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…
Category: social studies
testing testing… our mojo
This afternoon right before Chris and Bruce came to hang out we we shot this video (during which I talked), and then the separate mp4 file to use as a voice over. We wanted to make sure we could do a voice-over manually, as it could be necessary in a project we are going to…
climate change school walk-out
We “walked out” in the sense that Meg came by in a Lyft and we got in. Up at Dilworth Plaza, we ran into two School of Rock kids, and a kid they knew from LARPing/Fringe Festival, so B and C were convinced they were at a legitimate happening. They had watched Greta Thunberg’s TED…
claudia’s pre-birthday mythic creatures anti-party
This is (will be!) Claudia’s third homeschooling birthday, on the 28th. But the opening for the “Mythic Creatures” exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences was this weekend — and so she took some friends. We took the subway up. Prior to going into Mythic Creatures, we attended the live animal auditorium show, where Claude…
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…
spring rolls (eventually)
We hear that the the groundhog did not see his shadow today and we will have an early spring. After a week of a household cold, and incredibly cold temperatures, it was nice to have an upturn for my birthday — which we began early last night just as an insurance policy, with a lot…
studying for the national mythology exam
“Persephone had to live in the Underworld for half the year and during that time Demeter stopped plants from growing but taught the farmers how to grow crops on their own.” “The souls of the dead are lifeless creatures that live in Hades’ realm.” “Hermes guided the souls of the dead down to…
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…
io, saturnalia!
Like the one-hit wonder band of my early teen years, here’s a little Roman holiday for you. At the root of all midwinter revelry is Saturnalia — an opportunity to learn some Roman culture, a little astronomy, a chance to make a big Saturnian lantern, and to make some delicious — REALLY delicious — honey-sweetened…
two years of homeschooling
The two-year anniversary of our homeschooling life fell on a Saturday, but not a Saturday with nothing to do. Kulu Mele’s “Journey” was happening as well as our own journey. See if you can find Claudia (whose brother stayed with her five extra hours of rehearsal time): When we got home, it was ordering in…
no more writing on elephants though!
This happened a bit before “school” really “started”, but was still worthy of their first real journal entry of the year. The African-American Museum of Philadelphia hosted a showing of the documentary “Wall Writers: Graffiti In Its Innocence” with special guest, graffiti legend Cornbread. I had heard stories about Cornbread my whole life from my…
summer camps: japan, ancient greece and ancient rome
This summer, Claude and Béla had two non-consecutive weeks at Shofuso, the Japanese house in Fairmount Park, where they had gone for a week last summer as well; they also had a week at the Penn Museum for an Ancient Greece- and Rome-themed daycamp. They were happy to return to Shofuso, where we discovered that…
Levin Dorko Collins Learning Ltd 