Bean Mommy and the Three Beans

It's Facebook's fault, really

2010-07-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I haven't been writing much is because, whenever an idea ocurrs to me, I take the lazy way out and just quickly post a sentence or two on Facebook.

So today I will write a blog post the includes the posts I've made on Facebook lately, and/or the things I thought about posting on Facebook.

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We've been watching the "Sesame Street Old School" videos with the original 1970's shows. There is actual a warning/disclaimer before it begins saying, "These shows are intended for adult audiences. They may not meet the needs of today's preschooler." WTF?

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Last night Rachael didn't want to her dinner of "Eggplant Divine." I told her wouldn't get any dessert if she didn't finish it. She didn't care.
Then I told her she couldn't work on her dance routines that evening unless she finished it. She ate it right up!

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I got the mail this morning and couldn't understand why I was getting promotional materials for myself. It turned out to be a newsletter from a fundraiser I played for gratis half a year ago. Nice and big, and on the front, it said, "Need a piano player for your next event? Contact Jennifer ____. She supports _____." Wow! A couple hundred people must have received that in the mail! Playing for free sure paid off!

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Taking the girls to see "The Music Man" tonight.

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I'm tired from hosting the girls' "Splash Bash Party" today.

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I finally saw my first episode of "Glee." More, please.

A post about laundry! Could it GET any duller?

2010-07-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

If there were any lingering doubt that my life (and this blog) was fairly boring and mundane, this pretty much cinches it:

I'm writing a blog post about laundry. Yup. It's come to that.

However, as boring and pathetic as that sounds, my recent "laundry plan of attack" really has made life smoother and easier, so it seemed worth sharing.

Until recently, I would continually do laundry, and it was a continual pain. Plus, it had a habit of remaining "half-done": for example, some of the clean clothes would remain in the laundry room because "I'll just bring it up tomorrow with the next load." So it seemed like I was always sorting, always washing, and always having both clean and dirty laundry in various parts of the house.

Well, here's what I do now:
1) On Thursday morning, as soon as my feet hit the floor, I strip the sheets off the bed. I put them in the wash either right before or after my shower, before I get dressed. (I don't want to risk getting a drop of bleach on my clothes, ever, as I had a childhood trauma regarding bleach, which you can read about here.)

2) Later that day on Thursday, I wash all the towels and put them back on the rack, and of course I also put the clean sheets back on.

3) On Thursday evening, usually when the kids are taking their baths, I haul the laundry basket of clothes downstairs. I sort everything (which I find oddly enjoyable) and start a load of jeans. (Jeans are quick and easy to do in the evening, because there's not much to it, and there's all the same.)

4) When the jeans are done (usually right before I go to bed), I fold them and dump in the load of darks and put it on "delay" so it will start washing at about 6 am.

5) On Friday morning, before I get dressed (the bleach thing again), I move the darks to the dryer and dump in the whites.

6) When these are done, the girls put away all the kids' clothes. They also sort and put away all underwear and socks. I put away remaining things. This is usually done by around lunchtime.

7) This leaves the delicates, which is usually a fairly small load, and mostly my stuff. I might squeeze that in on Friday as well, but otherwise I throw them in some other morning, and it's no big deal.

So, wow. That sounds like a lot. BUT it is a lot easier, to me, to do it all at once and not have to worry about it the other days.

One thing I like is that now, when I see the laundry piling up, it doesn't stress me out or piss me off. I just think, "Yup, that'll all get taken care of on Friday," and I go on with my life.

Letting go of the stuff

2010-06-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

You won't be surprised to hear that I saw someone today who told me they "always read my blog." So, as usual, that inspired me to come back.

Why? I think it's because I don't feel like writing unless I believe someone cares. Otherwise, it just feels narcissistic and self-absorbed.

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We had a charity pick-up today. It was at least five bags of toys and clothes, plus a regular stroller, double stroller, potty seat, and more.

And that's not all: Last month I was able to pass some things along to other families in town. Mostly big things: the air hockey table, the indoor plastic slide, the dollhouse, the car garage, the leap pad cartridges. That was fun because I think the girls enjoyed actually seeing the kids who were inheriting their toys. (However, I did not trust Benjamin to feel the same way, and managed to do most of this without him seeing it.)

It felt great to be cleaning out. And, amazingly, our house feels far from empty. But it was also bittersweet.

This morning, as I hauled everything out, I thought of all the times I took the girls to the library or Target in the double stroller. I used that stroller a lot. But I have no one to put in it now. My two smallest kids are four and seven.

I remembered when my health was not so good, and how many afternoons I set up a three year old Rebecca on the floor next to my bed with the little toy barn while I lay in bed and hoped I could somehow gather the energy just to finish getting through the day.

I thought of the year we opened all the Christmas gifts in January because Rachael had been in the PICU for weeks.

And I saw some of the toys that people brought Rachael after she finally came home from the hospital, when she was on medication and had a PICC-line in her arm, and was basically house-bound for a few weeks.

I remembered how my kids never actually wanted to "play" Candy Land, but rather just wanted to me to read them the story on the box, then pretend that their pieces were running to Candy Land and eating all the candy.

I remembered how Rebecca came to me at about 3:00 am on Christmas morning -- a different Christmas -- and said, "Santa put a dollhouse next to the tree!" and then climbed in bed next to me and fell asleep.

So. It was good to let go. But it was hard to let go.

Weddings -- the good, the bad, and the lovely

2010-05-22T17:34:00.000-07:00

Someone had casually suggested that I write a book about my various piano jobs and adventures. While I'm flattered, I can't imagine there are many people who would want to read such a book.

But I figured it'd be worth posting a few things here.

Last night I played for my first wedding of 2010. It was in one of those huge Baptist churches, with tile flooring and a shiny baby grand piano up on a stage, and great acoustics.

I enjoy playing for wedding because:
1) Well, who wouldn't like it? You get to see fancy hair-dos and pretty dresses, and you feel the energy and excitement from everybody involved. I'm reminded of details from our wedding that I don't think of often -- like how we had a hard time getting that Unity candle lit, and the pastor made a little joke about it.

2) I really enjoy playing the 30 minute prelude music before the ceremony begins. This is the best of all worlds to me. People aren't sitting in silence staring at me, but they aren't as noisy and oblivious as they are at a restaurant or party, either. I can really sense that I'm setting a mood, and I like that.

I don't enjoy playing for weddings because:
1) Well, they make me a nervous wreck. I have no doubt it will become easier after I do it a few more times. (Don't tell anyone, but this is only my eighth wedding.) But you have to watch the door and the aisle out of the corner or your eye while playing, and expect to end a song or switch songs on about two seconds' notice.

Last night, for example, I was supposed to watch for the wedding coordinator to stand in a certain doorway to cue that I was ready to stop playing prelude music and begin the first ceremony piece. This supposed to happen at about two minutes til six.

At six o'clock, I still did not see her. I took the repeat again, and hoped I wasn't somehow doing something wrong.

After taking the repeat again, I realized I was going to have to play something else. I switched to another piece, still frantically keeping one eye on the door (which is a bit tricky to do).

Still nothing when that piece was over.

This continued until she suddenly appeared in the doorway at 6:10 pm!

It turned out that Someone Important was late, and they had to stall to wait for them.

Things like that are good, though. Assuming I pull it off well, it adds a point or two of Appreciation.

And after I get eight more weddings under my belt, I probably won't think a thing of it.

Why it's Cool to be a Piano Girl

2010-05-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I played at a nice restaurant downtown. It was my first time there. I'm scheduled to go back again twice in late June. If you know me personally and live in town, ask me and I'll tell you when and where.

My non-musician friends (which is most everyone) sometimes ask me how I get these jobs. In this case, a booking agent saw one of my web listings and called me -- which is sort of interesting, if you think about it. He's never met me, never heard me play, and didn't have a referral. Just found me on the web, called me, and hired me. I guess he was first dazzled by my photo and then completely won over by my professional Phone Voice, ha ha!

And that's just fine with me.

Someone else asked me if I get nervous. Actually, I was nervous about finding the place, getting stuck in traffic, and figuring out how to get from the parking garage through the bridge walkway to the actual restaurant.

But nervous about playing? No. And the reason is simple: No one is really listening to me or looking at me. And that's just the way I like it. It's kinda like playing at home, but more fun, and I get paid.

Now here's what's so cool about being the Piano Girl at a restaurant:

It's kind of an alter ego thing. It's a Slightly Different Me when I go out to a job.

In my real life, we go out to eat at the IHOP five minutes from home, when kids eat free, and get an extra plate for sharing. I go to places like Publix and the library and the doctor. I wear casual (although hopefully attractive) clothes.

In my real life:

I do NOT go downtown.
I do NOT eat at nice restaurants.
I do NOT get free valet parking.
I do NOT wear floor-length dresses and high heels.
I do NOT use rest-rooms with lit candles, cloth towels, and hand lotion.
I do NOT have people in uniforms bring me bottles of water and offer me free food.
I do NOT have strangers slip me twenty dollar bills. (Well, that only happened once, actually.)

It's Different. And it's Cool.

The other thing that's cool (and this is kind of along the same lines) is that most people I know in my Real Life don't do this.

So they're impressed. [Sometimes.] They might ask: How did you get that job? What's it like at the Ritz? Did you get any tips? What songs do you play? What do you wear? Do you get nervous?

And that makes me feel Special. And Interesting.

And I like that.

The Obligatory "Homeschool Schedule" Post

2010-05-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that most homeschoolers love to see other homeschoolers' daily schedules. So, at the risk of boring Everybody Else, I'll entertain my fellow homeschoolers (hopefully) with our schedule.

Here's what we usually did this past school year. If you don't already know, Rachael just turned nine, Rebecca just turned seven, and Benjamin will be four next week.

Community Bible Study homework. (15-20 minutes) The four of us are all in a weekly Bible Study, and this is the first year Rachael has homework. (Next year, Rebecca will have the same assignments as well.) We do it together at the kitchen table: I read the scripture, Rachael reads aloud the questions and we answer them together, and often Rebecca colors. Benjamin used to sit at the table with us with a toy, but then after a while he started announcing he was going in his room as soon as we began, which was just fine with me.

Math-U-See video lesson (4-7 minutes, once a week) This only happens when we start a new lesson, which is usually once a week. We usually all watch this on the couch. I know it sounds stupid to have to watch a video teaching how to add, but the video teacher is really likeable and funny, and believe it or not, he presents things in ways I've never heard of before.

Rachael one-on-one time (35-40 minutes) During this time, Rebecca would go play with Benjamin in his room. What I did with Rachael at this time has evolved over the months, but currently we do Writing With Ease (narration, copywork, and dictation), First Language Lessons (mostly grammar and poem memorization), All About Spelling, and a few minutes doing math together just to see if she has questions, and possibly to work on word problems together.

Rebecca one-on-one time (30 minutes) Rachael takes Benjamin down to the playroom. I've been very relaxed with Becca's schoolwork this year. We just started Writing With Ease, which she loves. She went through the Alpha Math-U-See book in about 4-5 months, so we casually do Beta and some supplementary stuff. She likes phonics games, which reminds me that I haven't done that with her lately. Today she read out loud to me. It just varies.

Rachael Alone Time (20-30 minutes) Technically, I would play with Benjamin, although often this was a struggle for me, and often I would spend a big part of this time moving laundry and checking my e-mails.
It's a little hard for me to play alone with him because he doesn't like to do things that I can handle, like coloring or doing a puzzle together -- instead, he wants to play with his cars, or some sort of game where I chase him or something, and frankly, I'm too old and grumpy for that. But often we played with various Discovery Toys, or Leap Pad, or sometimes I just read to him. Meanwhile, Rachael did her math and cursive writing practice (although right now she's doing Explode the Code Book 6 because I think she needs the spelling practice). Rebecca would either join me and Benjamin or, more likely, occupy herself somehow.

Snack/Five in a Row (45 minutes) This was my solution to kids wanting a snack, but me feeling like that was a big time-waster that made it hard for everyone to get back on track. We have the snack on the couch while we read a book from our current unit study, usually with Five in a Row. (Right now, however, we are studying the colonial times/Revolutionary War, and reading different biographies by Jean Fritz.) Benjamin will sit through most of the book until he's done eating. Then he soon gets wiggly, and either I send him to his room to go play or he dismisses himself. Usually, after the reading, we work on something for the girls' notebook. For example, after we read If You Lived in Colonial Times, they had to write down and illustrate four things they remembered from the book.

Around this time I start fixing lunch. Once we have lunch, it varies greatly, depending on what day it is, what else is going on, what mood we're in, and what the weather is like.

In mid-afternoon, when I read to Benjamin at his nap time, the girls are each supposed to go have silent reading. Rachael recently finished Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg and Cam Jansen and the Chocolate Fudge Mystery. Rebecca really enjoys the "Rookie Reader" series and reads them over and over again.

And that's what we do. In August things will change considerably, but I'll save that for another post.

The Wizard of Oz!

2010-04-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

One of the neat things about doing musical theatre is how much my kids get out of it.

Last week I was in three performances of "The Wizard of Oz" at a local high school. I played the piano, along with 8-9 other musicians in a mini-orchestra.

Rebecca simply demanded to come to the last rehearsal. (I think it was because she was missing me a lot.) It was a four-hour rehearsal (with a half hour pizza break), but she sat through the whole thing and had a wonderful time.

Danielle, the lovely young woman who played Glinda the Good Witch, gave Rebecca a tour backstage, let her wear the crown and carry the wand and carry the wand, put makeup on her, and even let her sing into the mic for a moment. Rebecca was absolutely in heaven.

Rebecca also made a "Flying Monkey Friend" who she liked a lot.

Rachael made about six cards for me to bring to the lead actors for the opening night show, wishing them luck. Even was a little different and related to the character they played.

The show was very good, despite a lot of outside factors working against it, which shows how amazing the people involved were. The kids were masters art the art of ad libbing; for example when a piece of scenery crashed over during one performance, and when the Tin Man's pants tore in another performance.

Also, the costumes and sets were amazing. They actually had a house that rocked and spun during the tornado sequence (not that I could see it, since I was playing and had my back to the stage.)

Now I have a total of three musicals for my resume -- Annie Jr, Godspell, and The Wizard of Oz.
And hopefully there will be many more in the future!

STILL looking for a good movie ...

2010-04-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

When Robert and the girls went out of town a couple weeks ago (which will hopefully be the subject of a future post), I asked on-line about a fun movie to watch alone after I put Benjamin to bed. My only stipulation was that it not be too heavy or deep. In other words, I wasn't in the mood for Schindler's List.

It took me a while to get the movies from the library and finally get around to watching them all, and I am sorry to say that I didn't really like any of the three I got:

Under the Tuscan Sun was the first one I saw, and the only one I actually watched while everybody was away. I considered turning it off halfway through because it dawned on me that I was bored and didn't care about this woman and her house. I stuck it out, though. Eh.

In my usual style, I got on-line and read reviews after I watched it (in a way, I enjoy that more than watching the movie itself; kinda like a virtual film discussion).

I liked the movie even less when I realized the changes they made to the original book. Apparently the book was about a woman fixing up a home with her husband or boyfriend or something. The movie was about her feeling distraught and victimized when her husband left her for someone else, and her fixing up the house on her own, and it added a fictitious pregnant lesbian character who, like the main character, suddenly shows up in Tuscany to live indefinitely, with never any talk of a job or a Visa.

I was particularly looking forward to seeing Julie and Julia.

Until I popped it in and realized it was a Nora Ephron film.

Strange, since one of my very favorite movies ever, When Harry Met Sally, was a Nora Ephron film. But I have not liked anything else she has done, and yes, that includes Sleepless in Seattle.

I did like this one slightly better than Under the Tuscan Sun. I could relate to the idea of cooking being a "challenge," and I liked Meryl Streep's portrayal of Julia Child. But ... well, the story just seemed to go nowhere. It felt like it was a movie that was supposed to be deep or thought-provoking or inspiring, but most certainly was not any of those things. And how dumb was it to throw in at the end of the movie, "Julia Child hated her!" without in any way exploring or explaining why?

My final movie was last night -- The Devil Wears Prada. I didn't know much about it, but someone recommended it, and I expected and hoped it was be a scathing and clever satire -- or at least witty.

Nope.

Again, Meryl Streep was the best thing about this movie. (And it truly is pure coincidence that two of the movies I got had both Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci in them.)

But again, there wasn't much of a story. Rather then being clever or biting, it was very lightweight. Again, I was bored, especially by any scenes involving the boyfriend or the other guy she was with for a while. (Notice I don't remember the names of either of them.)

Wow.

Am I harder to please than most people? All of the movies were recommended to me. Yes, I said I didn't want anything heavy. But does "light" have to mean boring and pointless?

Well, at least I enjoyed reading all the reviews when I was done ...

Mock Slumber Party

2010-04-19T15:17:00.001-07:00

Every now and then I do something smart, and one of those was combining the girls' birthday parties this year. (Their birthdays are less than a month apart. Rachael turned nine, and Rebecca turned seven.)

