In other words, Ella has turned the corner on reading.
I haven't said it before, but I'm saying it now. Yep. It was yesterday, October 30, 2007. She's reading. She has been able to read in some form for almost 2 years, but yesterday it seemed to click for her. She was six-and-a-half on Monday. The magic moment I've been doubting would come, as progress has been steadily incremental, oh, at 5 degrees or so.
Ella's potty-training progress when she was a toddler was quite similar to her reading, minus the 2-year effort. She had no real impetus to potty-train when she was two -- she cheerfully figured why bother, she was happy, she had it easy, it was nicer for someone else to worry about the diaper than to make the effort herself. It wasn't so much a matter of laziness as a comfort in the status quo. And then, 4 days after she turned 3, she suddenly decided that it was time, and that was it. No real effort involved, she just did it. And that seemed to be the case with reading, as well. She worked at it because I made her, for school, but she was just as happy to have someone read to her when it was an effort. And suddenly, it's no longer such an effort, so she's proud and happy to do it.
Madison was totally different. Her philosophy about reading was very like her own potty-training, too. She was not quite 2 1/2, and she wanted to do it all by herself, damn it, because the potty was there to be conquered. The same thing with reading...she was almost 6, and I'd already read the first 19 Boxcar Children books to her, and I'd told her that we weren't getting started on the next 90 books, she'd have to read them herself. And by god, she was going to do just that. And so she did...she sat down in August 2005 and just started reading, skipping any words she didn't know.
But back to Ella. She insists on reading me a whole Dr. Seuss-ish book in the morning before getting out of bed, and another before going to sleep. Yesterday it was Go, Dog. Go! and Marvin K Mooney, Will You Please Go Now? and today it was The Best Nest and Hop On Pop.
I attribute the suddenly steep slope to two things: To the Writing Road To Reading cards and method Laura introduced me to a few weeks ago, and to the fact that Ella has been singing and playing the piano so much, reading the words -- words that are conveniently broken up into syllables -- along with the music.
Or, heck, maybe it was just Her Time and it would have happened without all the work. No real way to tell. At least she has the sense that hard work pays off, which is almost as valuable as her newly-acquired skill.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Quotation marks blog
I usually try not to steal other's blog entries, but I must here. HT Rational Jenn for a link to this blog:
http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/
The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
misinterpreting bad punctuation since 2005
I love this.
http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/
The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
misinterpreting bad punctuation since 2005
I love this.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Golden Compass
I see some religious homeschoolers are really getting their panties in a bunch about The Golden Compass.
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
http://homeschoolbuzz.com/reviews.html?content=The-Golden-Compass--His-Dark-Materials-book-1-
It is said that Philip Pullman regards his books as the antidote to the religious messages of the Narnia series. We found the Narnia series fascinating, because the girls treated it as a fantasy series like any other; the religious parallels and messages passed them right by--they saw what happened in Narnia, and treated it as relevant only to the context of the Narnian world, not as relevant in our world.
Has anyone (from the group of the five or so of you who read this) read The Golden Compass or heard anything about it? If so, can you can give me the scoop? Adrienne? You must have an opinion. Some libraries seem to put it in Young Adult, some in the Children's section. I'm wondering if I should read it to see if it's appropriate for Madison.
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
http://homeschoolbuzz.com/reviews.html?content=The-Golden-Compass--His-Dark-Materials-book-1-
It is said that Philip Pullman regards his books as the antidote to the religious messages of the Narnia series. We found the Narnia series fascinating, because the girls treated it as a fantasy series like any other; the religious parallels and messages passed them right by--they saw what happened in Narnia, and treated it as relevant only to the context of the Narnian world, not as relevant in our world.
Has anyone (from the group of the five or so of you who read this) read The Golden Compass or heard anything about it? If so, can you can give me the scoop? Adrienne? You must have an opinion. Some libraries seem to put it in Young Adult, some in the Children's section. I'm wondering if I should read it to see if it's appropriate for Madison.
One thing leads to another
After almost two weeks of letting history fall by the wayside, we were just starting some more work on ancient Sumer this morning. Because David and I have been helping the girls brush up their geography skills lately, I thought I'd point out the map yet again in the book. Then I got out our Big Big World book, and also the globe, and had them find Sumer in both. It was actually kind of tricky, for them to transfer their understanding of a simple small line sketch of the Tigris/Euphrates Rivers and the Persian Gulf and the Arabian peninsula to find where those areas were on the more complex maps. It took a little while; I was interested to see that they were not very good at it.
But then that got us started on the "seas" of that part of the world, the Mediterranean and the Black and the Caspian and the Arabian, and that led to a discussion of Italy, and then we started talking about where all of the various ancestors came from, Scotland and Italy and Poland and the Ukraine, and then looked to find all of the routes they might have taken to get to the U.S. And THEN, providentially, the mom of one of Lara's friends showed up to borrow my camera, and as it happens her parents had run from the Nazis in Austria and ended up in Argentina where Monica was brought up, so she traced that route for us, too.
Sumer? Another day.
Oh, and I must report that Ella zipped through Go, Dog. Go! this morning. She's doing much better. It makes me wish that I'd been videotaping her reading right from the start. It feels too late to start now.
But then that got us started on the "seas" of that part of the world, the Mediterranean and the Black and the Caspian and the Arabian, and that led to a discussion of Italy, and then we started talking about where all of the various ancestors came from, Scotland and Italy and Poland and the Ukraine, and then looked to find all of the routes they might have taken to get to the U.S. And THEN, providentially, the mom of one of Lara's friends showed up to borrow my camera, and as it happens her parents had run from the Nazis in Austria and ended up in Argentina where Monica was brought up, so she traced that route for us, too.
Sumer? Another day.
Oh, and I must report that Ella zipped through Go, Dog. Go! this morning. She's doing much better. It makes me wish that I'd been videotaping her reading right from the start. It feels too late to start now.
Baseball
Rational Jenn wrote about sports yesterday, which prompted me to put down what I haven't had the time, what with all the Halloween and rehearsal/concert madness going on.
Although I don't follow major-league baseball religiously during the regular season, we always watch the postseason on TV in October, especially if the Red Sox are playing. I love baseball. There were only a few girls playing Little League in the 5th and 6th grades, and one of them was me. (The other was my dear, dear friend Anne, who was known as "that red-headed girl pitching for the Lions.") I was on the Panthers. I was no good for almost all of the two years I played, although in my very last at-bat in the 6th grade I hit a triple, and that was the official moment when it "clicked," and although I never played on an official team again, I was always pretty decent at pick-up games. I remember having someone pinch-run for me at my first IOS seminar in 1993 when I was in a leg brace due to the skiing accident.
Anyway, in 1991 I became a Red Sox fan when Patrick and I lived in Boston for the summer when he was reporting for the Globe. I loved, and still love, Fenway Park. 1991 was the beginning of the era of Mo Vaughn, and the beginning of my rooting for the Sox. The day after I found out I was pregnant with Ella in 2000, I had to go to Boston on business and was able to get a ticket. I sat in right field, and I bought The Baby a Red Sox T-shirt that I'll give to Ella when she's a teenager. Madison is going to Boston with the Bach Children's Chorus April 17-19, and if the Sox are playing at home I'm going to do my best get us tickets, even if we have to go out early or stay late.
Fortunately, we have the Rochester Red Wings here, the Triple-A team for the Minnesota Twins. So we go often during the summer (only $6/ticket) and always sit over third base. We don't really follow the individual players so much, because the better ones are always getting called up. But going to a game here in Rochester is so much fun. It's such a genial way to spend 3 or 4 relaxed hours on a summer afternoon with kids. The girls really got into the game this year, and positively enjoy discussing the rules and strategy. If you go on a Sunday afternoon, after the game, the kids get to go down on the field and "run the bases with Spikes," the Red Wings' mascot (I think he's an eagle). On Mother's Day and Father's Day, you go down on the outfield after the game and play catch with the free baseballs they give you.
The interesting thing is that baseball on TV has really seized Ella's attention this postseason, much more so than for Madison. She roots for the Red Sox because we do; she got to know the players, the lineups, she discussed how grumpy the Cleveland Indians' manager always looked and how much Terry Francona spit, she loves Big Papi and Manny Ramirez. While Madison would often read a book while we were all watching the game, Ella was always paying attention. A couple of nights during the ALCS and the Series, she finished dinner early and asked to go and watch the pregame show all on her own, while we were finishing up. ("Hey, Mom, Dad, come quick, James Taylor is singing the National Anthem!") The first thing she'd ask us in the morning was who won. Yesterday morning, upon finding out that the Sox had won Game 4, she said, "Well, I'm happy, but I actually wish the Rockies won last night. Because now there's no more baseball until spring.")
Although I don't follow major-league baseball religiously during the regular season, we always watch the postseason on TV in October, especially if the Red Sox are playing. I love baseball. There were only a few girls playing Little League in the 5th and 6th grades, and one of them was me. (The other was my dear, dear friend Anne, who was known as "that red-headed girl pitching for the Lions.") I was on the Panthers. I was no good for almost all of the two years I played, although in my very last at-bat in the 6th grade I hit a triple, and that was the official moment when it "clicked," and although I never played on an official team again, I was always pretty decent at pick-up games. I remember having someone pinch-run for me at my first IOS seminar in 1993 when I was in a leg brace due to the skiing accident.
Anyway, in 1991 I became a Red Sox fan when Patrick and I lived in Boston for the summer when he was reporting for the Globe. I loved, and still love, Fenway Park. 1991 was the beginning of the era of Mo Vaughn, and the beginning of my rooting for the Sox. The day after I found out I was pregnant with Ella in 2000, I had to go to Boston on business and was able to get a ticket. I sat in right field, and I bought The Baby a Red Sox T-shirt that I'll give to Ella when she's a teenager. Madison is going to Boston with the Bach Children's Chorus April 17-19, and if the Sox are playing at home I'm going to do my best get us tickets, even if we have to go out early or stay late.
Fortunately, we have the Rochester Red Wings here, the Triple-A team for the Minnesota Twins. So we go often during the summer (only $6/ticket) and always sit over third base. We don't really follow the individual players so much, because the better ones are always getting called up. But going to a game here in Rochester is so much fun. It's such a genial way to spend 3 or 4 relaxed hours on a summer afternoon with kids. The girls really got into the game this year, and positively enjoy discussing the rules and strategy. If you go on a Sunday afternoon, after the game, the kids get to go down on the field and "run the bases with Spikes," the Red Wings' mascot (I think he's an eagle). On Mother's Day and Father's Day, you go down on the outfield after the game and play catch with the free baseballs they give you.
The interesting thing is that baseball on TV has really seized Ella's attention this postseason, much more so than for Madison. She roots for the Red Sox because we do; she got to know the players, the lineups, she discussed how grumpy the Cleveland Indians' manager always looked and how much Terry Francona spit, she loves Big Papi and Manny Ramirez. While Madison would often read a book while we were all watching the game, Ella was always paying attention. A couple of nights during the ALCS and the Series, she finished dinner early and asked to go and watch the pregame show all on her own, while we were finishing up. ("Hey, Mom, Dad, come quick, James Taylor is singing the National Anthem!") The first thing she'd ask us in the morning was who won. Yesterday morning, upon finding out that the Sox had won Game 4, she said, "Well, I'm happy, but I actually wish the Rockies won last night. Because now there's no more baseball until spring.")
Monday, October 29, 2007
When Geeks Home School Their Kids
Here, Madison and Ella spontaneously decided to re-enact Raphael's "School of Athens" painting, by the shore of Skaneateles Lake.
Madison wanted to be Aristotle, and Ella didn't mind being Plato.
This was a photo from last week, but I was reminded to post it today by a conversation Madison and I had in the car on the way to their homeschool Gym and Swim class at the Y. We were listening to some kids music about math, and one of the song's lyrics posed the question, "Where would we be without math, what would the world be like?"
Madison wanted to talk about this. She proposed that math WAS EQUIVALENT TO motion, and that without motion, she couldn't exist, nor could the earth...and although she was uncertain about how it would affect the universe's existence, she knew that it would be very different than it is.
I was intrigued that she had chosen "motion" as her synonym for math. Is it that she hears David and me talking about calculus so much? Or that the math David works on and describes to her is measuring motion of various kinds? Hard to know. Fascinating. Anyway, I than proposed that perhaps math wasn't just a different word for motion, but that it is human beings' ability to quantify, and therefore is dependent on human consciousness for its existence. She liked this. She hadn't considered it before, I don't think, how math must be linked to human beings rather than being independent. And so she started to talk about what "existence" means, and how it's related to "consciousness." But then we pulled up to the Y. Sigh.
Conversations like this sometimes make me want to shout, "Look out, World! She's coming! She's only 8, but she's going to take you by storm in the not-too-distant future! And you're not ready!"
Now if I could just teach her to spell.
Madison wanted to be Aristotle, and Ella didn't mind being Plato.
This was a photo from last week, but I was reminded to post it today by a conversation Madison and I had in the car on the way to their homeschool Gym and Swim class at the Y. We were listening to some kids music about math, and one of the song's lyrics posed the question, "Where would we be without math, what would the world be like?"
Madison wanted to talk about this. She proposed that math WAS EQUIVALENT TO motion, and that without motion, she couldn't exist, nor could the earth...and although she was uncertain about how it would affect the universe's existence, she knew that it would be very different than it is.
I was intrigued that she had chosen "motion" as her synonym for math. Is it that she hears David and me talking about calculus so much? Or that the math David works on and describes to her is measuring motion of various kinds? Hard to know. Fascinating. Anyway, I than proposed that perhaps math wasn't just a different word for motion, but that it is human beings' ability to quantify, and therefore is dependent on human consciousness for its existence. She liked this. She hadn't considered it before, I don't think, how math must be linked to human beings rather than being independent. And so she started to talk about what "existence" means, and how it's related to "consciousness." But then we pulled up to the Y. Sigh.
