The Fine Art of Fasching

Fasching is a wonderful, but totally incomprehensible, German holiday. It starts in November, rolls to February, coming to a head around Mardi Gras season. Fasching seems to be mainly marked by a larger-than-life presence of totally inappropriate adult "costume" wear just adjacent to the children's toys in Globus (German Target). The children even get to participate in Fasching at school, which involves eating remarkable amounts of candy and kuchen at school, whilst your parents, dressed as pirates, etc, drink champagne and eat appetizers. Sounds perfect, right?

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A few months prior to our school's weekend and weekday Fasching activities, the kinders started a unit on...pirates. The extra bonus of this unit of study is that JillyBoo started dressing up like Keith Richards, and we read a lot of wonderful books, such as Peter Pan and the Eyewitness Pirates book. The latter elicited the response, "Uh, mom, aren't there any nice pirates?" No, not so much. I did learn that Blackbeard used to make himself primitive beard extensions that he lit on fire, resulting in a frightening smoking effect. He was punk before punk was cool.

Overall, Fasching seems to be an opportunity for the locals to let loose before lent. It is refreshing to be part of a community that allows people to have fun and be raucous...with in reason, of course!

Inspiration

We've been so busy lately that even sitting down to listen to JillyBoo read has been a seemingly overly exhausting task. Finally, this weekend, things slowed down enough for us to do some laundry and consider what topics inspire us to learn. For the last 3 weeks, JillyBoo has not been inspired by her achievements in violin, groaning when I even mention a Twinkle.

After a long weekend on the island of Malta, we were relaxed, but our house was in chaos. While visiting the Mediterranean island nation, we had the totally unexpected opportunity to explore a site described in Homer's Odyssey. Really? I couldn't believe it!! I've often lamented that I didn't attend a public high school good enough to present senior with the Iliad and the Odyssey. I do appreciate, as an adult, that I can earn the education that I feel I didn't receive in my youth, and that my enthusiasm for learning can serve as a springboard for my daughter's education.

On one of the Maltese islands, Gozo, there is a site called, "Calypso's Cave." Calypso was a goddess so entranced with Odysseus that she socked him away in a cave for 7 years, only letting him go after Hermes informed her that Zeus was not too thrilled with their living arrangements. The word cave makes you think of a, you know, cave, so it would surprise you to know that the Gozitan cave, one of the six possible sites for the location of Calypso's cave, is more like a hole in the ground!

Good Posting

I really enjoyed this commentary on cuts to education spending: Spending Cuts: You Get What you Pay For

Money and Children

I remember riding my bike to the Sprouse-Ritz to buy my first tape-Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell." I was never great at saving up for a desired item, and would generally reserve my shopping interests to items that I could afford that day. JillyBoo's dad and I are bound and determined to raise a money-savvy child, and as such, we opened a savings account for her roughly the day after she was born. This was a brilliant idea, however, we have yet to find this account a useful tool in helping her understand money. "Hey, JillyBoo, you have some imaginary money in a bank that only exists online. Woo hoo!"

During a recent sick-day at home with JillyBoo, I realized that I had nothing to read (read that last line with dramatic flair). JillyBoo's dad had left a copy of SmartMoney magazine on the table, and so I decided, with a sigh, to flip non-committally through its pages. What a great magazine, even though I understood only 1/10th of it's articles!

By far the most impactful article was called Financial Literacy for Kids. It offered tips for teaching kids about money, which for me, tied in well to my recent desire to teach JillyBoo about the value of individual coins. I followed a few of the links from the article, and was pleasantly surprised by what they had to offer. First, I found ThreeJars Allowance tracker. I was introduced to the "three jars" concept in Arizona by some wonderful friends. JillyBoo already had "three jars," however, they had no connection to financial education or a plan. I decided to pay the $30 yearly fee to try out the ThreeJars website, which they only charge after you've been a member for the first month.

JillyBoo loved that she gets her own page on the site, and quickly designed a background and personal logo that only Prince could love. Really, how is it that five-year-olds have the same taste as circa 1970s pimps? Together, we picked a reasonable distribution for her weekly allowance-Save $1, Spend $0.80 and Share $0.20. I appreciated that the website let you input an initial "deposit" to the jars, as I was not anxious to calculate how we would divvy up the money that JillyBoo already had amongst the three jars.

