She pulls out a sheet of notebook paper and lists all the activities she’d like to do.

She casually asks her mother if she can make a snow globe.

She and her siblings gather the materials and make 4. By themselves.

Another project on the list is mystery soap. The children shave bars of soap, cook them, dye them, and hide army men inside each bar. The hardest part for them is waiting until the bars are hard enough to use as hand soap.

A few years ago, the same child had a science experiment where she checked the temperature of water in the sun and in the shade, using a large chemistry thermometer. Somewhere around the third reading, the thermometer breaks. The child can read and take temperatures, but does she remember anything else from this experiment? Will she ever forget how oil and water mix in her ocean/lava? That sugar may be a good substitute for glitter in a picture, but not in a snow globe?

These scenarios highlight the difference between education and schooling.

I just finished reading this book, The Art of Education. Author Linda Dobson, of Parent at the Helm and Home Education Magazine wrote this book in the 90s, and its message is just as potent today. She tackles weighty issues like cultivation, freedom, family, and society at large. Everything is filtered through the lens of education. What is education, really? Is it the political minefield that it has come to be known today? Is it the filling of empty heads with vital facts? Or is it the drawing out what is already there, to refine and polish until a whole person emerges? Not to try and lead you or anything…

I have read some interesting education books, not the least of which were written by James Herndon.

Rather than being narrative and anecdotal, or simply pointing out the problem and depressing you, The Art of Education paints a picture of what life could be. It is rather poetic. “Allow your children the freedom to handle responsibility, and the perfume of compassion fills the air,” Mrs. Dobson says.

You may read The Art of Education and not decide to homeschool your children. But you cannot read this book and come away thinking about education the same way. It is an empowering book. I highly recommend it.

There was a lot of interesting research in the book, but I must say that I’m a tad disappointed by the final conclusion. Kids are different from adults, so we should treat them differently. Ya think? I could elaborate: Children are still growing and developing, so we shouldn’t treat them like adults, who have reached maturity.

There was one chapter, on corporal punishment, that had some faulty assumptions. The gist of this chapter is that while it is assumed that corporal punishment harms children, making them more violent, it depends on who is doing the spanking. In white middle class families, spanking is seen as abhorrent, so if a parent goes that far, then the child will also see it as a very negative thing. I would suggest that in this kind of situation, the parent hits the child out of anger, and that does set up a host of negative consequences.

The authors note two exceptions to the spanking rule: blacks and evangelicals. Their idea is that blacks treat spanking as a normal part of life, so the children don’t overreact to a spanking. The same thing with evangelicals, whom the authors identify as being under the influence of Dr. Dobson. Whether that’s the case or not, that’s not why evangelicals spank their children. They spank their children because they believe in the Bible, which says that he who spares the rod hates his child, among other things.

I bring this issue up because I found it really jarring. Everything else in the book was something I hadn’t heard before, and I had no reason to doubt its validity. But to come across something that’s obviously wrong, subtly off, called everything else into question. Chapters on lying and racism might further expose faulty logic.

This book would definitely be cause to eat the meat and spit out the bone. The authors present the research in a very compelling way; I’d just be wary of their conclusions.

I didn’t think Yanni and I had seen enough of the movie in that one weekend, so I didn’t mail it back to Netflix just yet. I was looking for a time when the babies were asleep and I wasn’t so I could watch it again with Yanni. That time came last night.

The movie grew on us. At first, we both had attitude that Tiana was not only not a princess, but was poor and struggling. She had a problem with Charlotte because she was a spoiled little rich girl, but I thought she was painted with such broad strokes that you had to love her. Then I had a problem with the alligator and the lightning bug. Those accents were a bit much to take, and hadn’t we already gone there in the Jungle Book with a buffoon named Louis?

And don’t even get me started on the weird spirituality of Mama Odie. So, the shadow man did bad voodoo, but Mama Odie did good voodoo? Whaaat? There’s good voodoo?

But lets forget about all that junk and talk about the love story, because that is what captured our hearts.

