Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Yarn Along--the home stretch


I am back again for Ginny's weekly Yarn Along, with the same old hooded tunic.  This time I can say that I think I will be done with it in time for next week's edition, as I am on the hood now.  As long as my kitchener stitch goes well, it ought to be ready for blocking by this weekend.


I am still reading A Little Way of Homeschooling and I really am getting a lot from it.  All anxiety about teaching Dominic this year has left me, as I am tending more toward unschooling him.  He is quite hyper and just not ready to do much more than practice his fine motor skills and life skills at this point.  As for the older kids, I am thinking that I might end up with some sort of Charlotte Mason/unschooling philosophy leading me along.  A meltdown over a timed drill made me think seriously about what it is I am trying to accomplish here.
When your eight year old cries and screams, "I hate math!" at you, it makes you think about these things.  So many times while growing up I wanted to scream, "I hate math!", and now, as an adult, I find myself frequently enjoying my daughter's algebra--something that I thought would be the death of me when I was in high school.

The kids are reading various things.  Una reads so quickly that I can't keep up with all of it, but she has been reading a lot of Catholic apologetics borrowed from her uncle Michael, a former seminarian with quite an extensive theological library.  He is happy to make recommendations and loan her books.  Sebastian is reading Moccasin Trail currently.  Gabriel is working through some Star Wars book.  Pulp fiction and just what Charlotte Mason would have considered "twaddle", but he is still at a point where I have to make him read for 30 minutes a day, so I let him read what he wants to most of the time, as long as he is reading.

Our read-aloud is Redwall.  Una has read just about the entire series, I think.  In any case, I am finding it immensely engaging and hard to put down.  Miss Mason would have frowned upon my very theatrical readings, but I have this dramatic streak that refuses to be repressed...if I can't read with odd voices and funny accents, there's no fun in it at all.  I have really loved doing the voices of Basil Stag Hare and Cluny the Scourge, but the moles are giving me a heck of a time.  I just can't pin them...

Already this morning I have peeked at a few Yarn Along posts, and I am itching for a new project.

Like to knit and read?  Stop by small things for the Yarn Along and check out what everyone is reading and knitting this week!

10 comments:

  1. The hoodie is coming along beautifully! What is reading to children without a little dramatics thrown in I say. My kids love it when I do different voices for characters. I feel brings books to life. Good luck finding the right 'mole voice' to impersonate. You made me giggle with that one. Jacinta x

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  2. Hi, there! I scrolled down through your older posts to see a picture of your tunic. It really is a lovely colorway! How exciting to be nearly done!

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  3. Lovely tunic -- I am still knitting the same thing this week, too. And thanks for the read aloud suggestion. We are always looking for great ideas for read alouds!

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  4. Coming down the home stretch on a long knitting project is exciting. We have practically the whole series of Redwall (I haven't read any; my boys have read many.)

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  5. Ha,ha. That's how I read aloud too. It's a killer though, thinking up different animal voices when I read the Freddy the Pig series or Dr. Doolittle.

    I can relate to the math. Almost all my kids have said "I hate math!" at one time. I know I'm a bad math teacher, but tutors are beyond our means. It's tough when all I can say to them when they ask me why they should study algelbra is, "Because I said so and you have to do well on the SAT for college."

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  6. Can't wait to see your finished tunic :) I remember reading Redwall and enjoying it, but I don't remember the story. I wonder if I still have a copy at my parents' house...

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  7. Congratulations to being nearly done! I like that feeling after a long project.

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  8. I so relate to what you say about actually enjoying algebra now :) How funny is that! I could never get my head around algebra at school and had those "hating math" moments more than regularly :)
    My 4 year old should be starting school in September but she is also very hyperactive and "physical". She needs to get her energy out before she can actually settle down to concentrate on a quiet project.
    I really should get round to reading
    "A Little Way of Homeschooling" it sounds a perfect fit. Catholic, Unschooling and based on the principles of one of my very favourite saints :)

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  9. I've been reading "A Little Way of Homeschooling" too. It is really giving me a whole new perspective about what is really necessary and what is truly important and helping me to let go of a lot of worries. It has actually helped me to be more at peace with the fact that we chose not to homeschool our oldest when we sent him to high school.

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