Mini Me

We had a mediocre last day for our Summer Camp at Home wrap up. It was fine don't get me wrong, but I'd hoped for a really special memorable last day. We lost momentum and didn't to our "Summer Memories" activity, but we had a few causal discussions about what we learned and liked best this summer. Besides, the art board was looking a little full already.

Here's Mr. Isaac's last Lego Challenge for the summer. I asked him to pick any U.S. landmark. After a lengthy discussion of them (I guess some of it sunk in) he chose to make his interpretation of Lady Liberty.

When our day was winding down Miss Roo went over to the white board and picked up a marker. She draws on my board all the time, but this time she said "Ok, Momma. I'm gonna be the Momma and you be the Isaac." When I agreed she scribbled with purpose on the board. Even making some thoughtful "hmms" here and there.

She said, "This is what candy looks like from space. (pointing to her drawing on the board). Ok, I need you to do all your chores my Isaac. Very good now we'll paint! I want you to paint a butterfly! I'll get you an apron my Isaac, painting's messy."

She did a great impression of me, silly girl. Toddlers can also "hold the mirror up to nature" as 'twere. Now to disassemble our "classroom".

That's A Wrap, Worldly Wednesday

I'm sad to report we never got a response from our pen pals. We started with a little boy in China and when he never responded we tried a girl in England, but never heard back. I'm guessing kids write to their pen pals more regularly during the school year. We studied a hand full of Asian countries (mainly China & Japan), Australia and New Zealand, The United States and today we wrapped up with a discussion of the Celts.

On our summer schedule we're typically on the go Tuesdays (library), Thursdays (take-a-trip) and Fridays (errands). Mondays and Wednesdays we usually stay put, but today I had a bone density test. Every time I thought about it I heard an old fashioned comedy routine: how dense are your bones? My bones are soooooo dense....cheesy punch line and ba, da, bum ching. So, we did a little math and had some literary discussion (Matilda and Coraline) before we headed out.

Apparently, they measure bone density by taking x-rays of growth plates and measuring something. They normally do your leg, wrist, hip and spine. They had to skip my spine because of the rods though. It was very brief. Isaac waited with Grandma and did almost two sections in his workbook. Afterwards, we got happy meals at the new McDonalds and I had planned on taking Isaac to Brave, but it wasn't to be. Maybe over the weekend.

We came home and poured over the The Book of Kells and lots of other stunning examples of Celtic knots. I told Isaac as much as I could remember driving back from my appointment, but we filled in the blanks when we got home with help of the interweb. I gave him a Celtic cross to color and asked him to design his own as well.

After that, I tagged Mike in for dinner and bedtime and went off to a meeting at Panera. (:

Goodbye, Worldly Wednesday.

In other news, we had "Preschool Jams" with Riley's friends yesterday since the library program is done and then dance class. Here is some cuteness:

Jamming in Dress-up Clothes

Dance Class

Riley and her "big girl friend" C.

Fancy star stamp for a job well done.

Positive Reinforcement

Once you breathe through your frustration and allow your children to continue their existence it's often helpful to reset. Think back to the last time it (whatever that may be) worked. Than get resourceful. Sounds so simple. I think we were beating a dead horse. Losing privileges wasn't helping one bit towards correcting behavior.

I regrouped, instead of threatening privilege loss I started offering multiple allowance bonus opportunities. They must not have been immediately gratifying enough or maybe not visual enough?!? In the beginning of summer earning free play and bonus allowance worked great. We'd skip merrily from task to task banking a few cents here and there. Playing every few hours. August has become the month of dragging feet, deception, nasty tones and repeated tasks.

So, after I let yesterday disappoint me to tears by bedtime I reset. Mike suggested having computer time start and end at set time everyday. That way if Isaac's done with what he's supposed to do he can play guaranteed and if not he misses out, but no one gives it or takes it. I also informed Isaac that we'd been planing a Lego Land trip and he needed to earn it.

None of that had an effect at first. His 15-20min of revisions to his story took 3hours this morning. So, I took out a piece of construction paper and made a board game style path with a Start spot and a star at the end that says Lego Land. I wrote around the path FOCUS, RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY and PROBLEM SOLVING in bright colors. I taped the chart on the white board right in front of him.

