Madame Tussauds

I took Star to London yesterday for a long promised trip to Madame Tussauds. We endured a packed train to get there, but once we arrived she became a pirate ...

And narrowly escaped the Incredible Hulk ...

She led the Tour de France ...

Made a public appearance with George Bush and Tony Blair ...

And even met Pope John Paul II ...

A couple of tips for anyone in the UK thinking of visiting. Using Tesco Clubcard vouchers counts as pre-paid entry and allows you to jump the queue. It also avoids having to pay a ludicrously large entrance fee. At mid-day during half-term the queue is long (they were estimating 2 hours when we arrived). Pushchairs are not allowed, but they will provide a baby carrier for a small deposit. Being practiced ring sling users we were fine and felt rather smug. And if, like me, you are a forty something ... it is all rather different to how it was when we were nine!

Thursday Thirteen #21: Favourite Authors

If I could only take books by thirteen authors to a desert island ... chosen in part for variety and with a leaning to more prolific writers (I wouldn't want to run out of books, now, would I?).

1. J. R. R. Tolkien
2. C. S. Lewis
3. Elizabeth Goudge
4. Peter Kreeft
5. George Weigel
6. Charlotte Mason
7. Winston Churchill
8. Bill Bryson
9. Michael Palin
10. Ellis Peters
11. Geoffrey Trease
12. J. K. Rowling
13. Elinor M. Brent Dyer

It's not a Cake Walk ...

... it's a Book Walk!

Cay Gibson at the Cajun Cottage is running a book walk tomorrow (Thursday 25th).

If you would like the chance to win an autographed copy of Cay's new book, Christmas Mosaic, pay a visit to her blog and find out how to play.

Gentle Learning

After reading up on Montessori, making a start on Charlotte Mason's Home Education, and learning a little about Waldorf education and watching the way it is taking shape in the creative hands of the authors of the Serendipity blog, I've come up with this list of things I want Little Cherub's early years to include:

• gentle, nurturing atmosphere
• emphasising the rhythm of the year
• rhythmic days
• child-led learning
• picture books
• fairy tales and imaginative stories
• enjoying nature
• lots of art and craft
• learning about the world and its people
• avoiding over-stimulation

Over the next few days (or weeks?) I'm planning to write a series of posts expanding on these individually. Please bear with me as I think out loud!

Baby Sign

I am a convert to signing with babies. To find out why, visit The Lilting House where Lissa sets out the case for learning to sign far better than I could. She also details how their family have gradually immersed themselves sign language, and how it has benefited them all, not just her young son with hearing loss.

I had read enough by Lissa and other baby sign enthusiasts to know that I wanted to try signing with Little Cherub. What I didn't know, was how to tackle it with no experience of using sign language. The first decision to make was what sign language to teach. There were four choices:

• Baby sign - simple signs developed for use with babies, but not based on the signs used by the deaf community.
  
• American Sign Language (ASL) - tempting as there are family friendly resources available for use with young children such as the Signing Time DVDs many homeschoolers enthuse about.
  
• British Sign Language (BSL) - the sign language used by the British deaf community, so obviously more appropriate for us than ASL, but with less resources available (or at least, less resources that I knew about!). ASL and BSL are completely different languages.
  
• Makaton - a simplified version of BSL widely used with children and adults with language difficulties and learning disabilities. For babies and toddlers Makaton and BSL are very similar.
  

I opted for BSL, despite the temptation of those ASL resources (would it really matter if we used ASL in our family? would we really use BSL much, if at all, once Little Cherub was older?). Good decision. There is much more signing around than there was when Angel and Star were small, and everything I have seen has been BSL or Makaton. I browsed Amazon, took the plunge and bought a book - Let's Sign Early Years, by Cath Smith and Sandra Teasdale.


This turned out to be a good buy, with clear pictorial representations of the signs most likely to be useful with a toddler or pre-schooler. I can't pretend to have been particularly consistent with signing, but despite my shortcomings we have made some headway and it is definitely helping Little Cherub to communicate - she uses milk, all gone / finished, please and thank you signs consistently, which doesn't seem much. What is noticeable, though, is that although she does not yet speak more than a handful of words she is less frustrated by this than her sisters were at the same age, and she clearly sees her hands as a way of communicating. For example, she uses "all gone" a lot, very expressively and in many different situations - to point out that she has finished a meal, to accept that a toy is being put away, to say that someone has gone out, and so on. With Tevye's help she has evolved her own sign to show she wants to be put somewhere (on the sofa, on a lap, or whatever). It is obvious that the idea of signing has clicked in her brain, so if I can be more consistent about using sign I think the number she uses will explode.

If you are interested in using BSL with little ones, here are a few other resources I have found:

• Something Special TV programmes (broadcast on CBeebies) - these are intended for young children with learning difficulties and use Makaton to support speech. Little Cherub isn't interested, but watching has helped me get a better feel for how sign works. The website includes demonstrations of basic signs.
  
• Rhyme Time - a free monthly activity run by our local library, with songs and rhymes for babies and preschoolers. The librarian who leads it is obviously an enthusiast for baby signing and often adds signs to the songs.
  
• Tiny Talk classes use BSL. As Angel and Star were still home last year these weren't a viable option for me, even though there is a local class. (Another UK baby signing programme is Sing and Sign, which is based on Makaton).
  
• City University has a website on BSL early sign development which includes videos of early sign phrases and a basic vocabulary.

If anyone has any other BSL early years resources to recommend, I'd like to hear about them.

Heard on Holiday ...

Angel to Star: Wait ... I haven't seen you in your cupboard yet ...

Me to Star: Is it OK if Cherub plays with your brain?

Tevye to Star (crossly): You've got dalek slime all over the car!

Why is it always Star?

In case you are wondering, she had a Doctor Who magazine which included a rubbery green brain and a (leaky) tub of dalek slime as free gifts. We should have known better.

There ... and back again

Yes, we did have a nice break. Short, but good.

Yes, I did take photos. When I remembered the camera.

No, I did not remember the camera when Little Cherub ventured onto a sandy beach for the first time. Fortunately Angel had her mobile phone and took photos for me.

No, I have not yet uploaded the photos. Neither has Angel.

Yes, thank you, I am very comfy on the sofa. Photos to follow when I overcome inertia.

Meanwhile, a picture of Little Cherub's bete noir. Giants in padded kangaroo suits are not her thing . They make her shriek. Very loudly.

Going away again ...

... to the same place we went to last year.

Back on Friday.

Light Fantastic

Our local metropolis has been holding a free Light Fantastic event over the last couple of days and Angel persuaded me to take her along last night. I was glad she did. We watched fireworks and lasers ...


