We're on vacation - if you're interested in following it, please check out my other blog Unschoolers on the Road.
Happy trails!
Friday, October 09, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Ah-ah-ah-choo!
Well, we're sick. The NBTSC (Not Back to School Camp) kids all came back with sniffles, so I kind of expected this. Kimi has been sick since last week, with a persistant cough, & I've got a head cold. Lots of fluids, lots of reading, lots of TV. Shaun, so far, is healthy, & Phil is away on business, so with luck he'll escape this, too.
It isn't fun being sick, but I know it could be worse - this isn't the flu.
And frankly, I would rather get it over with now than be sick next week, since we've got our big trip coming right around the corner.
So, here's to future health...ah-choo!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Yikes - it's been a while! And I blame Facebook!
Yup - Facebook has derailed my resolve to blog more frequently. After all, it's so much easier to read & post little status updates all in one place than it is to write here, hoping my friends & family will pop by & see, & to then visit each friend's blog one by one.
But, as much as I love Facebook, I miss writing at my blog, so I'm going to, once again, attempt to write with greater frequency. We'll see how that turns out!
Bye for now!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mothers' Day
We spent the day with my folks in Boston on Sunday.
The weather was windy but sunny & warm enough to keep us from getting chilled. We drove over to Southie first to visit Castle Island, a fort that was built to protect Boston's harbor. It juts right out into the harbor & now connects to the mainland. The north side looks across the harbor to Logan Airport & the cruise line terminals.
We ate lunch from Sullivan's - an old time fast-order stand where we got hot dogs, cheeseburgers & the world's best onion rings. We were going to get ice cream after walking around, but by the time we finished our loop the line was crazy long so we decided against it.
Then we drove over to Fan Pier where the Volvo Ocean Race festivities were in full swing. Hundreds of competitors participate in Pro-Am races in Boston Harbor from April 25 - May 16. The participants also crew the 7 sailing yachts that travel from Alicante, Spain to eventually St. Petersburg, Russia over the course of 9 months, covering 37,000 nautical miles. Boston was one of the eleven global stop-overs & the only one in North America. It was fun to get up close to the boats & watch the crew care for them.
After enjoying the music & merriment, we continued along the Harborwalk & made our way to the aquarium. We didn't go in, though, because the ice cream from Emack & Bolio's
was calling to us! Ice creams, root beer float & egg creme in hand, we made our way back to our car via the new Rose Kennedy Greenway, which now occupies the area the elevated I-93 used to be in before the infamous Big Dig tunnel project.
All in all, it was a very nice way to spend Mothers' Day with my mom & my family.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Weekend Fun in the Sun - Part Two!
It was a little bit cooler on Sunday - though still warm for April. I decided to buy some herbs from our local garden center & plant them before I needed to get the kids to Guard Up for their sword fighting classes. While I was out, Phil started work on the RV - removing the anti-freeze from the water lines, cleaning up the fridge (he had a little accident with Dr. Pepper cans back in January/February - did you know that soda expands when it freezes? Ka-Boom!), & cleaning out the "basement". Some critter decided to use it as it's bathroom, which was quite disgusting...blech!
We ate dinner & dessert by the fire - as the sun set the temperatures dropped quickly. It was lovely to drink hot coffee by the fire as the light faded in the sky. Ahhhhh.....
After I planted the basil & spearmint, I took the kids to class. The warm weather inspired me & I went over to Whole Foods & bought a bunch of strawberries & a chocolate angel food cake. I also got red peppers, summer squash & portobello mushrooms for grilling. Add hamburger meat, hot dogs & the accompanying rolls & we were all set for a cook out!
After we were all back home, we started cleaning up the back yard, especially around the pool wall. A ridiculous amount of leaves collected over autumn & winter & now buried the rose bushes & day lilies.
Using rakes & a leaf blower, we pulled most of the debris out & brought it to the fire pit, where we decided to do this:
We ate dinner & dessert by the fire - as the sun set the temperatures dropped quickly. It was lovely to drink hot coffee by the fire as the light faded in the sky. Ahhhhh.....Monday, April 27, 2009
Weekend Fun in the Sun - Part One!
