Sleeping Beauty

Today we had a "take it easy" day. I was feeling poorly and ended up falling asleep on the couch for much of the day. I did help Z practice her piano and Japanese in the morning.

I also drew her some pictures of anime girls from Pretty Cure to color. But while I was asleep Z first read and then played dress-up and then feel asleep, with her Princess dress on, on the other side of the couch from where I was resting. I got up first and was able to take this cute picture of her doing her Sleeping Beauty.

Mississippi. M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i"

Z has been going around trying to spell stuff a lot recently. "Mommy, I can spell Shop and Show." and "Mommy, I can spell Princess."

We have never really done a formal spelling program. Sometimes we have family spelling bees in the car and often I tell Z to sound out the words she wants to use when she is writing something and then I help her if she needs it (she doesn't feel comfortable with the idea of using invented spelling.) And a couple times I have printed off 1st or 2nd grade spelling lists and went through 20 or more of them with Z getting them all right before we get bored and stop.

Maybe this should be a lesson in unschooling for me. *wink*

Truth be told

today was a pretty bad day.

This morning Z was getting every other math problem wrong. And not because they were to hard but because she would rather be done than be correct.

I got really stressed out because she was yawning and trying to tell jokes and looking at herself in the mirror and getting a drink and getting a tissues and basically doing anything that wasn't her math.

I ended up sending her to her room in frustration.

Days like these I wonder why I homeschool.

If she were someone else's responsibility they would have to deal with her and she would have had to deal with an "F' on her math today.

At home she never "fails." We always work at something until she really knows it.

And somehow I am supposed to have an endless reservoir of patience. Though I have been told I am very patient with Z I don’t see it and today I certainly didn’t have it.

After her “time out” Z asked why I got so upset over “math”. I told her it wasn’t about the math. If she was practicing piano and just guessing at the notes over and over again instead of actually looking at them I would get annoyed too. And if I had told her to go into her room and get dressed but instead she just went into her room and started playing, and then I told her again to get dressed and she said “Okay” but just started reading and then I had to tell her again to get dressed and she said she was “trying” but instead decided to look at herself in the mirror… well I might raise my voice with her.

Some might say that maybe we should have just skipped math if that was how she was feeling about it. But personally I look at times like that as an opportunity to teach Z how to work through her malaise.

After she came out of "time out" she was able to finish the rest with a lot of focus and almost all of the problems correct. It was certainly good enough and a very nice effort. What I had her do was say aloud everything she doing, I think it helped her stay focused and not make careless mistakes. She also got done much more quickly that way, which we both appreciated.

I am going to try to figure out how to keep getting that kind of effort from her. This week I am going to experiment with a variety of ideas I have to help her find her intrinsic motivation each morning. I’ll let you know how it goes.

chores

Today Z asked if there were any more chores she could do. She told her father she liked all the chores we had her do to pay for the ripped book.

I laughed and I told her that she used to like do doing the laundry too. She didn't believe me at first. But I told her how she used to ask to sort the laundry and was so excited and proud of herself to do "mommy work". ( I know that sounds sexist, but hey, what can I do? I do do the laundry.)

She then informed me that "But I know that I am going to keep liking these chores."

*hee hee*

Little kids are cute.

But seriously, I think it is worth thinking about. Play is the work of children. But real work is just another experience to them. Some work can help them to feel useful and like a "grown-up". I am not sure how this can continue to into teen years though.

It has always been important to us that Z help out and learn to be useful around the house without complaining. Sometimes she does drag around when it is time to do her chores in the morning. But then I have a little talk with her about having a positive attitude and how her Pere goes to work everyday and works so hard for us and how negative talk really makes it worse, etc. and she gets it and does her best to get her chores done without complaint. I am not sure if what we are doing will pan out and that she will be the kind of person who just does what needs to be done with a kind of Zen understanding. but I hope so.

Hmmm, maybe I should do some research on this. I know that Raymond Moore talks about children and work in his books.

Memorial Day

Or as Z calls it "memory-al" day. *hee*

Today we had Pere's old grammar school, college, co-worker and best man at our wedding friend over as well as a friend of mine, her husband and her eight year old daughter who is also PG.

Pere made chili and corn bread and we had some Coronas. The kids went in the pool and the other adults played poker (Hold'em I think). I was too busy trying to watch Z in a pool full of other kids to pay attention to cards.

It is nice talking with my friend because I can be open about the whole extreme gifted thing and I don't really have to choose my words carefully or anything. She knows exactly where I am coming from. The reason this is so major is because it really does effect almost everything. My job is to homeschool Zoe. So if I want to talk at all about what I do it will become apparent that Z is doing some out of the ordinary things. Some people, sadly, have a adverse reaction to that. It is just so much easier to talk to someone when you don't have to hide a major aspect of you life.

In the evening we got into a good political conversation with Pere's old buddy. That is always fun.

I thought it was a really nice time.

Tar pits

We had planned to go for a hike today but since Z is still having lingering effects from the cold she got in Philly we decided to take it easy. So instead we went to the Grove in L.A. and had a pretzel picnic, then walked 5 blocks to the Page Museum La Brea Tar Pits where Z ran up the hills and rolled down them, walked around the museum, climbed a tree and a sloth, walked over to LACMA and made a calligraphy wall hanging and a decorated a clay tile and then walked five blocks back to our car.

We might as well have gone on the hike.

an expensive lesson

All kids, through carelessness, break and destroy things. I think kids don't finally start caring for material possessions until they are out on their own and start having to pay for things themselves.

Today Z was reading an X-Men graphic novel at Barnes and Noble and through mishandling it she ripped a page. Pere and I felt that we had to now buy the book, which we had no intention of doing before.

I talked with Pere about what we should do. We agreed that kids make mistakes and we can't really say that she isn't allowed to read books we don't already own. But we did want to punish her and hopefully teach her a lesson.

The book was $12.00. I paid for it and told Z she was going to have to earn the money to pay us back. She started crying again. Not, I think, because she is afraid of hard work but just because she was very sorry and could see that we felt this was very serious.

Z already has chores and she doesn't get paid for them, they are just part of helping out the family. We started her young. Before she was one she would crawl her books back to their basket's before bed each night. By two she was sorting the laundry into lights, darks and colors. Now she makes her bed, cleans her room, clears the dishes and separates and loads the dirty landry everyday.

But I came up with some more labor intensive chores. She is going to scoop the kitty litter for one week as well as scrub the kitchen floor, sweep the patio, vaccum, and scrub the spots out of the carpet.

When we got home I had her vaccum right away. The vaccum is bigger than she is and it was really difficult for her to push it but she tried really hard and she managed. I am also proud that she didn't complain at all and is going to try very hard to earn the price of the book. I also think this is very good for her.

She is sweeping the patio which is full of leaves (we are one the ground floor of our apartment complex and every week the lawn service men blow a thousand dead leaves under my fence and into our patio and every week I sweep it back othingut) and also home to several small spiders. This chore is very labor intensive, but as some of you may feel, sweeping something dirty till it is nice and clean can be a very fulfilling experience. I am happy she is having a good attitude about all this.

Getty Villa

Today Z and I went to the newly re-opened Getty Villa in Malibu.

It is free but you have timed appointments to get in. Ours was at 2:30 and it closed at five so we didn't end up seeing everything.

First of all Z likes to read the informational placards in front of everything. She likes to read them aloud too, sometimes in a British accent and by the third room she was adding a "pose" or fancy stance. OMG! It was so embarrassing. She was reading things like this one about Nemesis and attracting a large crowd all of whom wanted to appproach me afterward and talk about her and ask her age. It was like she had her own little show.


When she was reading the placard of Herakles (Hercules) I looked up and all of the 15 or so people in the room were just staring at her.



It wasn't all bad though. (Not that it is so bad, I am just uncomfortable with the attention.) An elderly lady came over to me and asked her age and I said five and she said "She is homeschooled isn't she?" I said she was and she said "I knew she had to be." That was cool.


Then another really cool thing happened. We happened to meet another Davidson Young Scholar in the Children's Room. Since there are only like 800 or so in all of America, what are the odds?

Z and A were playing in the little theatre and painting urns while I talked to A's mom and based on a short conversation about her daughter's educational situation I asked if she was in DYS and told her that Z was too. I ended up giving her my contact information. I hope we can get together with them again.

The Children's Room was really cool and they also had a scanvanger hunt where you had to find a centaur on an urn in one room, a swan kissing a woman on another and a snake wrapped around a stork's legs in another, and so on. It was really fun!

I would like to go back there again soon. My personal favorites were the "full-figured" statues and statuettes of Venus/Aphrodite.

Oh yeah, Z also was a little weirded out about all the penises on display. I took her aside and explained that in Greece that was okay and that they didn't wear as many clothes back then. *wink* Then she was okay with it. But she did want me to explain what that "thing" was that hung down behind the penis... I said "I'll tell you later."

sleeping with books

Since she was a baby Z has slept with books in her bed (or crib).

Right now she has a couple Sailormoon mangas, some Foxtrot compendiums, a picture book version of Secret Garden, , Kit - an American Girl, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the British version), a science book, two French language dictionaries, and I checked under the pile and there is a CD insert of the lyrics to Into the Woods.

This is typical of what the bottom of her bed looks like, though sometimes the pile gets too huge and I make her put some back on her shelves.

I do the same thing but my "pile" is spread out all over the house. :)

Supporting a passion

My five year old daughter has a passion for singing and composing - usually mini-musicals.