This heliosphere - an illuminated giant balloon with a dangling acrobat, who bobbed up in the air and then down to touch the hands of the crowd below ...

And Transe Express, a very unusual ... display? I'm not sure what to call it. Whatever it was, it was spectacular. Picture torchlit entertainers ...

Eight percussion sets and three trapeze artists dangling from a giant rotating cage raised into the air by a crane to the music of bells and drums from said percussion sets ...


Which opened out like the petals of a flower as it was raised higher and higher into the air ...

What gets me, though, is who thought this up? What type of brain comes up with the concept of a human musical box, crossed with a child's mobile, dangling from a crane? And turns it into an hour's amazing entertainment?

October

What the Catholic toddler plays with in October ...


St. Therese and a Guardian Angel (not the one that managed to prevent her nose diving down the stairs on Friday)

Winnie-the-Pooh

I have loved Winnie-the-Pooh (the real one, not the poor Disney imitation) since I was not much older than Little Cherub, so it is no surprise that I have finally turned into him.

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!
HT: The Jacobite Rose

Conkers

In response to public demand, the answer to the question "what are conkers?" ...

Conkers are nuts from the horse chestnut tree - not edible (unless you are a squirrel!) but beautifully shiny and satisfyingly round. Somehow it isn't possible to see a conker on the ground and not pick it up and stuff it into your pocket. Unless you have no soul, that is. Or are no longer still a child at heart. Horse chestnuts are one of our most common trees, so conkers are easy to find in the autumn.

When I was a child everyone used to play a game unimaginatively called conkers. You prepare your conkers by skewering a hole through them and threading them onto individual pieces of string. One player holds a conker still, dangling on its string; the other player then swings their conker at it, trying to break it. The players take turns until one conker breaks, leaving the intact conker the winner. The game of conkers seems to have gone out of fashion, but kids still collect them.

You can find more about conkers here and here.

Thursday Thirteen #20: 40 Reasons to Have Kids

Yes, forty is the new thirteen ... but after reading Karen's and Sarah's lists I couldn't resist adding my own selection. Here are forty rather more lighthearted reasons for having children (Karen set out the real reasons far better than I could do).

Why have children? When you have children you get to ...

1. Stuff your pockets full of conkers.
2. Ride rollercoasters
3. Eat more ice cream
4. Re-read beloved books from your childhood.
5. Find new beloved children's books.
6. Have tickling fights.
7. Play on the swings.
8. Whizz down slides.
9. Visit the zoo.
10. Watch fun movies.
11. Jump in puddles.
12. Enjoy sloppy kisses.
13. Cuddle a lot.
14. Play board games.
15. Tell stories.
16. Sing songs.
17. Listen to jokes.
18. Bake cakes.
19. Ride bikes.
20. Row boats.
21. Draw and paint.
22. Make scrapbooks.
23. Throw parties.
24. Take picnics to the woods.
25. Play on the beach.
26. Borrow your daughter's iPod.
27. Have your nails painted by your own personal manicurist.
28. Have your hair arranged by your own personal hairdresser.
29. Go clothes shopping with your own personal fashion adviser.
30. Kick balls.
31. Throw frisbees.
32. Fly kites.
33. Go swimming.
34. Pick blackberries.
35. Watch fireworks.
36. Play in the snow.
37. Visit Father Christmas.
38. Fill stockings.
39. Make new friends.
40. Laugh a lot.

Little Cherub's Book Choice ... Handa's Surprise

Little Cherub's new favourite is one of the books from my library book sale trawl: Handa's Surprise by Eileen Browne. I have had to read it to her three times already today, and it is only 9.30 in the morning. (Cherub is very specific about what she wants read and when ... she gets the book and bashes me on the knee with it until I oblige.)

Handa is an African girl who decides to take a gift of various fruits to her friend in the next village. Along the way, the fruits are stolen by various animals - the monkey, the elephant, the giraffe, and so on. Fortunately a goat accidentally provides Handa with a replacement gift before she arrives. The text is simple and pictures vivid, giving a sense of the brightness of colours under the African sun. Cherub loves fruit and is into learning the names of different animals, so I'm not surprised this book with its appealing pictures has caught her attention. I particularly like the one which shows Handa arriving at her friend's village, where what appear to be many children from the same family are playing outside their home, with one little one tied to her sister's back and a baby on his brother's lap. Little Cherub is very into babies, and loves to point these out!

I notice that the original picture book does not seem to be in print in the US, so I have linked to Amazon UK. The "read and share" version that is readily available from Amazon.com has larger print, but smaller pictures ... I think the original is nicer as the pictures are the heart of this book.

40 Reasons to Have Kids

Don't miss Karen Edmisten's 40 reasons to have kids, written in response to a French psychologist (and mother!) who declares she regrets having children and has published a book detailing 40 reasons not to have them.

Time crunch

On Thursday Angel played in a tag rugby match ... on Friday she had two hours of ballet classes ... on Saturday she went here for a friend's birthday treat ... in the evening she played in a brass band concert ... she spent Sunday here with a another friend ... her geography book got accidentally left at school ... the maths homework she thought she had done was only half done ... she has tag rugby practice and two hours of dance classes after school on Mondays.

Add that lot together and what do you get? Somebody up until 10.30 last night doing homework that had to be handed in today.

She's done it! #2

Every now and again we find bribery the offer of an incentive to be a good parenting tactic. We had one those moments back in June when Angel got her braces. She was all geared up for them ... very positive ... until she got the wrong braces. She was expecting several months with a wire retainer, before getting fixed braces. What she got was twin blocks, a pair of nasty contraptions that the orthodontist admitted more than 25% of kids simply refuse to wear. It looked as though she was going to be one of them. She freaked.

A pep talk from the orthodontist and some major bribery incentivisation later, she managed to grit her teeth (ouch!), wear the dreaded things and face the world in them. At today's checkup she had made it half way - she has to get a 9mm overbite down to between 1 and 3mm, and has now reduced it by 4mm - so she gets her reward. I just ordered her an iPod.

She's done it!

Little Cherub - sixteen months old today - has finally hit the magic weight of 9kg (20lbs) and can move into a forward facing car seat. Admittedly part of the weight was shoes, and part was a soggy nappy, but it is the total that counts.

I am so glad I will no longer have to stuff a reluctant small toddler with locked legs into an infant carrier.

Library book sale

My haul of books from the library book sale ...







Angel Falls: a South American Journey, by Martin and Tania Jordan (in need of a some attention with book tape). I couldn't find a picture of this one.

These cost me a grand total of £2.30 (under $5).

Book Week

This past week has been Children's Book Week here in the UK, and all three girls have had a suitably bookish week.

