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Darth Vader: “What is thy bidding, my master?”
Emperor: “There is a great disturbance in the Force.”
Darth Vader: “I have felt it.”
Emperor: “We have a new enemy, Luke Skywalker.”
Darth Vader: “Yes, my master.”
Emperor: “He could destroy us.”
Darth Vader: “He’s just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him.”
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Ah, but the Emperor knew what Darth Vader had not yet fully begun to grasp. The acquisition of knowledge is a powerful ally against the Dark Side of life.
Padawan Learner’s first year of high school is moving along, and I find that I need to cull the homeschooling shelves again. That can only mean one thing, a few more additions to the Watto’s Junk Shop page. If you see anything you’d like to claim, please just leave me a comment on that page and I’ll forward it to you promptly.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have received cheap and free curriculum from other homeschoolers over the years, and I’m glad to keep the generousity humming along. With this many books involved, a little help with shipping would be appreciated – if you can swing it. If you’re in a bit of a tight spot though, just let me know. I’ve been in that boat before and remember the relief that came when our curriculum needs fell into place.
Note: Comments have been re-opened on that page. Sorry for the mix-up.
Palpatine: “You don’t need guidance, Anakin. In time, you will learn to trust your feelings. Then, you will be invincible. I have said it many times, you are the most gifted Jedi I have ever met.”
Anakin: “Thank you, Your Excellency.”
Palpatine: “I see you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi, Anakin. Even more powerful than Master Yoda.”
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
There’s nothing like knowing your kid is off doing something important that you have absolutely NO control over. Not that I have control issues or anything. Me? No, never. Oi vey. I’m a right regular basket case this morning.
Pet Shop Boys, OMD, Modern English, (vintage) U2, New Order, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, Men Without Hats, INXS - I’m filling myself up with the comfort music of my high school and university years on Pandora Radio to keep myself sane. OK, I’ve just seriously dated myself. If I end up cutting my hair asymmetrically and dying it flame red, you’ll know why. Seriously, I really, really want to have flame read hair again. I blame that mostly on Ramona from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World though. (I’m also feeling compelled to dance with several of the songs as they play though, so daily exercise? Check.)
And tea, I’m drinking vats of tea: Santa’s Secret from my dear friend, Eileen Cook. This may or may not be a good idea as it’s packed full of caffeine and has real, miniature candy canes pieces scattered through out the mix, but that’s not going to stop me. I received a Saeco Electric Water Kettle for Christmas and Ho Boy! that thing rocks. Super fast water from the tap to 150-boiling in moments, and with the measurements on the side I can measure out just how much water I’m going to need.
Padawan Learner is taking the first half of his very first mid-term exam today, the verbal Italian segment. I spent all last night saying, “Shouldn’t you be studying for that Italian test?” only to keep hearing, “No, it’s under control.” He glanced over his notes, made a few pretty sounding utterances (strange, I know, but I really miss hearing those guttural G’s from his Dutch-language days), and watching an episode each of The Big Bang Theory and CSI before going to bed. Who IS this child and how could he have ever come from Dad Windu’s and my DNA? I was a compulsive study-freak in school and I’m pretty sure DW was too. I kept thinking – but thankfully not screaming out – “What the blazes does that have to do with anything? ” In the end, I went and finished up my latest library find (Death of a Valentine ) in the bathtub.
I really don’t have reason to worry too much, PL is doing well in his Energy and Italian classes, but I think one of the underlying reasons is that I feel a fair bit of pressure due to the fact that this is his first leap into the unknown of what is commonly referred to as “real school” by family and friends that were not terribly homeschool-friendly in the first place. This semester has felt like it is, in their eyes (and I fully admit that I could be completely projecting my own insecurities onto others here), the proof in the pudding of homeschooling in general and of our homeschool family in particular. How about you other homeschool to traditional school or duel-enrollment folk? Did you experience this the first time one of your kids started thinking inside the educational box?
OK, on to other things now. Like those dust bunnies lurking in the bathroom and under the beds. Time to slay them all.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “You look tired.”
Anakin Skywalker: “I don’t sleep well, anymore.”
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
It’s probably because his mom didn’t read “Goodnight, Forest Moon” to him as a child.
Noah Dziobecki adapted my son’s long-ago favorite bedtime book, Goodnight Moon , to the Star Wars universe for a friend’s son’s birthday. Kindly though, he’s made his version available for download with assembly instructions for the rest of us – for free. The Force is with us all.
Hat-tip to Eileen Cook for sending this along.
Darth Vader: ”He will come to me?”
The Emperor: ”I have foreseen it. His compassion for you will be his undoing. He will come to you and then you will bring him before me.”
Darth Vader: ”As you wish.”
Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
Padawan Learner made a specific request for our trip out west. He wants to listen to the entire Percy Jackson series while we’re traveling; we are bowing to his wishes. Truth be told, we’re happy to oblige. I’m looking forward to hearing the series since I never got around to reading the books the first time around (from the library), and I’ve heard such good things about it. Those audiobook files are huge though! We’ve had to delete a bunch of things from the main computer just to get them all on. Yes, it is indeed time to get a new hard-drive (or auxillary drive) installed.
While I wasn’t thinking about this when we decided to do it, I’m glad we got the 32 gig iTouch for PL’s birthday. It’s the only one big enough to hold the entire Percy Jackson series, a few movies, and our assorted music collection (with room to spare). And on a life skills note, PL is learning the fine art of downloading audiobooks as I type. It’s good to have a laptop.
General Grievous: “But the loss of Count Dooku?”
Darth Sidious: “His death was a necessary loss. Soon I will have a new apprentice, one far younger and more powerful.”
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Any Harry Potter Fans in Your House?
If your family, like ours, have been waiting with baited breath for the latest Harry Potter movie (which was excellent, just so you know), one of the local library systems, KDL, has found a couple of books you may want to consider while we all wait for the two installments of the final book. For the record, I knew it was coming but I still was surprisingly sad at the end of #6.
Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli, founder of the Leaky Cauldron website, is truly a fascinating look at the HP fandom, including the founding of her website and how Harry Potter has changed her life. (OK, this seems a little far-fetched for me, but hey – who am I to judge?) It includes meeting J.K. Rowling and the creation of the “premier” Wizard Rock website.
Harry Potter Should Have Died: Controversial Views from the #1 Fan Site by Emerson Spartz & Ben Schoen of Mugglenet.com fame is a collection of essays debating different viewpoints on certain controversial issues (as well as some fun ones). As Beth from KDL says, “This book just goes to show that not every thing was answered in the final book.”
“Pass on what you have learned, Luke.” – Yoda, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
I’ve been reading Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America by Jay Parini and I’m finding it to be quite an interesting look at both our nation’s history and the role that reading has played in our national consciousness. Dad Windu has also picked it up and is in ever-present danger of over-taking my bookmark. At this point, I’m planning to require highly recommend that Padawan Learner read this book along with the books it references.
[Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are leaving the Jedi temple when Obi-Wan notices the hologram center]
Obi-Wan: ”Wait, Master. There is something I must know.”
Yoda: “If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find.”
Obi-Wan: ”I must know the truth, Master.”
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Meg over at Get In, Hang On found a fun book meme. Since I’m feeling lazy experiencing a burst of low creativity today, I’m going to complete it too. Let me know if you decide to fillit out as well.
Book Confessions Meme
1. To mark your page you: use a bookmark, bend the page corner, leave the book open face down?
I’m a bookmark pusher. I’ll even go through the house and un-fold the page corners of other people’s books and insert a bookmark.
2. Do you lend your books?
Yes, if I trust the person. There are a few people I will not lend books too ever again because of the condition they come back in or become the books never come back (even with my name written inside).
3. You find an interesting passage: you write in your book or NO WRITING IN BOOKS!
I’m OK with writing in my own books, but it has to be a pretty significant thing for me to note it permanently.
4. Dust jackets – leave it on or take it off.
I hate dust jackets. I store books in them but cannot read a book with a dustjacket on (unless it’s glued in like the library does).
5. Hard cover, paperback, skip it and get the audio book?
I prefer to read hardcovers from the library over paperbacks of my own. I generally have at least one audio book going at all times in the car.
6. Do you shelve your books by subject, author, or size and color of the book spines?
Shelved by subject only. We have two bookshelves: one fiction and one non-fiction. Fiction is sorted by Dad Windu’s books (fantasy crap) on the top shelves and my 18th, 19th & early 20th Century classics on the bottom shelves. The non-fiction bookshelf is sorted roughly by topical area: science, history, foreign language materials, English language materials, geography, shelf, how-to, art. There is no mixing if I can help it.
7. Buy it or borrow it from the library later?
Library, library, library whenever possible. I rarely buy fiction.
8. Do you put your name on your books – scribble your name in the cover, fancy bookplate, or stamp?
Simple pencil for my name on books being loaned out – on the inside cover.
9. Most of the books you own are rare and out of print books or recent publications?
Published within the last 20 years for the most part. I have a few published in the 1950s.
10. Page edges – deckled or straight?
I loath deckled pages. I find them incredibly annoying. And yes, I know how ridiculous it is to care this much.
11. How many books do you read at one time?
I generally have 2-4 going at a time.
12. Be honest, ever tear a page from a book?
No, but I give my MIL grief (teasingly) at aleast twice a year about the fact that she has done this.
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