Tricotomania and more

I suppose I should say something about what I’ve been knitting, given the title of this blog and all. I am almost finished the shawl. It is coming along nicely though I’m having a bit of a panic that it will be too small. So I ran a lifeline at the end of the last repeat of the centre panel. I’ll complete it as designed and block it. If it is indeed too small, I can rip back the last 15 rows and work out what to do to make it larger. I think it will stretch out quite a bit in the blocking though and it is for a 10 year old, so I am hopeful that the lifeline was unnecessary.

I have also knit a pair of fingerless mitts out of leftover Trekking XXL sock yarn. I decided to try a new approach to programming my thermostats this year and the house does sometimes get a bit chilly before I notice that we are staying home and should turn up the heat. I have it at 17C during the day unless I do something about it. I do put a sweater on but sometimes it is my hands that are chilly so I thought the fingerless mitts would be handy. They were also a mindless stockingnette project small enough to do on the bus or wherever, which I sorely needed. Now I need to come up with another such project. My father is so pleased with the socks I knit him for Christmas he has requested (not hinted, flat out asked) that I knit him another 6 pair. I guess I should get on that. I wonder if I can get a bulk discount on Regia Silk?

The sweater is being ignored. I finished the sleeves and sewed it together. Tried it on and the sleeves were way too long but with the caps not quite deep enough. The extra length was in the upper arm (they are bell sleeves). I worked out that I needed to lose about 30 rows. Took that out of the most obvious spot, ran a contrast thread through and ripped back one sleeve and it looks like I’ve ripped back too far. This means I’ll need to knit a few rows (keeping track so I know where to rip back to on the other sleeve) and then recalculate things to get the right length. I have no motivation for this task, so it sits. I should really do it because the sweater feels yummy and I think it will be one of those that gets worn a lot.

The Lunna scarf has not been touched in quite a while. No real problem but the shawl is serving as my lace knitting for the moment. I’m sure I’ll get back to Lunna.

I did do a bit of spinning, as well. I finished spinning up the Grafton Fibres batt that I got at NH sheep and wool last may. I had already spun enough for mittens (which I lined recently) but had a substantial amount left over (I had purchased 2 batts of the same colour). So I decided to just spin it up. As I did that, I thought I’d try making a cabled yarn so I spun a two-ply yarn of the Grafton and then plied that with the purple alpaca I’d used for the mitten lining (I have quite a bit of that). I’ve now got a couple of decent skeins of a rather nice cabled yarn in about an aran or chunky weight. I’m thinking that I might make a hat or a scarf to go with the mitts.

Tigger convinced me to buy her a braid of Fleece Artist wool/silk roving in a lovely turquoise the last time we were in the LYS. She’s started spinning that and it looks and feels wonderful. There are bags of fibre around here. We should really spin more often.

Lots of productive activity has happened today. While Tigger was out at choir, I decided to sew up the blouse I cut out for her the other day. All it needs now is buttons, which we can buy on our way home from basketball tomorrow. Maybe this will motivate her to finish the jumper it is supposed to go with.
But Tigger has been motivated the last few days to finish another project. A long while ago we started making a rag doll. We cut out the doll from some leftover curtain lining and she sewed it up and then it sat on the sewing table, the way things do. The other day she decided to stuff it, mostly with bits of wool spinning scraps but also with some of the Dorset-Finn roving we bought this summer. That done, she immediately embroidered some eyes on and then asked me how to knit corkscrews so her doll could have curly hair. She’s been madly knitting corkscrews with some dark brown alpaca I have in the stash. Today they got sewn on to the top of her head. Then a nose and mouth were embroidered and the next thing I know bits of the quilt stash were out in the search for ideal dress fabric.

We have already had a discussion about how to make a pioneer dress as a dress for her friend’s doll is on the list of Tigger projects. So she did a bit of measuring to determine how much she needed for a simple gathered skirt. I encouraged her to get some scrap paper and mark how wide she wanted the bottom, the waist and the bottom of the skirt, then draw a rectangle of those dimensions and add 1/4″ seam allowances. She then started a bodice pattern on her own wondering how to work out the shaping for the neck and shoulders. I suggested cutting it too long and holding it up to the doll to mark them. Next thing I know a rather good bodice back is all drawn and she is using it to make a bodice front pattern. I remind her that if there are buttons she needs to add a bit to turn under and the two fronts need to overlap. Then we work on the sleeve pattern together.