The frog prince had a very smoove voice, and from the first dialog, “a kiss would be nice. . .” to “Tiana is my Evangeline,” he was utterly charming. Tiana was so good, she effortlessly transformed the slothful ladies man into a devoted champion. And she cooked, too? I loved her from the moment she hit the screen.

Joy wasn’t feeling the movie. Imagine my shock when she asked Friday if she could watch The Princess and the Frog at Ellie’s house. I told her absolutely not, but she asked her father today if she could watch it again, and he thought that would be ok. This time, since we knew what to expect, we had the presence of mind to skip the scary scenes. The little girls watched this movie over and over like they watch Ever After (or, as Joy christened it, ‘Ever Horse.’) They watched it like we watch Pride and Prejudice. Let’s just say we know every scene of that movie intimately. In short, they did the girl thing with this movie.

The special features stank. They left me wanting much more. Where’s the making of special? Where’s the long-winded discussion of animated brilliance? Why do they think viewers of this movie would love to play a princess game that features other Disney princesses, but not Tiana? Well, my little girls like that game. . .

We must own this one. Maybe there’s a DVD with better special features? (ed. note: There is a three disc blue-ray version. That would be the one I’d get).

Even so, my husband was more cryptic than usual about The Book of Eli. I assumed it was some sci/fi fantasy that I couldn’t get with.

Just from the look and feel of the movie, I shouldn’t have liked it. But based on the story? There’s no way I couldn’t have loved it.

I really don’t want to say anything else about the movie, except, Run, don’t walk to go see it! Anything else may give it away.

Have you seen it? What did you think? Would you recommend it?

I shouldn’t have worried. Bolt was so funny I was just laughing for great stretches of it. Curtis had to turn it up so we could hear the dialog over the giggles. And the kids were even laughing. That’s really rare for a movie to make us all laugh. There is usually someone scared, but not this time.

And, incredibly, everyone could follow the story! Usually, my four little ones don’t have a clue what’s going on. I sometimes wonder why I even bother trying to show them a kiddie movie if they don’t understand the plot. But they got Bolt, even when the movie was trying to trick them with the blurring between the real and the TV world.

And I have got to get me a Hamtari like Rhino. He has got to be the most perfect sidekick ever. And I wasn’t mad at them when they borrowed the storyline from both Toy Story movies, because I loved the Toy Story movies, and because Bolt never veered from the cute, funny, truly family friendly spirit.

UP, on the other hand, was very uneven. The beginning of the movie was very touching. The second half was weird, and the end was abrupt. The middle part reminded me of Ice Age or Over the Hedge with all the slapstick madcap chasing scenes. They just didn’t fit with the great visual storytelling at the beginning. And UP scared my very sensitive child, so that’s a minus.

Next I’ll put Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in my queue next. The kids love that book, although I don’t care for it. We’ll see how they like the movie version.

So we had our carpets cleaned yesterday during a power outage. Hey, the guy had the power he needed in his truck, so we were like, go ahead and do this. The power came back on a half hour after he left, and the puzzle piece was left on the couch cushion.

Growing up like I did, it is nothing short of miraculous that the puzzle piece was found.

But Fridays at Blockbuster are about our date night, so we weren’t thinking about kids’ movies at that time.

When Happy Feet arrived via Netflix, I was excited to finally see that beautiful penguin movie. Or so I thought. What I saw instead was a bunch of penguins singing Prince songs, among other things. Warner brothers was showing off its music catalog with Happy Feet, but I don’t know what they were doing as far as movies go. That was a jumbled mess with Robin Williams playing like 5 characters and a bunch of loopy tap dancing numbers. Savion Glover looks like a street person in the scary special features section too. That loopy Prince song playing in the credits messed me up man. I kept shaking my head to erase that bad trip.

Based on an ancient cartoon about an opera singing papa owl with an ‘Owl’ Jolson son, Happy Feet is a fish out of water story. Sort of. Then there’s a weird plot line about finding the aliens who polluted the water and got rid of the fish, and then the deal about the penguins can communicate by tap dancing, and how that even catches man’s attention. And they all get fish! I think. Because by that point I was gone. Couldn’t. take. it. any. longer!

I was still shuddering weeks later when Surf’s Up appeared in the mail. I saw the beautiful water, but I was still muttering “I can’t believe!” under my breath. I mean, Happy Feet! It looked so promising!

