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I've Moved! I'm moving on down the road. You'll find me at: http://plussign.blogspot.com/ Consider yourself invited to my new place! I like the company. Roo photo: CaroleKatchen
12:11 AM - Nov. 2, 2006 - comments {0} - post commentRats I live in a lovely large city and my husband's primary mode of transportation is his bike. He rides everywhere, including through a lovely city park on the way to the gym. Lately he's been sharing the lovely bike path in the lovely city park with rats. Lovely. He rides after dark, and more and more rats are scurrying under foot, or under pedal to be more accurate. His route is through a populated, nice part of the city. These are well-heeled rodents who dine on gourmet garbage. They are lurking just beyond the nicely landscaped path with their beady little eyes and skinny long tails, waiting to play a game of chicken with passing cyclists. They are gutsy guys, daring each other to sprint under his bike as he rides by. They cheer each other on, and my husband can hear them squeeling from the dark and hidden sidelines. Since I know he won't give up riding his bike, I think it's perfectly reasonable to request him to wear steel-toed high boots, or anything to put a barrier between him and the rodents' sharp teeth and claws. He declines. "But what if you feel one?!" I ask. "I already have," he tells me. He felt it as he unintentionally hit a rat with his speeding bike. Twice. Road kill on the bike path! That's my spooky Halloween story for you. And it's true-oooooooooo. Think of it the next time you go on a moonlit stroll with your sweetie. That tingly feeling might not be from lovers in love, but from creepy little rat feet runnng across yours. Don't say you weren't warned. Wahhahahaha! Happy Halloween. 9:41 AM - Oct. 31, 2006 - comments {0} - post commentЯ из Америки It happened again today. For some reason, Russian people think I'm Russian. It happens that strangers speak to me in Russian, assuming I know what they are saying. I explain I'm not Russian, but I had at least two instances where the stranger didn't believe me. So, sometimes I just nod my head and say, "Da." I don't know why I send off Russian vibes. I'd like to think it's my high cheekbones that give me that classic Slavic look, except that I don't have high cheekbones. Today I think it was the scarf. To ward off the wind, I went for a graceful Grace Kelly look with a scarf wrapped elegantly over my head. To be honest, I'm certain I didn't remind anyone of Grace Kelly. I have a feeling I reminded my Russian Stranger today of his bubushka standing in a line for bread or potatoes in the Old Country. Da. I don't fool everyone, though. A few years ago, an elderly Indian (from India) gentleman stopped my on the sidewalk. I was carrying my then-infant son in a Maya Wrap around my body. "This boy will grow up to love you and treat you like a golden treasure," the old gentleman said to me, "because you carry him like this as a baby." He went on to tell me that American mothers do not know how to carry their babies, and he wondered if I were European. "Are you French?" he asked as he glanced me over head to foot. "No," he sighed sadly, "You are not. You look like you are from the Midwest." Yep. 12:07 AM - Oct. 29, 2006 - comments {0} - post commentHappy Meals(make your own McD sign at ronaldmchummer.com) 10:45 PM - Oct. 27, 2006 - comments {0} - post commentQuote of the Day "Instead of trying hard, be easy. Teach by example, and more will happen." 1:13 AM - Oct. 27, 2006 - comments {0} - post commentEating Bugs My husband made his little sister eat bugs. It ended one day when he told her to eat a big ant, and it bit her on the lip. But it began a life-long running joke between them about eating bugs. Several years ago, my sister-in-law was in the hospital with ovarian cancer. She was a young person, but we were told to prepare to lose her. It was such a scary time. You couldn’t tell we were scared by looking at my husband with his sister. They had tears rolling down their faces, not from sadness, but from laughter. The bug memories from their childhood sent them into belly-aching laughter, and it was like the two of them were the only people in the world. I sat in the hospital room, too, and I knew at that moment there was nothing I wanted more for my future children than to have a relationship with each other like my husband has with his sister. I knew that if my sister-in-law survived cancer, she would be the godparent of my first child. And she is. All the academic stuff my children learn will serve them well in life, but none of that will ever be as valuable and cherished as a rich childhood spent together. It’s the best gift I can give to them. Someday my kids will have their own version of the bug-eating story, and my hope for them is that when they are old people, they will still be laughing about it.
10:39 AM - Oct. 26, 2006 - comments {1} - post commentBlogger School #4 What do you get if you divide the circumference Pumpkin pi. 4:08 PM - Oct. 25, 2006 - comments {13} - post commentJust One More WaferDo you remember the Monty Python
scene in the restaurant where a gluttonous man eats an enormous amount
of food? After the man’s huge meal, the waiter offers him dessert.
Here’s the conclusion of the scene:
Man: No. Waiter: Oh sir! It's only a tiny little thin one. The man continues to refuse the wafer. Waiter: Oh sir, just, just one Man: Oh all right. Just one. Waiter: Just the one, sir... bon appetit... The man puts the wafer in his mouth and vomits.
1:31 AM - Oct. 25, 2006 - comments {1} - post commentA Kiss from My MotherOur current Charlotte Mason-inspired artist study Yeah, I know. The cover of this book is a bit sappy. But you know what they say about judging a book by it’s cover. We’re reading Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
as part of our Artist Study this term. In case you don’t know, and I
didn’t know until a few weeks ago, Benjamin West was a famous
American-born artsist from the 18th century.
 Another book about West is The Boy Who Loved to Draw
by Barbara Brenner. This is a picture book. My tactic is to read a
longer (and "living") book first and then follow-up with picture books
rather than the other way around. Many non-fiction picture books are
lovely, but often they aren’t deep enough for the information to be
retained or fully absorbed. But, if you read them after you know the subject fairly well, then the picture books reinforce the info and story.
The current issue of Home Educator’s Tutor magazine features color prints of some of Benjamin West’s paintings. (One is even printed backwards! My kids loved pointing that out.) If you use the Charlotte Mason method, I highly recommend Home Educator’s Tutor. I use the magazine in combination with Ambleside and my own curriculum. Each term’s issue comes with a CD for composer and song studies and color prints of their featured artist. It really saves on trying to find these resources on your own. The website is: http://www.pyxispublishing.com/hetutor/index.html
“A kiss from my mother made me a painter.” ~Benjamin West 11:54 PM - Oct. 23, 2006 - comments {1} - post commentEavesdroppingI overheard this conversation today. Mom #1: The school my son attends requires all parents to spend three hours in the classroom! Mom#2: Over the school year, or semester, or what? Mom#1: I don’t know. I just know they require it and they track it. Mom #2: That does seem like a lot. Mom#1: I told my husband that if I had that kind of time, I should just homeschool! Mom#2: Really?! Mom #1: Well, no, of course not. I would never do that! I’m just saying I think the school is asking a lot.12:26 AM - Oct. 23, 2006 - comments {2} - post comment
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Description Just another mom's homeschooling blog Home User Profile Archives Recent Entries - I've Moved! - Rats - Я из Америки - Happy Meals - Quote of the Day - Eating Bugs - Blogger School #4 - Just One More Wafer - A Kiss from My Mother - Eavesdropping What I am Reading Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence by Carol Berkin Blogger Friend School
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