The Theatrical Days of Summer

Ah, the theatah.

There's been a fair amount of it around here this summer. And we're good with that.

In June, Ramona and I were both involved with the local youth theater summer camp. I had the fun and privilege of adapting a beautiful picture book, The Rough-Face Girl, into a play. Do you know this book? (How did I not know this book before this summer? I mentioned it to Anne-with-an-e, my librarian, who replied, "Oh, yeah, Mom, that's a great book. You can find it in 398.2, Folklore and Fairy Tales.")

I fell in love with the story and the illustrations, and had a marvelous time crafting this lovely story into a play. 

Ramona was in another of the four short plays produced that week. She had a busy, exhausting, exhilarating whirlwind of participating in all aspects of play production. Theater camp has the kids rotate through everything: acting workshops, sets, costumes, lighting, and it all culminates in two performances at the end of the week. I just love the people who run our youth theater camps -- they are talented, dedicated, creative, and so full of heart. What a gift. 

Ramona will have another chance to be involved in a couple of weeks, with the junior camp (for 5-9 year olds). She'll be in a leadership role this time, helping out with the costuming workshops. 

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This week, she enjoyed a quick, two-day, "Short Film" camp sponsored by the library and the community college. The kids produced two short films, complete with fun, Stranger Things-ian special effects. It was fun to hear Ramona's behind-the-scenes stories, which included the fact that the door that mysteriously slammed shut was powered by my daughter, lying on the floor, kicking hard. The magic of movie-making. 

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In other theater news ... our current musical obsession? Hadestown. 

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Speaking of obsessions, our final encounter with theater this week came on Wednesday when tickets for Hamilton went on sale in our area. My daughters joined me as we parked in the virtual waiting room to buy tickets online and even though Betsy was 2,789th in line (to buy for our family) and I was 6,149th in line (to buy for my mom) we managed (in under 90 minutes) to score six orchestra level seats. (We were willing to Wait for It.) So, our whole family will finally be seeing Hamilton, along with my 84-year-old mom, who has never before been interested in hip-hop, but is extremely excited to spend some time with Alexander. (So are we. I mean, I may or may not have mentioned Hamilton a few times in the past couple of years....) 

Library Sales

Don't you love them?

On the one hand, I'm sad for the public when a treasure is relegated to the library bargain bin. How many others will be deprived of this book?

On the other hand, I'm delighted when a treasure is relegated to the library bargain bin, as the public's loss is my gain.

Here are a few favorites that we scored this week at our library's sale:


Loaves of Fun is an aptly named fun, cool history of bread.

Full of recipes, too.






I've blogged before about Mistakes that Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be. It was a regular check-out for the kids.
Now, fifty cents later, we own it.






Another great, fun, and informative reference is What a Great Idea: Inventions that Changed the World by Stephen "The Dirtmeister" Tomecek.

Read more about him here.






I love to have books like Breaking into Print: Before and After the Invention of the Printing Press just sitting around for the kids to pick up. In unschooling, we call it "strewing."
Aternatively, we just call it "life" and "interesting stuff."



Cooking a Meal from the Everyday History series is similarly strewable (as are all of the above.)





That's all I have time for now, but will be back later with more worthwhile finds.

Library Connections

If you're looking for encouragement and ideas about how to get great books into your local library, visit Maureen Wittmann's Homeschool Library Connection and her Pope St. Nicholas V
(where Ana Braga-Henebry also helps out with suggestions.)

And, don't forget Nancy Brown's The G.K. Chesterton Library Connection!

Another not-really-a-detour, and why I love the library

I love the library. It's a homeschooling mother's best friend.

We take the kids once a week, and never come home empty-handed. I just checked our receipts (thank goodness for computerized card catalogs and printed receipts of check-outs -- they've saved me thousands of dollars in fines and jail time.) We currently have 49 books out. Not a huge amount, but a typical amount.

Our library basket usually looks something like this:


The books travel all over the house, but the basket is home base. When we're done with a book, we return it to the basket, making it easier to track everything down on library day.

Ramona, inspired by her sisters and their library quests ("I'm going to find everything I can about Greek mythology," or, "I'm looking for books about poisons, so I can write a report on them,") was on a quest of her own last week. She decided she wanted to learn about sea turtles, so Atticus and the girls helped her find a few books.

Ramona loves to sit down at a library computer and tap out a catalog query. She used to always come home with books about mommies and the zoo (the only two words she could spell.) Now that her spelling repetoire is expanding, so are her book choices. But, it's quite likely that her first attempt to track down turtle books looked something like this:

sea tertls

But, Atticus steered her in the right direction, and she came up with these:


Her "report" (pictured above) begins:

sea turtles give me an expereinse two study them so that i can larn more about them

She has since added:

I like sea turtles because thayr’r qute

(I don't correct spelling, word spacing, etc., at this age -- I'm thrilled that she's writing, and I don't want to do anything to discourage her. I think Betsy told her how to spell "because.")

This is a "detour" only in that I didn't plan it and we're simply following the route Ramona's mapping. But, like the foray into Greek mythology, it's just a fun part of the whole journey.

Ramona learns so much from her older sisters (it's education by osmosis) and right now, what she seems to be learning is that it's fun to learn.

That's a road worth traveling. And it's confirmation enough for me that when you lay the groundwork of a rich, fun and educational atmosphere (especially one that includes regular trips to the library) the learning will follow.

Librarian meets Homeschooler

The homeschooler's dream librarian, Adrienne Furness at Homeschooling and Libraries, has completed a deliciously long interview with the delightful Maureen Wittmann, a librarian's dream homeschooler.

The interview begins here and you can get to the next six parts from there.

Adrienne just switched over to a Wordpress blog, so be sure to update your links.

I love libraries almost as much as I love coffee and chocolate

Some days, I love them even more. We homeschoolers owe our libraries an enormous debt of gratitude for making our lives so much easier, not to mention more economical.

I love taking my kids to a big building full of books and saying, "What would you like to read about today?" I love telling them that this is the beauty of tax dollars at work, and I love that they get so excited about visiting the library.

Homeschooling and libraries is the really interesting blog of Adrienne Furness, a children's librarian who is working on Helping Homeschoolers in the Library, for ALA Editions.

Adrienne has included on her blog a five-part interview with Mary Griffith, which is just wonderful. She recently linked to the blog and website of Scott McCloud, a comics author who is homeschooling and blogging his way across the country with his wife and two kids. And she has lots more there to read about as she investigates the world of homeschooling.