iCave

Succumbing to impulse and clever advertising, Chloe and I each bought a new iPod Nano yesterday. They are terribly cute. Chloe's is red and, for the moment, named Tsubaki (camellia), because it's a gorgeous red. Mine is green, and I'm still thinking up a name for it.

Setting it up is simpler than I thought it would be. I guess I haven't paid enough attention to MJ's iPod routine. I pop a CD in the computer, choose the songs I want to have on the iPod, click Import, and then move on to the next CD. The next time I plug in the iPod, all of those songs automatically get transferred over. Pretty slick.

Sorting through CDs has triggered a few music memories:

• One day not long after Mambo No. 5 hit the charts, I was driving through the sunshine with MJ by my side. That song came on and we mamboed our way down the freeway. When it ended, I said, "Play it again! Play it again!" And the DJ came on and said, "Let's play it again!" And he did!
• There was a time when a very young daughter of mine preferred Britney Spears' cover of "Satisfaction" to the Rolling Stones original. I'm happy to report that she's developed a little taste. She will remain nameless because she finds this past indiscretion terribly embarrassing. As she should!
• My first concert was AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock..." tour, highlighted by booming cannons and Angus antics. My favorite AC/DC album was (and continues to be) Back in Black, but it was a very good show. Kudos to my mom for letting her sweet young daughter (really!) start off at a hard-rock event, especially in the questionable company of my disreputable cousin Glen.
• MJ's first concert took place when she was much younger, but her escort was much more reliable: Daddy. They went to see Christina Aguilera. Her first concert with me was a Backstreet Boys one, at which I was pleasantly surprised by the entertainment value.
• Chloe's first concert was a year ago: EndFest, the all day alternative-rock festival, with headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers. MJ was her concert buddy, and they didn't get into any trouble that I heard about. (Of course, my mom probably still doesn't know everything about that AC/DC concert...)
• I don't know what Frank's first concert was! I'll have to ask him.
• The first concert I went to with Frank was, I think, the Neville Brothers. We saw them together a few times. At one show, we got to talk to Art, the coolest Neville. (Cyril is a close second.) During a break, he came over to the bar near where we were standing to get something to drink, and we chatted for a couple of minutes.
• My other brush with fame was meeting Devo backstage at the Paramount, thanks to the passes my high-school boyfriend had won from a radio station. The rumor was that the Devo guys were straight-A students, something I desperately wanted to believe at the time, since filling out AC/DC t-shirts hadn't completely clobbered my brainy rep. I very earnestly asked them about it and got to watch them squirm as they danced between truth and what was probably part of their PR machine.
• My favorite concert was Prince's Purple Rain tour. We had been watching the movie and playing the album for weeks. They released the movie to video while it was still in theaters, but that didn't stop us from seeing it on the big screen at least a dozen times. The entire UW campus was "Purple Rain" crazy; you couldn't walk past the dorms and frats without hearing it blaring out of one window or another. Then Prince came to town and watching the show was like living the movie. We knew all the dance moves, we knew all the audience-participation moves: we were in a purple frenzy. And when Prince removed his hip-hugging chain-belt thingie and threw it to the crowd and my sister caught it, my friends and I developed a case of envy that hasn't faded after all these years.

aaaaa

Hmm, I'd better dig out "Purple Rain" and get it loaded onto my iPod... :-)

My oh my

We went to the Mariners game Friday night. WOW! It was so fun!

Top of the ninth, the game is tied 4-4. Our closer, J.J. Putz, comes in, looks a little shaky, and then takes us through an efficient three outs.

Bottom of the ninth, the fans are gleeful with anticipation. We're all doing the rally jig til we're breathless.

Beltre gets on. We rack up a couple of outs.

And then rookie Jeff Clement steps up to the plate and belts a two-run homer.

Wahooooo!

It was such a thrilling game. And how lucky are we, getting a game like that when we only went to one this year?!

The people who left early are IDIOTS. What's a little traffic in exchange for a singular sports experience? I have never understood people who can leave when the game is still up for grabs. Why bother to go at all?

Zoo review

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Frank and MJ just wrote to tell me all about watching "Zoo." To read the report, use your mouse to highlight the empty space below. If you want to have the fun of discovering MJ's performance yourself, don't do that.

MJ's scenes are at the very end; she brought the movie to a close. Frank says she's very cute. MJ is most excited about the fact that she is listed in the credits!!!!!!!!! She's "the unknown girl."

Frank says the dry facts of the case aren't really included. Instead, it's very atmospheric. He says:

"The director [Robinson Devor] obviously tried VERY hard to not make these people seem creepy; but they are SOOOO creepy, it came through anyway. Yeech!