To support her I

1.) Homeschool her, so she has the free time necessary to be creative
2.) Allow her to sing pretty much wherever and whenever (we do have a rule about not singing loud in restaurants unless she is being paid, and never on airplanes)
3.) Take her to live musicals when we can afford it - she has seen Snoopy, Joseph and the ... Dream Coat, Les Miserable, and Wicked.
4.) Watch musicals on DVD at home - Into the Woods, Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Mierables, Willy Wonka, etc
5.) Listen to the above musicals and many others on cd in the car, what feels like, constantly
6.) Listen to classical music at home, and in the car.
7.) Listen to all kind of music, R7B, Jazz, Bluegrass, 80's pop, World, Rock, etc
8.) Read and talk about music styles and musicians. Read biographies and rent biographical movies about musicians, composers, singers, etc.
9.) Piano lessons
10.) Sing together as a family
11.) Buy her the songbooks and vocal selections of her favorite music
12.) Have a karaoke machine (we don't use it much though...)
13.) Let her spend her money on the musical scores of her favorite movies and then be willing to listen to them over and over in the car
14.) Sometimes write down the lyrics to the songs she is constantly making up.
15.) Enroll her in local kids musical theatre class
16.) Let her sing in homeschool talent show
17.) Plan to enroll her in chorus when she is old enough that they will take her (thinking about asking for her to be enrolled earlier based on audition like we did for musical theatre class and piano)
18.) Take her to local concerts, chamber music, drum circles, etc
19.) Have a collection of musical instruments for her to explore and "jam" with

Also I thinking about letting her audition for kids roles in adult productions but I haven't done that before.

This kid loves music, especially creating it. But enjoys all aspects - she was the kid who would take sheet music to bed to read at night and memorized all of Les Miserables before she was four.

Our topics of study this week

Z is feeling better today so we got back to homeschooling. She had been off for a whole week.

We went to the library yesterday and I got an Eyewitness book on Birds and another bird encyclopedia to supplement our family viewing of David Attenborough's Life of Birds. Z will also be keeping a log of local birds that she sees and maybe picking one bird to do an in-depth study on, like hummingbirds or penguins.

We are also starting ancient Chinese history today plus some Chinese culture and geography. I got some story books, and a book on ancient Chinese inventions that looks really interesting. I think for fun we will watch a Chinese martial arts epic, maybe something with Jet Li (although I prefer Jackie Chan)

Z also got some more "Littles" books to read and I asked her to try to read Ramona and Beezus. I don't know if she is going to like it. She really likes books with a fantasy element and Ramona is just a regular kid. But she could still read Socks or Ralph and the Motorcycle. She is also still reading from the Hercules Poirot Casebook.

that Harry Potter thing

A question for you:

What fiction book do you think you have read the most times?

I know of many gifted kids that read Harry Potter over and over again. (I have read each book over again before the next one comes out, so I have read Sorcerer's Stone at least six times and Half Blood Prince once.)

I have heard of people who read the Lord of the Rings books once every year.

I don't have a definitive "most readings" book. I went through my Anne Rice phase and probably read Interview the most, I know I read Clan of the Cave Bear several times and I read most of Stepen King's books over and over when I was a kid. And of course I have read Emma and Pride and Prejudice almost once a year since I first read them.

But I think I may have read The World According to Garp most. In high school Garp was my favorite book, then Hotel New Hampshire was and lastly A Prayer for Own Meany which I found completely amazing (it is nothing like the movie) but since I found it after Garp I haven't read it as often.

Z is doing that "Harry Potter" thing. She doesn't reread chapter books often but is constantly in the process of re-reading one of the Harry Potter books. Like me she reads many books at once and since last summer one of them has always been by J.K. Rowling.

my love-hate relationship with the T.V.

I could tell Z was getting a cold when we were flying back last night and she ended up sleeping 13 hours last night.

We have a "sick days" tradition in the Gray's family that Z loves. Whenever she is really sick I bundle her up on my bed or the couch and let her watch television pretty much all day, except for breaks when I will read to her. I feed her juice and popsicles, crackers and chicken soup, if she'll eat anything. I totally baby her but also insist that she just lie around. If she has the strength to run around and play then she doesn't need to be watching T.V.

We have limited T.V. time around here, we always have.

When Z was 18 months old - 3 1/2 she wasn't allowed to watch television shows at all except when she was sick or infrequent occassions (though she did watch some on DVD.) When she was four I picked out a couple shows I would record for her on the DVR - right now they are Charlie and Lola and Iron Chef. Also I recently started to let her spend a couple hours on Saturday morning watching cartoons. I loved doing this as a child, although I think the Looney Tunes were better than anything on these days.

Z does watch a lot of programs on DVD though, some just for fun like Sailormoon, and The Muppets and many other's educational. Z has learned a lot about mammals, birds, ocean life, evolution, dinosaurs, prehistoric life, Roman architecture, Greek Myths, etc from DVD's.

I am not sure what my learning style is (auditory, visual-spatial, kinesthetic.) I think I learn different subjects better through different styles. But I have learned a lot from television and I am often watching History Channel, Discovery, and renting DVD's on non-fiction topics.

I use this media to supplement Z's education. I am not too worry about it because she also reads all the time. But I am a tad concerned because she does have the capacity to sit in front of the television and watch mindless drivel for days on end.