We discussed specific examples of each behavior. Even though we'd gone over it until I'm blue in the face I wrote out "Problem Solving Expectations." He's so comfy in dependence it's frightening.

Problem Solving Expectations

• TRY to solve your problem yourself.
• If you're really stuck, do everything you can do yourself. Don't loose focus.
• Try Again! Sometimes a second look is all it takes.
• If you still can't crack it, ask for help respectfully.

I also added a start time, time task is expected to take and goal finished to the board. We started with a section of Summer Bridge. I gave him a goal of 15min, it had 4 sections. He was done in 12min, all answers were correct and legible! What do you know. He was beaming when he added the sticker to his reward chart.

Then while I was patting myself on the back, Isaac decided to give up. I gave him 15 simple math problems. Did two with him and left him with an expectation that they'd be done in 30min. In 45 the first 10 were, but only half were correct even though I let him look back at his charts. He just stopped trying after the first 5. I asked if he had any questions, did another one with him to make sure and then advised him to re-write the ones he was correcting on fresh paper.

Two hours and two crying fits (his not mine) later he finished them. Maybe the rewards chart doesn't work?!? Maybe despite my influence and efforts I am raising a dependent, quitter. How can it be? I made a huge deal about the first 5 being absolutely perfect so he knew it was a focus problem NOT a math issue. He has become a proficient divider this summer, the little amoeba.

How will I survive teen age angst and (gulp) girlfriends if a little math at 9yrs old is this stressful? I guess I could let it be between him and the teacher, but he's so close to being confident in some of these concepts. I want his remaining elementary school years to be productive and fun.

Last Molecular Monday

Today's agenda was as follows:

• Breakfast
• Get Dressed
• Summer Bridge Activities Workbook Day 3-6 (it should take 5-15min per day. Each day has 2-3 short sections to complete. Ex: A word search of science terms, a synonym activity and 11 subtraction problems.)
• Read for 20min-Magic Treehouse
• Vehicle Story: Part 1)Pick a vehicle from your drawing book and draw it. Add color. Part 2)Write a fictional story about your vehicle. It must contain 4 characters. Don't forget where, when, why, how and what. Have fun!
• Chores (today's: take out trash, rinse recyclables, deliver clean folded clothes to rooms, wipe counter and stove, refill pet waters) No heavy lifting or meticulousness involved.
• Lunch
• Science Activity
• Summer Recap Activity
• Free time: first 15min must be spent outside.
• Dinner
• Case 7 in Social Detective

I tried to make it a special day. I talked up how much we'd learned this summer and how this was our last Monday together. It had no effect. Isaac wasn't done with the Summer Bridge pages after an hour, two hours, or even three. I finally went over everything he had done and made sure he understood the stuff that was unfinished. Then I had him help me with a few chore type things to get him moving around. Then I let him read and have lunch.

He promised to focus better after lunch. I was sure drawing an air craft would get his juices pumping. He "drew" from 1:00-4:30pm. So the lack of focus wasn't exclusive to things he didn't care for. He loves to draw. We picked up Riley and I explained that his morning work had taken up our science time and how disappointed I was not to do an experiment our last week.

He totally could have handled everything I gave him between 8:30-11:30 it was a very reasonable schedule. I try not to take it personally. It is 9pm as I type this and Isaac's vehicle story (which has no length requirement) isn't finished. I offered allowance bonus, internet time and all kinds of pep talks. He just gives up some days. I'm so very disappointed.

I was so looking forward to our afternoon activities. Sigh. I've been trying to teach him that in life you do what you have to first so can can do what you want to later. I've tried to make everything fun and be flexible, but today felt like such a fail. A slap in the face to all my enthusiasm. He'll have to get up tomorrow and finish his story and revise it before we can move on. He seems convinced (although it NEVER works) that if he just takes long enough we'll forget about a task. Anyway I hope it doesn't get us off on the wrong foot again.

It'll be strange with no library program, but I think we'll have a really loose day. Lots of books, literary discussion and maybe a movie. I'd like to have Isaac read some of what he's written this summer to Riley and I. We can all talk about it. Who knows?

On an unrelated note, in a perfect example of clothes karma I cleaned out Isaac's clothes and placed the too smalls in the Red Cross bin yesterday. Today, my neighbor brought over a giant box of clothes, shoes and books for Riley. It was like Christmas! After going through the box I brought Riley's take to her room and discovered her drawers were a little over full too. So, the cycle continues I packed a bag of clothes for my friend's daughter. I love clothes karma.