"In one sense the most fascinating part was the comments by one of the actual guys (Coyote?) about his interaction with Jenny and John when they came to take the horse. He pontificated on and on about how they knew nothing about horses and didn't understand horses like he did.

"But then again, who'd want to understand horses in that way?"

One note for all: Jenny, MJ's boss at Hope for Horses, was displeased with their use of one of her quotes in the movie. In it, she says something about understanding. Frank says it's pretty clear from her earlier comments in the film that she doesn't really understand, but Jenny was still unhappy that her words were taken out of context, making it appear as if she might condone what happened. She does not.

For those who know that MJ was interviewed by the director, we are sad to report that no interviews were included in the special features.

NEA's latest jab at homeschooling

Okay, let me preface this post by saying I am pro-unions. I am also, in many ways, pro-teachers. But I find the National Educational Association a dangerous organization that consistently ignores what's best for kids in favor of what's best (or so they think) for teachers.

To sign a petition condeming their latest anti-homeschooling resolution, go here.

Spiderman

The "awwww" factor on this is extremely high. Treat yourself!

Fun stuff

Quick little write-ups on a wide variety of subjects:
http://www.ohiokids.org/tellzall/index.shtml

What unschooling looked like today

I'm a little late with my mid-month look at unschooling...

We had a lazy morning, with MJ the only one to do much more than lounge and read. She listened to music, spent some time writing in her journal, and hung out on MySpace for a while. Later, Frank and I watched the Seahawks. Chloe—who has cycled back into a swing-shift sort of schedule after several camp-inspired weeks as a day-tripper—finally appeared and fixed herself some breakfast. She ate, then settled down with her laptop. She is doing a practice run at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), getting herself psyched up for their November sprint. (The goal is to write 50,000 words in those 30 days, and the reward is satisfaction and a certificate that says you did it.)

At 2:30, we tore ourselves away from the game to head down to Seattle (listening to radio coverage of the game all the way, of course). We went to Matthews Park on Lake Washington where we helped our friend Aeron celebrate her 7th birthday. We met several new kids and adults, frosted cupcakes, did some arts and crafts, destroyed a piñata (way to go, MJ!), blew bubbles, and tormented the local wildlife, then some of us settled down to chat and listen to Frank play guitar. The rest played at the playground.

From there, we headed up to Capitol Hill to the Baptist church where Frank plays volleyball every Sunday night. We were early, so we stopped in at Tacos Guaymas for a bite to eat. I introduced MJ to their little open-faced tacos—a great excuse for eating pico de gallo—and MJ introduced us to horchata, a sweet, milky beverage made from rice and flavored with cinnamon. We mostly preferred Frank's Jarritos Mandarina, but it was fun to try something new.

At the church, the girls and I settled in to entertain ourselves while Frank played v-ball. MJ plays there sometimes, but she elected to protect her nose today, so the three of us alternated between watching the action and hanging out in the rec room. I listened to a book on CD briefly, then kept Chloe company while she made some Halloween art. We fiddled on the piano. MJ listened to her iPod.

Then one of the regulars (a church member) suggested we go try out the bowling alley. Turns out the church has its own, two old-fashioned lanes where human hands have to do a lot of the resetting of pins. This was a fascinating experience, and a lot of hard work! The "pit" at the end of the lane was surprisingly spacious once we'd crawled under the (nonfunctioning) pin setter. There's a long, elevated bench back there where the pin boys can sit, taking care to keep their feet out of the way of flying pins, and there's a nifty force-of-gravity ball-return ramp that was fun to play with. (ZP bonus: a fascinating article about bowling that mentions pin boys and one just about pin boys)

We finished up the evening back in the rec room having some carrot cake and chatting with the players. They're a friendly bunch and only ribbed MJ a little about her nose ring.

Now, we're settled in back at home, spread to the four corners of the house. Frank is watching TV in the basement, MJ is going through her photo collection in her room, Chloe is back at work on her novel in the homeschool room (formerly our diningroom), and I'm upstairs blogging.

I'm supposed to do an academic translation of our day now, but I'm tuckered out and not feeling very interested in that. Maybe my readers would like to help me out by taking a stab at it in the comments...?

Zoo

MJ's movie, "Zoo," is now available on DVD. Remember, the subject matter of the documentary is bestiality, so this will not be for everyone.

Strewing

I'm busy with deadlines at work, so I don't have much time for blogging. To keep my loyal readers entertained, I'll post something I wrote on an unschooling board about one of my favorite unschooling subjects: strewing.

First, the definition. Strewing is one of the ways unschoolers ensure our kids are getting exposure to a wide range of topics, events, activities, and resources. We strew their path with interesting stuff.

