The Sinister Scribe

“There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.” — Russian Proverb

I would like to indelibly imprint this upon myself and my children. Sometimes (OK, more often than not) I feel like I need to know all the answers. This is not something that came about because I homeschool either. I’ve put that pressure on myself as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, I have passed that on to my oldest, Sam. Need to find a way to undo that!

Wrote this in little snatches throughout the day. Hope it makes sense!

My mom left for hom on Saturday morning. We were sad to see her go, but really enjoyed her visit. I had lots of activities planned but because of the rain, most were canceled. Of course, after GiGi left the weather turned gorgeous. *sigh*

Saturday evening we enjoyed a fire in the deck firepit. Bob and I even stayed up late snuggling and talking next to the fire. Sunday dinner was grilled burgers out on the deck. Yep, lovin’ this house and especially lovin’ the time to enjoy it.

All the critters are coming out. The picture is a Spring Peeper I believe. This is a audio file of all the other frogs around our house at night. The trilling call you hear is from a Grey Treefrog… or two. I’m not sure what the other call is. Saturday I found a good sized rat snake. He was pretty upset judging my his… ahem… aroma. Even Kirby gave a snort after sniffing my hands. The skinks are out in force and we’ve been trying to nab a pair. So far no luck. I think it was last week that we saw a hawk nab a ring-neck snake from the backyard. Bummer, was hoping to catch one of those guys.

Finally got the clues up for my first letterbox! Sam has lost interest for the moment, so I’m claiming it. I’d like to do other boxes whose clues continue from this boxe’s location. It has actually been out there for a year… errr. rather all winter. Just took me for-bleepin-ever to get the clues online. It survived well and even has a first finder already! After we got the trailhead mixup fixed that is. She didn’t know there was a Creasy Springs trailhead and I didn’t know there were any others, doh! There is even a letterboxing get together coming up we might attend.

I’ve been busily converting all my photo albums over to PicasaWeb. So future updates will be there. If you haven’t heard about Picasa, check it out. (psst… it is free) I even added a pic of our ocarinas to thist post. And along those lines, I set up a YouTube account with a funny vid of Jessie sledding (or sliding rather). It was shot back in January. There’s another one too, of Jessie singing her version of Jingle Bells. Gotta get some of Sam. Hmmm… maybe playing his tinwhistle or ocarina…?

Hmmm… I’ve had two snide comments on the videos at YouTube already. They may not be there long or I’m going to disable comments or make them private. We shall see.

Doing some morning blog reading and came across an interesting post on math manipulatives at Text Savy. It is a new-to-me blog that I found by way of Maria’s  Homeschool Math blog. Not sure how I feel on the subject yet. Will have to digest it a bit more.
Ok, back to morning routines!

I didn’t realize that I was anywhere near “the dumps” emotionally today. Then I got a call from, Ismay, a good friend in Darach. It was so good to hear her voice and I am in such good spirits now that I feel like I must have been in the dumps before.
Emails just aren’t the same as hearing a friend’s voice. Of course that is not the same as being able to get a hug from a friend, but I’ll take a phone call any day!
Anyway.We gabbed about stuff going on at both ends. They, the fair folk of Darach, have been repainting the shire war cart that Bob helped build once upon a time and discovered that when Bob’s device was painted on the war cart (as was everyone’s who helped) a leg was left off of the dragon. So now Bob and I are thinking of calling our household, “The Inn of the Three Legged Dragon.” Hmmm… wonder if we can get that past all the usual heraldic hurdles? Our new storm door has a spot for a brass name plate that would be perfect to display that name. ‘Course it may have to be “Three Leged dragon Inn” or something similarly shorter. I have several pithy signs and illuminations running through my head now. All sporting a three legged beastie. LOL!

After talking with Ismay, I REALLY want to go to Estrella next year and wish even more that we could do Lilies this year. Sven and Kolfina are going to be there. Need to get serious about planning to make it happen! (after I finish planning lesons. Oy!)

Former homeschool students reflect on their educational experiences

“Seth Anthony grew up in rural North Carolina, where the nearest public school was an hour’s drive away. So his mother, who had worked as a teacher, decided to homeschool him. When Anthony reached high school age, his mother began taking a chemistry course at North Carolina State University as a prerequisite for entering pharmacy school. His mom would bring home her assignments, and they would do the chemistry problems together. “Homeschoolers have a tendency to turn all sorts of situations into learning situations,” Anthony says.”

Click here to read the entire article. Thought this was interesting to read so I’m a-sharing. I like to read/hear about what the homeschooled kids thought of their education. Makes me wonder (no, I was wondering already) what mine will think when they go-away-to-college.

Have you ever seen one of these things?!? They are pretty cool. They range from small pendant sized objects to huge two-hands-full boulders! And the sound is so beautiful.
I’ve known about them for a little while because one of my friends from the Shire of Darach played one at events as he wandered about. I thought it was neat but never considered getting one. Then I met a nice man from the Shire of Standing Stones who has quite a collection of them. He let the kids play with them and I realized that some were small enough for Jessie to play. Ah-hah! And the ocarina bug bit. *ouch!*

So we are now the proud owners of 3 ocarinas from a great place online that just happens to be in St Louis. The ones I bought for the kids are made of plastic. Unfortunately the holes are too big for Jessie’s fingers. Oh well. She’s not that interested as it is.