Recap of Summer Camp at Home

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the end of our little experiment. Wow. Tomorrow is Monday of the last week for "Summer Camp at Home". Next week is Science Camp and then 4th grade starts. One last week to prepare him to be one of the big kids. One more week of Molecular Monday, Tunes and Tomes Tuesday, Worldy Wednesday, Take a Trip (aka Go! Dog Go!) Thursday and Fabricate it Friday. I remember madly trying to prepare for this endeavor and wondering how I'd ever survive. Strange.

Now that we're winding up I'd thought I'd recap what I learned. To begin with I am 100% sure I could home school my children. However, I wouldn't want Isaac to miss the forced social interactions and opportunities for independence at school. Riley has a very strong grasp on independent problem solving and a strong social network, but she doesn't need me the way her brother does. So, I am certainly capable of homeschooling, but I will not be at this point.

The greatest success of the experiment was...gosh...um...the memories. We had a lot of varied quality time and experiences. I know we would have gone on some summer adventures without the camp structure, but not as many. It meant the TV was off most of the summer. Not that my kids were coach potatoes before, but that box sure becomes a habit. It gave me a first hand look at what Isaac's teachers are up against. I think I'll be able to help him more efficiently this year because of it. I also learned a lot about my son sure, but you know sciency stuff, etc. I've brushed up on all my basic math and after Isaac requested a cursive writing lesson refreshed my knowledge of the proper way to write the alphabet. On and on... The kids started to work as a team more because they had an opportunity to pick up messes and play together more. I think they also learned about the world around them and I know I taught them each how to make french toast. Even if nothing else stuck I know french toast did.

I wish I could have been a little more prepared at times and less structured at others. I never planned a whole day start to finish. I usually picked the theme activity for the day ahead of time, but based on interest, time, convenience, etc I'd do a loose schedule the night before or in the morning while the kids ate breakfast. When Isaac was focused and Riley was well rested it was fun. Some days Isaac would take hours to do something that should have taken 15min and we'd never get to the theme activity. Those days were rough for me.

On the good days he'd do a little work, play for a bit, do chores, eat lunch, do a science experiment/craft/activity, write a bit, play an educational game, read and then we'd end the day. On a bad day he'd have breakfast, get dressed and stare out the window for 3hrs, get hungry finish his work sloppily, "do chores" (wander aimlessly) for hours (instead of 15min of actual work), eat lunch, get distracted during the next task, we'd have "a talk", he'd a agree to do better and then it'd be dinner before we got a chance to do the experiment/craft/activity of the day. I wasn't a Nazi, if he was getting things done and it just seemed like he'd had enough I'd send him outside to play with the dog, etc. I always made sure he understood each activity before I left him to them. We did a lot together though.

I started to worry about all the stuff we did together making school harder because his teacher certainly won't sit next to him for hours a day helping him with assignments. It seems Isaac is very reward motivated. If he has to complete a task before he can eat or play it's more likely he'll focus. No amount of attention (positive or negative) gets him on track when he decided he doesn't want to do something and digs his heels in. He stretched an hour long fun project out over 3 days last week. He's very stubborn, but he missed every activity, trip and treat Riley and I had during that time. He even announced that night that he finally finished because there was a cartoon he was really wanting to watch, sigh. He even admitted that it was easy and fun once he focused.

We had a lot of fun times though. It wasn't all discipline and pulling teeth. He read every one of his summer reading list books! He's now started reading the Magic Tree House books he hadn't read yet (he owns the whole set). He's doing much better with handwriting, US geography, place values, multiplication and focusing during writing assignments. Far less random information and giant squids invade his writing. You're welcome, future teachers. Another accomplishment is the improvement on being a good sport and emotional outbursts. I played board games with him to help with being a good sport. I also made up game after game about dealing with frustration and having perspective and some of it appears to have sunk in.

Re-Charging the Batteries

Today's Molecular Monday topic was you guessed it batteries. Before we got science-y we did some word work. I noticed over the course of the last two weeks that Isaac reads every word on the dictionary page rather than using the guide words. We look up any work we come across that he doesn't know and then I pick one to be a bonus word in his writing prompt that week. He gets a .30 bonus on his allowance if he properly uses his bonus word. Anyway, this morning I gave him his first ever dictionary scavenger hunt hoping it would be a fun way to improve his dictionary speed.

