School & WORK Journal 2007-2023
snippets, slices, slabs of moments and doings
irregular, infrequent, and incomplete thoughts & lists on learning, education, play. or sometimes just snippets of conversation with our kids amidst life, which is one of the most beautiful and wonderful ways of learning. I will possibly include older snippets and slices involving work of the past; many of which now degree hold some level of humor or eye-rolling, as many examinations or remembrances of the past tend to do.
June 2023
Sometime in June.
Welcome to summer! I said. These are a few things that need to be done before 8.30pm every day, six days a week, while you’re out of formal school:
Music practice
German
Latin review 5-10 minutes
45 minutes reading
Math review
Poetry - review two poems
Journal
And, of course, chores
And, of course, help with meals and cleanup
And, of course, additional cheerful assistance with projects that come along over the course of most days
It is summer. Ain’t I a sunshiny kick in the pants on a cool day?
A few things covered in wrapping up Kindergarten year at home
Lots and lots of Phonics. Sounding out beginning of words, breaking down syllables, writing out uppercase and lowercase letters.
Lots and lots of Maths. He is racing; sprinting, soaking this all up. I am loving his love of numbers.
06
We listened to the Swedish metal band Nightwish in the rapidly-escalating sunshine; a curious choice for hot day in a hotter car in the pre-noon hour. We segued to discuss the market and Apple in particular. Our 15yo inquired about what unrealized gain is, so we discussed that briefly. Apple hit an all time high (ATH) yesterday around 184 before dropping back to the high 170s. They announced earlier this week their first VR headset coming out in early 2024. It will start at a whopping $3500. Too high? Apple’s first big hardware misstep in a while? Who knows? I don’t. All I know is Apple is a company I believe in, and there have been many naysayers about price points for their phones, laptops, tablets, watches…pretty much everything. And yet they keep delivering and innovating. Am I going to buy a 1st gen headset? No. Am I going to continue investing in Apple? Yes.
I took our son to get ice cream and type up notes for his science project hypothesizing whether his brain functions more effectively in the morning or at night. Currently, he is dripping a chocolate sunday down the front of his shirt while typing these notes before an ortho appointment, so I have my hypotheses as well.
05
There were discussions about the upcoming election and the fact that a former President currently under investigation for multiple issues is currently the Repub front runner. Again. How can this be? The kids ask. How can it be? I ask. How can such a thing be? We should all ask.
You stand up to bullies. This is a bully that must be stood up to.
May 2023
30
A 12-year old learns how to make a Swedish dala horse, courtesy of a special presentation. A mom reads, spells, and does a tea party with two young boys at home. A 15-year old gets ready to audition for Aladdin, with hopes for landing a certain magical blue figure. Her voice is jocular and rat-a-tat Charlie Parker; the zesty zaniness and maniac energy thrown into her vocal performance is part her, part absorption, replication, mimicry, and interpretation. She takes notes well: little flat on the last syllables of that line, I say. And she updates and pivots accordingly. She gives her able competition their due, and expresses hope for things to go her way, but also a gracious and graceful willingness to present acknowledgement and happiness to the best of her ability should a worthy rival receive the part instead. It is this that brings me joy.
I say hi to my friend G—— and we exchange a brief dialog about Apple products: ‘I’m done.’ He says. ‘I‘ve got what I need: phone, iPad, MacBook, watch, pencil. That’s it. I’m done.’
We meet with her HS advisor and adjust some classes for next year, including a walk back of jumping into her first college class. I can feel relief from her. I am so happy that she loves learning, loves education, loves school, and I want that to continue. Life will continue happening and there is little need to accelerate some of it.
26
Fall play has been announced, as of yesterday. Vocal ranges being tested, hopes running high, adrenaline into high gear, eyes on a monkey and a genie.
25
Listened to Queen and talked about casting for the upcoming Fall musical; the opinions are many and the ideas are profuse. A 12-year old is disinterested in any parts requiring too much singing or dancing; “I just want to be in the ensemble.” A motor car goes by on our left; in the front passenger seat is a 15-year old’s 16-year old friend on her phone; they cheer and smile and wave and one gets a picture of the other; there is furious and fast texting between the two. I drive.