I have talked to her about how T.V. can be addictive and how spending too much time watching it takes away our time to do other more important things.

When we turn the television on in our home it is to watch someting planned and without commercials. But on days when she is sick and I can't manage to read to her all day I let the television entertain her.

Is it depressing her intellect and culture?? *sigh* Maybe it is. Hopefully I can reverse the affliction by turning off Nick and putting on one of our videos. Is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban more intellectually uplifting than the Backyardigans?

What do you mean?

As I stood there at the funeral, listening to the Rabbi speak of what a wonderful man Z's Great-Grandpere was, I found my self searching for a meaning. As his body was being put into the dirt I did hope, for his sake, that there is an afterlife. But I also thought that even if there is nothing, there is at least, and at last, peace.

It is so sad to see someone's life come to an end. I tried not to cry too much and I tried to comfort my husband and I tried to find some meaning. What can I learn from this? What universal truth about human nature can I take away from this experience?

I am sure it is very common for people to look for meaning at a time like this. But, to be honest, I am always looking for it and I find it everywhere.

I am looking for meaning in the attitude of my pharmacist, in the impatience of the woman behind me in line, in the rudeness of the young males at the mall, and the loneliness of the senior citizens sitting alone at the coffee shop. In every interesting interaction I have, and I can find very minor things interesting, in every story someone tells me, even in the gestures of strangers I find myself trying to fill in a pattern. Who are we, why do we do the things we do, what do we mean?

What I saw at the funeral was that Great-Grandpere was an intelligent, charming, cultured man with a great sense of humor and that he was loved and admired by many people. And as he was lowered into the earth the knowledge that we will all share this fate filled me and I felt cold and crushed and powerless but also freed by this inevitability.

We are back

We are back from Philly and the funeral and we are all pretty wiped-out. Plus I think Z is coming down with something.

I will try to write something tomorrow.

Hat Kid

and life goes on...

Between errands for our trip tomorrow, laundry and packing Z continued to do some homeschooling.

This morning I had her fill in the name of the states on an outline map of America. I also had her find 10 countries on an outline map of the world. It was kind of busy work. Not because she already knows it but because it was something I could have her do on her own while I was busy.

Over lunch we watched an episode from our Life of Birds DVD.

After lunch we went to the bookstore so I could buy her some things to keep her busy on our 6 hour flight. I got her an ancient cultures sticker book with Roman Gladiators, Samurai, etc, a Dot to Dot book that outlines animals of the world with a factoid and the book The Littles.

While we were there Z read three books for the Summer Reading Program, which has a prize of one free book for every eight books read and a possible free and sign Series of Unfortunate Events book. She read some short books, not on purpose to fill up the list but because she liked them. She read "Heather the Violet Fairy", "The X-Men School", and "But excuse me, that is my book".

I was looking for a book for Z (in the teen section) called Dealing with Dragons and ended up finding a book for me called Sorcery and Cecelia of the Enchanted Chocolate Pot which seems like a Jane Austen novel with magic.

We still have a lot to do tonight. Pere needs to pick up his suit from the tailor and get new dress shoes. I'm not sure if I will be able to post anything while I am gone.

Sad

Z's great grandpapa passed away last night. He was 98 years old.

98 years is a long time and he did live a full life and was in reasonably good health until the last two years. I remember when I first met him I was so inspired by this man in his ninties who was totally up on current events and with whom you could have a great discussion on politics with him bringing in the depth of experience reaching far back over the decades. I loved that he still owned a tuxedo and would take his "lady friends" to Broadway shows.

He also had many interesting stories about his career as a postman on the trains, like once he transported the Hope Diamond.

Z was his only great grandchild and she knew him well. He was there to meet her the day after her birth. She often flew back east with her Grandmere for visits. She saw him in March for his 98th birthday party. Z just broke down when we told her the news.

It is a very sad time here. We are all flying to Philly tomorrow for the funeral.

part of Z's Japanese collection

bags, a bank, a candy jar, DVDs, CDs. manga, coloring books, a lunchbox, hello kitty sandals and Sailormoon sandals, plate, and bowl, magnets, dolls, figurines, origami, sauce bowls, choptstick rests, badmiton, Katamari, Totoro and more!

Ogenki desuka?

So why Japanese?

People often chuckle when they hear that Z's foreign language is Japanese, like it is crazy or something. Maybe it is a little strange. But for our family it really works.

I took Spanish when I was in school and actually spoke it some because I had many native Spanish speaking friends. But what I really wanted to learn was Japanese. I tried some on my own in my early twenties but I didn't get too far. I was doing karate then and so I could count in Japanese and knew how to say certain things like "Round house kick" and "palm to the face." But those kind of phrases have very limited uses. ;)

I have also always been interested in Japanese anime (cartoons), I remember loving Speed Racer when I was only 4 or 5. Then I went onto Macross and other giant robot shows. In my late teens I started working for a comic book store and spent pretty much my whole minimun wage paycheck on comics and anime. I was amazed by Akira and loved Ranma 1/2.

