Several MONTHS in Review

This toad peed in Anemone’s roller blade. I laughed.

Math: JellyMan completed Saxon Advanced Math and Understanding Calculus. But because of this and that and the other thing, we decided that he should take the rest of the year to re-do the Advanced Math book. He finished lesson #41 this week. Anemone is slowly but surely working through Saxon Algebra 2, and has completed lesson #47.

JM saw the Italian inscription on the inside of his Il Dottore mask and thought it was bad Latin. I laughed.

Latin: JellyMan translated lines 98-289 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline and completed exercises 9-30 of Henle Third Year Latin. He also translated many lines of Macbeth into Latin for his drama group to perform. (That makes me SO proud!) Anemone is struggling, and I’m not quite sure what the problem is - she knows the conjugations and declensions cold, but she has trouble applying that knowledge to the translation exercises. We’ll just continue going very slowly, and I’m sure she’ll work it out. She finished exercise #324 of Henle First Year Latin this week.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapter 22b of Athenaze Book 2. Anemone finished week 12 of Elementary Greek Book 2. Greek is hard, y’all.

Logic: Anemone completed chapters 3-6 of Traditional Logic 2.

These birds pooped all over the fence and The Goobs had to clean it up. I laughed.

English: JellyMan finshed Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle and wrote 1-2 essays every 1-2 weeks. Anemone finished Rod & Staff English 8 and is a few lessons into Essay Voyage. She finished The Hobbit and read most of The Jungle Books, and now she’s about halfway through Bullfinch’s Mythology.

Me: “Really, you guys? Really? That’s all?”

Anemone: “Well, I read all the Percy Jackson books. Oh, and The Pointe Book. Oh! And some of that other ballet book I got for Christmas!”

JellyMan: “I’ve been busy, you know! I reread The Art of War. And I read most of the Shakespeare Song Book. And Macbeth and Saturday Night at the Pahala Theater. And The Walking Dead comics. Hahaha!”

Anemone: “Oh, oh! I read those too! Hahaha!”

Me: “Har-dee-har-har-har.”

JellyMan: “And I started writing a historical TV mini-series.”

Anemone: “Yeah, and I read Jurassic Park. Twice.”

JellyMan: “Didn’t you read The Book of Lost Things?”

Anemone: “No.”

JellyMan: “But you carried it around with you for a month!”

Anemone: “But I didn’t read it!”

JellyMan: “Why won’t you read it? It’s great!”

Anemone: “I don’t want to read it! I don’t want to read it! Stop pressuring me!”

Me: “My eyes! My eyes!”

Awwwwwwww!

History: JellyMan read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, St. Augustine’s Confessions, The Rule of St. Benedict, and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. He also read chapter 9 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization and finished listening to the 24 lectures in the Early Middle Ages series. Anemone outlined pages 330-371 of DK’s History: The Definitive Visual Guide. We also watched a few history documentaries, but the only one I can recall at the moment was about the Greely expedition.

JM did an awesome Gloucester!

Science: I don’t want to talk about science, but I will. JellyMan watched lectures 13-27 of Understanding the Universe and completed chapters 4-5 of The Cosmos. Anemone got through four chapters of Miller & Levine Biology before we got sick of it yelling at us all the time. (Look at THIS! Now look at THIS! Wow! Hey, look, a rhino!!!) Now she’s outlining Science Matters. 

Look! It’s a princess!

Fine Arts: “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” - Inigo Montoya

Music: The Goobs are still taking piano lessons and practicing at least an hour every day. They had their recital in November; JellyMan played Clementi’s Sonatina Opus 36, No. 4 and “Imagine” by John Lennon. Anemone played Clementi’s Sonatina Op. 36, No. 3 and “November Rain” by Axl Rose. Ha! Hahaha! They also played a duet, but I can’t remember which one and nobody is home to ask. They were terrific!

They hate playing duets. I laugh.