For Angel and Star yesterday's school day was dedicated to books. They had a non-uniform day and were encouraged to dress up as a character from a "Book for Bedtime" - Angel and two friends were the three little pigs, and Star a solitary representative of Snow White's dwarves (this was a last minute change of plan!). Instead of the usual lessons the whole school was split up into small groups and each group spent the day writing and illustrating their own book. I'm not sure what Angel's group did. Star's came up with a complicated sounding fairy tale set in Poland, involving Medusa and an invented animal that was a cross between a bear and ... something - Star forgot what, but given that it was called a Fear it probably began with F!

On Thursday Little Cherub and I stumbled into a Bookstart event for preschoolers at the library, with stories and simple craft activities based on Elmer and the jungle. And I did a little shopping at the library book sale :).

Appointments

It is one of those weeks ...

Sunday: Emergency dentist with Star who had raging toothache due to what turned out to be a nasty infection. He prescribed antibiotics in the form of a lemon flavoured medicine. Star hates lemon. Managed to get it changed for something "just a bit citrus-y" (as the pharmacist put it). Cue five days of moaning about said medicine.

Monday: Regular dentist with Star. Couldn't do anything until antibiotics had dealt with the infection.

Tuesday: Optician's appointment for Tevye. One of the cataracts he had removed three years ago is growing back. Needs laser treatment that will require another series of appoinments.

Thursday (Today): Optician with Star, who has lost her reading glasses. Mercifully the NHS allows for 9 year olds losing their glasses and she gets free replacement. Dentist with Star, who now has a temporary filling.

Saturday (hopefully): Optician with Star to collect new glasses.

Next Monday: Star to dentist to have two baby teeth removed. Angel to orthodontist (in a different town, naturally) to have braces adjusted.

Thursday Thirteen #19: Autumn

Thirteen reasons why autumn is my favourite season ...

1. Crisp, cool mornings with a hint of mist ("Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness ...")
2. Golden brown leaves.
3. Walking through leaves crunchy with frost.
4. That optimistic new school (or homeschool) year feeling.
5. My birthday.
6. Comfort food for cold weather (soups, stews, apple crumbles)
7. Hot chocolate.
8. English apples
9. Bonfire Night (perhaps not the most appropriate holiday for a Catholic to enjoy, but I do love bonfires and fireworks).
10. Autumn feast days (Archangels, Guardian Angels, St.Therese, St.Francis, All Saints, All Souls)
11. Warm fluffy socks.
12. Snuggling under a cosy blanket.
13. Christmas just around the corner.

A Movie Meme

I am so not a movie buff. And to prove it, here is a list of 100 great movies, with the pathetic 17 I have seen in bold. For the meme you are supposed to highlight the ones you loved in red, but that would leave me with only Star Wars and The Sound of Music, which is a sad fact I would prefer not to highlight!

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. Casablanca (1942)
3. The Godfather (1972)
4. Gone With The Wind (1939)
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
6. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
7. The Graduate (1967)
8. On The Waterfront (1954)
9. Schindler's List (1993)
10. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
11. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
12. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
13. The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)
14. Some Like It Hot (1959)
15. Star Wars (1977)
16. All About Eve (1950)
17. The African Queen (1951)
18. Psycho (1960)
19. Chinatown (1974)
20. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
21. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
22. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
23. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
24. Raging Bull (1980)
25. E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
26. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
27. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
28. Apocalypse Now (1979)
29. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
31. Annie Hall (1977)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. High Noon (1952)
34. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
35. It Happened One Night (1934)
36. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
37. The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
38. Double Indemnity (1944)
39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
40. North By Northwest (1959)
41. West Side Story (1961)
42. Rear Window (1954)
43. King Kong (1933)
44. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
45. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
46. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
47. Taxi Driver (1976)
48. Jaws (1975)
49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
50. Butch Cassidy and the Sunshine Kid (1969)
51. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
52. From Here To Eternity (1953)
53. Amadeus (1984)
54. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
55. The Sound Of Music (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. The Third Man (1949)
58. Fantasia (1940)
59. Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
60. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
61. Vertigo (1958)
62. Tootsie (1982)
63. Stagecoach (1939)
64. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
65. The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
66. Network (1976)
67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
68. An American In Paris (1951)
69. Shane (1953)
70. The French Connection (1971)
71. Forrest Gump (1994)
72. Ben-Hur (1959)
73. Wuthering Heights (1939)
74. The Gold Rush (1925)
75. Dances With Wolves (1990)
76. City Lights (1931)
77. American Graffiti (1973)
78. Rocky (1976)
79. The Deer Hunter (1978)
80. The Wild Bunch (1969)
81. Modern Times (1936)
82. Giant (1956)
83. Platoon (1986)
84. Fargo (1996)
85. Duck Soup (1933)
86. Mutiny On The Bounty (1935)
87. Frankenstein (1931)
88. Easy Rider (1969)
90. The Jazz Singer (1927)
91. My Fair Lady (1964)
92. A Place In The Sun (1951)
93. The Apartment (1960)
94. Goodfellas (1994)
95. Pulp Fiction (1994)
96. The Searchers (1956)
97. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
98. Unforgiven (1992)
99. Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

HT: Alicia at Studeo

Rosary arithmetic

After my arithmetical post yesterday I couldn't fail to notice this on Faith's blog, Dumb Ox Academy ...

Today, I happened to glance at my book, A Year with God. I was looking up anything that had to do with the rosary and found this little prayer:

“Dear Mother, may we through your Rosary ADD purity to the world, SUBTRACT evil from our lives, MULTIPLY good works for your Son, and DIVIDE your gifts and share them with others.”

We dedicated each decade we said this morning to either adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing as the above prayer mentions. For the last decade we prayed to be EQUAL to the tasks that God gives us.

How neat!

Arithmetical adventures

Last week the girls' school ran a workshop for parents to explain how they teach arithmetic to children Star's age. I went. It was ... interesting. For context, I should explain that over the last ten years or so British schools have been encouraging children to find their own methods of calculation. I gather it hasn't worked (how surprising) and they are now teaching selected methods again. Most bear little resemblance to the traditional methods we were taught.

So, for those of you who may be curious, these are the methods that are supposed to produce the most right answers (no marks for efficiency or elegance!) ...

Addition
Straightforward addition in columns with carrying of tens, hundreds and so on.

Subtraction
"Borrowing" tens and hundreds is considered too confusing for this age group because of those horrid problems with zeros in the top line. Instead of subtracting, they are supposed to count on using a number line. So for example, 384 minus 129 could be calculated this way ... start with 129, add 1 (=130), add 70 (=200), add 100 (=300), add 84 (=384). Add together 1+70+100+84 to get 255. It doesn't look quite as bad shown graphically with a number line. Not quite.