They really wanted a slumber party, and fortunately my friend Heather gave me the idea for a "Mock Slumber Party": They come in PJs and bring pillows and slumber bags and stuffed animals. They eat pizza and do their nails and tell stories.

Then at 9:30 pm everybody goes home and goes to bed.
Yay.

So that's what we did.

Here's the gang, soon after they all arrived. Notice Lammie is in her nightgown as well.

Here's everyone having pizza. The girls set up the table themselves, including making the little candle centerpiece.

Robert took Benjamin shopping for trucks when the party began. When Benjamin came back, he happily sat in the roped-off side of the playroom and enjoyed his pizza.

I really think the main reason the girls wanted a slumber party was so they could have pillow fights.

Yup. I'm pretty sure that was the reason.

Parenting: Three alternatives to "No"

2010-04-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

Whenever I feel unmotivated to blog for a long time, it usually "reader demand" that gets me to come back.

I recently received an e-mail that said, among other things:

I follow your blog and LOVE reading your posts and really like your outlook on parenting.

Well, thank you Niki.

Because of you, I am now back, and this post is just for you.

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I recently heard good things about Barbara Coloroso's book Kids Are Worth It! and I got a copy from the library ILL (which means I didn't get to keep it for too long. God forbid I should actually buy it, you know.)

I didn't finish it in time, but there was a lot I liked. As you may know, I have never liked the idea of "traditional punishment" (for example, I never ever gave a detention when I worked in the public schools), but I often have a hard time finding a suitable alternative. This book seemed to suit my style -- or attempted style, anyway.

Here are Barbara Coloroso's
Three Alternatives to No.

1) "Yes, later."
I've been using this a lot. I even told the kids about it! I like this better than either barking, "Not now!" or "Not until whatever!" at them. She makes a sort of funny point about this too: If for some reason you change your mind or "give in" after two minutes, you still didn't lie or waffle on them. It is later. Two minutes later.

2) "Give a minute."
I looove this one.

I don't know about you, but kids often ask me something while I'm on the phone, someone(s) is screaming about something, and/or I'm trying to get food on the table. I have a tendency to simply snap, "NO!" because I can't deal with it, and frankly I just want them to shut up. I like this a lot better.

She points out that if a kid insists they need to know now, you should say, "If you need an answer right now, it's No. Otherwise, give me a minute to think about it.

3) "Convince me."
I haven't used this one yet. She says it's more useful with older kids. I do like the idea of putting the burden back on the kids.

Okay, now I'm back in the groove. More posts to come this week ...

Dear Soloist -- From the Accompanist

2010-03-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

I discovered a new Facebook page yesterday called "People for the Ethical Treatment of Accompanists."

Oh my gosh. I love that name.

Someone posted something that they got from someone who got it from somewhere else, and I thought I'd post it here. It might not mean much to my usual audience (although I encourage you to read it anyway; it's funny), but maybe other accompanists out there will stumble upon it through some sort of Google search.

Oh yes, and please do note the section stating that we are now called "Collaborative Artists," and not Accompanists. Very Cool.

Here we go. Again, I am not the author of this:

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A LETTER FROM THE ACCOMPANIST

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is not my intention to be rude, offensive or ugly. On the
contrary, I simply would like to take this opportunity to
express my concerns for your future well-being.

Where do I begin? Ah, yes. If you are responsible, you will
not have to resort to destroying friendships in order to
have an accompanist for juries. This is something you should
have thought about before midterms. It is not my obligation
as a pianist or your friend to accept any amount of music
after the first month of a semester. This includes
desperately and pathetically imploring me to learn your
music two hours before your jury. I will not name names, but
you know who you are.

If you so choose to employ me as your accompanist, better
yet, if I agree to be your accompanist, there are a few
things to keep in mind:

1) If it takes you a semester to perfect your piece, it will
take me the same amount of time. Therefore, if you want it
to be exceptional (like Jan Grimes), then provide me with a
copy of the score months in advance. If you don't care what
it sounds like, or if you just suck as a musician in general
, then don't ask me to do it; my performance will reflect on
you, and more importantly, yours will reflect on me. So if
you suck don't even bother asking.

2) Submitting your music to me does not mean that I am
forevermore bonded into unconditional slavery. I am a kind
person, but pulling me aside in the School of Music lobby,
practice room, stairwell, or lavatory and asking me to sight
read your **** is just unacceptable. I am more than happy
and willing to set aside numerous practice times at your
convenience. But do not take advantage of me. Other
accompanists may not be so accommodating. Oh, and for your
411, the job title is no longer "Piano Accompanist." It is
"Collaborative Artist." It just sounds better, so get used
to it.

3) In your scheduled practice times, or at any time that you
are requiring me to exercise my sight-reading ability,
please understand that I am human, not a machine. Contrary
to popular belief, I cannot sight-read perfectly. I will
probably miss many notes. If you cannot even manage one note
at a time, chances are I cannot sight-read flawlessly twelve
notes to every one of yours. Notes do not instantaneously
register in my brain through osmosis, travel down my arm,
into my fingers, and play themselves upon your command. If I
make a mistake, deal with it. You make mistakes, too (and
worse).

4) Furthermore, practice sessions are not a time for me to
help you learn your part. Being a music major at LSU should
mean that you can read music on your own. Learn your part
before rehearsing with me. Please. = )

5) Do not EVER turn around and snap your finger at me to
change tempo. I will follow your tempo. It is not my
responsibility to make sure that you don't slow down. If you
slow down, I will simply follow you and let you suffocate. I
will not push the tempo. That's your job. If you are
egotistical enough to think that you can be my metronome,
stick your head in the commode and flush it.

6) One thing to keep in mind is that I am a music major just
like yourself and I have my own personal repertoire to
practice. My music comes first, just like yours comes first
for you. Everyone seems to expect 200% from me, which is
just plain dumb. I will do my best, which is more than most
accompanists will do for you. So be appreciative.

7) All of you are aware of how few accompanists there are
available. Just for your information, there are five
undergraduate pianists at LSU. If you continue to treat us
in the same manner, you can expect things to get worse, not
better. So be nice. Otherwise, get used to singing by
yourself.

8) One last note, I am a poor college student. I am not
doing this for ****s and giggles, but because I need the
money. Even though we are friends, I need to keep this part
of my life as business. Please respect this, and do not
expect free favors, or ask for them. If I were a millionaire
and had nothing but time on my hands, I would be more than
happy to extend my accompanying services to you free of
charge at anytime. This is not the case, however. So I need
you to treat this as you would any business. Such is life.

I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for
taking time out of your busy life to read this short note. I
sincerely hope that you will heed my advice so that you will
not end up missing fingers like Mr. Mozart in the lobby. I
love you all dearly, and hope we can all work together to
make the School of Music an environment of true harmony.
Have a blessed day!

Your humble servant-only not,
The pianist.

Another movie night update

2010-03-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't written about movie night lately, so I figured I can do another post on that.

The kids never get tired of the movies, but they do tire of the pizza. Often Rebecca tells me she doesn't like my pizza. (Although I can't quite figure out why.) One night I made apple/brie/apricot jam quesedillas, which was a hit which I should actually do again (although it's sticky).

The last few times I ordered a pizza, which was fun at first, but then the fun wore off. That should be reserved for once about every 2-3 months.

Anyway, as far as the movies themselves, here are some that were hits:

Before Christmas, we saw Home Alone. I hadn't seen it since it originally came out, and was expecting to groan through the whole thing. But it wasn't too bad. My favorite part was the sub-plot with the neighbor (the guy that used to be on Northern Exposure). Also, as a parent, it struck me how incredibly rude the kids were to each other at the beginning of the movie. I don't think my kids ever talk to each other like that.

The girls, of course, loved it, especially the end sequence, and especially Rachael.

Rebecca (not surprisingly, when you think about it) really liked Fly Away Home. I know this got great reviews, and I did like the first 30 minutes or so, but I wouldn't really say I was a fan of this one. I got bored with it, and was a little relieved when Benjamin needed me to put him to bed.

Recently we saw No Deposit, No Return, another one of those "Disney 70's family movies." It was pretty fun in a goofy kind of way. (Yes, that is the Dad from A Christmas Story.) All three kids loved it, especially the girls. At one point Rachael laughed so hard so fell right off the couch.

Seeing Kim Richards reminded me that we still hadn't seen ...

... Return to Witch Mountain.

This got some horrible reviews, but it wasn't all that bad. It was more action-packed, and darker, than the first movie. Rebecca said she liked this one better. I did not. After giving it some thought, I realized the movie's main flaws were the fact that a) Tony and Tia were separated for almost the entire movie; and b) That "gang" that befriended Tia ... what the heck was that all about?

I'm going to continue to pursue this 70's theme. I think we will watch The Apple Dumpling Gang (which I think I saw, but don't remember a thing about) this Friday.

What we're all reading right now

2010-03-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

On some level, I think a main motivation for me to homeschool was that we would hopefully have more time to read.

THE GIRLS
I was a big fan of Beverly Cleary when I was a kid, and right now I'm enjoying them again by reading several of the Henry books to the girls. Beverly Cleary always made me think of Ramona, and I didn't realize that there were many books where Ramona was a very remote, secondary character.

BENJAMIN
Benjamin has been on an almost ridiculous Richard Scarry kick. We read one of these to him at least twice a day, every day. It's interesting how darn ... well, preachy these books are! Yet they are so loved. I don't know if the lesson is that little kids like the preachiness, or just that that the funny characters and pictures override it.

ME
These days it takes me forever to get through a novel, if I attempt it at all. I was amazed when my mother loaned me The Help (which I had never heard of and thought I would probably hate) and I slurped it up in less than two months.

It's interesting, thought ... I loved reading The Help. However, I would not say that it was an exceptionally good book. I noticed some reviews compared it to Harper Lee. Um, no.

So now I've started slowing tackling A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

I like this book, but it's a little hard to read because it's so sad. It reminds me a little of The Grapes of Wrath, except for the fact that I actually like it.

Since I always have to be reading more than one thing at once (and I always need non-fiction because it's easier to skim), I'm also reading a fairly new book called Simplicity Parenting.

This is one of those books where it's like, "Yeah, I know, I do try to do this, but I could use the reminder." It talks about purging a lot of the toy and book clutter from the kids' rooms, so their play can be more focused and creative. Having mealtime rituals. He even recommends no TV in the house if your kids are younger than seven. (Which I don't and won't do, but I can appreciate the sentiment.)

ROBERT
Robert hasn't "read" in the traditional sense for years, but he does listen to a lot of audio books during his commute. He's been working hard, on and off, for years, writing "Rachael's Hospital Story," and is listening to this to help him best edit it:

Alice is making a comeback

2010-02-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

You maybe remember that Rachael was a big fan of Alice in Wonderland 2-3 years ago, as you can see here and here. She was often wearing blue dresses and acting out parts of the story. We saw two different Alice plays.

Then nothing for a long time. I wondered if she even remembered how much she had liked it.

Well, we recently went to the movie to see The Squeakquel [help me] and saw the poster for the new Alice in Wonderland movie. (Although we will probably not be seeing that one.)

So I guess maybe that reminded her, because she recently started reading my hardback copy of Alice in Wonderland -- YES, the one that my friend Kim gave me for my eleventh birthday after we had both been "cards" in our fifth grade musical version. This is the first "classic" sort of book Rachael's read by herself.

She also asked to watch this 70's musical movie version we got a couple years ago. We're watching it right now. It's full of "70's stars" -- Sammy Davis Jr as the catterpillar, Red Buttons as the White Rabbit, Imogene Coca (who I remember as "Aunt Jenny" from the Brady Bunch, ha!) as the Cook Martha Raye ("the denture woman") as the Duchess, Scott Baio as ... um .... somebody.

So it's kind of neat to see this interest sprout up again. And it's neat to see how much she's changed and grown since the last time she was into it.

It's a musician's life ...

2010-02-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

Obviously, one downside to being a musician is the unpredictability.

Here's how things had been going for me lately:

In September I was hired to play for a five-show running of Godspell, started learning the music and going to rehearsals.
In October were the actual performances.
In November, due to popular demand, we performed a second run in another theater in town.
In December I made $1800 playing at Christmas parties and concerts.

And in January, I had nothing.

This was actually Good. I caught my breath. I recorded a demo CD and mailed it out to several catering directors and wedding planners. I read a novel. I made an Unofficial Goal in head that, once I made $1,000 in 2010, I would buy myself a Kindle.

But now ... it's mid-February. I haven't played anywhere since Christmas, and I am starting to get antsy.

I actually am playing somewhere in a few weeks -- gratis. I won't write too many of the details here, because this is a personal blog and my full name is on the event's website. But let's just say it's a charity fundraiser at the Ritz-Carlton, and I'm playing background music for cocktail hour and dinner.

Am I foolish to be playing for free in exchange for my name being on the website and programs? I guess only time will tell. I'll be sure to report back.

A turn in the tide ...

2010-02-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

Two little things have happened recently that are Big Deals.

First, about a month ago we convinced Benjamin that wearing underwear wasn't such a bad thing, and now is using the potty regularly, not just when he's home and naked. (He wears diapers at night only.) This is really nice. I'm sure we are saving money every month, too.

Second, a couple weeks ago he started buckling and unbuckling his car seat by himself.

This is really striking, if you think about it. For over eight and a half years now, I've been buckling one (or more!) kids. Now that's over. Forever.

So that's really something.

Another annual trip to Scottish Rite

2010-01-26T12:07:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that our oldest daughter Rachael was an inch from death for about three weeks in December 2005/January 2006. She was in the ICU at Scottish Rite with a sudden and severe case of a rare blood disease called Hemolytic Anemia.

Many of you also know that 1) She is completely back to normal now; and 2) Every year in January we go back to visit the ICU, to bring lunch and talk with other families in the waiting room.

We went a few weeks ago, and here are the latest photos.

This is Rachael and Rebecca in the hallway between the actual PICU and the PICU waiting room. The big doors behind them lead to the "sleep room," where we spent many nights -- and, often, parts of the day, because we were up half the night.

This is the ICU, taken from the hallway. Her old room was the glass doors looking straight ahead.

I don't have much to say about this other than what I've already said here and here. So please go read those as well.

World of Coca-Cola trip

2010-01-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

About a week ago I decided we needed to break out of our routine and do something fun and different.

When you're homeschooling, the term used for that is a "Field Trip."

The local children's museum was having a Curious George exhibit, and we decided to go first thing Friday morning.

I printed out directions. I packed a lunch. I got the kids excited.

Then on Friday morning, Robert said, "I just realized ... it's flu season ... the children's musuem is going to be a huge germfest. I don't think you should go."

And so much sobbing and shrieking and sulking and angry faces were heard and seen over breakfast.

However, I had a Good Mom Moment, and was able to think on my feet and come up with a Plan B:

We would visit the World of Coca-Cola Museum.

Even better -- we would ride MARTA to get there!

It turned out to be quite fun. Embarrassingly, I have only ridden MARTA once or twice before, and I rarely go downtown, so it was an experience for me as well. We arrived at one station, and then went home via a different station, so we got to pretend we were City People and did a fair amount of walking. We ate our lunch in the Olympic Park, near the fountain. It was fun.

Oh yeah, and then there was the Coke Museum ...

It was not bad. The kids enjoyed things like seeing the Coke Bear, the 4-D movie (well, it scared Benjamin, but the girls liked it), and the gift shop ... oh, and of course tasting all the different Cokes.

My favorite part (what a surprise) was watching all the commercials. Rebecca eventually -- and literally -- dragged me out of there.

And when flu season is over, we'll make plans to go to the children's museum.

Coupon Code for The Six O'Clock Scramble

2009-12-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

I've already written in detail about The Six O'Clock Scramble here and here.

In about twenty minutes we're going to head to the grocery store and get ingredients for this week's meal plan, which includes Baked Flounder with Fruit Kabobs; Crunchy Chicken Fingers with Carrots and Dip; and Rigatoni with Tomato-Artichoke Sauce.

I just realized, however that if you subscribe to Six O'Clock Scramble and use coupon code GLJEN10773, you get $3 off your subscription. (And, I believe I get a free month added to my subscription.)

All the more reason to try it!

Benjamin, the red-nosed Tigger

2009-12-15T12:09:00.001-08:00

The girls were putting on one of their shows, and made red noses for themselves while singing "Rudolph."

When they were done, Rebecca put the red nose on Benjamin, and Robert was smart enough to go get the camera.

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Sleeping kids

2009-12-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Robert and I went to a Christmas Party with people from Robert's office. We were out til about midnight, which is late for us!

When we got home, Robert went into the kids' bedrooms and took pictures of them.

Here's Rebecca, fast asleep ...

... and a sleeping Rachael ....

... and here's ... well, Benjamin not sleeping!

Homemade igloos

2009-12-14T11:18:00.000-08:00

Remember when I said my goal was to do something "hands on" for every Five in a Row unit we do?

Well, we are just finished up The Very Last First Time, about an Inuit girl in the Arctic, and we made igloos!

Here's 6 year old Rebecca starting hers ...

