Third week of school

Things are both up and down at school.  On the plus side, H has discovered she can do math, and do it quickly.  It began as a competition (I was desperate; it was taking her an hour to do 5 problems).  I bet her she couldn't do 5 problems before I finished unloading the dishwasher.  Then it was 10 problems while I folded the clothes.  She was delighted to beat me, especially if I acted chagrined.  On my part I was amazed at how she was whizzing through the problems.  After a week of that, she is now doing all of her math at school at a normal pace, and not having to bring any of it home.  She even got a 95% on a recent math test.  Thank God!  On the down side, she is now dragging at spelling.  She is fairly decent at it, but has gotten it into her mind that she is horrible and it is taking forever to go over her words, the whole time she is moaning about it.  I think I may try making a competition out of that too, since it worked so well with the math (bribery doesn't work for her).  I'll let you know how it goes.  She is also having trouble (again) bringing home the right books for her homework.
'Chelle

Pear juice

We love pears in this family.  So while the pear season is here, we are having pear muffins or pancakes in the morning, pear slices during lunch and dinner, and an occasionaly pear crumble.  In addition I have frozen away alot of pear slices to make pear/applesauce in the winter.  All of this has led to LOTS of pear cores around the house.  I hated to see them go to waste, so I tried dumping them in a crockpot, half full of water.  Then we let it cook all day, after which we collected the juice.  It has been a huge hit.  It is not as sweet as the juice from the grocery store, but since we rarely buy juice at all the kids think this home made stuff is a big treat.
Anyway, just wanted to pass on this tibit.
'Chelle