Guess who got a perfect score on the National Mythology Exam? (Medals are backordered.)
Category: belief systems
a friendship begins
A few months ago we watched the documentary Off the Rails. C. and B. were already of the sound opinion that the “court system” was nothing but a matter of opinion, subject to whim and change, and just as full of babyish, unhappy bullies as it was full of good lawyers doing work with respect…
practical magic
The last three Easter’s in a row had good hauls (including bikes, one year), but also are remembered for being days where, sadly, something unpleasant happened as well (“Mommy, there’s a lump in my neck,” having been my least favorite). Claudia would be less likely to measure this pattern, but I could tell Béla was…
various (incomplete)
I know this kid who suddenly had a passionate desire to see the water bill be lower than it’s ever been. We talked to our neighbors and ours is, and has for years, been ridiculous compared to the friends around us. Béla’s very vested in this and he suggested that the fact that the third…
happy quarterlife crisis, tucker!
Tucker wouldn’t know how to have a quarterlife crisis if you drew him a map to it. Plus, he’d probably tell you that as an autistic person his life expectancy is 54, so you lose, his quarterlife was some time ago and your joke is as stale as some Catskill comic’s. It’s really hard to…
the lightning thief
Well, pictures are worth a lot of words with this kind of thing. Suffice it to say I didn’t know there WAS a Percy Jackson musical, or that it was ending its run in Philly soon, and well, thank you Tucker, because his birthday is tomorrow and this was more or less his birthday gift…
planet pals (or, tucker’s birthday natal chart while it’s still a “secret” — part one)
“Astrology” did not used to be a word tossed around used mostly for impulse purchases on grocery store endcaps, or paper placemats in diners. The greatest minds — the intellectuals and academics — were astrologists. Nostradamus, Ptolemy, Galileo, Chaucer. Science, math, astronomy — even “just” the cultural aspect of learning about the different astrological systems…
claudia takes the national mythology exam
I’m not even sure how we came to know this exam existed, but Tucker had taken it (and done very well) in high school — he had also taken the Latin and Ancient Greek exams (and I think had received perfect scores at some point). Wherever we found it, it was certainly within Claudia’s abilities…
valentines, grey belts, and lupercalia cake
Oh, the whirlwind of the completely unconnected!!! First, Valentine’s Day. We don’t make much of it, but, why, Mom, why. As you can hear, Béla was a bit under the weather. This love-filled treat did not help. He was happier with the David Byrne valentine card he had snagged for himself — he and Claudia…
RITUAL
Months and months ago, we saw this call for single-sheet zines on the topic of “ritual”. The solicitation included a pattern for folding a single-sheet zine and this is, actually, what we used for the kids first zines — the “Six Simple Machines of Physics” and “Do Crystals Have Minds?” zines. But I really wanted…
a tarot reading, a dissertation, a hijab, a swordfight
I was given my first Tarot reading by my own kid. And both kids participated in interviews about the homeschooling experiences of African-American children (and knocked it out of the park. And got to sign releases!)… Claudia also received her purchased doll hijabs from Hello Hijab, but succumbed instantly to the need to have them…
the national museum of african-american history and culture… and the MLK memorial (claudia’s pre-birthday trip to d.c.)
Wow is an understatement. When timed-tickets became available for the museum in October, these were the ones we got — for the weekend before Claude’s ninth birthday. Perfect. So we set off for one fun, and educational, and emotional, weekend. I have been waiting for the NMAAHC to open possibly since before its groundbreaking; certainly…
Levin Dorko Collins Learning Ltd 