This was pretty cool in its simplicity. We used those "Magic Nuudles," I think they're called. If I had planned ahead or was more of a packrat, we could have used regular packing peanuts. All you do is press each one against a wet paper towel, and then they stick together.

Even three year old Benjamin got in on it (although he had trouble making an actual igloo).

Here's 8 year old Rachael working intently ...

And the girls with their finished products!

Popcorn Letters!

2009-12-14T10:15:00.001-08:00

Both girls have been enjoying doing some activities from a book I got called Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye.

Most of them are pencil and paper activities. For example, Rebecca likes doing one called "A Race of Words," where you have a category and she and I each make our own list, and then compare the two lists when we're finished. (The scoring works so that she will almost always win.)

When the list was "Things You See at Christmastime," Rebecca wrote:

SNOW
TREY
MAGR
GESUS
AGL
HRMONICA

When I asked her about the last one, she said, "Harmonica ... you know, what the Jewish people have."

Anyway, today we did something a little different and made "Popcorn Letters." Rebecca liked this a lot.

First I had her write the letters and numbers on a piece of paper. Then I circled the ones that she wrote backwards and wrote them on a piece of construction paper. She put glue on the letter, then popcorn.

She made both letters ...

... and numbers ...

Update on the Six O'Clock Scramble

2009-12-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

You may remember me raving about a website I recently discovered called The Six O'Clock Scramble.

Well, I wanted to let you know that I'm still enjoying it quite a bit.

Today we had a meal that all five of us enjoyed (which is very, very rare): Spaghetti Carbonara, which is spaghetti cooked with bacon and eggs, believe it or not.

One possibly downside of sorts is that going grocery shopping is a little more challenging for me these days. Every week I have to ask the Publix workers something: What is Quinoa? Where are the pomegranates? Where do I find bags of sun-dried tomoatoes? What is ginger root, and how do I buy an inch of it?

But we are eating so well!

We had Ginger Shrimp Stir-Fry with rice and oranges yesterday. Tacos del Mar (seafood tacos) with homemade guacamole earlier this week.
Hot Dog Creole with Red Peppers, and Green Bean Almondine on the side.
Cheesy Spinach Strata, served with pineapple and homemade hash browns.

Maybe this is just proof that I have a really dull life, but every day I get kind of excited about what's going to be for dinner next.

A friend recently said to me, "The hardest thing about homeschooling is having to feed everybody all the time!" No kidding. These days I just slide some leftovers into the oven at lunchtime.

Check it out.

Simple Machine Experiments

2009-12-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to make a point to include at least one hands-on activity with every Five in a Row unit we do.

For example, when we did How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, we baked ... well, actually we baked apple crisp. Mostly because Robert loves apple crisp, but does not like apple pie.

And then when we did Madeline, the girls made an Eiffel Tower out of Legos.

Well, a couple weeks ago we did a book called Who Owns the Sun?

What was really cool about this book is that it was written and illustrated by a fourteen year old girl -- m0re specifically, it was written by a fourteen year girl who was attending my high school at the time. [My first one, in Pittsburgh.]

I looked her up and dropped her an e-mail. She is about 3-4 years younger then me. She also attended my middle school, and from what she described, it sounds like she lived about a 20-minute walk from my house.

And interestingly, she has an older brother -- who is a year younger than me -- who is on Wiki as "an American novelist."

And I thought I was cool because I won a couple writing contests when I was a teenager. Um, no.

Anyway, back to the hands-on activities before I get too depressed.

One of the FIAR topics for this book is simple machines, so the girls and I did some of the interactive games on this site.

We also did some Simple Machines experiments.

They dropped at egg into a pan to see if it would crack ...
(this probably would have been more effective with raw eggs, but everyone wanted to eat them afterwards)

... and then dropped it from the same height using a inclined plane.

They arranged blocks on a lever and saw how the balancing changed if they moved the fulcrum.

And they saw how lifting something with a lever ...

... was easier than lifting something without it.

Kids who "look like they're homeschooled"

2009-12-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

Rachael, age 8, joined a community children's choir this fall, and her first concert is this weekend.

When we came home from rehearsal tonight, I was asking her a little bit about it, and if she gets a chance to talk with the other kids, etc.

I said (among other things), "Do you know if any of the other kids are homeschooled?"

She said, "Yes, I think so." Pause. "There are a couple who look like they are homeschooled."

My ears perked up. [Since homeschooling "didn't exist" when I was a kid, I was really curious what a homeschool kid looks like to other kids.] I said, "Really? What does that mean? What does a homeschool kid look like?"

She said, "Well, the kids in Bible Study [homeschool CBS] are different from the kids in dance class who go to school."

"Really?" I pulled up a chair. The journalist in me was practically set to whip out a notepad and pencil. "Can you explain what it is?"

To myself, I'm thinking, Are the homeschooled kids nicer? More mature? Dress less trendy? Talk less about pop culture? What? What???

Finally, after mulling it over best she could, she said, "Well ... for example, there's one boy there. I saw him write something, and it was with these really blocky letters, and it was really messy, and I thought -- 'He must be homeschooled!'"

Oh well.

The usual Thanksgiving tradition

2009-11-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

We went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving.

We came home today, and then we did this.

Kids in the Leaves

2009-11-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Robert spend several hours yesterday cleaning up the leaves, and of course the kids had to get in on it.

I guess I didn't have my camera on the best setting, but they're cute pictures nonetheless.

When Benjamin saw what was going on, he ran toward the pile, going, "Me too! Me too!"

Five in a Row - Madeline

2009-11-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

We recently finished a Five in a Row unit study and lapbook on Madeline.

If you know me at all, you know that I always get my ideas from other sources and never come up with anything original on my own. If you wanted to be kind, you could call me resourceful. If not, you could call me unoriginal and uncreative.

Thus, here's a couple interesting things we did with Madeline:

The FIAR board archives had a link for a virtual tour of France, so we did that one day.

The archives also had a link to make the Eiffel Tower with Legos.

I got a few shots of the girls with their Lego tower -- oh look, Rebecca's still in her pajamas! :)

Here's one of Rachael by herself. My, she is looking so old these days, isn't she?

Here's a better picture of the tower itself.

What's for dinner? So glad you asked!

2009-11-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

I've always thought -- even before I had kids -- that the hardest thing about cooking was not the cooking itself, but the planning of it.

What should I make this week? (Or tonight.) What haven't we had in a while? Let me dig around the pantry and see what we have in the house ... let me write down everything I need to buy to make a lasagna, and a chicken and rice casserole, and a chicken pot pie ... no, that's too much chicken in one week. Can get away with having eggs for dinner again one night?

Oh wait, don't we need to actually need to eat vegetables with all these things? Do we have any in the house? Oh ... there's all in the crisper drawer, rotting away.

My husband has no idea how much time and energy it takes to feed everybody all the time.

And I actually like to cook.

So I am very excited about this website I just discovered, Six O'Clock Scramble.

Every Wednesday they come out with five days of meals -- and the side dishes to go with them -- along with a weekly shopping list.

You make one shopping trip for the week, then each day make what's listed for dinner.

Done.

I'm doing it this week, and so far I love it. When I went shopping on Sunday, I bought more produce that I normally do in a whole month -- corn, green beans, baby spinach, red potatoes, apples -- and hey, it won't end up rotting this time!

Monday we had Penne Pasta with mushrooms and peas. The side dish was salad with beets, pecans, and goat cheese.

Tuesday we had tilapia "fish sticks" (although mine came out more like chunks.) The side dish was apple and carrot salad.

Tonight I am making apricot baked chicken. Side dishes are kasha, plus green beans with lemon and garlic.

I was telling somebody at the park about this today, and they asked how the kids liked it. Well ... Rachael loved the fish. Rebecca didn't mind the carrot/apple salad once we forced her to try it. Benjamin ate the pasta, but not the mushrooms.

But honestly, they don't like most "cooked meals," especially Rebecca. (If you're wondering what that means, I mean that they like things like certain types of fruit, baked beans, yogurt, cheese, etc.)

So this is no worse than normal. It may even help, as it's giving them a bigger variety of foods to try.

This is kind of funny, but it almost feels as if someone's making me dinner. I just look at the list, see what's for dinner, then spend about 30 minutes putting it together. Yum!

Misc Disney Photos

2009-10-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

Last set of Disney photos ... then I'm off to start putting together that scrapbook!

Here's Benjamin and I at the aquariums in-between The Living Seas with Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush, at Epcot. That was a lot of fun. I loved Epcot. There's so much to do there.

The kids -- especially the younger two -- had a lot of fun with the water sprays in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom.

Speaking of Adventureland, I had heard that a Pineapple Dole Whip Float was one of the best snacks in all of Disney. I would second that notion.

The Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom is a lot of fun. I took a lot of pictures, but didn't want to bore you with too many. And yes, they are real animals. Some people who've never been there aren't sure about that, what with it being Disney and all.

In the Magic Kingdom, one neat thing that Robert suggested was taking the raft to Tom Sawyer's Island. This was a nice little break and a change of pace from standing in line to ride Dumbo and Peter Pan. Here's the girls playing checkers before we took the raft ride back.

Hope you enjoyed these! :)
Feel free to ask me any Disney questions -- I feel like a semi-expert now!

Our friends at the Animal Kingdom

2009-10-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Is anyone getting bored with these Disney posts? I haven't heard any comments ...

Either which way, I'll post one more after this, and then move on to Bigger and Better Things.

On our last day, we went to Animal Kingdom. I know a lot of people don't like Animal Kingdom, but we liked it quite a bit. For one thing, it was shadier and cooler than the other parks. Robert particularly liked that it wasn't as crowded.

And the lines to see the characters were much shorter (and cooler).

Here's the girls with Pluto, looking at their autograph book. They had to wait in line for less than four minutes.

We took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch, and inside were Pocohantas, Rafiki, and Jiminy Cricket. There were literally no lines -- maybe just one person in front of us for each.

At Camp Minnie-Mickey, there are about five lines for different characters -- Minnie and Mickey, of course, being among them.

I'm not sure what this was all about, but when we went up to see Goofy, he started "kissing" me repeatedly. [Robert was over at "It's Tough to be a Bug," so I guess Goofy thought I was available.]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that.

Rebecca was just giggling about that the other day. "Mommy, I think Goofy wishes he could marry you!"

Chip and Dale were also at Camp Minnie-Mickey. One of the Cast Members told us you can tell who's who because one of them has a nose like a chocolate "chip." Ah-ha! :)

Fun at the Magic Kingdom

2009-10-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

My goal (no, seriously!) is to get all these Disney photos in a scrapbook album within the next 6 days.

Maybe I'm setting myself up for failure for saying this, but it's true.

I have the hard copies of the photos, and I have the Creative Memories Disney scrapbook and paper kits. All I have to do -- hopefully tomorrow -- is open it all up and begin.

And really, as much as I love digital cameras .... I haaaaate how people hardly ever hard copies of photos anymore. I'm sorry, but seeing a few photos on Facebook just isn't the same as being able to sit and hold an album that tells you a little bit about the pictures.

I'm sad that the photo album/scrapbook seems to be dying, and I'm trying to at resurrect it a little at my house.

Now, on to digital photos ...

Rebecca always did love Minnie Mouse. When she was two and a half, she had a Minnie costume that she wore almost every day for about two months.

The girls had fun in the little shop outside Pirates of the Caribbean. Um, where is Rebecca's shoe...?

And here's Rachael, still wearing the hat that her grandparents bought her when she was four and we all went to Disney World together. (Well ... I don't mean that she's been wearing it for four years ... you know ...)

Not surprisingly, Rebecca particularly liked dressing up as a Girl Pirate.

I figured people might be wondering when I was going to post a picture of myself.

Benjamin loves Pooh and Tigger, but his face here basically sums up how un-interested he was in actually meeting any characters.

Disney Photos -- Port Orleans

2009-10-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, a "moderate" Disney resort, and I loved it. I actually enjoyed it more than the Grand Floridian -- it seemed more our style, somehow. I guess we are "moderate" type people.

We went to the pool ... I think twice.

There are actually something like five (or more) pools at the resort, but this is the main one, and as you can see, it's very nice. It had fountains, a slide, and a playground kind of behind it.

Benjamin is very interested in bridges these days, and there were plenty at the resort to keep him happy. This water wheel was outside the resort food court, which we visited often.

Disney Photos -- Characters at Epcot

2009-10-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

On our first Disney trip, when we went to Epcot, Robert rode Mission:Space and was sick the rest of the day, so we didn't get to do much else.

On our second Disney trip, Rebecca started throwing up in our hotel room about 30 minutes before we were about to go to the Princess Lunch in Norway at Epcot. So not much got done on that day, either.

So I was really glad that we finally got to Epcot and actually do things and enjoy it!

In the UK, we sat on a bench and ate fish and chips, and the girls spotted both Alice ...

... and Mary Poppins.

What was kind of neat is that, about 10-15 minutes later, we passed Mary Poppins while walking through the UK, and she smiled at the girls and said, "Fancy seeing you two again!"

We were told late that Daisy Duck was a "hard gal to find," but we had already spotted her at the Epcot entrance.

I waited in line with the girls while Robert and Benjamin rode Spaceship Earth (that big golf ball thing). It was very hot waiting in line. If that's what Disney in late September is like, remind me to never ever go there in July.

More Disney photos -- trains in Epcot

2009-10-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize until I had started this post that I was doing two in a row featuring Benjamin and vehicles.

Oh well. It just means I'll have to write another Disney post tomorrow.

In the World Showcase at Epcot -- I think in, or next to, Germany -- there was a train set, which of course Benjamin was fascinated with. He watched it for quite a while as the girls got settled in with their "Kim Possible Kimmunicators" to start their Germany mission.

[If you're not familiar with the Kim Possible Missions in Epcot (it's pretty new), it's a high-tech sort of scavenger hunt in a World Showcase country. It involves finding clues within that country, and watching short video clips on the screen of a special cell phone they give you, until you finish help Kim Possible get the bad guy. It was pretty cool. Rachael, especially, loved it. The girls did one in Germany, and another in the UK.]

Robert got some good pictures of the trains.

And then a couple pictures of Rachael and Benjamin watching them.

BTW, right after these were taken, we had lunch at the Biergarten in Germany. (I didn't get any pictures of that.) I would highly recommend it, not only for the food, but also the entertainment.

Disney Photos!

2009-10-20T19:10:00.001-07:00

Well, the Disney trip was great, no one got sick, thank the Lord!

Godspell was exhausting but wonderful. The show got picked up by another theater for next month, so we get to do about six more shows!

Here's a few quick Disney pictures. More to follow in another post:

None of the kids wanted to ride Test Track at Epcot, but they did like looking at the cars and things by the ride. Here's Becca.

Here's Benjamin (with Becca in the background). Obviously, he liked this a lot.

And Rachael outside (again, with Becca in the background).

The first night we arrived, we were in such a hurry to get to the Magic Kingdom that we forgot to bring umbrellas and raincoats. It started pouring suddenly, and we all got very wet. Look at poor Becca in this one. She was not happy!

More another day ...

Off to DIsney World!

2009-09-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

On our last trip to Disney, four of us got sick. (The fifth one, Rachael, waited until we got home to throw up.)

So we are trying again.

We're leaving tomorrow morning, and when we get back home, I have six days until the opening performance of Godspell!

I won't be able to post at Disney, because internet connection is $10/day, and you already know I'm as cheap as dirt.

Catch you in a week! (or two!)

And finally ....

2009-09-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, now after two posts of Somewhat Unnecessary (yet hopefully entertaining) Autobiography, I can finally answer the question of "Why I had no desire or interest in writing" in one sentence:

I've been very focused on my piano lately, and when I'm delving into the piano, I have little mental energy left to focus on writing.

There.

I hope that was worth waiting for.

To be more specific ....

I've been trying to market myself more, and have put up two websites. I'm in the process of putting together some audio clips, and once I put them up on the sites, I bet I'll start getting more leads. I've been working on a lot of music, including things like Jazz Standards and lots of "Charlie Brown music."

In the meantime, I was smart enough to put the word "accompanist" in my Party Pop listing, and was contacted to ...

.... be the accompanist for a local production of Godspell!

The show is in less than three weeks, so I am, uh, learning the music rather quickly. What's fun is that the whole family is learning it. For example, last night Becca was getting ready for bed and singing (very sweetly), "Pray ye ... pray ye ... the way of the Lord ..."

The kids particularly like the song "All for the Best," which three year old Benjamin calls "the silly song."

So there you have it: Right now I'm focusing on being a Pianist, and not a Writer. Stay tuned for which of my two identities takes over next month.

Cliff-hanger ... resolved!

2009-09-21T13:17:00.001-07:00

When we last left, you were breathlessly awaiting the answer to what kept me from pursuing a journalism degree and/or being a well-known children's writer by now.

Well, when I was sixteen, my piano teacher at the time quite casually asked if I was planning on majoring in music in college. And I was completely intrigued by that idea.

Believe it or not, I had never heard of someone actually studying music in college until just recently. I honestly thought (and sadly, I think a lot of people think this way) that piano teachers and accompanists were just bored housewives that wanted to make a few bucks and had taken piano lessons as a kid.

