Is there an eight year old in the house? A Sonar Birthday

We have a Sonar X8 in the house today. And I have to say, I really like the way he’s turning out.

This morning, before school, when I told the Sonars briefly about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, X8 said, “Do you remember that book we read, where the man sets fire to the field in order to save everyone from getting killed by a tsunami?” And I did. He was talking about Tsunami! by Kimiko Kanjikawa, a lovely story about sacrifice and the value of human life in the face of disaster.

There’s a little mischief in that eight-year-old smile…

Last week in school they studied the American presidents. Here’s something he wrote to display at the school open house:

If I were president I would open more libraries. And lower the prices on stuff. I would make sure there won’t be chaos. I would make sure that there was one day a month when all movies are free.

 

He really gets the civil in civilization, huh? I particularly like the bit about chaos. You hear that Mr. President? That’s the future talking. Libraries, low prices, and free movies (sometimes): yes. Chaos: no.

Collaborative Souvenirs: Destination Imagination and a bunch of knitted vegetables

For the past six months, Sonar X10, his five teammates and two Sponsor Teachers (aka Teachers who have given so much of their time and patience that they deserve cookies, medals, a nice bottle of scotch, and a reality-based legislature) have been preparing for the local Destination Imagination (DI) competition. When people ask me what DI is all about, I always tell them it’s a creative problem-solving activity. But that doesn’t really give DI it’s due, so go check out their website and know what an awesome enrichment opportunity DI is. 

Sonar X10 and his teammates have had a lot of fun, they did great at their competition, and - like any group that works together over time to solve problems, deal with stress, and learn something - they developed some inside jokes. One such joke had to do with jalapeños. The team knows how to say the word ha-la-PEN-yo, but they choose, with a giggle to say ja-LA-pen-o - hard j. This joke amuses them so much that they named the setting in their DI skit Jalopolis. In the skit, which was part of the “Verses! Foiled Again” Challenge, their hero Ace (played by Sonar X10) tried to steal Abraham Lincoln’s platinum pocket watch from the Jalopolis History Museum of History, but he was foiled by his family and a time traveling hat with sparkly hair.

To commemorate the months of work and some of their silly jokes, the Sonar and I decided everyone on the team should have a jalapeño. The teammate implicated in the jalapeño joke’s origins already had her own chili knit, which I talked about here. THAT jalapeño became something of a lucky charm, or perhaps a de facto team mascot. So I made a new batch, a whole carton of jalapeños for the kids and their sponsors. For the teammate already in possession of the lucky jalapeño, I made a carrot. That makes perfect sense, right? 

Six jalapeños and a carrot, knit-wise

Sonar X10 then made tags for each vegetable. The other side says “Minute Green Jalepeno [sic] 2010-2011” plus the school and DI team names. 

Greetings from the Jalopolis History Museum of History Gift Shop. Wish you were here.My method and pattern for these new vegetables was unwavering. I used Acorn Bud’s great carrot pattern for all of them. Because surely there’s no better way to commemorate a bunch of smart kids doing smart stuff than to give them knitted vegetables.

Random Observations on a Parent Involvement Conference

Prefatory Remark: Everyone can agree that Parent Involvement in our children’s education is good. Not everyone can agree on what it means.

Disclaimer 1: For better or worse, I am an Involved Parent (IP). I am a Room Mom, I cut out lamination and staple booklets sometimes, I once hot-glued 120 student-made paper meters, end-to-end around the school using three extension cords and a rickety stepladder, I do small-group work with kids twice a week, I help out in the library once a week, and at random school events throughout the year, I am a member of the PTO, I ask the Sonars about their days until I’m sure they feel smothered, I nag encourage them about their schoolwork, I promote involvement in extra-curricular activities, and encourage them to have a broader world view. I don’t expect everyone to do the things I do (especially the gluing), but I like to do what I do.

Disclaimer 2: I don’t cave to tantrums or whining. 

Yesterday I attended a Parent Involvement Conference that gathered more than six-hundred IPs from surrounding school districts to hear professional presentations on issues relevant to educating and parenting our children. This year’s topics were Nutrition, College Preparedness, Bullying, and Childhood Brain Cancer. The conference was fun and informative and I would happily go back next year.

A few observations, in no particular order:

1. Encouraging parents to make better food choices for our families over a magnificent spread of donuts, pastry, and orange juice, followed by an outrageously delicious and abundant barbecue lunch is, um, odd.