Conversations like this sometimes make me want to shout, "Look out, World! She's coming! She's only 8, but she's going to take you by storm in the not-too-distant future! And you're not ready!"
Now if I could just teach her to spell.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Party a success
We're all tired. The four of us are spaced out in front of the World Series now.
Hints on the purple ice hands:
1) Don't let the fingers freeze close together. They'll amputate much less easily on the way out of the glove.
2) The purple will stain your own hands. Wear extra gloves. I didn't. Too late by the time I realized.
I loved our ghosts so much I wished we'd made more. The backyard looked really neat.
Madison's fortune-telling went over great. I made up about 40 fortunes and they were a big hit. The parents liked them too. Here are some:
One of your parents will accuse you of something you didn’t do, and you’ll set him or her straight very politely.
You will find yourself wanting to wear something purple.
You will find yourself humming a certain song that will be difficult to get out of your head, and you may drive the rest of your family crazy as a result.
A new spirit of generosity will overwhelm you, and your parents will be surprised.
You will be overcome with the desire to help wash the dishes.
You will soon start to see patterns in numbers on digital clocks or other electronic devices.
Here is Madison in her gypsy teepee:
Hints on the purple ice hands:
1) Don't let the fingers freeze close together. They'll amputate much less easily on the way out of the glove.
2) The purple will stain your own hands. Wear extra gloves. I didn't. Too late by the time I realized.
I loved our ghosts so much I wished we'd made more. The backyard looked really neat.
Madison's fortune-telling went over great. I made up about 40 fortunes and they were a big hit. The parents liked them too. Here are some:
One of your parents will accuse you of something you didn’t do, and you’ll set him or her straight very politely.
You will find yourself wanting to wear something purple.
You will find yourself humming a certain song that will be difficult to get out of your head, and you may drive the rest of your family crazy as a result.
A new spirit of generosity will overwhelm you, and your parents will be surprised.
You will be overcome with the desire to help wash the dishes.
You will soon start to see patterns in numbers on digital clocks or other electronic devices.
Here is Madison in her gypsy teepee:
Friday, October 26, 2007
Halloween preparations
In this spirit of Trying to Be All My Parents Were Not, I'm helping the girls (ok, they're helping me, when the spirit moves them) prepare for the big Halloween party on Sunday. It's grown to about 25 kids.
I try to be cool. And what isn't cool, freezing cool even, about purple ice hands:
Just take nonpowdered gloves, color water purple with red and blue food coloring, fill up gloves, tie off, and pop in the freezer. When they're frozen, peel off the gloves, take your new creepy purple hands, and pop them into the orange punch. BWAAAH HA HA HA HA!!!!
That's educational, right?
Thanks, Food Network.
I try to be cool. And what isn't cool, freezing cool even, about purple ice hands:
Just take nonpowdered gloves, color water purple with red and blue food coloring, fill up gloves, tie off, and pop in the freezer. When they're frozen, peel off the gloves, take your new creepy purple hands, and pop them into the orange punch. BWAAAH HA HA HA HA!!!!
That's educational, right?
Thanks, Food Network.
The Squeaky Wheel on Grease
More Grease fun! In this post I talked about my mistake in bringing the girls to Grease last month. Well, another local theater group (we have many here in Rochester, most of which have the word "theatre" in their name) has done a family-friendly version of Grease.
I brought the girls yesterday. (I know it's totally declasse but I love to get these free tickets.)
Did the group (TYKEs -- Theatre Young Kids Enjoy) pull it off? Read my review and see, if you're inclined. And tell me if you agree with my main quibble about Grease, family-friendly or not.
I brought the girls yesterday. (I know it's totally declasse but I love to get these free tickets.)
Did the group (TYKEs -- Theatre Young Kids Enjoy) pull it off? Read my review and see, if you're inclined. And tell me if you agree with my main quibble about Grease, family-friendly or not.
Squirrelly October
Turns out the squirrels that have made a nest between our second and third floors are FLYING squirrels. We cornered one in the house on Wednesday. It was adorable, and almost tame, not afraid of us at all, with the biggest eyes. It could fit in your hand. I didn't let the girls pick it up, although Greg the Squirrel Guy who came over later told us that they actually make good pets. We chased it outside, where it wandered around confusedly, blinking in the light (they're nocturnal). No wonder we've been hearing the activity at dusk. Poor thing.
So tell me he isn't the cutest:
It's almost a shame that we're trying to make him and his family homeless, although at this point I fail to see how that's going to be done effectively, in this old stone house with all kinds of crevices.
And then yesterday, when Ella and I were out in the woods part of the backyard banging nails into foamboard yellow eyes that we'd made as decorations for the Halloween party on Sunday, we came upon a dead squirrel. Actually, I started hammering into a tree at the edge of the meadow, and then she suddenly screamed incoherently and started running away. Now, Ella doesn't just scream randomly, so I ran toward her and scooped her up to find out what was wronog; it actually took her a second to point, with a trembling lip, and say, "There's...it's...there's... a dead squirrel there." And she burst into tears.
It turned out I'd almost been stepping on it. Ick.
As David pointed out later (I know, it's a little shameful of me, but I'm happy to assign The Husbandly Head the job of disposing of dead animals in the yard), the squirrel looked as though it had gone up to the Great Squirrels Nest In the Sky by having been dropped from a great height. A little flat, you know. I'm thinking the big, beautiful red-tailed hawk that Ella and I saw in one of the big pine trees in the backyard had a little accident with its breakfast; the thing hadn't been there the day before.
Must...get...back...to...Halloween...preparations...
So tell me he isn't the cutest:
It's almost a shame that we're trying to make him and his family homeless, although at this point I fail to see how that's going to be done effectively, in this old stone house with all kinds of crevices.
And then yesterday, when Ella and I were out in the woods part of the backyard banging nails into foamboard yellow eyes that we'd made as decorations for the Halloween party on Sunday, we came upon a dead squirrel. Actually, I started hammering into a tree at the edge of the meadow, and then she suddenly screamed incoherently and started running away. Now, Ella doesn't just scream randomly, so I ran toward her and scooped her up to find out what was wronog; it actually took her a second to point, with a trembling lip, and say, "There's...it's...there's... a dead squirrel there." And she burst into tears.
It turned out I'd almost been stepping on it. Ick.
As David pointed out later (I know, it's a little shameful of me, but I'm happy to assign The Husbandly Head the job of disposing of dead animals in the yard), the squirrel looked as though it had gone up to the Great Squirrels Nest In the Sky by having been dropped from a great height. A little flat, you know. I'm thinking the big, beautiful red-tailed hawk that Ella and I saw in one of the big pine trees in the backyard had a little accident with its breakfast; the thing hadn't been there the day before.
Must...get...back...to...Halloween...preparations...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Old photo makes us "big bucks"
Can you believe that a company in Norway wants to use this old photo of Madison in an internal training document flyer?
They found it where I'd used it as the graphics for an article about how to get kids to practice, which their old piano teacher wrote for KidsOutAndAbout.com in early 2005.
And they'll PAY us $300. Imagine.
Update: The guy just emailed me the page in the training document as it is laid out. Make sure to click on the photo below; it will take you to a large version that is worth seeing!
The graphic designer who contacted me, Tommy Knøsmoen, said to "tell Madison that there will be people from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Polen, Czech Republic, Austria, and probably a few more countries that will see her when educating in negotiation."
They found it where I'd used it as the graphics for an article about how to get kids to practice, which their old piano teacher wrote for KidsOutAndAbout.com in early 2005.
And they'll PAY us $300. Imagine.
Update: The guy just emailed me the page in the training document as it is laid out. Make sure to click on the photo below; it will take you to a large version that is worth seeing!
The graphic designer who contacted me, Tommy Knøsmoen, said to "tell Madison that there will be people from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Polen, Czech Republic, Austria, and probably a few more countries that will see her when educating in negotiation."
Friday, October 19, 2007
Try THIS in elementary school and see how far you get
Madison was teaching Ella her spelling this morning and I came upon them working, in THIS position:
It seemed to work. Go figure.
It seemed to work. Go figure.
Really cool field trip yesterday
The Red Jacket cider folks mentioned below offered to give us a little private tour of their processing plant, and we went to Geneva, NY yesterday. They plied us with information, food, and delicious drinks -- my idea of a perfect field trip.
I wrote it up for KidsOutAndAbout.com.
So go see the photos go here:
http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/city-articles/RedJacket.html
I wrote it up for KidsOutAndAbout.com.
So go see the photos go here:
http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/city-articles/RedJacket.html
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Annika is Seven
Annika is seven, and she is happy.
http://thewaitandwonder.clubmom.com/thewaitandwonder/2007/10/annika-is-seven.html
And I am so lucky, lucky, LUCKY that my girls are healthy.
I almost wish there was someone to thank for this, my heart is so full of gratitude sometimes.
On the flip side, though, I am glad that there is no cruel being who whimsically zapped a sweet little blonde girl in Normal, Illinois with liver disease and a cleft palate and clubbed fingers. No one to blame, no one to fill the mind with hatred.
It's better that way.
http://thewaitandwonder.clubmom.com/thewaitandwonder/2007/10/annika-is-seven.html
And I am so lucky, lucky, LUCKY that my girls are healthy.
I almost wish there was someone to thank for this, my heart is so full of gratitude sometimes.
On the flip side, though, I am glad that there is no cruel being who whimsically zapped a sweet little blonde girl in Normal, Illinois with liver disease and a cleft palate and clubbed fingers. No one to blame, no one to fill the mind with hatred.
It's better that way.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Spontaneous Science
I got on the phone, I thought briefly, with a mom whose husband is going to do a free homeschool science class for 8-11-year-olds, only a mile down the street. I had seen the post about it, emailed Jeff to see if it was religious-based science, and he emailed me back asking me to call. It's not religious-based (they're Jews, it turns out, not fundies), and that's all I really needed to know, but his wife Leslie talked and talked and TALKED. In between various subjects, she turned me on to science experiments from Steve Spangler:
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiments/
She said that they had recently done the Ivory soap experiment, so while she was talking at me about something, I brought up that experiment on the computer (yes, I know, Bad Deb), and saw that all it involved was a bar of Ivory soap and a microwave. The girls kept looking at me with those when-are-you-going-to-get-off-the-phone-we're-tired-of-being-patient eyes, and so I went upstairs and got a bar of Ivory soap, summoned the girls, and (with a few "ohs" and "rights" to Leslie, still chattering away) put it in the microwave on High for 2 minutes. Wow, it was really cool.
Here is the experiment: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000053
If you do it, make sure you watch the whole process, don't leave. We had to turn it off with 30 seconds to go, because I think our microwave is extra-powerful.
When I got off the phone we were able to discuss the history of Ivory soap and how it came to float, then talked about floating in general, then about melting and boiling points, and then it turned into a states of matter discussion.
So, for kicks, we took an ice cube and put it in a cold pot on the stove and watched it melt on high power. We timed how long it took to melt (1:28), and then to boil away completely (2:22). We then tried it again with an ice cube in an already hot pot, and found it melted and vaporized much more quickly. We talked about heat transfer, and why it melts much more quickly in a pot that is already hot. Then I had Ella hold an ice cube in her hand and time how long it took to melt (7:10).
When I asked the girls how long it would take before it boiled in Ella's hand, Madison didn't really think it through and blurted out "About an hour!" but Ella took a few moments more and said "Never. My hand isn't hot enough to make it boil." And then Madison protested that water does evaporate, and we talked about the difference between the process of evaporation and boiling.
"Why must the water cycle be driven by evaporation, and not by boiling?" I asked. For the same reason that Ella's hand could never make it boil -- if it was hot enough on earth to boil water, the earth would be a very different place.
Of course, the child who loves arguments driven by nitpicking objected. "What about in the center of the earth? It's hot enough to boil water in there." We looked up the temperature in the inner core (7000 degrees C) and the temperature in the mantle (879 degrees C). Water would boil in there, yep. "Well how FAST would an ice cube vaporize in the mantle?" A fraction of a second. "It would be even faster in the core, right?" Yes. "How much faster?" I couldn't do any better than a fraction of a fraction of a second, which is of course unsatisfying.
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiments/
She said that they had recently done the Ivory soap experiment, so while she was talking at me about something, I brought up that experiment on the computer (yes, I know, Bad Deb), and saw that all it involved was a bar of Ivory soap and a microwave. The girls kept looking at me with those when-are-you-going-to-get-off-the-phone-we're-tired-of-being-patient eyes, and so I went upstairs and got a bar of Ivory soap, summoned the girls, and (with a few "ohs" and "rights" to Leslie, still chattering away) put it in the microwave on High for 2 minutes. Wow, it was really cool.
Here is the experiment: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000053
If you do it, make sure you watch the whole process, don't leave. We had to turn it off with 30 seconds to go, because I think our microwave is extra-powerful.
When I got off the phone we were able to discuss the history of Ivory soap and how it came to float, then talked about floating in general, then about melting and boiling points, and then it turned into a states of matter discussion.
So, for kicks, we took an ice cube and put it in a cold pot on the stove and watched it melt on high power. We timed how long it took to melt (1:28), and then to boil away completely (2:22). We then tried it again with an ice cube in an already hot pot, and found it melted and vaporized much more quickly. We talked about heat transfer, and why it melts much more quickly in a pot that is already hot. Then I had Ella hold an ice cube in her hand and time how long it took to melt (7:10).