Dance: The Goobs have continued with ballroom dancing lessons and have learned the bolero, the waltz, the samba, the foxtrot, and East and West coast swing. I LOVE watching them dance. JellyMan likes to spin his partners as hard as he can, and Anemone is determined to keep a full three feet of dead space between her and whoever she’s dancing with. And she wants to lead, dammit. Anemone is still spending about 17 hours per week at her ballet studio. Those hours increased substantially during rehearsals and production of The Nutcracker; she was a princess, and she was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL.

Drama: The Goobs went together to see a production of Oedipus Rex put on by one of the community colleges. JellyMan went to see The House of Blue Leaves at the University of Hawaii with his drama peeps. They also had a movie night at their theatre and watched an old version of Macbeth. He and his group put on a fantastic show in December, and they’ve had several master classes and workshops, including Mask, Shakespeare, Voice, Physical Acting, Stage Combat, TaKeTiNa, Slam Poetry, and Commedia dell’Arte. They also put in many hours making masks for their upcoming production of Macbeth, and they meet three times per week to rehearse. JellyMan has also been working about 16 hours a week doing tech at a local theatre.

What, no lightsabers?

Other Schoolish Stuff: The Goobs listened to me read about half of Bill Bryson’s Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States aloud before my voice gave out. (I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I HATE READING OUT LOUD. I always have.) The Goobs took their standardized tests and scored high enough that I can be an obnoxious braggart whenever I feel like it. JellyMan also decided to participate in the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad after watching a lecture series on linguistics, and Anemone has baked many cakes and cookies.

Other Not Schoolish Stuff: The Goobs got their braces off! Woo-hoo! Also, we’re debt free! AGAIN! Just in time to buy next year’s school books…

Parenting Advice (or) Kiss Me, I'm Obnoxious!

• Do not bother trying to make a child see reason, especially if said child is hungry, full, dry, wet, cold, hot, angry, sad, excited, anxious, tired, bored, and/or awake.
• No, not even if said child has studied logic for the past three years. 
• If a child is being obnoxious, it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with said child being hungry, full, dry, wet, cold, hot, angry, sad, excited, anxious, tired, bored, and/or awake.
• Really. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. So kiss your obnoxious child, hand him a sweater and/or a sandwich, and move on with your life.
• Unless you yourself are obnoxious. Then it has EVERYTHING to do with you, and you should knock it off. You are, God help you, the adult, and you are able to control your obnoxiousness even when you are hungry, full, dry, wet, cold, hot, angry, sad, excited, anxious, tired, bored, and/or awake.
• Yes, even after you get a jellyfish caught in your hair. For instance.

I have been obnoxious today. Sorry, Goobers. 

Quaker Ridge Lap Robe

Pattern: based on the Quaker Ridge stitch pattern in Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns

Yarn: Berroco Comfort (the least obnoxious synthetic yarn I’ve come across)

Needles: U.S. size 8

I knit up this lap robe for a charity drive for the chapel at Fort Bragg. I guess it’s a little chilly in there, and one of the volunteers thought it would be nice if the families awaiting their fallen soldiers could wrap up in pretty handknit items. So I knit this lap robe, thinking good thoughts about all our brave men and women and their families at home. I packed it up, and just as I used the last little bit of packing tape, I saw the card I meant to enclose lying on my desk. I didn’t want to run to the store for more tape, so I sent the lady an email to let her know the package was on the way. I mailed the box and promptly forgot all about it - until yesterday. Yesterday I thought to myself, “Self, you haven’t heard from the lady at Fort Bragg, why don’t you recheck that email and make sure you sent it to the right address.” So I did, and I saw that I had breezily written, “I’m sorry it took me so long to finish this. I hope your chapel can still use it.” 

Oh. What a horrid thing to say.

“Self, it’s no wonder you haven’t heard from her! And just so you know, self, this is why you shouldn’t try to talk to people. Self, it’s bad enough that your Goobs have to put up with you; stop inflicting yourself on society………blah, blah, blah………negative internal dialogue……….blah, blah, blah……..” 

