1.
Last night I got to sing on this stage
for a memorial concert in honor of my late chorale teacher. It was really neat (however, much less psychedelic than that picture would imply). I've never been soloist material but I do love singing and I appreciate good singing. Mr. Vehar taught me both those things. I so very much regret that I didn't get to see him before he died. Our alumni group sang two songs in his honor, one this crazy difficult speak-singing piece called Geographical Fugue that he used to have his students do every three years so that everyone would get a chance to do it. It is an amazingly weird and difficult and nostalgic piece and I loved getting to do it again. We also got to sing on stage with one of the foremost opera sopranos in the world. If you follow opera (I don't), you probably know Laura Aiken. Laura Aiken is an alumnus of our high school and got her vocal beginning from Mr. Vehar. It was pretty neat to be able to hear her and then sing with her.
2.
Also last night, I dreamt I was pregnant. I had been carrying around an old pregnancy test that I had taken weeks before in my back pocket and noticed that it had finally turned to a plus sign (delayed reaction much?). And I was happy. And then my next reaction was feeling like now it made sense why I had been tired in the preceding weeks. And I was finding all of this out secretly while at a dinner party with friends. None of this is true in real life but maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something.
3.
Brian was not happy with the picture I posted of David yesterday. It was the best I could do. He can be an ornery child but he isn't always miserable. In fact, he can be quite delightful when he isn't tired. So here's a better one:
See? Delightful.
4.
After going to two grocery stores this morning (I know. We were that desperate.), the boys helped me bring everything in. Then when he noticed that the daffodils were beginning to bloom, Michael ran out in the rain to cut some for me. Sweetness.
In case I needed my heart melted today.
Rainy face
5.
Ooh. I know what I need. Do any of you have any recommendations for skip counting and multiplication drill resources? I'm thinking a CD would be great as well as some game or drill that would help with multiplication. I'd surely appreciate any resources you could throw into the combox!
Oh, and Latin. Other homeschoolers, what do you use for Latin? We've been using Memoria Press' Latina Christiana I after doing Prima Latina last year. I'm not overly impressed. It's fine, I guess, and I mainly picked it because it seems to be one of the go-to Latins. However, it really bothers me that they don't presume in LC that you've done PL and a lot of the material is repeat and the workbook instructions aren't always clear. What do you use?
6.
The boys have finally discovered that there are "girl colors" and "boy colors." I know. But when you don't have any girls and you keep your children locked in their homeschool box and it's never made into a big deal, they don't identify color with a gender. (No, really, they don't. Don't go all labeling me some psychobabbling hippie now. Colors are not inherently sexual. Did you know that back in the day blue was the girl color and pink was for boys? So there.) Just these past few weeks they somehow got exposed to the fact that pink is "girl color." I'm weirdly sad about it so maybe that label is just a tiny itsy bit valid.
Purple still has yet to be exposed and right now it's John Paul's favorite. Shhhhh....
Purple still has yet to be exposed and right now it's John Paul's favorite. Shhhhh....
7.
A huge THANK YOU to Michael Potter, president of Eden Foods. As an organic company they have never provided coverage for hormonal contraception for their employees recognizing that it is inherently bad for women's health AND grossly bad for the environment. They are now suing the federal government over the HHS mandate. Go Eden Foods! This morning I made sure to include some of their food in my grocery trip and thanked them on their Facebook page. Maybe you wanna go over and do the same?
Taking it up with Grace in lieu of Jen!
Taking it up with Grace in lieu of Jen!
Those pictures are so sweet! And I clicked over because I could tell that was a "classical" concert stage setup. I'm a sucker for any picture like that. So cool!
ReplyDeleteAs for two grocery stores, I do that every week as a rule...one word: Aldi!
My spam has been really bad lately, too. I'm getting 5-6 a day that come through as "moderated," and it's always on the same three posts. Very annoying.
Aldi's was one of them! I cannot WAIT until Trader Joe's comes...I'm hoping to do everything in one place then! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteIt's weird that girls can have any favorite color they want, but when it comes to boys pink and purple are too "girly". At least pink and purple have made a comeback in men's fashion and it's not unusual for men (or boys) to wear a pink or purple shirt.
ReplyDeleteMy girls enjoy the skip counting videos on youtube from Havefunteaching. We often do the motions and call it our exercise.
Thank you! I'm going to check it out!
DeleteMultiplication.com has good practice with fun games...also
ReplyDeletefun4thebrain.com has lots of free resources as well.....
I enjoy your writing. Your family is beautiful.
Lisa P
Thanks, Lisa! Off to go check them out :)
DeleteWe like the Flashmaster for drill. It's pretty spendy, though. As far as I know, MP's First Form Latin (to be used after LC1) is laid out quite differently from LC. Lots more teacher helps and practice sheets and such. I have FF, but I'm not sure if that's what Prim will use next year or not because I'm farming Latin out and I'll defer to the teacher's preference. I think she might use Schola Latina or Latin for Children.
ReplyDelete