To be perfectly honest, I was not a very good piano player when I was 16. But I was good enough to get a partial music scholarship at a college that was very generous about their music scholarships.

So when I started college, I thought I would either:
a) Get a double-major in journalism and music; or
b) Take the required classes to be a freshman music major, so I could keep the scholarship for a year, then switch to studying journalism

Well, I ended up staying a music major.

I still feel torn between my two desires, for music and writing. Because I've been driven to do both, I've never been able to pursue either one with the intensity that most musicians and writers do. And I often feel like I've never really excelled at either.

If you'll excuse the laughable comparison, I've often felt a little like Joni Mitchell. While she professionally pursued a music career, you can tell that, in her heart, she is more of a painter.

I feel like writing sums up more who I am, while music sums up what I do. I'm naturally a pretty good writer. I feel like I even have what I call a "writer's personality." I am not naturally a particularly good musician, but for whatever reason, I've felt driven to work hard at it.

Of course, right now I am proving that I am not a very good writer, but taking three entire blog posts to address something I could have actually answered in one sentence. More to come ...

Post with a Shameless Cliff-Hanger ....

2009-09-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

Since I'm sure many of you have been tossing and turning at night, wondering why I haven't had the desire to write lately, I thought I'd address it.

I've always found it curious when people got to college and said they "didn't know what to study." For one thing, that is a hell of a lot of money and time to be spending when you don't exactly know why you're there. But more to the point, I could never understand it because I always had the opposite problem.

When I was in third grade, I dimly remember being given a school assignment to write a story called "What I Would Say if Snowmen Could Talk." (And I distinctly remember my father pointing out that it should be titled, "What I Would Say if Snowmen Could Listen." Well, what can you expect from a South Jersey public school?)

I no longer have this story, and do not remember what, in fact, I would have said if snowman could talk (or listen). But I do remember writing it and thinking, with an unusual clarity and certainty for an eight year-old, "I'm going to be a children's writer when I grow up."

This clarity and certainty continued and, when I was ten years old, I actually wrote a rough draft, then typed up as a 45-page manuscript (yes, on a typewriter!), asked a neighbor friend to illustrate it for me, and mailed it to Dell Yearling Publishers.

Why Dell Yearling? Why, because I had a copy of Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret -- I still have it, and it has the cover torn off, is permanently curled, and has Various Food Stains on it -- and Dell Yearling was the publisher, and their address was on the copyright page.

At age ten, I didn't know enough about the publishing industry to even enclose a SASE. So, really, it would have been fair for Dell Yearling to have thrown it in the trash and go on about their day. If they were feeling particularly generous that day, I could picture them paying the postage to return the manuscript and send me a form rejection letter

So it rather is quite stunning, in retrospect, that they took the time to send me (and my illustrator friend) a personalized letter, saying that it "had potential" and other encouraging things I can't remember at the moment. They also sent me a list of periodicals (like Stone Soup) that publish children's work.

Without boring you too much with details, I was thirteen when I had my first story published, I won a school-wide, then county-wide writing contest when I was fifteen, and I was the front page editor of my high school newspaper my senior year. Surely my Snowman Epiphany when I was eight was no passing phase.

Yet ... a college friend I recently found thanks to Facebook [Shelley] recently said to me, "Oh, I never knew you liked to write."

What?? How can this be, you ask? Wasn't I avidly writing in college? Where did I go wrong? What happened?

Ah ... the same thing that is happening now, and if you haven't figured it out already, you will have to wait for Part Two to find out the answer ....

Movie Night Update (AKA "Lazy Post #2")

2009-09-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Boy, talk about Lazy Posts.

Since I've don't feel like Truly Writing, I'll just post some images of what we've been watching lately for Friday Pizza and Movie Night.

I originally saw A Bug's Life in the theater with Robert back before we had kids (and back when I went to the movie theater more than once every two years.)

I knew I enjoyed it then, but had forgotten how good it was. I was a little worried that it would be too scary for the kids, but they enjoyed it (although it was particularly difficult to get them all calmed down and in bed that night).

**********************************************************************

Does anyone remember those Disney movies about college student Dexter Riley, back when Kurt Russell was young and cute? (As opposed to Older, but Still Rather Cute):

The girls liked this one a lot. Benjamin liked it too, because it had a lot of cars in them. (Albeit invisible ones, at times.)

As a kid, I thought the two main characters reminded me of Micky and Peter from the Monkees. I was actually a little surprised to see that they still did.

**************************************************************************
And finally, we saw the movie that I knew would be a SobFest for me .....

Yup. Dumbo.

I cried through about half of it.

What's interesting is that for some reason I had a record (yes, record) of the soundtrack when I was a kid, but I don't know if I actually ever saw the movie. Anyway, it was weird to instantly remember the songs even though I had not heard them for decades.

I was amused to read some negative reviews on Amazon that said "Dumbo" was a very racist movie because the crows were depicted as being black. Well gee, considering that the crows
a) had the best song in the whole show; and b) were the only supporting characters with any redeeming qualities whatsoever ... well, um, that seems like a good thing to ,e.

The kids and I watched it again today. I cried again, although a little less this time, and was convinced that it was one of the sweetest, most touching movies I've ever seen.

My "Cheat Post"

2009-09-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

I was touched when not just one, but two, of my dearest childhood friends (Becky and Kim), wrote to me to ask where I've been lately.

It's strange. I've had many potential posts floating around in my head lately. They would be perfectly good posts (or, at least as good as any of my past posts, for whatever that's worth).

But I have no desire to write.

I don't mean that I have no time to write. I mean I have no desire. Even though I have plenty of topics (and that's usually the hard part), I have no interest in writing them.

I have two solid theories for this .... but guess what? I have no desire (right now) to actually take the time to write about them.

But hey, my mini-following of Exactly Two People is looking for something, so at the moment I'll do what I call a "Cheat Post" (or, more accurately, a "Lazy Post") and put up a couple recent pictures of the kids:

Here's Benjamin, intently playing with his beloved vehicles
(and Rachael in the background)

and here's the girls with tattoos they were excited to get at a pool party.

Rebecca

and Rachael

My strawberry salad recipe (that I stole)

2009-08-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a really good salad I've made a few times this summer. I'm pretty sure I stole it from O'Charley's or Longhorn's, or both:

******************************************************
Mix your favorite salad greens (I use whatever "salad in a bag" is on sale that week) with sliced strawberries, mandarin oranges, and crumbled feta cheese.

Toast some pecans in a skillet with a little bit of butter and brown sugar. Add to top of salad.

Add some balsamic vinagrette dressing.

Enjoy!

Tooth Unit

2009-08-28T13:17:00.001-07:00

We did a "Tooth Unit" this week, which we'll probably wrap up by putting together a small lapbook or something on Monday.

If you know me well, you know that absolutely nothing I do is original, so of course I got all the ideas for this unit at Homeschool Share.

First we read Throw Your Tooth on the Roof.

Of course we all know about the tooth fairy, but did you know that kids in other countries do different things with their teeth? I didn't. It never occurred to me to wonder about it.

We discussed traditions and made various maps locating the different countries and the different Tooth Traditions in each. We also discussed direction. We played a little game where one girl hid Woofie, then had to give directions to the other girl to find Woofie: "Take three steps North ... okay, now five steps West," and so on.

Then we read one of Rebecca's Very Favorite Books, Open Wide, Tooth School Inside

This is a really funny book. The kind that has lots of inside jokes that only adults would get (for example, the stages of denial, anger, etc, that a tooth goes through when it gets a cavity. Or two teeth practicing for a play and one of them yelling, "You can't handle the tooth!"

We talked about personification and found examples in the book. Also, the book talks a lot about teeth anatomy, why babies need baby teeth, etc.

The least interesting book for the unit -- but still cute -- was Science Fair Bunnies, about a bunny who decides to use his first tooth for a science fair project instead of letting the Tooth Fairy have it.

The most interesting thing about this book was the "What Happens if you Don't Brush Your Teeth" science experiment that was written to go with it (which was not specifically in the book itself).

Take two hard boiled eggs. Put one in a jar of Coke and the other in a jar of vinegar, write down your hypotheses, and check them the next day. Easy. Even I, Miss Science-Phobe, can do that.

The Coke egg turned light brown, and the vinegar egg was actually soft and squishy. (Apparently the acid erodes the calcium in the egg shell.) The girls thought that was pretty cool.

I like unit studies, and I love that there are people at Homeschool Share who are more creative than I am, and willing to share their ideas.

Tori Amos vs. Kate Bush, Muppet-Style

2009-08-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is really funny, especially if you love (or hate!) one or both of these artists.

Either way, you'll probably enjoy it more if you read my post here first.

I know there's a way you can put a YouTube video in the blog, but I haven't figured it out yet, so just go here to watch it.

[Oh, I should point out that there is some strong language, so some readers might want to pass on this one.]

The new babies at my house

2009-08-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

The girls have just re-discovered their Baby Dolls. It's sort of funny, since they were toys they received when they were toddler-age, and now they are eight and six. Rachael has never particularly liked Baby Dolls, so this is almost a first for her.

[Side note: I just realized that a few weeks ago, with Rebecca's help, I cleaned out the doll bin, and gave away about 3 dolls she didn't care for, plus some doll clothes. So possibly, the fact that she doesn't have to root through "the junk" makes it easier to play with her favorites, and that's why they've been re-discovered. Just a thought.]

I thought it was cute at first. Rebecca's doll talks. They're feeding them bottles, taking them for walks in the doll stroller, and putting them in the high chair and bassinet.

But then I started realizing that these are rather old babies. They talk. They whine a lot. They call for food from their highchair at meal time. And they fight over things a lot.

So it kind of feels like there are two more toddlers in the house. Rather loud ones, too.

Oh well. It's still cute.

I'd better appreciate this while it lasts ...

2009-08-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend Rachael (who is 8 years old) came up to me while I was playing the piano and said, "When I grow up, I want to be just like you!"

For a moment I thought she meant that she wanted to play the piano as well as me. (She is learning to play the piano herself, and is quite good at it.)

But then I realized that she had just been eating a cake I made, and I have heard her say in the past that "Mom bakes really good cakes." [Further evidence that I might actually be a good cook.]

So I asked her, "Do you mean that you want to play the piano like I do? Or that you want to bake cakes like I do? Or something else?"

She said happily, "All of it. You're such a good mom."

But wait!

It didn't stop there!

Later that day, she asked me, "How did you get to be such a good mom when you were the youngest in your family?"

And the next day we were reading Happy Birthday Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle together. I couldn't help muttering, mostly to myself, "Well, if this girl is having trouble being messy and unorganized, why don't the parents help her learn what to do with her stuff? That's what I would do."

"Yes," said Rachael quickly, "but you're not like other moms."

Rebecca agreed.

So I'm not sure exactly what I was doing this weekend ... but it's nice to know I was probably doing something right!

Finally, a way to organize the jigsaw puzzles!

2009-08-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I got a good idea from a good book with a dorky name -- Confessions of an Organized Homemaker.

If I was a Really Good Blogger, I'd have photos, but I'm not and I don't, so justconcentrate extra hard and try to use your imagination.

The kids and I went down to the playroom and slowly tackled all the 20-some jigsaw puzzles that were precariously balancing on multiple stacks in half-broken boxes, many with pieces missing.

First, the kids would do a puzzle (which was fun right there, because it gave us a chance to do every puzzle we owned. Rachael said, many times, "This is fun!")

Second, I flipped the puzzle over and wrote a number on each piece. For example, the Hello Kitty had the number "5" written on all 100 pieces. The Curious George puzzle had a number "6" written on each piece. The girls helped with this, too.

Third, we put all the pieces in a ziplock bag and labeled it with the name and number, ie, "Hello Kitty - 5."

Fourth, we cut the picture of the finished puzzle off the box and stapled it to the ziploc bag. (The rest of the box went in the trash.)

Finally, we put all the ziploc bags of puzzle pieces into a plastic bin, labeled it "puzzles," and put it on the playroom shelf.

Hurray!

BTW, it took us about a week to do all this, usually working at about an hour at a time. We have about 25 puzzles labeled. About three puzzles were thrown away because there were pieces missing. About three other puzzles had a piece missing, but the girls begged me to keep it anyway.

I hated that so many pieces were missing. It made me feel awfully guilty that we weren't taking good care of our stuff.

But hopefully those days are mostly behind us ... with puzzles, anyway.

The latest movie nights

2009-08-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Oh, did I mention that we are going to Disney World next month on the FREE dining plan?

With that in mind ...

Last Friday we watched Peter Pan for Pizza and Movie Night.

I hadn't realized Tinkerbell was a rather mean and snooty character.

Tonight we saw The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, mostly for Benjamin's sake. Rebecca had vehemently complained, saying Winnie-the-Pooh was for babies, but all three kids laughed out loud several times, especially during the "blustery day" segment.

I don't have the energy to send my kids to school

2009-08-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

I often hear people -- some homeschoolers, some not -- comment on how hard and time-consuming homeschooling is.

Maybe.

I've been enjoying a book called Queen of the Castle: 52 weeks of encouragement for the uninspired, domestically challenged or just plain tired homemaker.

The author apparently has two sons, ages 13 and 14 at the time of the writing, who attend school. I found this passage to be very interesting:

After thirty-six weeks of school, times two kids, I figure I ...participated in twenty-three field trips, class parties, and bake sales ... and helped study for seventy-two Bible-memory-verse tests. I bought (and sold) wrapping paper, magazines, raffle tickets, and jog-a-thon laps. Signed 108 permission slips and forked over ninety-seven dollars for incidentals. Helped complete one state notebook, one state float, one report on the Nile, one static electricity/balloon experiment. Carpooled seventy-two hundred miles, not counting practice for football, basketall, wrestling, baseball, and band.

'Nuff said!

Cooking Day continues ...

2009-07-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

You may remember me talking about Cooking Day a few weeks ago.

We have had two more since then. I like the idea and hope to continue.

So far, I always end up making a double casserole with Rachael, bake a double batch of something with Rebecca, then do a double batch of pancakes or French Toast with Benjamin (although he may or may not be in the mood for baking much.) Then we have lunch, and I feel like I had a productive morning.

One time I tried to also make a strawberry pie later in the day, and that ended up being too much. I also ended up ruining the pie because I was in a hurry and got some yolk mixed in with the egg whites. The pie didn't gel right and we had to eat it with spoons.

Right now I plan to have Cooking Day be twice a month.

Going to Disney with the FREE Dining Plan!!

2009-07-25T08:11:00.001-07:00

You may remember that we went to Disney World in December and stayed at the Grand Floridian.

You may also remember that Rebecca started throwing up the morning of our scheduled Princess Storybook Lunch. Benjamin and I followed suit less than 48 hours later, and Robert had about two days where he felt what I call "Semi-Sick." (And he and Rachael were both "full-blown sick" after coming home.)

So you can understand why we felt gypped out of a Disney trip and driven to schedule another one.

Well, we got the perfect chance when we learned that Disney is having a special free Dining Plan offer in September when you stay at one of the Disney resorts.

So ... we are scheduled to go on September 26 and stay at Port Orleans Riverside. We don't know anything about it, but the pictures on-line look nice.

I'm very excited about this FREE Dining Plan, as I calculated that the Dining Plan would normally cost our family $565.

If you're not familiar with the Disney Dining Plan, free or otherwise, this will give you an idea what a good deal it is:

We have lunch reservations at the Biergarten in Germany in Epcot. Without the dining plan, that single meal would cost us $73. Oh, plus the cost of drinks (which are also included in the plan. Tips are not, by the way, so it's not literally completely free.)

We also have lunch reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern at Frontierland in Magic Kingdom. The pot roast (which I heard is really good) is $17.99. Plus, with the dining plan, you get dessert. Strawberry shortcake sounds good; that's $5.49; plus a drink for another three dollars. That's just for one person, mind you.

We also have reservations for the Hoop-De-Doo Musical Revue, which would normally cost (believe it or not) $190 for our whole family.

The free Dining Plan for this trip also comes with 25 snacks for our entire trip. Yes, you heard that right. Snacks include anything from popcorn, to Mickey Mouse ice cream bars, to a Napoleon at the French bakery in Epcot, to a cream cheese stuffed pretzel in Tomorrowland.

Twenty-five of them. Completely free.

So I am very excited. I have simple pleasures, I know.

Please cash in with your Disney advice and experiences, as we have never been to Biergarten, Liberty Tree Tavern, or Port Orleans Riverside before.

And please pray that we don't get sick again ...

Movie Night continues ...

2009-07-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

We are still having Movie and Pizza Night on Fridays. (Tonight we cheated and had a Trader Joe pizza and popped some microwave popcorn.)

We watched Escape to Witch Mountain tonight, which we all enjoyed.

Last week we watched Pollyanna, with Hayley Mills. I had never seen it before and liked it a lot. It was a little more deep than I had expected.

Marshmallow Treats

2009-07-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

My niece Lauren, who is thirteen, came over a couple weeks ago, and all three girls made a recipe from Rachael's American Girl magazine.

You put marshmaallows on a stick, freeze them, then cover them with Magic Shell and sprinkles.

