Lockdowns and Classics

Well, folks, it looks like a once a week update is going to be what we can manage around here since school has started up. (Sorry we missed last week!) It might be a mix of Mitch and Mel authorship, too, just to throw in a little spice. Enjoy!

* The afternoons are a balance of snacks, goofing off, a little Spore thrown in from time to time, homework, and The Classics. I (Mitch) have found graphic novels of some of our best literary classics and the kids love hearing and seeing these these stories in action. The kids have heard Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Moby Dick, The Courageous Princess (not necessarily a classic, but good nonetheless), and now we are discovering an abridged version of Black Beauty. It is really cool to be able to share some of these things with the kids with the hopes of a long life of reading (not that that's actually in question!).

* Malcolm has moved over to the K/1 split class and it appears to have gone without a hiccup. Ms. B, his new teacher, is constantly gushing about his brilliance. I'm just excited to see him enjoying practicing his letters and how fast he's getting at reading. We're really glad that Ms. B is planning to move him up to grade one reading as soon as they're finished with the phonics program.

* I (Mel) have made it through my first set of midterms and gotten back a few assignments. Things are going well so far, although I've already had to request a paper extension (cringe). Bit early for that, I think, but Dr. M didn't seem to mind. Shakespeare and American Lit are definitely the most enjoyable so far... I'm an English major through and through, no doubt about that!

* Our new little nephew Josiah is growing and being cute and all those fun things, and EVEN letting his parents sleep now and then. How generous!

* Those of you with kids in school: are your kids doing practice lockdowns and emergency evacuations? It was a little weird to hear at the dinner table, "We did a lockdown today and it was spooky and fun!" It's freaking us out a little, the whole "hide in the corner and lock the doors and don't make any sounds" thing. Whatever happened to good old fashioned fire drills?! Does this seem weird to any of you?

* This song ROCKS... in a fun, bouncy, not rock-and-roll-at-all-really kind of way. We've both been singing it all week. Excellent hummability.

Lenka - The Show

* Speaking of music, we had a lot of fun working together on analyzing this Sufjan Stevens song for my Literary Criticism assignment. It's a sonnet, dude....