Saturday we took a little trip down to Foster, RI, to join a bunch of other homeschoolers in a tie-dye park day. Our friend Cris hosted, along with her family. Kimi really wanted to find a white hoodie to dye, but we couldn't find any, so we settled on t-shirts instead.
Then Erica arrived - with a white hoodie sweatshirt! She happily traded it for Kimi's sleep-sized t-shirt & Kimi got to work on her new hoodie.
(Photos of the final product coming later!)
It was a hot sunny day & we appreciated the shade provided by the rec center. Everyone brought food & drinks to share & it was fun getting to meet other families.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Patriots' Day
We went to the Minute Man National Park on Saturday. It was overcast but mild - perfect for walking around.
The Concord Bridge - where the fighting between the colonists & the British Regulars began on April 19, 1775. "The Shot Heard 'Round the World"
Also perfect for climbing our favorite giant bush. This is Kimi at the top - I'm taking the picture from a terrace that is a whole level higher than where the walking path is that leads to the base of this shrub. We've been coming to this park with the kids for years & they have always loved climbing this thing. Of course, they are a bit taller than when they were 3 or 4!
Shaun's up there - look very closely!
Family portrait - Kimi got in it by adding her fingers into the frame!
The park often has people dressed in period clothing available to talk to visitors. They are not "reenactors" - they don't pretend they are living in that time. They instead provide a nice visual as they talk about the history connected to this area.
This is the Old Manse:"Between two tall gateposts of roughhewn stone . . . we behold the gray front of the old parsonage, terminating the vista of an avenue of black ash trees." So beginsMosses from an Old Manse, the set of short stories Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote while living at The Old Manse.The landscape Hawthorne describes is still recognizable to a present-day visitor more than 160 years later. A recreation of Henry David Thoreau's vegetable garden, planted in 1842 as a wedding gift to the Hawthornes, still flourishes in the same location. The Concord River flows serenely past the Manse and under its neighbor, the North Bridge, site of the famous "shot heard 'round the world" that started the American Revolution on April 19, 1775.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Gotta sing!
I know this is a video that's going around fast, but as someone who simply loves to sing, seeing this woman stand in front of a disbelieving crowd & then completely blow them away, well, I just had to tip my hat to her.
Susan Boyle - the whole world now knows your voice!
Thursday, April 02, 2009
ER
Tonight is the last night of ER. I've watched every single episode since its beginning. And its beginning happens to coincide with an important beginning for me.
The very first episode of ER, the pilot called "24 Hours", aired on Monday, September 19, 1994. Later that week, on Thursday, the day of the week that would be the show's home for the rest of its first-run life, Episode 2, "Day One" aired. That same night, September 22, 1994, was the night that I became a Mom. Kimberly was born in Booth Memorial Hospital, NYC.
I missed that episode that night.
But I saw the 3rd, & the 4th, & the 5th - week by week my new favorite TV show broadcast the stories of Mark Greene, Susan Lewis, Carol Hathaway, Doug Ross, Peter Benton & John Carter at County General. Over the years each of these "people" left, replaced by new characters who kept me coming back each year. After 15 seasons, ER sometimes shows its age, but then again, so do I! Even more obvious is Kimi's development from a newborn to a toddler to a young child to the amazing 14 year old person she is today.
Something interesting happened to us last spring. Kimi found ER on TNT in the mornings. It was Episode 2, the one that was "born" on her own birth day. She decided that she would watch more of them to see what the old ERs were like. She quickly became hooked & fell in love with the original cast. Thanks to Tivo & Blockbuster, we were able to see them all, even if we were away on vacations.
A few weeks ago we caught up. She has seen the span of her life expressed through the life story of ER. She knows all the old stories, saw the long-timers when they were just Baby Docs & shares with me a love of the show.
Tonight, their story concludes. And we will watch it, live. And we will laugh & cry & be grateful for all the joy this show has brought to us.
