Day Book

Reading - Snowy and I have moved on to The Borrowers, which is a read-aloud dream - short chapters and lots of dialogue. The girls have been reading Shakespeare on Toast by Ben Crystal - an actor's look at Shakespeare, his plays and his language. It's funny and instructive. And I'm still reading them DragonKeeper by Carole Wilkinson in the afternoons. Not quite sure how the girls are feeling about this one - to be fair, it is a little more 'Let's learn about China by reading this book' than 'Can't wait to share this novel with you!'

I just finished Elizabeth McCracken's The Giant's House. I loved it for McCracken's ability to advance the narrative through character rather than plot. She writes a beautiful sentence as well, though for me, the book's ending failed to convince. It makes a neat companion to The Room by Emma Donaghue which was also an amazing exercise in style. Not sure what to read next. I'm dipping in and out of Dickinson - Selected Poems and Commentaries by Helen Vendler but I also want another excellent novel.

Doing - Lots this week. Open Night at the high school yesterday - overwhelming for Arwen, interesting for me. And an interview with the Principal tomorrow. A new homeschooling Mum over for lunch today to chat about approaches and resources. I always make those offers in the right spirit and then start to dread them closer to the time, but it's good to share ideas and experiences. I would have been so happy if someone had invited us into their home when we first began home schooling. Iceskating and playdates on Friday and in between, a stack of school work. And yoga. It turns out Snowy likes yoga. Who knew ?
And inspired by  this post
Snowy may soon be having a park adventure of his own.

Making - Lucy and I have both started our squares for the 702 Knit In, in a timely manner. We may actually finish this year! I'm not in much of a making mood. Even bread seems uninspiring at present. Perhaps I'm too busy making plans and appointments. I've got lots of poems floating around in my head but can't seem to settle to getting them down on paper.

Planning - to find out if there is an Australian supplier for MCT.
To gently encourage the- girls to accept doing some social activities separately, in preparation for next year. Working out a lesson plan for King Lear at book club next week. To get on top of Snowy's screen time. Putting together a middle-school Thoreau unit, CM style, which I think is going to work well and will share here soon.

A Thought -

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

- C.S. Lewis