When I asked the girls how long it would take before it boiled in Ella's hand, Madison didn't really think it through and blurted out "About an hour!" but Ella took a few moments more and said "Never. My hand isn't hot enough to make it boil." And then Madison protested that water does evaporate, and we talked about the difference between the process of evaporation and boiling.
"Why must the water cycle be driven by evaporation, and not by boiling?" I asked. For the same reason that Ella's hand could never make it boil -- if it was hot enough on earth to boil water, the earth would be a very different place.
Of course, the child who loves arguments driven by nitpicking objected. "What about in the center of the earth? It's hot enough to boil water in there." We looked up the temperature in the inner core (7000 degrees C) and the temperature in the mantle (879 degrees C). Water would boil in there, yep. "Well how FAST would an ice cube vaporize in the mantle?" A fraction of a second. "It would be even faster in the core, right?" Yes. "How much faster?" I couldn't do any better than a fraction of a fraction of a second, which is of course unsatisfying.
Monday, October 15, 2007
10-minute homeschool
I had an idea I thought I'd try for kicks today, and it turned out to be brilliant.
I devised 10-minute homeschool. Ten minutes per subject, that is. I set the alarm at the beginning of each session, and then they were fascinated to see how much they could get done in 10 minutes. If they were in the middle of something when the beeper went off, it got put away until tomorrow (or, I would have let them pick back up whatever they wanted to at the end of school, but today is a crammed gym-and-swim-then-cooking-then-horseback-riding afternoon and evening). We went from 9:45 to 12:15.
The girls loved it. Loved it, loved it. And they got a lot done, with a lot of cliffhangers that they now want to get done tomorrow. (We're in the middle of the history of ancient Sumer, and I stopped in the middle of a sentence. Whetting the appetite for more tomorrow!) Ella read her book in time to have some time left over at the end of the session. It really focused her -- other days it could take her 15 minutes what it took 8 minutes to do today. And her math, she finished that early, too, and it was PERFECT.
Madison wants to do 15-minute school tomorrow and see how different of an experience that is. Who am I to argue.
I devised 10-minute homeschool. Ten minutes per subject, that is. I set the alarm at the beginning of each session, and then they were fascinated to see how much they could get done in 10 minutes. If they were in the middle of something when the beeper went off, it got put away until tomorrow (or, I would have let them pick back up whatever they wanted to at the end of school, but today is a crammed gym-and-swim-then-cooking-then-horseback-riding afternoon and evening). We went from 9:45 to 12:15.
The girls loved it. Loved it, loved it. And they got a lot done, with a lot of cliffhangers that they now want to get done tomorrow. (We're in the middle of the history of ancient Sumer, and I stopped in the middle of a sentence. Whetting the appetite for more tomorrow!) Ella read her book in time to have some time left over at the end of the session. It really focused her -- other days it could take her 15 minutes what it took 8 minutes to do today. And her math, she finished that early, too, and it was PERFECT.
Madison wants to do 15-minute school tomorrow and see how different of an experience that is. Who am I to argue.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
First fire
It's suddenly October. I mean actual October, not the funny 80-degree October we've been having. It's sort of rainy and 45 degrees, with that crispness in the air we so associate with autumn in Rochester. So last night we had the first fire with what we could scrounge from our backyard:
And what would the first fire be without a nice glass of Glenlivet?
Then we sent the kids to bed and fell asleep during the 11-inning Red Sox game. Good thing we didn't last until the Indians scored 7 extra runs in the top of the 11th.
So the ALCS is 1-1. Go Sox!
And what would the first fire be without a nice glass of Glenlivet?
Then we sent the kids to bed and fell asleep during the 11-inning Red Sox game. Good thing we didn't last until the Indians scored 7 extra runs in the top of the 11th.
So the ALCS is 1-1. Go Sox!
pi-RIT sale
We did the RIT Math Club fundraising sale on Friday. The name of the math club is "Pi-RIT" so the girls dressed up as pirates.
We got cider from Wegmans, made a great chocolate chip cookie recipe from Cooks Illustrated, and some great pumpkin bread that I've made since forever (and which is a terrific way to get both pumpkin and stone ground whole wheat flour into the kids).
I thought it would be neat to get some funky cellophane paper, a ribbon, and some cheap silk flowers that were three-to-a-bunch for 50 cents from Michael's. So for about an extra 35-40 cents, we were able to price the breads at $5 instead of $3.50. Yay, capitalism.
Here they are selling.
Unfortunately, the nice RIT kids, being, well, kids, didn't think about whether we'd have actual traffic, so the receipts didn't quite cover costs. Ah well, that just meant that they didn't have to give any to the math club, and I let them split what they made after giving me back some of the cost.
They also did a cider taste test, which was a big hit. We got cider from three different farm markets around, and had people choose which one they liked best:
They like each other. Really. Despite snarking at each other sometimes.
We got cider from Wegmans, made a great chocolate chip cookie recipe from Cooks Illustrated, and some great pumpkin bread that I've made since forever (and which is a terrific way to get both pumpkin and stone ground whole wheat flour into the kids).
I thought it would be neat to get some funky cellophane paper, a ribbon, and some cheap silk flowers that were three-to-a-bunch for 50 cents from Michael's. So for about an extra 35-40 cents, we were able to price the breads at $5 instead of $3.50. Yay, capitalism.
Here they are selling.
Unfortunately, the nice RIT kids, being, well, kids, didn't think about whether we'd have actual traffic, so the receipts didn't quite cover costs. Ah well, that just meant that they didn't have to give any to the math club, and I let them split what they made after giving me back some of the cost.
They also did a cider taste test, which was a big hit. We got cider from three different farm markets around, and had people choose which one they liked best:
They like each other. Really. Despite snarking at each other sometimes.
Clarence Thomas
Yesterday, David gave me the gift of a luxury almost unimaginable these days -- a few hours by myself to read Clarence Thomas's new book, My Grandfather's Son. Actually, he gave me the weekend so that I could catch up on some work that desperately needs catching up on, but I was at the top of the list for this book at the Penfield library and so I took some time for myself and read. (Can't think when I've done that recently, other than in snatches here and there of David Hackett Fischer's Washington's Crossing, through which I am slowly making my way in between all of the important stuff in life.)
I was disappointed with the book.
I thought perhaps Thomas was going to give us some insight into his intellectual journey from early-70s-angry-young-socialism to originalist jurisprudence. Nope. It was a personal journey from birth to Anita Hill, which some people might find inspiring in the sense that it does a pretty good job at laying out how badly white liberal guilt has served blacks, and how noninterference by government is far better than interference. Other than that, it was pretty much strict-upbringing-by-grandfather-blah-blah-blah-Anita-Hill-blah-blah-blah-God.
The book wasn't badly written, but it was not in the least interestingly written. I had hoped that Thomas's laying out of his life story might be wrapped up in penetrating commentary and perspective from his current position in life. Nope. Just pretty much a bare-bones laying out of the facts. And lots of God's will thrown in for kicks.
Ho-hum.
I was disappointed with the book.
I thought perhaps Thomas was going to give us some insight into his intellectual journey from early-70s-angry-young-socialism to originalist jurisprudence. Nope. It was a personal journey from birth to Anita Hill, which some people might find inspiring in the sense that it does a pretty good job at laying out how badly white liberal guilt has served blacks, and how noninterference by government is far better than interference. Other than that, it was pretty much strict-upbringing-by-grandfather-blah-blah-blah-Anita-Hill-blah-blah-blah-God.
The book wasn't badly written, but it was not in the least interestingly written. I had hoped that Thomas's laying out of his life story might be wrapped up in penetrating commentary and perspective from his current position in life. Nope. Just pretty much a bare-bones laying out of the facts. And lots of God's will thrown in for kicks.
Ho-hum.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
George and Martha
James Marshall's birthday was yesterday.
Adrienne, children's librarian extraordinaire, reminds us in this lovely post.
How could I have forgotten? We celebrated Thelonius Monk's birthday yesterday. I will have to do justice to Marshall next year.
Today's birthday is Henry Heinz, a man who looms equally important in Ella's life, in terms of influence.
Adrienne, children's librarian extraordinaire, reminds us in this lovely post.
How could I have forgotten? We celebrated Thelonius Monk's birthday yesterday. I will have to do justice to Marshall next year.
Today's birthday is Henry Heinz, a man who looms equally important in Ella's life, in terms of influence.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Piano!
Here is Ella playing the piano in the ultimate piano-playing outfit:
It's Thelonius Monk's birthday, by the way.
It's Thelonius Monk's birthday, by the way.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Fall Fun Fotos
Yesterday, we went to Holiday Hollow, the country's only venue of its kind dedicated to celebrating Halloween. They "put the happy back in Happy Halloween," as I wrote in my review of Holiday Hollow a few years ago.
I missed Holiday Hollow when we were in Virginia. (OK, I missed ALL of Rochester.) I'm feeling particularly happy to be back here, because it's fall, which is Rochester's greatest time of year. And, I confess, I dearly love getting free tickets to all of the great places and performances around here (perhaps out of proportion to how much I should like it--maybe it's the Jersey Girl coming out in me). Organizations want the visibility, so they want me to go and review them and write about how much my kids liked the experience. Who am I to refuse?
So here are some photos from yesterday (you can click on them to make them bigger). I'll be updating my review soon, although Holiday Hollow hasn't changed all that much.
Today, it was Columbus Day and all of the local kids had off school. We did school this morning, but then in the afternoon, we went to Gro-Moore Farms which is not far from RIT. It's a typical local farm market that puts in some activities for kids on weekends in the fall. In my opinion, my kids were a little old for it, and I'm glad we didn't pay the $9 pay-one-price fee that would have let them do everything for free. I let them do the big slide and the pumpkin painting, and bought them some doughnuts and a slushie, and then let them do the free stuff. They had a good time, and I got some good photos:
Unusual for Madison, she's photographed very well the last few days. Don't you think?
I missed Holiday Hollow when we were in Virginia. (OK, I missed ALL of Rochester.) I'm feeling particularly happy to be back here, because it's fall, which is Rochester's greatest time of year. And, I confess, I dearly love getting free tickets to all of the great places and performances around here (perhaps out of proportion to how much I should like it--maybe it's the Jersey Girl coming out in me). Organizations want the visibility, so they want me to go and review them and write about how much my kids liked the experience. Who am I to refuse?
So here are some photos from yesterday (you can click on them to make them bigger). I'll be updating my review soon, although Holiday Hollow hasn't changed all that much.
Today, it was Columbus Day and all of the local kids had off school. We did school this morning, but then in the afternoon, we went to Gro-Moore Farms which is not far from RIT. It's a typical local farm market that puts in some activities for kids on weekends in the fall. In my opinion, my kids were a little old for it, and I'm glad we didn't pay the $9 pay-one-price fee that would have let them do everything for free. I let them do the big slide and the pumpkin painting, and bought them some doughnuts and a slushie, and then let them do the free stuff. They had a good time, and I got some good photos:
Unusual for Madison, she's photographed very well the last few days. Don't you think?
Saturday, October 06, 2007
22 down, 178 to go!
It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!
The girls had their big Cookie Kick-Off party last night for the Penfield Brownies/Girl Scouts. Today at 10am they were officially allowed to go out and sell.
Allowed.
There is a goal of 100 boxes per child. I have two children.
Madison wants to sell 1000 boxes. If we sell 1000 boxes, the prize is a video camera.
We went out this afternoon for an hour. We went around the block. They were happy, smiling, cute little Brownies. Only one house at which people were home refused them. We got nine people at home. 22 boxes.
And I am wiped out.
There is a new idea that Troop 835 will be doing this year, which is to offer to let them add on boxes for soldiers overseas. Boy, did that work -- half of the people decided to buy a box or two for the soldiers, too.
Let's see...we get to keep 55 cents for every box we sell. That's an hour of work I did, and Madison and Ella did, for the $12.10 our troop will get to keep. If we keep it up at 22 boxes per hour, that's only...nine more hours of this before we meet our quota.
When are we, as a culture, going to give up on all of this and just admit that it's a better use of our time to just, say, pay our own way? Heck, I'd even pay the way of other people's little Brownies if I could just opt out. Everyone knows we all hate doing this, but no one will admit it. And the girls love it. At least for the first hour. Then they start arguing about who is going to ring the doorbell and when are we going to go home because they're thirsty. And I, hungry for any excuse, am happy to hightail it home.
But, I should be grateful. David's cousin Connie was the Cookie Mom for her daughter's Brownie troop last year. And their cookie season was January! They tramped around for 30 days in January, and because they were probably the only ones brave enough to go out in the cold and snow, little Jessie sold over 500 boxes.
Anyway, if anyone wants to buy cookies (or, even better, add on one for the troops!), you can check them out at http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/meet_cookies.asp. And then email me at ross(at)axton.com. They're $3.50 per box. I will pay for shipping.
I know, I'm wimping out here.
Maybe someone has a bright entrepreneurial idea for how to sell them in bulk. If so, let me know!
The girls had their big Cookie Kick-Off party last night for the Penfield Brownies/Girl Scouts. Today at 10am they were officially allowed to go out and sell.
Allowed.
There is a goal of 100 boxes per child. I have two children.
Madison wants to sell 1000 boxes. If we sell 1000 boxes, the prize is a video camera.
We went out this afternoon for an hour. We went around the block. They were happy, smiling, cute little Brownies. Only one house at which people were home refused them. We got nine people at home. 22 boxes.
And I am wiped out.
There is a new idea that Troop 835 will be doing this year, which is to offer to let them add on boxes for soldiers overseas. Boy, did that work -- half of the people decided to buy a box or two for the soldiers, too.
