HS Comments on the Fly

Is this free rice thing for real? I saw it first at by other means. I couldn’t get above 46 and about gave myself a mental hernia or brain aneurism trying. They should use more Latin/Greek derived words instead of all the Anglo-Saxon-looking ones. I think I need to go veg for a while after that.

I thought for sure that we would have a difficult time of it, but by following the instructions at Earth and Sky, we had no problems. The comet is named Holmes.

This is the part of the instructions that was key:

“Remember, all stars look like pinpoints. Comet Holmes is a fuzzball.”

We could see it easily with the naked eye. When I brought out the binoculars, it was a little more clear. Binoculars aren’t necessary though.

We are missing it. And I am not amused.

It is supposed to be out in the evening, but I just am not getting out there. To top it off, I have not even managed to mentioned to either of my progeny — you know, because they might be able to remind me.

I think I am missing this evening comet because when 5 p.m. rolls around (when school ends here), I just turn off and don’t think about anything but getting dinner made and relaxing my brain a bit. My daughter and I did managed to make it outside to see the Perseids meteor shower last August. The streaks seemed especially long this year which made the show rather spectacular. We were up on the hood of the vehicle under a comforter to stay warm and avoid rattlesnakes. In the summer we have to wait until late (like midnight) because sundown is so late.

As usual, Earth & Sky does not fail to inform about the current Comet Holmes. It explains how to see it. According to the comments, people were still seeing it last night. So I suppose there is still hope. I also found this article, too, that seems to tell us that we can still see it tonight. However, the morning news just let me know that clouds are forecast. Drats.

Comet Holmes supposedly doesn’t have a tail. No tail? That’s puzzling. There are supposed to be two tails, right? I believe I learned that over 15 years ago with what I remember as being our very first unit study on astronomy. The kids made comets out of foil and cotton balls (tails) and threw them around the living room. Ah, great memories.

Some pics.

I just re-evaluated the *Visitors Favorites* section at my Latin and Greek roots site and my favorite is not on the list!

The top 5 Latin and Greek roots resources are pictured at the bottom. These are based on visitor sales since the beginning of July of this year.

The surprise new addition to the list is Vocabulary from Classical Roots. I’m not overly fond of it since it didn’t seem to help out my student at all. It seemed to not include enough work with each of the roots — or at least not enough for the roots to successfully lodge in the gray matter permanently. And no, I don’t think it was the student’s fault.

It took us 12 hours to read aloud The Lost Painting. I am pretty sure that is correct because I have a little form that I use as a bookmark that I note times, dates, and pages on. Of course, we discuss during that time, too. A straight read through would take less time.

It was a satisfying read. It would be great for a high school student who has an artistic bent. It covers things like restoration, provenance, artistic scholarship, etc. It is actually a non-fiction book but is written as a narrative. It reads just like a novel for the most part, but the names haven’t been changed to protect the innocent. Carravagio’s life story is creatively woven in also.

This is the lost painting.

If you do read the book, follow-up will need to include info showing that art experts found another version of this painting in Rome which was authenticated by Mahon and others. (source)

I am thinking of decreasing my breaths per minute. That will lessen my carbon footprint, right? Anything to be green.

I am rather miffed that we did not get to finish The Lost Painting today. I want to finish it myself, but it’s a read aloud that my daughter and I are reading together. It takes real character to not go and finish that book on my own, I will have you know. But then, that would rob me of the pleasure that comes from reading it together. Okay, it would rob her of it, too, but it’s all about me right now.

I have been weeding out my links on the left. You know, removing links to unproductive blogs. If they haven’t posted since May, then there’s no need to keep them on the list. While doing that, I got distracted a bit — particularly by Mariposa, Wind Dancer, and Lifetime Learning.

I was also distracted by Crystal who wrote:

Basically, our society thinks it’s REALLY COOL to treat kids like crap ~ oh, and husbands too!

Crystal can be found over at Daikini Crossroads, and she had a link to this song on YouTube. It made me shudder and feel like I was about 8 again. Hopefully, all moms don’t all sound like that all the time. I have tried not to, but a few things have to be said and taught, imo. Or maybe it’s just quicker to tell a child something than it is for them to figure it out on their own or hear it on the playground. Like … raw veggies are usually better for you than cooked. But with kids, sometimes you’re wrong either way you slice it because I know there are things I wish I’d been instructed on before I left home — like that using a fork upside down with your left hand is okay. Someone dropped the ball on that one. I just hope that most folks think that there’s more to motherhood than that song indicates. What will digital archeologists 200 years from now think of motherhood in the early 2000s when they view it? Yes, I know there are no digital archaelogists … yet.

Okay, what else to blather about?

