Third Grade - Day 2

It has taken me a year, but I've finally convinced myself that our "formal" school time does not have to occur in the morning or not at all. I got up this morning, determined to go to the gym b/c my favorite class, a dancing cardio one, is on Tuesdays. B was swimming while I was taking class and I finished first. I was witting on B when the teacher of the next class came up to me and convinced me to take her class of core work. Evidently I was not the only one! She pulled people off weight machines and even stole a client away from a trainer. She's hardcore, this teacher, and I'm so glad she is on my side! It may never happen again, but at least once in my life, I can say I took back-to-back classes at the gym. :o)

It was lunch time by the time we got home; we ate and then showered. What to do, what to do... Since there is no more TV (see yesterday's post: First Day of Third Grade) I announced that it was time for schooling! It's only day 2 and I got the look and the groan followed by the collapse on the floor. Oh, well. Once I got everything out and we started, he was so into it. Until we got to writing, of course. But I had an ace up my sleeve. I told him if he would stop stalling on his Spelling words I had something pretty fun to teach him next.

B: What?
Me: You'll have to finish your spelling work and see.
B: What's fun about it?
Me: The name is going to make you happy and laugh a LOT.
B: Is it "fart"? *dissolves into giggles*
Me: Boy, you are the KING of farts and you know all about them. So why would I be teaching you about farts next?
B: I don't know, but it's funny.
Me: Finish your Spelling!

He FINALLY finished his spelling and we moved onto Onomatopoeia. As expected, at the sound of that word B did the quick head jerk thing, bugged his eyes, shot his eyebrows up and a wide grin popped on his face for 0.66 seconds before he literally started rolling on the floor, belly laughing. I knew I'd get that reaction. I had to repeat it a few more times for him to grasp the pronunciation, but after that I never said it again. Didn't have to; he said it constantly until bedtime. By the end of today's lesson, B's yelling, "ON-a-matopoeia! YOU-a-matopoeia! This whole THINGS-a-matopoeia!" a la Al Pacino in "And Justice For All". LOL!

Do you remember when you learned Onomatopoeia in elementary school? I do! Even if you don't remember what it is (words that describe sounds like smack, pop, meow, etc.) you never forget the word Onomatopoeia. I even remember the sing-songy way our teacher broke the syllables down for us to understand how to pronounce it. OOONNN-a-MOOONNN-a-PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-a! (The teacher did not actually teach us to stretch out the PEE syllable; we did that all on our own.) God bless the teachers who have to teach Onomatopoeia every year. They have such patience. They know what reaction they'll receive when kids hear it. And not just the 1st time, EVERY time. And we worked that word into every sentence we could for the rest of that school year and even the next one b/c it was still funny! In fact, I believe Onomatopoeia was brought up at our 23rd elementary school reunion 2 years ago!

And B was no different. And I was just as patient as my teacher was b/c I realized what she knew all along: All that laughing and rolling around on the floor will ensure that he never forgets Onomatopoeia, just because it has the word "pee" in it.