More from Sen Lin Hu July 2, 2008

A few more photos and a little more follow up.

To answer Cher Mere’s question from the comments, yes it is a Concordia camp. I can tell that Violet made a big jump in speaking and listening ability after 2 weeks. I am excited for her, and also excited because I think I may have sweet talked an old friend (and zhongguo tong) into talking to her on the phone periodically to help her keep her conversational abilities going. (Plus then I have yet another family member helping me keep in touch with my friend.)

An interesting thing about the camp experience was that Violet was very aware that at 9 she was a little kid. The one-week camps had a lot of younger kids, 7 and 8, but even though this session of the 2-week camp was ages 8-12, Violet was pretty clearly one of the younger ones. She noted to me that even some of the 10-year-olds seemed to try to act very “teenager-y.” She’ll never do soccer at Sen Lin Hu again — the big kids would never pass to her! But she did make friends with some older kids, too.

Last night I was helping her dry off after a shower, and I commented that 9 was a great age, because you are getting big, but you’re still little. She asserted that she’s still little, and won’t be half-big, half-little until next year, until she’s 10. Knowing that Violet has always thought of herself as pretty big, I was a little surprised at her comment, but not that much. Going away to camp was a positive experience — I don’t think that she felt scared or bad. She just got to see up close that she’s not like the big girls yet, and she’s good with that. But she is still pleased that a boy asked her to dance on the last night!

They dance to Chinese pop music, such as this hit, which I think is either called “Kan guo lai” (”look over here”?) or Dui mian de nu hai:

But by far the camp favorite is Superstar (the video is from the original performer):

This is just a tiny bit of the campers who were at the session.

It’s scary to think about having 2 Concordia campers someday — maybe we’ll win the lottery before then.

Carnival Coming Up July 1, 2008

How time flies!

Way back when I hosted my carnival of homeschool calendars in January, I agreed to host again in July. And what do you know — July is upon us!

I am not trying to have a specific theme this time, but I would love it if any bloggers who sometimes visit my blog would contribute, even if you don’t normally do the carnival. (I haven’t written much that I felt would benefit the wide world lately myself!) Just contribute a post about whatever you blog best: book posts, excoriating the school system , homeschooling little ones, homeschooling big ones, great projects you’ve done or want to do, experiments in unschooling, one cool resource you’ve found, whatever. I like it when the carnival represents all kinds of families whose kids don’t go to school.

The current carnival can be found here.

The Big News June 30, 2008

NO — although it seems to be contagious right now in blogland, I am not having another baby. Whew!

Our big family news is that the last wayward member of our family of 4 is about to come home. Meaning, DH/Eggmaster has his last day of his out-of-the-house job tomorrow. And from then on, he’s working from home!

You may not be surprised that my homeschooling friends are envious — except the ones who have already managed all family members at home — while my other friends wonder how we will survive. I wonder that a little too, of course, but mainly I think it will be great.

This is part of how we’ll manage the no-nanny arrangement. Eggmaster will have to work from home, not just be home, but the girls can certainly handle themselves with an adult standing by for emergencies. Eggmaster has said that he’d like to work with the girls on math and science during his lunch break (he’ll keep fairly conventional hours, at least to start), which should be nice for all. Violet has been peeking into her new Challenge Math book since getting back from camp, and she is looking forward to doing calculus with dad, who is a big calculus fan. (Victoria would have been named Isaac, after Isaac Newton.) Challenge Math has a nice intro to graphing equations too!

[A side note: I want to cover radicals and negative numbers in greater depth during the next year -- fall 2009 I'm thinking we may try Art of Problem Solving algebra, and that's what she needs to work on first. A lot of slightly older kids go right from Singapore 6 into AOPS, but Violet needs more time. What resources have you got for me?]

But that’s not this week — this week Eggmaster gets a few days off before heading off to get oriented at the new place (and then returning to telecommute), and we have friends from India staying with us a few days. Violet still seems worn out from camp, too, though she is dying to start lessons on Chinese Pod. That may have to wait until next week too.

