7 Quick Takes: Volume 39

No one listened to my request to slow things down, and now another Friday has come along at the speed of light.  I'm holding on by my fingernails.

Please visit the host of 7 Quick Takes, at Conversion Diary, and sample a few of the links to other Quick Takers.  And comment on them too!  We like comments, yes we do, we like comments, HOW 'BOUT YOU?

~1~

My mom gave the DVD The Way Things Go to my son for his birthday this month.  He loves it!  If you have a kid (or an adult) who likes mazes, contraptions, mechanical operations, domino tracks, etc., you just might have to get this DVD.  Here is a taste:



Pretty cool, right?

~2~

Finally, an iPod game I actually like!  My son has traveled the Oregon Trail several times this week on a cool .99 game we recently learned about.  Along the way, his wife died of dysentery, two of his daughters were carried off by hawks, and one daughter died of a fever.  He has traded goods for gold-panning supplies, learned how to churn butter (just put the freshly milked cream in a container and attach it to your wagon: the road is so bumpy, the milk will turn into butter), and repaired his wagon.

I was a little skeptical at first, because it seems to me that most "educational games" are sort of lame, but on this one, I keep having to warn him that he better be careful or he just might learn something.  It's scary for him.

Anyway, I've been getting a kick out of watching and listening to him play, and hearing the little tidbits of information he keeps coming up with.  Did you know that 3/5 of the agriculture produced and sold today comes from plants that the Native Americans used?  He does!

~3~

When I was a little girl, I hated blowing my nose.  So when I had the sniffles, I sniffled.  A lot.  It drove my dad crazy.  I remember him repeatedly, forcefully ordering me to find a kleenex.  I always felt slightly offended: apparently, he was more concerned about being annoyed with me than he was about my poor nose.  How bad could a little sniffling be, right?

Dad, I get it now.  I have a kid who frequently needs to blow his nose, but never does, and instead, he sniffles loud, long and hard, giving me visions of his entire face turning inside out.  Annoying doesn't even begin to cover it.  I'm thinking that the noise rivals fingernails on a chalkboard.  It's beyond unbearable.  And I find myself ordering him to blow, with little to no compassion in my tone.  I just want that infernal noise to stop.

I hope he has a sniffler when he becomes a father.  I will make more sense to him if he does.

~4~

The AIRY5 family's soccer game schedule for the weekend:  minimum 10 games, maximum 13, depending on tournament results.

~5~

Further proof that children think parents are really, really clueless:

I wish this came from one of my kids, because it's so funny, but alas, this is from a friend of mine.  Her son, who is in 1st or 2nd grade, came home and said to her:  "My teacher wants the parents to do this page of homework, but you have to write really messy."

Is that classic, or what?

~6~

When I was a kid, we weren't allowed to watch much television.  So when left home alone, what would I do?  Yup.  Flick on the set.  Of course, I had to actually stand up, walk over to the television, and turn the dial through all 5 or so channels in order to find something to watch, and there usually wasn't much...but cheat I did.

As a young teenager, I had a standing babysitting gig on Thursday nights for the family that lived in our rental cottage, 20 feet away from my own house and on our property.  This meant that I could watch the forbidden Magnum P. I. every week, mere feet from my parents, without really going anywhere.  I was pretty bummed when the family's schedule changed and I was no longer needed on Thursday evenings.

Today, I've got a plan for the girls and we are leaving the house for a few hours.  I will be telling my boys that they are not allowed to be on the internet, watch TV, or play video games while I am gone.    So I'm wondering: do I go with old fashioned trust?  Or do I take the router and the wii cord with me when I go?  Please, take the poll:

(A) Leave it in their hands and trust the little sweethearts
(B) Ensure success: take all technology with me

~7~

Homeschooling update: Homeschooling is going great!  Every other day.  Or every other hour.  Or for every other kid.

It's complicated, and hard, and I do have moments where I wonder why I'm doing this.  But then, I have moments where I'm so glad I'm doing this.  Mostly, lately, I've been having little glimmers of fantastic-ness surrounded by lots of flashes of OMG-This-Isn't-Working.  Lots of back to the drawing board moments for me.

We have been watching some great movies, though, all of which fall in the category of Popular Culture History.  Here's what we've seen so far this year.

Destry Rides Again (Jimmy Stewart)
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (Don Knotts)
Some Like it Hot (Jack Lemmon, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe)

We are also almost finished with our out-loud reading of The Thief Lord: a good one.

I have miles to go before I feel good about this...but you know, a journey of a thousand miles starts by getting up in the morning, right?  Getting up: check.  Teaching the children well: still to be checked.

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