Multiplication
For multiplication they use a grid system, which I can't show very well using blogger formatting. Once you see this written neatly, it does make sense as the same method can be used for simple multiplication, long multiplication, problems with decimals, algebraic problems - anything involving multiplication. To find 256 x 34, you would draw a grid with three columns and two rows. Across the top write 200, 50 and 6; down the side write 30 and 4. Then multiply each combination something like this (the asterisks are because blogger won't let me leave a space) ...

**** | 200 | 50 | 6
____________________
30 |6000 |1500|180
4 | 800 | 200 | 24

Then add the six numbers (6000+1500+180+800+200+24) to get the answer (8704)

Angel was taught last week to use this method to expand algebraic expressions such as (3a+2b)(2a-b). It works. You can see clearly what you are doing, and it helps to avoid getting into positive/negative tangles.

Division
Trial and error. Let's try 125 divided by 4 ... you could start with 10 fours. OK, 10x4=40. Not enough. How about 20x4? 80. Not enough. 30x4? 120. Ah! Getting close. Five more to go. How many fours in five? One with a remainder of one. So we have 30 fours add 1 four ... answer is 31 r1. Are you converted? Would you tackle division that way? No, me neither.

Eat your heart out Singapore. Why teach arithmetic the good old fashioned way when you can make it so much more ... um ... interesting.

The German is back

Why???????

Christmas cheer?

I know there is a tradition of hanging jolly, fat men as ornaments on Christmas trees, but I can't decide whether this offering from the American Chesterton Society is taking things a step too far.


What do you think? Would you hang GKC on your tree? Do you think he would have approved? I suspect he would have found it very amusing, but I'm still not sure I could bring myself to use him as a Christmas ornament. And at $20 plus international postage it is a purely hypothetical question.

HT: The Blue Boar

Baby abuse

A new TV series started this week in which families try out different approaches to babycare taken from classic twentieth century childcare "experts": Doctor Spock, Jean Liedloff (The Continuum Concept) and Truby King, who spawned the "put them on a routine, leave them to cry and dump them in the garden in a pram for hours" school of parenting. Angel and I watched in horror as a tiny baby (only a few days old) was left to scream while its parents and the mentor they had been allocated sat downstairs drinking a glass of wine. The baby's older sister - quite naturally - could not understand why nobody (including the mother) was allowed to cuddle the baby. The mentor was of the opinion that no rational parent wanted their lives interrupted by a baby, and there was no reason the baby should be "allowed" to demand attention.

I am not sure whether the government's E-Petitions site is worth its bandwidth, but there are occasions on which signing one at least makes me feel better. If you are a British citizen or resident you can sign one asking the Prime Minister "to take urgent action to protect infants and their parents from television programmes that promote outdated and discredited parenting theories" here.

Early years education

I am still pondering the shape I would like Little Cherub's early learning years to take. (What fun to have so long to ponder ... I can change my mind lots of times ... just think of all those plans I can make and discard.)

I have been reading Montessori books, and trying to work out what would work for me and what would not. I think taking some Montessori ideas would be good, but that diving right into Montessori is not a viable option for practical reasons - investing in "proper" Montessori materials for one child would be too expensive, physically it simply isn't possible to provide a Montessori environment (not enough space, too much clutter), and I think Montessori ideally needs a small group, or at least a couple of siblings. There are aspects of Montessori I think would suit us, though - practical life activities, some of the easier sensorial materials, the whole-to-parts approach to geography and history, and possibly the bead materials for maths.

Over the past few days I have been reading a lengthy thread about Waldorf-inspired education on the 4 Real boards. This has brought into focus the overall shape I would like our days to take - kind of Waldorf-ish in following daily and seasonal rhythms, and with a greater emphasis on art and crafts than I had with the older two. Waldorf in its entirety does not appeal to me - all that anthroposophy is a turn off, and while I like fairy tales it has too much in the way of fairies and gnomes for my taste - but the rhythm and art aspects do.

Next stop in my ponderings is Charlotte Mason. I want to re-read her ideas on early education in the light of the reading I have done on Montessori and Waldorf.

Great Tales from English History

I picked up a three volume set of Great Tales from English History by Robert Lacey a while ago when the Book People had them on sale, since when they have sat on the shelf. I finally picked up the first one last week. Not before time ... these are good! Lacey's love of history was inspired by good old Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall's Our Island Story and Our Empire Story, and he aspires to be a historical storyteller in the same tradition, focusing on the great personalities of English history.

From what I have read so far, he does a good job. The short chapters are vividly written, and he is able to bring characters to life in just a sentence or two. For example, his description of the Emperor Hadrian ... "a patient and thorough man who spent half of his twenty-one year reign systematically travelling the boundaries of his vast Empire, sorting out problems." The books are written for adults, but could be used as an introduction to British history for older children (though be aware he is a little more explicit about certain things than a children's author would be).

One nice snippet from the chapter on the warrior queen, Boadicea (Lacey sticks to the old spelling of the name, rather than the currently popular Boudicca) ...

There [is no] evidence of another great myth, that Boadicea fought her last battle near London and that her body lies where she fell - in the ground on which King's Cross Station was built many years later. Her supposed grave beneath platform ten at King's Cross is the reason why Harry Potter's Hogwarts Express leaves, magically, from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Who knew? (Well, J.K.Rowling for one, I suppose ...)

Auf Wiedersehn

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, goodbye ...

The German has gone, as inexplicably as it arrived.

Normal English Blogger service is resumed.

Little Cherub's Book Choice ... The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Little Cherub is finally moving on from Farm Animals, having mastered baa, moo, quack, miaow, woof and a whole range of domestic animal noises (or approximations thereof ). We have been playing with Playmobil animals and discovering that "tiger goes ROARRRRR!!!!!" One of those little "ping" noises went off in my head, and I decided this would be a good time to produce an old family favourite, The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. It was! She listened to the entire book the first time I showed it to her - usually she likes to familiarise herself with new books a few pages at a time and it takes a while to work up to a full reading.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea is a simple story about a girl and her mother who invite a visiting tiger to tea. The tiger eats and drinks everything in the house, so when daddy comes home there is nothing left for supper. Clear pictures and text make the book appealing for toddlers as well as preschoolers. I remember two year old Angel knew the entire book by heart.

Judith Kerr also wrote a series of books about Mog the Forgetful Cat, who is much loved here. Another of Cherub's current book favourites is a Mog board book, Mog's Kittens. A few years ago the series was completed with Goodbye Mog, in which Mog dies and is replaced by a new kitten. I simply couldn't bring myself to read it, as I am a dreadful wimp about such things and knew I would sob from beginning to end ... so in this household Mog continues on, forever alive and maintaining the upper hand in her dealings with the various people, animals and inanimate objects that cross her path.

