Up Watching TV with the Kids

Brenda and Bret have been up with me in bed for hours. We are watching a Mork and Mindy marathon on the SciFi channel. A channel that we seldom go to. But it is Mork and Mindy so how can we go wrong. It is almost 12, but big Bret is playing out tonight. So it is just me, the girls and oldies late night tv.

Public School

So Gaige starts public school tomorrow. Brenda and Bret are hoping that the schedule will work out for them to replace Gaige in the co-op. Gaige and Brenda went last year for one day a week, but when Gaige wanted to switch to the two day a week classes, there wasn't enough money for them both to go. Now that Gaige is out, Bret is hoping to have her chance at the fun amazing co-op. So if all works out with the schedule, both the girls will start going one day a week, and Marley and I will hang out and have some time together. That will be special for the older girls, and special for Marley as well.

Gaige didn't get the schedule he hoped for with all his friends. But I am sure he will have just as much fun with the classes he has. As I explained to him already, they can put him anywhere they choose to. It is called compulsary education. They are in charge. :-)

Music Class

Brenda today asked me to play a Christmas carol on the bells with her. I transposed a basic form of Santa Clause is Coming to Town into the Bell numbers and we played it a couple times. BUT there was supposed to be an A#(number 6# on the bells). I didn't feel like getting the # bells out so we just played a B instead. She didn't seem to notice or at least she didn't say anything about it. Next she excitedly asked me to put it into letters so she could play it on the piano. I did, except this time I put the A# in and asked explained to her what that was and how to use it. She practiced her new music on the piano. Later in the day she asked me write out another Christmas song for bells. I did but she felt like it was too hard for her and she wanted to go back to the one she was working on. Imediate gradification. How could I not relate? We played Santa Clause is Coming to Town again. The girl noticed that the B didn't sound right and told me that she had the wrong bell. I had to go into the handbell bag and get out the A# for her. Just thought it was a funny story. She has learned Santa Clause is Coming to Town. She had a blast learning it. She doesn't read music on the piano. But I put letter stickers on the piano and I write the letters out. She decides how long to make a note based on what she knows sounds right. She only wants to play songs she knows anyway. I am perfectly happy with this learning and she is having so much fun. So now that I have said all this read on...

I saw a post recently about a homeschooler family that won an award for doing this really great project. Many people posted in to congradulate the children and family. It sounded really cool. I was impressed. I am often impressed and excited for children who are homeschoolers and get recognized for the wonderful things that they do. It is a big deal. Yet when I saw the post (which I saw before our music and bells fun) in the back of my head, I thought about how my kids just want to play. They don't seem to enjoy doing schooly things, even in what feels to me to be unschooly ways. I opted out of the Geography fair, biography fair, and maybe even the science fair this year, because my kids just have no interest in doing a project. In past years, it was me doing most of the work, and the kids gluing things that I cut out and put together onto a board. I don't know if they were learning a thing. I fear that left to their own devices they just want to play. Even as Brenda enjoys to read at night and learn small blurts of music, I am overly aware of the times that she is just having a good time playing with friends. I start to feel for a moment that my kids are falling behind. That they are not getting all the best opportunities. They don't have the same push behind them of loving motivation. Then I remember Brenda crying while trying to practice her cello. I remember all the work that I put into teaching the kids things, and all the work they put into not learning those same things. And I see how easily Brenda learned the tune on both bells and piano. I am softened by the thought that we can learn geography without a rushed fair project. We have done many science projects this year, without a fair. And some I did myself. The girls got interested after it was put together. It is ok. They are doing just fine.

Christmas is Coming Up

Wow oh wow. All the happenings coming up. Wednesday is Lilian's third birthday AND Decorate Your Potato Head Day. In case you are not aware from previous years, Josh years ago was asked to make up a new holiday. This was his holiday. It is the day before Thanksgiving. We all get a potato to decorate into whatever we want. Such heads have included: fish, Owls, old faces of men, and much much more. We will celebrate Lilian's birthday this weekend so we don't have a birthday AND holiday all on the same day. Next year she will turn 4 on Thanksgiving.

A few days ago I sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to Lil. She has loved the song ever since and asks me to sing it over and over again. She is getting in the spirit of Christmas. She has been asking me to put up the tree for weeks. She can't stand it that Christmas isn't here yet. Totally she gets that this man in the red suit will bring her lots of presents soon. She is soo excited. So we decorated a bit early. Just the dining room. But we put up the stockings and our small tree. What a blast. And we listened to Christmas music while we worked.

