On Black Friday in the U.S. ...

Please, let Black Friday stay in the States. We just. don't. want. it. here. 'Nuff said.

In honour of American Thanksgiving, the link to a blog post on "The Purpose of Thanks"

http://tolovehonorandvacuum.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksful-thursday-purpose-of-saying.html

Sheila's hubby Keith was our kids' pediatrician when we first moved to the area, and Sheila has quite a large speaking ministry. I always enjoy her blog :-). I particularly appreciate this one.

2008 School Photos :-)

Iain, almost 11

Claire, almost 13

Alison, 14.5

The school was kind enough to let us purchase Iain's photographs, despite the fact that we pulled him out at Thanksgiving prior to order date. The frame thing on Alison's photo was much more subtle on the proofs, and we were a little disappointed by the final photos. However, the kids look fine and that's the important part ;-).

And now, a "blast from the past"; all the kiddoes one decade ago:

This morning I was up at o'dark o'clock ... (family stuff mostly)

driving Alison in to the high school. Today her class heads to University of Toronto, where they are participating in a very cool sounding drama workshop. The day culminates with a production of Romeo and Juliet, which is the play they are currently studying. And for this trip, not just any old school bus, but a lovely big Franklin Tours coach! Our drive in was somewhat complicated by the face that we had quite a frost, and do you think I could find even ONE scraper for the windshield??? Nope.

Kev is back to work after a fairly restful "vacation". He did still do some church stuff, and of course, the ever-present "Annie", but on the whole he was able to sleep in to normal hours, do some reading, watch some TV and get some chores done. I'm not sure he was ready to go back today ... Kev, want to comment here?? :-)

Today is ice-skating day for my home educated student. However Iain did not sleep well last night (the first night ever he's been bothered by nightmares) so I've sent him back to bed, and we'll see how the day progresses.

Claire is enjoying some respite this week ... no Annie practices at all prior to Friday night's performance. She's basically enjoying school, protecting her voice, and getting lots of rest. She requested a sleepover with a cast member on Friday night, but her mean parents (both of us) emphatically said "no"! We suggested she wait and have the sleepover on a night where it wasn't quite as essential that she actually have a good night's sleep ;-).

I sold my first two fleeces this week. These were Eddy and Coriander's lamb fleeces, shorn this fall. Thanks, Ann and Michelle! I've actually changed my decision on a lamb based on her fleece. Coriander is staying because her fleece is just yummy and I can't bear the thought of not having her sheared next year. Remember girls, I want constructive criticism back on fleece quality!

Front and back of the "Annie" program!

Two shots from "Annie" and a too-short visit from Mom and Dad!

Claire and Kevin, taken after the performance.



Annie singing on the "Bert Healey" show (this is the part that Claire liked the least as she is teetering on a tiny box for this song!)

We've had serious camera problems, but Mom and Dad, driven by my nephew Ged and his girlfriend Amanda, came for an overnight and an Annie performance yesterday. It was wonderful to see everyone (and in particular to meet Amanda!!!). I borrowed Dad's camera to take these.

I'm hopeful that they will be making and selling a DVD of the production since our technology has failed us big time!

"Annie" in the County Weekly News

We Remember

"Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for a friend." John 15:13

To those who gave their lives; we remember you.

From last year's Remembrance Day post:



And one more ... "Soldier Song"

"Enchanted Sleeping Beauty" from last June

My wonderful friend Vic managed to get some video of Claire and Alison last year in their school production. Here they are :-). Claire is Evilina, and Alison plays the spider. I'm not sure how long this will stay up; Claire was not thrilled to be playing a witch, and was fearful of perpetual typecasting as an evil character. Given that she was 12 here, I think she'll be fine, and hopefully I'll be able to upload bits of Annie at some point :-).



And here is a last minute a capella rendition of "Tomorrow" that Claire did for the Talent Show at Mummers Drama Camp this past summer. I'm looking forward to see how she has developed come Saturday :-).

Thus begins the chaos that is "Annie" ...

We attempted a non-permanent dye job yesterday. No go.

Today, I dyed Claire's hair red with permanent dye. It is very, very (NEON) red. It's not my idea of "Annie" red, however the friends I took with me to Pharmaplus (Thanks Vic and Sally!!!) were sure that this was the one. I have the unsettling feeling that it will reflect the stage lights much like a disco ball.

I hope I'm wrong.

I also hope that I find my camera SOON! At the very least, in time for "Annie" and a visit from Mom, Dad, my nephew Ged and his girlfriend :-).