Goodbye, ER. We will miss you.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Stone Walls
I was reading Yankee magazine & found an article by Jim Collins about New England's stone walls. It was an interview with Robert Thorson, a geologist at the University of Connecticut, who has written books about these ominipresent structures, such as Stone by Stone & Good Fences: A Pictorial History of New England's Stone Walls. He also coordinates an educational organization called the Stone Wall Initiative.
In the article, he describes how the New England landscape is so similar to the "Old England" landscape - those good ol' glaciers did their thing on both sides of the pond. Although stone walls can be found all over, he says, "only in New England are they a part of the landscape".
Our property is outlined by very old stone walls. Going up our street, most of the properties are. My grandparents owned about a hundred acres of land in north-central MA. Stone walls delineated each of the fields, followed along the roads & marked off the private way through the woods to the pond & wet lands on the property.
I've always known stone walls to be very visible part of the landscape. It never occurred to me that it wasn't that way in most of the country. Turns out, according to the article, people pay good money to have authentic NE fieldstones, all weathered & lichen-covered, brought to their homes to give their landscape an aged look.
I'm grateful I don't need to manufacture the history of my land. I know who owned it before us (they live just up the street!) & I know that the meadow was filled with old apple & black walnut trees, thorn bushes & poison ivy. I know this because we were out there clearing it, uncovering the walls that had been buried by time.
Stone by stone...
In the article, he describes how the New England landscape is so similar to the "Old England" landscape - those good ol' glaciers did their thing on both sides of the pond. Although stone walls can be found all over, he says, "only in New England are they a part of the landscape".
Our property is outlined by very old stone walls. Going up our street, most of the properties are. My grandparents owned about a hundred acres of land in north-central MA. Stone walls delineated each of the fields, followed along the roads & marked off the private way through the woods to the pond & wet lands on the property.
I've always known stone walls to be very visible part of the landscape. It never occurred to me that it wasn't that way in most of the country. Turns out, according to the article, people pay good money to have authentic NE fieldstones, all weathered & lichen-covered, brought to their homes to give their landscape an aged look.
I'm grateful I don't need to manufacture the history of my land. I know who owned it before us (they live just up the street!) & I know that the meadow was filled with old apple & black walnut trees, thorn bushes & poison ivy. I know this because we were out there clearing it, uncovering the walls that had been buried by time.
Stone by stone...
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Spring! Glorious Spring!
My goodness, it's a beautiful day!
We woke up to gray skies (& a forecast of rain later) but then the clouds burned off, the skies were blue & sunny & all seemed right in the world.
Last night, for the first time, I could hear the Peepers at night. What a great sound. The birds were chirping first thing in the morning & during breakfast, Phil & I watched a Coopers hawk hunt the little critters around the stone wall on the east side of the property.
After breakfast we walked around the yard, planning what to do with the wood we will gather from the downed trees, felled by the December ice storm. When we got back 'round the front yard area I made an unexpected discovery: my strawberry plants, planted last year in my Square Foot garden, were absolutely thriving! I pulled off the protective netting & accumulated leaves & found robust green leaves. In fact, there were some sneaky little strawberry plants growing outside the garden - growing where some of the berries must have fallen last year.
I cleaned up the box, pulling one by one the blades of grass that were also thriving! To my utter joy, I found many plump earthworms squirming their way throughout the rich soil. Happy, happy! Phil & I decided to let the entire box become the Strawberry Patch. We'll build some new boxes for which ever veggies we finally decide to commit to this year.
This afternoon, the kids attended a Manga & Candy Sushi event at the library. Phil & decided to take a long walk during their 2 hours there, then walked them back home. It was perfect walking weather. We could smell the smoke of several burn piles as families tried to rid their yards of their downed brush & limbs. It smelled like camp - ahh!
What a delight a Spring Day can be!
We woke up to gray skies (& a forecast of rain later) but then the clouds burned off, the skies were blue & sunny & all seemed right in the world.