One day, another mom asked for more information on strewing. Her question is in blue; the rest is me.

Is it unschooling if I have an awareness of subjects, but truly maintain a focus on respecting [my son] and his interests and being open to the process of learning, and joyfully go about strewing (rather than giving mini-lessons or making unit studies)? If awareness of subjects is a tool and not the goal?

I think I know what you're asking, but I'll paraphrase just to make sure I'm answering the right question. You want to know if it's okay for you to keep *school* subjects in mind and let that awareness guide your strewing. My answer is: Yes and no.

I think it's okay to use strewing to calm your own fears that your children are not getting enough (for example) science in their lives. Bring home some test tubes, go for a walk and collect as many different leaves as you can, hang up a human anatomy poster, buy a Magic School Bus computer game, go to the science center, whatever. If you can strew without putting pressure on your kids and without feeling disappointment if they don't (seem to) pick up on what you strew, the result will be that some cool and interesting resources have been added to your lives. Great!

But please note that there are some big If's attached to that. Most of us have a lot of schooled thinking to get over. You might initially find it hard to see those test tubes sitting there gathering dust, or feel frustrated if your son decides to treat the poster like a big paper doll and spends a couple of hours covering up the anatomy. Your challenge will be finding the act of strewing to be its own reward. Do you see what I mean? You must feel satisfied by strewing rather than by your kids' response to what you've strewn.

That challenge exists even when you're strewing something about Green Day or candy-making or the benefits of regular oil changes for the car, but it's usually less emotionally charged than when we're strewing materials that a school might use.

Which leads to the second part of my answer: Strewing is ever so much bigger than school! When Sandra talks about being well rounded, I don't think she is talking about exposure to the handful of severely delimited über-subjects of the school world (math, English, history, science, art, music, physical education, foreign languages). She's talking about exposure to life and the world and emotions and people. It's vibrant, variable, full to bursting, an amazingly complex and beautiful web of topics and tidbits and theories and ideas.

Don't settle for a school approach to the world. Why limit yourself or your son that way?

Fifteen

We celebrated MJ's 15th birthday last Saturday.

Let me just repeat that for myself: MJ—that tiny bundle I carried, nursed, walked endlessly, and so on—is FIFTEEN. Wow. That is hard to take in!

This event inspired some rather philosophical thinking and writing on my part—rather florid passages full of driving metaphors (she is signed up for driver training!)—but I'll spare you all that and move right on to describing her big day.

MJ had two main birthday requests once we'd whittled out the really expensive items: to accompany Frank to New Orleans when he goes next month, and to get her nose pierced. I'm not sure which request was more of a pinch (and I'm not talking about the pain she felt when they stuck her), but we came through for her. She is now sporting a small horseshoe-shaped bit of jewelry in her left nostril, and she and Frank will soon be heading down for a long week in the Big Easy.

The whole nose-piercing thing was an interesting unschooling challenge for us. It's so much easier to support your kids' choices when your kids are 9 or 10 and choosing to wear mismatched socks. :-) But we stuck to our guns, put our money where our mouths (and her nose) are, cowboyed up, and did the right thing. It looks better than I thought it would, and I'm happy she's happy with it (faint praise, I know—sorry MJ!).

After her encounter with the needle, we went to Baskin Robbins for a birthday ice cream cone. This is a tradition for her birthday, adopted in Slidell, LA, the summer Katrina blew through, when there wasn't much more to do for her birthday than go to B&R, because that was the only place open! Frank and I were reflecting on how quickly the last two years have gone. I asked the girls if it seemed fast to them. No.

But for us old(er) folks, it's been an eyeblink. Actually, MJ's entire 15 years have been an eyeblink. There's some part of my brain that still "knows" I have two toddlers at home. I have pictures on my desk at work—taken that winter we lived in Destin, FL, when MJ was 4 and Chloe, not quite 3—and those adorable little girls are still the ones I somehow expect to see when I get home from work at night.

Maybe it's time for some new pictures. :-)

Anyway, we closed out the day with a small extended-family party having breakfast for dinner at IHOP. She had candles in her pancakes and some laughs with her cousins. Pretty fun!

George Carlin on those school bumper stickers

http://members.cox.net/jimkaiser/Honor%20Students.wav

We also like "Ax me about my dumbass kids."

More on teens: Not terrible

I subscribe to Scott Noelle's Daily Groove mailing list. I want to share this bit of wisdom that arrived in my Inbox today, a timely reminder for a mother whose daughter was home for half a day before she went off on her next adventure.