Let's see...we get to keep 55 cents for every box we sell. That's an hour of work I did, and Madison and Ella did, for the $12.10 our troop will get to keep. If we keep it up at 22 boxes per hour, that's only...nine more hours of this before we meet our quota.
When are we, as a culture, going to give up on all of this and just admit that it's a better use of our time to just, say, pay our own way? Heck, I'd even pay the way of other people's little Brownies if I could just opt out. Everyone knows we all hate doing this, but no one will admit it. And the girls love it. At least for the first hour. Then they start arguing about who is going to ring the doorbell and when are we going to go home because they're thirsty. And I, hungry for any excuse, am happy to hightail it home.
But, I should be grateful. David's cousin Connie was the Cookie Mom for her daughter's Brownie troop last year. And their cookie season was January! They tramped around for 30 days in January, and because they were probably the only ones brave enough to go out in the cold and snow, little Jessie sold over 500 boxes.
Anyway, if anyone wants to buy cookies (or, even better, add on one for the troops!), you can check them out at http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/meet_cookies.asp. And then email me at ross(at)axton.com. They're $3.50 per box. I will pay for shipping.
I know, I'm wimping out here.
Maybe someone has a bright entrepreneurial idea for how to sell them in bulk. If so, let me know!
Thursday, October 04, 2007
One month into the 2007-2008 year
Well, this education thing seems to be working.
Math-U-See Beta is too slow for Ella. We're speeding it up by doing only 1-2 workbook pages per lesson right now. We're also starting to teach her the multiplication tables. She understands the concept of multiplication; now it's time to start the memorization.
Ella is reading much better than she was one month ago. The slope on the learning curve seems to be getting a little steeper. (And, as posted below from the other day, she's started to make the effort to read on her own.)
She's started to tell time much better. Still needs practice.
Aside from math, Madison is more in the process of learning stuff, rather than learning skills. She's pretty much nailed multi-digit multiplication, it's just a matter of getting a little more accurate (I'd say 80% of the problems she does are totally right, then 20% have arithmetic errors.) We did area/perimeter of rectangles and triangles. She liked that. Now for a review of fractions.
I'd say Madison has come farthest in the past month in music, both theory and in her ability to read notes both for piano and for singing. I thank the very rigorous demands of the Bach Children's Chorus for this, mostly. We have to practice hard, every day...I say "we" because she's still too young to do this all on her own, and it REALLY helps to have me play the piano and help her get the notes and words right, rather than only have her listening to the CD. She has her first concert on Oct 27, and they're singing Ode to Joy (she still needs to get down the German words), Simple Gifts (my favorite, FAVORITE hymn), and All Things Bright and Beautiful. I'm really grateful for this group; the girls will get to sing all of that wonderful sacred music that they would miss in school or in church. She's singing alto.
Also, the girls started piano lessons just last week with their new teacher, and already they're starting to get the sense of reading music. Their last teacher wrote out the note-letters on the page, and we had little stickers on the keyboard that showed the different key names. Now, they're being made to learn the notes, and they're doing just fine.
Ella is displaying the same learning method that Madison did about piano, although actually about six months earlier than Madison:
At first, she played by this method: Look at note. Look at note letter under note. Find note on piano. Strike it. Ignore time value of note. Look at next note. Et cetera.
Now, you can tell that Ella is actually listening to the music that she's creating, and relating the notes on the page *to the melody*, and letting the anticipation of the next note *by ear* play a large role in identifying the next key to strike, checking to see that it corresponds to the note on the page. It's an entirely different approach, and I watched Madison do this at about the time she turned 7.
I'm discovering that Madison has an uncanny ability to memorize. She's had a lot of memorization in the past month: Lots of words for the Chorus, a play for drama, and poetry for school. She's great. It's one of those effortless things for her. Cool. That should serve her well.
It's serving her well as we're writing our book, too. We've picked that back up, on Wednesdays. We're now deep into the research for the nitty gritty of it. A group of home-schooled kids find a treasure chest containing clues in the form of a list of pages and paragraphs from popular children's (mostly) mystery literature up through 1976 (Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, The Great Brain, Encyclopedia Brown, etc). They have to hunt down the references, which turn out to be a list of Rules for Being Good Detectives. Then, once they have the list compiled, they use the rules to figure out where the treasure chest came from. So, Madison and I are now in the process of going through lots and lots of books to find good places that describe rules for detecting. We're even using My Side of the Mountain and The Swiss Family Robinson, because these guys really have to use their minds to figure out what's going on. (In our book, the kids discuss the books and what the passages mean...my theory being that this unique romp through classic kid lit will inspire contemporary readers to pick up those books.) So Madison is doing a lot of reading, which for her is simply a pleasure (hey! I'm doing this for school), and she's also able to recall specific passages from books with relative ease.
Spelling is better. Ella is good, Madison is getting better. They're liking the WRTR annotation method, it especially seems to anchor spelling in Madison's mind. We only started that this week. I'm looking forward to getting the WRTR book I ordered Sunday.
They're both liking grammar a lot, Madison particularly. They both love logic. I must get new age-appropriate logic workbooks, they're almost at the end of theirs but neither is really ready to move up a level, they just want more.
We do Spanish twice per week, and we should be doing sign language twice per week except it keeps going by the wayside.
Haven't made too much progress on history or science. Too busy doing other things. History is ancient history (literally). Science WAS the human body for the week before we went on the cruise, now it's just talking about things as they come up in the world. May try to get going on this more.
They have a cooking class on Mondays, and horseback riding on Mondays, too. Every day, they figure out how many more days until the next horseback riding class. (Wah for Columbus Day next week! No class!)
Girl Scout Cookie sales start on Saturday. Anyone who wants a box or three or ten mailed to them should let me know. Click here to meet the cookies.
Math-U-See Beta is too slow for Ella. We're speeding it up by doing only 1-2 workbook pages per lesson right now. We're also starting to teach her the multiplication tables. She understands the concept of multiplication; now it's time to start the memorization.
Ella is reading much better than she was one month ago. The slope on the learning curve seems to be getting a little steeper. (And, as posted below from the other day, she's started to make the effort to read on her own.)
She's started to tell time much better. Still needs practice.
Aside from math, Madison is more in the process of learning stuff, rather than learning skills. She's pretty much nailed multi-digit multiplication, it's just a matter of getting a little more accurate (I'd say 80% of the problems she does are totally right, then 20% have arithmetic errors.) We did area/perimeter of rectangles and triangles. She liked that. Now for a review of fractions.
I'd say Madison has come farthest in the past month in music, both theory and in her ability to read notes both for piano and for singing. I thank the very rigorous demands of the Bach Children's Chorus for this, mostly. We have to practice hard, every day...I say "we" because she's still too young to do this all on her own, and it REALLY helps to have me play the piano and help her get the notes and words right, rather than only have her listening to the CD. She has her first concert on Oct 27, and they're singing Ode to Joy (she still needs to get down the German words), Simple Gifts (my favorite, FAVORITE hymn), and All Things Bright and Beautiful. I'm really grateful for this group; the girls will get to sing all of that wonderful sacred music that they would miss in school or in church. She's singing alto.
Also, the girls started piano lessons just last week with their new teacher, and already they're starting to get the sense of reading music. Their last teacher wrote out the note-letters on the page, and we had little stickers on the keyboard that showed the different key names. Now, they're being made to learn the notes, and they're doing just fine.
Ella is displaying the same learning method that Madison did about piano, although actually about six months earlier than Madison:
At first, she played by this method: Look at note. Look at note letter under note. Find note on piano. Strike it. Ignore time value of note. Look at next note. Et cetera.
Now, you can tell that Ella is actually listening to the music that she's creating, and relating the notes on the page *to the melody*, and letting the anticipation of the next note *by ear* play a large role in identifying the next key to strike, checking to see that it corresponds to the note on the page. It's an entirely different approach, and I watched Madison do this at about the time she turned 7.
I'm discovering that Madison has an uncanny ability to memorize. She's had a lot of memorization in the past month: Lots of words for the Chorus, a play for drama, and poetry for school. She's great. It's one of those effortless things for her. Cool. That should serve her well.
It's serving her well as we're writing our book, too. We've picked that back up, on Wednesdays. We're now deep into the research for the nitty gritty of it. A group of home-schooled kids find a treasure chest containing clues in the form of a list of pages and paragraphs from popular children's (mostly) mystery literature up through 1976 (Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, The Great Brain, Encyclopedia Brown, etc). They have to hunt down the references, which turn out to be a list of Rules for Being Good Detectives. Then, once they have the list compiled, they use the rules to figure out where the treasure chest came from. So, Madison and I are now in the process of going through lots and lots of books to find good places that describe rules for detecting. We're even using My Side of the Mountain and The Swiss Family Robinson, because these guys really have to use their minds to figure out what's going on. (In our book, the kids discuss the books and what the passages mean...my theory being that this unique romp through classic kid lit will inspire contemporary readers to pick up those books.) So Madison is doing a lot of reading, which for her is simply a pleasure (hey! I'm doing this for school), and she's also able to recall specific passages from books with relative ease.
Spelling is better. Ella is good, Madison is getting better. They're liking the WRTR annotation method, it especially seems to anchor spelling in Madison's mind. We only started that this week. I'm looking forward to getting the WRTR book I ordered Sunday.
They're both liking grammar a lot, Madison particularly. They both love logic. I must get new age-appropriate logic workbooks, they're almost at the end of theirs but neither is really ready to move up a level, they just want more.
We do Spanish twice per week, and we should be doing sign language twice per week except it keeps going by the wayside.
Haven't made too much progress on history or science. Too busy doing other things. History is ancient history (literally). Science WAS the human body for the week before we went on the cruise, now it's just talking about things as they come up in the world. May try to get going on this more.
They have a cooking class on Mondays, and horseback riding on Mondays, too. Every day, they figure out how many more days until the next horseback riding class. (Wah for Columbus Day next week! No class!)
Girl Scout Cookie sales start on Saturday. Anyone who wants a box or three or ten mailed to them should let me know. Click here to meet the cookies.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Cheers for Cheerios
Today, Ella spontaneously picked up and worked her way through reading a book, alone.
It was Things That Are Most In the World by Judi Barrett, and it came as a little paperback pamphlet in our new box of Cheerios that we opened this morning.
It was laborious, but the pictures are great, and they helped. And she did it for PLEASURE. Holy cow.
She came to me with a word:
"Mommy, what does P - O - U - N - D spell?"
"Well, we know from our Writing Road to Reading cards that the OU sound has four sounds. What are they?"
She needed a little prompting, but then once she had the four sounds, she went back and applied them to the word and figured it out. And then kept reading.
I'm trying to be conservative, so maybe it's not time for serious YIPPEES, but I'm thinking this First at least deserves a toast at dinner.
It was Things That Are Most In the World by Judi Barrett, and it came as a little paperback pamphlet in our new box of Cheerios that we opened this morning.
It was laborious, but the pictures are great, and they helped. And she did it for PLEASURE. Holy cow.
She came to me with a word:
"Mommy, what does P - O - U - N - D spell?"
"Well, we know from our Writing Road to Reading cards that the OU sound has four sounds. What are they?"
She needed a little prompting, but then once she had the four sounds, she went back and applied them to the word and figured it out. And then kept reading.
I'm trying to be conservative, so maybe it's not time for serious YIPPEES, but I'm thinking this First at least deserves a toast at dinner.
Food
What took me so long to try tacos with my picky eaters?
They're fun to make, and...wonder of wonders...the girls like them. Madison loved the beef, although Ella prefers meatless tacos (tortilla, sauce, and lots of cheese).
Excuse me while I go worship at the altar of the Food Gods.
They're fun to make, and...wonder of wonders...the girls like them. Madison loved the beef, although Ella prefers meatless tacos (tortilla, sauce, and lots of cheese).
Excuse me while I go worship at the altar of the Food Gods.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Chalk math
I have to rest up from the weekend! On Saturday, we went to Conklin's Gully in Naples, NY (at the south end of Canandaigua Lake) and by a slight mistake missed the path that was near where we parked our car; instead we climbed the *actual waterfall* up to the gulch. Good thing we've had no rain this summer, or we wouldn't have been able to do it. As it was, climbing the rocks was very slippery (both Madison and I fell in the creek) and somewhat hazardous, and quite strenuous and nerve-wracking. It started off fine:
Then got a bit harder...
And harder...
But then you found yourself in this magnificent gully where you know few people have been, and which can't be accessed from the actual path, which we didn't know existed until the way back.
It wasn't really dangerous in that if you slipped and fell, you landed about four feet below in the water with some cuts and bumps, rather than actually, say, dying. But the payoff was great, to find yourself in this awesome enclosed area with cliffs all around you. I kept telling the girls, "If you start to fall, CLOSE YOUR MOUTH," especially Madison, who is both more likely to talk on the way down, and has more to lose, in the form of actual adult teeth.
Of course, when I made my own undignified slide down the side of the rock into the water, I ignored my own advice. They promptly informed me that they wouldn't let me forget it. "Hey," I said, "They're your teeth. Do what you think best." (Maybe they can think faster than I on the way down.)
And then, yesterday, I took 2 hours to scrub the kitchen floor. It's a small-stone floor that has a lot of grout. It hides the dirt well in its crevices, but it hides a LOT of dirt well and it's hard to get out. I got fed up with all of our feet getting blacker as time went on. I kept thinking, "I'm meant for better things than to spend this time scrubbing the floor," as I was damning the previous owners. I actually didn't feel the same as I was cleaning out the entire storage room (after all, it's all OUR stuff), put in shelves, and reorganied everything. It looks fantastic, actually. But it took me the whole afternoon. And that's all a very long way of saying that in the storage room, I FOUND THE CHALK. Hence the title of this post.
