The Sinister Scribe

Friday we went to a presentation on this amazing Japanese puppetry form held at Mizzou. Oh. Freaking. Wow. The “puppeteers” were from Japan and part of the Imada Puppet Troup. Really, really amazing to watch them manipulate these puppets. It took 3 puppeteers per puppet! Some of their puppets are 100+ years old!

After the presentation, everyone was invited to come up and try to use the puppets and talk to the puppeteers. Sam of course was one of the first in line. He was so jazzed to be able to speak Japanese to these very important visitors. I think they were also very impressed by him.

We were there for another half hour talking to the Imada group and the students in the Japanese program at Mizzou. Learned that there is a kanji recognition program (Kanji Sono Mama Rakubiki Jiten) for the DS that costs about $40! Also, the university has a conversational Japanese group that meets on Thursdays. There is even a banraku puppetry group on campus: Banraku Bay Puppet Troupe.

I really can’t describe how excited Sam was after meeting the Imada group. I swear he was on an educational high! LOL! He said something like, “Mom! I’ve never spoken so much Japanese in my entire life! And to such important people!” This made me feel like I’d gotten my first homeschooling validation (from the one source that really counts). That maybe I’m doing something right… to see this fire and passion spark in him was beautiful. The credit for it is all his… but to have helped him find it… to have facilitated this spark… Way cool.

So I expect to see him even more interested in learning to speak Japanese. Maybe we’ll even start working on Kanji.

Update…

Click here to see an article in the Columbia Missourian about the demonstration. (we’re mentioned!)

Due to allergies and a very fun puppetry workshop last week, we didn’t get to do any review for our first quarter. So, we’re doing it this week!

Math: I had written up a test that covered each point from this quarter… ended up using it as a review tool. *sigh* One good thing that came from this is I had him write out “things to remember” as we’ve gone along. Something I should have done from the beginning. Duh! From time to time, he still forgets the steps in long division and that (in subtraction) you have to regroup if the lower digit is larger than the upper.

Latin: I only tested him on vocabulary and that was done orally. He did very well.

Spelling: He did great on the words (tested orally). On the rules I started with asking him “Tell me about rule bla-bla.” It wasn’t going too well. So I switched to an oral fill-in-the-blank and he did perfectly.

Grammar: I am amazed, gobsmacked really, that he remembered all 50 prepositions! Even though I’m not totally in love with the Easy Grammar books, I must admit I think all those worksheets are working for him.
History: We really didn’t test so much on this subject. We went through and reviewed.

Science: Oral test. He did great.

Final Thoughts: More review and more (gak!) planning. Maybe if I create the quarterly tests as we cover the info…? Kinda sit down weekly and make notes or questions on what we covered… maybe? Rather than all at once (and hurredly) at the end. :blush:

Weekly, I MUST remember to review what we’ve covered! Maybe on Fridays since that is a light day anyway.

Ok, I am mentally toast. It was quite a busy week! Will write more about Friday’s excitement in a separate entry.

Wouldn’t it be a hoot! (picture links to website)

Managed to get this one, from the Fall Art Kit, done today even with a field trip in the afternoon. Our “green hour” today was spent petting barnyard animals, running willy-nilly through a hay maze, hay-riding and pumpkin picking.

You can’t tell through the paint, but it is a little crispy around the edges. Sam said no beads on this one; he is sending it to Grandma.

Here are a few I tried. I’d love to do more in different colors. The paint is acrylic in none other than “leaf green.” LOL! I just happened to have it on hand. (and now on my fingers )

Today, as promised, we did the fall banner from the Fall Art Kit.

The kids were excited to use the “special markers” we bought just for this project. LOL! Yes, we have other washable markers but these were speeecciiiiaaallll. *giggle*

Sam and I painted the glue solution while discusing the nature of a “solution.” (Who knew science was involved in this!) We had trouble getting the canvas to absorb the solution though. The first time we peeled the transfers and plastic off the colors didn’t transfer too well. So I painted the areas on the canvas where the transfers where and reapplied. The second time was a little better. I am wondering if prewetting the canvas would help get a more even transfer…? Not sopping, just slightly damp.

These are the “transfers.” I am letting them dry and thinking about hanging them from the banner! I could have so much fun just painting coffee filter leaves and decorating the house with them. LOL!

Today we did the warm colors exercises from the Fall Art Kit. This is Sam’s two efforts at the watercolor portion. I REALLY like the first one. He (as any artist) doesn’t like it. In the second one, he really enjoyed playing with the watercolors on wet paper. Oh, that’s right. This wasn’t in the instructions but we both wet our paper slightly before we began. Oh and we used a bit of salt too.

Here’s my first attempt. It looks much better in person. I used colored pencils to bring out some of the details.

This is my second attempt. It looks better ON SCREEN than in person. LOL!

Last, but not least, here is Sam’s drawing on the warm colors worksheet.

Tomorrow… fall leaf banners!

I purchased one of them from Hearts and Trees and we started using it today.

This is my leaf rubbing with the kanji for “leaf.” I just happened to run across that kanji in Eve Kushner’s post over at Jpod101 blogs. I wonder if there’s anyway (besides the iron paper for your printer) to get this on a T-shirt? Oooh, no a mug! I know where to do that.

Here are the kids nature journals. I made an additional one for Jessie based on the one included in the art kit. The first page contains a checklist of things you might find on a nature walk. Sam enjoyed this much more than I expected! I thought belatedly that I should have done Jessie’s with Pictures rather than the words. Oh well. She had a great time checking off her squares.

The other activity we did today (or rather Sam did) was make the origami dog. Here’s a picture of Sam posing with (or like) his creation.