Meredith

I wrote this for my blog, but I'm not sure I want to post it there -
I have a feeling it will sound snotty to my relatives invested in
public schooling. I figured y'all would get a kick out of it, though:


I'm overcome with disgusting smuggness. Rayan is exploring German
and Italian, and Mo is exploring Spanish and Japanese, as a result
of the time they spend online and watching tv. So far neither one of
them are doing anything systematic, but they are both interested,
and exploring on their own. Ray found a German Runescape site and
learned a bunch of words very quickly - how to read them anyway.
George showed him Bable Fish, and that got him interested in
Italian, too. The boy who hates to read spent over an hour (that I
saw) looking up different words and expressions. Soon he'll be
cussing like a sailor in two new languages!

Mo has been learning Spanish mostly through Dora, but also somewhat
through....oh I can think of the name of it. Some cartoon about
masked wrestling. Her accent is amazing to me - she can pronounce
some sounds that I can't wrap my tongue around at all. Japanese
she's started to learn via Pokemon, and other anime-cartoons. Makes
me wish we could afford Netflix and Dish, both, though. I'd love to
rent more anime movies and series.

Anyway, that's what I'm gloating about today. Left to do,
essentially, whatever they choose, my kids are choosing to learn
about foreign languages. Ha! Take that public education! Take that
classical education! Take that tv and computer game skeptics!

---Meredith (Mo 5, Ray 13)

Joanne

I think you should post it on your blog. :-)

*Joanne-the devil on merediths shoulder*



--- In [email protected], "Meredith" <meredith@...>
wrote:
>
> I wrote this for my blog, but I'm not sure I want to post it
there -
> I have a feeling it will sound snotty to my relatives invested in
> public schooling. I figured y'all would get a kick out of it,
though:
>
>
> I'm overcome with disgusting smuggness. Rayan is exploring German
> and Italian, and Mo is exploring Spanish and Japanese, as a result
> of the time they spend online and watching tv. So far neither one
of
> them are doing anything systematic, but they are both interested,
> and exploring on their own. Ray found a German Runescape site and
> learned a bunch of words very quickly - how to read them anyway.
> George showed him Bable Fish, and that got him interested in
> Italian, too. The boy who hates to read spent over an hour (that I
> saw) looking up different words and expressions. Soon he'll be
> cussing like a sailor in two new languages!
>
> Mo has been learning Spanish mostly through Dora, but also
somewhat
> through....oh I can think of the name of it. Some cartoon about
> masked wrestling. Her accent is amazing to me - she can pronounce
> some sounds that I can't wrap my tongue around at all. Japanese
> she's started to learn via Pokemon, and other anime-cartoons.
Makes
> me wish we could afford Netflix and Dish, both, though. I'd love
to
> rent more anime movies and series.
>
> Anyway, that's what I'm gloating about today. Left to do,
> essentially, whatever they choose, my kids are choosing to learn
> about foreign languages. Ha! Take that public education! Take that
> classical education! Take that tv and computer game skeptics!
>
> ---Meredith (Mo 5, Ray 13)
>

Priscilla

Right back at you, Meredith.

We're going to go see the unsupportive relatives in FL (who include
schoolteachers) after the Rethinking Education conference over Labor
Day and also talking about "worthless" TV and video games. People
like us who are NOT being "schoooled" have TIME and energy to go off
on interesting tangents. But the relatives don't want to hear that.

DD14 is researching Urdu, Kashmiri, Buruschevsky, and other
Pakistani/Indian languages, because I "insulted" the mountains she
made on SIMCITY III (because they weren't weathered enought). Well,
she showed me the Karakorums of northern Pakistan in NAT. GEO. and
they ARE pointy and not weathered. And now she has spent weeks
reading and thinking about the area and its culture.

She's been in Japanese classes for 5 months now, from Anime. And her
huge Lego buildings from the last four years are mostly from video
games (one was a UCLA building we saw). And we're almost finished
with the real Dante's Inferno - (she read those "cheater" Cliff
Notes at the bookstore). I read it to her while she plays WoW. We're
renting a cello (because some guy plays it on Blood+, an anime show)
and she is listening to cello music all the time. And the Stand
Alone Complex (more anime, very cerebral) has led her to psychology
textbooks and consciousness studies and a class at the local CC.

But, who believes what she does? The family thinks we are wierd,
exaggerating (if I mention anything), and say that I'll be sorry,
because "how can I do this to her?" (I took her out of the public
school 4 years ago).

Should be an interesting trip with me biting my tongue...

Priscilla


--- In [email protected], "Meredith" <meredith@...>
wrote:
>
> I wrote this for my blog, but I'm not sure I want to post it
there -
> I have a feeling it will sound snotty to my relatives invested in
> public schooling. I figured y'all would get a kick out of it,
though:
>
>
> I'm overcome with disgusting smuggness. Rayan is exploring German
> and Italian, and Mo is exploring Spanish and Japanese, ....

Meredith

--- In [email protected], "Priscilla"
<bobcatpris2000@...> wrote:
>> DD14 is researching Urdu, Kashmiri, Buruschevsky, and other
> Pakistani/Indian languages

Cool.
Can you/she recommend any good, free online resources for foreign
languages in general? Ray's doing a good bit of dabbling right now -
last night it was Gaelic. He's been playing with Bable Fish and I've
been helping him google different things. Last night he was even
bold enough to check out some university sites (that's a Big Deal,
for him). Is that the best bet for dabbling? I don't want him to
feel overwhelmed.

Actually, would anyone know any good sites for downloading heavy
metal music in languages besides English? That might appeal to him,
especially if there was a translation available, so he could read
the lyrics. Yvonne (I think) sent me some links to....er, its been
awhile, I think it was Swedish metal, but they were just clips and
he wasn't interested in following up at the time - he was right out
of school and still pretty skeptical of anything from an adult. He's
sooooooooo much mellower now.

---Meredith (Mo 5.5, Ray 13)

Debra Rossing

>Should be an interesting trip with me biting my tongue...

There's a great idea for a new weight loss program - visit people who
make you want to bite your tongue and you won't be biting into another
slice of cheesecake! LOL

On occasion, I've been known to talk to the air or to my mashed potatoes
or whatever - that way I don't burst but I don't direct what I'm saying
at anyone in particular. If someone overhears and maybe picks up a
tidbit, great. If they overhear and ask what I'm talking about I can
just say "oh, just talking to myself as usual" and let it drop if it's
not going to lead to a positive situation. After visiting certain
relatives, hubby and I often just take a bit of time to have an Airing
of the Grievances (like at Festivus) so we can dump it all out and then
resume our lovely free lives.

Deb

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