:: Terrible Two's & Rebellious Teens... NOT! ::

(Continued from yesterday -- full text at
http://dailygroove.net/terrible-not)

Developmentally, toddlers and teens have one thing in common: they're on the verge of a quantum leap in personal autonomy. They're on a mission to become *themselves* -- to get in touch with their Inner Power more than ever before.

Anytime they feel imposed upon or coerced, that mission is blocked, and they instinctively protest. In nature-based, pleasure-oriented, partnership cultures, such protests are rarely triggered, so terrible two's and teen rebellions rarely occur.

But in our anti-nature, control-oriented culture, parents are expected
(if not required *by law*) to oppose or control children's natural developmental impulses toward personal empowerment, which guarantees the terribles!

The shift from terrible to terrific begins with your commitment to creative partnership. Then, whenever your child exhibits "terrible" behavior, you can re-interpret it as evidence of his or her unfolding autonomy, and ask yourself this:

"How can I use my creativity
to support my child's growth
in a way that works for ALL of us?"

http://dailygroove.net/terrible-not

Copyright (c) 2007 by Scott Noelle
Used With Permission

A Boy Named Jayne

FanVid Credit: enjia

Speed Racer

Frank took Chloe down to Traxx today, where she took their safety training, received her "driver's license," and got to drive the adult course for a while. She loved every minute of it and "only crashed a couple times."

Unfortunately, they left the camera at home.

A quiet day at Microsoft

Today was Microsoft's annual Company Meeting. They rented Safeco Field and more buses than I knew were present in the state of Washington.

We fake employees—who, happily, are not allowed to attend—had a great day for getting some work done, with quiet hallways and minimal interruptions.

Work items

Some terribly exciting additions to my work portfolio:

Using matrix items
August newsletter for RMS: The Register

I love Chicago

If you haven't yet discovered the monthly Q&A at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/, I recommend it. Those wacky University of Chicago Press editors always have something fun to say.

An excerpt from this month:
Q. As you know, CMOS 6.64 says, “When a colon introduces two or more sentences . . . the first word following it is capitalized.” The two examples seem to suggest that the sentences following must comprise a series of some sort... Can you clarify what it means to “introduce” two or more sentences?

A. I think you’ve got the idea. There are bound to be gray areas where a person could interpret more than one sentence as “being introduced by” the colon. But if the material introduced by the colon clearly runs out at the end of the first sentence, that first sentence is lowercased.

• She clung to her wishes: She wished the evil prince hadn’t eaten the golden egg. She wished he would leave the kingdom forever. And she wished someone would do her ironing.
• She was furious: she wished the evil prince would leave the kingdom forever. But meanwhile, there wasn’t an egg left in the house and the laundry was waiting.

...

Bowling for Hope

MJ's charity, Hope for Horses, is holding a bowling tournament to raise some much needed funds. We encourage you to join the fun or just send 'em some money. These people do amazing work.

Let me know if you want to preregister and I'll send you the form. To make a tax-deductible donation, send your check to:

Hope for Horses
PO Box 1790
Woodinville, WA 98072

Click the ad to view details about the event.

Life in brief

Grandma is doing great and has 20-something more days at assisted living before she goes home. We've been visiting her in the evenings. She says, "You don't have to come every day!" when we arrive and "You really made my day!" when we leave. :-)

Chloe, Logan, and I went to the Evergreen State Fair Saturday. (Yum!)

Heroes came out on DVD!

The child-accessible nightshade has been vanquished. I was sad to see it go, but the front yard does look tidier.

A large portion of the unschooling community is in North Carolina at the Live and Learn Conference. Wish we could have gone! Next year.

Chloe's laptop has been repaired. She's very excited to get back to work.

Actually, she came to work with me today. The receptionist asked her, "Why aren't you in school today?" (as if it's any of her business). I smiled and replied, "School doesn't start until tomorrow," which is both perfectly true and perfectly deceptive.

MJ gets home from camp on Thursday! I can't wait. Unfortunately, Amtrak keeps pushing her arrival time back. If they keep this up, it'll actually be Friday before we see her.

I've been learning all about running a Yahoo! Group. My blog-oriented administration of the STUN group had too many limitations, so I switched it to Yahoo! It's been interesting so far. The message traffic will probably pick up when the rest of the gang gets back from NBTSC.

Frank is considering a trip to New Orleans to visit Marty et al. If he goes this fall, he'll probably slot it between MJ's birthday and his eligibility to return to work in October. That's assuming his sisters are ready for visitors in that timeframe.

Speaking of MJ's birthday, Frank's been researching Drivers Ed courses. Our school district doesn't offer them anymore, so we're having to look at private enterprises. Those places want nearly $500 for a basic course! Yikes! Thankfully, our insurance rates don't go up until she's licensed. One financial hurdle at a time...