Boo! II

The spooky and scary children’s author Neil Gaiman in today’s New York Times (should work without the free registration; otherwise try Bug Me Not):
When I was growing up in England, Halloween was no time for celebration. It was the night when, we were assured, the dead walked, when all the things of night were loosed, [...]

Boo!

We started the morning with the usual round pumpkin-shaped pancakes, gussied up with orange paste food coloring, triangular cutouts for eyes and noses, and pumpkin sprinkles for mouths. And orange milk, of course. Then, on the way to do chores, the annual Halloween morning tradition of posting the “No Hunting” signs, since deer and moose [...]

More on the CanCon front

(That’s Canadian Content for our American friends.)
I don’t read the newspaper everyday but I happened to get a hand-me-down copy of Saturday’s Edmonton Journal, which gave me quite a turn. And I’m not even Canadian by birth.
When it comes to books, especially children’s books and favorite books from my own childhood, I tend to [...]

Home Schooling

Carol Windley on deciding to become a writer: “I love the way language can be used to create a faithful facsimile of real people living real lives, although changed, of course, by fiction’s magical prism. As a child I fell into the world of books with great relief and joy — in a book’s pages, [...]

I’m late, I’m late…

Kelly from Big A little a has been working hard under her editor’s hat, and the new October edition of The Edge of the Forest, the online children’s literature monthly, came out earlier this week, full of reviews, interviews, and articles. I’m especially intrigued by Kelly’s nonfiction reviews, for the new National Geographic Encyclopedia of [...]

Poetry Friday: Halloween edition

A couple of spooky oldies but goodies, both from the Oxford Book of Poetry for Children, compiled by Edward Blishen and illustrated by Brian Wildsmith, 1963 (the library ditched this one at a discard sale a few years ago, and their loss is our definite gain):
Witches’ Charm by Ben Jonson
The owl is abroad, the bat [...]

By the book, with not-so-great expectations

Last week JoVE and I had an off-blog discussion about great teachers of the institutional variety, and the general consensus was that the hallmark of a great teacher is a love for children, along with a deep and abiding belief in children’s abilities. And then a few days later I read the thoughtful posts by [...]

Here’s the thing…

It’s not a debate, great or otherwise, just because Phil McGraw says it is — or allegedly says it is, because while the show has been taped, it hasn’t aired yet and for some no doubt very interesting reason isn’t scheduled to air tomorrow as originally planned — especially with no proper rulebook for arguments, [...]

Minding the (grammar) gap

Two articles this week about the importance of good grammar, though the first seems to indicate that good grammar is useful mostly for passing tests, the SAT in particular. The Washington Post holds that “Clauses and Commas Make a Comeback”. Well, in some places:
The National Council of Teachers of English, whose directives shape [...]

Ever eager to help separate Gentle Readers from their money…

If you or your kids are keen on good quality colored pencils, the fine folks at the Canadian company Lee Valley, who sell some nifty woodworking tools, hardware, and garden tools have an even niftier autumn mail order special, not available at any of their stores; I get no kickbacks, discounts, or other remuneration. Just [...]

A virtual education

From today’s New York Times:
When the Internet was just beginning to shake up American education, a chemistry professor photographed thousands of test tubes holding molecular solutions and, working with video game designers, created a simulated laboratory that allowed students to mix chemicals in virtual beakers and watch the reactions.
In the years since, that virtual chemistry [...]

Children’s history book bonanza

I’ve been behind in my blog reading as well as posting about the good tidbits I’ve come across, so I’ll start now. Consider it my belated Canadian Thanksgiving gift or early Halloween treat.
Chris Barton at Bartography has a post, U.S. History is for the birds, where Chris explains why he and his kids are [...]

Two down, one to go

Halloween planning is in full swing around here, and two out of three kids have their costumes decided upon, which means they haven’t changed their minds for whopping three days in a row: Harpo Marx (Daniel), and a jester (Davy). Daniel put his outfit together with a $2 yellow clown wig and a $1.50 plastic [...]

Something new: The Cybils, the first annual children’s book awards, blog edition

Kelly at Big A little a announced earlier this week,
“This month we’ve seen a spate of book awards, some of which have left us wondering: couldn’t we, the intelligent, savvy members of the kidlitosphere do better? Or, at least, differently?
“So, we’re inaugurating our own book awards, honoring books published in English for children in 2006. [...]

Poetry Friday: Gee, this snow is a tad early edition

When the Year Grows Old by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
I cannot but rememberWhen the year grows old –October– November–How she disliked the cold!
She used to watch the swallowsGod down across the sky,And turn from the windowWith a sharp little sigh.
And often when the brown leavesWere brittle on the ground,And the wind in the chimneyMade [...]

Wishing…

that President Carter or former Secretary of State James Baker had accompanied the current Secretary of State on her latest trip, to talk rather than to threaten discuss the hows and whys of sanctions, reminds me of these lines from Wendell Berry’s “The Peace of Wild Things”, written during another time, another crisis:
When despair for [...]

Changing with the times,

or, this is when I start to think about home schooling them through university.
Either that or inventing some small canteen, maybe with a nice college logo, that would be more hygienic to carry off to the washroom (that’s the bathroom for you Yanks).

Poetry Friday: Historical Associations

Here’s a lesser-known choice from Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, which I was reminded of yesterday by a peachy homeschooling friend whose son decided to turn a Playmobil figure into Don Quixote…
Historical Associationsby Robert Louis Stevenson
Dear Uncle Jim, this garden groundThat now you smoke your pipe around,Has seen immortal actions doneAnd valiant [...]

Synchronicity

Just this morning I was listening to a CBC radio story (scroll down to “Feature Story from Wednesday’s Show”) about one public school in Edmonton where the students in the Grade 5/6 class “are using laptop computers at their desks all day” (oh my stars) and taking them home at night, too. In an audio [...]

Proud mother moment

Had word over the weekend that seven-year-old Daniel’s story about the Charter Oak had won author Jennifer Armstrong’s first writing contest just for homeschoolers; the contest had been the kids’ writing project for the month of September, a way of easing them back into school and writing with a fun assignment. The prize is an [...]