Peeking In

I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. Honest.

1- Christmas, and what has become a near annual family tradition of getting sick around it, has kept me away from the blogosphere. Believe it or not, my daughter spiked a fever today and is complaining of a sore throat, just a few days after the last of us seemed to be all well and moving on. The other two have this blank deer in the headlights look about them. They have concluded that it's only a matter of time before they get sick again as well. I'm in complete denial.

2- Aside from playing nurse whilst recuperating myself, I've succumbed to a new addiction. My dear husband got me an iPod Touch for Christmas. I never thought I wanted one, but when I opened it up on Christmas morning, I couldn't contain my excitement. It was a complete surprise. Now I find that I can't put the thing down. The free game apps are way too addictive. I find myself playing "Trace" all the time now, and just earlier today, I discovered "Creeps." It's not like I need another time-suck, but boy are they fun! Number of songs currently on my iPod? Zero. It's all about the apps.

Oh, I did just start reading G.K. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy" on m iPod, and I am greatly enjoying it. There is nary a page or capture that doesn't include some pearl of wit and wisdom. I should really keep notes while I'm reading it.

3- I told myself I'd finally get some pictures on here, and sort of made that a condition for writing my next post. I have tons of pictures I wanted to share. TONS. But I can't get them onto my pretty useless laptop and for some reason, they're not loading onto the Mac. We've spent inordinate amounts of time just trying to download pictures. So for now I'll have to content myself with just sharing stuff via text blogs. Some of the pictures I wanted to share show some of the stuff the kids have been up to...stuff like needle felting (thanks to a good friend who sent us a sizable package of wool and felting needles for Christmas), digital art one daughter has created with the help of a graphic tablet she got for her birthday, and other stuff the kids have made, particularly in their art class.

4- We've been busy playing board games, watching films, and watching on-demand television. Each of the kids received a game for Christmas, and my niece's sweet boyfriend was kind enough to gift us with a few more. We've greatly enjoyed all of them, and truth be told, I've kind of beaten the pants off of everyone (for the most part), which as can be imagined, greatly enhances my enjoyment of these.

We also all received DVDs for Christmas, so we had plenty to watch this week. Of course, once I had exhausted all of those, I gave into my guilty pleasure--Gene Simmons Family Jewels on demand. Yes, I admit it. I enjoy the show. I think the Simmons kids are absolutely adorable and funny, and I mainly watch because of them.

5- We had a blizzard, and that certainly kept us from roaming about, and it was pretty darn cozy. We got about 28 inches, and while I think I've had my fill of snow, I can't say it wasn't a welcome excuse to just stay put and enjoy doing fun things at home. Yes, things that didn't include blogging.

So there you have it. I've done nothing at all substantial or constructive in the last week or so, and it's been just what the doctor ordered. There's nothing quite like taking some time to just be.

Shopping, the Bane of my Existence

Back in September I declared that I would be done with my Christmas shopping by the first week of December. I had every intention of following through with that. And then the kids got sick with a stomach virus. I soon joined them. They say that misery loves company, so I just did my part in complying with the adage. My plans for getting out to shop on Black Friday were a bust. I decided to roll with it and did some online shopping, but I didn't have much luck finding everything I needed. Having to brave the stores was becoming necessary. I hate shopping, particularly during busy seasons. The malls at Christmas time are not happy places. People are downright irate instead of jolly. Want to see people a hair away from losing their minds? Visit a mall around Christmas.

Anyway, some days later, my husband and I decided that he'd take a vacation day, and that we'd make that our shopping day. As an aside, just a few days before the scheduled shopping day, I was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, but I was determined to not let health, or lack thereof, get in the way of my shopping again. I thought that I had foiled the universe! But of course, the universe had other plans. Earlier that shopping day we all went to the museum, and guess who missed the last few steps on her way down the stairs? Yes, that would be me. My left foot spazzed out, and I landed on it twice while it was bent inward, spraining my ankle. Another wrench in the works. But no matter! After a quick detour home for some Advil (three!) and a high-speed binding of my ankle, we were back on our way, with me moving at a snail's pace.

After a few minutes on the road, I was reminded that I still didn't know what to purchase. I can often only entertain one thought at a time, and until then, my mind was solely focused on the throbbing in my ankle. I had had days to gather ideas online, but I found little to no direction. It doesn't help that 1) my kids have obscure tastes, and 2) one or two of my children often decline asking for anything at all. Let me interject here to say that I'm prodigiously proud of my children for not being hyper-focused on gifts and the whole unfortunate commerciality of Christmas, but it would have been nice to have a bit of direction, especially as we seemed to be averaging one gift per hour spent shopping.

So yes, I finally got to do some shopping. But I'm still not done. Self-proposed Christmas shopping challenge failed. 

One Stick, Two Stick

Nope, this isn't going to be a post about knitting, although you will likely see knitting posts from time to time.

When we all first started taking kung fu, there were certain things we expected to learn at some point during our training. We knew that eventually we would learn traditional forms, fighting applications, and well, we hoped that at some time we'd get to learn how to use weapons. We expected those to be the tai chi sword (straight sword), the broad sword, and my husband's most anticipated--the long staff. My husband had taken kung fu for a brief time several years ago, so he had an idea of what was to come. As for me, the only kung fu that I knew came from what I saw in Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li films. Over the years, we would regularly all gather around the computer screen while my husband went from one video to the next on traditional kung fu forms and styles. It was through those videos that I became acquainted with the traditional weapons used.

Imagine our surprise when we started learning kali (also known as eskrima and arnis). This is a Filipino martial art that uses sticks as weapons. There's more to it, in that eventually you can use improvised weapons in the same manner, and like most martial arts, the applications are endless. In any case, this was not something we ever expected to learn, thinking that we probably wouldn't stray far from the traditional weapons used in Chinese martial arts. I have to add that this is a testament to how wonderful our sifu is. He sees the value in teaching us a broad curriculum of styles and applications, and his enthusiasm is infectious. We've been learning kali for a few months now, and I'm greatly enjoying myself with these sticks. While I've had the opportunity to use the straight sword, so far I feel more "at home" with the sticks. The sword is a beautiful weapon that I'm looking forward to using more often, but it certainly doesn't feel as instinctual for me. The stick and arm movements seem infinitely more natural. The footwork however, continues to be a challenge. My husband believes that I find it generally more natural because I used to be a majorette years ago, and therefore feel more comfortable with a stick weapon I can "twirl around." This is not to suggest that batons are weapons of course, although when one cracks you on the head after you fail to catch a toss, you may just think otherwise.

Kali has definitely become something I greatly look forward to every time I go to class. I think it's funny for my husband to see just how invested I am in this whole kung fu and kali experiment seeing as I was so reluctant at the very beginning. It was only supposed to be about the kids and getting them involved in a martial art. And yet here I am, enjoying it all as much as they do. I'm so glad I tagged along that first day.

Probably the most famous name in kali stick fighting is Dan Inosanto, who was one of the three men Bruce Lee certified to teach his own style of Jeet Kune Do. I've spent inordinate amounts of time watching videos of Dan and other kali practitioners on youtube, and find myself getting more and more excited about this martial art. But the funny thing is that really, there hasn't been a single thing I've learned that I haven't enjoyed.

Click here to watch Dan Inosanto in action. It's a shame the video cuts off at the end, but it's the most recent, and best quality one I could find on youtube.

Really Learning Latin

Just yesterday, as I struggled to translate a Latin sentence through what this site refers to as a "crossword puzzle" reading of it, I realized that I had a problem that needed addressing. Deconstructing sentences this way is wholly inefficient. I tend to follow all of the steps thusly: pick out the verb, determine the conjugation (1st, 2nd, etc.), determine the personal ending, the number (singular or plural), the tense, the voice, the mood, pick out the subject, determine the number, check for an object, again check if it's singular or plural, determine the noun cases, etc. And I didn't even get to adjective declensions, or issues of gender. Not to mention that I'm still learning all of the vocabulary.

