I Thessalonians 5:18 - "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/micheled/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:47:00 -0500 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:47:00 -0500 I read this book as a teen.  Reading it again last week felt like I was reconnecting with my old friend, Ms. Christie.  She was my favorite author for so many years.   While the plot twists and turns quite often, it is really not complex at all.  Sub-plots are virtually non-existant in this book where it seems they could have been created easily enough.  However, one redeeming quality of the book would be the thought provoking theme: unpunished murder.   My daughter read the book just before I did for our book club.  It brought back memories of theory after theory on the identity of the murderer, theories that changed almost with every page.  Abbie didn't guess and I don't think I ever did either.  Even this time, I forgot who exactly it was even though I remembered parts of the book.    Could the lack of sub-plots be a result of flat characters?  Each person in the story acts exactly as one would expect of his "kind of person".  None of the characters seems to really be an individual beyond basic description.  Perhaps the story would have been  more complex if the characters had been more developed by the author.    On the other hand, although the characters themselves generate little thought, the theme does trigger a review of the ethics involved in punishing murderers.  If the law is inadequate to reach certain murderers, does an individual have the moral right to mete out the penalty due?  I don't think so.  I don't think the Bible sanctions such actions.    Agatha Christie has been declared the queen of the murder mystery genre and this book has been named among her best.  So, if a complex plot and well-developed characters are not an absolute necessity for you,  you might really enjoy the challenge to detect the criminal of this who-dunnit.  You might find yourself considering deeper topics than you would expect besides. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/micheled/738073/ Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/micheled/738073/ Hey, guess what!  I am so very happy to report that we have checklists once again.  Yeah, baby!  Here's what happened.   I think I said in a previous post that we are doing "contracts" each month.  The kids decide exactly what and how much they will do per day or per week depending on the activity.  That isn't without some encouragement from me on certain points but I never tell them they must do one thing or another.  They are usually much harder on themselves than I would be on them but that isn't the point of this post.  Once they sign their contract they are responsible to complete it with my help to keep them accountable.   The problem was that they got tired of trying to remember what they had to do for the day.  They jotted down what they did each day in a notebook.  So they could go to the notebook to figure out what they had done for the week but they would have to go to the contract to figure out what was left to do.  The process was cumbersome.   Enter the checklist.   I have Homeschool Tracker Plus on my computer which is a great tool for keeping records and planning.  The kids thought they would really like having their tasks from the contracts printed in a list-form each week.    For my son I divided each group of tasks evenly throughout the week so he can tell if he is  on track for the week with just a glance.  For my daughters, who are older than he is, I just started on Monday for each group of tasks so that Monday and Tuesday have fairly long lists but from Wednesday on, the lists get progressively shorter.  All of them know that they do not have to do any task on a given day just because it is on that day's list.   For instance, they could do all of the geography tasks on Monday or Thursday.  Or they could do one task on Monday and the rest of the week's tasks on Wednesday.  The only requirement is that all the tasks are done by Friday and that is not my requirement because the tasks come from their own contracts.   Because they are the ones who set the educational goals for themselves, they work amazingly harder than if I were the one to set the same goals.  Now that we have checklists to streamline the process, our school time is that much more productive.   ...and I am the happiest clam of all to see those boxes checked off! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/micheled/736320/ Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/micheled/736320/ This trusting the process is difficult.  I want so badly to make a checklist for each child stating what worksheets to do today, tomorrow and all week.  I want to say, "Well, did you write your spelling words three times?...No?...Then you cannot be goofing off.  Get to work!"  It doesn't matter that they spent several hours reading good books and did their math, etc.    I want a checklist.  (read that again imagining a whining, shout...now you understand)   My oldest has decided to do a subject or two per day.  This is a new plan as of this week.  So far so good but then, she did just start this week.   She also has a tendency to come up with new plans for just about every part of her life on pretty much a bi-weekly basis.  Well, I guess it's kind of like our doctor said when she was a baby, "Don't worry if she eats meat for ten days but won't touch veggies.  She'll soon enough eat only veggies and won't touch meat.  Small children have a tendency to eat what they need and they DON'T have to have every vitamin every day."  (that is a quasi-quote--as accurate as I can remember) So far, we have four healthy children raised with that philosophy.  I can see where it would transfer to education...   My son has finally found a book that he reads all the way to the dinner table.  Yessss.  (It's "The Sword in the Tree" by Clyde Bulla if you're wondering.)  Now, I haven't had nearly as hard of a time with him not doing other school stuff because he has his nose in that book.  What do I do when he finishes it tomorrow?   My middle daughter, well, she continues about the same as always.  She would rather read than do anything else.  However, she is continuing through "Life of Fred".  She lamented the other day that she has to go all the way to the calculus level to find out how Fred got his start in life.  If that is what it takes to get her to learn math, then I am thankful for Fred.   So that leaves me with the urge to make a checklist...I'm fighting it... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/micheled/730233/ Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:09:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/micheled/730233/