with his buddies. See ya Friday!

Rain

May 11, 2010 by Adam in Sam

I sent Sam into the rain over the weekend with the waterproof camera.  Watching it makes me dizzy, so make sure you're sitting down first.

Richard Feynman

April 26, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam decided to research Richard Feynman for his school's independent research project. It was a bit of a surprise for me, but he's really gotten into it, and is nearly done reading You Must Be Joking, Mister Feynman. I think he appreciates the physicist's sense of humor, even though he doesn't always follow the science. He's put together a YouTube video for his presentation, which turned out surprisingly good.

Typist Extraordinaire

March 02, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Last night Sam and I worked on his latest book report for the story Hatchet, which he read a couple months ago. Before, it was mostly me talking him through the process of creating a report, and also doing most of the typing. Last night, I had to go get Emma in the bath and he cheerfully finished it all himself.

He told me that he had to delete an entire sentence that before would cause him to cringe. Now it was a simple matter to erase and start over.

Within the last month, he's become a capable typist because he's been chatting with Josh online nearly every night. It's been really interesting to watch and it's nice to see these positive side effects coming out of his social interactions.

The Brave Explorer Returns

February 24, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam's back from Bend, where he's been for the last couple days.  I think he generally had a good time, his highlight being watching the Cube movies.  He seems to have a touch of a cold, and last night I gave him some cough syrup and sent him to bed after we watched Lost together.  It's nice having him around again.

Cereal Commercial

February 05, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam made up this commercial for Peanut Butter Panda Puffs. Hopefully he's okay with me posting it.

Contacts

January 21, 2010 by Adam in Sam

Sam got contacts today.  For a week he's been doing his homework, touching his eye ten times, twice a day.  I rushed home from work and took him and Emma to see Dr. Arbow.  Emma sat on my lap as we watched pictures being taken of Sam's eye and get contacts popped in for testing.

He was pretty excited and seemed to really like it.  The tricky part was yet to come, actually taking out and putting them back in himself.  I think it took nearly an hour and a half, considerbly suffering on Sam's part, and assorted helpful advice from the doctor.  Still, he was cleared to wear them home.

It became exciting once again when it took him a half hour to take them out.  The main problem is that his lids and eyeballs seem to have a life of their own.  I eventually got him to look forward while pinching his eyeballs and he could reliably remove them.

He's excited to put them in tomorrow and show off to his friends.  I'm proud of that boy.