This morning, we really didn't get going on school until 10:30, and we had to leave by 12:30 to get to gym-and-swim, so we didn't get a lot done. (Don't worry, Laura, we didn't skip WRTR.) I let Madison and Ella do "chalk math" instead of actual rigorous math. Madison taught Ella 6 x 4, 6 x 6, and 6 x 7.
Then got a bit harder...
And harder...
But then you found yourself in this magnificent gully where you know few people have been, and which can't be accessed from the actual path, which we didn't know existed until the way back.
It wasn't really dangerous in that if you slipped and fell, you landed about four feet below in the water with some cuts and bumps, rather than actually, say, dying. But the payoff was great, to find yourself in this awesome enclosed area with cliffs all around you. I kept telling the girls, "If you start to fall, CLOSE YOUR MOUTH," especially Madison, who is both more likely to talk on the way down, and has more to lose, in the form of actual adult teeth.
Of course, when I made my own undignified slide down the side of the rock into the water, I ignored my own advice. They promptly informed me that they wouldn't let me forget it. "Hey," I said, "They're your teeth. Do what you think best." (Maybe they can think faster than I on the way down.)
And then, yesterday, I took 2 hours to scrub the kitchen floor. It's a small-stone floor that has a lot of grout. It hides the dirt well in its crevices, but it hides a LOT of dirt well and it's hard to get out. I got fed up with all of our feet getting blacker as time went on. I kept thinking, "I'm meant for better things than to spend this time scrubbing the floor," as I was damning the previous owners. I actually didn't feel the same as I was cleaning out the entire storage room (after all, it's all OUR stuff), put in shelves, and reorganied everything. It looks fantastic, actually. But it took me the whole afternoon. And that's all a very long way of saying that in the storage room, I FOUND THE CHALK. Hence the title of this post.
This morning, we really didn't get going on school until 10:30, and we had to leave by 12:30 to get to gym-and-swim, so we didn't get a lot done. (Don't worry, Laura, we didn't skip WRTR.) I let Madison and Ella do "chalk math" instead of actual rigorous math. Madison taught Ella 6 x 4, 6 x 6, and 6 x 7.
Small personal success
It's not exactly bragging, is it, to post a comment I got from a parent who reads my KOA newsletter:
Thanks so much for publishing the link to the Randy Pausch lecture. I watched it and it really affected me. I even had a dream about it last night, complete with brick walls. My October 1 Resolution: To live a good life!This is exactly the kind of effect I was hoping to have.
I am still getting your newsletter, even though I moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the end of July. I keep subscribing because you include nuggets of wisdom and links like this one each week. They mean a lot to me. Thank you so much!
Friday, September 28, 2007
WRTR Day 2
Can you imagine my happiness (that's happ-short-i-ness) when I walked into the bedroom this afternoon and discovered Madison holding up the WRTR flash cards in her left hand, and the fingers of her right hand, and quizzing Ella about the pronunciations? And they were both having fun.
Area/perimeter of triangles
Madison was so enthused about learning about the area of triangles that she asked after lunch if she could spend the rest of the day writing a report/speech about the area of triangles. Who am I to say no? She's doing that now.
I loved the "click" moment she experienced today. It was when I gave her a triangle of base=3 height=3 and asked her the area ("Oh! It's 4-and-a-half"!). After that, a triangle with base 9 and height 7 was no problem. And everything else was easy.
Before I did triangles, I reviewed rectangle perimeter/area. (After she got that, I split one of the rectangles in half, into two triangles, and asked her what the area of the triangle must be.) Anyway, she was very pleased to figure out (with only me doing examples as guidance) that a 4 x 4 square was "the boundary" (her words) between when perimeter is bigger than area, and when area is bigger than perimeter.
I loved the "click" moment she experienced today. It was when I gave her a triangle of base=3 height=3 and asked her the area ("Oh! It's 4-and-a-half"!). After that, a triangle with base 9 and height 7 was no problem. And everything else was easy.
Before I did triangles, I reviewed rectangle perimeter/area. (After she got that, I split one of the rectangles in half, into two triangles, and asked her what the area of the triangle must be.) Anyway, she was very pleased to figure out (with only me doing examples as guidance) that a 4 x 4 square was "the boundary" (her words) between when perimeter is bigger than area, and when area is bigger than perimeter.
Randy Pausch
Publishing KidsOutAndAbout.com is part of my personal mission to spread reason among parents. My strategy is to say things in such a way that they seem to be uncontroversial, and to say it warmly and cheerfully so that it's easy for them to believe that they *already* believe what I'm writing, and I'm just bringing their attention to it. I'm pleased to say that my Friday morning e-newsletter goes out to 6000 readers right now. This is from this morning's newsletter:
Have you heard of professor Randy Pausch, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh? Carnegie Mellon asks their great professors to think deeply about the important things in life, and to present hypothetical "Last Lectures." Pausch's Last Lecture had a profundity that some of the others hadn't, because Pausch has terminal pancreatic cancer. Pausch, who is a computer science professor and developer of virtual reality technology, has three children, ages 5, 2, and 1. His Last Lecture, entitled "How to Live Your Childhood Dreams," became a sensation around the world in the past week and a half, and thousands of people have already contacted him to tell him what a difference his talk made in their lives.
Jeffrey Zaslow reported on his talk in last Thursday's Wall Street Journal. Zazlow's article (which really got me thinking last week) can be found here:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119024238402033039.html
I found a link to the video presentation of Pausch's talk here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=362421849901825950&hl=en
Randy Pausch's web site says it will have an online link to the typed article soon.
Why was the talk so affecting? Professor Pausch only has a few months left of life, but he is happy with how he is using it. His Last Lecture reminds us how easy it is to put aside what is really important in life for "later"--which rarely comes. Pausch says that he has made sure to fulfill all of his childhood dreams, which in his case include winning giant stuffed animals at carnivals, walking in zero gravity, designing Disney rides, and writing a World Book entry.
He reminds us that even though it's so easy to say no to things our children want to do that are slightly inconvenient, he was profoundly affected by his parents' permission to decorate the walls of his bedroom any way he wanted; in his case, it was with etchings of mathematical equations.
Reading about Professor Pausch helped me reorient my own priorities as a parent: If (God forbid) my own child were dying of cancer in 40 years, what would I want *her* to say about her childhood in her Last Lecture? And how does that affect my day-to-day decisions and actions with the girls? It occurred to me that every action that we take, at root, is either good for us or bad for us: Even if only in a small way, it is either life-sustaining, or life-destroying. Professor Pausch reminds us that in even the smallest actions, we should choose life, for ourselves and our children. I have been finding it an interesting, and useful, filter with which to view the world this week. Think about it.
Have you heard of professor Randy Pausch, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh? Carnegie Mellon asks their great professors to think deeply about the important things in life, and to present hypothetical "Last Lectures." Pausch's Last Lecture had a profundity that some of the others hadn't, because Pausch has terminal pancreatic cancer. Pausch, who is a computer science professor and developer of virtual reality technology, has three children, ages 5, 2, and 1. His Last Lecture, entitled "How to Live Your Childhood Dreams," became a sensation around the world in the past week and a half, and thousands of people have already contacted him to tell him what a difference his talk made in their lives.
Jeffrey Zaslow reported on his talk in last Thursday's Wall Street Journal. Zazlow's article (which really got me thinking last week) can be found here:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119024238402033039.html
I found a link to the video presentation of Pausch's talk here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=362421849901825950&hl=en
Randy Pausch's web site says it will have an online link to the typed article soon.
Why was the talk so affecting? Professor Pausch only has a few months left of life, but he is happy with how he is using it. His Last Lecture reminds us how easy it is to put aside what is really important in life for "later"--which rarely comes. Pausch says that he has made sure to fulfill all of his childhood dreams, which in his case include winning giant stuffed animals at carnivals, walking in zero gravity, designing Disney rides, and writing a World Book entry.
He reminds us that even though it's so easy to say no to things our children want to do that are slightly inconvenient, he was profoundly affected by his parents' permission to decorate the walls of his bedroom any way he wanted; in his case, it was with etchings of mathematical equations.
Reading about Professor Pausch helped me reorient my own priorities as a parent: If (God forbid) my own child were dying of cancer in 40 years, what would I want *her* to say about her childhood in her Last Lecture? And how does that affect my day-to-day decisions and actions with the girls? It occurred to me that every action that we take, at root, is either good for us or bad for us: Even if only in a small way, it is either life-sustaining, or life-destroying. Professor Pausch reminds us that in even the smallest actions, we should choose life, for ourselves and our children. I have been finding it an interesting, and useful, filter with which to view the world this week. Think about it.
William of Ockham
Yesterday's Birthday of the Day was William of Ockham (well, it wasn't, really, it was Meatloaf's birthday, but when there's no one particularly worthy of the Birthday of the Day from a cultural literacy perspective, we substitute someone whose birthday we don't know). Then, at the end of the day, we give nickels for every correct answer.
"What was William of Ockham, Ella?"
"He was an inventor? The inventor of the Razor?"
"What was William of Ockham, Ella?"
"He was an inventor? The inventor of the Razor?"
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Dumb mommy moment
As editor of KOA, I often get invited to opening nights or dress rehearsals of shows so that I can see them in advance and review them for my readers. I don't always have the time to write formal reviews, especially of performances that aren't stellar. I don't have time to write bad reviews!
One group that I've reviewed before is A Magical Journey Through Stages, which is a terrific Broadway-revue type performing group that consists of the very best performers from community theater from around Rochester. I wrote a review in the spring about their Times Square performance.
Last night, I took the girls to see their dress rehearsal for Grease, which opens this weekend. Now, for pity's sake, I was IN Grease in high school. So there is no excuse for the fact that I took them last night, I just simply DIDN'T THINK. If I had thought about it, I might have remembered:
It's about kind of ratty kids who are romanticized as they struggle with growing up.
It's all about peer pressure. ("Do real teenagers act like that, Mommy, or is it just in the show? Is it just in the 50's?")
They smoke and drink on stage (although these kids just held the cigarettes rather than lighting them).
They use the word "crap" and other slang a LOT, plus sometimes make lewd gestures.
Stealing hubcaps and gang fighting is romanticized.
Danny is a bit aggressive in the car at the drive-in movie with Sandy. ("Mommy, what's he trying to get her to do? She already kissed him.")
Rizzo thinks she's pregnant toward the end ("Mommy, what does "knocked up" mean?).
The play (written in the 70s, I think) doesn't in any way come to any good resolution about what kids are supposed to do to sort through the issues that they all encounter. Danny joins the track team, although he leaves it in the end after making a rude gesture to the coach, and comes to treat Sandy a little bit better in front of his friends Toward the end, Sandy throws off her "good little girl" image and her poodle skirts after seeing what Rizzo is going through, sings "Goodbye To Sandra D" and starts dressing like a slut.
So, okay, I screwed up here. What was I thinking, taking them?
Ella is happy to listen to the music, generally follow the story ("how it's hard for teenagers to figure out how to act with each other when they're becoming boyfriend and girlfriend") and see the dancing and the costumes, and, as in all things, without needing to penetrate too deeply. Madison, of course, insists on figuring out *exactly* what is going on at every moment, which made it particularly difficult last night.
I will admit to (temporarily) taking the coward's way out when Madison tugged hard at my arm after the whole "don't tell anyone I think I'm pregnant" scene. "What's going on? What just happened? What's Rizzo singing about? Why is Kinicki upset?" "I'll tell you later," I whispered back. I confess that I was kind of hoping it would fade from her mind during the rest of the play. But as I was driving home, I realized that this can't be the way I deal with things. She's eight, I'm sure I'm smart enough to find some age-appropriate way to describe the things she wants to know. So as a matter of principle, I asked in the car:
"So, ok, anyone have any questions about the show?"
"YES," she said. "What was that, toward the end, before the song Rizzo sang that I didn't understand, before her conversation with Sandy? What was the thing with the secret?"
Sigh.
"Well," I replied. "Rizzo thought she might be pregnant. And she was really upset about that."
"Why?"
"Because she's a teenage girl, and it's bad for a teenage girl to be pregnant. People aren't old enough to be parents when they're teenagers. So she was very upset."
"Why was it a secret?"
"When you're really upset and you want to talk to one person, it can help. But you don't necessarily want everyone to know that you're upset, so you ask that person not to tell others. But her friend went and did that right away so everyone knew, and that made Rizzo even more upset." (Oh please oh please don't have her ask about why Kinicki was mad, and what Rizzo's comment, 'Don't worry, you don't know the guy' meant.) (She didn't.)
So...I should have known better. Of course, none of this is a disaster, but I'd prefer for them to experience these issues when they're a little older and actually interested in them.
One group that I've reviewed before is A Magical Journey Through Stages, which is a terrific Broadway-revue type performing group that consists of the very best performers from community theater from around Rochester. I wrote a review in the spring about their Times Square performance.
Last night, I took the girls to see their dress rehearsal for Grease, which opens this weekend. Now, for pity's sake, I was IN Grease in high school. So there is no excuse for the fact that I took them last night, I just simply DIDN'T THINK. If I had thought about it, I might have remembered:
So, okay, I screwed up here. What was I thinking, taking them?
Ella is happy to listen to the music, generally follow the story ("how it's hard for teenagers to figure out how to act with each other when they're becoming boyfriend and girlfriend") and see the dancing and the costumes, and, as in all things, without needing to penetrate too deeply. Madison, of course, insists on figuring out *exactly* what is going on at every moment, which made it particularly difficult last night.
