Zach Week on the Blog

It has come to Zach's attention that there are far fewer pictures of him around these days than there are of Gloria. He doesn't complain very often so I listened carefully to his argument. He pointed out that the photo calender I made Rob for Christmas has way more pictures of Gloria and we both agreed that the blog probably has more pictures of her as well, but who's counting? Zach is. There are 6 pictures of Gloria on the calender and only 1 of him. In my defense, I pointed out that he never skates by me shouting, "Take my picture, Mom!!", he's never come to me with his face covered in make-up saying, "Put this on your blog, Mom", and it's a rare day when he tries on several different outfits and begs to have his picture taken. His point is a valid one, though, so I am officially dedicating this week to pictures and posts all about Zach. . . it's Zach Week on the Blog! Just don't tell Gloria. . .

Zach continues to study the Bible everyday in anticipation of the next quizzing season which will cover the book of Luke. I'm thinking we'll all benefit from this discipline. . .

In Physical Science, he is studying plate tectonics and the asthenosphere (the upper portion of the earth's mantle). The experiment, using a hard boiled egg, is supposed to simulate plate tectonics and some "rather interesting geological effects". I always try to follow along and let Zach teach me something as he does these experiments. First, he boiled the eggs and then proceeded to draw the earth on the hard-boiled egg:

I'm impressed that he can do this free-hand without even looking at a map. Not something he inherited from me!

The actual experiment in the book said to draw a large circle on the shell to represent the earth but Zach had more fun drawing the continents.

(Gloria found out that it is "Zach Week" on the blog and isn't very happy about it!!)

The earth:

Next, the experiment says to carefully cut a circle out of the shell without removing it:

"The circle of egg shell represents a plate of the earth's crust, while the egg white represents the plastic rock of the mantle. As you move the egg shell circle back and forth, you are simulating a plate moving back and forth on the mantle." (Exploring Creation With Physical Science, Pg. 145) It was very interesting and Zach continues to teach me more than I teach him when it comes to science.

Zach has a no-nonsense attitude about his schoolwork most of the time and I rarely have to nag him about it. He lets me know if he has any questions, I try to stay on top of grading his math (even though it's starting to kick my butt), and he checks off the boxes on the assignment sheet for all of his subjects that he fills out each Monday. He's pretty much educating himself with a little guidance from me.

Rob is attempting to involve Zach more in the business so we are spending a lot more time at the shop these days. Zach doesn't really mind the work as long as he gets PlayStation breaks:

Rob and Dale have been working very hard on a stage install project for Baker High School and we've all had to pitch in to help in order to meet the deadline. (I'll be posting a very looonnngg documentary on this project in the near future!!) Zach has helped with several different aspects including sorting out the oak flooring:

We ended up staying at the shop until almost 1 a.m. but we accomplished a great deal while we were there. We're all looking forward to a little mini-vacation next week. . .