2. Cotton’s barbecue in Robstown, Texas is awesome. I’m still partial to Mac’s in Gregory because it’s more local, but I would not turn down another slice of that melt-in-your-mouth brisket. (Yes, I know that has nothing to do with education. Sh.)

3. Getting a child ready for college and the workplace today is incredibly daunting. On top of getting good grades, the number of tasks to manage during high school to maximize college opportunity looks like a full-time job. The video on Globalization was interesting. I begin to understand why some people outsource it.

4. On nutrition, I feel like we need to have more backbone with our children. We are the adults. We are the ones who can make informed nutrition about their choices. We need to learn about healthier choices, teach our children about those choices. We won’t always be there telling them what is good to eat or not, so we need to arm them with information that empowers them to take care of themselves.

5. I had a fabulous time hanging out with my friend Magali. We almost stumbled into a safety conference full of farmers, but I’m sure we would have had fun at that one too.

6. Take tissues. You never know when you might encounter harrowing statistics about childhood suicide and cancer. And no parent can listen to the loss of another parent without empathizing and feeling their fear very close to our hearts. I have a theory that the most caustic and critical among us are the first to succumb to sobbing. 

7. Bullying sucks. I like The Bloggess’ recent advice on Bullying. In addition to NOT FEEDING THE TROLLS we need to build up our children’s resilience and arm them with the self-worth, knowledge, and skills to resist being bullies, being bullied, or being an unhelpful bystander. Be a good witness in life and Cultivate Compassion in all you do.

8. A room full of parents (mostly moms, with a liberal dash of grandmothers, in this case) can get really rowdy when you ask them to show a little spirit. Next year I’ll be armed with noisemakers. And earplugs. Seriously.

9. The lead male singer of the mariachi band that entertained us during lunch was incredibly flirty. Combine a flirty vocalist with some rowdy moms and you might be asking for trouble.

10. I felt like there was an 800 pound purple gorilla in the room: the looming cuts in the Texas Education budget. The atmosphere of the conference was meant to uplift. I imagine that the organizers of the conference would like to try to keep the conference apolitical. But man, it would be hard for me, if I were one of the educators up there, not to take the mic and say, “Hey, the budget’s being gutted and we’re about to be covered in gore. Call your school boards, call your representatives, send Governor Perry an umbrella.”   

ABAW: Reflections on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I recently finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to the Sonars. This is our second time reading the series out loud together, and I’m enjoying it more this time. All of the Sonars are, I think. We’re all noticing new things, understanding things in a different way. The stories are so rich and they really hold up well to re-reading.

Some observations about Goblet of Fire:  

—Harry and his friends experience danger in all of the books, of course, but in a way, Goblet feels like the last moments of real safety. At the close, there is a palpable sense that Harry’s world will never be the same, that the risk and danger is about to explode.

—The tension between rumor and reality is much more pronounced in this book, embodied in the role of reporter Rita Skeeter. Public perception versus private reality continues to roil around Harry. Harry’s actions will remain largely private and unseen, even as he is a constant subject of the public imagination. All that while he struggles to be a kid.

—This book was emotional and more difficult to read out loud. There have been teary moments in all of the books, but I read more pages in this one with tears streaming than any of the others up to this point. I know that the grief and pain only gets deeper and more complicated from here.

—Turning points abound: first crushes and first stirrings of jealousy, Voldemort’s embodiment, the first representations of very disturbing dark magic, first-hand murders, malicious publicity, an expansion to include more of the wizarding government and the international wizarding community, amplification of wizard hypocrisy and prejudice (especially regarding elves and giants, but continuing the pureblood versus muggle prejudices as well), cracks in the security of society with doubts about Azkaban and the dementors and disguises, layers of both “goodness” and “evilness” in the sense that trusted individuals are seen as corrupt and even Voldemort supporters are supportive of his evil to different degrees.

There are many opportunities for thought and discussion here.

We’re taking a break from Harry now by reading Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid, the first of the Kane Chronicles. This is an adventure with Sophie and Carter Kane, packed with Egyptian mythology, culture, and history. I suspect the series will progress much like Riordan’s very successful series featuring Percy Jackson and the Olympians. In fact, my favorite moment in the book so far is when Uncle Amos says he avoids Manhattan because it is a place for other gods, alluding to the modern location of Mount Olympus at the top of the Empire State Building from the Percy Jackson series.  

Sonar Scrabble

A recent round of Sonar ScrabbleThat purple table in the background, the one covered with years of stickery goo, is our coffee table, called—oddly enough—the Purple Table.