Square-A-Day Tablecloth

I can finally talk about the effing lovely tablecloth I crocheted for my mother! You have no idea how hard it was to keep all the pain and suffering joy to myself through the long months of tediously repetetive slaving crocheting. I wanted to share the fun I had hunting down 17 balls of the same brand of cotton thread on this tiny speck of an island. I wanted to share my dismay when I realized the tablecloth would not be wide enough for my mother’s table - and my rage when I realized the additional 10 rounds of edging made it wide enough, but just *that* much too long. Plus I spilled an entire glass of Diet Pepsi on it, and I wept. But Christmas is over now, and I can finally show you………..

HOW MUCH I LOVE MY MOTHER!

Lots. I love her lots.

I didn’t take the best pictures, I’m afraid. This next one, for instance, was taken at 1:30 a.m. with an iPhone. I was flirting with insanity at this point.

It took me 1,000 pins and 16 hours to block it. Sixteen. Hours. I didn’t measure the sweat and the tears, but I lost about half a teaspoon of blood. Please don’t tell my mother I got blood all over her tablecloth.

Pattern: Square-A-Day Table Cloth

Yarn: 17 pkgs Aunt Lydia’s crochet thread, size 10

Hook: 1.5 mm (U.S. size 7)

Modifications: Added 10 rounds of edging

I was on the phone with her when she opened it. She said, “Oh, I needed a new lace tablecloth! But why did you open it? What did you do with the bag?” Then came a short period of incoherent squealing and a mad dash to clear the table. 

I done good.

Resolutions

I don’t have any true resolutions this year, just a very short, housewifey to-do list for 2012.

• Draft and sew a button-up shirt
• Crochet a bedspread
• Reduce food budget by 20%
• Attend church at least semi-regularly
• Refinish patio furniture

Of course, I’d also like to lose 20 pounds, become fluent in ancient Greek, and earn a million dollars, but that’s more of a wish list than a to-do list at this point.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Thank you, Mr. Gates!

I read “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” all in one sitting yesterday, and was so thoroughly amused that I started poking around online to see if I couldn’t find one of his lectures. (Yes, you read that right. I went looking for vintage physics lectures. It was that good.) Lo and behold! Bill Gates came through.

Bill Gates bought the rights to Dr. Feynman’s Messenger Lecture series, The Character of Physical Law, and has made them available to the public at Project Tuva. I may well be the last person to know about this, but I’m enjoying the series (and the nifty supplemental material!) so much that I’m posting about it anyway. All you homeschooling moms teaching physics (cough, cough, Tressa, cough) should check it out if you haven’t already.

Thanks you, Mr. Gates. You’re a peach.

New Plan: High School Math

JellyMan and I are not happy with his performance in Saxon Advanced Math, and neither one of us feels that he’s ready to move on to calculus. We’ve decided to go ahead and finish the Advanced Math book by the end of October, but instead of moving on to Saxon Calculus 2nd edition, he’ll spend November and December going through The Teaching Company’s Understanding Calculus: Problems, Solutions, and Tips. There won’t be a huge focus on correct answers or any expectation of real understanding; I want him to simply relax, have some fun, and get a feel for where he’s going in math. In January he’ll start over with Saxon Advanced Math. I’ll have him take tests until he scores <80%. When that happens, I’ll back him up five lessons and have him work from there until the end. Even if he has to start on lesson 1, he should be able to finish by the end of next August. Then he’ll move on to Saxon Calculus in September of his junior year. 

Reasonable? Never mind, don’t tell me. I don’t care if I’m being reasonable or not. I’m so sick of fighting with this kid—he’s at the point where he wants to specialize, but I don’t think it’s time yet. How do you deal with this in your homeschool? When do you think it’s “safe” to drop math in favor of Hebrew? Latin in favor of dance? Sooner? Later? Never?

Two Weeks in Review (09/26-10/09)

The past few weeks have been pretty bad around here. I’m not schooling my Goobs—I’m schooling their doppelgangers. At least they’re cute.

Math: JellyMan finished lessons 106-111 of Saxon Advanced Math. Anemone worked through lesson 5 of Saxon Algebra 2.

