Homework... with an extra dosage of work

Remember when you were a kid, stuck inside on a beautiful day doing hours and hours of homework while your parents watched tv or read a book and you thought, "I can't wait to be an adult and don't have to do homework anymore!" And then you became an adult and discovered that having a full time job was much harder than school, but there was a small celebration every night when you'd come home to no homework! (Cleaning, cooking and all those 'round the house jobs don't count in this example.)

I found the next stage of life when my son started school, and suddenly I had homework again. But, since it was a small book a night and a worksheet once a week, it wasn't too bad a task. Despite the constant arguing and threatening to take away the xbox if his homework was not done.

Now that he's getting older (7years old already!), I decided that this year would be good for him to start doing his homework on his own with only occasional help from me. And it was working really well, until we came to the end of term projects.

<Insert heavy sigh, eye roll, and more alcohol than usual here.>

I We had to choose 3 projects from the list:

1. Prepare a healthy lunch for your family. Include the recipe, photos, and feedback.
2. Write a report on the food pyramid.
3. Investigate the history of pasta and/or rice.
4. Design a board game to promote healthy eating.
5. Research a dish from a different country.
6. Research, design and write a book for the school library on healthy eating tips.
7. Art- create a still life based on healthy food.
8. Keep a record of the foods you eat for a week, and graph the results according to the 5 food groups.

Is it just me or are those all pretty advanced for 7 year olds! He struggles to do 10 math problems and 5 spelling words a week!

We decided on #1- make veggie soup for the chickens (I know where his hands have been and what his hygiene standards are, I'm not eating anything he's made), #7- see below, and #8- thank goodness for excel and it's fabulous chart creating capabilities!

My Our His art project is a cornucopia. A horn of plenty. But since they don't seen to exist in New Zealand, a cone shaped planter basket works as a good substitute.

I found a great method of steaming a cone basket to enable you to curl the tip- thereby making a cornucopia shape- but I couldn't find a cone shaped basket. Since the planter basket has steel rods to help give it strength, curling the end just wasn't going to happen. But at least it should be strong enough to withstand a room full of over active 7 and 8 year olds.

Then we squashed down the open end of the basket  a bit to give it better shape, and filled it with hay. I thought about cutting out the plastic liner and removing the metal rings for hanging, but when it comes back, I may just use it for it's original purpose. That is, planting.

Not drinking wine from as my son suggested most people do.

I swear I've never drunk wine out of a planting basket before!

Ah-hem. Anyway, I found these plastic fruit and veggies for $5 at the Wharehouse. What a steal! And after 2 weeks of trying to convince him that sculpting the food himself would be fun, and ending up with one raisin (he used an actual raisin as a model so it was even the right size!), I decided to take the easy way out.

You're not allowed to berate me until after you've experienced this child.

My original idea to use craft glue to stick the food in there was a total bust, so out came the glue gun. Now, I know what I said about glue guns not being as dangerous as a lot of people seem to make them out to be. Never the less, my son, being a pyromaniac and ever so slightly warped, is NOT allowed to use a glue gun. As a result, he lost interest in the project very quickly.

Thank goodness it was such a fast project or he never would have finished!

Now on to the next.