Milosh's first official homework

The first official homework is here and will keep coming every week from now on. This will require parents' involvement.

The first assignment is to write down where you would go if you could go anywhere in the solar system. Fun part was showing him videos about solar system. Reading books to him was also okay. But getting him to write- that took a lot of running and chasing. He did it over 2 sittings. I got him to say things and wrote them down on a piece of paper for him to copy. Turns out kids start to draw stars and trucks if they have to do anything for more than 5 min! The stars had to be erased for space although they paired well with the moon ;)

While doing the homework, he also declared...

I wish I could be at home all day, and play and take a bath and watch TV... 
I wish there was no homework...
I wish there was no school... 
I wish I didn't have to do elementary so I don't have to write. 
I don't want to be a teenager so I don't have to speak and present.. 
I don't want to grow up and work on computers. 
I wish I could be a kid and play all day....

The Montessori system has definitely made him expressive :) but unlike the way our schools worked, he absolutely does not want to be told what to do. I have heard good talks about how school systems need to evolve.

For now I am glad we didn't wait for the last day to finish the homework. ;)

Milosh's first homework

The first official homework is here and will keep coming every week from now on. This will require parents' involvement.

The first assignment is to write down where you would go if you could go anywhere in the solar system. Fun part was showing him videos about solar system. Reading books to him was also okay. But getting him to write- that took a lot of running and chasing. He did it over 2 sittings. I got him to say things and wrote them down on a piece of paper for him to copy. Turns out kids start to draw stars and trucks if they have to do anything for more than 5 min! The stars had to be erased for space although they paired well with the moon ;)

While doing the homework, he also declared...

I wish I could be at home all day, and play and take a bath and watch TV...
I wish there was no homework...
I wish there was no school...
I wish I didn't have to do elementary so I don't have to write.
I don't want to be a teenager so I don't have to speak and present..
I don't want to grow up and work on computers.
I wish I could be a kid and play all day....

The Montessori system has definitely made him expressive :) but unlike the way our schools worked, he absolutely does not want to be told what to do. I have heard good talks about how school systems need to evolve.

For now I am glad we didn't wait for the last day to finish the homework. ;)

Monday lunch at home

Yesterday Milosh's body felt a little warm to touch right before he went to bed. But he was perfectly fine in the morning. Don't know if it was the Monday blues, or the embracing the beginning of fall season, I relented to his "I don't want to go to school". I did give him an appropriate speech about how the school will not be as bad as he thinks etc but I don't think I was ready for my daily grind either :p
Lo and behold we are having a warm and comfortable day at home. I asked Milosh where he wanted to go for lunch (since I am working); and he insisted on home food and said "pooris". Unlike my reputation, I am not at all against making pooris at home but my mental framework is such that I always forget about pooris. I could not remember the last time I made pooris. So it was a good reminder and I made a super quick lunch that Milosh really liked. Pooris made our comforting Monday even more comforting :)

Sometimes it's nice to break the  rules ;) Now you are a true foodie, I can guess what your next meal is going to be.

Milosh's fabulous summer camp

https://photos.app.goo.gl/v9gLKZkgKihuFw8E3

Summer is over now and everyone is "back to school". The hardest thing for Milosh is to get over his summer camp :) This year's summer camp was a blast!

This year Milosh was old enough to join the elementary kids for summer camp and the fun had no bounds. They had amazing teachers and amazing schedule. They went for tons of field trips - they went to remlinger farms, many parks, they had a field trip of riding scooters, they went and watched Seattle storms game, they went to a water park. They had water play every week in their own school. They had culinary week. He also did a Lego camp at his school. They also got to play some video games.

Their teachers were great about taking pictures and making videos. I am so glad some memories of his summer camp are captured :)
The videos of his camp are a must watch!

Things Milosh did to make my birthday special

1. He started singing Happy birthday and that reminded him of balloons, so he found some and made me blow them. He then bounced them on a paper knife bursting each one of them!
2. He put together a circuit (using a kit he has) which would play the happy birthday song. Only the song was distorted likely because of weak battery and when he was making the circuit I was screaming at him to get dressed up for first day of school. Oops!
3. He told me in the evening that he really wanted to make a card for me but the teacher didn't let him. I can imagine he would have been shy and awkward and his teacher must be managing a new class with new kids to understand. He did write in his journal about his mom's birthday :) I took a picture of it a few days later - it's super touching.
4. When I had told him its my bday tomorrow, he asked where is it? I said there is no party, you and I will go to a concert. He insisted I have a party like everyone he knows has.
5. He blew the candle of my cake, ate most of it ;) and opened the one physical present I got.
6. Finally, he went to the concert with me even though he didn't really like it, even I didn't really like it. He was one of the few kids there. He was more energetic and cheerful than me during the concert.

In short, he was absolutely adorable! And made my day more special without trying too hard :)

Back to school

Milosh starts first grade today :) "back to school" had never meant anything to us, until this year when the school sent a list of supplies they wanted the kids to get.

Instead of getting everything from Amazon, we decided to make an event of it and went to a real store with Vvibha and Rhea to let the kids pick things they needed. When we started looking, I felt like this is a puzzle or a treasure hunt - except that everything was right in front of us! And we still could not find. E.g. 0.9 mm papermate mechanical pencil. "##$$&&??" There were so many varieties of pencils, I had no idea. Then we needed markers, but not permanent ones and I kept finding the permanent ones only. But after some time we got a hang of it. Milosh was super excited to pick everything. He was disappointed when the list got over. He kept coming back and asking "what else". Lol. His choices are nice and simple, I like it. He does not care for too much fanciness.

Lots of thinking went into choosing his school though and also some last week changes. After enrolling him in public school and even getting the teacher allocated, we had a change of mind and decided to continue him in his current school. We are all happy about the decision :) and excited to see how Milosh likes first grade. Among other things he will have weekly swim lessons and bi weekly field trips. This is good since he does not want us to take him to any classes whatsoever. He likes to do his own thing.

But anyway, this reminds me of my childhood days. Starting of the school, new books, notebooks, bags and how we used to cover all the notebooks and write our name on it :)

Milosh is growing up so fast. From our community newsletter, I used to look for classes for infant, baby and mommy classes, then toddler classes, and this time I had to look under "youth"! Our big boy!

Which of these rings do you like more?

Hmm, the ring that Milosh made  vs two rings: one given by daddy as engagement ring and the other given by dada Dadi as a gift because they were so happy being Grand parents.

Tough choice. I had to say it's a tie.