Here's Lauren ...

... Rachael ....

... and Rebecca ....

Then the girls ate them while watching High School Musical 2!

Movie Night Tonight

2009-07-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

We started a nice tradition a couple months ago, which probably half the families in America already do:

Every Friday is pizza and movie night.

We made a pizza, and get a movie from the library. How cheap can you get?

Anyway, tonight we saw Honey I Shrunk the Kids. It was not my favorite, but the kids seemed to like it, Benjamin in particular. At first we thought he was scared, but then realized it was a "good scared."

I asked the girls what some of their favorite movies have been so far, and Rachael said The Parent Trap (we saw the newer version).

Becca said her favorite was Chrissa Stands Strong (the latest American Girl movie).

Not surprisingly, I liked The Muppet Christmas Carol. Rob seemed to like that one a lot too.

Dance Recital Photos

2009-07-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late with these, as usual, but these are pictures from Rachael and Rebecca's dance recitals on June 6, 2009.

This was the first year that they were scheduled in two different recitals, both at GA Tech. Rachael's was at 10:00 am and then Rebecca's was at 7:00 pm.

Here's Rebecca in her costume.
Her act was called "Hello Kitty from Tokyo."

I like this picture of me and Becca (and Woofie).

Here's Rachael with her Grandma (my mother).
Rachael did ballet this year, and her act was called "China Dolls."

This picture sums up Rebecca pretty well.

Banana Trees!

2009-07-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is actually from a few weeks ago.

Rachael had suddenly reminded me of a book we used to use when she was four (I'm amazed that she remembers called Cooking Art by Mary Ann Kohl.

We made banana trees with pineapples, bananas, and cherries. (It would have been better if I had strawberries or blueberries in the house, but I didn't. Oh well.)

Fun with Ricotta Cheese

2009-07-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

It's The Day Before We Go Grocery Shopping, so things are a little lean around here.

I found I had a Pillsbury pizza dough which was about to expire. There was no pizza sauce, but we did have ricotta and mozzerella cheese.

Ah ...

I googled and found Rachael Ray's recipe for White Pizza. I thought it was great. (It probably would be better if I used a better dough.) Kids #1 and #3 liked it, but unfortunately Kid #2 did not.

I had enough ricotta cheese to also whip together a batch of Ricotta Cheese Cookies, which I had never made before. (I didn't make the frosting, but I don't think we even needed it.)

Everybody liked these. The best way to describe it is a "creamy snickerdoodle."

I love this picture!

2009-07-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

I decided to bite the bullet and dig into my boxes of old photos so I can start scrapbooking again.

The lighting is bad in the picture (although I'm sure there's a way to fix that), but otherwise it's a great picture, don't you think?

It was taken in September 2007, when Benjamin was 16 months old and just taking his first steps. Rachael was five and cheering him on.

Smoothie Summer

2009-06-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

We've been living on smoothies this summer -- we make them about 3-4 times a week!

This is how we make them:

- 8-10 ice cubes
- 1 banana
- 10 frozen strawberries
- 1 cup milk (or slightly more)
- 1/4 cup sugar

All mixed together in a blender.

I varied it by using a mixture of frozen blueberries/strawberries/raspberries, but everyone agreed the original recipe was better.

I tried being daring and found a recipe on-line for a "Cherry Coke Smoothie." YUM, did that sound good!

It was not.

We will continue to stick with the tried and true.

Today was Cooking Day!

2009-06-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

As you've probably noticed, I am in a constant quest for better organizing my time, home, meals, children, and life in general.

I recently re-read (well, re-skimmed) a popular book called Side-Tracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise.

Mostly, it irritated me.

It irritated me for several reasons, but the main one was this:

The core of their plan is to have a weekly schedule. For example, one day should be Errand Day, when you run all the errands for the week (including any your husband needs done). Another day is Heavy Cleaning Day, where you clean for 4-6 hours.

Why does this bug me? Because they do not spend a single sentence discussing what to do with, or how to manage, your children when you are doing these six hours of cleaning (or several hours of errand-running.) At least one of the authors had three children under the age of six when she discovered and began implementing this plan ... and yet, she says nothing (that I can see) about how she went about pulling it off.

Well gee, Pam and Peggy, I know I need to clean. If I knew how to clean for hours and hours in spite of my kids, I wouldn't be reading your stupid book!

What does all this complaining have to do with Cooking Day, you ask?

Well, one thing they said was to have one day a week be Baking Day, and to only agree to make cookies for the PTA -- or whatever -- if it fits into your Baking Day schedule.

I liked that idea. And then I had a sudden, brief flash of genius of how to do it: Why, use the principles from Managers of Their Homes, of course!

So, this morning I set the timer for 35 minutes while I cooked with Rachael, while Benjamin and Becca played together in another room. Then, 35 minutes cooking with Becca while Rachael and Benjamin played together, then 35 minutes cooking with Ben while Rachael and Rebecca played together.

It was very cool. I felt very smart. Nobody was fighting over who got to measure the sugar or who got to stir. Nobody was getting in each other's way. Nobody got bored with baking before we were done. Everybody (believe it or not) enjoyed their limited time with one sibling.

Here's what we made:
- Two pans of lasagna
- A double batch of Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins, from The Sneaky Chef.
- A double batch of Cocoa Chocolate Chip pancakes, also from The Sneaky Chef.

I actually was hoping to make more, but I'm still pretty pleased. Keep in mind that this was all accomplished before lunch. I do still have to make dinner for tonight though. I'll quickly do that by myself when I'm done typing this.

I hadn't planned this, but we had the muffins for lunch. They were pretty cool; there's a blob of jam "hidden" inside the muffin. Since they have also have peanut butter, sweet potatoes, carrots, wheat germ, and wheat flour, it was probably the healthiest lunch we've had for a while.

Rachael's favorite books

2009-06-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

For her 8th birthday, Rachael was given the first three books in The Magic Tree House series. And now, about ten minutes ago, she finished reading Book 10 and just ran into the room to get Book 11.

These are the first actual books that Rachael is reading (other than a few picture books she read a few months ago.) It's also the first time she is reading on her own initiative.

Fortunately, there are ... what? ... thirty or forty books in the series, so that will keep her going for a while.

By the way, you can go to their website, and download a Passport Book. Then, for every book you read, you can answer three questions on-line to get a passport to add to the designated spot in your book.

I finally discovered Tori Amos!

2009-06-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Ever since college I've been a fan of Kate Bush. Wonderful, Hugely-Underappreciated-in-America Kate Bush, who is an amazing songwriter, musician, producer, dancer, choregrapher, and all-around Brilliant Genius.

Sometime in the 90's, when I used to spend a lot more time in my car, I heard a song called "Cornflake Girl" on the radio. I thought, "Oh wow, does Kate Bush have something new out?"

No, turned out it was someone named Tori Amos.

Who's that?

Was she someone I should like? Or should she tick me off for daring to try to copy Kate the Billiant Genius? Was she just another in a somewhat tired line of 90's female artists, like Sheryl Crow, Joan Osborne, Sarah McClaughlin, Courtney Love, and Alanis Morisette?

It was a question that, believe it or not, sort of dimly lingered in the back of my mind for over a decade. I kept thinking I was going to "research" Tori Amos, and then never did. I later realized she did a song called "Crucify," which had never particularly impressed me. Eh, I thought, probably just a lame wannabe.

And then, two nights ago, I happened to stumble on Tori Amos on VH1 Storytellers. I watched it. I watched it twice. I did searches to read the lyrics.

And ...

Oh Yes. No one else can be Kate, but Tori is Quite Amazing.

The one thing I think she does have over Kate is that she is a better piano player. Also, she scores an extra point for being a redhead (and quite a quirky one at that).

Watch "Precious Things" to see what I mean.

(Warning: When I graduated college, my roommate Sara said to me, "Of all the many many things you always listened to, the only one I really couldn't tolerate was Kate Bush." Yes, she is quite an acquired taste, and I think Tori could be as well.)

Mixed-up Kids

2009-06-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Rachael and Benjamin decided to dress up as each other:

Rachael, as Benjamin, is wearing only a T-shit and is holding a car.
Benjamin, as Rachael, is wearing Rachael's dress, Hannah Montana wig, and Hannah Montana microphone.

Then everybody got into the act!
Here's Benjamin as Rachael, Rebecca as Benjamin, and Rachael as Becca.

Here's Rebecca as Benjamin, in the Official Position of a Little Boy Playing.

Rob's latest project

2009-06-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

My husband could live to be 200 years old and never run out of thngs to do. Last year he made this.
Right now he is building steps on the hill in the backyard. It's a big job. He spent at least about 12 hours on it just this weekend.

Here's a picture of Rachael.

[Good grief, I just received a comment from an old friend -- who has never even met my children -- correctly pointing out that it is not Rachael, but Rebecca. Not good, Jen ...]

There was one of Benjamin too, but he was, um, naked, so I won't post that one. :)

YES!!

2009-06-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

I apologize. I really do.

But I so, so, so love it when I feel like I've had a productive day. So please, let me talk just one more time about how helpful Managers of Their Homes was today.

We had not been doing the "MOTH schedule" for a few weeks (intentionally) because we had VBS and dance rehearsals and doctor visits and some other things. But today we got back on it, and again I am just struck by how much we accomplished.

It is 6:15 pm as I type this. This is what we did today:

- Washed all bedsheets in the house and got them all back on all the beds;

- Rachael did one math worksheet and one phonics worksheet

- Rachael and I did both All About Spelling and Easy Grammar together

- Rachael read her American Girl magazine

- The girls and I read two books that we had done Five in a Row unit studies with earlier this year (Gramma's Walk and Miss Rhumphius)

- The girls and I later finished reading The Doll House by Rumer Godden (I liked it more than they did; perhaps they'll like it a bit better when they're older)

- The girls put away two loads of clean laundry

- The kids and I went to the pool for about two hours

- Rebecca and I worked with Perler beads (aka "fuse beads")

- Rebecca, Benjamin, and I played Candy Land (well, uh ... our version of it ...)

- The girls and I made a noodle kugel for dinner (yes, I know that's a strange dinner, but it's like that Bill Cosby routine: "Eggs! Eggs are in kugel! And cottage cheese! And wheat!")

- The girls and I made Monkey Bread -- It's ready to be put in the oven first thing in the morning

- The girls and made pineapple upside-down cake (from scratch -- ooh!) I'll put that in the oven while we're eating dinner

- I read a Mother Goose book to Benjamin before his nap

- I washed a load of towels (although I have not put them away yet)

Not to mention that I also took a 30-minute nap, and got to play the piano for about 10 minutes.

And don't forget, I don't even wake up very early -- usually around 7:30 pm.

After dinner, I'm hoping to whip up some homemade play-doh with the kids -- ya know, the kind where you add Kool Aid to give it color (and a nice smell). I've never done that with Benjamin yet. We'll see. I would love to work out after the kids are in bed, but I think that may be asking too much.

Yes, I feel good. Today was definitely a good day.

Crazy crazy busy week

2009-06-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

I wrote last year about how exhausting the week of VBS was. Well, this year was even worse!

I dropped the girls off at church every morning at 9:00 (which, frankly, was somewhat of a challenge in itself). Then I had a little over two and a half hours to run around with Benjamin doing things like:

* Car emmissions
* Grocery shopping
* Benjamin's pediatrician check-up
* Library (twice)
* Laundry
* Returning things to Kohl's (twice)
* Dropping off some resumes at wedding venues (I am a pianist, if you didn't know)

Okay, then pick girls back up at noon, make everybody lunch, home for the rest of the day ....

Except Wednesday.

Oh, and Thursday.

On Wednesday both girls had their dance dress rehearsals at Georgia Tech. Rebecca's was at 2:00 pm, and Rachael's was at 5:00 pm.

So ... on Wednesday, when I went to pick the girls up at church at noon, I packed Rebecca's costume and hair bows, brought a cooler with lunches for everybody, we ate lunch at the church playground, then drove straight to Tech, had Rebecca change, sat through her rehearsal, had her change back, we all drove home, then Rachael got her hair and costume ready, her friend's mother came and picked her up, and she went to her rehearsal, then they went to the Varsity for dinner, and Rachel got home at bedtime.

Whew.

Then on Thursday I had to come home and make brownies to bring to the VBS evening cookout, and then we had to go to the VBS evening cookout, and ... well, now it's Friday and everything over. Except that the girls' dance recitals are tomorrow, and Rachael's is in the morning and Rebecca's is in the evening, so ... well, it's not quite over yet, is it?

I get the impression that some parents live like that all the time. Thank goodness we don't.

Meanwhile, here is Rebecca at her rehearsal:

She looked a little like Cindy Brady, I thought.

Here she is with another girl in her dance class.

Rachael instantly made friends with the other girl's older sister, who she had never met before.

And of course Benjamin wanted to get it on all this too.

The ten year old "school advocate" at our pool

2009-06-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Last night at our pool, I was greeted by a little girl in our neighborhood who just finished fifth grade and is very friendly. She talked to me for quite a while -- about dance classes and softball practice, about how she has to make her bed every morning before she is allowed to watch TV, about how her little sister is more messy than she is.

It occurred to me while we were chatting that I feel more comfortable and "in my element," so to speak, talking with a ten year old girl than talking with an adult. I'm not quite sure what that says about me, but there it is.

Anyway, this little girl (who attends public school) also talked to me about homeschooling. This didn't surprise me, because I remember her bringing that up before. Last summer, for example, when she was nine, she had said to me, "Aren't you worried that they won't be able to get good job when they're adults?"

I don't remember what my response was.

Last night she said to me, "I think you should send them to school. They would make a lot of friends, they would get a better education, and you would have more time to go shopping and things."

"Well," I said, matching her level of seriousness, "even if they went to school, I would still have Benjamin home with me."

"Yes," she said, "but it would be easier taking one child with you than three."

"That's true," I said.

Then she said, "What if you do send them to school one day? Would they start at the grade that other kids their age are in, or would they start at kindergarten?"

"Oh," I said, "I doubt the school would put them in kindergarten if they were eight or nine years old. Maybe they would take a placement test, or maybe we would just put them in the grade they would normally be in at their age."

Since homeschooling "didn't exist" when I was ten years old, it's rather amusing to hear a child's thoughts on it. I wonder why it is so interesting to her. I wonder if it makes us seem odd -- or fascinating. Or maybe she simply feels it's important that she talk me out of it.

Either which way, I like her, and I hope to have another pool visit with her again.

My sweet Becca

2009-06-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

There's just something about my little Becca ....

While we were celebrating Benjamin's third birthday outside,
the girls ran off with the digital camera, and Rachael took several pictures of Rebecca.

Coming down the slide, wearing her "party clothes"!

Ta-Da! Made it down the slide!

Making a wish on a dandelion ...

Interestingly, I just realized that I posted something very similar almost exactly a year ago, and called that post "Pretty Pretty Becca."

Benjamin's three!

2009-05-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

As usual, I'm a little late about posting, but ...

Benjamin turned three on May 11!

Here he is, first thing in the morning, holding up his ... excavator ...? that his grandparents sent him in the mail.

He had wanted a "monster truck cake," so Robert helped the girls decorate this; using Benjamin's own toys when he wasn't looking.

Outside on our front porch later in the day, opening more gifts.

Rebecca had changed into these "party clothes," which I thought was a very Rebecca-like thing to do. This is a nice shot of Robert with his two youngest children.

My [rather cynical] review of the Hannah Montana movie

2009-05-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, I remember telling somebody that I enjoyed watching Barney with my kids, simply because -- to paraphrase The Grateful Dead -- "A friend of Rebecca's is a friend of mine."

It was in this same spirit that I went to go see the Hannah Montana movie with my two daughters and niece earlier this week. Rachael dressed up in her HM costume, complete with wig. I gobbled up plenty of popcorn and numbed myself to the fact that a tub of popcorn and two drinks cost $14. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Really.

However, I am only human, and I do still have a few working brain cells, so here are the many thoughts that were actually going through my mind during the movie:

* It is impossible for me to get past the fact that nobody realizes that Miley is Hannah. Maybe I could buy it if Hannah had a different accent, or wore some sort of distinct makeup, like a female sort of KISS member. Maybe glasses could even go it -- after all, it worked for Clark Kent. But Hannah sounds exactly the same as Miley, and other than snazzy clothes and a blond wig, she looks exactly the same as Miley. At the very least, you'd think people would constantly say to her, "Wow, you know, you remind me a lot of Hannah Montana."

* In one scene, Miley gets on stage in front of a bunch of Hannah Montana fans and leads everybody in a song. Amazing how nobody notices that she sings exactly like their favorite star, Hannah Montana.

* Does Miley Cyrus write her own songs? I'm just asking. Actually, I wouldn't expect her to. After all, Ricky Martin didn't write "Livin La Vida Loca." Heck, someone else wrote songs for Elvis. But then why did people give The Monkees such a hard time for not writing most of their songs?

* Emily Osmont (who plays Lilly) is just gorgeous. Of course, I am probably partial to her, since I liked her big brother, Hayley Joel, so much.

