Portfolio Round Up

I'm having my end of year portfolio review today, so these are just links to the things we've done this semester.

English

Math

Science

History

Art

Music

Japan

Showing Them the Money

Choclo and Oob and I have spent a lot of time over the past few months playing with money. 

We started out with a large jar of unsorted change, and have progressed to a cash box with bills!

The basic format is this: we each bring random things and place them out for "sale."  The banker gives everyone a random amount of money to start, and then the wheeling and dealing begins.

This is a game that can continue indefinitely because a kid can always go off and find a random object to sell to the store, so they can keep replenishing their funds.

In terms of math skills, this covers counting, skip counting (5s, 10s, 20s, and 25s), adding, subtracting, decimals, and making change.  But it also teaches saving, spending, and valuing money.

If you don't have a pile of cash, there are some great internet games that do similar things here, here,  and (more advanced) here.

Poem of the Week

“i thank You God for most this amazing” 
by e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

HT: The Poetry Place

Hamlet and Then Some

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Nothing like a portfolio review coming up to remind you that you need to blog about home schooling stuff... Did we remember to educate the children this semester?  Oh, yeah, we just finished a high tide with Hamlet! Nothing says "We're serious about education" like Shakespeare!

We watched three different versions: the 1990 Mad Max Mel Gibson version set in medieval times.  This had our favorite queen - seriously, Glenn Close was amazing, it was the most convincing explanation of the situation I've ever seen!  We also liked Gibson's Hamlet a lot.  He made it believable that Hamlet was likeable, but flawed, a combination that is clear in the play, but hard to pull off.

Next up was the 1996 scene chewing extravaganza Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet. We really liked their Horatio, and their Claudius. This was our least favorite Hamlet, partly because he was so unlikeable. This also had my favorite scenery set in the late 18th century: very lush and opulent, if a bit chewed around the edges.

The Zoomlians commented that this version "jumped the shark" at several points, notably in the ghost scene where the ghost's command to swear secrecy is accompanied by earthquakes.  Seriously. But it also had the best ever grave diggers scene (with Billy Crystal) and a jaw droppingly awesome Charleton Heston as the leader of the players.

Fun to watch, but a prime example of why the director, producer, and star should be at least two different people.

Then we had the 2009 Dr. Who/Star Trek crossover David Tennant Hamlet with Sir Patrick Stewart as Claudius. This was set in modern times with clever use of security cameras and "found footage" for the soliloquies.  This was very well done.  My favorite Claudius, an excellent Polonius, Laertes, and Horatio, and our best and worst Ophelia.  As a sane Ophelia, we found her utterly unconvincing, but as crazy Ophelia... Wow!

We liked Tennant as Hamlet very much.  He was believable, and he brought out the black humor of the part.  He does "conflicted" very well also, and that's a key part of the role.


So, what's left?  Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.  This is a weird film from back in 1990 which follows two very minor characters from Hamlet through the play, sort of at right angles to it, while asking existential questions.  Naturally, it's a comedy.

It also includes The World's Most Annoying Game, which your children will want to play all the time, so allow them to watch it (below) at your peril. Also there is at least one inappropriate scene in the movie (with the players) which we fast forwarded for the Zoomlians.

Guest Blog by Mxyl

I don't believe we've mentioned that the Zoomlians have started composing music.  While Klenda and I have made minor melodies, Leena in particular has finished an extraordinary piece of music: Cthra, a Zoomlian word that translates to "Storm."

Here, composed and performed by Leena: Storm!


A few words from the composer:

"I am very proud to have made up this 'Cthra' by myself.  My favorite part is at the 1:07 mark.  I hope you enjoyed it!"

Painting Round 2

 Unlike the Zoomlians, who redo their rooms frequently, we haven't painted our room in a decade.  It was time for a change!

So, armed with anniversary money from Mumpy and Pa, the Emperor and I set out to find a bedspread that we both loved.

We've noticed that when we pick things out together, it takes 3 times as long, but we end up with something we like 10 times as much.

We found this chocolate, cream and dusky turquoise bed in a bag at Anna's.  We picked out matching curtains while we were at it, and a paint that was a slightly lighter shade of the turquoise .

It was very nice...but we both felt something was missing. How about a stenciled border that matched the vining flowers on the bed spread?


That was great!  Although Blogger is still stretching the photos.  And I can't find a way to get actual help past their FAQs.

But I wanted to do something special above the bed. The Emperor has a morbid fear of things hanging over him at night just because of that thing that happened that time when I said it wouldn't prefers not to have anything hanging over the bed.

 What about a painted headboard?  We looked through a few pages of ideas, and found that we were both drawn to the tree motifs.

Trees, I can do!  I freehand painted the trees, then added leaves, flowers, and birds from the stencil kit (just using a bit here and there).

We love it!

I'm thinking of painting a nest with six eggs in one of the trees.

Secret Day

We're having a Secret Day. 

I have a cold and I can't talk very loud, so I am whispering to the Zoomlians. Inevitably, they whisper back.  Naturally, this means everything is secret. 

"It's a secret: It's time for breakfast, pass it on."  Everyone lines up at the table, smiling.

"We're having secret packets, better get yours quietly." The Zoomlians quickly plow through their packets.

"Let's go to our secret playground. The secret is that the mulberries are ripe there!"



Oob: You want to know the biggest secret?  It's where my shoes are.

Me: Where?

Oob: I don't know!


One of the nicest things about the Zoomlians is that any indication that I am under the weather launches them into care taking mode. I have had more offers to make me tea or to do something for me than I can count!

Painting Round 1

 Yesterday we moved all the furniture and painted the living room, dining room, front hall and stairs.  And changed the curtains. And put everything back!

And today we are tired.

You can see a before picture here.  I had thought we had last painted a year and a half to two years ago, so I was surprised to see the peach walls three years ago.

 But we are surrounded by clean fresh walls in a pale blue-green that feels summery.

To which the Emperor cautiously replied with the question: Does this mean you're going to do this all over again in September?

Of course not!  It's still hot here in September.

 I'm thinking October.

How did we do it all in one day?  The Zoomlians did a great deal of the work: moving, cleaning, taping, and  painting, including this Art Deco flourish going down the stairs.




 By the way, does anyone know why blogger is suddenly stretching all the vertical pictures into a horizontal format?

Wise Child

Choclo and the Emperor were talking about seasons and the Emperor was explaining that "equinox" means "equal night," referring to the fact that the lengths of day and night are equal on the equinoxes.

Choclo: Isn't there a character in Batman, the Brave and the Bold named Equinox?

The Emperor: That's right.

Choclo:  Isn't he half good and half bad? 

The Emperor: Well, supposedly.

Choclo: Yeah, supposedly, he wants everything to be equally good and bad, but that doesn't make any sense.  You know why?  If you mix together a cup of water and a cup of mud, you know what you get? Mud!

Poem of the Week

The Vacation

By Wendell Berry

Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.

He went flying down the river in his boat

with his video camera to his eye, making

a moving picture of the moving river

upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly

toward the end of his vacation. He showed

his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,

preserving it forever: the river, the trees,

the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat

behind which he stood with his camera

preserving his vacation even as he was having it

so that after he had had it he would still

have it. It would be there. With a flick

of a switch, there it would be. But he

would not be in it. He would never be in it.

 

HT: Poetry Foundation