The website, as near as I can tell, is worth every cent. It includes video clips from the "Today Show" financial advisor, Jean Chatsky, who shares advice from the point-of-view of a mom. I also love that you can assign tasks to your child, or that he/she can email the parent and say, "Hey, mom, can I do the dishes for a few extra dollars this week?"

Also, they recommend places for kids to donate their money. Inexplicably, JillyBoo decided that she would like every "sharing" cent to benefit dolphins, "Because I love dolphins, mom." Okay, can't argue with that. After a little research, and some reflections on the horrors of the movie, "The Cove," mommy has decided to help JillyBoo direct her money to http://www.savejapandolphins.org/.

As JillyBoo grows, I realize that the routines that we institute when she is younger seem to be the ones that stick. Just as this afterschooling website keeps me honest, so to speak, I also find that using threejars.com will keep us on track as a family in helping educate JillyBoo about smart spending.

Here are some other sites they recommended in the article:
Secret Millionaires' Club Entertaining cartoon clips of enterpreneurial children receiving advice from Warren Buffett (yes, that Warren Buffett)
FamZoo Another family savings site, somewhat like threejars.com
For older kids: WallStreet Survivor
Here's the original article from SmartMoney.com:

Squirlers

There was something about just saying, "I'm afterschooling," that made me much more attentive to the learning that was already happening in our house prior to starting this blog. JillyBoo is the daughter of two scientists. The girl doesn't have a chance-she's a geek born to two geeks! She is full of questions and observations, and will gleefully point out the many innovations that engineers have contributed to our lives.

I am a firm believer that children are naturally programmed to love animals, and that starting with animal behavior and structure as studies in early science learning makes for a natural hook to science.  Having wanted to be both a veterinarian and a firefighter as a child, I can understand JillyBoo's intense joy in watching a "fat little bird" land on our rose bushes, or a fox darting across the fields of our German village, the flash of red burning a trail in the verdant green fields.

Last weekend, as we anxiously awaited the arrival of favorite friends from the States, JillyBoo spied a ChickMunk from the window. "A chickmunk," I commented. "Hmmm....look at that tail!" "Oh, mama, that's maybe a squirler." Besides 'skabetty,' 'squirler' may be the number one word I hope she keeps in her vocab into perpetuity. 'Chickmunk' also makes the top ten. As I dusted the furniture and vacuumed, I encouraged her to get a picture of the squirler in her learning log. Off she darted to draw our yard and the squirler's "dream;" a yard full of acorns floating all around.



Squirlers and acorns in our yard, RP, Deutschland



After her drawing, I encouraged her to write about her observations. She embellished (a little), but came up with: "I saw a squirrel on a branch. There were five squirrels and they were cute in Germany." Oh, that damn schwa. Ger-mu-ny. 

JillyBoo's commentary about the squirlers that she observed

We are working on multi-letter phonograms right now, such as "aw" and "igh," and she's really starting to see how frequently these phonograms occur in words. We continue to read science readers, as I believe that they introduce challenging, but important words, to learn by repetition. It occurred to me today that she would benefit from a trip back to some BOB readers, as we sometimes need to see those sight words many times, too. Maybe this week?

Land Ahoy!



JillyBoo's Piratenchef

 In a recent newsletter from JillyBoo's German Kindergarten, the teachers shared that for their current unit, they are studying pirates! Arg! I talked to one of JillyBoo's teachers about the unit, as I tried to translate the portions that made any sense to me, and she stated that the kids will study the elements as they study pirates, too. They are working on understanding water and the things that water does, and also animals and plants that live in the water.

This information about their new unit of study really excited me, as up to now, their studies seemed random and only related to German holidays. Don't get me wrong-learning about German holidays from Germans themselves whilst living in Germany-that's academic! JillyBoo attends a Catholic Kindergarten (they are all Catholic or Evangelische), and therefore JillyBoo has been introduced to many new concepts. "Uh, mom, am I allowed to go in the church?" We consider world religions an important part of her education, however, we were also wanting to see some more academic content.

While pirates may not seem very academic, the idea that they are studying the elements brought a little joy to my teacher-heart. Friday morning when we arrived at school, the teachers had set up a Playmobil pirate ship for the kids to enjoy. I was in awe of the toy with all of its details and grandeur. Prior to living in Germany, Playmobil seemed like another junky plastic toy company. I now know that Playmobil toys are excellent imaginative play toys, and I love that they offer kids the opportunity to use the toys flexibly. For example, JillyBoo has a set from the Magic Castle line that includes princesses with interchangeable hair, etc, to make the princess into Rapunzel, a fairy, or even a queen.

