On Jace...

I feel like I have missed pictures and time with Jace because he is gone SO MUCH. He leaves in the morning to reach his bus stop at about 7:30am, and is gone until the bus drops him off at 3:40pm. I have offered to pick him up from school so that he would have more time at home (thus more time to complete his, sometimes mounds of, homework), and he protested, "But Mom! That's my playtime!" He loves the extra time he gets to play with his best friend, Dalton, on the bus rides and at school in the mornings.

By the way, Jace qualified for the Extended Learning Program at his school. It's a program where the subjects of Math and Science are studied at a higher level, and the kids get to do things like a 30 minute presentation and research project, studied throughout the year, about any subject they are interested in. Jace is doing Insects and Arachnids. When I asked him who else qualified, he named off all of the friends that he plays with, including Dalton. There was only 1 person in the 11 that he didn't know. I guess birds of a feather really do flock together.
They get to have a class 4 days a week for 45 minutes during schooltime, usually while their class is having reading time. Jace LOVES his ELP teacher. She is so great at making exponents and square roots INTERESTING and EXCITING. His teacher told the class not to tell their peers how much fun they are having in ELP. If they ask, just tell them it's more work, she told them.

In regular class, the children have monthly presentations (3-5 min) about any subject they choose. I love watching Jace at these. I don't mean to brag, but he is a natural when it comes to public speaking. He remembers what to say, without notes, and looks comfortable up there (even though he says he was nervous). I wish I could do that.

His first presentation was going to be called, "How to Make a Bomb". Way to begin the school year! He chose this idea because he read about it in a book. I remember him laughing as he read this book about a couple mad scientists. However, when his Dad heard what he was going to call his presentation, he advised him to use a different title to so he wouldn't alarm the teacher, or principal :)

So Jace titled it, "How to Make a Bag Pop." He demonstrated using a ziploc bag, vinegar, and baking soda wrapped up in a napkin. It exploded perfectly, and the class loved it. The teacher must have liked it because he got an A+.

Yesterday was his second presentation. He was going to talk about trees, in general, but once he got started, he decided he wanted to talk about how maple syrup is made. I love this topic, but, in all honesty, I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out, because he, like his mom, procrastinated until the night before to decide on his topic. Anyway, it turned out to be another A+ presentation, taking after his dad :). Whew! Way to go, Jace! We discussed it, and next time he wants to give himself a week to work on it.

After school that day, he enjoyed Maple syrup on Blueberry Pancakes. He wishes we could go to Vermont and make our own syrup. Does anyone know if we can make syrup out of our own native Maple trees here in Utah?