in pursuit of wild things

Last Thursday night my husband left for the 10th Annual Texas Frightmare Festival in Dallas, Texas. He had the opportunity to go with someone from work with an extra ticket. Though it isn’t the sort of event he would ever attend I encouraged him to accept the invitation. I figured he would come back with a few good stories. While there, he attended a lecture by Victoria Price the daughter of Vincent Price. He learned that Mr. Price’s grandfather invented cream of tartar ensuring the family’s financial success. Here is a neat link to Project Gutenberg with Dr. Price’s Cook Book. His daughter shared in her talk that her father ended up in horror movies because he was “gray listed” in Hollywood for not supporting the Nazi movement. It seems, in those days if you did not support the Nazis then you were a

communist…in Hollywood anyway. He was found innocent by the House Committee on un-American Activities but he found it hard to find acting work for a while. Anyway, if you are interested in more details here is a great article. My husband did manage to find a few small presents for the kids on his trip, including a Monty Python and the Holy Grail t-shirt for Oldest.

This week Oldest began his study of King Arthur. We are a few chapters into the book by R. L. Green. While reading the book aloud, Middle Boy decided to make himself some Lego coconut shells and run around singing about “Brave, Brave Sir Robin”. I’ve listened to calls of “bring out your dead” and “tis only a flesh wound” for days!  All week the kids have been

begging to watch that silly movie. Oldest even drew the killer rabbit on his Code of Chivalry copywork piece. Good times.

Everyday this week Oldest has gone outside to sit with the bunnies while working on his writing projects or literature readings. He has worked so hard on his writing curriculum this year. He finally finished up the poetry unit this week and now only has a final research paper to write. After several weeks of analyzing poetry he is looking forward to the paper. I really can’t blame him as I was delighted to have the instructor guide to walk me through the poetry chapters!

Sparkles and Middle Boy studied the Mexican Revolution so we made tacos for dinner with homemade tortillas and homemade tortilla chips. I’ve been forbidden to ever purchase tortillas or tortilla chips ever again. Homemade is definitely tastier but I have to learn to roll my tortillas a bit flatter. I thought they were too thick but the kids loved the thicker chips.

Our church meal this week was for the missions trip to Nicaragua. We ate the same meal the missionaries will be serving to the children…rice, beans and a tortilla. I really thought the kids

were going to complain but they all ate the meal except Littlest (but he did try everything) and thought everything was really good. Which it was.

This morning I had to go in for a health screening for our new insurance company. They pricked my finger with a little needle and blood flew out like they’d struck an artery! That was a new experience for me and it surprised the technician as well. Usually my blood has all the viscosity of cold molasses. Then they took me into a little room and told me that I was fat and my cholesterol was too high. Can’t tell you just how much I enjoy starting my day being humiliated!

This week in science we have been learning more about the digestive system. In good taste I cannot blog about most of our discussions this week. Studying the digestive system with boys is…unspeakable. Today we studied the functions of the kidneys. While the crew were working quietly (such a rare

thing to occur) on their worksheets Middle Boy expressed his confusion with one of the questions. He wanted to know why we had caterpillars in our kidneys. The visual image that popped into my head at that moment was absolutely horrifying. Some questions are easily anticipated and others…well they must come from some bizarre dimension. I was just dumbstruck by his question…the visual in my head momentarily halted my capacity to form a coherent thought let alone actually speak. Oldest then pointed out the word in question was “capillaries” and not caterpillars. We all then laughed…really laughed. I had tears poring out of my eyes and nearly fell out of my chair. Middle Boy did fall out of his chair.

Interesting reads for the week: Slowly working my way through Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain. I’m still reading about his childhood so I’m not too far into the book. His language is lovely but requires careful attention from the reader because so much of his words are nuanced. Meaning…I can only read in the mornings before the kids are awake. For lighter reading in the afternoons I started reading Great Physicists by William H. Cropper. One of the many, many science books given to me by my friend. After studying Beautiful Feet Books’ The History of Science with the kids I’ve discovered that I really enjoy biographies about scientists.

How Christianity invented children from The Week. I was actually crying at the end of this and I must warn you that some of the language is explicit.

Parents reading to kids blasted as ‘unfair’ This post is a response to The Philospher’s Zone‘s recent article on the subject. Really?!?! Sounds like two steps backward to me.

Linking up with: Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers