not too beastly
Have a listen to The Friendly Beasts.
too easy
I know we like to go on about how awesome Daphne is and I know that it is smug and self-congratulatory. It’s annoying.
But.
Daphne just ranted angrily for five minutes about how her kindergarten class is too easy and how it makes her frustrated. She said her teacher spends all the time teaching kids how to read “high-frequency words” like “I, can, see, my, and, to, go”. Right this minute Daphne is pleasure reading, a 3rd or 4th grade chapter book with no pictures, while she eats her ice cream.
What the hell are we supposed to do about this? Serious question. As one of Holly’s fellow teachers pointed out, she is going to learn no matter what happens in Kindergarten; she learns more poking around by herself that she is likely to get from her classroom experiences. But that doesn’t mean her needs are being met.
One of the classic problems affecting kids who are early readers and the like is that bad habits are learned in the early grades (kids learn that they do not have to try hard to succeed, because everything is so easy for them) and those habits come back to bite them in the ass later on. At some point they get to a grade level at which they can’t skate by, where they actually have to study, and they can’t cope.
I don’t just mean that they have learned to be lazy — that’s part of it — but that getting near-perfect results with little or no effort bakes a poisonous attitude deep into kids’ psyches. A requirement to put real effort forth to accomplish something actually feels like abject failure. This turns into a sort of underachiever syndrome that can be very hard to overcome.
I think we’re ahead of the game in that we are aware of this danger at all, and in fact we are trying to do some things about it (e.g. finding things that challenge her and then making her keep doing them) but the thought of Daphne spending 6 hours being bored and annoyed in Kindergarten still freaks me out.
shiloh by william billings
How about some early American? I’m talking William Billings, the first American composer. The CD I ripped this from (which shall remain unnamed) has this mislabeled as “the shepherd’s carol”, but they are idiots and it is actually called Shiloh.
xmasperiment
I think that I’ve twiddled the right bits to make the Christmas songs I’ve posted in years past show up in the embedded MP3 player that should be showing in the bottom-left corner of this page. So, try that. Unless you’re seeing this in a feed reader, in which case this has been a waste of your time.
that time again
Hey, remember when I used to post on this blog?
And do you further remember how I used to occasionally post Christmas music? Oh yeah, it’s back baby.
Here’s a jangly banjoful hymn for your enjoyment: Once In Royal David’s City.
the election
I hate it. Hate hate hate. It has stolen my brain and I want it back.
I wish for Vishnu arms so I can hear no evil and see no evil at the same time.
bike-ho
Daphne and I went on a looong bike ride the other day, down a bike path that winds behind the rec center and through some pretty areas of town.
She is still angry about the time I took her training wheels off, but with them on again she was comfortable enough to race.
The best part was the songs she made up as we went along:
I’m going super duper fast!
I’m going super duper fast!
I’m going super-duper super-duper super-duper FAAAAST!
Then she sang this one as she pulled ahead of me:
I’m destroying your liiiife!
And ruining your happineeeeeeesssss!
My girl! Trash talking in song.