Then there was the pool for a few hours this evening. The local pool opens to the town public for free swim. They are all asleep now. Whooo!

Oh so here is new news. Gaige told us the other day that he can't wait to go to school. So we (Bret and I) were like then why are you still going to the co-op? Go to school if that's what you want. Well, turns out that IS what he wants. He likes the co-op. And it is sooo not about school and learning anything. He wants to be at the school his friends go to. He wants to hang out with them in school and come home to hang out at home. He does have plenty of homeschool friends. But the kids he hangs out with most of all are at the school across the street from our house. That is where he wants to be, so he can hang out with his friends. Is it going to be that easy? Maybe... maybe not. Do I REALLY believe in letting my kids find their own way? Off he goes to find his own way. I told him that everything can be undone at any time. If he doesn't like it and wants to try other options or go back to the co-op, homeschooling, online public school, whatever, he can change at ANY TIME. His choice, his decision, his life. I will be ok with his decisions, no matter what. More details as they arise...

Behind the Scenes Ballet Tour: Nutcracker

Wow again, I had FOUR families cancel on me the day of the ballet tour. Luckily three families did not cancel and we were able to go on with the tour. It was a great tour! Some of the cool things...

Each pair of toe shoes... $60.00. How long do they last? Two days at the most. How much does the ballet company spend on ballet shoes for their girls yearly? About $80,000. A YEAR.

Here is one of the lovely seamstresses showing us how she sews the dresses, tutus, and other costumes. All gems must be hand sewn. Hours and hours of work for each outfit.

Here we are entering the wardrobe storage room. She is holding up the crocodile and dog heads from the Ballet Peter Pan. Those heads were also hand made in the studio. Hand making the costumes and renting them out to other ballet companies and shows is one of the ways they subsidize the cost of the shoes (among other costs, I am sure...)

Look Bret is a ballet fairy pig... Well she is among the dancing pigs anyway. At the end of the tour we got to sit and watch some of the ballet practice for the Nutcracker. Our tour guide held on a bit long with the hopes that we would get to see them dance a good portion of their dance. But mostly they were just going over their parts. It got a little long for my girls. They might do better at the actual ballet where there are costumes and constant dancing. It was a great tour. We all enjoyed it. But I think I will be canceling the last tour. I don't have a problem getting RSVP's, funny enough. The hard part is getting people to actually show up. ;-)

Why Brenda Likes to Read...

Hey Mom, ya know why I like to read so much lately?

Why?

Cuz it's like watching tv in your head. This way I am always watching tv no matter where I am.

Yes, it is like watching tv for me too when I read. That is why I like it too.

The Firebird

I took my two Girl Scouts troops to see the shadow puppet show of "The Firebird". The show was good, but what was better was afterwards when we got to meet the puppeteers and see how the puppets worked, what went into making them, and how they made certain scenes work. That is totally something the girls and I could do. I am wondering how I can come up with simpler versions of their supplies...

Another day at the Museum

We try to frequent as many play museums as we can every year. I have been doing this since Gaige was a baby. Periodically through the year, we would take a small vacation and travel around to other Childrens Museums and Discovery Museums looking for learning that looks like fun. Here is one of our recent adventures. We try to get here once a year for something different.

Marley is a bluejay.

She is buying the food needed to supply us with our usual tea party.

Yogurt in the Bath

Marley has been into taking bubble baths in the kitchen sink lately. This day she had the clever idea to combine bathing and eating. When Brenda and Bret were little, sometimes they would take a popsicle into the bath with them. It was EASY clean-up, and the fun of doing something that somewhat felt taboo for them (being allowed to eat outside the kitchen/diningroom areas).

Music

Josh took some pics for me today. This is Bret in his new band playing at the local establishment. Even the adults learning some new talents. He has been working hard with his new band... Power Trip. They are kicking a$$.

Gaige at home

Gaige does take some classes at a local homeschool school co op, I am sure I have mentioned before. Here he takes Physical Science, Grammer and Writing Basics, and Pre-Algebra. What does he learn outside this? Well he learns whatever he wants however he wants to learn it. THat is not what most people want to know about a homeschooled teenager. The oldest, age old, homeschooling question... What about their social life? How can he have a social life without school??? Well here he is socializing with some of his school friends. He has homeschool friends, school friends, and mostly anyone he wants to be his friend. Doing the same ol' typical things that all the other kids out there are doing, I guess.

