The Perfect Movie Meme

I'm sitting here staring at the computer...and apart from the light drone of our heating system, I am wrapped in a sudden mist of silence. The kiddo is happily playing with Dad (who's just returned from a business trip) upstairs and I realize that for the first time in two weeks, I am spending a waking moment of almost absolute quiet.

I always miss the kiddo when he isn't somewhere close by...but this precious moment of silence makes me feel like I've hit the lottery! It's nice, rare though it is, to have quiet over questions...to be able to hear myself think...

Anyway, as I'm sitting here, I'm wondering, how would I spend an hour or two like this? What would be the perfect activity for me? Funnily, the first thing that popped into my head wasn't reading a good book or catching up on email or fiddling with the blog or cleaning the kitchen. It was instead, the desire to watch a very, very, very good movie. I'm not an idiot box fan so I must say I'm very surprised.

And that made me wonder, what would my perfect movie look like?

Hmm...it will need to have Johnny Depp in it. And both Amir and Imran Khan in slightly humorous roles. Helena Bonham Carter definitely, and also, David Tennant, Ian McKellen and all of the Mythbusters and Top Gear hosts. I'd adore a Hrithik Roshan dance number (without a single costume change and with Hrithik vanishing right after he's done his jig). There needs to be at least one kid actor, an intelligent, compellingly believable kid actor. With a personality like Calpurnia Tate's or Flavia de Luce's or Will Stanton's. There will be danger but the kid will always be safe from harm.

It will be set in Cornwall, Scotland or Wales (or all three). There'll be lots of magic and mystery. One character will be a genius with numbers. Another will be a shapeshifter. A third will have obsessive compulsive disorder. One will say the funniest things with the most deadpan of expressions.

There will be one furry, lovable canine but it will not talk or dance or like the kid character, be in harm's way. Preferably not a chihuaha. A wolf or three would be excellent.

It may or may not be based on a book, but if it is, it will stay true to the author's plot. It will have a whip-smart script and a sweeping, goosepimple-raising soundtrack that I will want to hum for days on end or maybe even try to learn to play on the piano, no matter how long it will take me.

Romance isn't mandatory. It will be PG or at most PG-13. It will have no vampires.

I'd love it if you felt, after reading this post, inspired to turn it into a meme. So tell me, what's your perfect movie? :)

The TED Commandments

I stumbled upon this while googling for interesting TED talks to watch with kiddo this coming week. TED features prominently along with other online and video media in our home. Yes, we all know how fun these talks can be...but did you know that the TED guys send a stone tablet to their speakers before a talk is prepared? I didn't know this either. I thought I'd bookmark this...it may be fun for the kiddo to remember some of these "rules" when he volunteers for presentations:

I. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
II. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
III. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and thy Passion
IV. Thou Shalt Tell a Story

V. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy

VI. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.

VII. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate Need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.

VIII. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.

IX. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.

X. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

Hat tip to Tim Longhurst for the list of commandments (in the spirit of full disclosure, I took the liberty to change the numbers to Roman numerals) and to Rives for the photo of the tablet on his blog.

Speaking of Rives, have you seen this totally offbeat one?

Guess what...kiddo was born just past four in the morning! (grin!)

Don't you just love creativity?

Random Things I'm Grateful For...

Our Year 3, January snapshot is all about gratitude.

LEARNING...

The kiddo's online math class is going well. He's getting more rigorous practice with algebra compared to the Key To series and so far, the pace is just right. He's devoured a number of books of his and my choice, although the ones I chose were devoured a little less enthusiastically (chuckle).

We discussed the project learning idea and mutually agreed to stay with existing resources, but to remain flexible. If a project catches our eye we'll go for it; otherwise, we are both comfortable with the way we're learning from random resources online and in-print. Our light focus on the Middle Ages for history continues. The Thames & Kosmos Genetics and DNA kit is fun. Among other things, we isolated tomato DNA!

We finally received our microscope (ordered through our charter school) from Home Science Tools. So I must express how grateful I am for charter funds. It really helps us afford a number of expensive classes and materials...stuff we'd normally delay buying with our own funds unless we were really sure they were going to be used often.  

Here, our new microscope poses with some of our other science resources.

And speaking of microscopes, I'm grateful for enterprising friends who are willling to host classes in their homes. One friend has organized a microscope class for Moms! Isn't that neat? So I'm learning how to use a microscope and get the most benefit from its features. Below is my peppercorn solution for culturing bacteria. Both are in reverse osmosis filtered water but one has the cap off.

Learning is a lot more delightful when the whole family gets involved!

ORGANIZING...

My dream to have colorful wicker organizers for our family-cum-school room has been fulfilled thanks to post-Christmas sales at local craft stores. I love the solid colors (as does the kiddo) and how much they brighten our space.

I also found a 2011 planner at a bookstore for recording what we do in a day. I might have mentioned before that I've been trying to find an online tool...well, I'm still not satisfied with what's available. Notebooks and planners have worked well for me so I am going to stick with paper. The best planner I've used so far is the BusyBodyBook but the boxes are too small for me. I like how this one has space for weekly appointments on the left and boxes for various projects, lessons, resources etc. on the right.

CREATING...

