Thurs. June 4

A much better day today overall. I slept in until 7:30 (wayyy late for me) and Connor was already working on his vocabulary book when I got up. He wants me to hurry up and get his vocab. test over with so he can do the other things on his "list." He prioritized his day (he does this every morning) and made this list: Vocabulary, Chinese, guitar, read, essay questions, build tree fort, build slide, write story about pirates, horseback ride, play basketball, make hickory bark syrup. He finished the first half of his list, then spent time watching the builders work on the sunroom/deck. Drywall mud was the topic of today's building lesson. After horse-back riding, Connor decided that he needed to buy his own horse. Four hours later, he comes to me with a spreadsheet of how much it costs to board, feed etc. a horse, and how much he can make an hour grooming dogs, picking strawberries, sell hickory bark syrup and clean stalls. He is going to save up enough money to cover the costs for one year, $10,000, to be safe, he tells me. "How much is a pound of sugar, Mom, to make the syrup?" Me:"I don't know; go on Wegmans site." Connor: "Am I old enough to get a job picking strawberries? I'm fast at it." Me: "I don't know, call J & A farm market and ask them." From 4p, when the horseback riding lesson ended, until 8p this continued. "I found a horse for sale in Naples. Is that too far away?" Me: "Use google maps and see how long it takes to get there." All this was not on the learning list for today, yet it was authentic learning for sure!