Huge-A$$ Mouse (rat?) number SIX

Well a couple nights ago we caught two at the same time in the same trap. This morning one more was hanging out having a great time in our trap. This tells me a couple things. The hole that I covered up in the basement was not, I repeat NOT, the hole they are using to come into our house. The other thing is that there might be hoards of these things!! And with all the food sitting around in our house, they want the dog food.

Just Another Discussion

Brenda confessed to me today that she is lazy and all she does is sit on the couch and watch TV all day. I told her that she spent a great deal of her day with her friend playing and skating around the neighborhood. She reminded me that it was just today, not every day. I told her all I learned about India today. And it all started with a movie that I was watching. We discussed how her shows could teach her how to deal with all kinds of situations that come up in her life. And how much she is learning from guitar hero (no need to go over those details again with you, my audience).

She thinks that wiping your butt with your hand sounds disgusting. We really didn't get much past that fact I think...

Kali - Godess of Destruction

Picture from Sacred Source

Because sometimes destruction is good.

"Kali is often depicted as either a black or blue woman with a bright blood red protruding tongue. She wears a necklace of bloody heads, earrings of dead bodies and holds a sword in each 4/6/8 hands.
Kali is often referred to as a "death Goddess," yet she is so much more. She is a Goddess of death and destruction. Of birth and rebirth. Of light and dark. Of freedom and independence. It is through her destructive dance that we find a new path. She is the Goddess we turn to when we need strength, power, and passion. Kail, which translates into "The Black One", is one of the most popular of Hindu Goddesses." http://www.themagickshop.com/Kali/Kali.html

While watching a movie today about a man from America that went to India to work for a bit, I came across a funny bit of info. It is customary to eat with your right hand. I looked it up and came up with other facts worth sharing. Just a matter of different cultures in different parts of the worlds...

• Eating can be a quite sensitive point. It is often done with the fingers, and requires a bit of practice to get it right. Rule one is eat with your right hand only. In India, as all across Asia, the left hand is for wiping your bottom, cleaning your feet and other unsavory functions (you also put on and take off your shoes with the left hand), while the right hand is for eating, shaking hands and so on. (makes sense for Hygiene!)
• The other rule to be aware of when eating or drinking is that your lips should not touch other people's food. Don't for example take a bite out of a chapatti and pass it on. When drinking out of a cup or bottle to be shared with others, don't let it touch your lips, but rather pour it directly into your mouth. This custom also protects you from things like Hepatitis. Although in the west it is not considered sociable not to share, during the tour, we'll follow this rule. Keep your own water bottle, and learn the pouring method, which takes some practice, especially in a moving train. It is customary to wash your hands and feet before and after eating. Half bath in Ananda Marga...
• Kissing, or embracing, hugging between opposite sex are regarded as part of sex; do not do them in public. It is not even a good idea for couples, to hold hand. Unlike what we are used to in many western countries it's normal for men to hold hands as a sign of friendship.
• Be aware of your feet. When entering a private home, you should normally remove your shoes (follow your hosts example); when sitting, avoid pointing the soles of your feet at anyone, at the altar or at Guru's photo. Accidental contact with one's foot is always followed by an apology.
• As mentioned in most of Asia the left hand is used to wipe your bottom. After passing stool, while pouring water from behind with the right hand, you clean the area with the middle finger of the left hand. Just keep pouring water and using your fingers till it's clean. For most people from the west this is really difficult to do, but the sooner you get used to it the better. And one complex less. Beside toilet paper is often not available, the diameter of the toilet pipes is less and there is often no flush system. So even if you can get it, toilet paper tends to clog the drain quite easily, and then your host has to somehow open it again...

http://www.indiatour.dadaksa.com/etiquette.htm

What We Learned From Reading Fiction Last Night

I was reading a story book to Bret last night and we came across some interesting information about Seahorses in it. Maybe I am the only one who didn't know this fact, but we were both intrigued. So I looked it up to see if it is true. Picture and data from National Geographic's website...