If, next week, you don’t hear from us, either we are in a state of total bliss or we have gone insane from the closeness.

Home Again June 29, 2008

We had a fun trip up to Bemidji and Sen Lin Hu. If you ever need to go to the Bemidji area, I can recommend the Hampton Inn on Lake Bemidji as a really nice place to stay with a great pool for young children, especially young children who may feel cheated out of fun experiences that older siblings are having.

Violet greeted me — after we discovered her in the Shanghai cabin — by saying “I danced with a boy last night.” (They have a dance the last night.) She’s writing a bit about camp on her own blog, so I guess if she wants to say more on that subject, you can find it there. (But I doubt it.)

A few poor quality photos and pictures from the closing program — for relatives and Sen Lin Hu’ers.

The pink group (fen hong se de xiao zu) saying what they like. Violet likes candy (she’s the one in the pink and orange Hanna playdress and bike shorts):

This is part of a little song about the Zhong Guo Tong, which as I understand it is something you get if you manage to avoid speaking English all day. Violet tells me she tried but it was really hard.

You may notice that the girl standing next to Violet can’t stop scratching. The kids were covered in mosquito bites! Violet had used up her whole can of spray, but she still had some wipes left. She actually looked pretty good compared to some other campers. (She clearly needed to be using her a albuterol inhaler a lot more than she was — she sounded awful!)

Unlike last year, Violet seemed pretty pleased to see us, though she hugged her counselors and friends ferociously as she said goodbye. (Also note the classic big sister strangle hold on Victoria.) This is one of her cabin counselors, Tong Tong.

This morning the girls played in their room for a long time and had to be dragged away to eat a late breakfast. As I escaped for a little personal time I left Violet reading to Victoria — got some good book ideas from Nina,
as always.

Sister Fest June 27, 2008

After saying I never tidied, I spent a long time yesterday tidying the girls’ room for Violet’s return. I thought after 2 weeks in a rustic camp setting, a clean bedroom would seem pretty awesome.

I actually enjoyed cleaning up in their room — I don’t do it much, because I want them to pick up their own stuff, which they do sporadically. They just have a room full of fun stuff that expresses their personalities. Here, a little collection of sister photos and bedroom photos over the past few years, captions below photos

American Girls play spot and sister plaque; Pirate bed decorated with leftovers from Victoria’s party

The bookcase is more a toy bookcase than a book bookcase, more bookcases are on the other side of the bunk. And where do the children really wish they were sleeping?

Aren’t they sweet? That’s a trip to a pumpkin patch coming up on 3 years ago, and a trip to the fair from who knows when. If I could add sound you’d hear the “Turkey Leg!” family cry.

I think these are 1-2 years ago.

The view in Violet’s bunk: crucifix, Tinkerbell, old “still life”, Shakespeare banners from birthday party. I am not a crucifix person; having grown up thinking Catholicism was exotic and mysterious, I am not drawn to crucifixes. This one, however, was purchased at Violet’s request and hung exactly where she asked. And that little monkey is from Sen Lin Hu last year.

Finally I’ve gotten corkboards for the assorted pins, ribbons, stickers, certificates, etc. that are handed out willy-nilly to children these days. And I had to show you the decapitated Puddle Duck. I think she’s been that way for something like 4 years. I haven’t tried to glue it, but I can’t consider getting rid of it. Beatrix Potter was such a part of the girls’ infancy and toddlerhood, and these little figurines are like having those characters around — for me. I’m sure the girls don’t even notice them anymore. If I could get some similar Frog and Toad figures I would put them on my own dresser.

Hurrah! The girls will be reunited tomorrow, and our family will be back to normal!

My Sock June 24, 2008

I had so wanted to copy the sweet domestic homeschool-homekeeping blogs I admire when I started this one. Thus our subtitle, “domestic adventures and homeschool miracles” — I had to relate the theme to the title somehow, though Red Sea School is really a name selected somewhat randomly by Violet shortly after she turned 6, to describe the school she was going to run for the neighborhood children. She had just read the story of the Red Sea in a Bible storybook for children, so I assume that was her motivation. And then it stuck, as things we don’t think through often do.

