A Dingo Sang us a Song

More accurately referred to as a New Guinea Singing Dog, Tootsie sang a song to the kids in today's zoo class. She sang a bit on her own, then the kids howled more encouragement, and off she went. She was very comfortable around the kids and all got a chance to pet her, including DD. She also got to pet a milk snake and a box turtle.

In fact, today's craft was a charmed snake. The kids colored and cut out a snake, then stuck paper clips to its nose in order to pick it up with a magnet glued to the end of a paint stirrer. Very ingenious. As DD was making her craft, I asked her what kind of snake it was (meaning basic info like color, sex, etc.) and she busts out with "It's a milk snake named L****" which we eventually decided was Laraby. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I wouldn't know a milk snake if it slithered over my foot, and let's hope and pray that never happens. The kid could be an opera-singing, baking herpetologist. Let's hope she keeps plenty of Purell around.

We didn't have a chance to mingle with the other kids in our class. Next time, I'm going to make a better effort at getting to know people. DD is usually more outgoing than I, so I'm going to have to take the initiative here. The Friday turnout was greater than the TR class we attended last month, so I think we'll stick with Fridays. So far, we generally have two down days a week and we could really use three. I think the transition from social gadabouts to serious homeschoolers will be difficult, especially for me. I've trained DD to want to go out. From a very young age, we typically went somewhere every day. It was just easier for me then if I could be around people, even if they were strangers at the mall. I think next year will be our transition year, as we are not really hitting the heavy academics until first grade. One step at a time, Mama....