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February 18, 2008
Six
This is what Six looks like.
He's cute, isn't he? Look at that. My BABY is six.
Two weeks after my oldest child turned six, I had my fourth child. How very odd to have a six year old with no younger siblings.
He wanted a "soldier" birthday, as you can see. A soldier birthday, with a Death Star cake. So here you go:
But I assure you that this is NOT as cool as the first cake was. This was a last-minute job, and does not include the additional "blackness of space" cake. But still, it looked great on fire:
(I apologize for the quality. I was using my camera phone.)
Posted by lynx at 10:24 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Un-Weekly Un-Report
Where did the weekly reports go? Well, I got bored.
I still enjoy reading everyone else's reports. I was just bored of mine. In fact, I was bored with our homeschool, in general. Which means, of course, that my students were bored, too. Our days had become full of me making sure boys stayed on-task and completed assignments. The assignments were increasingly never completed anyway, and we were not having any fun.
I'm all about the education; however, I don't see the point in doing this if we don't enjoy what we're doing.
I chatted with a local homeschooling mom last week. We both bemoaned the fact that as homeschoolers, we are supposed to have so much freedom and flexibility, but then we make boxes for ourselves. I've always affirmed that a quality education does not have to take all day, and here I am, taking all day.
Enough, already.
We're continuing with math and Latin, of course! And soon I intend to start Greek. Everything else is up for grabs. I officially no longer care what they do or do not in terms of history, science, whatever. We have some ground rules: computer games and fluffy TV do not come out during the day. I may still assign reading at my discretion (mainly because the boys tend to enjoy my reading assignments, and don't generally see them as "work").
They're probably going to spend the first two weeks painting Warhammer models. However, Connor has requested to learn about physics, so we'll do that. Aidan would like to build a laser ... I'm sanguine about that, but only in the bloody sense. (But hey! We would most definitely have the coolest entry at the homeschool science fair!) Connor is reading "Lord of the Rings," and I am happy to let him spend as much time on that as his little heart desires. Aidan, meanwhile, has decided that "The Hobbit" is just not his cup of tea (whose kid is this??), but has asked me if fairy tales could be counted as "school reading." You bet, kid.
That's for the older two boys. The younger two are still all miiiiiiiiiine. However, their "school" takes a grand total of an hour a day for the nuts and bolts, and Griffin requests books about science and history as his fun reading. Done. Actually, it turns out that Griffin is the Well-Trained Mind dream child. He still can't actually read, but he loves nothing better than to have me read him a book, and then run off to draw a picture for it and copy a sentence from the book to go with the picture. Seriously. That was not my idea.
Anyway, now I hope to remember that I really do have time to take the kids on playdates, and leave the house for fun stuff once in awhile. Or, stay in the house and do, say, ART. Or show my children that they, too, can come up with an idea for a project and actually do it. Or just play games. Whatever. The kids are fine.
Posted by lynx at 9:35 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 12, 2008
A Whole New Meaning ...
Connor lay on the ground, twitching and jerking.
Aidan: Brutus! He's having a Caesar!
Connor: No, I'm not. I'm playing House!
Posted by lynx at 3:18 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Light At The End Of The Writers' Strike
Apparently, the end of the writers' strike is nigh. Glory, Hallelujah!
Thanks to MMV, here's an article updating the status of TV. "LOST" will apparently produce 5 episodes to air in April/May, and "House" will do four to six episodes starting in April. Thank God. Really. I go into House withdrawal. Luckily we've still not caught up, so for now withdrawal only lasts as long as it takes Netflix to get the next disc to my mailbox. But that can only last so long.
"Battlestar Galactica" will air the first 11 episodes of its final season in April. But now, according to the article, the last half of its final season will likely not air until 2009. Way to frustrate your fans, guys.
Posted by lynx at 8:44 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 11, 2008
And When She's Not Reading Cicero
No, it's not all Cicero, Isocrates and Melville here.