Oh, I know. This is a good one. I’m finally getting around to selling my oldest’s homeschooling books — now that I know which ones we won’t be needing for my daughter. I thought for sure I could get about $200 on eBay for all the books, but all I found is one set of books which will net me around $45 if I’m lucky after eBay and Paypal fees. So, yeah. A minor disappointment. Not a big deal, but still a deal.

I ordered The Man Who Made Time Travel last night. And then as I was brushing my teeth in preparation for slumbering, I remembered that I could have Mooched it, or at least tried to Mooch it because I’m not sure that BookMooch.com has any copies available. What was I thinking? How could I forget about BookMooch? Quick change of topic, sort of: Doesn’t it seem like BookMooch is just more like StandInLineWaitingForABookYouCan’tWantAllThatMuchOrYou’dJustPayForIt?

To avoid any chance at misunderstandings, I am now removing the world sleep from my vocabulary because the second listed meaning for the verb sleep at m-w.com is to engage in s*-x-ual i-n-t-e-r-*-ourse. (must foil the search engines) Why can’t we just freeze our language and never let it change? kwim? I know! Oh, I bet it’s because it’s a tool. We are not the servant of our language. You know, just like curriculum is a tool and we don’t let the curriculum dictate how we teach our children.

See how I brought that right back around to homeschooling?

Oh, but I forgot to say something about The Man Who Made Time Travel. That’s John Harrison. The smartest and most resourceful and determined man in history. Did you see that movie Longitude? Of course, you did. Everyone has. It’s so good. Inspiring. Michael Gambon’s (you know, Dumbledore) acting is superb. He is the perfect Harrison. But he was also good in Wives and Daughters — shockingly so. It brought tears to my eyes. But back to the book — The Man Who Made Time Travel is supposed to be for little kids, but I’ve never seen it. I finally just gave in and ordered it. (I’ve been trying to see a copy before buying — one of my cardinal homeschooling rules — for way too long.)

John Harrison was the fellow who made a clock that could travel by sea. That’s important because people used to get lost at sea and then starve to death or die of scurvy, which, of course, led to ghost ships. Queen Anne of England offered a huge reward to anyone who could figure out a way of figuring longitude at sea because she was tired of losing her expensive ships and quite possibly tired of losing her subjects, too. Many tried to figure longitude by figuring out the movements of the stars and moon. Harrison did it with a clock by using springs and layering metals (see H1, see H4). I think they need a statue of him at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Seriously. I’m surprised there isn’t one. Wait. He was a commoner, wasn’t he?

Hey, you know that homeschooling mom, Amy, who makes soap in the middle of the night with a goofy hat on and has four boys in Florida? I love her Pearberry Soap! You need some. It smells great! You remember the description of Pearberry on her site? It’s the soap that her neighbor spends hours whiffing. Now I understand. I’m not a big fan of the Lilac. But the Pearberry and Rosemary Mint are both brilliant.

The good news? The Office is on tonight. Let’s hope it’s got more funny parts than *shudder* parts.

So, anyway, I guess I’ve got plenty to do around here. Like correct yesterday’s algebra work. And, yes, I do wield a claymore-sized red pen. It’s math. And it’s high school.

100 Books Your Child Should Hear Before Starting School

I found this list by clicking through from Painted Rainbows and Chamomile Tea.

I think it’s just stoopid to put “should” in the title of the list. Possibly “might” would be a better word.

OR … wait for it … maybe the could produce a flyer that helps parents and children choose books all by themselves instead to fostering dependence.
Maybe the flyer could state:

• See the shelves (or bins) in the E section? Look through them and pick out some books that look interesting. (After all, why couldn’t any one of those books be a good book?)
• Parents should pick out some books that appeal to them personally because the parent may get to read it a few times if the child enjoys the book a lot.
• Buy books for your child and give the child unlimited access even if it’s a really nice book. If the book gets rough around the edges or falls apart, buy another.
• Not all children like to hear the same story over and over again.
• If the child is not enjoying the book, find another.
• Look for books that evoke happiness, peace, and wonder, ones with lovely illustrations and engaging characters. Reading should be enjoyable.
• The goal is to raise a person who, as an adult, enjoys reading — novels, newspapers, travelogues, how-to books, reports, history books. So try to make all reading experiences with your child enjoyable. Give them happy memories of trips to the library or bookstore with their parents. Give them warm memories of you, the parent, reading books aloud to them on the couch, in bed right before lights out, or out on a summer day in the shady hammock. If they are happy while reading, it will be a feeling that they will want to duplicate as the years go by which will result in a person who ends up loving to read.

One thing that really bugs me about the book list is that some of these books will be enjoyed more (or again) after a child is school age. Just because a book is listed on List A to be read during grade 1 doesn’t mean a 3rd grader may not enjoy the book also. Putting limits on when a person should read a book is foolish.