I will admit to (temporarily) taking the coward's way out when Madison tugged hard at my arm after the whole "don't tell anyone I think I'm pregnant" scene. "What's going on? What just happened? What's Rizzo singing about? Why is Kinicki upset?" "I'll tell you later," I whispered back. I confess that I was kind of hoping it would fade from her mind during the rest of the play. But as I was driving home, I realized that this can't be the way I deal with things. She's eight, I'm sure I'm smart enough to find some age-appropriate way to describe the things she wants to know. So as a matter of principle, I asked in the car:
"So, ok, anyone have any questions about the show?"
"YES," she said. "What was that, toward the end, before the song Rizzo sang that I didn't understand, before her conversation with Sandy? What was the thing with the secret?"
Sigh.
"Well," I replied. "Rizzo thought she might be pregnant. And she was really upset about that."
"Why?"
"Because she's a teenage girl, and it's bad for a teenage girl to be pregnant. People aren't old enough to be parents when they're teenagers. So she was very upset."
"Why was it a secret?"
"When you're really upset and you want to talk to one person, it can help. But you don't necessarily want everyone to know that you're upset, so you ask that person not to tell others. But her friend went and did that right away so everyone knew, and that made Rizzo even more upset." (Oh please oh please don't have her ask about why Kinicki was mad, and what Rizzo's comment, 'Don't worry, you don't know the guy' meant.) (She didn't.)
So...I should have known better. Of course, none of this is a disaster, but I'd prefer for them to experience these issues when they're a little older and actually interested in them.
Day 1 of Writing Road to Reading
I talked with Laura pretty extensively yesterday, FINALLY getting my bottom in gear to do a more formal investigation of The Writing Road to Reading method.
Ella has not been struggling with reading, but there has been no "magic" moment where she just reads, yet. Madison had a magic moment right before she was six, where she just decided she was damned well going to read the Boxcar Children books, and so she sat down and just forged ahead, ignoring the words she didn't know. Ella is 5 months past six and I know if she just decided to focus a lot and just try it on her own all the time, like when she encounters signs, then I know something would click. Don't get me wrong, she's a fairly competent reader and speller for six, but I know it could be better.
And for Madison, well of course she reads as well and as fast many adults, but I've written before about how she has not been focusing on spelling. When you give her something just out of context to spell, she's terrible. Even though our AVKO spelling has been working quite well and she's getting better, things haven't really "clicked" where she's spelling lots of words that she hasn't memorized. That kid needs a method and a theory for everything, and so that's why English spelling hasn't really progressed for her.
Well, I think this method will really work, for both of them. It's a combination of memorizing all of the possible sounds (in order!) for letters and letter combinations, and then writing words with their representational symbols to make it clear which letters make which sounds.
I already had the phonogram cards from way back when Laura first recommended this to me (YEARS ago), and so I started today just flashing them to the girls and getting them to say the various sounds for each in order. They actually liked this. Ella went up to Card 42 before I could see it was a little much, and Madison went through the whole stack of 70. They like it. I went online and bought The Writing Road to Reading : The Spalding Method of Phonics for Teaching Speech, Writing and Reading, volume 4 for 6 whole dollars today, including shipping. Eventually, we'll be writing words with the notation for the various sounds, which is a kind of method Madison should really like, and which should really cement the spelling in her head.
Laura, did I mention that you're right? You're right. As it says in the little blurb in the upper right-hand corner of the blog, I'm grateful for your expertise.
Ella has not been struggling with reading, but there has been no "magic" moment where she just reads, yet. Madison had a magic moment right before she was six, where she just decided she was damned well going to read the Boxcar Children books, and so she sat down and just forged ahead, ignoring the words she didn't know. Ella is 5 months past six and I know if she just decided to focus a lot and just try it on her own all the time, like when she encounters signs, then I know something would click. Don't get me wrong, she's a fairly competent reader and speller for six, but I know it could be better.
And for Madison, well of course she reads as well and as fast many adults, but I've written before about how she has not been focusing on spelling. When you give her something just out of context to spell, she's terrible. Even though our AVKO spelling has been working quite well and she's getting better, things haven't really "clicked" where she's spelling lots of words that she hasn't memorized. That kid needs a method and a theory for everything, and so that's why English spelling hasn't really progressed for her.
Well, I think this method will really work, for both of them. It's a combination of memorizing all of the possible sounds (in order!) for letters and letter combinations, and then writing words with their representational symbols to make it clear which letters make which sounds.
I already had the phonogram cards from way back when Laura first recommended this to me (YEARS ago), and so I started today just flashing them to the girls and getting them to say the various sounds for each in order. They actually liked this. Ella went up to Card 42 before I could see it was a little much, and Madison went through the whole stack of 70. They like it. I went online and bought The Writing Road to Reading : The Spalding Method of Phonics for Teaching Speech, Writing and Reading, volume 4 for 6 whole dollars today, including shipping. Eventually, we'll be writing words with the notation for the various sounds, which is a kind of method Madison should really like, and which should really cement the spelling in her head.
Laura, did I mention that you're right? You're right. As it says in the little blurb in the upper right-hand corner of the blog, I'm grateful for your expertise.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
I don't often quote from other mom blogs
This, though, is from a post by Moreena, who writes "The Wait and the Wonder." This post from her blog is entitled "Pompeii":
Later, back at home with two advils dissolving in my stomach and Frankie stretched on top of my chest, I remembered this story I heard one time, who knows where, about a mother found in the remains of Pompeii. She was curled up, her back an arch, and under the sheltering bridge of her body was found her child, as if she hoped to hold back the unstoppable tide of destruction with just her body alone. As if love might be the protection, the miracle, or at least the easing of inevitable.
The urge to protect is so strong. Even when the volcano is hidden inside your very own body. Even when bending over your child in a sheltering embrace brings the volcano closer. When the goodnight hug leaves only the fragile border of your own skin between your child and that lurking disaster.
And rather than running from the horror, we bend and shelter and protect.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
How clever I was to buy this
I'm feeling very clever to have bought these place mats of the periodic table:
http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Posters/index.html.
We have them on our kitchen table, and the girls can't get enough of perusing them. They have great descriptions on the back. You can get it as a poster if you want, too. And they take PayPal so it was like not paying anything at all for them. (Right? Isn't that the way it works?)
http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Posters/index.html.
We have them on our kitchen table, and the girls can't get enough of perusing them. They have great descriptions on the back. You can get it as a poster if you want, too. And they take PayPal so it was like not paying anything at all for them. (Right? Isn't that the way it works?)
Hug O' War
It's Shel Silverstein's birthday. He was born in Chicago on September 25, 1930. He died of a heart attack in 1999. I was actually not aware he was dead. Where have I been.
Here is the poem we're memorizing today:
Hug O’ War
By Shel Silverstein
I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war.
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs.
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug.
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
My favorite book of his is The Missing Piece, although I don't think it's as profound as people seem to think.
My least favorite book is The Giving Tree.
Here is the poem we're memorizing today:
Hug O’ War
By Shel Silverstein
I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war.
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs.
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug.
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
My favorite book of his is The Missing Piece, although I don't think it's as profound as people seem to think.
My least favorite book is The Giving Tree.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Brownies
We had the annual Parent Meeting for Brownies today.
Have I mentioned that I hate Brownies?
Oh, yes, I have.
The girls have no idea. I kind of hope Madison doesn't want to do it next year, so that I don't have to have girls in two different troops. Double the fun.
The Cookie Mom is a dad this year, the husband of the troop leader. He is taking it very seriously.
Anyone want cookies? That's in October and November. Can I use my 6000-family KidsOutAndAbout.com email newsletter to sell cookies? No, I can't. Against the rules.
No gluten-free cookies.
We have a quota of 100 boxes per girl, or 130 boxes per family. Let's see, if I buy them all myself, that's...about $520, I think. They'd all be Thin Mints.
Have I mentioned that I hate Brownies?
Oh, yes, I have.
The girls have no idea. I kind of hope Madison doesn't want to do it next year, so that I don't have to have girls in two different troops. Double the fun.
The Cookie Mom is a dad this year, the husband of the troop leader. He is taking it very seriously.
Anyone want cookies? That's in October and November. Can I use my 6000-family KidsOutAndAbout.com email newsletter to sell cookies? No, I can't. Against the rules.
No gluten-free cookies.
We have a quota of 100 boxes per girl, or 130 boxes per family. Let's see, if I buy them all myself, that's...about $520, I think. They'd all be Thin Mints.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Piano arrives!
On the local homeschooling list a few weeks ago, a woman named Amy who is trying to declutter offered her old upright piano to a good home. I was skeptical, but went over and fell in love -- it's a 1913 piano that has *always* been in her house (a cool c. 1910 arts-and-crafts in Rochester near Writers & Books). I knew that piano had to be in our house.
David got three young RIT math guys (two of whom, fortunately, had muscles, because that piano is HEAVY). I was cooking a delicious dinner for them and their girlfriends as a thank-you. They got to the house and discovered that the U-Haul van was too small, so David called me, and I did some quick thinking and sweet-talked the local Home Depot into renting me their flatbed truck for a few hours. You know that everything always takes longer and is more difficult than you thought it was going to be, but at the end of the evening we had our piano and the kids had a nice (if late) pork dinner.
I will be having it tuned and the beginnings of repairs starting Oct 2. It needs new keys (ivories chipped away on half the keys), and some internal repairs, but I am so excited. I can't believe we got it for NOTHING. It's in the dining room now, we'll see if it remains there. The girls had been outwardly skeptical about our getting it, telling me over and over how they prefer their keyboard, but once it gone in the house they couldn't help going over and playing it, I had to drag them away this morning.
And, piano lessons with their new teacher start next Wednesday!
I will get photos up as soon as I find the darned connector wire for my camera to the computer. Still haven't downloaded the Bermuda photos.
David got three young RIT math guys (two of whom, fortunately, had muscles, because that piano is HEAVY). I was cooking a delicious dinner for them and their girlfriends as a thank-you. They got to the house and discovered that the U-Haul van was too small, so David called me, and I did some quick thinking and sweet-talked the local Home Depot into renting me their flatbed truck for a few hours. You know that everything always takes longer and is more difficult than you thought it was going to be, but at the end of the evening we had our piano and the kids had a nice (if late) pork dinner.
I will be having it tuned and the beginnings of repairs starting Oct 2. It needs new keys (ivories chipped away on half the keys), and some internal repairs, but I am so excited. I can't believe we got it for NOTHING. It's in the dining room now, we'll see if it remains there. The girls had been outwardly skeptical about our getting it, telling me over and over how they prefer their keyboard, but once it gone in the house they couldn't help going over and playing it, I had to drag them away this morning.
And, piano lessons with their new teacher start next Wednesday!
I will get photos up as soon as I find the darned connector wire for my camera to the computer. Still haven't downloaded the Bermuda photos.
New drama class
I found a (cheap!) drama class for Madison on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next five weeks at Penfield Recreation. She started Tuesday, and she LOVES it. There are about 9 kids age 8-12, and they're doing some crazy fractured fairy tale as a play. Quite involved, 60 pages of script. Each kid is doing two roles; Madison got cast today as Splenda, the good witch (and the mother of the star of the show, Brenda, a tall 12-year-old) and the Fairy Godmother. They'll do a show on a stage in late October, with costumes and everything. The director is a calm, lovely woman named (like her last theater arts teacher) Pam, who seems to know what she's doing, and the other kids (I think 3-4 boys, 4 other girls) seem enthusiastic and nice.
Did I mention Madison loves this? She already has some of her part memorized, and given how great she's been at poem memorization lately, I think she's found one of her niches.
I wouldn't mind spending the next 10 years as a theater mom, either. The kids who get involved tend to be nice, and focused, and mature. A good group for the girls to associate with.
I think I'll take them to the dress rehearsal of Grease next Wednesday night, to which I've been invited as publisher of KOA. There have to be some perks, after all.
Did I mention Madison loves this? She already has some of her part memorized, and given how great she's been at poem memorization lately, I think she's found one of her niches.
I wouldn't mind spending the next 10 years as a theater mom, either. The kids who get involved tend to be nice, and focused, and mature. A good group for the girls to associate with.
I think I'll take them to the dress rehearsal of Grease next Wednesday night, to which I've been invited as publisher of KOA. There have to be some perks, after all.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
AAARRRR
It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day.
http://www.talklikeapirate.com
I'm looking for some Pirate Poems for the girls to memorize.
http://www.talklikeapirate.com
I'm looking for some Pirate Poems for the girls to memorize.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Poem memorization
Another day of school under our belt, except for Gym & Swim at 1pm, karate at 4:30. We have an hour and a half in between G&S and karate, so we're going to celebrate a good day by going to the corn maze at the farm that's right next to the Y.
I realized today that the girls, especially Madison, are astonishingly good at poem memorization. Last week, Madison heard Ella working on memorizing a poem, The Caterpillar, by Christina Rossetti, from the grammar book we're using. She wanted to memorize, too. We did it two days, Wed and Thurs, two weeks ago. This morning, Madison absolutely remembered the poem she'd worked on, The Goops, without any intervening work on it.
The Goops they lick their fingers,
The Goops they lick their knifes,
They spill their broth on the tablecloth,
Oh, they lead disgusting lives.
The Goops they talk while eating,
And loud and fast they chew.
And that is why I'm glad that I
Am not a Goop - are you?
Ella, with just two minutes of work to remember, could remember her poem,
The Caterpillar
Brown and furry,
Caterpillar in a hurry.
Take your walk
To the shady leaf or stalk.
May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass buy you.
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
Madison also knew that poem, just having listened to Ella do it almost two weeks ago. One wishes she could apply the same method to remembering how things are spelled.