We had a great time at the UCB gala last night, so Kev is officially on vacation for a week. Unfortunately, I'm still homeschooling and working on UCB stuff. He will fill his week with some reading, some TV watching, some church stuff, and some home repair-type projects. Not to mention, dress rehearsals starting tomorrow night and running all week.

Life is busily good :-).

One more You Tube video this morning (thanks, Bev for sending this on)

Obama's Victory Speech, and a Christian university student speaks out

The previous post ...

also explains why it's been SOOO long since I've posted anything. Between creating lesson plans for an unexpected homeschool year, school with Iain during the day, continuing to work for UCB, and all of our other commitments, life is very, very full :-).

Thoughts on education ...

First, let me share this poem that my sixth grader, while in the school system, had to memorize. The kids were put in groups, and they created music for the prose and presented the result in front of their classes.

Homework! Oh, Homework

Homework! Oh, homework!I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you away in the sink,
If only a bomb would explode you to bits.
Homework! Oh, homework, you're giving me fits.

I'd rather take baths with a man-eating shark,
Or wrestle a lion alone in in the dark,
Eat spinach and liver, pet ten porcupines,
Than tackle the homework my teacher assigns.

Homework! Oh, homework! You're last on my list,
I simply can't see why you even exist,
If you just disappeared it would tickle me pink
Homework! Oh, homework! I hate you! You stink!

--Jack Prelutsky

Now, it's not that I'm not a fan of kid poetry. My guys grew up laughing at pretty much everything written by Sid Silverstein, who borders on the irreverent :-). But from the head of a classroom? As an assignment? At the BEGINNING of the school year?

I've been contemplating this post for quite some time. I will not trash the school system. It is fine ... for some exceptionally strong kids. My girls are thriving in school .. however I am grateful they didn't start there. They are wise, and they are discerning, and they put up with the garbage because they love to learn and they have not lost that.

The teachers, however, at our local elementary school, are so interested in getting the kids to be interested in school, that they are dumbing the material down farther and farther. Guess what? It's at best, NOT interesting to the kids, and at worst, completely detrimental to their education (which, face it, is not just about school but maintaining an attitude of curiosity and desire to learn throughout your life).

My son was removed from public school six weeks into grade six. Academics were not the reason he was pulled. However, in the first week of his time at home, I was thanking God we decided to pull him when we did. He had completely lost his interest in discovery and learning. I'm not exactly sure when he morphed into a school-hater, but he sure memorized this poem with gusto. Unfortunately, he strongly identified with it as well. In his class, general consensus is that if you are male, you hate school. Learning is for losers (hello?). And because of his boredom in class, he started to act out and cut up. Sigh. As I've been working with him over the last few weeks, I've been horrified to discover that had reached a point where he just.didn't.care.to.learn!

His reading list from public school was a list of second grade level readers. "Oh, he's reading!" the teachers cheer. But he's not LEARNING when he's not even trying stuff at grade level. This is not the teacher's fault, of course; they are busy with the kids who are not yet reading at all. He became so lazy in this environment.

So he came home. And mom has been pushing this lad. It has been like pulling teeth to get him to do his work, and it hasn't been loads of fun for his teacher. Our three weeks have been filled with comments like "My teacher wouldn't make me do that!" ... "Why should I do that?" ... "You are way too hard on me!" ... or my personal favourite (NOT) "It's not fair". Whether setting up math problems, or picking a reader, or writing cursive, or even typing using homerow vs. the hunt 'n peck method he's been using, his goal has been the bare minimum.

But bright spots are appearing. Last week, he acknowledged that he has become very lazy. Earlier this week, he admitted that the novel I am "FORCING" him to read, "The Gammage Cup", might not be so bad after all. (Note, this is an older fantasy novel with quite complicated language and sentence structure; he started out absolutely refusing to read it. And the novel study will be serious and significant work!)

And today, oh glorious day, something magnificent happened.

I assigned Iain a project on Canadians in space. Basically taken from the Ontario curriculum, I outlined a project studying several Canadian astronauts, astronomers, and industries involved in the Space program. It was boring. Black and white print. Lists of questions that were going to involve paragraph answers. I was expecting a lot of flack. Today, he looked at it, read a few lines and said, "Wow! This looks really interesting!" then spent about 45 minutes researching new Canadian space developments. He was excited to discover a recent invention called Dextre, and now wants to do a field trip to St. Hubert, PQ to visit the company that designed it! Well, perhaps we'll make a trip to the observatory at Queen's instead, dear :-).

There is hope. And I'll hold on to this moment when it seems like we've back-pedalled again :-). And with God's help, we'll continue on our journey from "learning s*cks" to "learning rocks"!