Latin: JellyMan translated lines 64-98 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline and completed exercises 6-8 of Henle Third Year Latin. Anemone is still limping along in Henle First Year Latin. She has been working on exercise 301 for about a week now.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapter 18b-19a of Athenaze Greek Book 2. Anemone finished week 7 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

Logic: Anemone working on chapter 3 of Traditional Logic 2. It’s getting hard for her, and we have misplaced the answer key, so I’m having to figure out the answers to all her questions myself. Sigh.

English: JellyMan finished chapter 10 of Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle. We remembered that I had purchased the DVD lectures that accompany the course; we popped one in just to see if they were any better than the Traditional Logic lectures. They are! (The TL lectures simply restate what the text says; the CRWA lectures actually expand on the course material.) JellyMan also finished outlining his upcoming NaNoWriMo novel and read King Lear. Anemone did lessons 97-102 of R&S English 8, revised her report on the history of the polio vaccine, and continued reading The Hobbit.

History: JellyMan listened to lectures 7-8 of the Teaching Company’s Early Middle Ages. He finished reading Thomas Cahill’s Mysteries of the Middle Ages and started How the Irish Saved Civilization. He also did some reading in The Celts by Gerhard Herm. Anemone didn’t read any history because I’m a bad homeschool mom, but she watched two documentaries on the polio vaccine. (History? Science? Does it matter?)

Science: JellyMan watched lectures 9-12 of The Teaching Company’s Understanding the Universe and completed chapter 3 of The Cosmos. Anemone read sections 2.3-2.4 of Miller & Levine Biology and did some reading about molecular structure. Both kids watched two episodes of Medical Miracles.

Fine Arts: Both Goobs had two piano lessons and practiced for about 12 hours. They also spent two hours at ballroom dancing lessons. JellyMan spent eight hours at drama class. He also went to see Sunset Boulevard at the Diamond Head Theatre. He spent 35 hours working lights at his production downtown. Anemone got her audition letter - she is a princess in The Nutcracker! Apparently, the role of princess is EVEN BETTER than the roll of bonbon, so she is very happy. She spent 27 hours at the ballet studio over the past two weeks. Her shin splints seem to be healed. 

The Man said, “See all those kids? They should all be in school.” 

The Goobers said, “Yeah? So should we! Hahahahaha!”

A Week in Review (09/19-09/25)

I can’t believe this is only already the third week of school! We’ve made a few changes around here; the biggest one being that school does not start until 8:00. The Goobers like to start school early so they can keep their afternoons free, but a 0500 start time is just ridiculous. I’m tired of waking up to cranky Goobs, shoddy work, and a messy kitchen. No more.

Our favorite beach has man o’ wars, rip currents, sharks, a beautiful view, and plenty of shade.

Math: JellyMan did lessons 102-105 of Saxon Advanced Math. (JellyMan is doing 10 pushups for every missed math problem.  He may never be a mathematician, but he will have beautiful shoulders!) Anemone finished Saxon Algebra 1 and is happy to be moving on to Algebra 2.

This 6” praying mantis was hanging out right above the doorknob. I opened the door anyway.

Latin: JellyMan memorized lines 1-11 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline, redid exercises 2-3, and completed exercises 4-5 of Henle Third Year Latin. Anemone did a lot of review, plus exercise 297 of Henle Latin First Year.

This old theater is absolutely gorgeous inside.

Greek: JellyMan redid most of chapter 1b and completed chapter 2a of Athenaze Greek Book 2. Anemone completed week 6 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

Rainbows don’t suck.

Logic: Anemone finished chapter 2 of Traditional Logic 2.

Palm trees don’t suck, either.

English: JellyMan caught up on some rhetoric assignments he “forgot.” (I didn’t bother checking the stupid figures of speech worksheets because all he had to do was fill in the blanks. Classic rookie mistake. Homeschool Rule #1: Grade the work. Yes, all of it.) He also rewrote a paper. Anemone did lessons 92-96 of R&S English 8 and continued reading The Hobbit. 

Anemone likes to do pointe shoe repair in her dinosaur jacket.