More German

Now I have spotted this under the box for composing posts:

Tastaturkürzel: drücken Sie Strg zusammen mit: B = Bold, I = Italic, P = Publish, S = Save, D = Draft

Judging by the comments on my previous post about bits of Blogger appearing in German, it seems to be a European thing ... which is at least logical.

Is it a Blogger plot to create a single European state? Or are they trying to teach us all German by immersion?

Hogwarts

Most homeschooling mothers plod through plans that, if not exactly humdrum, are enlivened by only the occasional flash of creativity. Out in the blogosphere there are a few who are in a different league ... imaginative, creative, inspirational, and willing to share the fruits of their creativity with the rest of us. Now Theresa of LaPaz Home Learning is sending her son to Hogwarts. And you can go too! She has created the ultimate Harry Potter rabbit trail and posted lesson plans for herbology, care of magical creatures, potions and alchemy here.

How I wish we were still homeschooling so we (or would that be I?) could have fun with these!

My true age ...

I'll settle for 35 - though I told the quiz I didn't lie about my age!

HT: Elizabeth

You Are 35 Years Old Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Out to lunch

The reason I wasn't blogging last weekend ... I was out to lunch.

Blog anzeigen

Blogger is talking to me in German.

When I publish a post the "you have posted successfully" page comes up in a mixture of English and German. Instead of a link saying "View blog (in a new window)" I get "Blog anzeigen (in einem neuen Fenster).

Why?

Is it just me?

Normal service resumed

Phew! This morning was much better than yesterday. Until then I had been pleasantly surprised at how smoothly our mornings were running. Our downfall was a combination of my own slow start and Star feeling off colour. I could live without too many mornings like that!

The Morning Routine

6.45 (time I am supposed to jump into the shower) - Drink mug of tea thoughtfully provided by Tevye. Tea hot and self slow. Now running late.

6.55 - Finish tea. Urgently need to shower. Cherub urgently needs to nurse. Nursing trumps shower.

7.05 - Tevye leaves for work. Cherub dumped in cot (crib) while I take shower. Angel and Star dress.

7.10 - Out of shower. Rescue cross Cherub. Try to change her top as Tevye has dressed her in one that belongs with a different outfit. Cherub will not stay still. Give up and leave her in vest and trousers.

7.15 - Star complains new age 9-10 school shirt is tight. Star is a slim just 9 year old. Pretend not to hear complaints as no other clean shirts.

7.20 - Angel complains age 12-13 school shirt is tight. Angel is an ultra-slim 12yo. Angel changes shirt. Give age 12-13 shirt to Star. Make mental note not to buy school shirts from Tesco. Cherub occupied trying to stuff herself into my clothes.

7.25 - Everyone dressed, apart from half-dressed Cherub. Star can't find hairbrush / sports kit / homework. Star tired and emotional. Cherub finds Hama beads. Remove Cherub from beads. Find Star's hairbrush, sports kit and homework.

7.30 - Cherub shrieks when Angel tries to dress her. Stays in vest. Star shrieks because hair knotty.

7.35 - Brush Star's hair. Try to organise breakfast.

7.40 - Star shrieks because cannot find hair elastics. Still tired and emotional and complains she doesn't feel well. ("Are you well enough for school?" "Don't know." "Shall I ring F and say you are not going?" "NOOOO!!!!!!"). Find only remaining unbroken elastics in bag she used yesterday.

7.45 - Finish getting breakfast. More shrieks from Star. Hair elastics have fallen into toilet bowl. Half an hour of whining and wailing takes its toll. Shriek at Star. Star emerges slightly chastened and clutching soggy hair elastics. Wash hair elastics. Star manages to finish hair.

7.50 - Eat breakfast. Star becomes human. (Duh! Blood sugar!) Little Cherub fiddles with Cheerios.

7.55 - Star announces she needs a file folder for school. Amazingly am able to lay hands on one instantly, complete with remains of schoolwork from three years ago. (So much for decluttering.) Empty out folder and help Star reorganise schoolbag. Angel eats apple and supervises Cherub. Cry from Angel: "Mum! There's a Cheerio fountain here!"

8.00 - Girls leave, amazingly on time, with sports kit, lunches, bags and looking presentable. Rescue Cherub, still in vest, from high chair and ascertain that Cherub has indeed created a Cheerio fountain, evidenced by Cheerios over table, chair and wide area of floor.

8.02 - Angel returns to say that J-next-door is not ready, so can I please fill in a forgotten form for her to take to school.

8.05 - Angel leaves again. Clear up Cheerios. Finally manage to finish dressing Cherub (should just have left her in the original top!). Breathe deep sigh of relief.

Update

Star and Angel have been told at school that the girl hurt in the accident is doing better and is expected to be well enough to return to school before too long. I so hope this is accurate - the local paper yesterday described her condition as "critical but stable".

Star is doing well. She isn't great at going to sleep at nights at the best of times, but thanks to a couple of nights of settling down in our bed with the TV on (not our normal practice!) as a distraction, the accident hasn't let to any sleepless nights. I think busy days at school have also helped to stop her dwelling on it.

The remote is still missing.

Missing!

Little Cherub has now been responsible for ...

• Seven Portmeirion plates in smithereens.
• One pair of glasses with a seriously bent arm that can't be repaired as the arm is cracked.
• One watch dropped on a tiled floor. It worked until the battery ran out, but when the battery was replaced it fell apart. Not worth repairing.
• One lost remote control. She really tried to look for it, bless her. She understood what was missing and pottered around hunting and squeaking plaintively, but clearly had no idea where she had put it. Angel and Star were promised a reward if they could find it, but no luck.

So tell me ... where could a baby hide a remote?

And no, it is not stuffed into the VCR. We looked there.

The downside

Star has found herself bearing a heavy emotional load this week. Her best friend F isn't settling in to their new school (she has a history of school-related problems, but homeschooling simply isn't possible for her). On Monday F went to school sobbing. Then there was a misunderstanding with a teacher. More sobs on the way home. Worse on Tuesday. Discussions with parents and teacher led to some resolution and less tears. Meanwhile Star has coaxed and comforted as best she can.

Then today, worse to come ... walking to school this morning, one of Star's classmates was hit by a van. Many of the other children, including Star, saw the accident ... hit and run, a white van whose driver was speaking on his cellphone and drove off without stopping. The little girl was taken to hospital with head injuries. The children at school were told she was in hospital but not in intensive care, so please God her injuries are not life threatening. So more emotion to handle ... there were many very distressed and frightened children today, both at the scene of the accident and at school. Although Star held together, she too was shocked and frightened.