It was this time that I was heavily into karate that I was reading The Book of Five Rings by Musashi and Bushido and some Chinese classics like Art of War. I did have some Chinese influence. I did some kung-fu and was a practicing Buddhist in my late teens and early twenties. And in karate we practiced some Zen buddhism.

I just fell in love with the Japanese culture and the Japanese state of mind. I know I idealized it but that is okay, I think it added a lot to my life and I enjoyed reading everything I could on the subject. I started collecting rare books on Japanese culture including anything by Lafcadio Hearn. My collection is small but I love the books that I have found.

When I had Z and started getting into educational theory I happened to find this amazing book on the Japanese educational system (from the 1980's) at my local library called The Japanese Educational Challenge. I loved this book and took many notes and re-read it about four times. I incorporated a lot of what I learned in that book into my homeschooling method, especially the idea of purity of and commitment to effort.

When Z was 3 1/2 we hosted our first foreign exchange student from Japan. He only stayed with us for two weeks, much too short a time. But in those two weeks I got to feel so close to him like he was my own son, and I was so proud of him. In my eyes he was definitely the best in his group - the sweetest, most respectful, and cutest. :) Z loved him so much.

Then over Christmas we had a wonderful girl stay with us, she is thinking of coming back to America to go to college here when she graduates from high school and I have invited her to stay with us.

Our spring break we had another girl and then the summer Z was 4 1/2 we had one more, a very sweet and pretty young girl who Z really bonded with.

Z is also very much into Japanese culture. She has taken shotokan karate and I have taught her some of my style. She loves Sailormoon and Ranma and anything by Miyazaki (we own all the Studio Ghibli DVDs) she also has her own manga collection and first started reading manga - like Sailor Moonand Fruits Basket. In fact she was reading these books from right to left before she was potty trained.

When many people think of Japan they think of the food, especially sushi. While I didn't have my fist sushi until I was 20, Z was eating it as soon as she started on soild food. On of her first books was My First Book of Sushi by Amy Wilson. I remember the funny looks we would get at the sushi bars when we would order our three year old some yellow tail or eel or her favorite tamago. Actually we still get looks because her new favorite is salmon roe (eggs).

My husband and I also like to cook lots of different ethnic food at home and Z has taken homemade bento box lunches to the park with her.

So given our background and love of martial arts, manga, anime, Japanese foods and our Japanese friends is it any wonder that Z would ask to learn Japanese?

We were just super lucky to find a teacher that would take us both. Domo arrigato K!

our daily schedule

I know basically what we are going to do each day.

I have a list of subjects – Math, Japanese, Piano, Reading, Writing/ Language Arts, Science, History/Geography, Art, Music, and Visual Spatial. We don’t get to all of them everyday. In the morning I type out what I want to do in each subject to help me stay on tack, and even then we do go off track if something better comes along.

I start with math because I've heard that kids are more able to focus first thing in the morning. I don't know if that is true for Z. She does spend too much of time between problems day dreaming and sometimes even singing. I have to say "Focus!" a lot during math.

But it could also be personality differences. I used to be an efficiency expert. I redesigned all the systems in a company to work much better and then I would train people to work in the new system. I did this when I worked for Motorola too, before I got into Q.A.

My whole brain is always focusing to figuring out the most efficient way to do something. I am not sure what Z’s brain is wired for but I am positive it is not working like mine. *grin* At lot of times I have to nudge her to go on to the next problem in math or Japanese or piano, because she is just sitting there humming or something.

I have to remind myself to back-off and let her do things her own way, but I still don’t want Math to take an hour or more.

Ummm… where was I?

Okay – so first we do math and then Japanese since that is also mentally intensive, although in a different way than math.

This morning we are working on writing the new verbs we are supposed to learn this week. I am happy to say we accomplished my goal of learning 15 adjectives last week.

After Japanese we either do writing or skip writing and go straight to piano. Today Z needs to address some Mother’s Day cards. I know it is late but better late than never right?

Then she will play her four songs or do her Daily Dozen.

Recently Z has also been taking a bike ride in the morning while it is still cool. This morning we are going to ride to the music store to get staff paper.

After that we are going to read this really great science book called Taming Fire - Volcanoes, lightning, cooking, blacksmithing, rockets and fireworks by Scholastic. It looks sooooo cool and I can see many jumping off point to learn more about as they also talk about candle making, Roman baths, clay, blowing glass, lighthouses, firearms and include many famous paintings like Degas At the Ambassadors and van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters.

I would say that book covers both science and history.

(sigh – as I write this Z is supposed to be writing the hiragana of her new Japanese words but she has stopped and is singing a song she has made up of Japanese sounds to the tune of the Ompah Loompah songs. But when I tap the paper she starts back up writing again and manages to continue singing. )

For more reading I am still working through the Illustrated Jewish Bible for Children and Z is on the 5th Kit – An American Girl book

Since Z is going to be singing four songs in June (one for the Talent Show and 3 for the piano recital) I have her practice them throughout the day.