Last night, for the first time, I could hear the Peepers at night. What a great sound. The birds were chirping first thing in the morning & during breakfast, Phil & I watched a Coopers hawk hunt the little critters around the stone wall on the east side of the property.
After breakfast we walked around the yard, planning what to do with the wood we will gather from the downed trees, felled by the December ice storm. When we got back 'round the front yard area I made an unexpected discovery: my strawberry plants, planted last year in my Square Foot garden, were absolutely thriving! I pulled off the protective netting & accumulated leaves & found robust green leaves. In fact, there were some sneaky little strawberry plants growing outside the garden - growing where some of the berries must have fallen last year.
I cleaned up the box, pulling one by one the blades of grass that were also thriving! To my utter joy, I found many plump earthworms squirming their way throughout the rich soil. Happy, happy! Phil & I decided to let the entire box become the Strawberry Patch. We'll build some new boxes for which ever veggies we finally decide to commit to this year.
This afternoon, the kids attended a Manga & Candy Sushi event at the library. Phil & decided to take a long walk during their 2 hours there, then walked them back home. It was perfect walking weather. We could smell the smoke of several burn piles as families tried to rid their yards of their downed brush & limbs. It smelled like camp - ahh!
What a delight a Spring Day can be!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
What have your kids been doing lately?
As an unschooling family, this seemingly innocent question can be a stumper. Of course our days are full of activity, but sometimes it doesn't always sound "productive" to others.
Yesterday I was at a friend's house because her son was hosting a D&D get together & Shaun was attending. The other kids were from homeschooling families, but not unschooling families. Much of the discussion was around the different studies the children were involved with - particularly math. After a long discourse on the different branches of mathematics & the national exams the kids were taking, etc., I got asked The Question. What have your kids been doing lately?
Gulp.
"Well, we've been big on watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel series. We've been trading videos with our friends down in Georgia. We just got back from Tennessee & North Carolina & have been busy talking about the things we want for our finished basement. Umm, & we've been, umm..."
Blech!
As I said the above I knew it sounded lame in comparison to what the others had just been talking about, but that's what popped into my head. Of course I forgot that we had recently been to the Boston Science Museum & learned about mythological creatures & the myth stories that came from the constellations. And I forgot that while in Asheville, our friend Alice brought us to this cool open art gallery at the old Woolworth building that had displays of paintings, including digital, photography, pottery, jewelry & sculptures. And, of course, all that driving from here to the south & back gives us plenty of time to talk about a whole host of topics, but that is so hard to use as "Proof of Learning". Our learning - each of us - is happening in the moment, as we see things, hear things, feel things, taste things. I know it's happening, it just can be so hard to describe it in conversation with others.
Oh, well...maybe I'll describe it better next time!
Yesterday I was at a friend's house because her son was hosting a D&D get together & Shaun was attending. The other kids were from homeschooling families, but not unschooling families. Much of the discussion was around the different studies the children were involved with - particularly math. After a long discourse on the different branches of mathematics & the national exams the kids were taking, etc., I got asked The Question. What have your kids been doing lately?
Gulp.
"Well, we've been big on watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel series. We've been trading videos with our friends down in Georgia. We just got back from Tennessee & North Carolina & have been busy talking about the things we want for our finished basement. Umm, & we've been, umm..."
Blech!
As I said the above I knew it sounded lame in comparison to what the others had just been talking about, but that's what popped into my head. Of course I forgot that we had recently been to the Boston Science Museum & learned about mythological creatures & the myth stories that came from the constellations. And I forgot that while in Asheville, our friend Alice brought us to this cool open art gallery at the old Woolworth building that had displays of paintings, including digital, photography, pottery, jewelry & sculptures. And, of course, all that driving from here to the south & back gives us plenty of time to talk about a whole host of topics, but that is so hard to use as "Proof of Learning". Our learning - each of us - is happening in the moment, as we see things, hear things, feel things, taste things. I know it's happening, it just can be so hard to describe it in conversation with others.
Oh, well...maybe I'll describe it better next time!
