movie and mittens

One of my homeschooling goals is that Elizabeth finish her work in roughly 4 days each week which will enable us to reserve one day per week for field trips or other enrichment. In our first week of homeschooling, Elizabeth finished her week’s work by noon on Thursday. When I asked about her thoughts for Friday, she responded that she’d like to watch Boy in the Striped Pajamas since she’d recently finished the book.

When I read Boy in the Striped Pajamas over the summer, I wasn’t overly impressed. The notion that a boy in the midst of Hitler youth would be that naïve and innocent in his surroundings didn’t ring true for me. In addition, the use of Out-With (a combination of English words) as a pronunciation substitution for Auchwitz (a German name) drove me to distraction. I finished the book, gave it 2 stars on Goodreads, placed my copy in the Little Free Library outside, then moved on to greener pastures. I don’t think I even mentioned it to my kids.

Elizabeth discovered it in the LFL, and I found her reading it one afternoon. She seemed engrossed so I didn’t share my opinion. Of course, she became enraptured with it, finished it, and placed it on her “permanent collection” bookshelf. She wasn’t thrilled with the vagueness of the ending, but she found the child’s perspective of the Holocaust intriguing. She also recognized Bruno’s natural love and friendship toward others, regardless of heritage, as endearing. I think despite her fondness for Bruno, she appreciated the karmic payback received by his father.

Isn’t it fascinating how an adult reader and a child reader can see such different sides of the same book?

As for the movie, I found it more tolerable, without the insufferable “Out-With” references, and the mother’s and grandmother’s disapproval translating into Bruno’s naivety seemed more believable. Rarely do I appreciate a movie more than a book, but this was one of those cases.

As for the mittens, they don’t particularly tie into this post except that I finished them while we watched Boy in the Striped Pajamas today. I’m more than ready for cooler weather to allow me to test them. The pattern is Detour Mittens, available for free on Ravelry. I knit them in City Tweed, Tahitian Pearl. At first I wasn’t sure about the pointy tips on the mittens, but the elvish look has rather grown on me. I might be in love with these tweedy mitts!

learning about London

With the kids stuck at home for most of the week following our record snowfall, we spent some time learning about the city we will be spending our spring break touring: London! I really want the kids to have as full an experience they can, know as much as possible about the city, and be thrilled to finally get to see and do the activities and attractions we're learning about now.

Yesterday morning, after reading Katie in London, flipping through London with Kids, and watching Travel with Kids - London, the kids each wrote a journal entry pretending it was the end of our first day in London.

Elizabeth's journal entry:

I did lots of stuff on my first day in London. First, I went to the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel. It's so big I can see Big Ben by the river. It felt like I was in a escalator and I got that jumpy feeling in my stomach. Next, we went to Big Ben itself! I made clay with the dirt and built Small Ben. When the clock rang, it was super loud! I walked around the ground of Big Ben to admire the beauty. After that we had a picnic with grilled cheese and strawberries. When we had eaten the last strawberry, we headed home. That night I dream of the science museum we would visit tomorrow.

Next, I'd like to find some books more about the history of London, specifically around the Tower of London and the Houses of Parliament, to help the kids have some knowledge of the magnificent structures and understanding of the rich historical significance of everything they will see. I guess I'll be heading to the library on a quest. If anyone knows of any books along this theme, I'm open to suggestion.

**top photo from Google Maps, other photos from Wikipedia

::Today::

Not exactly a new rhythm, but we're getting there.

::a keyboard duet::

::fancy, new dinner lighting::

::a special after dinner treat (movie recommended by Boatbaby)::

::bedtime, even for frogs (on new bedding sewn by Elizabeth)::

::time for Mama to relax (that's part of the rhythm too, right?)::

**Note: We generally let the kids watch one movie every other weekend, when they're all together with us. Now that autumn's early evenings are upon us, I'm thinking that might shift to a week night occasionally, like this week, when we had plenty of nice weather, visits with friends, and crafts to occupy us through the weekend.

Earth, the movie

I took Paulie, Elizabeth and Philip to see the new Earth movie, by the Disneynature label, last night.  We really enjoyed this movie immensely.  I was a little worried for a few reasons--I thought Disney might cutesify (is that a word?) it, and I thought Philip might freak out during one of the few hunter vs. prey scenes.  As it turns out, I worried for naught, because the film was perfectly lovely.  The camera work came from the Planet Earth series, of which I have only seen certain parts, but was absolutely extraordinary.  The narration flowed beautifully with the various stories, and the movie perfectly suited kids in the 6-10 year old range, showing nature in it's glory alongside it's grim reality.

Paulie's favorite part:  a nest of ducklings jumps down from a branch to follow their mother with a not-so-graceful landing; runner-up was a bird of paradise whose face blended into his feathers when he danced, quite the funny sight

Philip's favorite part:  see the ducklings from Paulie's  ;)

Elizabeth's favorite part:  the 2 baby polar bears that began and ended the movie; their climb from their nest and descent down the frozen hill was particularly cute

My favorite part:  all of the above, plus the monkeys who weren't crazy about having to wade through waist high water in the savannah and reacted quite dramatically

Little of This, Little of That

Elizabeth came to me this morning with one of those paper fortune tellers.  You remember the ones you made in elementary school with the numbers and colors, and you would open and close the paper until ultimately the fortune you had written under the flap was revealed?  My fortune said "You will make a felt pie."  Hmmm...coincidence?  I think not.  But I humored her and made a blueberry pie for her to share with her froggy friends.

Ok, so it was a hastily felted pie, but she declared it tasty.

Then, finally, she decided to show a bit of interest in the needle felting pen I bought for her and needle felted her first project...

a wedge of cheese.

I also finished working on an Easter hare for Finn's basket.  He's my first knitted animal, and I thought he turned out quite cute.  The directions came from All Year Round.  Seriously, who knew about this book and didn't share that information with me?  This book has wonderful ideas for celebrating the various seasons and holidays of the year.  I know the whole family will get much enjoyment out of the projects we're discovering in here.

Elizabeth spent part of her day watching this adorable movie that we found on Netflix.  A charming story and sweet characters...Elizabeth asked at the end if they had made a sequel yet.  Why can't more kids' movies be like this and less pop-culture-y with silly plots and shallow characters?  Truly magical.  Next up is Miss Potter, and we're looking forward to that one as well.

Special Night

After a particularly challenging week, the kids really needed a special night on Friday. They seemed recharged and in great moods Saturday morning, so I'm guessing it worked. A few highlights:

Pizza (from The Loop, mmmm), plums, and lemonade for dinner

Boo-nilla shakes - a seasonal family favorite dessert of milkshakes served in glasses with ghost faces painted out of melted chocolate chips

Escape to Witch Mountain - (Walt Disney, 1975 --rent it)

And sleeping in a blanket nest in the living room