“Domestic adventure” describes our home life kind of the way “America’s Moving Adventure” describes moving across country with a U-haul. As I once said to my dad, how many people must look at that slogan during their move and mutter it bitterly?

I am not a tidy person — my mom has told me that I will need to plan for household help because I will just not do it myself. Which is true — I fill up my life with too much stuff, and though I continue to manage time better, as I approach 40 all evidence is that however I re-prioritize, tidying and decluttering are going to stay near the bottom of the list.

As my therapist neatly summed it up: I tend to excel at things that are invisible to most people, and my weaknesses tend to be very visible. I can cook — I just can’t get the dining room table cleared off enough to have anyone over. I am a bright person, if I do say so myself, but my work is for a narrow audience, and I myself am mostly anonymous in the process. I get rather few questions about the German Enlightenment in my social life, many more opportunities to apologize for the state of the living room.

Just yesterday I decluttered my Google reader of several blogs that are quite nice, very upbeat, and — for me — slightly demoralizing. I need to focus more on being the best me — forgive the Oprah-ism. To analogize: more Rhoda, less Mary; more Breakfast Club Ally Sheedy, less Breakfast Club Molly Ringwald; more Laverne, less Shirley; more Rizzo, less Sandy. More Derfwad, less . . . of that other stuff.

Still, and unsurprisingly, my domestic and crafty moments give me lots of little thrills, so I can’t let go of them entirely. So I persist, from time to time, in indulging my would-be crafty-person homemaker side. Like now.

Here’s my sock, from the Ann Budd simple sock book, the chevron lace pattern. At the suggestion of my LYS (oh, you know, that means Local Yarn Store if you are hip to the new knitter vocab) I’m doing heels and toes in a complementary color to be sure that I have enough yarn. “Complementary” here means something like “lively fun contrast” — I didn’t want to make my first pair of adult socks — and perhaps only the 2nd thing I’ve knit for myself, since the purse — too serious.

What Can’t You Give Away on Craig’s List June 23, 2008

I’ve been trying to declutter and straighten up in preparation for our India-going friends to stay with us a few days. My experience with Craigs List is that you can put out *anything* for free and it will go in a matter of hours, if not minutes.

Most recently, I put out a box of wire hangers, which were rapidly snatched up, and I got e-mails later asking if I still had them. I’ve gotten rid of kitchen utensils, ancient Martha Stewart magazines, and a random box of household “stuff.”

But my old Nordic Track cross-country ski machine, still totally functional, sits on the boulevard, unloved, unwanted, even by the scavengers who pick up the freebies and sell them at their own garage sales.

You can get people to come pick up your wire hangers, but not exercise equipment that would cost $100s of dollars. Go figure. Does everyone in the Twin Cities have unused home gym stuff at this point?

Because Fairies Love God June 23, 2008

It seems like I walk a treacherous road trying to pass on a Catholic faith to my girls. We have to respect the differing beliefs of people in our family, and our own home. And we have to work with wild, “overexcited” imaginations. Fairies really throw me off, because I like them, and I really enjoy how my kids enjoy them, and I think the Waldorf people understand something that I can’t quite express about childhood magic.

Violet is old enough to handle some ambiguity, though she throws herself fully into Santa and fairies and such like when the time is right. Victoria hasn’t quite mastered that — either they are pretend, or they are not, and she goes back and forth between those views.

Today as Victoria was working on her fairy garden, she was in full fledged fairy mode, so much that I wondered whether to offer a gentle reminder that fairies are pretend. She made their pathway through the garden in a cross shape. I commented, in the spirit of the proceedings, “Oh, a cross shape, that’s lucky.”

“Yeah, because fairies love God, right?” she answered.

Ummm, well, “Of course they do!” I answered, not wanting to put fairies and God on the same plane, yet not wanting to close down her young love of magic either. I fell down on the side of affirming her imagination.