It is now all cut out and she tells me that she’ll sew it tomorrow so that Charlotte (I think the doll is named after Laura Ingalls Wilder’s rag doll) will have her own dress. In the meantime Charlotte has borrowed one of the other doll dresses. We can’t do algebra naked.

As I said, we’ve been receiving lots of packages this week. Like many people, I bought a bunch of stuff when we first started homeschooling. Some of that was useful, much of it not so much. I then shifted gear at the beginning of the summer and stocked up on things like math manipulatives before going for a much more unschooling approach. Every once in a while I see something that I think might work and talk to Tigger about it. If she seems interested I buy it. But I am very aware that she won’t use it as a regular scheduled activity so things have to be suitable for a broad range of age/ability to be worthwhile. Recently I have come across some things that look like they could be staples for our learning journey.

Writing

The first is a writing program from Bravewriter. I have looked at this website before and thought it looked interesting but didn’t think we would use it right now. Recently I decided to take the plunge and order The Writer’s Jungle. This is a handbook for homeschooling parents (the most annoying thing about it is that it is for “moms” and seems to assume that dads are out in the workforce and only marginally involved in their children’s education). I bought it because I thought it might be good for me. I realized that it would last us through our entire homeschooling journey so the price seemed to be worthwhile.

I have been reading it and am so pleased. Her philosophy of writing is very much like mine though she expresses it more elegantly. (My standard wording is “It is easier to edit crap than to write well the first time.”) And she has developed all sorts of exercises for developing writing skills. I have only ever got to just write, even if it is garbage. You can fix it later. I think this will be good for all of us. And I am already pondering how I can incorporate some of the principles in the paid work I do coaching faculty who are writing grant applications.

Although I didn’t tell Tigger I had ordered it, I have told her about it now that it has arrived. I’ve explained what I am learning from it and some of the ideas in it. We usually play a game after supper and the other evening she asked if she and her dad could play the describing game in this program. And today she agreed to try a freewrite. She was so happy and excited afterwards it was unbelievable. The program seems to be written for an audience of moms who use a more structured approach. There are suggestions for how often to do particular activities and even weekly schedules (alliterative, naturally, like Freewrite Fridays). We won’t go that far but I can see elements of this coming into our activities and probably increasing over time.

For those not familiar with the program there is a strong element of Charlotte Mason in it. It assumes that kids aren’t really writing until about grade 4 level. Emphasis is put on narration, copywork and dictation in the early years (and ongoing). There seems to be lots of extra support available for older children who need to do more and more writing. (hint, hint, Mother Crone)

Math

The other thing that has arrived lately is Hands-On Equations as recommended by Karen. As you know, I’ve been thinking about trying algebra with Tigger for a while. This program is designed for kids from Grade 3 onwards. It is based in manipulatives (very visual-kinesthetic). And there is a book of verbal problems. Tigger’s response to Simply Grammar made me think that doing problems orally might work. It comes with a bunch of worksheets and a set of lesson plans and these have been helpful for me to see how the concepts might be introduced but aren’t so useful for her.

The big advantage is that Tigger doesn’t have to write out equations and go through worksheets. This morning, I gave her the laminated picture of a scale, the blue pawns (for x) and the red cubes (for numbers) and just read problems. She laid out the manipulatives and solved the problems. We did 15 problems. I’m not sure how long that took, but not long. She enjoyed it. In fact, later in the day, she redid the first 3 with two of her dolls. She decided these two are old enough to learn algebra, too.

Also at Karen’s suggestion, I ordered 10 Things Every Mathematician Needs to Know, mainly because Tigger expressed interest in it. I have corresponded with Karen about some of the other books from this author and think that they might work well for Tigger. They have cartoon characters that explain things, which is a big hit with her. But I didn’t want to order Primary Grade Challenge Math because I think Tigger is almost beyond it. I am holding off on Challenge Math (which is for grades 4-8 and designed for gifted students) because I’m not sure Tigger really wants a math book. We’ll see how the 10 Things book gets used and then maybe suggest Challenge Math at a later date.

Overall, I have been very happy with the initial reactions to all of these resources. It seems that they are giving us lots of ideas. The nature of our day to day life might shift a bit with these cool resources and ideas in the house. Maybe we’ll end up with a tidal system like Melissa’s.

Lots of packages have been arriving. (Don’t ask about the Visa bill. LOL.) Among them the art book I ordered from the math people. It is amazing. I am so impressed that I’ve ordered the other two in the series. With the Go Fish cards.

