Ex Patria

Summer days

The weather has finally taken a turn for the better - just in time for David's birthday party on Friday (combined with an early 4th of July celebration as Doug is leaving for Uganda the next day).

We're spending the days outside.  So, instead of words, some impressions from our backyard.

Oh, so tantalizingly out of reach!

Boys flying high in the hammock.

Sand box.

My peas - looking good!

Little girls who climb into the Aquaplay toy loose their clothing.

Summer knees.

Dinner is finished.

Words you live to regret

I sewed the dress for my niece yesterday.

I took a Burda pattern and changed it a bit.  I took out the godets because I didn't like them, and made the dress with the sleeves.  It was my first time with sleeves and I was a bit apprehensive that I could make it work.  But hey!  It worked out nicely:

I got the first sleeve in and it looked nice.  I showed it to the husband and he approved.  It was getting late and I said to him, "You know, I'll just quickly sew in the other sleeve and then I call it a day.  I'll do the hemming tomorrow."

"Quickly" and "sew" should not be used in the same sentence, at least not by me:

Nicely sewn in.  Fits and all. But it's INSIDE OUT!

Seam ripper, my old, friend, where are you hiding?

Another one bites the dust

The forever-wiggly-tooth will be meeting the tooth fairy tonight.  Finally that sucker is out.  Took long enough - it must have been loose for months.

Three down, seventeen more to go.

Strawberry jam

My Mom and I went strawberry harvesting on a farm this morning. (FB in-joke: on a real farm!)  I came home with loads of strawberries.  First, kids ate as much as they could, then I turned the rest into jam.  As the husband says, the winter can come now!

The straggly survivors - but not for long!

Boil, jam, boil!

All ready to be filled.

Cooling down.

Yum!  Including stains on white shirt.  Hm, Mommy, you didn't think that one through...

D'uh! puts on another fine performance to raving reviews

Alan has brought home bad spelling grades.  He reads just fine but spelling seemed to mystify him.  Not consistently so, though.  He has problems with some letters but not with others.  He can spell many words just fine and then writes "e" for "i" or "ei" for "i". 

Oh, I thought.  That one's easy.  Mild dyslexia runs in the family (didn't stop anyone from having great careers), so I marked my mental list with "Have Alan tested for dyslexia" and "talk to the teacher about this".

Of course, with one thing and another, I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Then I realized that we should homeschool Alan in English spelling. When we pack out again, he'll be in an English-speaking school.  Better to start now when the material isn't quite so immense than to be caught cold once we get to wherever.  For the same reason, we have started teaching David to read.

So today, I sat down with Alan and asked him to work through some pages in a spelling workbook with me.  I got it off amazon.de and it covers grades 1 and 2.  I thought we could do a couple of pages a day, including during the summer break, and we should be fine. 

I did anticipate some problems.  After all, he's learned to spell in German.  English, I figured, would be so much more difficult for him.

Eh.  No?  What I conveniently forgot (and I keep forgetting this all the time, especially when they play "I had my first real sex dream" or "Come on, let's have a fight" on the radio) is that contrary to myself, my kids are actually native English speakers. D'uh!  Alan has learned to read in English, two years ago. Double-d'uh!

He's got it down pat.  The easy stuff, no sweat.  He blew through the pages and got all the spelling problems right. I had an epiphany at the same time:

The English "e" is pronounced like the German "i".
The English "i" is pronounced like the German "ei".

Triple-d'uh!

Of course he has problems in German spelling because his brain wants to do what it did for years, it wants to spell certain sounds the way it always has.  I will have to talk to the teacher about this but I am very relieved.  Not so much that he isn't dyslexic, although that's definitely a plus.  I'm really happy that the English spelling won't be the nightmare I had envisioned it to be.  After all, this stint in Germany is supposed to be temporary and English will be the language of the kids' future school years.

Sometimes, it just takes me a little longer to connect the dots.

Frozen

Via my friend Rachel, something amusing:

Frozen Grand Central from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

Homeschooling

We are toying with the idea of homeschooling.  Not exclusively -- in Germany, school ends around 11 am in the first grades -- but complimentary.  The boys need additional teaching in English spelling so that they won't have any transition problems once we pack out again. 

We are already working on harder math problems with both Alan and David - in a playful manner, in the car and at the dinner table, for instance.  I think we're fine with math.

But the spelling presents a challenge to me.   Alan really doesn't feel like doing any more work besides his (German) homework.  I have to cajole and sneak him into working with me and frankly, sometimes I plain don't have the patience for it.

Two questions - any homeschooling parents out there?  Any advice you can offer on how to motivate your child to do the oh-so-hated spelling?  We're trying spelling bee games but not to much avail and I have the feeling we need to formalize it a little.

