Julius Caesar

A few weeks ago my middle school had our annual spring play. We did Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. It was a shortened version, but it was still Shakespeare's original words. I played the part of Portia, Brutus's wife. We had so much fun rehearsing and putting on the play. My teacher has two actor friends who came and helped us stage the play and it's been amazing to watch God in their lives.

Anyway, here I am with Brutus. Don't we look very Roman?

This was the first part of the performance, where we recited poems from the second part of the year (we had a winter feast) and talked about some of the terms we had learned.

Here's another picture of me with Brutus, it's really bad quality because it was a snapshot of a video. But it's still the best picture of me lighting wise.

Here are Brutus's troops marching off stage. I'm the curly head.

And the battle between Mark Antony/Octavius and Brutus/Cassius.
Death. Blood. Swords. Death.

The final bow.

Zaz hanging with the "big guys" afterwards. I love this picture.

Jenni and I, who is my sister-in-law through the play.

I had so much fun doing the play and I'm sad that I won't be able to do one next year. But I'm so glad that I did at least one!

And for the first time, I feel like taking more drama classes at some point. It's fun!

A New Venture

I have a college friend who works at Psychology Today magazine, and she recently invited me to write for them. I was honored and daunted but after prayer have decided to try that new bloggy venue. It's an odd place for me to be....I feel very much a fish out of water. I don't think what I write tends to be psychological; rather it hovers somewhere between the physical and the spiritual. I wondered what I could say that would be Helpful to this crowd of Earnest Pyschological Self-Improvers. But College Friend seems to think that just writing about our Normal Everyday was what Psychology Today blog readers would like and need. Maybe because Normal Everyday is so rare nowadays? Maybe because such reading is like observing a weird wombat at the zoo? Maybe because psychologists in America want to keep an eye on the divergent section of society known as homeschoolers?

Anyways, you can read it here: Lifestyle Design. The title is a kind of a joke with myself. Years ago I attended a college reunion chock full of successful young bankers, lawyers, businesswomen and the like. I was hugely pregnant and had two toddlers clinging to my legs. I felt a little insecure, thinking that the title Mama somehow wasn't good enough -- I am wiser now. Anyway, with reflection I came up with the title Creative Lifestyle Designer. "Hey, Little People," I said, "I am designing your lifestyle creatively!" and hand wrote some business cards to pass out to the achieving masses.

So when College Friend asked me what I'd like to name the blog, that incident came to mind in the wave of my insecure feelings at all those psychological PhDs on the site pontificating about this and that. So there it is. If you too would like to design your lifestyle creatively, have a look. There's also a link on the blogroll to the right. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Science Fair

Friday before last was our homeschool group's Science Fair. This year was even more fun than last because we talked our friends into joining us and we got to share the evening with them! I also paid more attention than last year because I've agreed to be next year's "Science Fair Lady." Oh my!

Mrs. Holmes passing out awards. Mina's project was about the use of eggs in baking. Her chocolate chip cookies were a big hit with the audience!
LouLou's project was about how water can alter landscape, slowly over time and quickly in a flood. She observed the differences each can make to geography.

Peterman's project was about how the freezing and thawing cycle works to erode different kinds of rocks.

Our friends Noah, Jared, Jeremy and Ethan had a super display on Volcanoes with video footage of some dramatic explosions in the driveway! Having them there made the Science Fair even more fun.

Everyone start planning your projects for next year!!

Some Days We Do Our Math

Lest it seem like all we do around here is crafting and chicken chasing, let this photo testify, some days we just do our schoolwork. This day we also cleaned the house and did nothing creative.

Creation Magazine

Last week I stumbled on Creation Magazine at my local public library of all places, in the midst of a bunch of wacky periodicals. I’ve really been enjoying it. It is very readable, but quite scholarly and edifying in presenting the latest in creation research. I’ve been reading a lot (well, as much of ‘a lot’ as I get to these days) on this topic lately, and I’m filled with a sense of urgency to take the Biblical account of history at its word and to have answers ready for when my kids ask me questions. When we’re confronted with ‘billions and billions’ of years in books and museums, I’ve got to do better than, “Uh…um…there was this ark, see...” There actually are answers and a lot of really smart people doing research. I just need to become better informed. I think this magazine will help and I recommend it. If you live near me, you can put it on hold at the library!

Makin’ It Work – the Real Story of the Merovingians

Early last week as we sat down to do history, and the kids were making grumbly noises about coloring their maps, I remembered that I had been thinking we were overdue for a "craft." They do spice up history so. I vaguely remembered something in the activity book about making some sort of decorative something. Cool, I thought, they can color that while I read. "Okay, kids, today we will make Merovingian brooches," I said in my yeah, I've got it all together voice. Foolishly I said this before reading all the instructions. They said:

You will need:

• white unlined paper check
• pencil check
• gold, blue, red and yellow Sculpey, WHAT??!! Sculpey?? I thought we were coloring!
• copper wire, at least 16 gauge, at hardware stores, Copper Wire??!! When was the last time I was at a hardware store?? No trip planned today.
• hammer, okay, whew, got one of those, but what will we hammer?
• drinking glass check
• glass pie plate check
• pin back (at craft stores) um….maybe we can figure something else out…

After panicking, I remembered that there might actually be some Sculpey left unused in a crafty drawer downstairs. “Hang on, just a minute kids, keep coloring the maps.” Ah! There was indeed Sculpey! Just enough to make us some dandy brooches. Back upstairs. Ta Da! “Here kids, we shall make our Merovingian brooches out of this Sculpey! Too bad about the wire, that would’ve looked cool.” Marina, looking at me funny, “Don’t we have some copper wire? Down with the beading stuff?” Oh. Maybe we do….back down to the crafty drawers…yes, indeed some copper wire, not 16 gauge, but never mind that. From then on, I sat down, took a deep breath and read all the instructions out loud. And it worked, and our brooches turned out pretty neat.