* I agree with a movie review I had read earlier, which basically said, "The biggest mistake the movie makes is having Taylor Swift sing a song. The comparison in their singing ability is not flattering to the movie's star." Yes, that's correct. It was striking.

* Doesn't anybody wonder where Hannah Montana is when she's not onstage? If she is, in fact, the most popular teen in the whole world, how come Tiger Beat magazine has no spreads about her family, her friends, her hobbies? Don't her fans ever google her name, trying to find out how she became a star, where she grew up, how she got her start?

* I recently saw an interview with Rita Moreno who said The Electric Company cast would be on the set for about ten hours a day. After that, at least one of them would have to stop at the recording studio on the way home, then have to go home and practice lip-synching to the song they had just recorded. Performers are hard workers. So the idea that anyone -- hidden identity or not -- can hang around school and their friends all day, and then just show up for their Superstar performance, really rubs me the wrong way.

Ah ... thank you. I feel better now.

Nostalgia (and photos!) of 1986-1987

2009-05-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

I took this picture on December 30, 1986, when I was 17 years old:

I recently have been chatting with one of the boys in this picture, thanks to Facebook. I've heard
a vicious rumor that he is no longer a boy, but rather a forty year old man with a wife and child, but in my mind he will always be the teenage boy that I knew.

Talking with him has been Really Neat for me, and hopefully at least A Little Neat for him. It
made me think about a lot of things, so I dug out these pictures, which made me think about them even more.

My senior year in high school always felt like a single and isolated event, rather than being connected to the rest of my teenage years. My first year in high school was spent somewhere else -- Pittsburgh -- and then we moved. Strange as it may sound, I spent the next two years just struggling to adjust, and it wasn't until senior year that I had -- or had even met -- this group of friends.

In a way, that makes that time period and those friends more special, because it was so fleeting.
We had fun together for a year, then all went off our separate ways.

I look at these pictures and remember so much: The party at Maureen's house where we
watched The Sure Thing and all belted out Rod Stewart's "Infatuation." Stopping at Dunkin Donuts on our way to go take the AP English test, and laughing when we realized we had started to drive away with the box of Munchkins on top of our car. Watching Ferris Beuller's Day Off at Vicki's house and thinking it was the greatest movie ever. Feeling like the whole day was ruined when the boy I liked wasn't in Calculus class that day. Going to Six Flags with three of my girlfriends on the day of prom because none of us had dates.

I could go on and on.

I see these pictures and have an almost aching desire to jump inside them,
like the chalk drawings in Mary Poppins -- or the "skidoo" on Blue's Clues.
I look at them and remember how exuberant and carefree and silly and bubbling with excitement we all were.

I wish I could go back and visit them. Visit that.

I don't think I would say my life was better back then. It isn't that. But today I have a mortgage and endless amounts of laundry. My husband just got a pay cut and our health insurance premiums are about to go up -- again. I have watched one of my children be literally on the brink of death, unable to move, for almost three straight weeks. I've spent days myself in a bed in ICU, unable to even use the bathroom, while various other people took care of my children for me.

And yes, I wish I could go back, for just a few hours ... to the times when we laughed and shrieked continually about Nothing in Particular, when we decorated ourselves with long streams of toilet paper and danced outside in the dark at my birthday party, and when I spent the night at Adrienne's house and babbled endlessly over trying to decide who I liked more, Bryan or Scott.

I haven't seen, or even heard from, most of the people in these photos for well over a decade. I wish they could somehow read this post -- to know I'm thinking of them, to know all the nice memories I have about them 22 years later.

I guess I'd like to tell them Thank You.

Rachael's Party at the American Girl Bistro

2009-05-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

I just realized that while I posted these pictures from before the party, I never posted pictures from the party itself.

Rachael had her 8th birthday at the "American Girl Bistro" in town. Basically, you get an appetizer and entree for each girl, and they provide goody bags as well as a cake.

It was very fun, and I would recommend it. The food was very good, and we even had leftovers to take home.

Here's Rachael with Alea, her friend from dance class.

Rebecca made friends with Gracie, which was nice because Rebecca has
the "Jan Brady Syndrome" and often has a hard time in social settings.

Rebecca was dressed as Kit, so she was excited that Gracie had a Kit doll.

Here's a nice group shot.

After the party, we all looked around the store some, then me and my girls
went downstairs to the mall food court. Abigail's family had dinner and all three girls
rode the carousel a few times. For some odd reason, they were able to ride it a few times for free.
(It is normally something like two dollars!)

As they circled around on the Carousel, the girls kept waving their arms toward us and yelling excitedly,
"It's FREE!"

Yes, you can tell they're my daughters, huh?

And the MOTH schedule keeps ticking ...

2009-05-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it was another productive day with our Managers of their Homes schedule. Rachael said this was "the best Monday ever!"

I cleaned out two dresser drawers. Each girl had a private music lesson with me, we did Five in a Row, math, spelling and phonics, and Rachael read out loud to me. The kitchen is clean. Laundry was done and put away. In a few minutes the girls and I will watch the first part of Anne of Green Gables while I cross-stitch.

We did lose some time at around 2:30 when I was getting sidetracked trying to figure out what to make for dinner ... which is interesting, because in the book it even suggests having a weekly menu which stays the same (at least parts of it) so you don't waste energy making decisions about it.

The nice thing is that it doesn't bother me to get behind a little, because we're doing so well otherwise.

I still haven't opened Managers of their Chores yet ... maybe tomorrow.

So, HOW did you do it all?? (More on MOTH)

2009-05-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

I'm flattered; a few people asked me how I managed to get so much done in one day using a schedule I created after reading Managers of Their Homes.

The two points I found most helpful were:
1) Stopping after a set time, even if everyone seems happy and things are going well.
2) "Assigning" kids a place and activity for a set amount of time.

For example, here's what parts of my day on Friday looked like (not exactly in this order), and yes, I used a timer for much of it:

30 minutes -- Rebecca has "piano lesson" with me in the living room while Rachael plays with little brother Benjamin in Benjamin's room

30 minutes -- Becca and Ben watch Blue's Clues on downstairs TV while I give Rachael her "piano lesson"

30 minutes - Girls play together in playroom, Benjamin naps, and I nap on couch

30 minutes -- Girls continue to play in playroom, Benjamin continues to nap, and I run around trying to see how much housework I can do in 30 minutes

30 minutes -- Becca and Benjamin play together in Benjamin's room while I work alone with Rachael

30 minutes -- Becca plays with stickers alone in her room, Rachael works independently at the kitchen table, and I do puzzles with Benjamin in his room

See how much got done in less than three hours?

Here were some of my previous objections to a schedule like this:

How horrible for the kids! Don't they get any freedom? How would you like to be ordered around all day? How will they ever learn to make decisions if every minute is decided for them?
Actually, the kids seemed to like it a lot. I'm sure Benjamin loved getting so much one-on-one time. Rachael was very excited when I told her that she would get "play time with Benjamin" every day from now on. Rebecca has been wanting piano lessons with me for a while now and finally got it. In other words, the schedule includes many things they love, so of why would they object to a day filled with those things?

Moving things about like that kept things fresh. The kids weren't restless or complaining about being hungry or tired. They didn't fight much at all. They weren't asking when things would be over, or asking about other things they could go do.

And as far as not making decisions for themselves, they still got plenty of choices. I didn't tell Rachael exactly what she must do with Benjamin. I didn't tell the girls what they had to do while they were in the playroom for an entire hour. Becca and Ben got to choose which TV show they would watch.

That sounds so stressful and exhausting, scrambling around and constantly trying to get stuff done every minutes of your life. Isn't rest important? What about those special moments that you can't plan for? Who wants to rush through lunch knowing you only two minutes left before you have to rush off to the next thing?
I scheduled a 30-minute nap for myself, and was able to actually take it because I didn't feel the need to pop up and try to get something done at that time, which is what often happens when try to nap.
If lunch (or anything else) is rushed, just adjust the schedule to give yourself more time.
I felt like we had more special moments this way, because I wasn't trying to do 2-3 things at once, and I wasn't getting annoyed at the kids and feeling like they were keeping me from getting things done.

Another thing that was mentioned in the book: If the schedule gets disrupted or you just want to take a break from part of it, it's no big deal because you know how productive the rest of the day has already been.

In a way, I feel bad writing such a glowing review for a system I've only been using for about two days. Maybe in a week, or a month, we will just hate it. Maybe I will discover things about it that are real problems. We'll see.

If you are intrigued by the idea, but not ready to shell out $25 just yet, feel free to ask me more questions about it, and I'll try to answer them.

The apocalyse must be near -- I'm doing MOTH!

2009-05-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

If you're not familiar with Managers of Their Homes, it is a Christian book written and published by the Maxwell family, who had seven or eight children and homeschooled them all.

It is about ... SCHEDULING, yes in capital letters and boldfaced, because I'd heard that the SCHEDULING they talk about is so intense and constant that their home sounds like the military.

So I figured it wasn't for me. Back then I was an unschooler, for heaven's sake!

Still, I was intrigued ... I always feel like I could use more help in getting my act together. Also, as you know, I'm always interested in What's Out There, because even if I hate it, it gives me something to think about (and, often to blog about).

But the library didn't have it, and I asked around to borrow it and couldn't find a copy ... and I really didn't want to spend $25 for a book that would probably make me say, "Oh my gosh, no WAY are we doing that! Are they crazy?"

But recently I heard about it again on a FIAR message board, and decided to finally suck it up and order the thing.

Well.

I got it a few days ago, and already the difference has been amazing. Just amazing.

I haven't even gotten to the point where you make the full-blown color schedule and hang it up. I I probably should, and it will probably help if I do.

Here is a list of what we did today before 4:00 pm:

* I washed Benjamin's sheets and put them back on his bed, and did another load of laundry besides -- and put it away!

* I gave both Rachael and Rebecca a private "piano lesson"

* I sat with on the floor with Benjamin, alone, and did several puzzles with him for almost a half an hour

* I finally helped Rachael set up a great birthday present she got, which was a scrapbooking kit with yarn and simple sewing machine. We learned how to thread and use the machine together.

* I brought the trash can back from the curb, got the mail -- and processed it! -- and filed some papers that had been piling up on my desk

* I read two books to the girls, and two books to Benjamin

* I researched and printed off some components for the lapbook we're doing next week

* I helped the girls finish up the FIAR notebook they were doing this week

* Rachael and I had a spelling lesson together, and she read a story out loud to me

* Rachael read the chapter book she's working on, did two phonics pages and two math pages, and we spent time doing some math together with the blocks

* Rebecca did three math pages, much of it with me

* Both girls made some "sticker scenes" from Oriental Trading, which we had forgotten we even had in the house

* The dishwasher was unloaded first thing this morning, and all of today's dirty dishes are in it

* Becca and Benjamin watched Blue's Clues together

* And I took a 30-minute nap, undisturbed

Now, that may not impress you, but it certainly impresses me! And by the way, I did not wake up particularly early -- 8:00 am.

And I still have time to blog before dinner!

The two other things that are impressive are:

1) I think the kids really liked it. They got to spend time alone with me, and they got to do many things that they really enjoy that we don't normally get to. I asked Rachael how she enjoyed the day following a schedule, and she said, "I love it!"

2) Perhaps best of all, the day felt so smooth and relaxed, and I was felt less tense and wasn't snapping at the kids as much. I didn't feel frustrated because I wasn't getting anything done. I didn't feel exhausted with nothing to show for it. Things didn't feel chaotic.

What was really interesting to me was that, with this scheduling idea, the computer didn't even become an issue. I didn't have to "keep myself from getting on it" like I talked about here. We were so busy doing interesting things that I had no desire to go read blogs and message boards or get on Facebook.

I'm hoping to write another post in a few days, both as an update and more detailed explanation of the book and why it seems to work.

Really Funny Picture

2009-04-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

[Note: My mother just informed me that a lot of my photos weren't coming through, so this is a second attempt.]

One morning a few weeks ago, Benjamin suddenly strolled into the kitchen wearing nothing but:

- A diaper
- Robert's glasses
- Robert's slippers

The girls about fell off their chairs, they were laughing so hard!
They wanted me to take a picture, so here it is:

Heading to the American Girl Party

2009-04-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Last week Rachael has her eighth birthday party at the "American Girl Bistro." We've never done a birthday party Somewhere Else before, and I feel a little guilty to be so extravagent, but it was a lot of fun, and the food was really good.

Here's Rebecca and Rachael (with Mia and Julie) right before we left. Rebecca is dressed like Kit, which was a Christmas present from her Grandma. Rachael is dressed like Josephina, which is a makeshift costume.

Picasa won't let me put more than 4 pictures in one post, so pictures of the actual party will be separate ...

If he's the one working, why am I so tired?

2009-04-25T13:16:00.001-07:00

My hard-working husband, Robert, has been working from 8:30 am - 1:00 am every night this week. He's at work right now (Saturday) and won't be home til after midnight. Last week was similar, although not quite so extreme. Next week will be the same.

Sadly, in the midst of all this, he was informed that everyone in the company is getting a pay cut.

It's been sort of surreal (and tiring) around here. Most mornings I see Robert for a couple minutes, and then I'm asleep when he comes home. Becca and Benjamin didn't see see for days. (Rachael is our "early bird" and they had breakfast together most mornings.)

I feel like I've been getting behind on everything the past two weeks. I still have two boxes of Easter Stuff I need to label and put in storage. Maybe tonight.

This morning felt good -- I swept, vacuumed, and mopped, and the girls did a thorough cleaning of their room (and Benjamin's room) and put away all the clean laundry that's been accumulating all week. Oh yeah, and I washed the ... what are they called? ... the things that go over the couch cushions.

So the house feels a lot better now.

Evenings here have been Different, though not necessarily Bad. One evening we packed a sort of picnic and went to the local school playground for an hour or two. After we got home there were tornado sirens, and the four of us, i our pajamas, read Mother Goose stories while lined up against the wall of the basement.

Last night we had "movie night" and ate popcorn and turned out all the lights. and watched the first half of the BBC production of The Secret Garden, which was very good. Rachael announced that we should make it a routine to have Movie Night every Friday night, which is not a bad idea.

We're been subsisting mostly on Trader Joe cheese pizzas, Trader Joe mandarin orange chicken and rice, and things like PB&J and mac and cheese and even a couple drive-thru meals for lunch. I am contemplating getting KFC and bringing it to a park tonight. I just don't have the energy to plan meals and cook like I normally do.

Robert is quite a guy. We all had breakfast together this morning, and, although he is very tired, his spirits are up. He even mowed the lawn before he went to work this morning. Can you believe it?

Sweet Failure (not written by me)

2009-04-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

I just found this blog entry and really liked it, so I thought I'd share it.

All the stuff I read in her "Parenting" archive was Really Good.

Field Day!

2009-04-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

We are members of a local homeschool group, and we do things with them approximately ...

Two times a year.

Here's what we did last spring.

Fortunately, we also attend a weekly Bible study with many of the same people, so we're not total strangers.

Last Friday was Field Day!

Here's the Wheelbarrow Race! Rachael is in the white tank top and light blue shorts.

Here's Rebecca with Regan, getting ready to start their race!

Meanwhile, Benjamin had fun in the toddler area.

Another boring "What We Did Today" post ...

2009-04-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

People either love these or hate these.

I'm mostly writing it because I always feel like I never accomplish anything and maybe it will help me feel more accomplished if I write it down.

Hopefully not too many of you will hate it. :)

***********************************************************************
I have been getting a late start in the morning a lot lately and I hate it. Robert has been working late (I mean, hours late) just about every night for a couple weeks, so maybe I can partly blame it on that. It's hard for me to get up and going in the mornings.

I have a routine that every Thursday morning I strip our sheets the minute my feet hit the floor, so I started with that, and then got in the shower. Thursday is also trash day, but this was one of those weeks when I was on top of things enough to get the trash out on Wednesday. Yay for me!

I think it was about 9:40 am when everybody was dressed, beds made, breakfast eaten and table cleared, teeth brushed. Oh wait, Benjamin is using the potty this week, so he didn't get dressed. :)

We started "schoolwork" today with a Math-U-See video lesson. These are about 5-8 minutes long. If you're familiar with the program, we are in Alpha, Lesson 24, which is subtracting from 10. Rachael did the lesson worksheet, then went back and did some review pages from earlier lessons, which was her own idea. She also likes the timed tests, so I used the worksheet generator to make them for her and Rebecca.

Next I gave Rachael 4 new library books and told her to take them to the couch for "DEAR." (In school-speak, this is "Drop and Everything and Read." Rachael knows this term from books and from visiting school last year.) I set the timer for twelve minutes, and Rebecca and I did some Explode the Code phonics pages together on the couch.

After that, Rebecca got interested in something in her room, so I did some "All About Spelling" with Rachael. We just got this a couple weeks ago, and she seems to really like it. We sat on the couch to do stuff with the magnetic letter tiles, then to the kitchen table to write some of the words.

Everyone was getting hungry, so we had a snack of cheese cubes.