If you would, please say a prayer for the injured girl, for F, for Star and for all the children who are struggling with today's events.

Seeing yellow

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

HT: Theresa at LaPaz Home Learning, who was looking for a red to shake up her mellow green. I must admit did get red on my first attempt at this quiz, but it really wasn't me. One minor tweak on the second attempt and I turned yellow, which is my favourite colour ... and I'm much happier being a nice yellow crayon than a bold, intense red. Not sure about the calculating bit, though.

First week reflections

A few reflections on the first week of our new school adventure ...

Angel is absolutely in her element. As a true Myers-Briggs extrovert type she is energised by people, and the social whirl of school has her buzzing. She is in hyperdrive. We were doubtful that she would be able to continue with all her extra-curricular activities and manage a full school day, but agreed to let her try and see how it panned out. Even she is surprised at how easily she is coping so far. Homework? No sweat. The two pieces of homework she has had so far have been done the evening they were set.

She and two new boys in her class all got put into the bottom maths group "for now". I think that after all this may turn out well, as she has already learned two things: she is not bad at maths after all (would she listen when I told her this? No!); and she does not want to be stuck in a class that she is finding ridiculously easy. She is now on a campaign to get herself moved up as quickly as possible - by getting top marks, sticking her hand up to answer every question, and finishing everything before anyone else.

Another plus for Angel is that the PE teacher discovered she is a dancer and has made her a Young Leader for dance. Young Leaders get to help organise sports clubs, dance shows and so on for the younger children. They were appointed at the end of last year, and Angel was rather peeved that she had missed out on the opportunity. She was delighted to get a second chance.

Star seems to be enjoying things overall, but is a bit more ambivalent. She has been more stressed than Angel about little things - has she got the right colour shorts for gym? what happens is she isn't on the list for lunch? - and as all her year are new her friends don't know the answers any more than she does. She also doesn't have Angel's energy levels. She gets home tired and crotchety, and needs food and an hour flopped in front of the television before she comes round. I'm hoping her stamina will build up as she gets used to the school routine.

She has also discovered that school is not fair. Her best friend F's entire class was given a lunchtime detention because a number of the boys carried on talking after they were warned to stop. Star was very indignant on F's behalf. (Fortunately, Star's class teacher seems to be more focused with discipline.) I asked her what the best and worst things were this week: worst was F's detention; best was Wednesday because she liked the lessons, especially art. The school has just reverted to a house system (think Hogwarts), and she was pleased to get a house point - amazingly this was for tidying stuff away quickly!

Look what I found!

I have been doing some research for Tevye who leaves for his trip to Gdansk in a couple of weeks. His father left Gdansk (then Danzig) just before the Second World War, and Tevye has long wanted to visit to trace his family roots. I found the address the family lived at in 1939, pinpointed it on Google Maps and Google Earth ... and then found a website with photos of Danzig taken in 1928, including this one of houses in Ankerschmiedegrasse, as the street was then known. I wonder whether Tevye's father grew up here, or just lived here towards the end of his years in Danzig?

Rosary Three-Part Cards

I have been gathering things to put into the Faith Boxes I want to make for Little Cherub. I started downloading pictures of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary for Advent and Christmas, and ended up making an entire set of Montessori-style three-part cards for all twenty Mysteries. For now I will just put copies in the boxes as pictures to look at - though I am beginning to wonder whether I should extend the boxes for Star and include the full three-part cards now.

You can find a beautifully clear description of how to use three-part cards over at the Onion Dome, where Katherine has made available cards illustrating the Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year and icons of North American saints.

If you would like to download copies of the Rosary cards, you can find them as a .pdf file here (if I have done the technical stuff right!)

Thursday Thirteen #18: Favourite Saints

Excluding the Holy Family to leave more scope, a slightly random selection of favourite saints (ask me again tomorrow and I would probably give a different list) arranged in more or less chronological order ...

1. St. Peter. I find it so reassuring that Jesus chose an impetuous fisherman who couldn't live up to his own expectations to lead his Church.

2. St. Thomas. Another thoroughly human saint. If even one of the Twelve could doubt Jesus, I feel better about my own weaknesses and inadequacies.

3. St. Joseph of Arimathea. The rich man who gave up his own tomb to Jesus, only to have it become the site of the Resurrection. The story that Joseph subsequently came to England and settled at Glastonbury may be legend, but it is a beautiful one.

4. St. Helena. I can't help but admire a woman whose influence helped convert an Empire, and who trotted off to the Holy Land in her old age to try her hand at archaeology. And she is one of my patrons, as my middle name is Helen.

5. St. Nicholas. The real Santa Claus.

6. St. Benedict. The father of monasticism in western Europe. His rule is so humane and still applicable nearly 1500 years after he wrote it.

7. St. Thomas Becket. Who would have guessed that King Henry II's egotistical, display-loving chancellor would end up a saint and a martyr. Pig-headed, stubborn and at times a thorn in the flesh even of his friends, Thomas's flaws make him seem very real to me.

8. St. Hugh of Lincoln. An outstanding English medieval saint. Even Henry II was prepared to tolerate outspoken cricitism from Hugh, which says a great deal for his force of character.

9. St. Francis of Assisi. Simply extraordinary.

10. St. Thomas More. Brave, humane, intelligent, likeable, and prepared to die rather than go against his conscience.

11. St. Teresa of Avila. An woman of great energy and humour as well as outstanding spiritual qualities. I chose her as my confirmation saint, then realised later that her feast day is my birthday.

12. St. Bernadette of Lourdes. One of the first saints I "met" after I became a Catholic.

13. St. Michael the Archangel. Can I count him? Representative of all those angels that guard and defend us. (I suppose chronologically he should be first!)

High School Memories

As school is the topic of the moment this meme seemed appropriate ...

1. Who was your best friend? Stephanie

2. Did you play any sports? Several, but none well. I was not enthusiastic enough to be a regular member of any school teams, though did play occasionally as a stop gap. My favourite sports were tennis, volleyball, swimming, netball and athletics (I couldn't run for toffee, but I liked throwing the javelin).

3. What kind of car did you drive? You have to be 17 to get a driver's licence here, but for the last few months of my school career I drove my dad's Austin Maxi. An old workhorse of a car that made all sorts of ominous sounding noises which in fact were just normal Maxi clunks, creaks and whistles. It stalled a lot.

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? At home in bed. Home. Not school. This is noteworthy as it was a boarding school - I was a weekly boarder and only went home for weekends.

