An alternative education

First up on this morning’s CBC Radio “Sunday Edition” show, my favorite weekend listening, was host Michael Enright’s interview with film critic and writer David Gilmour, author of the just-published The Film Club: A True Story of a Father and a Son. Film Club is Mr. Gilmour’s account of his decision, several years ago, [...]

Blogging from Burma

In some cases, you’ll need to scroll down through the question marks for photographs and posts.
Burma-Myanma Genocide 2007; last post, Saturday, Sept. 29
ko htike’s prosaic collection; last post, Saturday, Sept. 29
Sone Sea Yar; last post, Saturday, Sept. 29
MoeMaKa — Myanmar Burmese News, Media and Literature Site; last post, Saturday, Sept. 29
NIknayman; last post, Saturday, Sept. [...]

Poetry Friday: A plea for the classics, for ambitious boys (and girls)

A Plea for the Classicsby Eugene Field (1850-1895)
A Boston gentleman declares,By all the gods above, below,That our degenerate sons and heirsMust let their Greek and Latin go!Forbid, O Fate, we loud implore,A dispensation harsh as that;What! wipe away the sweets of yore;The dear “Amo, amas, amat”?
The sweetest hour the student knowsIs not when poring over [...]

Gearing up for the Cybils

As I wrote last week, the Cybils are back, the Cybils are back!
I’m delighted to be on the Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction committee, wrangled and organized by Jen Robinson, on the nominating panel along with
Mindy at Proper Noun Dot NetSusan Thomsen at Chicken SpaghettiKT Horning at Worth the TripVivian at HipWriterMama
Following up later will [...]

Fall fun around the kidlitosphere

All aboard to Take a Ride on the Reading Railroad, the latest Carnival of Children’s Literature hosted by Charlotte’s Library. So put away the Monopoly board for now and get reading!
And a bit late (sorry…) — the September issue of The Edge of the Forest is up, with many features. I was delighted to [...]

Lawn darts, slingshots, and pellet guns, oh my…

Not to mention lead-filled toy soldiers.
“Hasbro gets Dangerous”, Toy News Online reports. But no fear of boys putting their eyes out or requiring stitches, because Hasbro’s idea is to “develop board and travel games based on the hugely successful book brand”:
Andrew Lane, licensing director at Hasbro, said: “The book is fantastic, a fabulous concept [...]

Dessert time

For Karen, because it’s chocolate, it’s as easy as a boxed mix, and a six-and-a-half year-old can make it (also a mother with a head cold and cough who needs to put dessert on the table for company now):
Wacky Cake (from The New York Times, sometime in the early 1990s…)
3 cups flour2 cups sugar½ cup [...]

The latest news from deepest darkest Peru

I thought it was bad enough when I heard the other day that my beloved Paddington Bear was going to get the live action treatment (just thinking of poor Stuart Little makes me shake). I went to the, erm, “official website“ and not only was the movie business confirmed but there for all to [...]

Poetry Friday: To remember for ever and ever, as if it were always now

How to Make a Memoryby Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
The rain was ending, and lightLifting the leaden skies.It shone upon ceiling and floorAnd dazzled a child’s eyes.Pale after fever, a captiveApart from his schoolfellows,He stood at the high room’s windowWith face to the pane pressed close,And beheld an immense gloryFlooding with fire the dropsSpilled on miraculous leavesOf [...]

A new dimension to science studies

Rebecca at Ipsa Dixit reports that her family has the brand-spanking new title, Einstein Adds a New Dimension (Smithsonian Books, 480 pages), the third volume in Joy Hakim’s wonderful Story of Science series.
From a recent Edutopia article (Edutopia’s “Daring Dozen” profile of Ms. Hakim last year is here):
Journalist and textbook author Joy Hakim is still [...]

Grammar resources

I’ve been remiss in not posting about the latest Growing with Grammar program by my friend Tamela Davis, for Grade 5. More good stuff for home educating families looking for more choice. And more Growing with Grammar posts and reviews (for Grades 1&2, 3, and 4) here, here, and here.
I’m a big fan of [...]

Cybils Season

It’s Cybils season again, the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards celebrating the best titles of 2007. Established and organized by Anne Boles Levy of Book Buds and Kelly Herold of Big A little a, the Cybils are ready for year two!
As of October 1st, you’ll be able to leave your nominations for [...]

Combining combining and pirates

We started combining the crops, wheat and barley, today. And I understand tomorrow is supposed to be Talk Like a Pirate Day.
I’m not the first person to notice that combines look rather like ships, sailing steadily and majestically through waves of grain. And while you wait on the truck, or run up the [...]

Cow, girl, cowgirl

This one has been halter broken. And thoroughly spoiled.(The one on the left, that is.)

Cows, boys, cowboys

Interestingly, the black heifer in the top three pictures hasn’t been halter broken. She’s just an unusually placid and patient young cow, who seems to enjoy being around kids.

Harvest jubilee

Evans cherries before pitting:

and after:

Poetry Friday: the week that was

Harvest started this week with swathing (cutting the crops — the row they fall in is called a swath), and the first killing frost arrived Wednesday night. The second one, last night, and the furnace kicked in for good measure. Goodbye tomatoes, cosmos, and zinnias, and hello, happy pantry and busy days. Or [...]

Science with Tom Edison

John Holt, on helping a very young boy learn the names of different words, from How Children Learn:
I was careful, when I told him the name of something, not to tell him as if it were a lesson, something he had to remember. Nor did I test him by saying, “What’s this? What’s that?” This [...]

Poetry Friday: A bit of Browning and a huge delight

A poem for back-to-school season for all parents who teach, guide, educate, explain, discuss, and develop.
Most of the great English poet Robert Browning’s education took place at home, centering around his father’s library of some 6,000 volumes in English, as well as French, ancient Greek, and Latin. He began composing rhymes even before he learned [...]

G is for guitar…and giddy

Our first two back-to-school days, which ended up being out-of-the-house days, proved to be a wonderful way to ease back into the swing of things. The local author reading, and getting to meet him, inspired Laura and she’s been scribbling away ever since, with plans to write up our adventure with the hawk. Afterwards, we [...]