Then Rachael did her Explode the Code by herself -- only one page today (she is in Book 5), and then wrote in her journal, which is really copywork of something she dictated to me on an earlier day.

Then we did our Five in a Row unit. Today was an Art lesson, which is always a favorite. The book this week is Miss Rhumphias.

We talked about two things today -- how to show wind in a picture, and how to use multiple mediums. Rebecca used paint and mosaic stickers to show a windy picture. Rachael used paint to make a background, and when it dries, she'll draw in something with marker.

By then it is about one thirty in the afternoon. Gosh, I'm not very time-efficient, am I? None of this was as smooth as it reads. In-between all this I'm helping Benjamin use the potty, breaking up fights, putting the clean sheets back on the bed, getting the mail, and throwing in another load of laundry.

Now it's time for a late lunch, which we have in the backyard. At about three, I bring Benjamin in for a nap. (First we read Mother Goose, then Goodnight Moon, as always.) Then the girls and I read a chapter in one of the "Kit Kittredge" books, and then we all have we call "Room Time."

Actually, it doesn't sound like very much, but I feel worn out.

Now we're homeschooling via YouTube!

2009-04-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

You may already know that we use a curriculum called Five in a Row, where you read the same book together five days in a row, and each day do something different related to the book.

One of the books in FIAR is called Babar: To Duet or Not to Duet.

Being a musician, I thought it sounded fun, but my library didn't have it and couldn't get it (which is unusual). It is out of print, and used copies on Amazon went for over thirty dollars.

But!

I found out that the book is actually based on a Babar TV series ... and the full episode of To Duet or Not to Duet was on YouTube!

So a couple weeks ago we "rowed" Babar by watching it! How cool is that?

We didn't go into depth as much as we usually do. We didn't do the art or Language Arts at all. Interestingly, the girls enjoyed the show, but did not want to watch it more than twice, and I even had to coax them into doing that.

We did a Babar maze and coloring sheets, and then found recitals of people playing Haydn's Surprise Symphony on YouTube! Very cool. Rachael learned to play it by ear.

I dug out some of my Music Mind Games I used in the public schools and in my private studio, and we did some rhythm and melodic dictation. It was fun. Unfortunately, we don't do that kind of stuff as often as we should.

This stuff is called "Blue Jello" because you say "blue" for a quarter note and "jel-lo" for eighth notes. As you can see, it's good for writing rhythms.

Here's Rebecca in front of her rhythms.

She would make up a rhythm, then I would clap it, but I would do part of it wrong. (A la Steve in "Blue's Clues.") They liked that, and caught me right away each time.

A better view of the rhythm itself.

Rachael went and brushed her hair, then came back so I could take another picture!

If you look closely, you can see the white braces on Rachael's legs. (Some of you may remember she had surgery and casts on both legs.) She has to wear the braces for about 7-8 more months.

What?? A 2009 Electric Company?

2009-04-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

Every now and then we watch a few episdoes of the The Electric Company, more because I like it than for any other reason.

[Did everybody else in my generation already know that both Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby were in it? And that Joan Rivers and Gene Wilder did voices in The Adventures of Letterman, or that Irene Cara was in the Short Circus? I didn't know any of that until about a year ago. I was also delighted to learn that Skip Hinnant (Fargo North Decoder) was Schroeder in the Broadway show, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," which I feel in love with when I was ten.]

Anyway.

I recently saw "The Electric Company" listed on our local PBS channel and got very excited, thinking that finally somebody got smart and started re-airing all the shows. I eagerly taped it, but then blinked, disappointed, a few times when I started to play it back. As I FF-ed, I saw nobody I recognized ... yes, there were some letters on the screen, but ... what was this, anway? Did I make a mistake and record the wrong thing?

At first I was simply confused (as usual), but then later read about it here. It turns out that this is a new and current version of The Electric Company.

I was really irritated by this at first. If you know me well, you know I can't stand when things are Different From How They Used to Be, and that my childhood memories are semi-sacred. It also bugs me a bit that they are using the exact same name, instead of modifying it somehow.

But when Rachael heard about it, she was eager to watch it, so I finally bit the bullet and we watched this new version of The Electric Company tonight.

The most obvious difference is that, instead of of skits and characters like Easy Reader and Julia Grown-Up, etc, there are some hip-and-happening teens, somewhat reminiscent of Hannah Montana, with a storyline. Interspersed through the storyline are different songs and animated bits about phonics and reading.

Also, of course, there is no groovy 70's feel, but rather, a sort hip-hop, homeboy, modern urban feel.

When we done watching it tonight for the first time, I asked the girls if they liked it. "Yes!" they both said. "We like it better than the other one!"

My comment to them was, "Well ... I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would."

(BTW, if you're longing for the original Electric Company in all its Grooviness, YouTube has a vast assortment of clips, which I am off to go watch right now.)

Ten cents a minute?

2009-04-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

A few months ago Suzy Ormon did an Oprah show about kids and finances. Among other things, she said that kids should never be given an allowance "for no reason." She suggested paying them minimum wage -- which works out to ten cents a minute -- and then either increasing or decreasing it if they do a good or poor job.

"Even for things like making their 0wn bed?" Oprah asked.

"Yes," said Suze, "if making their bed is something that helps you."

So ... I was thinking about this some while I went about because my business, because I am Obsessive and Weird.

Let's take Rachael, who is my oldest, who just turned eight yesterday. Here's what she does that is helpful to me:

Pretty much every day she "mostly" unloads the dishwasher, makes her own bed and often Bejamin's bed. She and Rebecca set the table for dinner and help clear the table after we eat. I've never timed all this (I'm not quite that Obsessive and Weird, although I did consider it), but I'm guessing all that adds up to about 7 minutes a day. Eh, let's even say that not all of it happens on the weekend, so ... about 40 minutes for the week.

About once a week I go grocery shopping, and both girls help me load the conveyor belt and unpack the groceries when we get home. Let's say they give me five minutes of helpfulness in that area. Okay, now we're up to 45 minutes a week.

Several week during the week she'll do Miscellaneous Things That Need to be Done; for example: cleaning up the playroom or bedroom, getting Benjamin dressed, sorting and putting away clean laundry, wiping the bathroom counter. I would conservatively guess that all those things add up to about twenty minutes a week.

So that's a conservative grand total of 65 minutes a week. And I am quite sure that many people reading this have their eight years old do more that that!

So if I understand Suzy correctly, I would be paying her $6.50 a week. Is that right?

Gosh, that sounds like an awful lot to me!

Although I understand Suze Orman's point -- or at least think I do -- I personally have never liked the idea of tying allowances to household tasks. First of all, it gives the impression that if the money isn't worth it to them, they can skip it. Second, I hate the idea of them thinking, "What am I gonna get for it?" every time they do every little thing in life.

Here's what we do: Every weekend the girls get an allowance, which is exactly ten cents per year old they are. (I picked this for the scientific reason that it is not a huge amount of money, and it is easy to calculate.) So Rebecca gets sixty cents a week, and Rachael get eighty cents a week.

Hopefully nobody tells Rachael that she deserves to be paid over six dollars a week, or else there might be a revolt.

Becca's Sixth Birthday!

2009-04-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

Since Rachael's birthday is in two days, I figured I'd better get Rebecca's birthday pictures posted.
She turned six and had a "Princess Party." This is the first year she invited her own little girl friends (she also invited my parents.) In the past, it's been relatives and friends of the family.

Here's the Party Girls! Rebecca is in the front, in pink, next to her friend Emily.
Big Sister Rachael is in the back with Lilia.

Weeks earlier, the girls had decorated this wall. The pink paper above Rachael's head is the "Schedule" she wrote for the party.
Here Emily is taking her turn on the pinata the girls made. Another game they played later was "Pin the Crown on the Princess."

Rachael basically planned and ran the entire party.

And here's everybody in front of Rebecca's Princess cake!
We got it at Publix. It has a crown and a wand.

Here's a picture of me with my Birthday Girl.

Look at how happy she is! :)

You Know You're from Pittsburgh When ...

2009-03-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

Although I lived several places while growing up, Pittsburgh is, and always will be, dear to my heart and definitely my childhood home.

I found this on Facebook; I guess if you're not from Pittsburgh it won't mean much to you. It's much longer than this; I just trimmed it to the ones that I "got" the most:

*******************************************************************

You Know You're From Pittsburgh When ....

Words like: hoagie; chipped ham; pop; and gumband actually mean something to you.

You will defend with your life that it's called pop and not soda. [I don't; but I remember how everybody else did.]

You wake up to KDKA.

You go 'food shoppin' at 'Jine Iggle'.

Chipped ham was always in your refrigerator when you were growing up.

You know what is meant by "The Point".

You've ridden the two oldest surviving inclines in the world.

When you refer to "Jimmies", you're not talking about some a group of boys with the same name.

You find it fun to kill your brain cells while holding your breath through the tubes.

You can pronounce the word Duquesne. [It never occurred to me that other people wouldn't!]

You don't understand why people say "to be" before verbs. "My car needs washed" or "my hair needs cut" works just fine. [Like the "pop" thing, I don't really do this myself, but I can spot it a mile away.]

You say "You guys" even if you're referring to a group of all girls. [Oh yeah. Now this one, I do.]

You have a picture of you when you were younger with the pirate parrot.

You know what Eat 'N Park is and the song that goes with it...Eat N Parks the place...for...SMILES.

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

You remember waiting for KDKA to flash your school name for a 2-hour delay.

You know that Mars and Moon aren't just in outer space.

You remember what Horne's was.

You measure distance in hours.

Your mother or grandmother has been seen
wearing a "babushka" on her head.

You own more than one original Terrible Towel.

You walk carefully when it is "slippy" outside.

You tell your children to "red up" their rooms.

You don't see what all the hype is about Disney World when Kennywood is just around the corner.

You know who Donnie Iris is!! [YES!!!]

********************************************
Oh, and what was that other local band, the one with initials ...? "I'm sure they sell ... VITAMIN L! It makes all things well ..."

I also remember eating Klondike bars at Isaly's ...

More Thoughts about why Johnny Can't Read

2009-03-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Some comments about my post about the book Why Johnny Can't Read got me thinking some more.

****************************************************************

I have a relative who taught first grade for well over a decade.

She swears up and down by a curriculum they used called Open Court Phonics. She could not say enough good things about it. Over the many years that she taught first grade using this curriculum, everybody learned how to read -- quite well, in fact. They read with expression, the understood what they were reading, and many of them read on a third grade level. Virtually nobody struggled with reading, either in first grade or subsequent years.

This always puzzled me for many years, because that is not even close to the typical school experience.

So I wondered: Was she exaggerating? Was she mistaken? Were her students unusual, for some reason?

So now, years later ... here I am reading Why Johnny Can't Read and Why Johnny Still Can't Read by Flesch. In both books -- both in the 1950's and early 1980's -- the author visits a few classrooms in different schools which use a progressive phonics program. (Which was something that made these particular schools rare at the time, he claims.)

Which phonics program doesn't matter, he points out. He lists a few on the market at the time. You could even make up your own at home with lists of words and phonics rules that he has in the back of his own book. However, in these particular schools, it just happens to be called ...

Open Court Phonics.

Anyway, he talks about both his observations and his discussions with the teachers and principals in these phonics-based schools.

He gives random first grade children different selections from the newspaper to read, and they read them almost perfectly. (One of the examples he gives is, "Suburban Riverside's policemen were ordered yesterday to capture, dead or alive, a brown squirrel named Marge. The hunt means a great deal to the 10 year old girl who was bitten by the creature on Tuesday.")

The various principals and teachers claim that there are no non-readers -- not this year, not last year, not the year before. It is completely normal for their students to test above the national norms, year after year.

Also, it is noted that these schools are in what is described as "working-class, industrial suburbs" with "a sizable colored population."

Some people will claim that parent involvement is what has made the difference in these cases, and not the method being used.

Perhaps. But then, on the other hand, I've known involved, conscientious parents who are paying money for reading tutors, or are even putting their children in special schools for dyslexic children, because their children are struggling with learning to read. What to make of that? How come my relative never encountered a dyslexic student in her years and years of teaching? How come there were no dyslexic children, year after year, in these "working-class industrial suburbs" that used a phonics program?

In Typical Jenny Fashion (kinda like this post) I'm not really making a conclusion or even offering an opinion. I'm just throwing out something I find Very Interesting, tossing in the questions it raises, and curious what others have to add.

It costs so much to eat out!

2009-03-26T14:35:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'm quite sure that you are laughing out loud at my ridiculously obvious title.

But I think what surprises me is that, even when I knock myself out to try to make it cheap, I'm still amazed at how much it costs.

Case in point:

Last week was Rebecca's sixth birthday (I hope to post pictures in a couple days) and we had gotten her coupon for a free Creation at Cold Stone Creamery. Since Cold Stone is between our house and Robert's office, I had him meet us there on his way home from work.

Rebecca's kiddie cup was free, we got a kiddie cup for Rachael, and Robert, Benjamin, and I all split a "Love it" sized creation.

It was seven dollars!

Not worth it. I won't be doing that again.

Then we realized we should probably get something for dinner (which I know sounds really stupid, but Robert doesn't usually eat dinner, and the rest of us had a big lunch and I thought we wouldn't be too hungry. But we all were). So we thought we'd live it up and stop at IHOP on the way home.

First of all, IHOP is hardly Fine Dining. (Which is just fine with us, but what I mean is, I think of it as a Cheap Eat.) Second, kids eat free there at dinnertime. Third, we all drank water.

And it cost twenty bucks!

To me, that's a lot of money for a single meal, especially when we had just spent seven dollars for "dessert" already, and especially considering we had gotten:

* Two free kids' meals
* One free kids' ice cream
* Split the ice cream we actually paid for; and
* Drank nothing but water

I guess I just need to get a grip and realize how much restaurants cost, and that even "cheap" isn't really and truly cheap.

Tonight I am cooking a chili casserole (Rachael's favorite!) and we just bought a carton of "Edy's Thin Mint" ice cream, which was on sale at Publix today for ... three-fifty, I believe.

Why Johnny Can't Read

2009-03-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I read a book that I thought was just fascinating on many levels. It is called Why Johnny Can't Read and what you can do about it by Rudolf Flesch.

It was published in 1955, which I thought was interesting in itself, because it seems like a lot of people think of the fifties as "back when schools were so much better."

What's also particularly interesting is that he wrote a sequel in the early 80's called "Why Johnny Still Can't Read."

In the first few pages of the original 1955 book, he says:

I was born and raised in Austria. Do you know that there are no remedial reading cases in Austrian schools? Do you know that there are no remedial reading cases in Germany, in France, in Italy, in Norway -- practically anywhere in the world except the United States? Do you know that there was no such thing as remedial reading in this country either until about thirty years ago? [This statement was made in the 1950's.]

If this is true, that is staggering in its implications. Especially for someone like me who has worked for years in "good schools" and has seen how students read (and spell -- oy!) and how sometimes as many as 30% of kids in my music class would have an IEP (ie, be considered "Special Ed.")

But what blows my mind even more is his description of visits to several first grade classrooms. (In fact, he also cites many similar examples from third grade classrooms.) He makes it clear that he has visited many many classrooms, in many different schools, and this is completely typical. [Again, this is in the early 50's.]

Of course [the students] make mistakes. That is to be expected, since they are learning. But perhaps you are still not prepared for the kinds of mistakes they make. One girl read "said" instead of "jumped" with full conviction that "said" is the right word. The next child is stumped by the word "truck" and simply stops, completely helpless ...

Obviously, that girl who confused thought the word "jumped" was the word "said" could not read. At all.

But a six year old girl not being able to read is really not so terrible. What is terrible is that she spends time every day "learning to read" by wildly fumbling around and guessing, and that apparently that's the reading strategy she will continue with for years.

But little Peter doesn't start with "One morning Alice" [as the story in the reader begins.] He puts his finger under the first word and begins, "One ... two ... three." The teacher tries to explain to Peter that he has made a mistake. It isn't "One two three." It is "One morning Alice." Peter obediently repeats, "One ... morning ... Alice ..."

What is striking to me here is that what Peter read is wildly incorrect, yet the teacher does nothing, points out nothing, explains nothing, other than tell him what it actually says.

[Charlie reads], "Jerry ... took ... him ... to ... the ... to .... the ..."
[The teacher says], "What's the next word, Charlie? You know the word, don't you? We've had it several times." Charlie can't remember. Peggy raises her hand and says, "pet." Charlie continues: "To ... the ... pet ..." He doesn't know the next word either. The teacher asks him to look at it. The word is show. Charlie looks at it, then searches his memory. "Fish?" he says.

Charlie looked at the word "show" and said, "Fish?"

He looked at the word "show" and said "fish"!

This is so sad to me. Notice that Charlie doesn't/can't even make the beginning sound when he gets stuck on the word "pet."Can you imagine what it must be like for him (and I assume many many others like him), to have to struggle and stumble through this kind of activity day after day? In front of peers, no less?

And again, what an unbelievably strange response from the teacher. She doesn't make a single reference to either letters or sounds but simply says they've "had" that word before.