Monday, March 23, 2009
ARGH!
ARGH - Autodidactic Radical Gathering of Homeschoolers - is a twice a year hangout for unschoolers. Last weekend, we joined in the fun for the first time. We left MA late Friday night - I had a recital that night - & drove to NJ. Then on Saturday we drove the very long journey to Roan Mtn., TN. The state park maintains rental cabins that were far and above expectations. Clean, spacious & well-furnished, we had everything we needed to be comfy & cozy.
Not that we stayed in our cabin much! The Lovejoy-Higgins cabin was the place to be - & we were usually there if we weren't up at the nearby conference center.
Alas, our camera's charger is missing, so no photos. Suffice to say, there weren't a lot of dull moments!
One nice planned activity was a visit from Patti Digh, author/blogger of Life is a Verb - 37 Days - essays about the question of what she would do differently if she knew that she only had 37 days left to live. She read a bit from her book & shared some interesting, sometimes quite funny, stories about herself.
The kids had a blast running about with their friends. Not a lot of sleeping but, boy, were they happy!
Not that we stayed in our cabin much! The Lovejoy-Higgins cabin was the place to be - & we were usually there if we weren't up at the nearby conference center.
Alas, our camera's charger is missing, so no photos. Suffice to say, there weren't a lot of dull moments!
One nice planned activity was a visit from Patti Digh, author/blogger of Life is a Verb - 37 Days - essays about the question of what she would do differently if she knew that she only had 37 days left to live. She read a bit from her book & shared some interesting, sometimes quite funny, stories about herself.
The kids had a blast running about with their friends. Not a lot of sleeping but, boy, were they happy!
Monday, March 09, 2009
If it's March, it must be...snowing!
Last Monday: 1 foot of snow
Today (Monday): 4" of snow
Yesterday: 60 degrees & sunny
Gotta love New England weather!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Wonderful World of Books
I've been lurking in one of my unschooling yahoo groups during a discussion of books. The gist of the ideas shared was that all types of books, be they standard novels, graphic novels or comic books, have positive value & offer the reader wonderful ways of expressing ideas & stories.
This all triggered some memories for me.
I come from a family of book lovers. My great-grandmother, grandmother, & Mom all read voraciously & all of their homes were filled with books. My dad, when I was very young, used to work for a printing company & often brought home the imperfects - books that had ink splotches, etc., that would prevent them from being sold. These added a great deal to our collection. Even though we lived in a small house, our playroom (a converted enclosed porch) was filled floor to ceiling with metal shelving that held the books. My brother & I were both considered "early" readers - we could read before we started school, which then was first grade. I can't help but wonder if at least part of that was helped along by being surrounded by all the books. There were novels, non-fiction, comic books of all kinds(I read & loved Doonsebury, even though I didn't get most of the social commentary at that time!). We even had Disney movie books that came with a record (remember those things?). You could play the record & listen to the story being read out & hear all of the songs from the movie, all while reading along & seeing the drawings from the movie.
{A quick aside: one of the Disney books was Robin Hood - the one with the fox as Robin, etc. If any of you have heard/seen "Hampster Dance" on the internet, the song they dance to is a speeded up version of the slow intro song from Robin Hood! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampster_Dance)
When I was in junior high school, the administration established a schedule that had everyone go to first period class & then read (teachers, too) for, I think, 45 minutes. The stipulation was that it couldn't be reading that was part of homework (&, I think, no comic books). Other than that, it was students' choice. My mom recommended some of her favorite stories to me for my reading. One was "Jane Eyer" . I remember some of my classmates looking at me as if I had lobsters coming out of my ears. That's the kind of book you get assigned to read, not choose to read. Why would I read that for pleasure? But I did read it, & I liked it.
Sophomore year high school, I had to do a book report/essay critiquing a drama of my choice. I chose "Death of a Salesman". I didn't think much of Willy Loman. I thought he should get over it, & wrote as much (though "nicer") in my critique. My teacher was pretty blunt in her critique of my essay. She wrote something to the effect that "Death of a Salesman" is a classic work & is highly revered by anyone who knows anything about literature. I didn't get an "A".