Then the movie started. It was like a documentary. I laughed, and continued laughing for the whole movie. Except for the brief minutes when I fell asleep. But that’s just me. It’s a rare movie that doesn’t put me to sleep. I think that would be about 2 movies, tops. But I digress.

Surf’s Up was just so funny. And cute. And what a great story. I don’t want to give any more away. Rent it, immediately! Then tell me how right I am.

The kids didn’t know how bad Happy Feet was until they saw Surf’s Up. Their brows furrowed as the wave of realization hit them. All penguin movies are not alike!

They couldn’t discern as much when the comparison was between Finding Nemo and Shark’s Tale. They had actually prefered the ghetto alternative mess to the timeless classic. They’re all too young to catch the nuances of difference between Bug’s Life and Antz and Ant Bully.

But Surf’s Up and Happy Feet? Even the 3 year old knows.

1. Beatrix Potter Complete Tales R/I

After checking out each individual story numerous times, and even some of the DVDs, we finally broke down and bought the collection. We love the beautiful watercolor illustrations, and the British dialog and 19th century customs. I think my two particular favorite tales are The Fierce, Bad Rabbit, and the Pie and the Patty Pan. It was really hard to choose just two. Everyone, even Yanni, who likes to be contrary, and has an irrational dislike for all things British, loves this book.

2.These Happy Golden Years (Little House)

I love most of the Little House on the Prairie books, as well as the stories of Laura’s great-grandmother, Martha, her grandmother, Charlotte, her mother, Caroline, and her daughter, Rose. I’ve read every one I can get my hands on, except, curiously, Little House on the Prairie. (I had assigned that to Yanni when she was 9 or so, and she told me it was boring. I must remedy this at once!) My all-time favorite of the all the series is These Happy Golden Years. This tells of Laura and Almanzo’s courtship, and it is so chaste and sweet.

3. Secret Garden, Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy: Three Complete Novels

After I finished reading The Secret Garden to the babies last spring, I went on a quest to read more Frances Hodgson Burnett. Of the three, I think the babies prefer The Little Princess. I’m partial to The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy. I thought it was interesting how Burnett insists that her heroines look ‘queer,’ but her hero, Lord Fauntleroy is beautiful. I wonder if that’s because she had a son?

4. Pollyanna

This was part of my cultural icons search. I wanted to know what people meant when they called someone a Pollyanna. I loved this hopeful, Christian character. She changed so many people’s lives, and turned so many hearts just by thinking about things for which to be grateful. I also loved Pollyanna Grows Up (Puffin Classics)

5. Little Women (Signet Classics)

When I started reading this to Yanni and Xay, I had to read ahead. Soon I had finished reading it to me, but not to them! Yanni has since read it, and I didn’t think Xay really cared too much. I liked this book so much better than Little Men and Jo’s Boys. Girls coming of age really strike a chord with me. I wish I’d discovered these as a girl!

6. Black and White

This is an interesting book I’d found at the library, and ordered it on Amazon as soon as I could. It tells four different stories per page, and you have to figure out which story goes where, and when each one starts and ends, and how they’re all connected somehow. I really like this one more than the children do. It’s too illogical for most of them.

7. Sam and the Tigers: A Retelling of ‘Little Black Sambo’ (Picture Puffins)

I got to meet the illustrator of this book! When I was a free-lance reporter for CityLife, Jerry and Andrea Pinkney came to town, so I interviewed them for one of two articles I actually contributed to the paper. (I discovered that reporting is not my thing. I much prefer blogging). It was neat to meet the illustrator, though, as I had already been a big fan of his beautiful watercolors. This story is a re-telling of the Sambo story, written by Julius Lester in a lilting southern storytelling style. The pictures alone are enough to recommend this book.

8. The Chronicles of Narnia Box Set (adult) (Narnia)

I didn’t expect to like these books; I don’t care for fantasy. But these were more than that. I read them to Yanni and Xay years ago, and by the third book, I was hooked, too. My favorites in the series are different from Yanni’s, which are different from Xay’s. We enjoy listening to them on tape as well. This last winter was spent od’ing on The Horse and His Boy from the Focus on the Family radio series.

