Great day. Brilliant in fact. Ssssh. Ditz doesn't know we were actually doing lots of math. Oooh, I'm a sneaky mama!Like I said, we're in Asia for history/geography. Just starting China. Began Ditz with mapping & colouring the flag. Ho~hum but not a sign of a tantrum. Now you know the Chinese invented lots & lots of interesting things, bug~eyed goldfish , gunpowder, silk & a variety of diabolically wicked little games, not least of which is the Tangram. Remember them? Math games. Onto the writing part tomorrow but today I handed Ditz three sets of tangrams cut from a variety of pretty wrapping paper, produced the diagrams & told her to choose which three she was going to do ~ & because the paper was only coloured on one side & I'd cut them out back to front Ditz had to work them out back to front! lol. While she was happily occupied doing that & the cat was chewing on her toes I read her the first chapter of Time of the Peacock by Mena Abdullah.
I've owned 2 copies of this lovely little book. I read the first one to bits over the course of 20 years & recently managed to replace it. It is the story of growing up Indian, muslim, & female in the white Australia of the 60's. The first story is about the white Indian peacock who arrives ''trussed like a cabbage'' & whom everyone says will never display his tail in Australia. Yeah, I know. Fascinating. I highly recommend it. Ditz doesn't think so but is less antagonistic to that than Star of Light, which happens to be her present reader. She is very difficult to please & only really likes British fantasy. Can't fault her for that but I am trying to broaden her literary tastes.
So while we were on a roll I got her to read her science & do her first experiment for modul 2. (We are still working our way through the test for modul 1 & no sign of Ditz progressing faster.) Yay. Longish break for me to take Dearest to the doctor & then we will finish up with some English. As she whizzes through that, a relatively stress free day.
Meanwhile Liddy has been having an up & down time with work. Part of the problem of course is simply being Christian in a highly unethical work environment where her work mates have been trying to tee her up with 'nice' boys but as Liddy says, 'I've seen the magazines they buy & I'm not interested!' It has been something of a shock to find her work ethic & strong morals have gotten her more trouble than accolades. She works & shows up everyone else ~ cat fight! Someone stealing from the tills & Liddy's been going to pieces from stress. So much fun to play with.
However, soccer training back up & running. Brilliant coach. Liddy has found she still has all her fitness & is in line for the premiership team. The physical exertion seems to be helping & is giving her something else to think about besides work. Like her father she tends to be a bit obsessive. I'm not like that of course. =)
3 comments:
It's a sad statement of our times when doing the right thing and good hard work go against the grain and cause ruffled feathers! That has to be an eye-opener for her!
Connie
Do you mean Star of Light as in the book where the baby Kinza gets left at the orphanage? That was my faorite book growing up. When I taught school in the private schools I always read it to my kids! I love and adore that book!
I do mean Kinza. I like it too but my child insists she does not. In point of fact she says she's hated nearly every book we've read & they've been great books ~ My Side of the Mountain, Saduko & the 1000 Cranes, the Just So stories etc. She reads very well, off the primary charts in fact, but she is particular about what she actually likes. *sigh* She is a frustrating child.
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