If you're floored (as I was) by these teachers' responses, this might help you understand them. Flesch cites several "experts" and professors in the teaching of reading at the time, who say things like this:

"Current practice in the teaching of reading does not require a knowledge of the letters."

"The skillful teacher will be reluctant to use phonetic method with all children."

"Little is gained by teaching the child his sounds and letters as a first step to reading. More rapid results are generaly obtained by the direct method of simly showing the word to the child and telling him what it is."

I am really really curious what other people think of all this.

If you're an elementary school teacher, is that how you were taught to teach reading?

If you have a child in school, is that how they're being taught?

This is harder to answer, but is that how you were taught when you were a kid?

Why in the world would so many educated "professionals" adamently believe and preach this kind of thinking when it seems so ridiculous?

Is there anyone out there who believes it's not so ridiculous, and can explain and defend it to me and other readers?

Thanks for cashing in with any thoughts!

The TV show I dreamed about last night

2009-03-24T05:36:00.001-07:00

This is really weird ...

This morning I woke up suddenly and instantly remembered that I'd just had a dream where I was sitting in a restuarant writing a blog entry about a TV I used to watch about ten or fifteen years ago.

I have no idea why I was dreaming about said show; I certainly didn't even remember it until I had the dream, and barely do even now.

So ...

I'm not sure how much of an audience I even have left these days, after the last few rather pitiful blog offerings I've made recently. But, I thought it would be fun to post what little I remember about this TV show, and see if anyone knows what I'm talking about, and if they could jog my memory a little bit.

And if you have any Deep Psychological Theories about why I was dreaming about this show, I suppose you could throw those in, too.

Okay, the instant I woke up, I thought, "Bowling Alley."

And then I started thinking "odd assortment of characters," although I can't remember who any of them were. In the dream, I was including characters from the show Northern Exposure, so I don't know if these two shows have anything in common or not.

Oh, after I woke up and started thinking about it some more, I realized that a character worked in a bowling alley, but did something different ... like, he was a lawyer who operated out of a bowling alley ....? And I'm thinking it had a romantic element to it.

Any takers?

Okay now back to Useless YouTube ...

2009-03-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, now I am back to watching YouTube as nature originally intended it ...

I'm watching clips and interviews from The Big Bang Theory. And old clips from Roseanne with Johnny Galecki in it. And even a clip from 8 Simple Rules with Kaley Cuoco.

Yes, BBT is definitely my latest obsession. Actually -- I just suddenly had this thought -- it's kinda like my current-day Monkees.

Ooh. Of course! Didn't think of it like that until just now.

YouTube can actually be useful!

2009-03-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

Wow.
I just discovered that YouTube can be useful for something other than watching Schoolhouse Rock spoofs, 70's commercials, and Interviews With Famous People who are Hot (not that I'm naming names.)

I just got some music for choral festival this month, and one piece in particular is, um ... weird. Pages of quintuplets. Changing from 5/8 to 6/8 to 5/8 to 4/4 all in a single page. Markings like "accel. into blur."

I thought it would be really helpful to actually hear the darn thing.

And I can. (And so can you, right here.) In fact, every piece I'm preparing is right there.

This is very very cool. It helps greatly to hear what the emsemble sounds like before I show up.

Here's a couple others I'm playing this month, for your listening pleasure:
Exaudi! Laudate
Diriait-on (this one is quite lovely)

Seventy kids in the classroom?

2009-03-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

This will sound ridiculous if you've read this, but last week I was watching some John Rosemond videos I had purchased years ago.

Why, you ask? Well, I wanted something to cross-stitch to ... plus, it's making another good blog post, isn't it?

I think this story he told is very very interesting, and I'm curious what other people have to say about this, especially former teachers. (Or people who were students in the fifties.)

An audience member who I'll call Mary came up to John Rosemond and told him this story about herself:

*****************************************************

In 1952, Mary had been teaching first grade for a few years in a parochial school.

The day before school was about to start, the other first grade teacher in Mary's school had to leave town suddenly and wouldn't be back. Mary was informed that they would have to combine the classes until they found a new first grade teacher.

So ... they combined Mary's 35 students with the absent teacher's 35 students, and Mary had a first grade classroom with exactly 70 first graders and no teacher's aide.

After six weeks, the school observed that Mary (and her students) were having "absolutely no trouble," so they decided to save money and let her keep the 70 students for the entire year.

"And," Mary told John Rosemond years later, "not only did I have no problems, but all 70 students were reading and writing well enough by the end of the year to be successfully promoted to the second grade."

*****************************************************************
Rosemond then pointed out that, even though this was an unusual story, it was not that unusual. He claims that in his own first grade class picture, there were 54 students, and one teacher with no aide. That was the norm in the fifties, he claimed.

He used this story to springboard into the idea that today's children are not disciplined enough at home, or respectful enough of teachers, for that to be possible.

Now.

Here are my thoughts and questions:

1) Does that sound even remotely possible? Let's assume all 70 children are complete angels. Could you imagine 70 kids having a bathroom break? What if even half the kids had a single question about their math assignment on a single day? How could a single teacher possibly know -- really know -- how well 70 different kids are reading.

2) Was it, in fact, true that classrooms were huge back then, that there were no aides, that there were almost no discipline or academic problems

3) If so (or if not), what do you think is going on here?
Do you think the woman is lying?
Do you think she thought the kids were all doing well, but was mistaken because she couldn't keep track of them?
Were kids smarter then? Better behaved? Was there a different attitude toward school?
Are we deluding outselves today (as Rosemond seems to insinuate) by claiming some kids aren't developmentally ready to read at age six? Or that some kids have ADD or Learning Disabilities?

Looking forward to any comments on this one ...

Out of the Mouth of Babes

2009-03-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

My friend Kim (who falls into that Special Category of "People who Knew How Annoying I Was When I Was Nine") put this on Facebook. I didn't realize until just now that I had cut off the last few questions and therefore never got answers.

I thought number 12 was the funniest.

*********************************************************************

Cut and paste these questions and ask your kids their answers....it is a RIOT!

Answers are from Becca, age 5, and Rachael, age 7:

1. What is something mom always says to you?
B: Do your morning routine
R: I like being right!

2. What makes mom happy?
B: When I hug her.
R: When I do my morning routine quickly.
[Goodness, I'm starting to sound like a drill sergeant here, aren't I?]

3. What makes mom sad?
B: I don't know.
R: When Daddy yells at her.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
B: When you say funny things
R: If copies Benjamin in a funny way

5. What was your mom like as a child?
B: Fun
R: I don't know, but she does!

6. How old is your mom?
B: I don't know ... fifty ...?
R: 39

7. How tall is your mom?
B: Lots of inches
R: Shorter than Wilson, but taller than me

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
B: Be with me
R: Cross-stitch

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
B: Goes out
R: Watch The Big Bang Theory and cross-stitch

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
B: Playing the piano
R: Being a good mother

11. What is your mom really good at?
B: Playing the piano
R: Being a good mother

12. What is your mom NOT very good at?
B: Oh, there's lots of things she's not good at! Doing things that are other people's, like setting up another TV, or WII, or Nintendo
R: Getting me started at schoolwork

13. What does your mom do for a job?
B: Taking care of us
R: Playing the piano for concerts

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
B: I don't know
R: I don't know, but I do know her favorite drink is water

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
B: Taking care of us
R: I don't know
[Well, that one was disappointing]

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
B: Caillou's mom
R: A Charlie Brown character person!

Big boy in a big boy bed

2009-03-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

This is kind of old news, but in January we took down Benjamin's crib (after he had been regularly escaping it for a few weeks) and set up a "big boy bed" for him.

Rebecca picked out the comforter set for him. Isn't that sweet?

It was weird to pack away the crib when it has been in that room for almost eight years (with the exception of about a half-year period when Rebecca was two).

We like to lay next to Benjamin and read with him at bedtime. Right now his Daddy tends to read Rosemary Wells' Mother Goose books with him, while I read Goodnight Moon.

Money in the bank

2009-02-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

I'm learning it's a good idea to note the good moments, positive traits, helpful deeds, kind words, etc, and "store them in the mental bank."

Then, when you're tempted to think that someone is a jerk, or they never do anything nice or helpful, you can make a withdrawal from it and save everybody's sanity.

I've found it helpful to keep a mental bank account for a spouse as well as for children. But hey, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it's a good idea to keep one going for everybody you know.

***************************************************************

This morning I had a bit of a slow start. By the time I got up, showered, got dressed, and showed up in the kitchen, it was almost 8:45 am.

Rachael was up and dressed, and had already eaten breakfast with her Dad. [This, of course, earns money in the accounts for both of them.]

Her bed was made, she had unloaded the utensils from the dishwasher, and unloaded and stacked the clean dishes and plates.

She had read a book to Rebecca, done two pages in her Explode the Code phonics book, and was doing some copywork. No one asked her specifically to do any of this.

I was very impressed.

My debate with someone who "thoroughly opposes homeschooling"

2009-02-17T20:58:00.000-08:00

I had just been thinking a couple days ago how homeschooling is pretty much in the mainstream these days, and most everybody either admires it or thinks it's an acceptable option ....

And then yesterday I read this in the AJC Momania blog. And I had to respond. Maybe it was foolish of me, but I love a good challenge, and I was curious how people would respond to the points I was making.

Here's the excerpts of what I had to say.

******************************************************************************

It started off with MJG, a teacher, saying:

This will not come as a surprise to anyone but I am thoroughly opposed to home schooling with the exception of a few circumstances.

WHY? One reason is because of the enormity of the task and the fact that I have met several folks who have tried it and then decided it was way too hard. Is this why we require formal education to teach? DUH!

This is kind of like: I can cook…I should open a restaurant. I will order a kit to show me how and then VOILA I am on my way! By the time you spend 40 hours per week preparing and teaching, anyone could work a job and pay the tuition of most schools.

Obviously, she is [understandably] seeing homeschooling as the equivalent of running a public school classroom, but inside your own home. But of course it is really nothing like that, which is the point I was trying to make when I said:

You give the analogy that homeschooling is like a good cook deciding to open a restaurant. But this is not an accurate way to describe what homeschooling is or what we are doing.

Homeschooling parents are not trying to open a restaurant (or open a school). It would be a more accurate analogy to say we are like a good cook who decides to cook for their family instead of taking them to a restaurant every day.

You also say, “By the time you spend 40 hours a week preparing and teaching, anyone could work a job to pay for school.”

First of all, it does not take nearly forty hours a week to “prepare and teach” when you homeschool.

But even the time it does take is very different that if I was out working a job.

For example, I have a two year old. If I worked 40 hours a week to pay for my older children to go to private school, I would also have to pay for the two year old to go to day care.

But since we homeschool, instead the two year can sit in my lap, or in the high chair with a snack, or playing at our feet, while I work with the older kids. Not only is he home with me instead of day care, but it’s free!

Another example: this morning my second grader was doing her math. After I got her started, I went in the next room and did laundry.

Often she works in the kitchen while I cook dinner and wash the breakfast dishes. I can easily answer her questions or check something for her when she needs me.

But if I was away at a job, I couldn’t be cooking dinner and doing dishes and laundry during those hours!

Also ... although obviously it takes effort, I would not describe homeschooling as “hard.” If it is “way too hard” for a family, my guess is that they are either taking on way more than necessary, and/or approaching it in a way that does not fit their family.

Her reply (edited to include the parts directed at me) was:

YES, extremely educated and devoted parents ( who are not throwing in a load of laundry or rocking the baby) CAN be affective teachers. Sorry but most of the parents I have known do not fall in this category.

Jenny, I would love to hear it from professional educators that it does not take 40 hours per week ( you have 2 different grades here) to prepare and instruct children. Your ideas seem ridiculous to me. I cannot imagine teaching 2 children and running around the house doing household things at the same time.

So ... I guess you are not allowed to have an infant or toddler if you are homeschooling -- or, if you do, you have to hire a nanny. See how she still thinks I have the 40-hour week job of a classroom teacher job?

So I tried again:

I think this is the core of why you are against homeschooling:

You are picturing a homeschooling parent to be duplicating the job of a full-time classroom teacher.

We are not classroom teachers. We are not professional educators. (Even the ones who have a teaching background.) I am not juggling the job of teaching second grade with the job of teaching kindergarten. I’m not trying to be. I don’t need to be.

You’re right, a classroom teacher would not bring their two-year to class every day. But I am not a classroom teacher.

You brought up the meal/restaurant analogy, so I’ll use one as well:

If someone ran and owned their own restaurant, they would surely need a babysitter for their two year old while they went to work at that restaurant.

But do most women (or men) hire a babysitter so they can cook dinner for their family? Not that I’ve ever heard of.

Here’s another point: You think it is “ridiculous” that I prepare dinner while my daughter does her work two yards away from me. But I am available in two seconds any time she has a question or needs something. When do public schooled kids ever get the teacher to come answer questions for them the instant they have one?

Similarly, how often does a public schooled child get one-on-one (or two-on-one) time with the teacher? I don’t know, but I would be surprised if it was more than 30 minutes daily (if even that).

My kids easily get more than two hours of it every day, and obviously that still leaves a lot of time left over for doing laundry.

Homeschooling and being a classroom teacher are not the same animal.

I actually thought that was a pretty good response. I like my restaurant analogies, which I just came up with on the spot.

And isn't that silly, for her to think my children can't be learning, because I throw in a load of laundry? What does she think, that I should sit and stare at her for hours non-stop while she works?

So I felt like I was really getting on a roll here, and was looking forward to her response (especially about the idea of how much one-on-one time a public schooled child gets), but all I got was this:

Jenny…respectfully, you are one of the reasons I am against home schooling. Some folks cannot see the forest for the trees.
You are not a classroom teacher and so you cannot understand my points. I am not a homeschooler and so I cannot understand your points. Thanks for sharing, you have made it perfectly clear…to me.

and this, unfortunately, is where everything pretty much fizzled out. She threw in a snippy little insult toward me, then said she was done discussing it, because we would obviously never agree.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it actually felt like she couldn't counter-argue my points, so instead she said, "Well, we'll never agree anyway, so forget it" and left with a parting insult.

Well, hopefully someone out there enjoyed reading what I had to say. And like I said, if nothing else, at least it was a fun challenge for me.

Our FIAR study of Ferdinand

2009-02-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, we've recently started using a homeschool "curriculum" (not the word I would use to describe it, but okay) called Five in a Row.

The concept behind FIAR is that you read the same book every day for five ... um, days in a row, doing a different activity with it each day.

This week we are "rowing" (to use the lingo) The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, which is our sixth FIAR book.

This is what it has looked like so far:

Monday (Social Studies day) -- After we read the story, we found Spain on our big world map on the playroom wall. I had printouts from HomeSchoolShare.com of a map where they colored in Spain, and a little booklet to color in the flag of Spain.
Several months ago we got a "Learn Spanish" CD with a Chik-Fil-A kids' meal, so I dug that out and we listened to a few of the lessons.

We also watched the cartoon about Bugs Bunny fighting the bull (remember that one? "What a gull-a-bull! What a nin-cow-poop!"), although that was not speficially suggested in the FIAR manual. :)

Tuesday (Language Arts day) -- Read the book again and listening to some of the Spanish lessons on the CD again. Pointed out how and why the author used techniques like repetition and asking the reader questions (ie, "and who do you think that way?")

We discussed interjections, so of course we had to watch the Schoolhouse Rock video. (Hurray, I' for the other team!")

Rachael dictated part of a story to me about a little Spanish girl going to the bullfight that Ferdinand was in. I don't know if she'll finish it. If she doesn't, that's okay. I'll write it up on lined paper and it will be her Copywork for the next couple of days. Here it is:

*************************************************************************
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rosita. She was a very nice girl and lived
in Spain. Her mother was a belly-dancer and her father was a famous artist.

Her father was the kind of person that would never miss a day reading the newspaper. One day he was reading the newspaper when he came upon an ad for a bullfight. He looked up. "Does anybody want to go to a bullfight?" he asked.

"What's a bullfight?" asked Rosita.

"It's a place where you go and watch a fight. There's a matador and a bull. They both fight together until the end when the matador sticks a sword in the bull."

Who would want to go to a show like that? thought Rosita. But she didn't want to disappoint her father, so she said, "I'd like to go."

Then she remembered something. Her friend Raquel always wanted to go to a bullfight. "Can my friend go too?" she asked.

"Of course, if her mother says it's okay," said her father.

So mother got on the phone to call Raquel's house.

Her mother answered. "Hello," said Rosita's mother. "We were just asking if Raquel would like to go to the bullfight with Rosita."

"It's fine with me if it's fine with you," said Raquel's mother.

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Later this week I plan to watch a "Learn Spanish" video that I have on hold at the library; do an art activity involving size and distance; have the girls briefly act out some of the scenes; and discuss cork oak trees and clover.

I guess if I was really on the ball, we would be cooking some Mexican food, but I think I'll just let that go.

I'm sure there are some women out there that are having the kids build their own pinata and write to a pen-pal in Spain, but I'm not one of them.

So, as you can see, with one simple picture book from the library and a FIAR manual, you can cover a lot of ground, but it's fairly effortless and doesn't even take that much time.