Unschooling kids

There is a trend within the homeschoolers. It is called unschooling (great article in the NYT on the topic) and it's all about having kids take the lead in their learning. From what I read, it seems like the essence of learning, i.e. you do what interests you and have someone who helps you understand the principles behind your questions.

There are none of the usual structures (books, classroom, teacher-pupil relationship). The emphasis is on the child, his curiosity and his passions. I looked up web sites on the subject too which brought my enthusiasm up a notch.

I am really dismayed by our general reliance on figures of authority who tell us what to do in our daily lives. I guess my first-hand experience was with an institution for old people where my grandmother went. I felt that every aspect of her life was arranged to make life easier for the staff - her privacy was not their concern. And so of hospitals. And schools. We tend to forget the basic truths about human beings and hide behind rules. What a strange evolution. I wonder how that is tied in with the ills of our civilization? Still reading on Emotional Intelligence which has tons of ideas on the topic (reading in between Ludlum which explains the slow pace ; )

I guess the message is: Think! Feel! Don't "go with the flow". Trust yourselves. But you don't need me to tell you that now, do you?

Quiet... and action!

Anytime in Quietville these days, the sound of a shot will pierce the silent air. Apart from a turn of the mouth, nobody will twitch or start. The hunting season is on, and there's nothing you can do about it. An innocent walk in the woods become unnerving when you hear shots and start to wonder how visible this green coat really is in a forest? and how doglike does your dog really look when he gracefully jumps over a fallen tree blocking the path (coincidence? accident? I think not!).
I have been going to Ferguson Forest where hunters can hunt with bow and arrows for 6 days in the fall. I have a friend who hunts that way. Think huge technologically sound bows. Forget the one you made as a kid with a branch and some string. Those are deadly weapons.
The 6 dreaded days have come and gone so I don't need to worry anymore. The forest is now host to people who train their dogs for dogsled races - I have heard they have started training but have not seen them yet. I go on narrow uneven trails, the proverbial "road less traveled". Peace and quiet, peace and quiet. I better look inside 'cause the outside world is not getting any quieter...

Something New

In my "Nothing New" blog, I mentioned the AtomicTumour blog I accidentally discovered. In it, a young man was baring his soul after his wife had been admitted to the hospital for something that looked like a bad case of flu. She passed away yesterday (we still don't know what attached her). I am grieving as though I lost a friend (though we only met through her husband's posts). Hundreds of people - strangers like me - have been touched by this blog and condolences are pouring in.

Thanks to that post, I also discovered you can light virtual candles on the Net. This is where I went (http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng) but other addresses are also listed.

Frika passed away 2 months ago today - I think I will go light a candle now.

Getting in the Groove

I am finally getting with the program - I am listening to Yahoo launchcast. It's like having your own personal DJ. You go through a list of pre-selectedbands and select the ones you like. You then add a few more of your favorites for good measure. It will play those and similar songs (to expand your horizons). They choose the similar songs based on recommendations - did I mention you rate the songs as they play? This will indicate the frequency at which you are likely to hear it. Rating is just a click away. You can also skip to the next one if you don't like it. Very cool. The free station runs commercial ads but you can upgrade so you are not subjected to that (I hate having people talking over the radio - I would rather listen to silence)

TeeVee Toons

Interestingly enough, I went looking for a CD I obtained in a Freecycle transaction. After listening to it once, I thought I was done and kept it as a conversation starter... : ) but the tunes are so lively, they're fun to have as background (not unlike Christmas carols - I wonder if it will put me in a buying mood - oooh Meow cat food!): they are TV tunes, that is, TV ads.
I find commercials, as much as TV series or movies, are something of a common cultural bond. Regardless if your social, racial, religious affiliations, if you've got a TV, you will have been subjected to the same ads. The fact that you like them or not is irrelevant.
These days, my mom is preoccupied with the definition of culture (it's a long story I won't get into). She likes to equate culture with artistic or scientific outputs.
I would like to submit that culture is "environmental" as much as "mental". It is a shared understanding of reality. In that sense, TV tunes are cultural icons as much as Warhol's pop art (we always come back to him...).

So get me a slinky while I drink my Coke to go with my Harmer hot dog... and hum along!

Happy Days

I took a walk in a different part of the property today. It was pretty wet, as it is a swampy low-lying area and seeing we've had plenty of rain these past few days. The water was clean, though, and I enjoyed wading through it with my high boots. I was imagining playing there with my young niece - there are lots of fallen trees, with moss on them and I thought we could imagine a Florida swamp with crocodiles (or is that alligators?). Then I moved on to more grown-up thougths: what if we had a paintball fight in there? I drafted up two teams, quickly, all wearing fatigues and marvelously hidden. Where would my dog fit in? Maybe he could guard the flag?
Ah - the small pleasures of life! Of course, I was walking with Minuit, though you couldn't tell as he was doing his thing, out of sight. We were off the beaten track; as he doesn't go over two feet or so, I don't tend to follow him or I would end up on all soggy fours. Still, he comes when called, a friendly furry bouncing blast of energy and joy, just the thing to start of the day in a grand old way.

Nothing New

I come to my blog and there's nothing new. Just the silly counter that indicates I've come and gone. I guess I must be very happy, 'cause I have nothing to write and "les gens heureux n'ont pas d'histoire" (c'mon, you know enough French to figure that out). We watched the Giller award last night. http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/home.htm There were 5 contenders for this Canadian non-fiction litterary award. Three Montrealers - 2 French that were translated so we got a glimpse of the translators (go team!). The sole Torontonian won - Alice Munro was positively taken by his novel way of writing. I had actually read a review about it this summer so I wished him well. Actually, I will add the five books on my book list... That was more fun than watching the American elections result - they were front page news anyhow this morning. No way you were going to miss out unless you live under a rock (I wonder if they would slide the newspaper under a rock... Yeah, I guess they would.)

Oops - I wrote this on Tuesday and the server crashed or something. So I went looking for entertainment on my friends' blogs and was redirected to a blog to which I got hooked. It is a very sad story from a guy whose wife had flulike symptoms and went to the hospital. After a few days of her getting worse, she almost died. This is a daily diary and it is very moving. It really stays with me. http://www.atomictumor.com/

Boring normal life is so unbelievably cool.

Book List

This was such a bad idea - I don't think I read more than a handful of the books I set off to read in January. I got sidetracked with a slew of books by Ken Follett, an Amy Tan one (Hundred Secret Senses - I became an instant fan of the author), and others who escape me right now.

A few days ago, I started reading two books in parallel. They were published roughly at the same time and seem to answer each other. One is "Our guys", published in 1997),an account of the gang rape of a retarded teen by the young elite of an affluent community. It questions the motives and society's attitude towards the crime to understand where America has gone wrong. The other book is "Emotional Intelligence", currently on its 10th anniversary reprint. It was a ground breaking scientific study on the psychological aspects of a social phenomenon viewed as the breakdown of values and the rise of crime in America. In a nutshell (and I am still on chapter 2 so don't quote me), it denigrates the system which equates IQ with success, explaining that IQ tests will show how good an academic you could be while not evaluating human skills such as compassion. It is fascinating to read both books at the same time as they basically address the same issue from a different standpoint.

I find "Our Guys " to be a compelling if gut-wrenching read as it portays real events with little distance (the information is largely tributary to live interviews) contrary to "Emotional Intelligence" which strives to be didactical yet accessible.

A recommended read (4 stars)