We actually get most of this done before lunch or by 2:00 p.m. if we take a long bike ride. The afternoons are for playing either with friends or alone or trips to the library or swimming in the pool. Today we are supposed to have a pool play date.

The evening holds another piano practice and working on music theory but no other formal work.

For physical education she does bike riding, swimming and gymnastics. She also does 3 – 6 hours of week of running around at the park with her little friends. Tonight I think we will also play some tennis before dinner.

I am not sure what kind of homeschooling I do. It is not unschooling but it is also not “school-in-a-box.” I have called it “child led classical.”’ I am most influenced by Charlotte Mason although I don’t follow her curriculum exactly. I have fiddled with it to make to work best with Z and myself.

My Mother's Day's outing

For Mother's Day Pere and Z took me to the Descano Gardens. It is hard to decide what part was my favorite. I liked the Japanese Garden of course. The Boddy House, had this cool retro 1960's kitchen, it was very funny. I also really enjoyed the train ride with Pere and Z around the children's area. But going through small and secret looking trails was probably the best.

Z enjoyed herself sketching the flowers.

the individual

I am sitting here editing some digital photos and listen to Z sing while she colors some Mother's day cards.

The theme of her song is "Harmony". I think she means the musical definition but she could also be alluding to the co-operative meaning.

I am delighted that she is not too self-conscious to sing in front of me. I hope it stays that way. I can imagine her in a regular school singing one of the crazy and loud songs that she makes up and the other kids making fun of her and possibly even getting in trouble with the teacher for being disruptive.

At school Z would have to go without singing (and dancing) or 6 or 7 hours at a time.

She might even be ridiculed for making up these long and strange songs if the other kids heard them. She might lose confidence in herself.

I understand why schools can't cater to each child's passion. But wouldn't it be cool if they did? Almost every kid has at least one worthwhile passion. It might be dinosaurs or bug or ponies or sewing or color or poetry. Imagine the difference in kids lives if they were encouraged and allowed to follow their passions instead of being told "The subjects we have chosen for you are much more important than anything you might be interested in." and "There is no time for that."

Some schools do let the children some creative individuality, in projects or what book to read for homework. But many, maybe most, don't. And what they do allow the kids to engage in, are for the most part, dry and watered-down.

I am imagining a small school where kids, with the help of the staff and parents, design their own curriculum. Sure, they still need to do math, and reading and writing, etc but _How_ they learn it can be designed to incorporate the child's learning style and interests.

For example, Z does a lot of writing. I have a few writing workbooks that ask questions like "Name 8 eight things that start with the letter B" or "Write a paragraph about sports using these 10 words." Those books are sitting on a shelf practically empty, whilst pages and pages of writings about hermit crabs, spiders, Roman Emperors, Harry Potter and cells abound.

I mean, why can't a child read what he wants and write what he wants as long as he is reading and writing? Now that might be easy for me to say since Z prefers to read books with good vocabulary and classic themes so perhaps some books are better to be read than others in a school setting. Writing is a process and even kids who feel they have nothing to say can eventually be taught to write something interesting. And there are many ways to learn math. If a grade 2 kids need to know x,y,z by the end of the year there are many ways to accomplish this from workbooks, living math, songs, online programs, and card and board games.

I guess a big problem to my idea is resources and teacher's energy level and availablity. But wouldn't it be lovely?

Los Angeles Zoo

This afternoon Z and I went to the Zoo. We have a membership thanks to Z's Great Grand Mere, so we can go whenever we want.
Today we just saw our favorites animals. See if you can guess which ones are our favorites. Hint: I sketched most of them.

Who is Z

Z is my 5 year old daughter.

Z loves to read and can read at an adult level. She read the first three Harry Potter books when she was 4 1/2 and has recently begun reading Agatha Christie. She always sleeps with a big pile of books in her bed instead of a teddy bear.

Z's is passionate about music and singing. She has an uncanny ability to remember music that she has onl heard once or twice. She loves to sing and memorized the lyrics to the musical Les Miserable when she was three. She also has a good memory for dialogue and loves to act and sing on stage. As of this writing Z has been in 3 productions - one doing a monologue and a scene, one musical theatre production - Cole Porter's Anything Goes, and also playing two roles in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.

My girl is a very physical child. In fact her physical gifts were obvious from the first and, back then, more noticable to me than her mental ones. She was crawling at 5 months and walking at 8 months. She was advanced into a gymnastics class for 3 year olds before she was 2. She loves gymnastics, and martial arts and can't wait until she is old enough to learn fencing or kendo. :)

She also has an uncommon interest in languages. Z is taking Japanese lesson's right now but has also learned some Spanish, Hebrew and French. She likes to read foreign language dictionaries for fun. *strange child* ;)

But in many respects she likes normal little girl things, like the color pink, eating candy, and playing dress up.