5. Were you a party animal? No. Never have been.

6. Were you considered a flirt? It was an all girls school.

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? Yes. Orchestra, playing viola. I think I also sang in the choir for a while.

8. Were you a nerd? No. More nuisance than nerd.

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? Almost. Not for any specific misdemeanour, but for general insubordination and disruptive behaviour. Fortunately the school tolerated me long enough for me to turn into a fairly normal member of society.

10. Can you sing the fight song? We didn't have one. I don't even remember having a school song, though I think there must have been one.

11. Who was your favorite teacher? Miss North, who taught history and kindled my enthusiasm for the past. One of those truly gifted teachers who love their subject and are able to transmit that to their pupils.

12. What was your school mascot? We didn't have one.

13. Did you go to the Prom? There was no such thing in those days, though proms are becoming popular here now.

14. If you could go back, would you? Not a chance!

15. What do you remember most about graduation? Absolutely nothing as we didn't have any formal graduation ceremony. I do remember a girl in the year above us misbehaving spectacularly during the final school assembly for her year, but as this is a family blog discretion prevents me being more specific!

16. Where were you on Senior Ditch Day? What????

17. Did you have a job your senior year? No, but I spent the following summer assembling electric plug sockets and parts for TV aerials.

18. Where did you go most often for lunch? School cafeteria. No choice.

19. Have you gained weight since then? Er ... yes. Enough said!

20. What did you do after graduation? Whatever it was it was so unspectacular I have absolutely no memory of it.

21. What year did you graduate? 1978

22. Did you attend any of your reunions? No. So far as I know our year have never had a reunion. I do keep in touch with two old school friends.

HT: Catherine at Living Life to the Fullest

Anyone else want to play?

Doing "normal"

For the first time in eight years I am now leading a life most people would consider normal - older children at school and myself at home with just a toddler, rather than homeschooling which is generally considered here to be decidedly odd. However, I long ago reached the point of feeling that homeschooling was normal and school odd, so "normality" seems rather topsy-turvy.

I'm trying to get used to quieter, toddler paced days. Yesterday Little Cherub and I pottered around Oxford. I intended to visit the Ashmolean Museum, but it was closed due to the St. Giles Fair, so we inspected the fair, Borders, Blackwells (a Tardis bookshop - it looks small from the outside, but has a basement with 160,000 books in one room) and the University Parks. Here are the Cherub and her Baby investigating leaves in the park.

Cherub insisted that Baby (officially named Rosie but usually known just as Baby) must come with us, despite the fact that two in a sling was rather crowded. Any attempts to smuggle Baby into my bag were met with much disapproval.

Timetables

For those of you curious about what children do in school, here are the girls timetables. They have five lessons a day, each one hour long. The structure of the day is Registration / Assembly (2o minutes), Lesson 1, Break (15 minutes), Lessons 2 and 3, Lunch (55 minutes), Afternoon Registration (10 minutes), Lessons 4 and 5. They start at 8.50 and finish at 3.30.

Angel
Monday - Music, French, Maths, French, RE (Two French lessons in one day seems an odd arrangement to me. RE = religious education, which means learning about religions, rather than being taught religion.)
Tuesday - Design and Technology, Science, English, Maths, Humanities (History and geography are lumped together as humanities, alternating in two week blocks.)
Wednesday - Humanities, PE, Maths, Design and Technology, English (Design and Technology for Angel includes art, woodwork, needlework and "food technology".)
Thursday - Maths, Science, English, PE, Humanities
Friday - Science, English, IT (= Information Technology = computers), Humanities, PSHE (= Personal, Social and Health Education, which so far as I can see is a catch all for whatever the government currently fancies indoctrinating children with)

Star
Monday - English, Science, Maths, Humanities, Design and Technology
Tuesday, English, Maths, French, Science, PE
Wednesday - English, RE, Maths, Art, Science
Thursday - IT, English, Music, Maths, PE
Friday - Humanities, Maths, English, English, PSHE (Yes, that really is two separate English lessons, not a typo. Why? No idea! The second class is taught by a different teacher to all her other English classes.)

Bags are packed ...

Bags are packed, uniforms are on, and off they go!

First day update ...

Angel: After a couple of hours orientation - getting new timetables, new books and so on - she had maths, English and humanities lessons. Maths is streamed so she had to sit a test to decide which set she should be in. She will find out the result tomorrow; if she makes the middle group I will be happy, but I'm afraid that the combination of our various maths disasters with lack of test-taking experience may mean she will end up in the bottom set, which would be well below her true ability level. English meant a spelling test for everyone, and she didn't tell me what they did in humanities, though she was assigned a piece of writing about Martin Luther King as homework. True to form, Miss Efficiency already has it done. Her plan is to keep ahead of the work, without exerting herself one iota more than necessary.

Star: Also started with orientation, then did French (mainly singing), science (identifying solids and liquids - ridiculously easy) and PE. No homework for her yet. The school notes say she is supposed to do 15 to 20 minutes of independent reading at home daily, but she says her class teacher is getting them to do their reading during the registration period. One boy in her class was sufficiently badly behaved to be given lines - this on his first day at the school!

Both came home quite happy. So far, so good.

Of aeroplanes and fish ...

Yesterday was one of those days when we all went in different directions. Angel and I went to the Shuttleworth Air Show to play with the brass band (I have been promoted and am now an official band member, but playing baritone horn instead of euphonium - the euphonium gets lots of twiddly bits, and I am still finding even the straightforward second baritone part a challenge!). I have to admit we are not plane enthusiasts (sorry, Dorothy, no RAF background I'm afraid ;) ), but I enjoyed playing lots of catchy, appropriate music - themes from the Dam Busters and The Great Escape, arrangements of English folk tunes and so on. It all had a nice, nostalgic feel, even if we didn't appreciate the various historic machines on display (ex-World War II, biplanes and so on).

Meanwhile, Star went to a car boot sale with my brother. (Translation for Americans: boot = trunk; people pay for a pitch then sell unwanted items from the back of their car. Paradise for clutter collectors.) She came home thoroughly pleased with herself, having invested fifty pence in this:


It sings. It sings when an unwary person walks in front of it. It sings Put Me Back in the River and Don't Worry, Be Happy! It lip synchs and wiggles while it sings. It is - in my not so humble opinion - both gross and irritating in equal measure. Star is delighted with it. I knew I should never have let her loose with my brother!

Meanwhile, Tevye and Little Cherub stayed quietly at home, apart from a gentle stroll to the shop to buy a newspaper.

Little Cherub says "Ooff!"