• "Seahorses are truly unique, and not just because of their unusual equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they are monogamous and mate for life. Rarer still, they are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young.
• Found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world, these upright-swimming relatives of the pipefish can range in size from 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) to 14 inches (35 centimeters) long.Male seahorses are equipped with a brood pouch on their ventral, or front-facing, side.
• When mating, the female deposits her eggs into his pouch, and the male fertilizes them internally. He carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch, then releases fully formed, miniature seahorses into the water.
• Because of their body shape, seahorses are rather inept swimmers and can easily die of exhaustion when caught in storm-roiled seas. They propel themselves by using a small fin on their back that flutters up to 35 times per second. Even smaller pectoral fins located near the back of the head are used for steering.
• They anchor themselves with their prehensile tails to sea grasses and corals, using their elongated snouts to suck in plankton and small crustaceans that drift by. Voracious eaters, they graze continually and can consume 3,000 or more brine shrimp per day."
  

Music Curriculum

I cleaned out a room in the basement a couple weeks ago and unearthed a bunch of old oboe reeds and reed-making tools from my college days. Bret asked me how to play them today. I haven't taken my oboe out for probably 13 or 14 years. (I know this because I quit college soon after Gaige was born.) So today I took out the oboe and Bret had a little fun with it. Still sounds like a sick duck, somewhat. Who knows what the neighbors think is going on in here. First the band and now this... Funny enough we have a clarinet, and I think my flute is still around somewhere, a saxophone of sorts as well. Maybe I will look for some more cheap instruments for the kids to play around with. I would like to have a trumpet or trombone. In the mean time I should be off to the store soon to buy clarinet and sax reeds. Oops Marley broke an oboe reed. Boy oh boy, just like the good ol days. I went through so many reeds, and those darned things weren't cheap 14 years ago. Ha ha ha.

After the Gathering Brenda begged her brothers to let her use their guitar hero. On first view, an ordinary person might say where is the music lesson in that? Well the music she is listening to on Guitar Hero is definitely music appreciation quality. Message in a Bottle, Shout at the Devil, Woman, Heart Shaped Box, etc. This is good classic music. Not classicAL perhaps, but who is to say that one kind of music is more important to learn than another.

November Old Weekly Quotes

No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.Emma Goldman

I got this one off someone's bumper sticker this week at the Unschoolers Gathering...World peace begins at home. Be nicer to your kids.

Back Into the Swing of Things

Boy oh boy, after 4 days of eating like crap and living in a cabin, we all slept like hibernating bears last night. At the grocery, and at the polls when I went to vote yesterday, everyone oohed and aaaahed over Lilian's hair, so this morning she was all ready to add new colors to the mix. All we had was Crayola, but since the Sharpees washed away to a light tint in the bath yesterday, I am assuming that Crayola isn't going to permanently dye her hair. And like she would mind... So here we are after waking up, making pancakes and licking the bowl. All I had was chocolate milk to add, so I am sure it tasted like runny chocolate cookie dough. Of course she didn't want to eat the pancakes. Ha ha ha.

We have story time in a couple hours, dance class, and the high school pool is opened this evening for open swim. Our little vacation is over. Glad to be home.

A Few More Pics

Marley met a friend. Great minds think alike. They colored hair together... with sharpees. Ever since she saw Bret's blue streaks a month or so ago, Marley has been jonsing for her own hair dye. Here was her chance.

The end of the fun for us was the bonfire, last night. Bret ran around with her new friend, Elise, while Brenda and I warmed by the fire snacking on dogs and s'mores.

After too much heat from the fire, we headed to the bench to cool off, only to realize that we were cold. Thank goodness I remembered blankets!! (I asked Bret to take a pic of us, but she was in such a hurry. Plenty of people were in the picture, but Brenda and I were not. Brenda and I took a picture of ourselves instead.

Tennessee Gathering

Here are some pictures real quick from our trip to Roan, Tennessee for the Unschooling Gathering. What a blast. This being our first group get-together with unschoolers, I realized one thing. This is so important to Bret and Marley. Bret is just about at that age where kids are going to start saying things to her about not reading yet and not doing "school things". If she has a safe place already, with friends that do not judge her for going at her own speed, she will better deal with the kids that do judge her. Here is Bret with her new friend. Face art with Sharpees.

Here they are again going on a hike together.

Marley playing ping pong. This was a big hit for her even though she couldn't hit a ball. Technicalities...

Brenda tried her hand at Guitar Hero and realized that she was good at it. And enjoys it. Where are you Santa??? Are you watching?

Bret making a work of art... Sugar Skulls for the Day of the Dead.