I realized today that the girls, especially Madison, are astonishingly good at poem memorization. Last week, Madison heard Ella working on memorizing a poem, The Caterpillar, by Christina Rossetti, from the grammar book we're using. She wanted to memorize, too. We did it two days, Wed and Thurs, two weeks ago. This morning, Madison absolutely remembered the poem she'd worked on, The Goops, without any intervening work on it.
The Goops they lick their fingers,
The Goops they lick their knifes,
They spill their broth on the tablecloth,
Oh, they lead disgusting lives.
The Goops they talk while eating,
And loud and fast they chew.
And that is why I'm glad that I
Am not a Goop - are you?
Ella, with just two minutes of work to remember, could remember her poem,
The Caterpillar
Brown and furry,
Caterpillar in a hurry.
Take your walk
To the shady leaf or stalk.
May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass buy you.
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
Madison also knew that poem, just having listened to Ella do it almost two weeks ago. One wishes she could apply the same method to remembering how things are spelled.
Our Body: The Universe Within review
I wrote a review of the traveling exhibit, Our Body: The Universe Within and figured I'd post it here.
The review is at http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/main-reviews/OurBody.html.
After seeing the exhibit, I have a new resolution to drop about 20 pounds. Want to keep that machine inside me in top condition! It really helped me not go nuts with food on the cruise.
The review is at http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/main-reviews/OurBody.html.
After seeing the exhibit, I have a new resolution to drop about 20 pounds. Want to keep that machine inside me in top condition! It really helped me not go nuts with food on the cruise.
Settling down to normal life
We had a great time on the cruise. I have day-by-day notes, but I won't bore you with those.
The beginning part of the academics was taught by the director of the HotS (Homeschool on the Seas) program, a homeschool mom from Connecticut. To adults, it was clear that she'd done about 15 minutes of internet research on the history and culture of Bermuda, but the kids couldn't really tell. Later on, there were some actual experts from the University of Miami who had an oceanographic/atmospheric research lab right on board, and they were fantastic. I even went to the adult lecture by Hans Graber, a U Miami researcher who is an expert in using radar imaging with hurricanes, which was great.
We had lots of stuff to do. The ship had an ice rink and a mini-golf course, pools, an arcade (where games cost $1.50, so FORGET IT), and shows. We all tried to have an astronomy lesson but we couldn't find anywhere on board that was dark enough, and I didn't ask but assumed that they didn't even try to get the Royal Caribbean folks to dampen the lights on top of the ship for a little while.
Bermuda was really interesting. We were there two days; I opted for science over history, although there are tons of cool forts and things like that, and we took a ferry and then a bus to the Crystal Cave and Fantasy Cave, and then back. I'll be uploading some photos soon. (I had gotten Madison a digital camera for her birthday, a decent one, and so she took about 100 photos.) The second day, we stayed near the ship because it took so long to get around, and we had to be back on the ship at 4pm, so we went to Snorkel Park, to which you could walk from the ship. The girls learned to snorkel, and we saw some great fish, especially in the morning. We did that in the morning, went back to the ship for lunch, went back in the afternoon, and Madison and I got sunburns on our backs (lesson: don't trust little girls to put the sunscreen on your, or their own, back). We also saw a glass blowing demonstration at a place nearby.
The folks on board were wonderful about making Madison feel special on her birthday. They scattered rose petals on the table, put balloons on the table with Happy Birthday Madison, and then the whole room (hundreds of people) sang to her while she blew out the candles. Mike, the guy from Alumni Cruises (which sponsored HotS), sent her chocolate-covered strawberries.
Throughout the trip, both girls (especially Madison) would wander over to a window, or to our balcony from our room, or to the railing, and gaze out over the water for a while, and THINK. I think it was worth it just for that.
Another thing, about which I can brag because about 3 people read this, is that the girls were no question the *best behaved* kids in the group. People even commented on it. The director was putting together groups of kids for an educational scavenger hunt on board, and she was talking to me afterward about why she put which kids with which, based on maturity, and ability to behave with decorum. "...and yours are just angels, so it didn't matter which group they were in, no one needed to look after them." True. I was really proud of them. They were as roudy as the others when time called for it, and sat there and listened when it was time for that, too. Never gave anyone trouble. Madison was very concerned when two of the big brothers (on opposite teams) called each other "losers" and thought that her team ought to give up its winning status because the brother on her team had started it.
I discovered, by the way, that Ella has an excellent sense of direction. This was a huge ship, with 14 floors, starboard and port, fore and aft...and by the second or third day, she was navigating around it with no difficulty. She knew where she was, and she knew where she needed to go and how to get there. Our dining room was third floor starboard, and if she got cold and wanted her sweatshirt, she could take the room key and go up to sixth floor port, where our room was.
All in all, this was a good thing to do.
And now I must go and write a long, detailed article about it, as I told the HotS people I was going to do, which gave me my discount.
Oh, wait, first I must educate my children. Then take them to Gym & Swim. Then take them to karate.
The beginning part of the academics was taught by the director of the HotS (Homeschool on the Seas) program, a homeschool mom from Connecticut. To adults, it was clear that she'd done about 15 minutes of internet research on the history and culture of Bermuda, but the kids couldn't really tell. Later on, there were some actual experts from the University of Miami who had an oceanographic/atmospheric research lab right on board, and they were fantastic. I even went to the adult lecture by Hans Graber, a U Miami researcher who is an expert in using radar imaging with hurricanes, which was great.
We had lots of stuff to do. The ship had an ice rink and a mini-golf course, pools, an arcade (where games cost $1.50, so FORGET IT), and shows. We all tried to have an astronomy lesson but we couldn't find anywhere on board that was dark enough, and I didn't ask but assumed that they didn't even try to get the Royal Caribbean folks to dampen the lights on top of the ship for a little while.
Bermuda was really interesting. We were there two days; I opted for science over history, although there are tons of cool forts and things like that, and we took a ferry and then a bus to the Crystal Cave and Fantasy Cave, and then back. I'll be uploading some photos soon. (I had gotten Madison a digital camera for her birthday, a decent one, and so she took about 100 photos.) The second day, we stayed near the ship because it took so long to get around, and we had to be back on the ship at 4pm, so we went to Snorkel Park, to which you could walk from the ship. The girls learned to snorkel, and we saw some great fish, especially in the morning. We did that in the morning, went back to the ship for lunch, went back in the afternoon, and Madison and I got sunburns on our backs (lesson: don't trust little girls to put the sunscreen on your, or their own, back). We also saw a glass blowing demonstration at a place nearby.
The folks on board were wonderful about making Madison feel special on her birthday. They scattered rose petals on the table, put balloons on the table with Happy Birthday Madison, and then the whole room (hundreds of people) sang to her while she blew out the candles. Mike, the guy from Alumni Cruises (which sponsored HotS), sent her chocolate-covered strawberries.
Throughout the trip, both girls (especially Madison) would wander over to a window, or to our balcony from our room, or to the railing, and gaze out over the water for a while, and THINK. I think it was worth it just for that.
Another thing, about which I can brag because about 3 people read this, is that the girls were no question the *best behaved* kids in the group. People even commented on it. The director was putting together groups of kids for an educational scavenger hunt on board, and she was talking to me afterward about why she put which kids with which, based on maturity, and ability to behave with decorum. "...and yours are just angels, so it didn't matter which group they were in, no one needed to look after them." True. I was really proud of them. They were as roudy as the others when time called for it, and sat there and listened when it was time for that, too. Never gave anyone trouble. Madison was very concerned when two of the big brothers (on opposite teams) called each other "losers" and thought that her team ought to give up its winning status because the brother on her team had started it.
I discovered, by the way, that Ella has an excellent sense of direction. This was a huge ship, with 14 floors, starboard and port, fore and aft...and by the second or third day, she was navigating around it with no difficulty. She knew where she was, and she knew where she needed to go and how to get there. Our dining room was third floor starboard, and if she got cold and wanted her sweatshirt, she could take the room key and go up to sixth floor port, where our room was.
All in all, this was a good thing to do.
And now I must go and write a long, detailed article about it, as I told the HotS people I was going to do, which gave me my discount.
Oh, wait, first I must educate my children. Then take them to Gym & Swim. Then take them to karate.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Feeling pretty murderous, here
This afternoon, some bastards hijacked the weekly KidsOutAndAbout.com email newsletter I sent out this morning, and then changed the title to something filthy and sent it out to Hotmail addresses all over the place. At the bottom, masquerading as the thing you click on to unsubscribe, is a link to porn sites. So I'm getting tons of emails ever since 6pm tonight, with recriminations for MY having sent out something like this, with stuff for kids on it.
What seems to have happened is that some kind of virus/trojan on one of my recipients' emails did this, sent the email along to somewhere in Brazil, where it was modified and sent out again to Hotmail addresses, which are probably programmed to send it along to still more. My web site hosts say that it looks like it was manually manipulated to have that title and some of the links before being re-sent out. So this probably is something deliberate, rather than just some computer reassigning a title and then sending it out. Makes it worse.
I panicked when I first started receiving the TAKE ME OFF YOUR EMAIL LIST demands. But then I realized that all of the people requesting to be taken off *weren't on my list in the first place*. This is good, because I was picturing the public humiliation here in Rochester that would arise from my sending porn out to a significant subset of my 6000 readers. Excellus would, I'm sure, have demanded the site come down instantly. But fortunately, there was no breach of our email server, and none of my readers were emailed. I literally felt sick to my stomach for a while, and couldn't eat much dinner, and here it is 1am and I still can't sleep.
Gross, totally gross. The bastards. If anything, David was more angry than I...I was mostly upset and horrified, whereas he was psychologically ready for actual violence. It's that absolute impossibility of even finding out who did this, much less punish them, that is so very frustrating.
I desperately hope this doesn't snowball through Hotmail. Having my newsletter circulating around the globe, with my email address above some disgusting contents, is really...unappetizing.
At least we're going on the cruise on Sunday.
Of course, Tropical Storm Gabrielle is currently meandering off the East Coast...here's hoping that we miss it on our way from New York to Bermuda.
What seems to have happened is that some kind of virus/trojan on one of my recipients' emails did this, sent the email along to somewhere in Brazil, where it was modified and sent out again to Hotmail addresses, which are probably programmed to send it along to still more. My web site hosts say that it looks like it was manually manipulated to have that title and some of the links before being re-sent out. So this probably is something deliberate, rather than just some computer reassigning a title and then sending it out. Makes it worse.
I panicked when I first started receiving the TAKE ME OFF YOUR EMAIL LIST demands. But then I realized that all of the people requesting to be taken off *weren't on my list in the first place*. This is good, because I was picturing the public humiliation here in Rochester that would arise from my sending porn out to a significant subset of my 6000 readers. Excellus would, I'm sure, have demanded the site come down instantly. But fortunately, there was no breach of our email server, and none of my readers were emailed. I literally felt sick to my stomach for a while, and couldn't eat much dinner, and here it is 1am and I still can't sleep.
Gross, totally gross. The bastards. If anything, David was more angry than I...I was mostly upset and horrified, whereas he was psychologically ready for actual violence. It's that absolute impossibility of even finding out who did this, much less punish them, that is so very frustrating.
I desperately hope this doesn't snowball through Hotmail. Having my newsletter circulating around the globe, with my email address above some disgusting contents, is really...unappetizing.
At least we're going on the cruise on Sunday.
Of course, Tropical Storm Gabrielle is currently meandering off the East Coast...here's hoping that we miss it on our way from New York to Bermuda.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Notes on the Second Day
This often happens, I fall asleep by mistake with the kids and wake up 7 hours later, unable to go back to sleep. So here it is 4 in the morning and I'm at the computer. Why not make some notes on Day 2.
Madison claims that she likes this year of homeschooling much better than last year. I can't get her to pinpoint why. She says it's more fun. I have this sneaking, guilty suspicion that it's more fun because I've been able to devote much more uninterrupted time to school time. (No clients called on Labor Day, only one called on Tuesday.)
Hmmmm. Will have to think more about that.
As for Ella, the summer gap in formal learning has made noticeable two new strides:
1) In logic: Ella is able to manipulate abstract ideas much more readily. I have a Mind Benders Warmup logic book for K-2 which went nowhere last year. But this year, she is having fun solving problems like:
and
For that last one, I showed her how to use charts, with Xs and Os. Madison has been using this since late first grade, and it happened she heard me doing Ella's first one with her while she was working on logic, too. She came over and showed Ella the complicated chart *she* was using. Ella was impressed.
Also with Ella:
In terms of reading, I kind of take back what I said in a recent post about her having regressed. She's gotten right back into the swing of things with much more enthusiasm than she had last year. In terms of skill, not only is she reading faster and, with two days of practice, recognizing words much more than before (not just deriving them from first letter and context), but she's also learning new words a lot faster. Last year, she would have had to re-sound-out a word that she had already sounded out at the top of the same page, but now she just recognizes it from the work she had done. That seems mundane, but I think it's a pretty big step.
Second, she actually *wants* to read. I did what I did this spring, I had her start again WAAAAY at the beginning of the EPS Phonics books series, at Set 2. (Each storybook set has 10 books of 16 pages each. I love this series.) She had read, painstakingly, up through Set 5 last fall/winter/early spring, then I made her start again in the mid-spring and she progessed through them much faster. I'm doing the same thing now, to build up her confidence. The first day she read five books. Yesterday, she wanted to start really early in the morning, while we were still snuggling in bed, and so she actually read the last five books in Set 2 before setting foot on the floor. Then she wanted to bring more of the books with her to the lawyer's office (David and I had to sign some will documents yesterday morning), which she did. So maybe she is in a period of actually wanting to do this reading stuff. Fingers crossed.
Note to self: Stop feeling frustrated when we're out in the world and she doesn't try to read signs and other things that she could actually read if she put just a grain of effort into it. Patience, Grasshopper.