The following year was junior year - a biggie for English class. That was the Year of the Research Paper. Everything we were taught went into the process of crafting a long, detailed analysis of a piece of literature. Guess what I chose. Yep, "Death of a Salesman". I wasn't going to let that drama get the best of me. I worked my butt off researching & writing my paper. I found out a lot about the context of when DoaS was written. I read that thing countless times - enough to quote passages if I wanted to. In the end, I got a much better grade than the previous go-round with Mr. Loman.
Flash-forward to senior year in college. As part of a course on family dynamics, we were assigned a paper - we were to use a piece of literature that involved a family & write about the family dynamics. I bet you can see where I'm going with this. "Death of a Salesman, Return of the Lomans"! I loved writing this paper. Of course, I was pretty familiar with this family. But something else was going on. I was older.
There is a difference between a 15 year old high school student and a 21 year old college student. By that time, I had met people from not only around the country, but from other parts of the world. I had experiences & life knowledge that I could draw upon to help understand something like DoaS in a way that I couldn't possibly have done the first time around. I was different person reading the same story, & I suddenly saw it as a new story. (I also got the long-sought for "A", which was gratifying at the time.)
I haven't read DoaS since. Maybe it's time for me to revisit it. Maybe not. I imagine that now that I've been with the same guy for nearly 2 decades, have children who are teens (or near-teen) & have lived an "adults life" , I will see new things in the story.
What I know is that reading it as a teenager didn't give me the definitive understanding of the work. Just because someone is exposed to something at a certain age doesn't mean they will benefit from it the way some people may think. When parents & teachers worry that kids aren't getting enough "real" education in something, be it classic literature or algebra or how to dissect a frog, they are assuming that the kids when understand it the same way that the adults do now. They are forgetting that some things are better understood in their own way, in their own time. Information gets processed by the brain in such a complex manner. Of course the life experiences of that person will impact how that information is understood & retained. This is why timelines for when information should be learned are so artificial. They ignore that fact that human learn their entire lives, & that the process of understanding something is so much more than input & output.
My kids are surrounded by books, too. They have an entire large bookcase devoted to manga. It actually serves as a lending library - they borrow out to their friends who love the different series but don't buy them, for various reasons. They see me reading all the time - be it the newspaper, online, magazines or books. They read every day - be it books, graphic novels, magazines, articles from the newspaper that I think might interest them, online, while gaming & sometimes while watching a movie (Kimi loves to use close captioning while watching). They choose what they want to explore & how they want to do it. And I know that every time they re-watch a TV episode or movie, or re-read a book or play a game or whatever else they are doing, they are getting something new from it. And they are the better for it.
This all triggered some memories for me.
I come from a family of book lovers. My great-grandmother, grandmother, & Mom all read voraciously & all of their homes were filled with books. My dad, when I was very young, used to work for a printing company & often brought home the imperfects - books that had ink splotches, etc., that would prevent them from being sold. These added a great deal to our collection. Even though we lived in a small house, our playroom (a converted enclosed porch) was filled floor to ceiling with metal shelving that held the books. My brother & I were both considered "early" readers - we could read before we started school, which then was first grade. I can't help but wonder if at least part of that was helped along by being surrounded by all the books. There were novels, non-fiction, comic books of all kinds(I read & loved Doonsebury, even though I didn't get most of the social commentary at that time!). We even had Disney movie books that came with a record (remember those things?). You could play the record & listen to the story being read out & hear all of the songs from the movie, all while reading along & seeing the drawings from the movie.