I know that we didn’t do the Macaulay books (City, Castle, Pyramid, Mosque) when the homeschooling catalogs said we should at around 9 years old. My oldest read City around age 14. We had already studied Rome a few times by then and so the info in City was easily assimilated and had a deeper meaning. If he’d read that book at age 9, he’d never pick it up again later, which is sad since it’s a great book on city planning — great light reading for a high schooler who may be considering engineering. Timing. It’s really important, but getting it right is a matter of serendipity, really. The only reason that City didn’t get read earlier is because I didn’t see it at the library and couldn’t afford it in addition to all the other books we truly needed. I finally found it at a library sale. You see, it wasn’t about sticking to a reading list; it was just how things turned out.

Ack. I just realized that I’ve already written an entry like this. Create Your Own Classics aka Skip Twist. Repeating oneself, a sure sign of getting old. I should be doing crossword puzzles to stave off Alzheimer’s, but crossword puzzles just make me cross.

Anyway, my point, lest I get lost in old-age-induced digressions, is: We can’t let self-proclaimed experts tell us what books need to be read when as if we are too stupid to figure that out for ourselves. A list may be a good starting point, but it shouldn’t be allowed to dictate our reading choices. If we do give it that type of power over us, we are limiting ourselves and our children — and sometimes just wasting our time on drivel-filled books.

But, back to that list for just a second. I do not understand why some books are on that list. I never read my kids Where the Wild Things Are. Teachers and librarians read that book to me incessantly when I was very young. I hated that story. It was creepy and gave me nightmares and made me afraid to go to bed at night.

Here’s how Amazon.com describes the book comments in [] are mine:

Where the Wild Things Are is one of those truly rare books that can be enjoyed equally by a child and a grown-up. If you disagree, then it’s been too long since you’ve attended a wild rumpus. [That’s me! Wild rumpus free for years and proud of it.] Max dons his wolf suit in pursuit of some mischief and gets sent to bed without supper. [Hey, that would be awful. Why scare kids with denial of food?] Fortuitously [Oh, yeah, lucky me], a forest grows in his room, [um … scary] allowing his wild rampage to continue unimpaired. Sendak’s color illustrations (perhaps his finest) are beautiful, and each turn of the page brings the discovery of a new wonder.

The wild things — with their mismatched parts and giant eyes [teeth, claws, fangs] — manage somehow to be scary-looking without ever really being scary; [Um … they are too scary!] at times they’re downright hilarious. [No, they’re not hilarious; they’re creepy.] Sendak’s defiantly run-on sentences [Oh, yeah, let’s teach the children well by using bad grammar defiantly] — one of his trademarks — lend the perfect touch of stream of consciousness to the tale, which floats between the land of dreams [I’ll make my own dreams, please.] and a child’s imagination.

This Sendak [non] classic is more fun than you’ve ever had in a wolf suit [Only wolves and werewolves have fun in wolf suits.], and it manages to reaffirm the notion that there’s no place like home. [There’s no place like home? That’s what Dorothy said after her scary time with the flying monkeys and witch. At least she got to make her own dream.]

Don’t you just want to buy a copy of your own?

My life partner sent me this link. I think it is so cool. Fascinating. Click on it and ZOOM way in to see what’s in Zakouma, Chad, Africa.

Specific instructions:

• click on link
• take the little horizontal bar that is near the bottom of the veritcal scale on the left and move it all the way to the top
• wait for the satellite photo to appear
• click on the + button to bring the image in closer

I love it when prime time television shows display that grammar is relevant in the workaday world.

For your viewing pleasure, Whomever vs. The Office: 1 min 42 secs of The Office from YouTube and NBC.

This is a recycled entry from sometime in 2003. Still pertinent.

Today in our read-aloud Laura and Carrie, of Little Town on the Prairie, walked with their father to the 4th of July celebration. A gentleman was addressing the town gathered for the celebration.

“It’s Fourth of July, and on this day somebody’s got to read the Declaration of Independence. It looks like I’m elected, so hold your hats, boys; I’m going to read it.” Laura and Carrie knew the Declaration by heart, of course….

Of course? What does she mean, of course? You mean they memorized it and could have recited it themselves? And even understood all the big words?

That, of course, gave me pause. It sounded like everyone memorized the Declaration of Independence back in the 1880s or thereabouts.

This evening I decided to try to find out if most folks actually did memorize it. Googling didn’t do me much good. I did dig up a useful web site about the Declaration, but I couldn’t verify that most folks prior to 1900 could recite the Declaration of Independence from memory.

I doubt any of us in this homeschool will memorize the Declaration. We have discussed it a bit, of course, and will again. But memorize it, no. Not hardly.

Having read the Declaration of Independence before as a teen and not being able to make hide nor hair of it, I never read it again. In fact, I avoided any study of the Declaration of Independence, thinking, “Yuck! Boring! Incomprehensible!”