Also, does anyone have suggestions for spelling teaching software or websites? I'm okay with websites or programs that cost some money but I don't want to shell out big bucks (we don't have them).  Anything I found is just too easy -- I need a fast-paced program for grades K to 2.

True son of his father

I grew up in the countryside.  My husband is aghast that I would know things about cow insemination or that I eat berries off the bush (because I know what kind of berries they are).  He marvels that I know at which time the elderberries are ripe (not now, husband) or that I can identify rapeseed by smell.

He, on the other hand, is very much a city boy.  His mother taught him never to eat anything off a tree or a bush, and he's deeply suspicious of unprocessed foods.  If it doesn't have a wrapper, it might be toxic.

Today, Alan's class went to visit a farm.  Now, Fladungen is rural and that means the kids walked 200 yards down the street and stood in a cow stable.  He had a grand time, taking photos with his new camera which have somehow a distinct 70s feel to them, and came home talking about cows.

Alan: "But I didn't drink the milk straight from the cow."
Claudia: "Why not?  That's the best milk, it's so good for you!"
Douglas, in the background, muttering under his breath with utter horror: "Raw milk? Straight from the cow?"
Alan: "Naw, I like my milk better from the supermarket."

Genes are powerful.

Worlds collide, nobody gives

In keeping with the religion theme, here's a sad example of what can happen when two fundamentalist world views and two cultural worlds collide:

At least two German women and a South Korean woman kidnapped in Yemen last Friday have been murdered, according to Yemeni authorities.

Still missing is a German family with three children aged 5, 4 and 11 months, as well as a British citizen.  What happened?  The Spiegel gives a round-up of the events:

The German Christians kidnapped recently in Yemen were probably the victims of an act of revenge, SPIEGEL has learned. According to information obtained from the German Foreign Ministry's crisis task force responsible for the case, a dispute took place in Saada a few months ago related to missionary activities by one of the Germans, in the course of which angry Muslims threatened the German engineer Johannes H. and demanded that he cease his attempts at proselytizing.

Germans on the street are horrified about and saddened by the murders but there is always a caveat: How can you go to such a place, how can you bring your children along, how can you not heed any warnings?  That does not mean these brutal acts are excused or excusable but Germans are not passionate folks and like to see themselves as rational beings.  Going off to proselytize in a Muslim country in a basically lawless region is asking for trouble.  Most Germans are especially mystified how someone could possibly bring their children to such a place.

I admire people who go places and do humanitarian work.  I especially admire people who work in the health sector, and most of all those who work to make the world a safer place for mothers and children.  But you can do all of this without alienating the same people you are trying to help by talking about religion. It's a sensitive topic and it seems that Johannes H. was not sensitive enough to spot trouble brewing.

I'm sincerely hoping all will end well for them.  I especially hope this for the children.  But you know, in general, common sense is a good thing to have.

Do we really need another Church that knows best?

Via Feministing, this piece of not news:

Hundreds of formerly Episcopal parishes are meeting this week to unify as a new national church: the Anglican Church in North America.

Organizers, led by former Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh Robert Duncan, expect 300 delegates, including 50 bishops, in Bedford, Texas, for a three-day gathering that begins Monday.

The group is scheduled to adopt church laws that will exclude women and homosexuals as bishops. It also is expected to elect and install Duncan as archbishop.

My personal opinion is that we need another church that ostracizes a group of people as badly as a sore throat. Especially in times when religious fundamentalism is causing harm left and right, I find this a worrisome development.

First, CANA, now the Anglican Church of North America.  Next, what? We need unity, and respect for each other more than that every single opinion gets their own church.

One of the main principles of us UU's is that we have respect for every person, even (or especially) in the face of differing opinions.  I find this the one principle with which I struggle the hardest.  Not because I can't show respect but because I find it very hard to show respect towards people who don't respect me and my beliefs.  I find that infuriating. 

Among the people I know who belong to CANA, my differing opinions are hushed up, not talked about, especially not in front of the kids.  I can't mention what I believe in, what I think, what I passionately fight for.  It's all worth nothing at all as soon as I enter their periphery. There can't be any discussion or dissent.  You either conform to those rules or you are "breaking the peace of the house" and are asked to leave.  For me, this seems as if I have to slice off a part of me before I enter their house.  That's very sad because you know, some of those people are really nice. I suppose it's really their problem that their religion doesn't allow them to accept me as I am, only as I should be. 

But somehow, it's ends up being my problem after all.  I respect their views but they don't respect mine.  And I really have not yet found a good way to deal with that.