Doing the Next Thing

Who knew that driving home from Bible study last night would be an historic event? Enjoying a rare bit of solitude, I turned on NPR and was transported by the passionate horns in the last movement of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" - as I listened, I was thinking about how it would make a good soundtrack for an old-fashioned Western... Turns out I was hearing a replay of Tuesday's landmark concert by the New York Philharmonic - in Pyongyang, North Korea! Invited by the North Koreans, the orchestra helped put aside the stalemate over nukes for one night of beautiful music masterfully performed. It ended with a lively Gershwin piece. I found a bit of humor in it: The New York Philharmonic was playing "An American in Paris " in Pyongyang . Truly, the language of music is universal.

History Project Day is fast approaching for Master's Academy . C (11) has chosen to build a model of the Parthenon and display his photos from our visit. Here's the dilemma... what to make it out of? We found an intricate paper model here , but before I slap down the $$ for the kit (plus wait for shipping time) I'd love to hear suggestions on building one with some other media... sculp*ey clay, etc??? C. is very particular about it looking authentic and not like a kindergarten project. (The one thing he likes about the paper model is that the roof is removable and the statue of Athena visible.) If you have a brilliant idea (or even a not-so-brilliant one) please comment and let me know! Thanks in advance!

"A rollicking band of pirates we, who, tired of tossing on the sea..." - Pir*ates of Pen*zan*ce Well, we made it! We survived four days of looong dress rehearsals and six performances. It was a lot of work, but so much fun! The drama club has been working on this show since last fall and it was exciting to see it all come together. S. really enjoyed himself - and he looked mighty cute in his pirate gear! aarrggh! Now - if you don't hear much from me this week, know that I am busy getting us back into routine. I'll be around, though.

A full bowl of fruit... ...is one of my Favorite Things!

"The more you see the less you know The less you find out as you go I knew much more then than I do now." - Bono As I was excercising this morning to U2's song "City of Blinding Lights," this line struck me. It made me think of how much we think we know when we are young; and how much we learn we don't know as we get older...

Well ... the results of my "weekly reporting" experiment are in. Though there were some positive aspects of the ritual, the overall result is: thumbs down. On the negative side: #1: the reports take a long time to write. I don't have that kind of time to spare on a weekly basis. It has limited the time I have to visit other blogs and post about other things. Which leads me to negative #2: weekly reporting has made my blog too narrow in focus - becoming more of a "homeschool" blog than anything. I am a homeschool mom, but our life is about way more than just school, and I want my blog to reflect that. #3: The reports are too long - I don't want to burden my dear readers. #4: It's too repetitive. Some subject areas, like Bible and history, see progress every week; but others consist of "doing the next lesson" - after a while I fear half the reports will be identical to the week before. That's boring, even for me! And the last reason: it was ...