{A quick aside: one of the Disney books was Robin Hood - the one with the fox as Robin, etc. If any of you have heard/seen "Hampster Dance" on the internet, the song they dance to is a speeded up version of the slow intro song from Robin Hood! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampster_Dance)
When I was in junior high school, the administration established a schedule that had everyone go to first period class & then read (teachers, too) for, I think, 45 minutes. The stipulation was that it couldn't be reading that was part of homework (&, I think, no comic books). Other than that, it was students' choice. My mom recommended some of her favorite stories to me for my reading. One was "Jane Eyer" . I remember some of my classmates looking at me as if I had lobsters coming out of my ears. That's the kind of book you get assigned to read, not choose to read. Why would I read that for pleasure? But I did read it, & I liked it.
Sophomore year high school, I had to do a book report/essay critiquing a drama of my choice. I chose "Death of a Salesman". I didn't think much of Willy Loman. I thought he should get over it, & wrote as much (though "nicer") in my critique. My teacher was pretty blunt in her critique of my essay. She wrote something to the effect that "Death of a Salesman" is a classic work & is highly revered by anyone who knows anything about literature. I didn't get an "A".
The following year was junior year - a biggie for English class. That was the Year of the Research Paper. Everything we were taught went into the process of crafting a long, detailed analysis of a piece of literature. Guess what I chose. Yep, "Death of a Salesman". I wasn't going to let that drama get the best of me. I worked my butt off researching & writing my paper. I found out a lot about the context of when DoaS was written. I read that thing countless times - enough to quote passages if I wanted to. In the end, I got a much better grade than the previous go-round with Mr. Loman.
Flash-forward to senior year in college. As part of a course on family dynamics, we were assigned a paper - we were to use a piece of literature that involved a family & write about the family dynamics. I bet you can see where I'm going with this. "Death of a Salesman, Return of the Lomans"! I loved writing this paper. Of course, I was pretty familiar with this family. But something else was going on. I was older.
There is a difference between a 15 year old high school student and a 21 year old college student. By that time, I had met people from not only around the country, but from other parts of the world. I had experiences & life knowledge that I could draw upon to help understand something like DoaS in a way that I couldn't possibly have done the first time around. I was different person reading the same story, & I suddenly saw it as a new story. (I also got the long-sought for "A", which was gratifying at the time.)
I haven't read DoaS since. Maybe it's time for me to revisit it. Maybe not. I imagine that now that I've been with the same guy for nearly 2 decades, have children who are teens (or near-teen) & have lived an "adults life" , I will see new things in the story.
What I know is that reading it as a teenager didn't give me the definitive understanding of the work. Just because someone is exposed to something at a certain age doesn't mean they will benefit from it the way some people may think. When parents & teachers worry that kids aren't getting enough "real" education in something, be it classic literature or algebra or how to dissect a frog, they are assuming that the kids when understand it the same way that the adults do now. They are forgetting that some things are better understood in their own way, in their own time. Information gets processed by the brain in such a complex manner. Of course the life experiences of that person will impact how that information is understood & retained. This is why timelines for when information should be learned are so artificial. They ignore that fact that human learn their entire lives, & that the process of understanding something is so much more than input & output.
My kids are surrounded by books, too. They have an entire large bookcase devoted to manga. It actually serves as a lending library - they borrow out to their friends who love the different series but don't buy them, for various reasons. They see me reading all the time - be it the newspaper, online, magazines or books. They read every day - be it books, graphic novels, magazines, articles from the newspaper that I think might interest them, online, while gaming & sometimes while watching a movie (Kimi loves to use close captioning while watching). They choose what they want to explore & how they want to do it. And I know that every time they re-watch a TV episode or movie, or re-read a book or play a game or whatever else they are doing, they are getting something new from it. And they are the better for it.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Snow Day!
Wow - we got snow over night. Lots of snow - maybe a foot or more. The area schools & town offices announced closures yesterday in anticipation.
Kimi's friends from the neighboring towns got all excited - knowing that school was cancelled they quickly texted each other to try to get together at the mall, which is closer to where they live than to us. When Kimi came to us asking if we could drive her out there tomorrow (which is now today) we asked how everyone was going to get to the mall when the roads were expected to be so bad that they cancelled school a day early. Conferring with her friends some more, they decided to scratch the plan.