Then of course, we needed an event to which to wear our brooches, so we hatched the notion of a Merovingian meal. Merovingians were sort of descendants of the Gaulish tribes, sort of like Asterix, right? And there was a pork tenderloin the freezer we could have for wild boar and we mixed up some lovely pink magic potion, also a la Asterix. A little historically off, but festive! There were instructions in the book for making yarn wigs, and I was just going to use the big skein of unused green yarn I found downstairs, but there was general outcry against green hair, so I caved and actually bought yarn to make the wigs, which went against my plan of using up what we have. Peter almost cried because we were making him wear a wig and no amount of telling him how fierce and manly the Merovingians were could allay his distress. In the end, he came around because Manu set a good example as Clovis. I was Clotilda, but yesterday I placed a ban on posting dorky photos of one’s mother.

Greek Feast

To culminate our studies of Greece we had a Greek Feast. We invited Uncle Chip, roaster of tasty Greek food and Auntie Janet over to join us in our beautiful candlelit downstairs taverna. We put on our togas and chose one of the Greek gods to be for the evening.

Demeter, goddess of the hearth and home and Apollo reclining at table.

Here we are: Aprodite, goddess of love and beauty, Dyonisus god of wine and merriment, Hermes (pesky younger brother of Apollo), Demeter, Apollo, Zeus and Athena. I took the photo -- I was Hera, goddess of marriage, aka Queen of Heaven, don't you forget it!

After we were all in togas and getting underway, the phone rang. We didn't know who was on the other end but we heard Manu say, "Oh yeah! Come right over!!" Janet and I looked at each other in alarm -- Uh Oh! All the people we felt were okay to see us in togas were already in teh room. But it was allright. It was cousin Sara on the way home from a volleyball tournament. We dubbed her Nike, goddess of Victory and she was very excited to see us and to eat nummy grilled chicken.

Sara as Nike, goddess of Victory
At the end of the party, Hermes did a little Greek dancing!

Mount Olympus

From our study of Greece, came an idea for a Mount Olympus on the door to the office. We listened to several stories on CD of the crazy Greek gods and all their adventures as we drove around the greater Seattle metropolitan area. I had fond memories of my own fascination with myths when I was young (especially D'aulaires Greek Myths) and the kids enjoyed them immensely but at the end still had trouble keeping them all straight. So we made a Mount Olympus and put them on the mountain according to their respective importance. Some are colored in, and some are original drawings. Cupid is the one flying around at the top. When we got to the Romans, we added labels with their Latin names.

Listening to the stories about Zeus and Hera one day in the car and then switching over to the NPR updates on the primaries, I realized that it all seemed familiar.... Zeus and Hera, Bill and Hillary!

Convocation

Tonight was the Convocation Dinner for Ecole Vieux Pin, or Ecole Sous le Pin or Ecole Rouges Portes, or whatever our final name turns out to be. We all dressed up (Peter in one of Manu's ties) and there was a student processional to Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. We had white table linens and candlelight and dined sumptiously on cheese and crackers and dressed up leftovers. But the effect was real and the children loved it. As we ate we received a few words from our illustrious headmaster "directeur d'ecole" and he also announced the winner of the Logo contest - Evangeline, with incorporated design elements from the other two.

Tomorrow will be our first real official day, although I think that will only mean slightly more schooly than today. We are slowly getting into our routine. Today was to be our official start, but Grandma spent the night, and in the interest of furthering our visit, we postponed. Hey, we can do that, we're homeschooling! But we actually accomplished quite a bit, and even did not get too distracted during math when Grandma fell asleep and began snoring gently on the couch nearby. Evangeline remarked that that probably would not happen at school. Today we did math and then Peter and I worked on reading together and the the girls each worked on their writing and everyone did penmanship. We did not get to history, but we did get to the library by popular demand. Grandma (when she awoke) casually but hopefully suggested a trip to the beach with perhaps a stop at the library afterward, but the kids wouldn't have it. They are beached and summered out and ready for the library and books. I brought along an extra library bag just in case, but we filled both of them and still had to get two plastic ones.

We have American girl books, Magic School Bus books, Magic Tree House books, archeology books, Science books, baby board books, books about Vikings, and especially books about Canada and Italy. Our (new) homeschool support group puts on a World Cultural Fair in November and in the car Friday after I explained it to them there was great agonized discussions about which countries to do. Marina had a grand plan where each of them would do a particular people group in Switzerland, but she met with certain independent opposition from a certain independent corner who chose to do Italy instead. Peter wanted to do "one of our neighbors" and chose Canada. Immediately upon arrival home everyone wanted to start finding out interesting facts and for the next 1 1/2 hours while I made dinner (did it take me 1 1/2 hours? -- I don't think so...) they were on the computers finding things out. Evangeline helped Peter who of course can't read, which makes research difficult. They found a great website all about Canada for kids, and he kept exclaiming with surprise at the fabulous facts he was finding out. Even I at the stove (what was I cooking?) gleaned knowledge and understanding. I learned that the Canadian province of Nanuvut was formed in 1999 and the name means "our land" in Inuit. So there, did you know that?

So we're off. And so far it's great. The one challenge is that my computer chose this week to collapse and so I am living computer free for the time being. At least computer on my counter top, which while it feels like losing my arm, is perhaps a blessing and aid from distraction. Valiant Manu is rebuilding it for me at this very moment.