There are three books in the series. One on the Renaissance, one on the Impressionists, and one on the post-Impressionists. Each covers 6 artists and features 6 works of art by each artist. The reproductions are very good. There is a bit of general context in the beginning of the book — history, other art, a timeline — and information about each painting. The material is presented well and the books are well designed. There is a mix of art history and detail about technique.

The accompanying deck of cards (available separately, or with the book as the Art Game) contains 36 cards — 6 sets of 6 by artist. Each card has one painting and a list of the names of all the paintings by that artist. What a fun way to learn about art.

I picked up the Renaissance one and the Impressionist one at Amazon.ca though they say 2-5 weeks delivery. The link above is to the publisher’s website. I suppose I should have practiced a bit of patience and checked in the gallery book store (where I get a discount for being a member).

Now, I think we will do some of those activities that I wrote about last week.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous. It is just below freezing (so nothing is turning to slush) and sunny. A perfect day for skating on the canal. Tigger and I skated from 5th Ave down to Somerset and back for a total of just over 4 km. It took us 40 minutes. (Yes, I made her calculate our average speed.) She started off pretty well though she was going pretty slowly on the way back. She is getting to be a good skater. We rewarded ourselves with Beaver Tails.

I did a quick google search on Nova Scotia Loyalists, inspired by my questions about Flora MacDonald. It turned up some links I might want to check out sometime. I need to keep these links somewhere and a thematic post seems the best bet. I know that Mother Crone and others might be interested in them, too.

The Winslow Papers from the University of New Brunswick. On line edition of family papers of one Loyalist family.

Nova Scotia Museum resources about Black Loyalists. Further resources on Black Loyalists can be found at the Black Loyalist Heritage Society. Information is also available in the Nova Scotia Archives

Information from Statistics Canada including some population statistics. There is a link to the census data but this is through E-Stat which requires a password (I know I can access it from the library).

Edited to add the following links from Andrea. Loyalist House in St. John. Virtual tour link at bottom right, it’s gorgeous in there. Old Loyalist burial grounds also in St. John. I guess we need to stop in New Brunswick for longer the next time we drive East

We have started a sort of mini-co-op with 2 other families. Once a week the kids get together at one house for the morning, spending half the time doing some organized learning activity and the rest of the time playing together. We rotate houses so each of us organizes something every 3 weeks. This week the kids were at our house and Mat organized some music activities.

All five of the children play an instrument so he got them playing together, 3 on the piano and 2 on the violin. He’d chosen the Skye Boat Song and I understand they had some fun with that (I was at the grocery store). He would choose something easier if he did it again to cope with both the differing levels and the fact that everyone is sight reading. They also did some composition, playing around with little tunes each of them had running around in their heads.

Later on, he and Tigger had a chat about Bonny Prince Charlie and I asked her about it in the afternoon. My knowledge of British history is appalling so it was good to have her fill me in. We talked a bit more about it at dinner time and Mat happened to mention that Flora MacDonald was somehow involved though he couldn’t remember how.

Tigger then mentioned that there is a Flora MacDonald in our book about Loyalists. (see my previous post)

Many members of the huge and powerful MacDonald clan had settled throughout the Thirteen Colonies and reamined loyal to Britain. In North Carolina, Flora MacDonald, her husband Allan, and their two grown sons fought openly against the Rebels. When their army was cut off and defeated by rebel forces, Allan and his sons were arrested and sent to prison, leaving Flora to cope on her own. Flora had become famous back in Scotland when she aided the Scottish Rebel Bonnie Prince Charlie.

We are fascinated by how someone who was fighting against the King of England in Scotland is then fighting on the Loyalist side in America. I’ve found one biography of Flora in the library. A quick google search turns up this short biography indicating that she then ended up in Nova Scotia (35,000 loyalist refugees came to what is now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) but eventually went back to Skye.

If anyone has come across good children’s books about Flora, please let me know in the comments. Any good children’s books about the Jacobite rebellions would also be welcome.

A while ago I noticed that Tigger was playing a game about opera on TVO Kids. I can’t seem to find that game now but she was learning a bit about the music and characters from a few famous operas. My parents really like opera so I mentioned it to them thinking that if there was an appropriate opera in their subscription season, Tigger might be able to go with them as she did with the ballet last year.

We looked at their season and there didn’t seem to be anything that looked right. But then my parents found out about this. You can see live performances of the Metropolitan Opera by satellite in HD cinemas. They are matinee performances at a reasonable price. And in March they are doing The Barber of Seville, which is one of the ones that I know was in that game. So we might try it out.