Although we have always wanted to homeschool Z she did spend 7 months in a Jewish preschool. It was the best preschool I could find and Z enjoyed herself with the singing, reading, baking, playing and snacks. Since then we have not found any schools that we feel are as appropriate for her as homeschooling as she is between 2 and 5 grade levels ahead in her academic work. Being able to teach her at her level is important but I think homeschooling offers maybe other benefits as well. Homeschooling offers us the flexibility and freedom to follows Z's many interests, meet with her friends and still have downtime for imaginative play and creating. Homeschooling allows Z to spend the majority of her time being herself and also time to figure out who that is.

This blog is about my time educating and parenting Z. Things aren't always easy but they are usually interesting. ;)

Field trips

One of the great things about homeschooling is all the field trips we get to take.

We get to see and hear professional musician's, storytellers and dancers at the Walt Disney Concert Hall as well as make crafts with professional artists.

We learned about endangered exotic animals and abandoned exotic pets at the STAR EcoStation - getting to see the effected animals up close and personal and hear their stories.

We've hiked in the wilderness of the Malibu Canyons and caught a frog and bugs and were allowed to stray off the path and follow our children's interests and lead.

We learned so much about maritime history from a wonderful docent who when we visited a Maritime Museum and pier. We got to see things first handand learned from an expert in the subject.

Yesterday at the aquarium Z got to touch so many marine creatures and again, because our group was small everyone had time to get their questions answered and talk to the volunteers.

We have the opportunity to go on so many field trips and when we are there we can take our time and let Z experience everything and talk to the people there who have so much information to share. I think this is a wonderful way to learn and to keep the child's interest in learning. :)

We have many more fun field trip planned that I hope to be able to share.

Santa Monica Aquarium

This afternoon Z and I met some friends at a little aquarium by the beach.

It was a great place with books, a theatre with marine puppets, an area with perserved creatures, a craft area where Z made a pipefish and Garibaldi puppets, and many tanks with AWESOME marine specimens, like (my favorite) Nudibranch, sea cucumbers, anemone, sea stars, hermit crabs, octopi, eels, sharks, rays, crabs, lobster, and lots of different fish.

They had three touch pools and Z and I got to touch sea stars, sea hares, sea cucumbers, anemone, clams, abalone, and hermit crabs. It was so cool!

I love all the field trips we have been doing recently!

Our homeschooling day

After breakfast and chores I took Z bike riding. Normally we do all our academics before lunch but it is getting too hot for me to run around outside in the afternoon's so since I have to run along beside Z on her bike we are doing in the morning.

After biking Z worked on her 2nd grade math book.

Then she translated some Japanese adjectives from Romanji into Hiragana for our adjective rhyming book.

Then she practiced four piano songs and also did this exercise in her music theory book that she _really liked. She was finding enharmonic notes - like a B flat is also an A sharp and a F flat is an E natural. She really liked that and asked me to make up extra problems for her to work on. *heh*

Then we had lunch with Pere and watch Iron Chef.

After lunch Z had piano lessons. It was a very good lesson. She played Ode to Joy, the Merry March and another new song that looks really hard. Then her teacher asked if she still wanted to play Clock Shop at the June recital or Ode to Joy. Z talked the teacher into letting her play both, and she already is singing a Mozart song too.

Then we went to the library and Z got an Agatha Christie book. We came home and she read the short story - The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman.

Then we watched the last Poirot episode on the DVD we had. I suppose we should have done science or geography or something. But I did tie in some Belgian history during WWII into the episode for her.

Then she did some moer bike riding, played with her girls in the neighborhood, ate dinner, took a bath, read her Japanese rhyming book to Pere and looked at a map puzzle we did and found some places on it.

Then she listened to another chapter of Heidi before bed and read me a few pages from her Foxtrot comic book. Now she reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Girls in the hood

So Z doesn't usually play with the girls in our neighborhood even though there are 4 other girls just her age. In fact we all live around the tennis courts, so we are quiet close.

Z has played with them on occasion and was even invited to one girl's birthday party and Z returned the invitation .

But whereas the other four girls, including one that moved into the neighborhood the same month we did, play together on an almost daily basis, Z only plays with them once every month or so.

It is not that Z is too busy, I think we are home and available more than they are and it is not that she doesn't have a nice time. A nice time yes, but not a great time. And it is not that we are not invited, the other mom's are very welcoming.

So I guess it is me. It makes me feel a little weird that Z is so different.

Today 3 of the girls and 2 mom's were hanging out by the tennis court when Z came by riding her bicycle and said "Hi." After the ride they were all still there playing some card game and they invited Z and I to come on over. The card game was a spelling game with cards with letters on them that spelled words like cat, cook and jump. One mom was coaching the girls to unscramble a word and read it, to little success.

I am sure you can imagine what happened.

Z came right over and said what the word was and spelled it. Then before the mom could set up the second word Z said it. This is not a big deal, Z was doing those card games at 2 years old.