History: JellyMan listened to lectures 4-6 of The Teaching Company’s Early Middle Ages, reviewed chapter 8 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization, and read half of Thomas Cahill’s Mysteries of the Middle Ages. He also started reading Livy, but that’s on his own time. Anemone redid her outlines from last week, then researched the development of the polio vaccine and wrote the first draft of a history/science report. (I even remembered to have her conduct a few telephone interviews. Homeschool win!)

We have a lot of wind here in Hawaii.

Science: JellyMan watched lectures 7-9 of The Teaching Company’s Understanding the Universe and finished chapter 2 of The Cosmos. Anemone read sections 2.1-2.2 of Miller & Levine Biology (if this book was written to make the student ask “Why?” over and over and over again, the authors did a stellar job. Honestly. Why not scrap the big-ass lizard picture so you have room to explain valence electrons?) and the relevant bits of Science Matters.

JellyMan looked cute up in his light booth.

Fine Arts: Piano lessons and seven hours of practice for both. The piano teacher asked Anemone to be the Master of Ceremonies for the recital (a surprise!), and Anemone agreed (a bigger surprise!). JellyMan spent 4 hours at drama class and 16 hours working the light booth. (I watched JM chatting up pretty girls the play last night, and being told I look amazingly young the lights were the best part.) JellyMan is also doing a lot of research on literary witches for his troupe’s Macbeth project. Anemone spent three hours observing technique classes at the ballet studio. She swears up and down her shin splints are healed, so she also danced for three hours. So far, so good. (This is the first time she’s had to deal with any kind of physical limitation. She hates it, but I’m proud of the way she is handling it - she only made us all miserable gnashed her teeth wailed kicked and screamed moped for a week!) The Goobs went to see a play presenting three of Aesop’s fables; JM’s drama teacher thought it might be helpful for her students to study the different techniques actors use when performing for a young audience.

JellyMan is kindly demonstrating a scuba sign for “sea turtle.” I’m not sure what Anemone is doing.

Unresolved Homeschool Problem of the Week: I’m so wrapped up in my 10th grader that I tend to let my 7th grader skate. Anemone has absolutely no problem with this, but it can’t go on indefinitely. She needs more of my time, whether she wants it or not.

A Week in Review (09/12-09/18)

Illness, angst, celebrations, injuries, appointments, beautiful beaches… honestly, why can’t anything ever be easy?

Math: JellyMan completed lessons 100-101 of Saxon Advanced Math and took a practice SAT test. Anemone did lessons 116-117 of Saxon Algebra 1.

Latin: JellyMan translated lines 32-63 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline, and completed exercises 2-3 of Henle Third Year Latin. Most of this will need to be redone. Anemone did some reviewing, and will do more reviewing next week.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapter 1b of Athenaze Greek Book 2. Most of it will need to be redone. Anemone completed weeks 4-5 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

Logic: Anemone completed chapter 1 and started chapter 2 of Traditional Logic 2.

English: JellyMan completed chapter 9 of Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle and took that practice SAT test. Anemone did lesson 90-91 of R&S English 8 and started reading The Hobbit. 

History: JellyMan listened to lecture #3 of The Early Middle Ages and completed chapter 8 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization. He will need to read it again. Anemone “outlined” pages 326-329 of her history book. It will need to be redone.

Science: JellyMan watched lectures 5-6 of Understanding the Universe and started chapter 2 of The Cosmos. Anemone finished reading chapter 1 of Miller & Levine Biology, but she didn’t understand what I wanted her to do about the end of chapter exercises and the study guide and the “mystery,” so we’ll be looking at those together.

Fine Arts: Piano lessons continue as usual, though I only noticed about 5 hours of practice this week. JellyMan spent four hours at drama class and 16 hours running lights for his show downtown. He also worked as an extra in a friend’s PSA video.  Anemone spent three hours dancing at her ballet studio. Unfortunately, she has developed shin splints, and has to sit out for two weeks. She’s still attending her technique classes so she doesn’t miss anything; she spent about four hours observing this week.

Next week will be spent mopping up the hot mess that was this week. Woo-hoo.