9. Heidi (Children’s Classics)

Yanni had to read excerpts from Heidi when she was in the fourth or fifth grade. We checked the book out from the library, and I read it to Xay. We loved the story of the little girl with the big faith, and her nurturing grandfather. We checked out a movie about it, and it was no where near as good as the book. I can’t wait to read it to the babies!

10. The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne’s House of Dreams, … Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside)

It was an adventure finding each of these books at the library. My quest took me to every branch in town, but it was worth it. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Anne next. And then the story followed her children. I was so upset to finally finish with Rilla of Ingleside! I wanted the story to go on and on and on.

The Tell Me More program has three different modes: free-to-roam, guided, and dynamic. In the free-to-roam mode, the student chooses which sections they want to complete. In the guided mode, the program leads the student through each section, marking how complete each section is as the student moves through. The dynamic mode tailors the program to the individual student weaknesses.

A cool feature of the program is voice recognition. The program comes with a microphone headset, so a student can practice dialogue and pronunciation. If a student has a question about a word meaning, they can select the dictionary icon, located on every page in the program, and look up any highlighted word.

The help is very comprehensive, and the program is easy to navigate.

I found that the guided mode allows a much deeper exploration of the subject matter, as it won’t let you move to the next lesson until you’ve completed each section. The free-to-roam mode is easier to complete.

Although the first disc is labeled ‘complete beginner,’ it assumes knowledge of verb conjugation, and at least a rudimentary vocabulary. My son, a seventh grader, was completely at sea with this program, due to his lack of elementary Spanish knowledge.

I would recommend this program for a high school or advanced junior high Spanish student. It is stimulating and challenging. I have had four years of high school Spanish as well as one semester of college Spanish, and found the advanced CD difficult. While not perfect, Auralog’s Tell Me More should help your home schooled Spanish scholar approach more fluent conversational Spanish.

Pros:
• three different modes
• four distinct levels
• voice recognition feature
• easy to navigate
• fun
• dictionary feature

Cons:
• assumes knowledge of verb conjugation
• pronunciation exercises have no clear-cut end
• complete beginner level feels more intermediate than beginner
• word search sections assume you know the written form of words you’ve only just heard; assumes a large vocabulary

But, I guess I felt guilty for signing the children up for something I wasn’t willing to do myself, so I started signing up for it a few years ago.

Last summer, it ushered in the season of Lori Wick. Her books are so readable, I read one of the series twice last summer. I filled out my whole game card, and then gave birth the day before the big awards party.

This year, I started out reading
non-fiction. But I remembered having stumbled upon a funny book called Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me: A Novel in the adult stacks, so I just grabbed a book that caught my attention: The Movie-Goer.

I read this strange, morose, but riveting book after I’d checked out a bunch more books. I found a funny book called Gucci Gucci Coo, and I quickly followed this up with another Karen Karbo book, The Diamond Lane. And, maybe it’s just my brain on garbage, but I started to see correlations between the three books.

In The Movie Goer, the main character filters his life through movies. He likes to go see movies, even bad ones and he talks about the characters in the movies in terms of the actors who play them. In Gucci Gucci Coo, the main character runs an upscale baby boutique, and many of her clients are celebrities. The author, Sue Margolis, mixes fictional and real celebrities and products throughout the funny story. The Diamond Lane is probably the most outrageous of the three, with stories, characters and plots overlapping all over the place. The main character in this book is a documentary film maker, and she prefers the image of life to the real thing. Even though she doesn’t believe in marriage, she finds herself engaged to please her dying mother. The prospect of turning her wedding into a documentary is the only thing that gets her excited about planning the wedding. Meanwhile, her fiance, and movie making partner, is trying to sell their love story as a screenplay.

I found all the books entertaining, although I feel a little sheepish for having read those last two. They are going to be knocking around in my head for awhile.

Now I’m re-reading Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife, memoir of midwife Peggy Vincent. I last read this when I was pregnant with Esteban. I checked out Motherhood made a man out of me to re-read as well. Maybe I’ll go back to Lori Wick.