Title? I Don't Need No Stinkin' Title!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated this blog. I've wanted to. I have! As usual, I've been keeping busy. If my laptop were still in working order, I'm sure I'd have updated earlier than this. Sitting at the desktop often feels like torture for me. I miss the portability.

Quick run-down...

CCD started, and I have a smaller class of first communicants this year. The first grade class is HUGE though, so I'll be kept on my toes next year. I wonder if I can petition to have the class divided then. It's so much easier with a smaller class. I find that I'm getting way more covered during each session. I want to make a connection with each of the kids, but when the classes exceed twenty or so students, I spend more time on classroom management than I do actually teaching the faith. I have a really great bunch of kids this year, too. They're asking great questions, and are really absorbing a lot each week. Again, it makes a huge difference that there are so few of them. It's so much more manageable!

Last week was our first break from homeschooling. It was welcome, but it didn't feel like much of a break. I think we only really rested one day. Note for next break: DO NOTHING, or close to nothing. ;)

Sometime in September we went into the city, and stopped by Trinity Church where they had a display of items and photographs related to 9-11. (Thanks go to my sweet niece for taking these pictures).

Ten years later, and I still have difficulty wrapping my mind around what happened that day. I found that I had to just tear myself away from the exhibit as it was just too overwhelming for me. Ten years ago, and a few months before the planes hit, I had been worried and upset that my husband had lost his job (right across from the towers), but on that particular day, I regarded the job loss as a blessing. Seeing the images of the people lost that day, just bore a hole into my heart, and I couldn't get out of there soon enough. Again, it was so overwhelming.

The visit to Trinity Church was followed with a pleasant, and welcome romp through Chinatown. We had a few items to purchase to satiate our Kung Fu addiction. My purchases consisted of Chinese liniments. Not terribly exciting, I know. But we did manage to pick up a rubber knife for kali practice. And there were a few other purchases, such as Jay Chou posters for my teen, and a pair of sneakers for me (a gift from my husband, who no doubt was tired of being kicked by my old sneakers. The old ones had a broken zipper on them, and made them extra dangerous. He gets kicked when we practice of course, so it's allowed).

After Chinatown we went to the Whitney Museum with my niece to check out the Cory Arcangel exhibit. I didn't really "get it," but I seldom understand what is regarded as modern art. It was more like a pop culture exhibit, and I did appreciate it in that sense. It seemed a rather loose interpretation of the word "Art." But what do I know? In any case, Arcangel (cool name, though) is a digital artist. But his pieces are quite unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's kind of difficult for me to describe, but one piece was made up of a regular television playing back-to-back related clips from Seinfeld. Another piece had a chronological array of bowling video game clips--the first showing a very rudimentary, highly pixelated early version, and at the end came a more detailed, better resolution, more modern clip of a bowling video game. These were all projected onto a huge wall. There were two benches situated before the wall, and seeing as we walked at least a gazillion blocks that day, it was oddly relaxing to just sit there and gaze at the series of clips which played on a continuous loop, with the echoing of electronic noise.

Let's see...what else?

Oh, yeah, school. It's been great! Yes, still! I think a lot of this is due to using the right materials. I'll have to write another blogpost listing our new curriculum picks, which reminds me--I have to update the items listed as our "current" resources here as well. The big winners so far this year? Campbell's "Exploring Life" for Biology, and Larsen's "The Art of Argument." I've also got to add the Teaching Company's DVD lectures on the Iliad and the Odyssey. Dr. Vandiver is very knowledgeable, and I find that her insight greatly enhances our enjoyment of these great epics. Good stuff!

As for other stuff...

My girls were so excited when they heard that their favorite k-pop acts were playing a free show near us. We didn't realize we'd need tickets though, but thankfully we managed to pick some up on the last day of distribution. There was a two-day Korean festival, in part, celebrating Korea's 20 years as being part of the UN.

Saturday we spent a large chunk of the day there, just wandering around, and visiting all of the booths.

Yesterday was the concert, and it was a LONG day.

One daughter was lucky and got to see her favorite of the bandmates.

My other daughter wasn't so lucky, as her favorite had a schedule conflict and couldn't make it.

It was uncharacteristically hot for this time in October, and it was oh-so-crowded, too. I thought I was going to pass out when I got stuck in the middle of a crowd. But the girls had a great time, so I couldn't be happier. They were able to see B2ST, SHINee, 2PM, 4Minute, TVXQ, SISTAR, and several other soloists. Even the Village People were there. They have sure gotten a lot of mileage out of their act! We all had a great time, even though the start of the day was kind of crazy.

