Forays Into Fantasy

Life has been busy enough that I forgot to keep notes for this blog for several days. On the one hand, that's great -- life is too busy and interesting to remember to write! On the other hand, I like keeping track, for our own benefit, for friends and family keeping up, and in case we need to report to the school district what we've been up to educationally. So here goes with what I can remember!

P and I watched The Wiz together this week, mostly while T was sleeping, since we thought he might be a little too scared. (He did join in right after the flying monkeys, and he did fine.) I wanted P to see this other vision of the famous story and to get an introduction to some of the famous black performers of the Motown era (Michael Jackson is fantastic in this film -- his performance of "You Can't Win" is a heartbreaking contrast between the upbeat song and the optimistic scarecrow's visible, physical anguish at being forced to sing such a pessimistic anthem). P enjoyed the film and songs a lot. We talked a little about racism in Hollywood, and how although this movie offered hundreds of roles for black actors and dancers across a broad spectrum of types (rather than just the stereotypical villain/crook/clownish roles), its commercial failure meant there was a dearth of such roles for some time afterward.

UnschoolerDad (UD) has been continuing to read the Song of the Lioness books to P at bedtime. A happy side effect of this for me has been that UD is involved in the kids' bedtime more consistently than he has been for some time -- he's been head-down on a programming project for several months, but the work is easing up now, so he's more available, and the kids and I all appreciate seeing more of him during our evenings. In the second book, In the Hand of the Goddess, the main character Alanna came of age, became a knight (without her secret of being a girl becoming generally known), and started falling in love. The writing is PG, but UD had me read one evening's worth of slightly steamy stuff to P, thinking she might be more comfortable asking me questions about it if the post-pubescent romance material was confusing for her. He was right (though the key difference may actually be that I am more comfortable eliciting and answering such questions), and it was a good conversation. P's first question was why Alanna was so scared of falling in love. We talked about how strong, unexpected new feelings can feel scary to anyone, and how a girl in Alanna's position (pretending to be a boy to almost everyone in her life) could be especially threatened by such feelings putting her into awkward positions.

I also started reading the first Lemony Snicket book, The Bad Beginning, to the kids. On the surface the content of these books is simply horrible; but I sense (and hear from other adults who have read them to the beloved young people in their lives) that there may be some insights about the real world, some interesting conversations about the conventions of fiction, and some good fun in store. We'll see. One thing is certain: the vocabulary in these books is scrumptious!

Our other fantasy foray this week was buying and beginning to play the game Minecraft. This game does not have a specific plot and cannot be won; it's a sandbox game, with huge creative possibilities, and optionally monsters to be fought. So far the kids want to play in Peaceful mode, in which other beings, when present, leave you alone. P and T both have their own Minecraft worlds they can play in. They're learning the interface, which involves a lot of fine-motor dexterity and procedural learning and memory. When they play with me nearby, they ask questions about the real-world correlates of game elements, like mining, smelting, wood harvesting and milling, cartography, and music-making (!). We're just dabbling so far, but this game has an amazing array of things to explore. I have heard from many other unschooling parents that their kids love Minecraft and have learned a lot from it, including math, reading, and other skills that translate well to the real world.

Other tidbits and highlights from the past several days:

• Both kids continued their gymnastics classes. P took a day off when her leg was sore from a flu vaccine. Interestingly, she chose the shot instead of the nasal mist vaccine, preferring some soreness to the drippy nose; and even after she got sore, she said she'd do it the same way again.
• P is on the cusp of losing a tooth, and she is curious and un-freaked-out about the occasional bleeding as its connections loosen. I am thrilled.
• We took a long walk (2.5 miles round trip) to the nearby shopping center one day. T rode in the stroller a lot, but P walked the whole way without difficulty. There were lots of short stops to check out interesting plants, animals, and especially bugs.
• We went swimming, trying out a flotation device for T. He liked it a lot, and it made it more possible for me to be in deeper water where P could swim (not wade) and get better at it. T is exploring ways of moving himself around in the water now that he doesn't have to cling to me. We'll get to both kids swimming somehow!
• P started her youth choir and learned some good tricks for improving tone, as well as the first part of "Alouette," complete with pretty good French diction. That's one of the things I like about this choir -- lots of opportunities to sing in other languages, and they don't do diction halfway. My own ear for languages is pretty good, and I think it has a lot to do with singing in many languages over the years, usually with skilled diction coaching from choir directors.
• P started a pottery class on handbuilding with terra cotta clay. They're learning basics construction techniques, as well as painting as glazing their items. This class can lead into many more ceramics classes if P chooses.
• Both kids have been enjoying videos: Reading Rainbow (dinosaurs and paleontology), Magic School Bus (Bats, Spiders, Sound -- a repeat, but they learn more each time), and Sid the Science Kid (skeletal system/joints).