Doughnuts and book clubs

Yesterday was an odd day filled with errands. The children did some of their work on IA and then we were off. After a few hours and a few errands we passed a Krispy Kreme and decided to reward them for great behavior with a stop. Lucky for us this was a shop that had a large windowed area where you could watch them make the dougnuts and they had just started on a batch.
The kids and I were fascinated as we watched them come off the rack and into a tunnel of grease, they then went through an oven and then passed by a man who was holding a tube with chocalet covering. They went through another oven and then a man at the end packed them up. We were noticing that there were points when the chocalet guy would purposely hold the tube over an area where there was no doughnut and let the chocalet run through the slats. We pondered for quite awhile on what the reasoning would be and at the end asked him. He explained that he had to let the chocalet run until the next batch of doughnuts was in the perfect position because if he held it over a doughnut to long the weight of the chocalet would collapse the doughnut, who would have thought?
There was also another home school group there. Of course we got to talking and they use a different curriculum and were trying to sell me on how wonderful it was. That is the other thing about homeschooling, it is hard enough to make the decision, only to make it and then find yourself bombarded by the different styles, methods, and curriculum that are availiable. Everyone has their favorite and one can quickly become overwhelmed. I have discovered that we need to decide on a year curriculum and then remain solid on that and re-evaluate come summer if needs be. The other thing is finding your style, School-at-home, waldorf, unschooling, child-led, curriculum based, no curriculum, the possibilities are endless.
Today we attended a bookclub that our coop has once a month. The members are largely Members of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. This was our first time meeting them and we had a great time. A completely different type than our other group and yet we feel very comfortable with them also. The fact that we share the same religion really helps. We read "A Cricket In Times Square" and I am not afraid to say that I cried at the end when Chester had to say goodbye to his friends and his friends were left at the station with "a million things left to say".
We discussed the book and the characters and listened to some of the musical pieces which Chester had performed n the book. We made origami cats and mice, ate fried rice, and then were given "cricketers" of our own. So we are now the proud owner of five crickets, not just one, no five.... They are comfortable in their fish bowl and we are just hoping that they survive at least a little while.