JillyBoo was very excited to go to school on Friday, as she was able to see a movie....at school! She couldn't believe her luck. On Thursday, the students watched part of one of the Pippi Langstrumf movies, and JillyBoo was dazzled by Pippi's horse carrying abilities. We had actually read the first Pippi book together, however, she acted as if she didn't remember any of the book! JillyBoo loved the fact that there were pirates in the movie, and wanted to meet one immediately. As usual, she didn't trust her dad when he told her that pirates still exist, but that they aren't the same sort of pirates in the movie.

On a side note, we purchased JillyBoo some movies that are both in German and English at Globus a few weekends ago, but had not attempted to watch them yet. First, we learned that DVDs have different regions (totally didn't know that!) and that they will only play on devices set for a certain region. The U.S., it seems, is set to region 1 and European DVDs are region 2. You are only allowed to change your laptop's region code 5 or so times in its life, but we thought it was worth it to change it so that JillyBoo could continue her ability to understand German even when we move away.

Besides watchinig movies, JillyBoo created an awesome pirate ship, complete with a Jolly Rogers' flag. (pic will be added soon!). We've learned that "skull and crossbones" in Deutsch is "totenkopf," and JillyBoo wrote a "Captin's Song" (sic) about pirates! (I would also add that, but it was lost somewhere in the house cleaning yesterday!) I'm in the market for at-home extensions of the pirate activities, so if you have any, please share!

Here are some links I have already encountered:
Pirates at familyfun.com  (Check out that boat cake? Do I offer to try and make it for the school?)
Kaboose Pirate games and crafts
Pirate Treasure Map

Wandering violinist enrages Deutsch music store owner...news at 11.

Just before winter break, we were informed that Jezebel Sweetpea, JillyBoo's beautiful violin, had a warped bridge. Let me tell you, trying to convince a German woman at a music store to swap out a warped bridge is futile. She was irate that the manufacturers had put a bridge of incorrect size on the violin in the first place. Inconceivable! Since our communication barrier and her state of agitation made it impossible to make headway, we ended up sending the old Jez back and received, relatively pain-free and totally $ free (thanks, Shar Music! You're awesome!), this new Jez:

The New Jez. Not-so-pretty, but she sounds very nice!

She actually looks less blurry than this picture would indicate! My first comment (in my own head, of course), was, "God, she's ugly!" I mean, the last Jez, an identical make and model (Hoffmann Maestro, 1/8 size) was gasp-worthy in beauty. The New Jez is growing on me, and I even think she sounds great, even if she is homely.

The "practice" jar

JillyBoo's violin teacher made her a great little suggestion jar for Christmas! You pull out a slip, which might say, "Play in three different rooms," or "walk around as you play." They're fun, and they keep the lesson fresh.  

Wandering busker (clearly homeless-look at that outfit!)
  

In other Suzuki news, I finished reading, To Learn with Love, which was inspirational beyond measure. I love how balanced and real the Starrs are, and how great and timely their suggestions are for teachers. One of my favorite, and most useful, tips was to say after each Twinkle (or whatev), "Good! Now, can you do better?" Our first try with this technique was that JillyBoo, playing violin in the bathroom, of course, played twinkles for over 30 minutes!

In terms of twinkle progress, we're finally, finally, finally playing the notes of the twinkles, but only the bread parts (the first and last notes). It's fun! JillyBoo naturally holds the violin well and fingers well. Unfortunately, her "open/close" technique with her bowing arm ain't so grand still.

A wonderful addition to our practice (we never call it practice, but I'll do it here!) time has been playing the rhythm and pitch lessons from the book, I Can Read Music. At first, I had no clue as to what to do with the book. Now that we are fingering, however, I love guiding Kiley through the lessons which instruct her on how to play different notes and different patterns. Busting out the music stand, which we had ordered months ago but had never opened, really inspired her to play her music theory lessons. So far, so okay with the music theory. She either bows really rapidly and then grinds to a halt, or is all over the place!

The best part of all of this is having a fun, structured way to be her at home teacher. I'm enjoying violin as much as she is, and really embrace this opportunity to learn an instrument as an adult!