18
I assisted, in a very small capacity, with a presentation on Norway. What I mean is that I cut some lefsa up for the presenter, per her request. Then I ate the Norwegian cake she made.
At a later point on this very hot day, after saving my wife’s car with the assistance of Rob - and what I mean by that is that Rob and I were collectively able to render her car drivable again. And what I mean by that is that Rob fixed two broken key fobs, and I acknowledged my great appreciation to him. He is one of my favorite people of today. His voice is quiet and calming and quiet and makes me think of Richard Farnsworth playing Matthew on Anne of Green Gables. But anyway, at a later point, I taught children - not Rob - how to play in sprinklers properly, and gave excellent feedback on the dances our children are performing soon for a showcase.
11
We discuss standardized testing while driving, and talk about the production choices and merits of different rappers’ deliveries, such as Missy Elliott, Eminem, and Mos Def. “How does Eminem manage to have such perfect articulation where you can understand every word, but it doesn’t sound like he’s trying?!” one asks, and that is a great question. Another great question might be why am I listening to some of these artists with my older kids? That is a longer answer, but I continue to feel, at a certain point, if you care about language, about music, about narrative and story and poetry, to say nothing of the evolution of culture and history, to say nothing of the paradoxes facing certain fields (e.g. the historic prevalence of misogynistic and homophobic lyrics contained under the same general umbrella that embraces social justice and racial equality), then you owe it to yourself to begin learning the roots and luminaries and ideas and techniques contained under that umbrella. Long sentence. Very much not Raymond Carver-esque.
04
We call my brother Jamey and ask about his work in the aerospace/defense industry. We talked about his role, what he does, how math is relevant (“…you have to know Excel…”), the attributes needed to work in negotiating contracts, and a summary of the military-industrial complex and how it relates to GDP. After speaking with him, we segued to a discussion of careers and college, student loan debt, and how a person lands a job in different fields. We talked about the differences between salaried and hourly jobs and management and labor.
In math, Mrs B talked about probability and took the class through a number of engaging exercises, including a very fun and stressful one called SKUNK. It is likely a good thing that this class, including our son, does not take field trips to casinos or play poker for money. I spoke with another dad, J———-, whose daughter A—— is a classmate. We briefly talked about skateparks and how neither of us are skaters. He also has a 10- and 3-year old.
April 2023
24
We discuss tattoos and piercing and ponder the motivations for getting different types. A 15yo thinks she might get ink at some point. A 12yo considers that he may possibly get a foot-long Subway tat, as you can get free sandwiches for life. Someone makes the mistake of wondering why Math is so important. I accept this invitation to step up to the podium and regale them with personal anecdotes and explanations of why Mathematics is the disciplinary root of quantitative analysis, which leaves them extremely interested in learning more about the distinctions between Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis. Reluctantly I accept their interest and pontificate, at length, on the ways in which various careers and disciplines rely on combinations of both types, and how - full circle - math can be important and relevant in many types of careers and areas, including but not limited to the many fields requiring solid skill sets of the quantitative type.
All of this, of course, is highly hilarious, considering the strength of my skill sets might be considered in not-close proximity to quantitative analysis. They soaked it all in though, and I am quite positive that throughout my time illuminating these points that their intense concentration on my words was broken only by their grateful thoughts of how they ended up with a father who is willing to expound at length on these things instead of forcing them to play Chess or Wordscapes while driving. They are lucky.
11
An unusual combination, as I drove our three oldest while Becca stayed with the wee-est one to do crafts, read, compete at memory game, and play baseball in the back yard. The eldest three and I discussed Napoleon Dynamite dancing, Muse concerts, and defensive driving tactics. At a later point, the 6-year old and I disembarked to a coffeehouse, where we read books, did schoolwork, played memory game, ran two rounds of UNO, and giggled a fair amount. Also, a barista brought him out a strawberry iced drink that she said was an accident. But I think she ‘accidentally’ made it just for him. He glowed.
March 2023
30
What’s an extra couple hours of driving? Sometimes you forget stuff and have to turn around. Or sometimes someone else does, and you don’t give them a hard time because you know you’ve done it before too, and probably will again. In the meantime, you get to talk about why hip hop, country music, ee cummings and Shakespeare are all connected, and find a smidgen to write while you fight off a cold and drink cold black coffee. Also in the meantime, a 7th grader finishes watching Hidden Figures in Science and gets a little play practice, while a sophomore takes a World Studies test on World War I and gets caught up on math. The boys read a hundred books or so with Becca and draw some cool pictures. It was a day.
February 2023
16
A fantastic beginning to Thursday at home. Becca put together breakfast and lunches, bless her Danish heart, and stuck Grandaddy and Sea of Bees on, before asking me for other uplifting morning tracks. Normally we do classical all morning during the week…but this seemed like a good one for Muse, Kelly Clarkson, Andrew W.K., and yes…a little Eminem and Bubba Sparxxx. I continued the hip hop into my drive with the Olders, giving a quick rundown of rap’s importance and relevance for any music lover, and how it’s especially meaningful for those who love a convergence of poetry, language, wordplay, narrative, and fast-on-your feet nonlinear crosspollinating references to history, politics, and culture. A smidgeon of Mos Def, RTJ, the Streets, and Eminem. At some point, my son made a reference to a certain rapper (L’il Wayne) sounding like “…that one scientist in a wheelchair who gives TED talks.” Turns out he’s talking about Stephen Hawking, which led to his further articulation of how he gets Stevens Hawking, King, and Spielberg confused. I love this fellow. We smiled and talked and I loved it.
13
I searched for minotaurs and salamanders in the wet mossy dark forests of Yale, alongside my two youngest stalwarts. We graced a satellite library express with a drop in, used a jail bathroom, and ate lunch next to a train in the pouring rain. En route homeward, I heard from the Olders about Science (anecdotal tales about vaping), ASL (a teacher loving her homemade coat, courtesy of Lanessa Long), and the temperaments of various teachers going throughout the ebb and flow of a day.
06
I oversaw the rescue of a drowning frisbee in a flooded skate park; the rescue was also overseen by a middle-management 6-year old, and carried out by a light-footed danger-seeking 3-year old. Meanwhile, a 7th grader played chess at lunch and set up an after school 4.15 online match with a fellow friend; a match which went well for him. A sophomore met with her World Studies team in preparation for a mock trial. Both ran lines and accents on the drive.
03 Fri
Today was not without its challenges. Here are three things that were bright spots:
Teaching our younger boys how to use pocketknives. Looking out the window after and watching one of them work away quietly in the cold winter air, carefully whittling away on a stick.
Talking about the roots of rock and roll in the 1950s and drawing illustrations of Elvis Presley as part of our ongoing Composer series (I use the term loosely; we started in the 1600s and have generally stuck with actual composers, but not always, as in the case of the The King).
A 12yo jubilant after finally besting a classmate and game-nemesis at chess.
January 2023
31
Two children rehearsed with their Theater colleagues, while I helped design and create pirate crates for the upcoming production. My cohort M—- and I made a good team cutting and assembling foam, while conversing about Dead to Me, the Midwest, and Dean Wareham’s voice. Three fellow parents painted a short distance away, and one danced with a skeleton; she also excitedly told me of an old Chekhov collection of summaries and stories she found that belonged to her grandmother. I expressed excitement in response to her excitement, and conveyed interest in hearing specific recommendations about unfamiliar stories, and she paused slightly with a smile to remind me that they are…in Russian. Which is not currently a language I read or speak.
26
Listened to some Bowie and Peter, Paul and Mary. One child took his chess set to class, where he lost one match and resigned another, due to time constraints, but nonetheless came home and immediately dived into further (online) rounds. There was also a guitar-playing science teacher and a class dive into Edward Hopper; an artist we talked about here at home last week and is close to my heart. A sophomore discussed her World Studies class and the full-length conversation today about the speeches of Frederick Douglas. Her last P.E. class before transitioning to Health; it was spent engaged in 2-on-2 badminton matches; none of which ended in victory for my eldest, but left her grinning. I read a dozen books with a 3- and 6-year old at various locales, including a Quentin Blake one about mischievous monkeys and an Albert Einstein biography they were somewhat-surprisingly engaged with. Skate Park, library, playground, and many conversations in transit.
24
Our division of labor - or division of opportunities: the Countess embarked on adventures involving the theater and parental roles involved at this juncture with Treasure Island; a costume foray to a certain thrift store was necessary, the aftermath of which led her to the afore-mentioned meeting; we texted back and forth about the responsibilities we could and should take on, and we did so well; I ran the Google Spreadsheet end of things. On the home-school front at home, I worked with a 6-yo on reading practice, math (shapes, patterns, measuring), wrestling, reading David Wiesner books, painting, and how to pick up giant messes that you make. Certain inhabitants of this household are also learning to fully control bladders without the aid of a diaper, and the process would be an entertaining one for onlookers, though I hope there are few, or none. Four pairs of underwear and pants later, we are going strong, and I feel I have performed a decent job of preserving dignity, being kind, and providing encouraging feedback, overall. A 3-yo follows every moment of his older brother’s learning odyssey with intense attention; refusing to be left out of any - and I wouldn’t dream of it. The joy of learning, the joy of learning always. That is what I hope to keep going forever.
23
There was a science experiment involving saltines; separately, allegedly a conversation concerning me and mountaineering books. The Atlantic Rebellion was addressed in a World Studies class. A dreadful amount of learning was done on longboards at a skate park, on feet while wallet-shopping with a grandmother on her birthday, and at a nature preserve while eating sandwiches on empty bleachers.
20
I chaperoned a Middle/High School Winter Formal. My primary assignment was to prevent adventurous students from being too adventuresome within the confines of a Stranger Things-themed gym, and prevent escapers from escaping out the door I was guarding. Like the Spartans - and 700 others - I held fast, though for three hours rather than days. I did so while engaged in dialogue with a Science and History teacher about a variety of topics including Interstellar, teens and screens, reading, Gladiator, physical books versus tablets, and so forth. My 15-year old daughter, accompanied by a fellow warrior, attempted to batter past my defenses at one point, but again, I held strong and fast and did my duty.
17
They giggled, chuckled, and congratulated themselves as we drove. Our son is completing a music video for a theater classmate. He’s been shooting and editing for a couple months, and it is really, really cool. Our daughter has been involved as well in various capacities, providing feedback and tips, shooting, and even making an appearance in one scene. I love seeing them make and create. I love seeing them enthusiastic. I want to keep that going forever.
06
Becca caught me up on what she did with the Youngers. I have not verified this from independent sources, but she possesses a decent amount of integrity and honesty over the last 20 years, so I’ll believe her until disproven. Apparently she had them do chores, which I was happy to hear, and hoped this might include cleaning the garage (note: later evidence proved this hope to be false). She also read a number of books with them, practiced reading with our 6-year old, did maths with both, and accompanied, unarmed, into the dangerous dark forest not far from our home; this was done allegedly in the pursuit and study of ‘nature.’ At some point, she supposedly allowed them a recess as well - an incomprehensible waste of time, if you ask me and the majority of normal children - and they climbed trees, fed a goat, and danced to Annie songs. Sounds like a dreadful experience for all, if you ask me, but good on her for making them do it. There was other stuff too, but in the end, she kept them alive, they learned a tiny amount, they giggled a bunch when I asked about their day, and she smiled in a happy-tired way at the end. So I guess it was a decent day of learning, if you‘re into that learning sort of stuff.
December 2022
08
A class: regarding tipping and commissions in classes that involve variables and equations:
“I’m not going to pay $8 for a coffee and then 30% tip…I have to watch my husband or he’ll pay the full price all over again in a tip!”
“My realtor, she - I can say ‘she’ because mine is a she. She…”
Math advice:
“Take notes!” She said. “They’re helpful, and give you something to refer to, if you organize them well by lesson.
“If you get stuck,” she said, “stick the wrong answer into IXL. Seriously. It will show you the correct way, so pay attention and try that. It’s a way to learn that’s okay.”
She went on to go through various examples of markup, percents, and decimals.
Other classes:
Our 12-year old has a classmate who is an accomplished boxer within his age- and weight-class. While driving, he chuckled about a poster - or proposed poster? - that was captioned: ‘Pound ‘em got a pulp’ with a picture of this boxer. This kid, from what I know, is a neat kid. Respectful, personable. There is a maybe a good reminder in there of the strong should be kind and those in power should exercise humility. I like that this kid pummels well within the context of that sport. And is a decent, kind human being who doesn’t weaponize his physical prowess outside of that sport.
“We have guests in our house, keep things tidy!” - Mrs D———, reminding her class of important matters before presenting a quadrant of plays to an audience in the classroom.
A 7th grader waved across the room. I waved back. I appreciated this small gesture. Eye contact, acknowledgement, smile, wave. Less than five seconds. Done. I’ve got three and a half decades on this person and it still felt good to simply be acknowledged. This is an incredible lesson. Thank you, L——-.
November 2022
30
I struggled to help with 7th grade math, and got stuck on particular problem. He reminded me multiple times that “…Mama took one look at these and figured them out right away.” She’s a smarty-pants alright. Note: never did figure it out. A 10th worked on Mathematics and Chemistry. Two boys built a half dozen blanket-and-pillow forts, created a thousand pieces of art, and hurricaned multiple rooms in our School, also known as Home. Later, I offered up PBS Kids as an activity. The 3- and 5yo demurred, suggesting instead that they would “…rather do homework instead.”
I also spent a wonderful chunk talking about Hemingway and the way he chopped adverbs, used repetition, and delighted in small words to convey idea and metaphor. We discussed the opening of A Farewell to Arms.
I ran them through a brutal review of Poetry recitation this year. Our youngest refused to be left out, and determinedly - with assistance - made his way through John Donne’s No Man Is An Island. I had the Olders review Sonnet 116, Invictus, Hope is the Thing with Feathers, and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. We worked on the first four lines of Yeats’ The Cloths of Heaven.
03
We talked, while driving on a gray Thursday, a little about Kafka, a little about mathematics, and a lot about what the Federal Reserve is and its role in setting interest rates, and how that affects inflation, investment, and the economy at large. Then I helped out in a Math class scavenger hunt while 7th and 8th graders scurried around solving equations and looking for variables.
September 2022
October 2022
31
We talked about the absurdity of election denialism coming from the hard right, and the hypocrisy of those who call themselves patriots, yet refuse all logic and facts in ripping apart the foundation of how our country chooses and transfers power. Patriots? No. Cowards, hypocrites, liars, and self-serving traitors. Strong words. You bet. Strong words for weak bullies with loud voices and big impacts. We drove by a sign for County Auditor. This is a post held by a Republican for over two decades. The man who has held it, Greg Kimsey, is a decent, competent public servant who has performed his job well for many years. If he has not performed competently, use facts, make your case, and vote him out. Fine. But that is not what is happening. His opponent has attacked his integrity and the integrity of the voting system here in Clark County. He has cast not just doubt, but hurled attacks, repetitively, on the integrity of elections in the county. Familiar? These are not based in fact. Period. Because there are not facts to back up these assertions. And Kimsey’s opponent knows so. But you hurl enough things hard enough and long enough, and some of it’s going to stick. That’s what’s happening. A thoroughly unqualified and deeply unkind opponent is seizing an opportunity because…at this point in history, these opportunities exist. Opportunities to grab hold of lies, make them bigger, and bigger, so big that enough people start to believe that something that big can’t be that untrue. Sort of like a company can’t be too big to fail. In this case, the bigger and more audacious the lie, the more truth there has to be to it…right?
Wrong. So that’s what we talked about while we drove.
26
A wet and rainy Wednesday. Worked with a five year old on reading (up to BOB book #8). Read with a voracious book loving 3-year old who had previously been independently doing homework at the table across from his 12-yo bro writing up Science notes on cells. A 15-yo discussed an upcoming assignment with her writing partner, A——-. Sandwiches for lunch, Chekhov after. Our first together. Joy. Into costumes running from a certain 2004 Jared Hess film to prehistoric terrifying creatures who eat flesh and candy, and we hit the downtown streets of a nearby town to kindly demand the latter.
11
Driving, listening to NPR, painting new buckets to look old for Theater, discussing Russian literature, Shakespeare, and opera with a fellow parent-painter.
05
Wrestling and hide and seek, kittens and mathematics with sharpies, the Renaissance and modern art, Greek review and how to say “you are dumb” in Latin, Ahab and Elijah, Trojan Horse builds and Ylvis dance choreography, mucking a barn and falling off old trees, boys “fully cleaning” a bedroom and Arrested Development before bed. It was Wednesday.
September 2022
10th, 7th, Kindergarten/5-6 and Preschool/3
29
I made them listen to Social Distortion’s Don’t Drag Me Down a half dozen times on a rainy drive.
27
We discussed, in our automobile, the bicameral Congress of the U.S. I quizzed them extensively.
22
We discussed, in a moving vehicle, World War II and its causes, including the powerful role of words and language in how Hitler rose to power, and also I quizzed them on the meaning of blitzkrieg. Somehow we moved to inflation and why it’s so important to fight. Note: the Fed raised rates another 75 points yesterday. I informed them we would be watching Saving Private Ryan this year, and began mentally organizing the other WWII films we’ll be viewing.
20
Roles are cast for Annie. Now the work starts. Our living room is a dance floor and the hard knock life is playing loud.
16
We do dangerous things, like check out more library books than we can reasonably read, or take young boys to Starbucks to draw with ink and read books about art and animals, and we do so because we want to…
…because we want to, and why not? And also we do them because they’re not always easy. But they get easier if you keep doing them.
13 Tue
I looked for him, and finally found him: wandering outside, a familiar pose, five-year old body bent over, inspecting something. ‘I’m looking for different types of grasses,’ he said.
Alright, I said. Ready to come in for some school inside?
He finally looked up quizzically. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘this actually is school, and can you send Es* out to do school with me?’
I looked at him. You are right, I said. And yes, I will get your younger brother, if you agree to teach him everything you know about grasses, crickets, and grasshoppers.
Okay, he said, and I watched a few minutes later as their blond heads disappeared into a thicket of wild grasses and weeds.
——
I was unable to confirm, but allegedly the Countess Becca read hundreds of books with our youngest boys in my absence. These included The Yellow Ribbon, The Surprise, Bunny Money, King Kong’s Cousin, and The Little Book of Not So. Their general demeanors led me to believe her account may be accurate.
07
Together, we embarked on short discussions of early humans and the differences between anthropology and archaeology. We also reviewed different body systems for science.
Four main parts of the human body, from smallest to largest: cell, tissue, organs, organ systems
What do we call the middle of a cell? I asked the four.
The five year old looked up hesitantly. Uhh, nucleus?
Uhh, yeah. I said.
Instead of doing math, I let them watch me eat M&Ms while I talked about the importance of initiative and the Paleolithic era. Then we started designing About Me posters while listening to Hamilton, Mean Girls, and Mary Poppins.
06 Tuesday
A flurried hurried race to get ready, amidst the aftermath of a Labor Day weekend putting together a kitchen…and dining room…and finishing a bathroom…and not finishing the construction cleanup aftermath. A hot day in an air condition-broken automobile, but spirits floating at a good level. I worked with our 7th grader during a free block on social studies (early humans) and gaming out some schedule stuff. Popped into our 10th grader’s Chemistry class, and had varying conversations with others stopping by our study table: M—- and runaway goats showing up in the night, Mrs D——— leaving school to go running in 90+ temp, Mrs R——- about SBAC and iReady testing processes, D—— and wrestling with where one of her sons should go next year, as well as her oldest son who is massively into fishing…
Our son joined Theater this year and was introduced gracefully and kindly by his older sister to her friends in class. One stepped forward with hand out, assertively announcing herself and asking ‘…what do you like to do?’
I like to draw. he said with a grin.
Upon arrival home, it turned out Becca spent a chunk doing Math with our 5- and 3-year old…with M&Ms. For some unconnected reason, all our children have loved her approach to Mathematics.
