Friday, February 12, 2010

critical thought = latin

tabitha wants to learn latin from www.galorepark.co.uk in turn she will begin to teach it to the kids. of course, we'll continue on our attempt to expose them to spanish. galore park seems to have a very interesting teaching method and we are intrigued by it. being always on the lookout for excellent teaching tools for our quiver it is exciting to find something of this caliber.

tristan is so far ahead in his reading for his home school that next year we will augment his core reading queue even further than we already have. there is nothing that makes more proud then to find tristan sitting quietly in a corner reading unsolicited. when he is finished he'll rush in to where tabitha and i are and begin to update us on the story line. i love it.

i have been playing the uno card game with the kids nightly. there are fierce emotions regarding that everyone should win at least one game. and, we cannot stop until that criteria has been met. playing with four of us a set of games can last an inordinate amount of time. my remedy was to deal from the bottom of the deck after the match became grueling and tears were threatening to emerge in a noisy way. i thought i was being sly but kassi noticed my bottom dealing. last evenings game she started to plea "daddy give me the bottom cards." busted.. i guess i'd never make it as a vegas dealer.

toly has been on strict regime of starfall for several hours per day. computer time is at a premium lately. netflicks also took nightmare before christmas off their instant queue. it almost broke his little heart. he watched that movie at least once daily. we were forced to purchase it on dvd. it has been one of his happy places that he can retreat when the world starts to spin too fast. he really associates with jack the pumpkin king. the hero that is just a little naughty and usually doesn't realize why. but mostly jack has a good heart and wants to do the right thing. if he could only figure out what the right thing is?

rome is doing the cutest things lately. he is on the verge of talking. of course he
has several words but he is still encumbered by his inability to describe what he needs at every given moment. i guess i still have that problem. he knows when he is being cute and shows off.

our matriarch cat hermoine has had her kittens. they are very cute. all of them are spoken for. good farm cats are hard to come by but we should have some more in a few months.



tabitha has started to blog a little over at http://omelay.blogspot.com/. we also started an "omelay family farm" site to promote our pastured poultry to our local community. it is still under development final release to be announced.

tabitha did paint the cutest sign over the past few days. i went into the woods and cut a cedar for the posts to mount it on.



photos of kittens and sign are on the way. i'll just add them in this post later this evening (for those of you on the RSS check back tonight)

sorry about the delay but i finally succumbed to the stomach flu that has been making its way through the pile of omelays.

9 comments:

Jessika said...

Lot's of good things happening there, Karl. I love it when the kids bust me, I pride myself on being a step ahead but am pleasantly humbled when they beat me to it, too.
I took 4 years of Latin in highschool, planning to be a veterinarian. That didn't happen but I've found the Latin to be equally useful as a farmer and gardener. It will inspire an interest in Julius Ceasar with your little ones too, then you can delve into that period of history. There's nothing like teaching something that is actually useful! Then you can play " Marco Polo " with purpose too. One thing leads to another.......
Have fun!

tara said...

I took Latin in college and loved it. It was such a help later when I went into nursing.

Pablo said...

Sounds like you're giving your brood an excellent life.

I took Latin in high school. I wish I had kept up with it through the few years that have passed since then.

Ryan said...

Our daughter tends to find the easy items on Starfall and pbs.org instead of challenging herself. What is your advice.

Omelay said...

jessica, they are always finding new ways to keep me on my toes.

tara, we are excited about latin.

pablo, thanks we certainly hope they are having an excellent life.

ryan, i'm not sure what to say. each of our children has approached the computer learning so completely differently. mostly they get plenty of computer time (at approved websites). they get bored with things beneath them quickly. remember, those easy things are confidence builders for the trials of the more difficult.

Jen said...

What a great family you have! Reading is great for kids as it takes you to places far away. You and your wife are wonderful parents. ~jen

The Polar Bear said...

your sign looks so great! we have a sign idea in the works as well. it's nice to have a home where you want to hang a sign. love the kiddo update. hope all is well.

It's me ...Mavis said...

Your sign looks AWESOME! If I lived closer I'd buy chicken from you guys. Way to go... it looks great!

Selden said...

I took Latin for 4.5 years in junior high and high school. (In my last year I was the only one in the class and I finally stopped.) Latin is wonderful in drilling you to notice parts of speech and how words and sentences are constructed. Also, it gives you a key to all ROMANce languages... I can guess at a lot of meanings in French, Spanish, and Italian, dredging up that Latin from 40 years ago.

I would caution you that if you have a dyslexic child, the detail recognition and memorization involved would be a bloody exercise in frustration. (I have a dyslexic husband and child who have the same IQ as I do but cannot completely master even English grammar on paper.) Our daughter is not dyslexic and I'm hoping she has the opportunity to learn Latin in school. It is rarely taught these days.

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