February 5, 2015

Oral Report Day!

(click here for today's pictures)

• Today is one of the most exciting days for the Dennie house-the day our homeschool buddies come over. Seriously, they were pumped and up way too early.  We just had to say the word and people were getting dressed, combing hair and brushing teeth.  This morning we had a bit more time and were able to have our pancakes and waffles for breakfast.
• I was still working on our breakfast mess when Cate came by.  Her mom dropped her off early since Cate's sister had an appointment.  Fortunately, they were able to be back in time for the party but didn't know how long their appointment would last so Cate came early so she wouldn't miss anything.  The crew started playing immediately and after a bit of playing, they all settled down on the couch with their kindles.  Soon everyone else started arriving and the kindles were put up and the party started!
• The kids were wild and crazy but no one seemed to mind and I sure didn't either.  Thankfully, when it was time to settle down and start on reports, everyone was ready.  I don't really remember the order but we did half of the reports before lunch and the other half after.  The little people and those who had food to go along with their countries went before lunch.
• Campbell was the first one to go and she did great.  She held her paper and read it perfectly. This was her report: I picked the United Sates of America for my report.  America is on the continent of North America.  We touch Canada, Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.  America has 50 states and I have been to 44 states in America.  Our first president was George Washington. Today our president is Barack Obama.  Our flag is red, white and blue and our national symbol is an eagle.  I love America because it is my country. -I was pretty proud of that little girl reading all of that!  She had memorized quite a bit of it but there were a few pictures above to help.  
• And not only has Campbell gotten in on the oral report action this year, so has Keaton with a little bit of help from Reagan.  Reagan was the one who started trying to teach Keaton a report.  I was pretty against it at first and thought there would be no way that she would do it all.  We eventually wrote out a report and Reagan fed Keaton the lines but then Keaton would say them loud and clear.  Her report was "My name is Keaton.  My country is Mexico.  Mexico is under us.  This is Mexico's flag (pointing to flag).  This is Mexico (pointing to map).  This is food from Mexico (pointing to tortillas, chilies, tacos.)"  
• Don't worry, I am not going to type out the big kids reports.  But they did very well also-couldn't be prouder.  Reagan's report was on Italy.  She (mainly I) made lemon gelato for us to sample. Unfortunately, the kids weren't too crazy about it but the grownups sure liked it.  I did learn in Reagan's report that pasta may not have been invented in Italy but possibly in China. Graham talked about Russia and what I found most interesting was that after the St. Basil Cathedral was built, the czar had the builder's eyes poked out because he didn't want for them to build anything that beautiful again.  Anderson's report was about the country of Madagascar and I learned on his report that the president of Madagascar's president has 19 letters in his last name (Rajaonarimampianina).  Isn't that wild?  And if you see the pictures and wonder what the bruise beside Anderson's eye is-Graham threw/swung his brother into the couch this morning leaving a good bump and a carpet burn.  
• Other reports were about Equador (we saw how volcanoes were formed and how steam rises from volcanoes with Amber and her awesome science projects), Turkey (with samples of funnel cake type balls from Turkey), Australia, China, Japan (I think-not really sure since I kind of checked out during a few reports), Guatemala (and had samples of their black bean mixture that is a staple in their diet).  I think that was all of them but my Whitman isn't the sweet little baby that likes to sit still now so he was busy and noisy so I had to keep walking him around or grabbing him drinks so he would be quiet during our reports.
• After our reports, the kids played and played and then moved their playing to outside-they didn't seem to mind that it was freezing out there.  So they played and played outside.  It was really a wonder that no one got frost bite or lost a finger or two.  Some kids were even outside without their jackets (mine!)
• When everyone left, my people started picking up.  Reagan did the bonus room and we quickly laid Whitman down, Campbell picked up the mudroom, Graham did the school room, Anderson cleaned the living room and then we all met upstairs to pick up their toy room and bedroom.  It didn't take too long and that just left the kitchen for me and that Robby had mostly finished when I came downstairs from helping the kids.
• They huddled together in the living room to watch a red box movie and as soon as it was over, we jumped in the car for our evening outing.  Robby dropped me off at Nonna's house to help decorate a cookie cake for tomorrow and he took the crew to pick up supper and drop off their movies.  I had finished when they came back and we ate out supper and then watched tv for a bit with Pops before heading home.
• Once at home, we had everyone put on their pjs and send them all to bed.  They were pretty exhausted from this busy day and now to finish off the leftover gelato!