Day 70 - Teachers

I put the following note in the December School of Dad newsletter that went in the mail with the Christmas Card today.
"Ben and I continue our ‘School of Dad’ experiment. I was reading a New Yorker article recently that suggested a kid with a good teacher learns 1.5 years of material in a year and a kid with a bad teacher learns .5 years of material. I would like to think we are doing the former (and I am pretty confident we are not doing the later) but Ben’s learning falls somewhere in the middle. He has a great and interesting brain and I hope we are helping it develop. Some days I struggle just trying to figure out what he is thinking.
One thing is clear – while I have always respected teachers, I hold them in even higher regard now. I hope that every child (including Ben) is fortunate enough to have a great teacher at least once in their schooling. "

Day 69 - Keeping it Simple

The last month has been difficult for a variety of reasons. We have set our sights on getting some basic things accomplished before the end of the week (and beginning of the Christmas break). We are focusing on some simple things: completing the current Math Chapter, finishing a essay on the last book that we read, wrapping up some science topic. Tomorrow we will focus on getting our December Newsletter out.

We will need some renewed focus when January comes. Right now we are just trying to keep things simple.

Day 67 & 68

Ben and I focused on gettings some things accomplished we could feel good about over the last two days. With one more week of school we had some writing and math to wrap up before the break. Our days had a satisfying if not intense flow to them. I expect next week to be another strange week as we prepare for the break and our trip out of town. I feel good about what we have done but not as good about the amount accomplished.

Day 66 - Finally

It took us until Wednesday to get Day 66 in because Ben has been sick. He was less then thrilled about getting back to work today but we got through the day. I kept it simple and by the end of the day we had made some progress and done some things we enjoyed. We have a busy 7 days head until Christmas break begins.

Day 65 - Tough Week

Ben and I finished the week making some Lefse. We enjoyed doing it and were pleased with outcome. It was probably the most satisfying thing we did this week.

As we were walking today I was telling him how I find it interesting that two people that both like patterns and routine have such a difficult time being organized. Are our minds trying to get something they know we don't have? Lack of structure is not good for either of us. He is dependent on my to provide it at this point. I struggle to find it.

Day 64 - Retry

Ben and I went back to the Ohio Historical Society today to see the Norman Rockwell Exhibit. (I checked the website this morning to see if I had missed something regarding the exhibit hours. I had checked yesterday and I was certain it gave hours for every day. Today the 'hours' section shows hours for Thursday through Sunday. I could have swore that it said something different yesterday but I am sure my memory is faulty.)

Ben and I both thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit. It included recreations of some of his Saturday Evening Post (SEP) covers, with other related historical information interspersed. The staff included actors portraying characters relevant to different time periods. Other docents offered tips and explanations not provided on the posted materials. The were 6 people working in the exhibit. Ben and I were the only ones there for the first 30 minutes.

I had always seen his work as nostalgia pieces. It was interesting to hear about his work process and see what he was trying to accomplish. His first SEP cover was published in 1916. His 322nd (and last) was published in 1965. He went on to produce work for Look magazine (he had a falling out with SEP). There is a clear technical and content progression in the work. Some of it was due to better technology (photos instead of live models as well as advancements in printing). Other progression was certainly a product of his maturing. I was surprised to learn he was born and worked for many years in New York City.

I was glad that we had made the trip - again.

Day 63 - Nostalgia

I would like Ben to write in a journal every day. The form of the journal is not important to me, I just want him to do it daily. It is part of my 'Writers write' mantra. He will do the it, but most often it is not reflective of the interesting way that he thinks.

Yesterday we were talking about it and we talked about how much fun we have looking back each day on this website. "Wouldn't it be interesting if 20 years from now you could pick up a journal and get a real look back at what you were thinking about at this point in your life?""I don't know. It might make me feel nostalgia."

We talked about what 'nostalgia' was. What I said was that nostalgia is a longing for a time that probably never was because we were only recalling the parts we wanted to remember. What I should have said was that an honest journal would not cause nostalgia because it would recall both the easy and hard times.

In the spirit of nostalgia, I recalled that the Ohio Historical Society recently opened a big exhibit on Norman Rockwell. Ben and I looked at some of Rockwell's paintings and talked about what he was trying to show. We saw his portrayal of family life, patriotism, small towns, etc. It could be argued that his work captured a moment in time that never really existed but those viewing thought/wished it did.

This morning we took a ride over to see the exhibit first hand.

Needless to say: Closed. (Because of state budget cuts the museum is only open Thursday through Sunday - though this information appeared nowhere on the website.)

Day 62 - Normal

It was our first post holiday ‘normal’ school day. It got off to a bit of a rocky start but we recovered with a trip to the aquarium store for a plant we needed for science. Of course they did not have it, but we enjoyed walking around the store. Ben was planning what we should put in out aquarium when we restart it after Christmas.

I hope that we will get out a lot between now and Christmas. We are planning a trip tomorrow to the Ohio Historical museum to check out a Norman Rockwell exhibit.

Day 61 - Wierd Continues

That last few days at the School fo Dad have been wierd. Last week Monday and Tuesday we were getting ready for Visitors and Thanksgiving. The visitors left this afternoon. We are finally ready for a 'normal' day tomorrow..but am I ready?