Comments on: on rice-a-roni and inspiration

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:23:06 +0000

Oh, I’m glad you’re having good weeks. You know I want to hear all about them!

I just reserved the Kurlansky book at the library–for both of us! Lulu has been having a fabulous time reading “The Century In Food: America’s Fads and Favorites” by Beverly Bundy.

And I’ve been canning this year, and thinking of you!

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:16:40 +0000

Hi Angela!

The no jingles at the dinner table rule cracks me up. Around here, it’s more likely my kids telling me to stop singing jingles at the table. Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

By: Tara Reese

Tara Reese — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:01:00 +0000

when i hear about other homeschoolers having weeks like this, it makes me so happy. not jealous anymore. which must mean that i’ve been having more weeks like this, too
here’s to a year of homeschooling amazingness, sweet mama!

And Hidden Kitchens! it is so great! Also, has Lulu checked out the Mark Kurlansky book “Food of a Younger Land”?

By: Angela

Angela — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:43:36 +0000

That sounds like a GREAT week. Now _I’m_ fascinated with the history of American food. I’d love to see what she comes up with.

And I’m laughing at commercial karaoke. Growing up we used to have a rule: No commercial jingles at the dinner table. Which must mean that my sisters and I sang commercial jingles sooooo much that my poor mother felt the need to institute such a rule … because she was really not such a stick in the mud that she wouldn’t have tolerated a reasonable amount of commercial jingles at the dinner table.

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:08:33 +0000

Just goes to show how all that time spent playing and designing games–which might seem frivolous to some people–might actually be teaching a kid more than we ever imagined. There’s something in all that sorting and categorizing that must transfer over to more “serious” topics.

By: marta

marta — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:02:24 +0000

Speaking of dinosaurs and fact-filling and checking… Yesterday my 4 yo son asked me whether the dinosaur he was holding (a triceratops, I think…) was an herbivorous or a carnivorous creature. I shrugged, looked at its menacing horns and said I though it was carnivorous. The 9 yo son immediately piped in: “Mom, that is not possible, see? It has a beak and no teeth, therefore it cannot chew, no way! It cannot possible be carnivorous.” I’m in awe. When I was 9 I surely knew everything about The Famous Five and The Secret Seven but I couldn’t, for the life of me, tell one dinosaur from the other (let alone wonder why beaks mean insect and small stuff eating, strong teeth mean flesh-eating and so on…)

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:43:29 +0000

Oh, this is fantastic. I love projects like that, that kids do in every waking moment–or every recess! There’s something beautiful about an activity that captures them so. (And something too about the “still inventing the rules” part–somehow the rule-making seems more important than the actual playing!)

My son plays Spore too. In fact, he just got off the computer where he was playing, and is demanding oatmeal! It’s interesting–I don’t think all boys, or girls for that matter, have this same fascination for games with creatures and levels and complex rules. But for the ones that do, the games are irresistible. And they often see the rest of the world in the same framework, even if they’re looking at spiders, or chemical elements…

By: marta

marta — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:27:51 +0000

My 9 yo son and 3 friends are creating their own card game too, complete with fact sheets and board-map – their inspiration comes from both the pokemon cards and the computer game Spore (look it up, it is trully great!), and from a liking for dinossaurs, monsters and collecting data. They are still inventing the rules – which, to my knowledge, seem to change everyweek – and carrying rolled paper and sheets everywhere they go.

The funny thing is my son and his friend who started out the game go to two different schools (we live in the same neighbourhood and see each other everyday at the local park) and, each at their different school, have both co-opted another friend to the game. So now the 4 of them work in pairs in their different schools and when my son and his friend meet later on at the park they bring the input the other 2 gave during recess that day (2 hours long recesses, here).

I loved the post. Though we don’t homeschool I’m always following interesting, clever bloggers who do – and who don’t feel superior or make it all sound just so EXCITING and FUN and STIMULATING all the time, 24/7, 365 days a year. Your days sound pretty much like our weekends/holidays/vacations…

Congratulations!

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:54:38 +0000

Hee hee. I liked it, regardless.

Ban!

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:42:25 +0000

And stewing is just right sometimes, isn’t it? Even when it makes you feel like you’re not doing enough.

A guest post on especially-interesting food facts could be fun! I will see if I can do the necessary convincing…

Rice-a-roni, the taste just can’t be beat! (Oops, now you’ve got me going again!)