I find it hard to judge people who root out magic and fairies from their children’s lives, either in the interest of maintaining a religious faith or, what people imagine to be the opposite, to keep their children firmly rooted in physical reality. Still, I could never do that in a million years. That fleeting space of children’s wonder is too precious, and it is such an exquisite pleasure — and daunting responsibility — to get to experience it again as an adult.

Blast from the Past: Last year at Sen Lin Hu June 22, 2008

Do I miss Violet? Oh yes I do. I’ve been looking at last year’s photos from Sen Lin Hu to try to picture her at camp again this year. I also updated the photos in the post I wrote last year. (Previously they weren’t visible, because I switched the photos to private. I was uncomfortable with the searches that were leading to my blog photos. Going private fixed that — though anyone can contact me if they want to be a flickr friend.)

Here’s last year’s post. I was tempted to delete my comment about the staffer who really liked V., but hey, it’s a chance for me to recall that my natural delight in hearing good things about my kids can come off too much like . . . boasting, I guess. I don’t know . . . don’t you think your kids are incredibly, fabulously special? At least when they are not being incredibly, fabulously naughty, stubborn, obtuse, or otherwise irritating? I hope so. I’m sure they are.

Anyway, a little walk down memory lane for a slightly sad mama in a quieter, emptier house:
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Just a few pictures to post about Violet’s week at camp. She had a great time and is dying to go back for 2 weeks next year! The staff:camper ratio is amazing — these kids are very well taken care of. Every member of the staff seems to take a very personal interest in the villagers. (We were especially delighted by a woman — not sure what her position was — who told us V. was “very clever . . . very special.”)

Many of the staff live in China during the year — several were English professors at Chinese universities, one man is a professional musician. US college students also come to work as counselors.

Violet was despondent when we came to pick her up. She cried and cried as we drove away, although she cheered up as we drove home and talked about seeing little sister, swimming, etc. The girls really missed each other.

Violet has her own photos from disposable cameras, and once I get those we’ll try to post more info for those who are curious.

Parents Program: Dancing to Chinese Pop music

With her usual teacher (a student at Mills College)

Folding Paper Cranes with the lead art teacher

Painting from Calligraphy time — I believe that is her Chinese name written up top: Lin Luo Lan.

Can’t Stand to Leave

I Miss My Girl, and other stuff June 19, 2008

Violet is off to Chinese camp this week and next. I miss her more this year than last! But I can only imagine that she is having the time of her life. Little Victoria has mixed feelings — she misses her sister and she’s bored, but she also has a little newfound freedom, with one less person to tell her what to do.

I am a bit listless about blogging, so I’m taking direction from Sheila and telling you what’s on page 123 of the book nearest me (though this was somewhat arbitrary, as there are a lot of books very near me), as per these instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

From Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way

Usually in English we strive to preserve the old spelling at almost any cost to logicality. Take ache. The spelling seems desperately inconsistent today, as indeed it is. Up until Shakespeare’s day, ache was prounounced aitch when it was a noun. As a verb, it was pronounced ake — but also, rather sensibly, was spelled ake. This tendency to fluctuate between “ch” and “k” sounds was once fairly common. It accounts for such pairs as speech/speak, stench/stink, and stitch/stick. But ache, for reasons that defy logic, adopted the verb pronunciation and the noun spelling.

Obviously more than 3 sentences, but isn’t that interesting? This kind of stuff fascinates both me and Violet.

That’s why, by the way, I don’t think I am much of a “deschooler” in the ways suggested in the book I am reading and will soon write about, Deschooling our Lives. I just plain love arcane scholarly crap (and I mean “crap” in the best possible sense), and I like forcing it on sharing my enjoyment of it with my kids.

On a related note, my friend Rex Parker has been putting an excerpt from page 123 of the paperbacks he features on his vintage paperback blog. (I just noticed the new header with the awesome quote, “Looks like you’ve been behind the barn.”) Very funny . . . don’t click the link if you have to get off the computer soon.