But the other day, my teens and I read a really good book together. It’s really quite good, and I’m impressed by it.

And I’m not kidding–this book makes the Declaration of Independence much easier to decipher! Granted you may still need to use the glossary in the back a couple of times, but the meaning overall will be a lot clearer.

The Declaration of Independence: The Words that Made America makes the Declaration easier to understand because this book takes what is usually a whole page of words and turns it into about 145 pages of words and pictures. By breaking the Declaration down phrase by phrase, it’s much more easily digestible. You see, just small snippets have been put on a page and helpful drawings accompany them.

Here’s an example. On the right hand page is: “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government,” is written. On the left is a picture of four committee members who worked on the Declaration cheering while the other committee member is drop kicking a crown with the words “British Rule” on it.

An illustrated Declaration of Independence is just what the doctor teacher ordered, and my hat’s off to Sam Fink for putting the book together.

I definitely recommend this work. I think it’s one worth buying and having handy. It’s great for any age, especially students who have previously studied the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence refers to many topics and events that we covered a couple of years back when studying U.S. history. Having that background knowledge helped with understanding the Declaration of Independence more fully.

Anyway, most homeschoolers need to put this book on their either their Library List or their Buy List. If you’re homeschooling in the US, it’s a tool you really can’t afford to homeschool without.

K12 Inc. has “acquired” Power-Glide. Well, that’s interesting. (source)

Do you remember back when Power-Glide first hit the homeschool market. What was it? Around 1995? Maybe it was before that, but I remember it around ‘95. In fact, we bought the French version.

Do you know what I learned with that purchase? Not French, sadly enough.

I learned: Don’t buy anything just because a reviewer in a catalog LOVES the program before she’s even used it.

I bet you can see all the warning signs, huh?

Warning sign #1: Reviewer in a catalog. Who’s the reviewer working for? So the reviewer is actually a salesperson, huh?

Warning sign #2: The product is new. Results so far = none.

Warning sign #3: The reviewer hasn’t used it beyond a couple of lessons. Again, results = none.

Anyway, I tried and tired to get Power-Glide to work for me — yeah, just me — but I never could. I worked on it alone after the kids had gone to bed, but I finally had to give up. I don’t think it included enough practice … at least not enough for me. I’m glad I tried it on me before trying it on the kids.

CBD sells Power-Glide, but I don’t recommend it.

	Not noxious!

It was a tall and pretty thistle plant that I was admiring when someone drove up, jumped out of their car without putting it in park (it kept rolling a bit), and told me that I needed to cut it down because it was a Canadian thistle and a noxious weed. She was very vigilant. And motivated. I was taken aback. I told her, sweetly, of course, that it was the national flower of Scotland and that I wanted to see it bloom first. I assured her that I’d make sure that the flowers didn’t turn to seed. She seemed somewhat mollified. However, I wasn’t.

I took to the internet in a fact-checking frenzy. My daughter and I eventually identified the plant as a Scottish thistle which is not a noxious weed in this state; it is in some others, though. The Canadian thistle is a noxious weed in this state, but our lovely flower was most definitely not a Canadian thistle. There are a number of obvious differences between a Canadian thistle and a Scottish thistle.

I’ll admit it, though. It is rather weed-like. But it’s not noxious, so we can cultivate it if we care to. It did turn out quite nicely. In England, you can buy a Scottish thistle bush and plant it in your garden. Obviously in a land overrun with gardeners, there would be fewer noxious weeds.

Anyway, you can see that big bulb on it, can’t you. We didn’t think that you could press the flower like it showed William Wallace doing in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart. So, we cut one and put it between some leftover bricks. You can see the results. That big ol’ bulb flattened right out. But look at the bloom! It lost all of its delightful color! So, I think that I found an error in the Braveheart movie. William Wallace’s pressed thistle supposedly retained its color, but I think it was due to movie magic instead of botanical science. Just a guess.

	pressed, colorless thistle

I looked on YouTube for Braveheart clips that included the thistle, but could only find a clip of young Murron picking the flower and giving it to young William at the funeral of his father. Her picking the flower is amusing since picking a Scottish thistle is not as easy as she makes it look. It’s extremely prickly, which my daughter and I found out when we tried and succeeded in bringing in a bouquet. And it did take both of us to cut and handle the stalks. And yes, it did hurt. I imagine, judging by its prickles, that it’s not meant to be picked.

Flower of Scotland is about the thistle. Can you believe there’s a song about it? I found it out when searching around YouTube for the above-mentioned clips. It’s my understanding that the “Proud Edward” mentioned in the song is Edward II who fought against Scottish King Robert the Bruce in 1314. He was the son of Longshanks if I’m understanding it correctly. Here’s a link in case you want to hear the song. I guess that it’s sung by Scots before rugby games. There are tons to YouTube clips of that.