I googled up a mess of related links and started storing the ones I like on a page under “Studies” linked at your left. I’ve even found a place where a guy has a workshop where kids make their own ocarina! Unfortunately they are in PA. Hmmm… wonder if I could create something similar for our homeschooling group….? I’ve emailed him about his curriculum guide. We’ll see.

Anyway. Most ocarina music I’ve found uses notation that mimics the holes on the top of the instrument making it very easy to play even if you can’t read music. How cool is that?!? There is even a font for a 4-hole ocarina!

Sam is eagerly playing what music I’ve printed out AND figuring out by ear how to play some of our tinwhistle songs on his ocarina. Thought that last bit was especially cool.
So here is something else to possibly add to that list of things I never thought I’d do: “make a musical instrument.”

This will be kinda shortish, I have a headache… a really bad one. I don’t often get them so there is a specific reason for it I am sure. (like not drinking enough water or getting enough sleep)

My mother made the trip here safe and sound. The kids have been hanging off her since she arrived (goody bags in hand). It is good to see.
Since my ‘weirdness’ rant I have had a chance to talk and email with a couple of homeschooling moms in the group here. The one I’ve been emailing with does use schedules and curriculum! I nearly fainted. So we’ve chatted a bit. The other I’ve talked to and found we have more in common than I realized. Again, that is very nice. I’ve also heard from a couple visitors making me feel less lonely on this quest. Thank you ladies!

Did you know you can’t buy Red Devil Lye crystals in Columbia? NO ONE carries it! So I had to break down and order it from Rainbow Meadow. I swear it arrived the very next day! So now I can make soap again. Huzzah!

I am still plugging away at spelling lists using Natural Speller and The ABCs and All Their Tricks. A great combination! The first gives me ideas for what lists to use and activities to teach them with. The second gives me more list ideas and most importantly… the WHYS of all the different spelling sounds.

The Japanese language chip issue is still ticking me off. I can’t return it because it is already opened but I finally got to play it on my computer by using my camera as the adapter. Of all the rube-like work arounds. It IS a freaking driver issue with that POC adapter they sent with the chip. The whole reason I went with them is that I wouldn’t need to buy an iPod (or the like) to use their $30 software. Yes, I want an iPod but not for that reason!

I will not be buying from Pimsleur again. The customer service was very poor AND I am not impressed with the performance of the software. Autorun of course didn’t work. Neither did double-clicking. I had to right-click and select ‘run as’ to get the program to run. You can be sure I explained my feelings to them explicitly.
OK. My head is killing me. Signing off now.

Received the Japanese lessons chip from Pimsleur in the mail yesterday. Unfortunately, my computer won’t recognize it. I think it is the sd adapter or its driver that is the issue. Pimsleur has been less then helpful. Their reply (complete with bad grammar) was to contact my local PC guru. Gee, uhhh… thanks. Dunno that I’ll be ordering from them again. I know it is not their job to troubleshoot pc issues but a little customer service would be nice.

I’ve also had to step down as the shire’s music group hostess. I have really enjoyed it, but I need to cut down on my extra-curricular activities. The more I get into our homeschooling, the more I find I need to spend time on it. That may change later. Then again, it might not. I dunno. But what little time I have to spend on my interests I want to focus on the things I really like to do: scribal work, sewing and fiber stuff.

See! I really do eat dandelions.
I was worried after that late frost I wouldn’t get a sufficient bloom to make jelly this year but yesterday they were out… not as much as last year… but enough to make jelly. I never noticed that dandelions do have a wonderful honey-like smell. Here is the recipe I used.
This year’s batch did come out much better. Just the right consistency. Used the right amount of petals and the right pectin. It is yummy on home-made bread!

Last year’s jelly was rather hard. I didn’t know you couldn’t substitute another type of pectin (powder vs liquid) and get the desired results.

I have more to blog, but not the time right now. Feeling silly for my “I’m weird” entry. LOL! I really was in the dumps then. Much better now, will explain later.

We’re off to the park to work with Kirby before the homeschool group’s recess.

Oh! Sam has made his lunch for two days now and is so pleased with himself. He mentioned he liked it because it makes him feel grown-up. *sigh*

One last thing… Chinese 5 Spice is just the yummiest smell!

One more last thing, as if I didn’t have enough picture collections scattered about, here’s another one at Picassa.

Barb has tagged/challenged me to my first one of these things. It was hard to pare it down to JUST nine.

1. I homeschool… but not for religious or fearful reasons
2. I wear out the knees of my jeans as fast as my kids do
3. I love wasabi on my sushi
4. I’m an artist and a computer geek
5. You’ll find both Disturbed and Acadiana (Zydeco music) in my CD collection.
6. I like dirt under my fingernails and my house clean
7. I eat dandelions and make jelly with them
8. I help my daughter find worms, frogs, snakes, lizzards…
9. I want to have bee hives in my backyard

So there ya go, MORE weird things about me.