He did well, but I printed it off the computer and two of the words there were questions about weren't in his dictionary. We looked those up in mine later. After that he wrote a story about going into space and what he'd pack, how he'd prepare and where he'd go. It turned out lovely, maybe my favorite of the summer. He had an eclectic packing list as expected, but his preparations were fairly logical. Then he took his rocket ship for a tour of extreme weather in space (mainly Mars and Jupiter). He even got his bonus word in there (it was scavenge).

Then after lunch it was science time! We read about Volta, discussed the evolution of batteries and made a lemon battery.

It wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped. You feel a litte tingle so you've produced a current, but that's it. Mike and I looked, but couldn't find his voltage meter last night (which would have read .01). Apparently, it take 5 lemons to light an led bulb and would take 5,000 lemons to power a flashlight. The last picture is an illustration from The New Ways Things Work. It's a farmer harvesting giant lemons on mammoth back he has a zinc spear and the mammoth has a copper spear and when they use them on the lemon they get a shock. It's a wonderful book and we read the actual information below the humorous picture to end the experiment.

After that experiment Isaac filled out his physical activity pyramid with his exercise plan for the summer. Then we did a heart rate experiment. Which taught Isaac (after several tries) how to take a pulse. It taught me that Isaac is woefully out of shape! One minute of running in place and he was acting as if he'd run the Boston Marathon. After jumping jacks and incorrectly executed push-up he was acting faint. It was one minute each with rest in between. Daily laps around the yard from now on. Here he is contemplating his exercise program while munching a carrot stick.

To wrap up our day he's reading. I messed up. I requested all 15 of the summer reading list books at once because they all had between 60-200 holds on them already. Well, they started to come in 3-4 at a time. I just let him have them all regardless off due dates. Oopsie. Clearly, he should have only been able to read the ones due back soonest before I gave him the next group. So, with two he hadn't read due back Tuesday with no renewals I gave him a "Two Books in Two Days Challenge". I told him if he could read the two books between Sunday morning and Tuesday morning when we go back to the library he gets a $10 bonus on allowance and a whole day off from chores. He's well over halfway there. Go Isaac go!

Being A Social Detective

Isaac is a very smart boy, but the rules of social interaction do not come easy for him. He's not naturally very observant in general. His age also tends to be a rather self-involved period of existence. It's often clear that he just doesn't understand why the other kids react the way they do. Like the workbook I mentioned a few days ago, the materials we gathered for to help with this over the summer are fundamentally better than all the discussions we've ever had on the subject. They bring these issues into an academic arena (where he's comfortable) and out of the context of having just gotten in trouble (when he's less likely to absorb anything).

The book we've been using most often is called Diary of a Social Detective. It's really fun. It has a school aged narrator, Johnny, who's description of himself in the introduction was absolutely uncanny. Minus one or two small details he is Isaac. Johnny helps the kids at school solve their social mysteries one case at a time.

We've done four so far. The Back Away Buddy which was all about playing too aggressively and invading others' personal space. It focused on reading your playmates' physical clues and settling down/backing off. A great lesson. There was one about a girl who's friends kept getting mad at her and it turned out she was talking way too loud. She got them in trouble in the library and spilled the beans on a secret. That one discusses observing how loud those around you are talking and making adjustments. I was sooooo bad at this growing up. We read about a kid who couldn't figure out why everyone was always laughing at him. It focused on sarcasm. It's definitely a concept the intelligent, but unobservant child may miss.

My favorite so far was case 4. It was about a bully. It not only discussed what would motivate a someone to want to humiliate someone else it also discusses what you can do to stop being such an appealing victim. It was very well written. It went over the difference between tattling and setting boundaries. It touched on having respect for yourself and knowing how you deserve to be treated. It also talked about how very important how you say things is. Presented as always in a fun fictional detective style.

Click to Enlarge

We always do them together. I scanned a copy of the case sheet from the back of the book and I print a new one for each case. We take turns reading and discussing which are important to record. Then we stop before the resolution to talk about what we think the answer is before we read the end. It's very much a game. Sometimes, it doesn't seem to sink in right away but I'm often surprised.