Madison claims that she likes this year of homeschooling much better than last year. I can't get her to pinpoint why. She says it's more fun. I have this sneaking, guilty suspicion that it's more fun because I've been able to devote much more uninterrupted time to school time. (No clients called on Labor Day, only one called on Tuesday.)
Hmmmm. Will have to think more about that.
As for Ella, the summer gap in formal learning has made noticeable two new strides:
1) In logic: Ella is able to manipulate abstract ideas much more readily. I have a Mind Benders Warmup logic book for K-2 which went nowhere last year. But this year, she is having fun solving problems like:
Mrs. Jones is Henrietta's mother.
Mrs. Pembroke is Mrs. Jones's mother.
What is Mrs. Pembroke's relation to Henrietta?
and
Jane and Henry have two professions: Bricklayer and skycap.
The man is not the bricklayer.
Who has what profession?
For that last one, I showed her how to use charts, with Xs and Os. Madison has been using this since late first grade, and it happened she heard me doing Ella's first one with her while she was working on logic, too. She came over and showed Ella the complicated chart *she* was using. Ella was impressed.
Also with Ella:
In terms of reading, I kind of take back what I said in a recent post about her having regressed. She's gotten right back into the swing of things with much more enthusiasm than she had last year. In terms of skill, not only is she reading faster and, with two days of practice, recognizing words much more than before (not just deriving them from first letter and context), but she's also learning new words a lot faster. Last year, she would have had to re-sound-out a word that she had already sounded out at the top of the same page, but now she just recognizes it from the work she had done. That seems mundane, but I think it's a pretty big step.
Second, she actually *wants* to read. I did what I did this spring, I had her start again WAAAAY at the beginning of the EPS Phonics books series, at Set 2. (Each storybook set has 10 books of 16 pages each. I love this series.) She had read, painstakingly, up through Set 5 last fall/winter/early spring, then I made her start again in the mid-spring and she progessed through them much faster. I'm doing the same thing now, to build up her confidence. The first day she read five books. Yesterday, she wanted to start really early in the morning, while we were still snuggling in bed, and so she actually read the last five books in Set 2 before setting foot on the floor. Then she wanted to bring more of the books with her to the lawyer's office (David and I had to sign some will documents yesterday morning), which she did. So maybe she is in a period of actually wanting to do this reading stuff. Fingers crossed.
Note to self: Stop feeling frustrated when we're out in the world and she doesn't try to read signs and other things that she could actually read if she put just a grain of effort into it. Patience, Grasshopper.
Monday, September 03, 2007
First day of school, 2007-2008
I decided to use Labor Day as our first day of school, mostly because we're going on the homeschooling cruise all next week, and I thought it would be a good idea to get a week of routine in beforehand.
We're in the middle of the morning, and all has gone swimmingly. The girls were excited to start school; Madison didn't even want to take a shower and do breakfast first. But the fact of the checklist routines that I've printed out really motivated her to get it done and checked off. I like crossing things off lists, myself.
The thing that has excited them most, to my surprise, has been the fact that I gave them each their own little journals. They even want to bring them on the cruise next week. "I'm going to write in it every single day!" said Ella. They've finished karate practice, decorating their folders, and handwriting so far (it's 10:30), and they were so wild to write in their journals that I'm letting them do it now. Madison just came up to me.
"Mom, can I write crazy nonsense words in my journal and spell them any way I want?"
"Yes, of course. You can do anything you want in a journal. No one is even going to look at it."
"OK, good. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't breaking any Journal Rules."
Despite how pleased she was to get the journal and adamant that no one should ever look in it, Madison just read to me the first part of her first entry.
Update: Those journals were the best 50-cents-apiece that I've ever spent. (Yay Michael's Crafts!) We went to the last Red Wings game of the season this afternoon as a celebration of a successful first day, and both girls brought their journals. We got back at 5pm and Madison has been outside the whole time, writing her story in her journal and stopping to play on her own to "get inspired."
Ella did some writing as well, but after cooking with me for a while is now exploring the model of the human body I got this summer. She can't wait until tomorrow, so I let her do it on her own. It has a stethoscope that you can really use.
We're in the middle of the morning, and all has gone swimmingly. The girls were excited to start school; Madison didn't even want to take a shower and do breakfast first. But the fact of the checklist routines that I've printed out really motivated her to get it done and checked off. I like crossing things off lists, myself.
The thing that has excited them most, to my surprise, has been the fact that I gave them each their own little journals. They even want to bring them on the cruise next week. "I'm going to write in it every single day!" said Ella. They've finished karate practice, decorating their folders, and handwriting so far (it's 10:30), and they were so wild to write in their journals that I'm letting them do it now. Madison just came up to me.
"Mom, can I write crazy nonsense words in my journal and spell them any way I want?"
"Yes, of course. You can do anything you want in a journal. No one is even going to look at it."
"OK, good. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't breaking any Journal Rules."
Despite how pleased she was to get the journal and adamant that no one should ever look in it, Madison just read to me the first part of her first entry.
Update: Those journals were the best 50-cents-apiece that I've ever spent. (Yay Michael's Crafts!) We went to the last Red Wings game of the season this afternoon as a celebration of a successful first day, and both girls brought their journals. We got back at 5pm and Madison has been outside the whole time, writing her story in her journal and stopping to play on her own to "get inspired."
Ella did some writing as well, but after cooking with me for a while is now exploring the model of the human body I got this summer. She can't wait until tomorrow, so I let her do it on her own. It has a stethoscope that you can really use.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
C.S. Lewis
How bad is it to be very impressed with a Bad Guy? I feel that way about C.S. Lewis, even though he's a regular Ellsworth Toohey.
What a storyteller this guy is. Moreover, even though I know what is behind all of it is religious, I don't object to my kids listening to it. I thought I would, but I don't.
We're making our way through the audio Chronicles of Narnia, and we're almost done with Book 6, The Silver Chair.
Knowing the outlines of Lewis's apologia arguments in Mere Christianity, which I really should read one of these days, I've been having a fun time making the cultural literacy connections where his stories are retellings of Biblical stories.
Even though Lewis was the most famous Christian apologist of the 20th century, I find it fascinating that none of the books are heavy-handed with a Christian sense of ethics. (That, alone, would make it as unappealing as Rainbow Fish.) No, the characters just do what the situation objectively calls for. Lewis sets it up so that obedience to the will of Aslan (a lion, who represents God or Jesus depending on the context) is what is required for success in the world of Narnia. But see, that's ok, because in these books, there really is an Aslan and he really did create Narnia, with creatures with free will, and he really knows what's best for it.
That Lewis is a crafty guy. I kept looking for Biblical references in The Silver Chair and finding hardly any, until Chapter 12. The Lady of the Green Kirtle is very annoyed to discover that the our three heroes have freed Prince Rilian from her 10-year enchantment, and sets out to convince them that there was never such a thing as Narnia, after all. Other sources have said that this is a parallel to Plato's Allegory of the Cave, but I see it more as a twisting of arguments people have made against the existence of a God. I transcribed this:
If there really were some objective, demonstrifiable God as there is (in the story) a Narnia, then the argument parallel that Lewis is cleverly trying to draw would hold some water. But that's one awfully fraudulent straw man that he's setting up there.
I don't object to the girls listening to this, because in the story it really is true: We have all the evidence that Narnia is real. So, given the fact that there really is a Narnia, the witch is an evil deceiver in the story. Her arguments are all just tricks to make you think that what is real is not. (Like those atheists must be doing, Lewis is implying, when they argue against the existence of God.)
Of course, Puddleglum's proclamation in that last passage is pretty bad; I certainly wouldn't want the girls to take anything positive away from it. But it really is all the Christians have. They decide to live their lives as if there were some supernatural, because they think it's better than what they've been convinced is a dull old terrible empty lonely existence here on the Third Rock.
Then again, none of them have lived with Madison and Ella.
What a storyteller this guy is. Moreover, even though I know what is behind all of it is religious, I don't object to my kids listening to it. I thought I would, but I don't.
We're making our way through the audio Chronicles of Narnia, and we're almost done with Book 6, The Silver Chair.
Knowing the outlines of Lewis's apologia arguments in Mere Christianity, which I really should read one of these days, I've been having a fun time making the cultural literacy connections where his stories are retellings of Biblical stories.
Even though Lewis was the most famous Christian apologist of the 20th century, I find it fascinating that none of the books are heavy-handed with a Christian sense of ethics. (That, alone, would make it as unappealing as Rainbow Fish.) No, the characters just do what the situation objectively calls for. Lewis sets it up so that obedience to the will of Aslan (a lion, who represents God or Jesus depending on the context) is what is required for success in the world of Narnia. But see, that's ok, because in these books, there really is an Aslan and he really did create Narnia, with creatures with free will, and he really knows what's best for it.
That Lewis is a crafty guy. I kept looking for Biblical references in The Silver Chair and finding hardly any, until Chapter 12. The Lady of the Green Kirtle is very annoyed to discover that the our three heroes have freed Prince Rilian from her 10-year enchantment, and sets out to convince them that there was never such a thing as Narnia, after all. Other sources have said that this is a parallel to Plato's Allegory of the Cave, but I see it more as a twisting of arguments people have made against the existence of a God. I transcribed this:
"It is all a dream," the witch said, thrumming [on an instrument]. "There never was such a world... There never was any world but mine."
...
Puddleglum was still fighting hard. "I don't know rightly what you all mean by a world," he said, talking like a man who hasn't enough air. "But you can play that fiddle till your fingers drop off, and still you won't make me forget Narnia, and the whole Overworld, too....but I know, I was there once, I've seen the sky filled with stars, I saw the Sun coming out of the sea of a morning...I've seen Him up in the midday sky, when I couldn't look at Him for brightness."
,..
"Why, there it is!" cried the prince. "Of course! ...How could we have forgotten it? Of course, we've all seen the Sun!"...
Then came the witch's voice, cooing softly like the voice of a wood pigeon..."What is this Sun that you all speak of? Do you mean anything by the word?"
"Yes, we jolly well do!" said Scrub.
"Can you tell me what it's like?" asked the witch...
"Please it your Grace," said the prince very coldly and politely. "You see that lamp. It is round, and yellow, and giveth light to the whole room, and hangeth moreover from the roof. Now that thing that we call the Sun is like the lamp, only far greater and brighter. It giveth light to the whole overworld and hangeth in the sky."
"Hangeth from what, my lord?" asked the witch. And then while they were all still thinking how to answer her, she added with one of her silvery laughs, "You see, when you try to think out clearly what this Sun must be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like the lamp. Your Sun is a dream. There is nothing in that dream which is not copied from the lamp. The lamp is the real thing. The Sun is but a tale, a children's story."
"Yes, I see now, "said Jill in a heavy, hopeless tone. "It must be so." And while she said this, it seemed to her to be very good sense.
Slowly and gravely, the witch repeated, "There is no Sun."
After a pause, and after a struggle in their minds, all four of them said together, "You are right. There is no Sun." It was such a relief to give in and say it. "There never was a Sun."
[Jill brings up the subject of the lion, Aslan. The witch replies:]
"I see that we should do no better with your lion, as you call it, than we did with your Sun. You have seen lamps, so you imagined a bigger and better lamp, and called it the Sun. You have seen cats, and now you want a bigger and better cat, and it's to be called a lion. Well, 'tis a pretty make-believe, though to say truth it would suit you all a bit better if you were younger. And look how you can put nothing into your make-believe without copying it from the real world of mine, which is the only world. Come, all of you, put away these childish tricks. I have work for you all in the real world....To bed, all, and let us begin a wiser life tomorrow."
[Shortly thereafter, Puddleglum comes to himself, and proclaims:]
"Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up all those things...suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's the funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game if you're right, but four babies playing a game can make a play world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can, even if there isn't any Narnia. ... We're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for the Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think. But that's a small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."
If there really were some objective, demonstrifiable God as there is (in the story) a Narnia, then the argument parallel that Lewis is cleverly trying to draw would hold some water. But that's one awfully fraudulent straw man that he's setting up there.
I don't object to the girls listening to this, because in the story it really is true: We have all the evidence that Narnia is real. So, given the fact that there really is a Narnia, the witch is an evil deceiver in the story. Her arguments are all just tricks to make you think that what is real is not. (Like those atheists must be doing, Lewis is implying, when they argue against the existence of God.)
Of course, Puddleglum's proclamation in that last passage is pretty bad; I certainly wouldn't want the girls to take anything positive away from it. But it really is all the Christians have. They decide to live their lives as if there were some supernatural, because they think it's better than what they've been convinced is a dull old terrible empty lonely existence here on the Third Rock.
Then again, none of them have lived with Madison and Ella.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Rience Reasoning
Ella suddenly came up to me this afternoon and said,
"I think it's true that if I were able to run at the speed of light, I could run across a lake and not sink."
What instigated this chain of reasoning? I'm glad I asked.
Scooby-Doo.
Picture Shaggy being so scared and running so fast that he could run across water. That's what got her thinking.
I'll take it where I can get it.
(Of course Tony pointed out to me later that if she really were to run across the lake at the speed of light, if she touched the water at all it would probably kill her.)
(And then later, David pointed out that the air friction alone would kill her.)
Great.
"I think it's true that if I were able to run at the speed of light, I could run across a lake and not sink."
What instigated this chain of reasoning? I'm glad I asked.
Scooby-Doo.
Picture Shaggy being so scared and running so fast that he could run across water. That's what got her thinking.
I'll take it where I can get it.
(Of course Tony pointed out to me later that if she really were to run across the lake at the speed of light, if she touched the water at all it would probably kill her.)
(And then later, David pointed out that the air friction alone would kill her.)
Great.
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