So the mom started having the girls take turns trying to figure out the word, with Z going last. I totally get that. She was trying to make a learning opportunity for her daughter and the other girls. I might have done the same thing. But it made me feel out of place.

Then the girls went to play in the tennis courts. The one mom I kind of know asked me what classes Z is taking now. I said piano and Japanese and she looked at the other mom and made this "See, I told you so gesture."

Look, I wouldn't want Z to be less advanced so I could fit in with the neighborhood moms. I wouldn't anyway. I guess I just need to learn how to cope with people's reaction to Z.

Mainly in these situations I feel awkward and worried that the other parent will feel threatened by Z.

That has happened in fact. I had one woman, who was really nice to me turn real mean when she saw Z was reading a book that her 8 year old couldn't. She told said to me "Just because Z can read doesn't mean she is gifted." and "All kids even out by third grade." But she didn't stop there. She told me that my daughter was being a "pest" at the playground and went on finding fault with Z until I had to tell her not to bother talking to me about Z anymore and that I didn't want to hear it. So she called and yelled at me on my voice mail.

She was probably the worst but I have had other rude or frosty reactions to Z just being Z. And I've had lost people who were competitive about their kids.

So maybe that is why I get nervous. I am not sure what to do about it yet. My issue is common amoung parents of highly,exceptionally and profoundly gifted kids. Many either stop talking to other parents and "hide" their children or be very bold and "true" and develop a thick skin.

But not playing with the neighborhood girls in not a huge loss, Z has a lot of friends that she gets to see all the time. Still I should try to make more of an effort.

YKYCIGW

You know your child is gifted when the only book your five year old wants to check out from the library is a compendium of short stories written by Agatha Christie about the Belgian detective Poirot. And then at the checkout counter's mural of a dozen or more different languages she is able to pick out Hebrew, Latin, Egyptian, English, Japanese, Braille and Norse Runes.

But seriously, today was a bit of an uncoomfortable trip to the library. Z wanted to ask the Reference Desk lady to help her find the adult mystery section. She told the lady she was looking for Agatha Christie and the lady said 'Isn't that a little too old for you?" and Z said "Well we have the Poirot movies and I just want to read the book."

Then the only Poirot they have is this huge compendium, which fortunately, has the story that we watched last night in it, The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman. So Z takes this HUGE book into the kids section and sits at a table with another woman and boy. The woman is eyeing Z and the book and I am afraid to look at her because I don't want to discuss it. Then Z uses the contents pages and find her story and goes to it and announces to me that it is in Hasting's point-of-view rather than Poirot's but that is okay with her. Out of the corner of my vision I see the woman's eyes bulging at Z.

Again, the woman standing behind us in line was making noises of surprise when Z was running around naming all the languages on the mural. But I was afraid to look at her. I guess I don't know how to respond to any questions. So I just stand there and act like what Z is doing is perfectly normal and therefore does not need to be remarked upon.

Piano non-issue and more bike riding

So I guess the piano practice is a non-issue. I went to bed last night worrying that the amount of practice Z is doing might burn her out.

Then this morning while I was making breakfast Z asked if she could go play a new piece on the piano. Then she went right over and started working a a piece she had started to learn yesterday. She played it a couple times and got frustrated because it is new and hard and almost started to cry. So I came over and hugged her and comforted her. Then she wanted to go back and do it again. I made her stop to eat breakfast but right after breakfast she went back to the piano and worked out the song and got it right.

This morning she proved to me that she is really self-motivated and so right now I am not go to worry about it.

Also we had another break-through in bike riding today. Z has learned how to start up from a complete stop. So now she can start, go and stop all by herself. That is pretty much it. Now I just need her to get comfortable enough riding that she can also pay attention to dangers - like cars.

She loves riding her bike. I just wish there was a safe place nearby, but everything around here is sidewalks next to busy streets and parking lots.

Expert Performance Movement

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/magazine/07wwln_freak.html?ex=1147752000&en=6e0ce93599f5913a&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly in "none of the above." He is the ringleader of what might be called the Expert Performance Movement, a loose coalition of scholars trying to answer an important and seemingly primordial question: When someone is very good at a given thing, what is it that actually makes him good?

...memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In other words, whatever innate differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person "encodes" the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task — playing a C-minor scale 100 times, for instance, or hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.


As a teacher I find this article very interesting and important. I am looking forward to reading more about Ericsson's study.

Z Ph.D. in Mad Science!

This afternoon Z went to a little friends birthday party. The party had a Mad Scientist theme and the kids performed all kinds of science observations on their own and then were lead in science experiments by a hired science entertainer. The learned about water absorbtion, and smoke, they launched a rocket and made slime and basically had a wonderful time. :)

After the birthday party we went to our favorite sushi restuarant. I had a lobster hand roll, Pere had stuffed squid and Z had Ikura or Salmon eggs.

Then Pere treated us to ice cream as he had recieved some coupons when he gave blood to the Red Cross last week.

Right now Z is in bed reading a French picture dictionary. Her pronounciation is horrible but she does have a good French accent.;)