Apparently this has not been widely advertised. My parents found out about it in an editorial in the newspaper. Nevertheless these things sell out. Some of them in advance. So I think we might buy tickets soon.

I’m going to take the approach recommended in And the Skylark Sings with Me (thanks to Willa for suggesting this however obliquely). David Albert recommends reading about the story beforehand and leaving when your child has had enough. (It is a 3-hour performance with an intermission which is kind of long even for an adult.)

I was cleaning out my inbox the other day and came across some book recommendations that Becky had sent me ages ago. I ordered them from the library to check them out and have spent this morning making some little lesson plans for some periods in art history.

These are just ideas of books and projects that go together. I’m putting them here because they’ll be easier to find than scraps of paper on my desk. If they are useful for others, that is an added bonus. Also if anyone has any other resources or ideas that would work with any of these topics, do not hesitate to mention them in the comments.

Italian Renaissance

Katie and the Mona Lisa This story book contains reproductions of work by DaVinci, Botticelli, Raphael and Carpaccio with brief information on the back page.

Discovering Great Artists has projects on DaVinci (pages 19 & 20; those these focus more on his sketches and inventions), Boticelli (page 18), and Raphael (page 23)

Impressionists

Katie Meets the Impressionists includes Monet, Renoir and Degas.

Discovering Great Artists has projects on Monet (page 39), Degas (pages 40 & 41), and Renoir (page 45). The Monet project involves painting on wet paper, further details of which can be found in  The Usborne Book of Art Ideas (page 50 in the version I have).

Pointillist

Katie’s Sunday Afternoon covers Seurat and a couple of other related artists.

Discovering Great Artists has a project on Seurat on page 54. This one looks like a really good project though it would need to be done over several days. It involves making colour swatch cards using blank index cards to learn how different mixes of colours look and then making a painting using the technique.

other Post-Impressionists

Katie and the Sunflowers covers VanGogh, Gaugin, and Cézanne.

Discovering Great Artists has projects about VanGogh (page 46 & 47), Gaugin (page 51), and Cézanne (page 48). I have also recently ordered VanGogh and Friends and some playing cards to go with it that I found while investigating the math resources that Lighting The Fires mentioned the other day (scroll to the bottom of that post).

Now, Tigger and her dad have gone off to choir and I am going to catch a bus into town to meet a friend for coffee.

Edited to add a link to a newspaper article

We do not celebrate Valentine’s Day. No cards. No chocolates. No fancy dinner. No craft projects or unit studies of the origins of the holiday. Nothing. There are several reasons for this.

First, I agree with Ron. Although I would not describe my relationship as a marriage (for lots of reasons, not least the historic role of marriage in transforming women and children into the property of men), I agree with pretty well everything he says. I’ll quote the same bit that Andrea (Ron’s wife) did:

The wedding and the marriage certificate are representations of marriage, but they are not marriage. Our society pays far more attention to whether two people have had a wedding than it does to how they treat each other.

To this, I would add that different people will get the love and support they need in different ways. For many, a monogamous cohabiting life-time couple relationship is the best way for them to do this. But for others, it is not. This is why I support AtMP. I’m quoted in an article in the Hartford Courant today on just that subject.

Second, Valentine’s Day has become, in North America especially, an opportunity to sell stuff. That’s it. We are not the lowest consuming family on the planet by a long shot. But we do try to avoid buying stuff for the sake of buying stuff. Holidays that are primarily about marketing things that you wouldn’t buy ordinarily and guilt-tripping you into thinking that you are unfeeling and heartless if you don’t buy them are not for us.

The practice of bringing cards to school for school friends from the earliest grades is just an extension of that. The first year we were (back) in Canada, Tigger didn’t bring any cards to school. It never occured to us. Her dad, who is English, was baffled when she came home with a whole pile of Valentine cards. And don’t get me started on the sexualization of cross-gender relationships from when kids are very young. (If you have never heard someone describe the 3-year old male friend of your 3-year old female daughter as her “boyfriend” you are incredibly lucky.)

Now if February 14th has some special meaning for you, have a great day. Maybe you met your sweetie at a Valentine’s dance and celebrate this day as your anniversary. Maybe you are Catholic and do crafts and unit studies for a whole bunch of saints days (many of which the rest of us have never heard of). Or maybe you have other reasons. But I think it is worth stopping to think about why you mark this day.