Lego Stuff

So we joined this homeschooling co-op, which is really quite relaxed and nice, but even still, my kids don't really care.

I've discovered that what Bastian is is rather introverted, which I guess I knew, but never used that word to describe. He can run with the pack and join in if he feels comfortable enough, like, if he knows you already. He likes older boys like any little boy does. He's, you know, normal.

He does not care for the co-op though. He goes with us because he doesn't really have a choice and I stay with him during his classes, so he's usually okay eventually. We've also only gone twice so far due to illness. There's only been four days though out of a six week (once a week) session. This day, he decided with about ten minutes left in the class to stop playing (the class is fun stations) and eat lunch early. Those yo kids yogurts which I never normally buy are pretty enticing, I must admit.
So we went out to the main area and were quiet and sat down and started eating. Aleks joined us early too. Then, we sat around for awhile and when the second class was going to start after lunch, Bastian decided to blow the entire popsicle stand. Aleks was the only kid present for his second class, Extra Recess, and the younger kid class that Bastian takes has a bunch of helpers already, so I checked in with everyone and we bailed.

I didn't really want to just head home though since we had managed despite the cold and the rain to get up and dressed and out of the house at a reasonable hour. So after a couple of quick errands, we headed to the mall to check out the new Lego store (decidedly NOT a destination store like the one we visited in Chicago) and maybe pick out the sets they each want for their birthday (Bastian, May 29th, age 6) and upcoming surgery (Aleks, May 31st, bone graft), respectively.
We spent more than an hour at the Lego store.

I achieved two of my own errands at the mall as well and we stopped at the sweet shop for overpriced gummies before heading home. Pretty awesome, really.

Very Important Update: Cats

In April, cats arrived. This is really vital information. They are lovely and very much ours now. The children have learned to feed them appropriately and I have mostly worked out the details of not having a house that smells of cats, even when there are two of them living exclusively indoors in 950 square feet. Their names are Oscar and Felix (yes, like the Odd Couple). They are both neutered four-ish-year-old males, adopted from a couple who found it necessary to rehome them due to a cross-country move. Whatever dudes, their loss.

Felix eats fingers.Oscar likes to sit on our fancy-ass Waldorfian felted wool playscape.
They love each other.




*Yes, most of these photos were taken with Hipstamatic for iPhone. What of it?

History of Rock N' Roll YouTube Contest

This afternoon, while drinking hot chocolate, my 8-year-old son, Aleks, didn't know who the Beatles were. We're not the biggest Beatles fans in the world, but it reminded me of a joke I once heard:

A: They're Beatles lyrics, aren't they?
B: I don't know. Sorry.
A: Of course you do. Everyone is born knowing Beatles' lyrics instinctively. They're passed into the fetus along with all the amniotic stuff. In fact, they should be called The Fetals.

When repeated, my son didn't get the joke either. So it occurred to me that what we really need is a YouTube playlist to walk us through the history of Rock N' Roll. We homeschool, so we have plenty of time to watch YouTube videos. It also occurred to me that different folks might design different playlists. This is perfect. This means we can make it a contest.

All you have to do is create a playlist of YouTube videos either by listing them and submitting the list via email, or by creating a playlist on YouTube for public sharing (and submitting the link to the playlist link in the comments here, on the Facebook event page or by email). You'll need a YouTube account for this latter option. See this tutorial.

The prize is yet undecided, but will be homemade by Aleks and I. All participants will receive a certificate of thanks. Feel free to share.

All submissions should be sent with a name and contact information by 11:59 pm March 27th to Anna Kiss at annakissmm at gmail dot com.

Valentines!

Bastian glues.


New box.

Aleks' homemade Minecraft Valentine.
The Valentine I made for folks using mostly fair use images found online. St. Valentine, it turns out, was martyred by being beheaded by the Romans, mostly for being a Christian priest. It's really unclear as to whether the paper hearts, illegal marriages, or miracles (like curing blindness) were real at all. He was definitely beheaded, though, in about 269 CE.

Tesla Orchestra

My friend Ian started this Tesla Orchestra, so part of an ongoing series of field trips to meet and talk to artists while they work, Aleks and I are going to see the Tesla Orchestra next Friday. Maybe we'll even get around to blogging about it.

The Wind in the Willows

We've just started reading The Wind in the Willows at bedtime, which I've never before read (though I do recall the Disney cartoon version quite well and always sing "We're Merrily on our Way" in my head in our neighborhood due to the streets here being very much like the names recited in the chorus). I found this quote compelling:

Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not.

It so happens to be the bit that both children fell asleep to, but it reminded me of my life, especially lately as I lament my lack of motivation and the cold and all the problems going on in my life that seem on the one hand insubstantial yet inspire lengthy complaints to close friends. Every day I detail the ways in which I feel unmotivated then make attempts at rationalizing the ways in which I accomplish enough. This quote is like that: trying to describe what enough is, what it looks like, how it goes.

It also calls to mind when I was doing similar lamenting to a friend this past fall, whining about all the things to do and the struggle to drag boys about trying to do things. She cut me off with, "and boys don't care!" And I, feeling self-righteous and indignant said, "You're right! They don't!" Then she said the most surprising thing I think I'd ever heard and knew and yet somehow never saw before, "Which is awesome."

It had simply never occurred to me that the boys lack of interest in almost anything included in externally-motivated definitions of "value" might be seen as a boon. The Water Rat says it right there and it applies to boys and unschooling and all of it: it doesn't matter what you do. Whatever it is, it fills up time, space. Water Rat is so existential, when you think about it. Do amazing things, recognize that they are as common and as necessary as sweeping the floor. It's all about intention.

Mozart's Birthday

Thanks to The Celebrationists (which I believe is mainly a single artist in NYC), we have new inspiration for approaching activities for the day which doesn't involve me leaving the comfort of the internet. The Celebrationists also provide the art: Today we celebrated Mozart's 255th birthday. We had to do some math to figure out how old he would have been today, which involved learning how to "borrow." Then we printed the above art for the living room wall, read about Mozart on Wikipedia, and listened to lots of examples of the music online. I swore we owned a few CDs of Mozart - for which we discussed the alphabetization of media in order to search through our shelves - but all we could come up with was Beethoven (whom I actually like much better, generally, but he wasn't born on this day).



Then after dinner, we baked. Happy Birthday Mozart! We made you pumpkin cinnamon rolls. Pity you're dead and can't enjoy them.