Olympic Dreams

Well, the Summer Olympics are over, but we certainly enjoyed them here. In fact, please don't tell my kids it's over. Their little hearts will be broken. When my Dad was last in China, he brought the kids stuffed mascots and they absolutely fell in love with them.


G. calls them "the Beijings" and takes his just about everywhere.

Now of course we are not oblivious to the obvious political and human rights issues that the Olympics have brought up. Personally, I don't think the Olympics should have been awarded to China in the first place, but the Olympics is big business and China has a lot of money. And manpower. But watching the opening ceremonies, I was awestruck and childlike as I soaked in the spectacle of synchronization and computerized images. I was powerless to cast a critical eye on the might of China as it rained down upon us with thunderous drums and adorable little girls singing like sweet songbirds. Oh, wait, she was lipsynching...the real girl was behind the iron curtain, wishing she had perfect teeth and hair instead of the voice of an angel...but really, is that important? After all, thousands of men had been practicing for weeks, months even, working their hands to the bone as they drummed over and over until they performed perfectly. And others had worked 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, moving boxes up and down in unison until they had it right. Who cares if they were forced to wear diapers and weren't allowed to eat? The point is, it's the Olympics.

Frankly, these athletes have worked their entire lives (14 years in the case of some athletes) to reach this moment in time and who am I to say they don't deserve it. They need me, sitting on the couch in my sweatpants cheering them on as they pour out blood, sweat and tears. Spoon in one hand, Haagen-Daaz in the other, cookie crumbs between the folds of my oversized tshirt - I am there for them, sobbing over the agony of defeat and the victory of....how does that go again?

Anyway, that leads me to my point. The Carmella Olympics. We finally chose a theme for her 7th birthday party and we ran with it. Not literally of course.

I just feel the need to point out that the flag was finished at 1:00 a.m. the night before the party. I don't know why I need to point it out, but there it is.


The first game - the Bucket Brigade. Followed by the sack race.


And then the classic egg-on-a-spoon.

And an obstacle course. I delighted in having the kids eat a donut off a string at the end of it. Nothing like introducing my friends kids to the delights of processed chemical-filled Hostess donuts. Yum. (Just kidding. I'm completely ashamed of myself.)



The kids with their medals.



All in all, a successful party. Every year I say I'll never do it again, I must be some sort of a masochist because I was so wiped out after this one. But it was worth it. The kids are still talking about how much fun the games were, so I'm glad we had such a fun theme. And they didn't seem to mind marching in place until they were perfectly synchronized. haha.

Imagination is more important than knowledge!

A few weeks back we hit the Discovery Museums in Acton again. It was a beautiful day and they had giant bubbles going outside. The kids loved it.

Then we headed inside to the Children's Discovery Museum. This is designed for toddlers to age six. Last time we were there in the winter, I felt that C. was just on the edge of being too old for it. Well, now she definitely is. After about 15 minutes, she declared she was bored. I couldn't believe it. She had outgrown this adorable little place we had been coming to since she was a toddler. And when I looked at her, I saw the transformation was complete. It was slightly jarring, to say the least. I told her she had to deal with it for a bit longer, as much of it is perfect for G. He loves the Ball-Track room and Rainbow room, and was content to spend quite a bit of time there. But, as I watched him play, I saw we were getting "the look" from quite a few other moms, and after awhile, I realized it was because they thought G. was too old to be there! Now, the rooms are quite small and can feel quite stuffy and claustrophobic when it is crowded. And as I looked around, I realized he was so much bigger than the other kids. But he's only four!!! (The girls behind G. in the bubble picture are both 6 years old!) In fact, when we ate our picnic lunch outside at the tables, some moms were stunned to realize C. and G. are only 6 and 4 - they thought they were 7 or 8 year-old twins! Anyway, after lunch we headed over to the Science Discovery Museum, and that's where the action was.

This museum is so much fun for the kids. Lots of hands-on activities about the weather, sound, water movement, magnetism, and much more. I really have to resist the temptation to make them stop and *learn* about what they are touching and seeing. Sometimes it seems like they just run around in a haze, grabbing and banging on whatever they see without stopping to think about what they are doing. But then I saw a wonderful poster on the wall. It was a picture of Albert Einstein and quoted him - "Imagination is more important than knowledge." I stopped and realized I was caught up in the idea that they should be showing me that they were learning something, just so that I could feel better about myself - it had stopped being about them and had become about me. As soon as I backed off, they were perfectly fine and had so much to talk about after we left.



It was a wonderful day and we can't wait to go back. It's obvious to me that my kids do have incredible imaginations and that this will lead to knowledge. Sometimes it is hard for us grown-ups to back off and let kids just be - we're so caught up in facts and figures and fears about their futures. I really want C. and G. to learn, obviously, but I also don't want to go to museums with clipboards and worksheets to fill out. Hopefully, homeschooling will give them more breathing room to explore with complete freedom. At least, as much as their uptight mother will allow!

It's that time of year again...

