Valentines day is almost upon us!

Happy engagement anniversary to us today.

That aside, I'm in a mild panic about the upcoming V-day festivities.
Chips for sixth grade?  Check.
 Cards n' stuff for all 5 elementary kids? I *think* I have all the cards and such purchased, but not a one is signed.  Half-way there.
 The real fun is that I'm a room parent for fourth grade.
E-mail "reminders" to our junk food snack, water bottle, and paper goods parents for fourth grade...uh, a little late now.
Healthy snack for fourth grade?  Yeah, I need to go to the store.  I *think* I'm going to do watermelon or strawberry hearts w/ pretzel & cheese arrows. We'll see how that looks in reality, and if it's something I can throw together between 8:15-11am on Thursday morning. 
How about a game to keep the younglings busy after they're done stuffing their faces?  Matching heart pieces with math facts or synonyms. Mmmm. No.  They're a little young to play spin the bottle.  Leaning towards bingo.  We haven't done that yet. Maybe not.  This class is 16:7 boys to girls.  They like active games.  Too bad I can't take them outside for archery practice.  We do have a nerf bow/arrow set.  I'd only need about 10 more, and hope to not get in trouble with the "weapons" policy.
Maybe we could just let them raid their valentines early, or play a ring toss game with heart shaped rings. Hey, that might work!  I could do make that, maybe.  I could use empty soda bottles for the "posts" and make the rings out of...well, I don't know.    Maybe we should just play bingo.  There's really nothing wrong with bingo.

It is finished!

I will post, and post, and post about our eldest sons successful science project until our friends all roll their eyes or start running away.  This was a HUGE milestone for the boy child, because in general,he does not do projects well, or anything that takes a good deal of persistence.

   He's one of those kids where everything always came easy to him.  He didn't see the point in homework since he did well on tests.  His grades were good, what did it matter if he turned everything in, much less everything on time?  Enter middle school.  The party was over.

   He spent most of seventh grade alternating between tears and denial.  This year, something clicked.  He knew something had to change.  He has big dreams and goals for life, and they weren't going to be met if he didn't learn some better habits.  More homework started getting turned in,  but anything that took too much thought still wasn't getting the marks he wanted.  He needed to learn not to rush through things, to slow down and really do his best, because "getting by" wasn't going work anymore.  Enter the science project.

   The seventh grade science project taught him about the "process", but the idea was engineered by an "experiment wizard."  This is eighth grade.  Their honors project was to be an "invention."  They had to find their own problem, and a solution that's not on the market already, ideally without breaking their parents bank accounts.  At first, he was excited.  All he had to do was come up with ten problems, and find a solution for one of them.  Then he started his market research, and realized there aren't a lot of "new" ideas out there.  There was one he thought would work.  I wasn't thrilled, and neither was his teacher...but we both kept our mouths shut and let him finish his research.  He wasn't thrilled either when he realized it wouldn't work, and he was a month behind because he had to start over again.

This was do or die point number one.  In the past, boy child would have given up here...going I can't, or it's too hard...or I'm already late.  Why bother.  This time, he kept looking for an idea.  That idea came from a friend of mine on FB.  She posted a status about wishing she could find a way for her dog to be interested in exercising without her being involved every, single, second...especially when it's cold outside.  She commented about how her dog liked to chase squirrels, but they never stayed around long enough.

The first edition of the idea for the "Exer-Squirrel" was born.  He did his market research.  He did his customer survey.  He was granted teacher and parent approval.  He looked into ways to build the thing.

His first thought was a "track" around a fence line, maybe a slot track like the greyhounds use at the races.

We went shopping.  Slot track was $15 a foot.  Not in this household.  sorry.

How about a regular track, and a remote control vehicle/ or a reversible motor.  Well, we started down that road.  It wasn't cheap either...and the squirrels tail kept getting stuck under the car.  We fixed the squirrel, but realized we needed to protect the track from the elements and possibly animals.  The stuff to encase it that was clear, well....budget strike out #2...not to mention the car issues.

By this point it was about Christmas break.  He had an "I" on his report card.  When he returned, he was kicked out of class until the project paper was completed.  His motivation stepped up a notch.

We consulted an outside "expert", a friend with three dogs who does handy-man work and contracting for a living.  It was becoming clear we'd need real tools to finish this thing, and at that point, we didn't have any.

After some discussion about materials costs, and  how long we "really" needed it to be, boy child settled on a plan.  He scrapped the idea of it traveling all the way around the fenceline, opting for a conveyer belt that ran along one side instead.  We discussed the motor issue, and decided pillaging one out of a fan would be easier than building one, especially since the clock was ticking and he was running out of time.  Granted, there were still some minor road bumps along the way,but he didn't drop the class....and he didn't give up on the project.  He finished it the night before they were scheduled to make their display boards, and turned in his report.  He's back on track.  Here's hoping he stays there.