The night we read the bully case Isaac and Riley were playing in his room. I was working at my desk and listening. I heard them happily pretending some elaborate scenario, but then I heard the dreaded silence. I braced myself for a scream of rage or the noise of a toy being tossed, but instead heard "Don't do that, Riley." in a clear unemotional tone. There was a brief silence and then she answered "Ok, I won't." Just like that the happy play noises resumed.

Not a whiny tone, a yell, a smack or a tossed toy was heard in the ensuing hour and change of that they played. The usual unresolvable conflicts didn't arise. They communicated like people. Well, I'll be! Not only did he learn something today his example was rubbing off on his 2.5yr old sister! Wow. I think it's important to do the cases with him because when the subject's a little close to home he tends to have trouble being objective. Afterwards though if I leave him to his devices it seems to get processed. Yay!

Is that like a summation of parenting in general or what? Teach them well and then give them room to be independent.

What's Awesome About Home Schooling

It's another in a long list of things I thought I'd never to, but here I am. Everyday I post a schedule for each kid, write notes for them on the white board, prepare worksheets, schedule trips and activities. It's been fun. It's just a natural extension of this.

It is a very time consuming thing, but completely worth it. The biggest challenge and one of the coolest things about this experiment is that it forces me to find things the kids can do together. Maybe that's not a big deal for some moms, but with a 7yr age difference it's not easy. I need activities they can both do or do together and places they both enjoy going. Our days of the week themes mean at least once a week we go somewhere everyone can enjoy. When we're home I am always trying to think of one activity a day they can both do together. I have photographic evidence, it can be done. I wonder if either of them will remember summer art projects together when they have their own children.

Another huge plus is that no one is ever bored. It does not happen. They're either engaged (or at least busy) or they've earned their free time and are making it count. Good behavior means super fun stuff like Lego Challenge, baking or family movie time happen. Speaking of, and this is saying a lot for a house when an almost 10yr in it, the TV is almost always off. I really enjoy the quiet.

We're flexible and learn from what's around us. Big storm? Rainwater under the microscope. Watch a ventriloquist? Discuss vaudeville. My new voter registration card arrives? Discuss democracy. Vet appointment? Discuss domestication of wolves that lead to the modern dog. It's very living-in-the-stream-of-consciousness sometimes. It means the kids get a lot (not that they were hurting for it)of one on one with Mom. It also means I get more help around the house. We're a team for most of the day rather than mornings and evenings like the school year.

Setting the schedules to balance subjects we need to work on for school next year, topics we're interested in, fun summer stuff, free time, chores and quiet/nap isn't just helpful for the kids. It also forces me to focus on myself for sections of the day. I find myself eating breakfast every morning now. Showering, reading, working on my other job, blogging and watching grown up TV in the times they're quietly working or the evenings when we've managed to get everything pressing done.

Our daily themes forced me to commit to getting out of the house with the kids at least twice a week. We can learn anywhere and we do. I ran an errand to the bank with Isaac and we spent our whole wait in line discussing the currency exchange chart. It also means grandparent/friend visits and time exploring the city we live in. Go! Dog Go!

I learn things too! I remembered only the very general idea of static electricity, but thanks to having a science day I've had a refresher. Riley wants the colors to blend on her painting, which reminds of a host of art projects I did in school. My geography is a bit rusty, that's what Worldly Wednesday is for.

I'm so glad we took a summer off from nine weeks of camp. They are growing up so fast. I know school will sneak up on us sooner than we will be ready for, but I'm glad we're making the most of our summer.

More About Molecular Monday (aka yesterday)

Tropical storm Debby did a number on our backyard. It was super windy! This included toppling a whole section of of our privacy fence. When Mike began repairs (which was on the quick side because we have a puppy and a toddler) the hole filled with rainwater. So, as a bonus to our Michael Faraday lesson and snap circuits we also took a look at a rainwater specimen from the hole yesterday. The storm related power outages also tied in nicely with our discussion of generators.

We did an electromagnetic project with Isaac's snap circuits. It was supposed to lead to discussion on how the energy is stored and released. Unfortunately, Isaac put a piece on upside down and decided he liked it better that way, but he eventually got the drift. His favorite thing that we talked about was the Faraday Cage. He read the passage from the site I linked to yesterday and burst out "Like an airplane!" and then later they used that as an example.