My parents had never seen Hugh Laurie outside of House, M.D. Jeff had wished to see "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" with just the funny bits, and not the dud sketches. So, here you go, for those of you who could use a laugh: My YouTube Links.
They're mostly Fry and Laurie, with some Blackadder, and a few funny non-Hugh Laurie videos. I'm not finished. It takes time to comb YouTube for all the funny links, but gosh darn it, I'll make the sacrifice. (Admittedly, some of the Fry and Laurie clips were deemed funny to me at 2 am after consuming alcohol.) My favorites are probably "A Discussion of Language," "Shakespeare Master Class," the one labeled "Early Hugh Laurie" (which is a Blackadder clip), "March of the Penguins" and "Mom My Ride."
Posted by lynx at 11:13 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 7, 2008
Nothing To See Here
Our computer had a glitch. The casualty? The pictures from the birthday party. All of them. No other pictures - just those.
(If you listen closely, you can hear me screaming.)
I made a Death Star cake, for crying out loud! It was cool! The Alderaan pinata was completely awesome! Argh!
Let me describe the cake: I made a one-layer, rectangular cake, and frosted it black. It was space. We put metallic sprinkles on it, and gold and silver star candles.
Rising up out of the blackness of space was a sphere of grey-frosted chocolate cake. From a dish near the top of the sphere, six green birthday candles angled into each other to form a single point - which was really cool when they were all lit.
It was a Seriously. Cool. Cake.
And the pinata was amazing. It looked like a real planet. It was especially amazing considering that I didn't touch the thing. The kids did it all (and Jeff did the spray paint base).
It figures.
Posted by lynx at 11:29 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
February 4, 2008
That Sounds Like Rock And/Or Roll!
I no longer have any idea how people blog. I'm tired. I mean, I'm tired. Homeschooling four kids and keeping the house in some kind of condition that would not prompt the authorities to investigate ... I'm tired.
No, I still don't have pictures in my computer.
I had planned to move right along and blog my thoughts from the "Great Tradition" readings. Last week's reading was Aristotle. I got sidelined by a discussion on the message list about music. You see, Aristotle has a great deal to say about music. He mostly goes on about the different modes, and makes recommendations for raising our young on certain modes, and not allowing them to hear others.
Somewhat predictably for a mailing list composed of classical homeschoolers, the first post was something along the lines of classical = good, rock = bad, immoral, leading us all into ruin.
You can imagine, dear reader, that I had some comments to add to that conversation.
The real argument is this: That if music has an effect on our souls, should we not choose to listen to music that enlivens and enriches our souls, and avoid music that vulgarizes us? I don't disagree with that idea. I do disagree with the assumption that the enlivening and enriching music is always classical, and that the vulgarizing music is always rock.
This list had the usual assumptions about rock music: It's all the same, monotonous beat; it requires no artistry; it's simple and simplistic; it's all about sex; it's depressing. And, you know, I won't argue. All of the above is true about most of the crap you hear on the radio.
Still, those generalizations don't, being generalizations, tell the whole story. Go listen to Rush, Yes, Spock's Beard, Sting, Dream Theater, anything involving Keith Emerson ... leave your own additions in my comments. I hope to have the brain power and the time to dredge up a list of audio and video links for the skeptical.
How does this relate to homeschooling? Aristotle thought it best to expose the children to particular modes of music, to better form their minds and spirits. Whether or not he's right doesn't matter much to me, as my children have already been exposed to all different kinds of music. Is it better to cultivate a taste for classical, than for rock? Well, yes, I think it is better to do so. We are all better off by exposure to and study of great music, just as we are all better off by exposure to great books, great ideas, and great art. But I take breaks inbetween reading Plato and Melville to rest with some Maeve Binchy or Ruth Rendell (or lately, P. G. Wodehouse). And if my kids first learned to love classical by listening to Emerson, Lake and Powell's version of "Mars, The Bringer of War," well ... ?
No one else on this list rose to defend rock music. I bet it won't go over well if I start talking about how my kids know the story of the Odyssey from the Simpsons.
Posted by lynx at 10:10 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack