Keeping my mouth shut

I did a good job of this today. We attended a wedding party tonight for two of our friends. It was a delightful party with a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere and we had a nice time. The party took place on a family member's beautiful property and the kid all enjoyed lots of room to run and play, and even a chance to fish in the stocked pond. I don't have a problem with fishing. I remember fishing when I was younger and even going home and cleaning (not me personall) and then eating the fish. I'm not even sure I really have a problem with fishing for fun and throwing them back in. I have to admit, however, to being a little sickened when I realized that there really weren't all that many fish in this pond, and the kids were repeatedly fishing the same poor dumb creatures out again and again. I kept my mouth shut, though, and you know what? I think it was a pretty neat experience for Calvin all the same. He at least got to actually touch and look a real live fish before throwing it back so it could take it's turn with another kid on the other side of the pond.

Why Is the Sky Blue, by Sally Grindley (our review)

This is a book we picked up either at a garage sale or at our library's monthly book sale, and was quick to make its way into our regular rotation. The book itself is light and fun to read, but seems to be hiding a few  lessons or choice tidbits about learning and education. Whether intended or not it definitely has something to say about teaching and learning methods (why won't the donkey teach the rabbit unless he sits still?), and I can be pretty sure the author meant for us to hear a note on the teacher learning from the pupil. Read the right way this could become an unschoolers statement. In any case, it's enjoyable. Here's what the little reader had to say:

Why is the Sky Blue, by Sally Grindley

[What is it about] A donkey and a rabbit. Rabbit is wondering why the sky is blue and rabbit has taught something to Eeyore [sic] about ladybugs—some have more spots than others. And then rabbit knows why the sky is blue—because it was the only color left in the paint box. Only that isn't true.

[Did he like the book? Why?] Yes. I like the pictures and the story. I like the donkey and the rabbit. My favorite part is when donkey says I will only teach you if you sit still and listen. [why?] Because I like the words in that part. And I like that donkey gives him a ride home because that's a nice thing to do.

[Would you recommend this book to others?] Yes, because it's a beautiful story.

As a note, our version of this book is an older one, but I would hope they were about the same. The only part I've been able to compare is the cover, and the price, and the only reason I mention it all is because I have seen children's books change drastically over the years thanks to over-zealous editors (I Can Fly is a good example of this, when they actually edited out half the book and we had to go through an antique book dealer to get the original 40 page version). In any case, the original edition of this book is going for $70 used and I have to wonder why.

Piano lessons

Being unschoolers at heart the idea of having a lesson based learning program is not top on our list of things to do, so I was a little skeptical back in March when Jon's bosses wanted to have Calvin on board for the piloting of their still in development preschool piano program. The program included weekly private lessons as well as weekly group lessons. It was of utmost importance to me that Calvin not feel pressured but self motivated to play the piano, but how could we avoid pressure when we're carting him to lessons twice a week at not quite four years old? We opted to give it a try, though, and it turns out that there was little about which to be concerned; not only was the teacher very relaxed about the process, but Calvin was so incredibly motivated that he finished the spring classes well ahead of the actual class and is now already moving into the next lesson book.

I think the greatest moment of the whole experience so far is still the afternoon when I was making lunch, just a few weeks into the class, when I heard coming from our piano in the other room the sound of little hands plunking out a new song, working their way through it until they could play it smoothly all the way through—no guidance, not even any suggestion, necessary, just a pure intrinsic desire to learn and accomplish. His beam of pride and joy at a job well done during his first piano recital today, however, does rank a close second.

When this method is finally released it is going to be a wonderful program for early music education, but I don't suppose I can credit the method entirely with his interest. My guess is that watching and hearing his dad play so beautifully through all these years has had something to do with it, and in true Rousseau fashion I started learning at the same time as Calvin, just to give him a completely different view of an adult "playing" the piano. As an aside, I am using the Piano Adventures Adult beginner method and am finding that to be a wonderful learning experience as well.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake (our review)

I am not, in general, a connoisseur of poetry; I enjoy reading some poetry and have even dabbled in writing it (during my more youthful and visionary years) but I'm not adept at deciphering it. That being said, I think reading poetry—real poetry, not today's children's poems—is a wonderful way to share language with a child. Calvin and I have had some wonderful afternoons sharing poetry while sitting on our front porch watching the birds at our feeders, and sometimes we have read together as a family after dinner. I mentioned last week that we got him Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake for his birthday and since then we have been reading some of the poems from that collection and enjoying the artwork as well. Not all of the poems are really easily grasped by a child of Calvin's age so we haven't done the whole book yet, but we have done quite a few and he has certainly identified some of his favorites, including, of course, The Tyger, and also A Dream, and mostly Laughing Song.

About Laughing Song he says:

[summary] "It's about laughing, of course, and having a good time. And cherries."

[he likes it because of] "the ha ha he!"

A Visit to William Blake's Inn, by Nancy Willard (our review)

This is the book that we got for Calvin for his birthday. It wasn't something we stumbled upon, but pretty much a sure fire hit; not only is this a favorite from Jon's childhood, but we already know that Calvin has a special fondness for poetry, which he and I read together many days after lunch. So we went shopping for this book and a copy of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience on Better World Books and these were our gift to our son for his fourth birthday. They were a big hit, and I'm sure we'll talk again some day about Blake's book, but today here's Calvin's review on A Visit to William Blake's Inn, by Nancy Willard:

[In summary] it's kind of a story about animals and a boy but it's also poems. It has animals in it. It has gentle artwork pictures.

[I like the book] because I like the animals in the story and I like it because it's poems.

[My favorite part is] the King of Cats because I like the cat that's in the poem because he eats lobster and he gets full...bigger...like the moon.

Would he recommend this book to others? A resounding yes.