I just have to add that I'm so proud of myself though, because I really have learned to control my breathing, and keep myself from getting anxious. On a hot day like yesterday, that couldn't have been more useful. This morning however, I've been coughing up bits of blood. I'm thinking that it's due to yesterday's over-exertion, particularly as I don't appear to have any other symptoms other than some chest tightness. I had been meaning to update earlier that after the antibiotic regimen, I have been much, much better. But I honestly don't think that's all there is to it. I have been high-dosing Vitamin C, and am taking a daily multi-vitamin, as well as vitamins A, B, and E separately. The result is that I haven't gotten as much as a sore throat in the past few months. That's a new record for me! I've been more energetic, too, and it feels so good.

Lists, Lists, Lists

Hello, my name is Patty and I'm an obsessive "lister."

My to-do lists are often as long as my must-read lists, and believe me, those are long ones, often further cataloged by genre. One list per genre, obviously. What's the point in keeping all of those lovely books unsorted? My Amazon wish list, until just the other day, included a whopping 876 titles. I have self-improvement lists, task lists, curriculum lists, long-term goal lists, short-term goal lists, menu lists, grocery lists, character development lists (I dabble in a bit of creative writing on the side), and well, the list (ha ha) is endless. Today's list contains directives on making a few last Christmas-related online purchases, reminders about pending appointments, last-ditch motivational pleas to myself to complete and/or start a handful of homemade gifts, and of course, a daily affirmation or two--itemized of course. Do these all keep me on task? Well, of course not, but I'm always hopeful that they will help me stay on task whenever I begin a new one. At the very least, I like to think of them as reminders. I have a terrible memory, and if something is not written down, I'm apt to forget it. Writing things down, whether these are plans, goals, or whatever, makes them more concrete, and therefore seemingly more attainable. Seemingly. Now, writing them on this blog means another thing entirely--accountability.

I obsess about any number of things really, but listing things is high up there on my, um, LIST of quirks. I am certain to never consciously leave home without a paper and pen handy, as I'd surely be lost without them. (Oh, and it must be a pen. The right sort of pen, too. But that's a whole other issue. I swear I can write yet a whole other blog post or two about my fascination with pens. I'm less stuffy about the paper I use, although I do drool over nice quality paper stock, a symptom I think, of having worked in the publishing industry years ago. But I digress...) I write lists, keep lists, and even contemplate future lists. I have even been known to recopy lists. These are things I do practically non-stop.

I first realized that I had a "problem" a while back when I stepped out of my home without, (Gasp!), a writing instrument. Seems as if someone, possibly a little someone, entered my purse and extracted my pen. After a thorough search of my purse which ended with most of its contents poured out onto my lap (that's a lot of stuff, by the way), I came to the realization that I didn't even have anything I wanted to write down. Nope, not a single thing. Perhaps if I had wanted to write a list at all at the time, it would have included just one item. "Double-check purse for writing instrument before leaving home." But of course, one item does not a list make. I reference this story because along with the "not-having-anything-to-write" realization, came another more enlightening one. Had I been in possession of a pen, I would have just come up with something to write. Yes, possibly in list form. So for me at least, having the right instruments, or vehicles of expression at my disposal, can sort of goad on a bit of list creativity. And seeing as most, but not all, of my lists consist of tasks that need to be done, I invite yet another factor into the equation. I am also seeking to sort out priorities and organize the "to-do" chaos that is often undecipherable in my head.

What can all this mean, and what does this say about me? Well, some people seem to think it's a sign of artistic genius, or rather that incidentally, many great artists have had this obsessive list-making trait. Seriously! Oh boy, you better believe I considered jumping on that bandwagon immediately as I'm a wannabe great artist and all that! More likely however, as boring as it may seem and as much as I hate to admit it, perhaps it's just all part of human nature to catalog things on personal lists. And perhaps those who consider themselves list-writers can be further divided into groups, as the BBC article I've hyperlinked suggests. If I had been in charge of dividing them, I'd have done it differently...perhaps classifying these as occasional list writers and obsessive list writers. I just happen to fall into the latter group. Yes, perhaps this list making trait is all haphazard and ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but then again, maybe it's not. I mean, perhaps the level of obsession is relative to the level of genius?