The article I've hyperlinked above details the Dowling Method for learning Latin. It speaks of learning Latin grammar via "brute memorization." Well, after yesterday's exercise in frustration, I've come to the conclusion that yes, nothing but brute memorization is required here. Surely, internalizing all of the forms by way of daily recitation and keeping copywork notebooks full of charts would be more than helpful. The article recommends that these charts and tables be copied 200 times each--100 times for the adjectives table. That's a lot of copying. If I'm not able to master the paradigms after that, I'd have to pack it all in. But how could one not get it after all of that? Now, despite my agreement with all of this drilling and copying, I just don't see the point in holding off so long before introducing reading selections. The article explains how the forms must be mastered first, and asserts that this could take about six months' time. That's a big time commitment to nothing but rote memorization. I'm a big believer in the immersion method to language learning, which requires little to no prior familiarity with the target language. And yes, while immersion in Latin is very different than immersion in a modern language (it's not like you will be surrounded by native speakers or anything like that--unless of course there's some society of classicists that do nothing but hang around together and speak Latin all day), I still see value in exposing oneself and one's children to Latin readings early on. In my opinion, it gives children (and adults) something for which to strive. Drilling forms, I've determined, is essential, but why hold off on something as pleasurable as reading? Why can we not have our cakes and eat them too?

As far as Latin reading material is concerned, I do own the first of Hans Orberg's series, also referenced in the above article. I've only read through a dozen or so pages, but I was able to understand everything I've encountered there so far. I understand there is a huge jump in difficulty as you go along, but that's to be expected, and brings us closer to our goal of eventually reading more complex material. It's such a neat idea. In fact, I wish such a series existed for most languages, but especially for ancient Greek. The illustrations basically help you understand the text. Really, it's as much of an immersion program as can be found for Latin students.

Some other books I either own, or am contemplating purchasing for the kids are Ecce Romani (similar to Orberg in that you are immediately immersed in Latin, although Orberg's books are far better and infinitely more thorough), and an assortment of children's books/stories translated into Latin (Fairy Tales in Latin: Fabulae Mirabiles, Harrius Potter books which I recently found are also available in ANCIENT GREEK, and various Dr. Seuss titles as well). There are just so many options now, and it would be a pity to hold off on them until all of the Latin grammar is committed to memory.

   

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.

Personalized Learning and Finding Joy in Life

Entertaining and spot on, as usual.



If anyone has missed Sir Ken Robinson's first TED talk on creativity in schools, you can view it here.

About Those Phonograms...

In my last post, I mention how reading didn't come easily for my daughter. What I didn't mention, was that teaching reading didn't come easily to me either. I was a voracious reader as a child, and I just assumed, wrongly so, that my daughter would just naturally take after me. She loved to be read to, and I spent many days, cuddled with her on the couch, reading through countless books. She memorized several stories line by line, and often begged me to read her favorite books over and over again. I was thrilled that she loved books so much, and was certain that she would enjoy reading all on her own just as much. Of course, as per my last post, that just wasn't the case.

I went through several reading and phonics books, and I can't really say what eventually worked. I'm sort of leaning toward it just having been due to her readiness, but I may be wrong. We used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and that was a bust. I know it works for many children, but I kept getting annoyed with their orthographic method. Perhaps that was just my hang-up, but we dropped it after a while. Next came Phonics Pathways. I liked it. It was traditional, and straightforward, but my daughter found it boring. Then we tried Reading Reflex. That worked much better! I was getting warm! All the while, I had been "hearing" about the Spalding method, but reviews out there describing the method as difficult to wade through, really intimidated me and I kept passing it up. Eventually however, I built up the nerve to try, particularly when I found a helpful companion program called Reading Works. Thanks to that program, and the consistent hand-holding it offered, I was able to wade through the Writing Road to Reading (Spalding). The program made sense to me, and my daughter was progressing.

In working through the phonograms, I was finally cognizant about just how difficult the English language can be to learn. In this post, I'm referring specifically to English language reading, but spelling is also a stumbling point for many. Take the phonogram OUGH for instance--bough, though, through, rough, bought, cough! None of these is pronounced the same way! While I pronounced them properly, with nary a thought to their differences, seeing them listed all together like that really made me a lot more able to understand my daughter's confusion. I realized that it would take some work, and I ceased pressuring my daughter to understand something which was quite illogical to her at the time.

All of the above has reminded me of an episode of I Love Lucy, in which Ricky aptly illustrates what he regards as the "problem" with the English language. I quite agree with him.