I felt bad about this. These teens were so excited to have a day off, to just be free of their normally scheduled lives & do their own thing. It highlighted for me how much freer my kids are to do the things they love to do when they want to do it.
I can remember how lovely summer vacation was - the clock barely existed. My brother & I got up when we wanted to, ate when we wanted to, hung out or played or watched TV or swam or rode our bikes or listened to music when we wanted to. How often do young people get to make these kind of decisions for themselves? At least around here - the metro Boston area - parents are strongly encouraged to schedule up their kids' lives. School is followed by after school programs, organized sports &/or music lessons. Weekends are crammed with enrichments, enrichments that the kids do without their parents (or their parents are there, but watching from the sidelines). Vacation breaks bring out "camps" at the schools. Summer vacation? Send your kids to day camp!
I know that most families are duel-income, which creates child care issues that families with a stay-at-home parent don't usually have. And I'm not saying that there isn't value for kids to participate in these kind of programs, lessons, or camps. But when a child's life becomes a string of scheduled events, when does that child get to just Be? To just chill & hang & day dream & choose whatever s/he wants to do?
When do they get their snow days?
Kimi's friends from the neighboring towns got all excited - knowing that school was cancelled they quickly texted each other to try to get together at the mall, which is closer to where they live than to us. When Kimi came to us asking if we could drive her out there tomorrow (which is now today) we asked how everyone was going to get to the mall when the roads were expected to be so bad that they cancelled school a day early. Conferring with her friends some more, they decided to scratch the plan.
I felt bad about this. These teens were so excited to have a day off, to just be free of their normally scheduled lives & do their own thing. It highlighted for me how much freer my kids are to do the things they love to do when they want to do it.
I can remember how lovely summer vacation was - the clock barely existed. My brother & I got up when we wanted to, ate when we wanted to, hung out or played or watched TV or swam or rode our bikes or listened to music when we wanted to. How often do young people get to make these kind of decisions for themselves? At least around here - the metro Boston area - parents are strongly encouraged to schedule up their kids' lives. School is followed by after school programs, organized sports &/or music lessons. Weekends are crammed with enrichments, enrichments that the kids do without their parents (or their parents are there, but watching from the sidelines). Vacation breaks bring out "camps" at the schools. Summer vacation? Send your kids to day camp!
I know that most families are duel-income, which creates child care issues that families with a stay-at-home parent don't usually have. And I'm not saying that there isn't value for kids to participate in these kind of programs, lessons, or camps. But when a child's life becomes a string of scheduled events, when does that child get to just Be? To just chill & hang & day dream & choose whatever s/he wants to do?
When do they get their snow days?
Friday, February 27, 2009
New Beginnings
For two weeks now I have been tracking my fitness & nutrition in an attempt to get to a healthier me. So far, so good. I've lost a little, become more toned, & don't feel like I'm starving myself or overdoing it.
Most of my exercise has been solitary: using DVDs for yoga, pilates & even kickboxing. But every once in a while, one or both of the kids join me in a big walk around our neighborhood. We try to grab those milder, sunnier days that pop up sporadically in February & walk a 4 mile loop that takes us to the adjoining streets & culs-de-sac (& yes, it's culs-de-sac, we learned that on Gilmore Girls!). There are big steep hills, smaller rolling ones, stream crossings, wet lands & even a town park as part of our trail. We chat & observe what's around & about us. We change our pass as needed to accommodate everyones' comfort levels.
It is a really nice way to get some exercise!
Most of my exercise has been solitary: using DVDs for yoga, pilates & even kickboxing. But every once in a while, one or both of the kids join me in a big walk around our neighborhood. We try to grab those milder, sunnier days that pop up sporadically in February & walk a 4 mile loop that takes us to the adjoining streets & culs-de-sac (& yes, it's culs-de-sac, we learned that on Gilmore Girls!). There are big steep hills, smaller rolling ones, stream crossings, wet lands & even a town park as part of our trail. We chat & observe what's around & about us. We change our pass as needed to accommodate everyones' comfort levels.
It is a really nice way to get some exercise!
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