We got out Isaac's microscope and put a couple drops from of rainwater from the hole in on a slide to examine. We didn't see much on our first attempt. Toy microscopes just don't have stellar magnification. We have a better one, but the last time he used Mike's microscope he caused serious damage to it. On our second go we poured all the specimen into the dish instead. Isaac was beyond thrilled when he saw something!

I made him draw what he saw and list at least 10 descriptive words. He saw two "somethings" in the end.

After we were done we watched this:

Next week we'll discuss Volta and do the lemon battery experiment!

Electric & Inventive!

First thing's first, Isaac had an awesome answer to a Lego Challenge on Friday. The challenge from Lego Quest:
Design a vessel. Here is the definition of the word vessel.
Vessel
-noun
1. a craft for traveling on water, now usually one larger than an ordinary rowboat; a ship or boat.
2. an airship.
3. a hollow or concave utensil, as a cup, bowl, pitcher, or vase, used for holding liquids or other contents.
4. Anatomy, Zoology. a tube or duct, as an artery or vein, containing or conveying blood or some other body fluid.
5. Botany. a duct formed in the xylem, composed of connected cells that have lost their intervening partitions, that conducts water and mineral nutrients. Compare tracheid.
6.a person regarded as a holder or receiver of something, esp. something nonmaterial: a vessel of grace; a vessel of wrath.
The Front

The Back

In His Words:
Blood vessel in a wound. The gray piece is a platelet, the white piece is a white blood cell and the red one is a regular red blood cell. The green piece is a germ. It's in a wound so there's a germ and a white blood cell. It's a 3-d model. The pieces are upward and outward. It's 2x2 bricks. I got the idea from the anatomy definition for vessel. It reminded me of the human body movie.

For Molecular Monday we are discussing inventors who worked with electricity. As a follow up to static electricity experiments last week. Mainly, Michael Faraday, but we'll also get into Volta and some others. After reading about all the neat stuff they did. We're creating closed circuits with Isaac's snap circuits set.

Today's Lego Challenge was to create something two dimensional.

In the artist's words:
It's a picture of a Tsunami going to a big brick and stone house on a beach. The palette blue is sky. I used it to make it portable. The colorful pieces are the house. Smoke is coming out of the chimney! The blue over there is the window. It opens so you can escape. The long blue bricks are tsunami the white and red are boats! The white part touching it is the crown of the tsunami.

Fabricate It Friday!

I wanted to do this bonus exercise from Isaac's Summer Bridge Activities Workbook for our first building project. I highly recommend these workbooks there is so much worth while material.

Here are their directions.

A Word About Materials

If you haven't been saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls all school year (I only had one) a wrapping paper roll works great. It just adds the extra step of cutting into smaller tubes. We used the toilet paper roll to measure slightly smaller tubes. One wrapping paper roll did not give us 11 smaller rolls, only 8. So two would give you even vertebrae and spare cardboard.

Isaac broke our rubber bands several times trying to thread them through the holes we punched. I recommend thinner (but sturdy) rubber bands and having more than 11 on hand just in case. Also, the 3/16" hole punch on my crop-a-dile seemed small at least for the thickness of rubber band we used. I do recommend colored rubber bands because it looks nicer.

A Word About The Project

This project (even without the extra step of cutting up a wrapping paper tube) has a lot of tedious steps. Don't attempt it with a young child, although building one for a litter kid to play with might be fun. Isaac and I took turns cutting cardboard and punching holes until we'd addressed all 33 rings. He very much enjoyed learning to loop the rubber bands together. Overall, it takes a lot of time to get to the finished project. You may want to prepare the pieces and simply have your child assemble it.

You may, if you prepare the project for your child, want to use a box cutter rather than scissors. This method will produce much springy-er circle. Scissors squish the cardboard a bit. Also, after we were done I wished I had painted the cardboard the night before. Either white like bones or fun bright colors. If you paint yours please sent me a picture!

How it Went

We weren't able to get all 33 vertebrae on our spinal cord. In the end it was a bit short.

We discussed how much more sturdy a spine with 33 vertebrae would be. We compared the flexibility of the model backbone to Isaac's. We discussed scoliosis and how my spine is now more like the initial wrapping paper roll, post fusion. We discussed the other parts of the skeleton supported by the spine.