Should I develop an insatiable urge to paint something magnificent, I'll be sure to come back and update.

Busy-ness

Well, October has been kind of busy, and I've been in a haze precipitated by a near constant dosage of allergy medication.  'Twas my pulmonologist's idea...something about nipping symptoms in the bud or some such thing.  The result however, has been that I've been in this zombie-like state for weeks--zombie-like yes, but with no appetite for brains.  I've managed to avoid allergy induced asthmatic flare-ups, but egads, this is intolerable.  I feel as if I have to broadcast that I'm really not this slow...at least not regularly...as far as I'm aware anyway.

School has gone well, particularly considering all of the above.  Dd1 seems to be taking greater charge of her education.  I've always felt like I've had to be her cheerleader in all things.  Well, that's not entirely true either.  She does do some things without any prompting, but keeping on top of her assignments has always been a challenge.  Then of course, sometimes I doubt whether or not the reason for this is that perhaps I'm expecting too much of her.  If anyone is out there, reading my blog, please feel free to opine on this topic.  I originally set out to expect her to write about two one-page "response" papers per week, in addition to the assignments required in her writing program.  I often provide her with an essay question to answer, but she is welcome to write on any relevant topic she may choose.  There is a bit of writing involved across our curriculum, but nothing too over-the-top--i.e. the occasional outline of a passage in one of her books (Chemistry, Rhetoric, etc.).  I haven't quite gotten comfortable with her just reading through her history book on her own.  Maybe it's just my hang-up, but I don't believe that she really absorbs the information in one reading.  So, I've taken to reading ahead of her, keeping my own notes which she's welcome to reference, and we just chat about the section's material.  Is this too much hand-holding?  I'm genuinely curious.  Every now and again, I pop on over at the WTM boards and check to see what other children her age (14) are doing, and it seems that several are way more autonomous at that age.  I realize that no two children are the same, and that ultimately, I should follow my conscience and do what is best for my particular child, but I'm always worried about making her too dependent in the process.

Dd2 is proving to be challenging in another way.  She is such a driven child...but only for things that she loves to do.  She's an amazing artist.  Really and truly.  And I'm not just saying this because she's my child.  She has an amazing eye for subtle detail, and she is such a visual learner.  Rather than pry her away from her sketchbooks, I'm trying to incorporate art across her curriculum.  Her eyes just brighten up when she knows she can turn whatever she's learning into a drawing of some sort.  And oddly enough, this excitement even plays a part in her math lessons.  We use Singapore Math, and there are many opportunities for drawing models with that program.  Yes, she even gets excited over something as simple as model drawing.  Granted, she takes some artistic liberties with regard to these diagrams, but I'm not complaining.  Oh, and we did decide to take part in a special homeschool series of art classes at one of our local museums.  The first session was on contour drawing, and she was just so excited.  This was our first time taking part in something art related outside of home, and so far, so good.

As for my ds, well, he is about as well-rounded as they come.  He seems to be equally interested in everything, and shows an aptitude for everything we've covered as well, with the exception of the physical act of writing.  Even small amounts of handwriting frustrate him, and he's permanently attached to his eraser.  I've never seen a child so intent on erasing, even when erasures aren't even necessary.  I'm guessing this could be a tendency toward perfectionism, and frankly, that scares me a bit.  Sounds a bit like me actually, hence my worry.  Why couldn't he have inherited something else from me?  Well, he does have his Mama's hair.  ;)  While I don't want him to be careless, I certainly don't want him to be so hung up on being perfect either.

And that seems to cover things as they currently stand.  Oh, I did go ahead and assign some long term assignments for the kids...stuff I think they would enjoy.  In an effort to capitalize on their love of art (all three of them enjoy art, it's just that my middle dd LIVES it), I've asked the kids to come up with their own manga.  They are open to developing their characters and storylines fully into a short graphic novel, but really, there are no real requirements.  This is just something I think they'd enjoy.  Last year, I had them make short claymation stop-motion films, and they were hilarious.  If I can figure out how to post a few of their videos here, I will.  Given their interest level, I may just have them design their own board games based on their manga characters and storyline.  I bought those game kits from Bare Books a while ago, and I actually had forgotten I had done so.  I stumbled across them the other day and got excited all over again.  'Tis the one positive aspect of being a bit absent-minded.  Everything old, seems new, as you're always looking at things with new eyes.  Uh-huh...this is a glass half full kind of day.

Happy homeschooling!