Reading Fever

Thankfully, Ethan hasn't taken the sickness that Tim & I had during the past few weeks. However, this morning, we discovered that he definitely has a reading fever! I found him laying in bed this morning reading. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Reading. Shh...I'm almost done," he said. Two minutes later he was in our room carrying the book and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. He had finished the second book in the Peter Pan series. He read this entire 556 page book since Monday! Completely amazing. (He said it's a good one!)

More Updates from 2009

Everything, literally everything, grows in Oregon. Look at the size of this jonquil that grew outside our front door last spring.

Ethan participated in an Easter Egg Hunt at a local church. Actually, it was more like a Candy Grab. There weren't many eggs out there!


How do you like this crazy smile? Think he was looking forward to the candy????

Beautiful view of Mt. Hood from town.

All dressed up, but no diploma! My first graduation as a faculty member. About half the faculty on this side of the stage.


Ethan's first try at bumper cars at a local festival.

Scrabble Slam

Ethan has become a Scrabble Slam champion since Christmas. At first he didn't have a chance of beating Tim, who's quite the Word King, but he beat both of us soundly tonight! If you haven't played, it's great for developing vocabulary. Ethan searches and searches for a new, unique word that will work in the game. Much faster paced than regular Scrabble!

Our Reader

Ethan has always loved to read, but he's really taken off in the past few months. He just finished Peter and the Starcatchers this afternoon. (It's a series of 'prequels' to the Peter Pan story.) He just got it from the library on Tuesday of this week. Check out the page number total. He says he's broken his old record for the longest book he's ever read.

High Desert Airlines

The content taught at Ethan's school is all thematically based. They've just begun their study of deserts in the theme of Over, Under and Across Oregon. Because it's winter and it's not a good idea to take an actual trek across the mountains to see the actual Oregon High Desert, they were greeted on Wednesday with this "field trip". The kids had no idea what was going to happen that day. One teacher was greeting them at the door giving out their tickets. The other teacher was just inside the door chiding them for trying to bring baggage onto the plane and using a wand to scan everyone for "security" purposes. (Reportedly, they also were not allowed to have pillows, blankets or other materials on their laps during the last hour of the flight.)

Below is a description sent from his teacher at the end of the day.


The Intermediates were greeted today by a desert guide who checked them into a flight aboard the High Desert Airlines.


Students were given a boarding pass, underwent stringent security measures, and then took a seat aboard the airplane. (Below is Ethan's ticket. He was in seat 3A.)



(Below is Ethan being "wanded" by his teacher. He wasn't sure what to think at this point.)


On their seats they found an information packet (courtesy of High Desert Airlines), complete with a Fun Facts page, desert themed wordsearch, and several detailed information sheets about the types of desert regions, the 4 US desert regions, and the Oregon High Desert. After reviewing safety guidelines the plane took flight on a tour of the US desert regions: the Sonoran desert, the Mojave desert, the Chihuanuan desert, and the Great Basin desert. While flying the Intermediates learned about the desert regions through an engaging powerpoint presentation and in-flight videos about each desert type. The flight attendant even brought around a complimentary snack for the travelers. When the Intermediates landed they were greeted by their teachers who introduced new desert inquiry choices: create a song about the 4 desert regions or design a poster with mystery cards about the different desert regions and types. Based on our exciting experiences with High Desert Airlines, students are eager to demonstrate their knowledge of deserts through these inquiry choices.

This teaching method is based, at least partially, on research about how the brain learns. Piquing curiosity like this is a great way to physically get the brain ready to learn with the proper chemicals and neurons firing. Exciting stuff!

A Family Affair

Well, now it seems that Tim is getting into this, too! Ethan and I were fighting the crowds at Walmart for groceries, and he was supposed to be at home sleeping. Turns out he was learning how to blog from his iphone. Gee! I think he's feeling a little better after all the extra meds he got today. I feel a little yucky, but hopefully it's just the sleeping on an airbed and taking care of Tim that's making me tired. I go back to work on Monday and don't have time to get sick now. Syllabi to prepare and classes to plan. The new semester starts Jan. 11 (which just also happens to be our 18th anniversary!)

Swine Flu

All the news hype about swine flu turns out to be true! Tim was diagnosed on Wednesday after two days of fever, body aches, chills, etc. Antiviral meds seem to be helping, but his asthma condition has been a complication. Another doctor visit today, a breathing treatment, a steroid shot and more antibiotics will hopefully help. Fine way to start out the New Year :-(

It's been misery for all of us. Our biggest challenge now is keeping the rest of the family from catching the flu. So we are sleeping in separate beds and staying beyond spitting distance from one another. And I've taken to wearing one of these as a precaution...







You don't really think about how many things a family shares until something like this happens and we shouldn't be touching the same surfaces. With one PC shared between three users, Tim has taken to using his iPhone instead. Ah, the challenges of staying healthy in the modern world!

- Posted by Tim using BlogPress from his iPhone