Little Cherub's new literary fixation is this Farm Animals board book, which has to be read umpteen times a day. It is DK style, with clear photographic pictures and minimal text. She isn't interested in the text anyway, just in what noises the animals make. We have now moved on from "That's a cow. Cow says moo" to asking her what the cow, sheep, dog and so on says.

"What does dog say?"
" 'Ooff!"
Triumphantly.

I am being bashed insistently on the knee with Farm Animals as I type.

Duty calls ...

Ode to Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

John Keats

September is here, and autumn just round the corner. Hard to believe that "warm days will never cease" given that we have had so few this summer. Angel keeps telling me that September is forecast to be warm - let's hope she is right and we have a long Indian summer this year. Though I suppose what I want is the sun more than the warmth. Bright autumn days with just a hint of a nip in the air are my favourite.

And with the new season a new chapter of our lives is beginning. Angel and Star will begin school on Tuesday, and we can all start to get into a new routine. This summer it has felt as though life has been on hold. I like new beginnings, but once they are decided upon I don't like having to wait ... I want to get started!

Menu Plan Mark 2

I spent an evening earlier this week working on a new four week menu plan for autumn and winter. It was almost done ... until Star threw a spanner in the works. She announced that she wants to become vegetarian, as she can't reconcile being an animal lover and eating meat.

So ... we had a long discussion about why most people feel it is OK to eat meat, the option of only eating ethically produced (organic, free range) meat and the need for a balanced diet, the upshot of which is that from Sunday she will officially be a vegetarian, though she has decided she will still eat fish. (She can't start tomorrow as she is spending the day with a friend, and we felt it was a bit late notice to request a menu change!)

On reflection I am very proud of her. She actually likes meat, and there are certain things she will really miss. If she can give up something she enjoys on grounds of conscience at her age, I think that speaks well of her character and is worth the bit of inconvenience involved in replanning my menu and adapting meals.

Back to the drawing board ...

Thursday Thirteen #17: Macs

Thirteen reasons I love my Macs and will never, ever (I hope!) go back to a Windows PC:

1. They look so good. (What do you mean looks aren't everything? OK, you have a point, but there is no denying they are stylish. Sadly, unlike their owner!)

2. You take them out of the box. You plug them in. They work.

3. They almost never crash.

4. You don't need anti-virus software.

5. They print documents in the right order - last page first, so that the pages end up the right way round. No shuffling back-to-front piles of paper.

6. Built-in iSight cameras. No webcams with wires.

7. They don't keep asking you if you are really sure you want to do what you have just told them to do.

8. MacBooks come with magnetic power leads, so if someone trips on the lead or yanks it no problem ... no damage.

9. No slide out CD/DVD drawer. Just slip the disc straight into the side of the machine.

10. If I forget where I put a file, a Mac will find it for me in seconds.

11. My computers talk to each other. I can play music stored on the iMac on the MacBook, or access a document on the MacBook from the iMac.

12. iMovies. It keeps my children entertained - creatively! - for hours.

13. I will never have to "upgrade"(!!!) to Windows Vista

Reading Meme

As a bookworm, how could I resist taking up the open invitation at the Dumb Ox Academy to take part in this reading meme.

What are you reading right now?
Montessori. I have just finished Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful by Donna Bryant Goertz, I am half way through The Secret of Childhood by Maria Montessori, and dipping into Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under Fives by David Gettman.

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you are done with that?
I'll go back to the three books I had just started on (simultaneously - why do I do that?) before I got distracted by Montessori: In the Steps of St.Paul by H.V.Morton, A People's History of Britain by Rebecca Fraser, and The Story of France by Eleanor Doorly. I also want to read Home Education by Charlotte Mason while the Montessori reading is fresh in my mind, so that I can see where there is overlap between the two and where they differ. I am also planning to re-read the entire Harry Potter series over the winter.

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now?
None. We have very small bathrooms with nowhere to put reading material. I normally grab something from my bedside table on the way. My current grab is the Basic Montessori book.

What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?
The Antiquary by Walter Scott. It was required reading for my English A-level (exams taken at 18 in British schools) and I found it worse than watching paint dry. I've never been able to bring myself to read anything by Scott since.

What's the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?
I recommend so many books to so many different people it is very hard to pick one. I think I'll go for children's historical fiction, as that is a favourite genre of mine ... Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland, which has a wonderful mix of historical detail, faith and adventure.

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?
No, but they know me by sight well enough to allow me to occasionally go over the limit with the number of books on my ticket.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all?
I love the Chalet School books by Elinor M. Brent Dyer, but I am always reluctant to recommend them because I imagine mid-20th century boarding school stories are something of an acquired taste.

Do you read books while you eat? While you bathe? While you watch movies or TV? While you listen to music? While you’re on the computer? While you’re having sex? While you’re driving?
Almost all of the above. Most notably the second. Is it possible to bathe without a book? Surely dropping a book into the bath is a necessary rite of passage for any self-respecting bookworm.

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits?
Not that I remember.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My excuse is that I needed to finish it quickly because I was sharing it with Angel.

I'm out of time, so if you are reading this, you're tagged!

Yesterday

Yesterday was a special day ...

For Tevye and I, as it was our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Yes, thank you, we had a good day. Star made us a cake and we went out for tapas in the evening all on our own. And how could I fail to love someone who buys me a one kilogram bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk?

For Angel, who is now the proud owner of her first ever pair of pointe shoes.

Momivores

I have one.

Mercifully she is now asleep. My turn next. I hope.

What animal are you?

It is the middle of the night and Little Cherub decided it was time to party. (Yes sweetheart, those shiny bangles are very pretty, but could we play putting them on and taking them off in the morning, not at 2.30 am?). So instead of sleeping I have been reading blogs and taking quizzes. I'm not too sure about the result of this one, though cocoa sounds good.

You're a Gorilla!

Highly social and group-oriented, you like hanging out with the same people constantly. You have either black or gray hair and spend a good deal of time grooming it or getting others to groom it for you. Sleep is a big part of your daily routine and you like to either make very loud noise or no noise at all. You have more skills with language than most, however. One of your absolute favorite drinks is hot cocoa.

Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

HT: Too many blogs to list.

That figures!

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Roman Catholic,You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.

Roman Catholic		96%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		68%
Neo orthodox		68%
Fundamentalist		43%
Emergent/Postmodern		39%
Classical Liberal		36%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		29%
Modern Liberal		25%
Reformed Evangelical		14%

HT: Mrs Pea

It seems my Wesleyan upbringing still lingers a bit, too.

Baby Blogger in Training

How to get Mummy's attention

... when she is sitting on the floor writing an email to Daddy.

Clonk her on the head with an empty coffee mug.

Be sure not to do this until after you have thoroughly bent the arm of her glasses and added "visit optician" to her to-do list.