Time to let the superintendent know that I will be homeschooling C. Anyone that knows me knows that I have a major philosophical issue with having to report to the local school district. After all, I feel it is my right as a parent to educate my children. The superintendent knows absolutely nothing about my children and what their educational needs are, and I feel very strongly that they have no business being involved in our lives. One reason I homeschool is so that my children will not be subject to the government-run public education system, with its one-size-fits-all standards and fill-in-the-circle testing. (No offense to anyone involved in the public education system - there are many dedicated professionals who do wonderful things, my Dad being one of the best examples.) Anyway, I am at least glad that Massachusetts is minimally involved with us so far, as the superintendent in our school district seems pretty mellow so far.

At any rate, for those of you who might be interested in homeschooling and don't know where to start, this is the perfect website to help you write your Letter of Intent to Homeschool. It explains what you have to provide and what you should not. For example, you should not provide a written explanation of the details of curriculum, including daily schedules, nor should you fill out any forms the school district may send you. You should include sentences such as "I am of competent ability and sound morals" and "we will equal in thoroughness and efficiency the school year of the public schools. Its length will be between 180 and 365 days and we will meet or exceed the required 900 hours of instruction."

If you district gives you any trouble, definitely quote the Charles decision and get in touch with MHLA if you need to.

Good luck to all new homeschoolers this year, now I am off to put my LOI in the mail.

Favorite Flowers August 2008

Cool Feature

I saw somebody else had this cool feature on their blog that does a slideshow of photos so I thought I would try it out. And, of course, I had taken a few photos of my favorite flowers from early August - daylilies and zinnias. I love zinnias because they are so bright and happy and attract bees and butterflies and if you can avoid the dreaded powdery mildew, they look gorgeous all summer. And daylilies - I can't think of anything negative about them. They are just incredible - not fussy about soil, they withstand drought and disease and reward you with beautiful blooms. I had to sadly dig up and throw out all of my Asiatic lilies, as they had been taken over by the dreaded lily leaf beetle, which essentially destroys them. It really is impossible to hand-pick them as they are just voracious, and I won't use heavy pesticides in my garden which is the only way to control them. So good-bye to the imported Asiatic lilies, and hello to more native perennials.

(It took me about an hour to figure out how to do this so it is actually in the above post - which, obviously, you've figured out by now if you're actually reading this.)

A Trip to Amish Country

So way, way back at the end of June, (where is the summer going????) we had a short trip to southern Pennsylvania where C. was performing with her dance troup to Hershey Park. My parents came with us in the journey and the six of us made the 8 hour journey down in a minivan. We emerged in PA relatively unscathed. C. had a wonderful time performing.



We enjoyed the park for two days - amusement park rides galore, amusement park food (need I say more), and of course, our fellow amusement park goers with all of their charm and class. Yes, my snobby side is coming out here and I'm not going to apologize for it. There is nothing like a theme park to show the true colors of America, and to explain the strange phenomena of how a man like George W. Bush was elected president. Apparently there is no shame in walking around with one's belly exposed, obscenely greasy turkey leg in one hand and a large Diet Coke in the other. And no shame in wearing a tshirt that says "Have you ever ridden a fat guy? Wanna try?" This, of course, with a picture of said wearer's hairy fat belly on the front of the shirt. And, let's not forget, aforementioned person is with his small children. Nice.
I'll tell you, the sights and sounds of the people are enough to make one want to become Amish, which is where the rest of our vacation took us.

I've always been interested in Amish life. The idea of living without modern amenities , focused on community and religion, definitely holds a lot of appeal to me. They are basically living "off the grid" without relying on big oil companies (anyone catch those profits of Exxon Mobil??) or any other corporation for that matter. They rely on one another. Now, I am not saying it is utopia, no society is. But they have managed to survive in the midst of our crazy society without giving up their way of life. I was shocked, in fact, to see how close they really live with us mainstreamers. Buggies parked at Market Basket? You bet.

Now the other part of the problem is how to visit the Amish without visiting the Amish. They are not a sideshow attraction - they are just trying to live their lives without being gawked at. They don't want their pictures taken and probably get very annoyed with the constant stares and whispering. We decided to visit a "recreated" Amish house that offered a little tour and had a little one-roomed schoolhouse in addition to the main house.



This was Dad being the teacher and G. being the student. Dad pointed out the graduation in the size of the desks, the smallest ones being in the front. There is the stove for warmth and they had some examples of children's schoolwork. There were, however, no names carved into the desks or gum stuck underneath. G. loved pretending to be a student.



He also LOVED the buggy! We almost had to leave without him because he spent almost the entire visit playing on the buggy.



He was the most adorable Amish boy. We tried to get him to wear a straw hat the boys wear in the summer, but he only liked the black winter hat. He looked adorable but since it was over 90 degrees he also looked very hot!



We also enjoyed a ride on a steam engine train through the countryside. I can't remember exactly how old the train was, but it was a lot of fun and the land in PA is just beautiful.

All in all, a wonderful trip to a beautiful place. Next time I would definitely spend a few more days exploring, but probably keep the Hershey Park time limited. After all, I didn't bring my tshirt with a picture of my belly on it. Oh! I forgot my favorite tshirt worn by a Dad there - "While you were reading this, I farted." Gotta love America.