I'm grateful for my child's joy in creating and appreciating the simplest things, including his own fruit smoothie recipes and origami vampire monkeys. 

BLOGGING and the joy it brings...

I'm grateful for having had some time this month to play around with the blog and find a layout that feels right.

I am also extremely grateful for dear online friends and their thoughtful ways. Susan of Chicken Spaghetti sent us some books to read...she is SO generous! Thank you Susan! And Kerrie of Kez's Blog is giving me another special gift...the honor of hosting her and her family in our home in February. Only 10 days to go! 

Buckyballs and Shapely Sculptures

Also known as "What we say we do for Geometry and Art" (wink).

I can't remember ever teaching the kiddo geometry concepts in a formal way. Sure, we have discussed acute and obtuse angles, drawn isosceles triangles galore and launched ourselves wholeheartedly into paper and paper plate folding. But these have so far always been journeys we took together as co-learners. I remember reading The Great Number Rumble with him when he was five and the concept of triangles and their uses in every day life stuck so very fast in that young brain, he still recalls it and finds lots of joy in seeing shapes that may not be visible at first glance to his astigmatic, much-less-observant Mom.

I have an extremely tactile fella at home...he's always seeking things to hold and manipulate. He finds lots of joy in having something (usually my arm) to squeeze. When he decides to stay in one spot for more than five minutes, he usually creates wonderful objects. Wonderful to me anyway. :) Perhaps that's why he fell deeply in love with ZooBee and MagNext toys as a younger kiddo. These were perfect for his delayed fine motor skills. Perhaps that's why he took to origami the way he did too. Paper is quite forgiving...if you can't manage those creases and patterns, you can always write on it, draw or cut it up!

Now, he's obsessed with creating geometrical structures using his Buckyballs. Man, these magnets are addictive! I keep having tug of wars with the kiddo over them. How can 216 ball bearing like little earth magnet things create such delight? Do note...you may not want these cuties around your young pets and younger humans though.

If you already have one of these (hey, did you know they sell 'em in black too? Nifty eh?), there are several sites as well as YouTube videos that teach you tricks to try. Just google "buckyball tricks" or similar.

Class Dismissed Documentary Trailer

 

I'd heard about this pro-homeschooling documentary on SecularHomeschool.com (I think). Just found out the trailer is out (thanks for the heads up Kris!). The documentary features Diane Flynn Keith and Sandra Dodd among others.

I'm not sure when the public will be able to view it. More info at 3 Story Films. 

The Funnel-o-Tron 2010

This is my how-we're-ending-the-year post. It's a bit of a tradition for me, if I have the time, to say something on this blog every end of December.

First, it's fun to look back and read what I wrote about a year ago. This snapshot was my final post for 2009. We were still all bright-eyed and excited about having moved to our new place. We are still grateful for this of course and will always be. All the extra space has been awesome for my clutter collecting boys. Me? Well, I try to think of the bigger picture (all the learning that happens as a result of collecting mountains of stuff LOL) and let it go...until, something snaps and I go on a de-cluttering frenzy. I tend to do that often enough to prevent too many things from piling up so it's under control for now.

Last year, the boys embarked on learning to airbrush. This year, with the hubby home and ready to help, kiddo has been building something that he calls the Funnel-o-Tron (inspired by a funnel-like wishing well he spied in a mall). He drew out some plans and the boys went off to buy supplies.

Supplies on hand, kiddo learned how to trace a large circle on cardboard. Measuring the circumference plus cutting carefully with scissors also featured prominently in the activity. He then learned how to make that into a conical shape and how to insert a lip made of cardboard and firm up the sides with dowels so as not to make it too floppy. Hubby helped him cut out windows in a box and I made the hugely valuable contribution (grin) of matching card stock to line the box's bottom (hey, packaging is everything, didn't you know?). The boys used leftover wrapping paper tubes to fashion a chute and then with some clay to position the funnels appropriately, kiddo taped the whole contraption together.

I took a video of the Funnel-o-tron v2.0 in action (err...with Celtic music in the background for added effect). It looks simple enough but watching those ball bearings spin can be quite addictive! We've done it with about 5-6 balls at the same time since this video was taken. Simple, beautiful, entertaining, incredibly fun physics.




Version 3: The kiddo wanted more special effects so after consulting Dad for ideas, kiddo rigged up a little switch using his electronics kit. If the ball hits the foil card after exiting the Funnel-o-tron, the switch lights up! For added cool factor, kiddo is going to add more tubes to the device. Yup! I smell a game idea brewing too. He's already drawn up plans for assigning points depending on where the ball exits.

Decluttering 101 tip: don't throw away wrapping paper tubes and boxes! Keep tons of packing tape on hand too.

As new year resolutions go, this is what I'm hoping we'll achieve more in 2011. Fun, engaging, real-life projects, completed for the excitement of it and not just for educational value, if you know what I mean.

Have a good one folks!

What The Boys Baked...

...over Christmas. First, some serious stirring...

...and silly faces...

Next, some serious shaping (including a water molecule...can you spot it?)...

Trying not to be disappointed by those very crisp results...

Happy smiles after a perfect second batch...

And then, many liberal dollops of chocolate...

...and finally, all ready to enjoy!