Engineering Foundations

 

Marcelo has been really excited for 1st grade. His tech class for My Tech High is Engineering Foundations. He is working with the Engino: Simple Machines kit.  I told him this was a My Tech High class not a mommy class and that he needed to do it on his own and that he could ask the course mentor questions online using the video feature if he needed help.  I wanted to make sure building stuff didn't become another one of my hobbies.  He did wonderfully from the very first project. He opened the kit and put all the pieces in the plastic container I gave him. He found the correct set of instructions for Levers and got going on his first project, the See-Saw.  He completed it with virtually no help aside from taking apart or pushing together a few pieces. (They can be incredibly hard to do!)  The first project took him a few hours and he was so determined to finish it. I'm so proud of him.

 

 

He even pinched his fingers a few times and ripped the top layer of skin right off! He didn't even complain but merely showed me what had happened like a half an hour later.



Letter Scale

 





Weight Scale

 

Crane

First day of school: 1st grade

 

Almost six. You're a first grader and so excited for it. This is the bitter sweet time when any baby fat you may have had melts away in the wake of your young boyish looks.  Your face looks so much thinner than last year.

Marcelo learns to ride a bike!

After practicing for a short period of time on his pedal-less bike. Marcelo got up and going on this bigger one with pedals right off the bat, on the first try!  Wow, this was much easier than all the training sessions we did with Sofia.  I wish Ray had listened to me about taking the pedals off the bike with her.

Beginning Ballroom

This is your third summer of dance classes. This time, we're trying out Center Stage in Orem, the breeding ground for some of the dancers on Dancing With the Stars.  Only because, your current dance studio doesn't offer ballroom classes for your age.  It's once a week for one hour. It looked a bit sketchy at first but you're starting to get the hang of it. Of course, there's only once week left.  I'm not sure that we can continue there, as it is too far to drive and quite pricey.  But we'll see.  I think I definitely see you doing ballroom.

Swim Class '13

Second year of summer swim classes with Swim Kids, this time at a residence in Lehi not far from our house.  You really love the classes and you're starting to learn the pillow rest technique, the dolphin kick, and diving.

Summer fun

At a friends back yard wedding BBQ. You played with the kids until the wee hours of the night. Ate way too much and had way too much fun.

Holi '13

Festival of colors at the Krishna temple, Pleasant Grove, Utah.