Sorry folks, no pictures today, either. It's Prose Girl again.

I had a great talk about prose vs. poetry and about the rise of the novel with Ollie, while Walter was in his trumpet lessons. We talked about what genres were around before the novel, how Daniel Defoe was a trailblazer, about how most stories fall into a few general plot themes, about the similarities between _Call it Courage_, which is what we were reading, and _Robinson Crusoe_, Walter's pick for book club this month, and Gordon Korman's _Island_ series. Then about post-colonialism, epics, the fine lines between novel, novella, and short story. About perspective in narration, factual information in works of fiction, and Native Americans and losing their names. Then Ollie went in for his flute lesson, and Walter and I talked about various science topics we've been covering in the past few weeks. We went over his perfect-score test on vertebrates and invertebrates and their means of reproduction and their life cycles. We talked about atypical mollusks and then I shared the stories of all of the cats I've ever owned, what happened to all of them (four of the six were relocated to new homes because, truth be told, I'm just not a cat person and my household isn't entirely a cat household). It all started because the picture of the "adult" cat in his science book made it look like the cat had a big hole in his neck. So I had to tell all about how we rescued a starving, dehydrated feral kitten that had a warbel in its neck. And then that kitten proceeded to die on the exam table twice...and was revived twice. It was nice to have some extended time to be with each one of them alone and talk about just what they wanted to talk about.

I just gave Ollie his standard 1/4" cut, and I feel like every day I have to face the fact that he just looks like he was born to be a Marine. It's probably not very patriotic, but I kind of hate this fact. I love my boy, and I don't want him returned to me in a body bag. But I also think he would make a brilliant Marine. Even now I'm watching the Military Channel and there is a mini-segment narrated by a Marine who had to shoot a dog in front of someone's door in Afghanistan and how terrifying the firefight was. And I totally saw Ollie sitting there telling a story like that (probably rife with lies...), thrilled by that kind of action and fear and drama. Since he was four he has wanted to be a Marine, and I keep thinking that the whole front line thing is going to go away, but he likes to lead in that way, he likes physical challenges, he likes to feel like he's doing the hardest, most, scariest, edgiest whatever it is. He wants to fire a really big gun. I want him to do whatever he wants to do and what he will do best. I just want him to come out of it alive in the end. Really, it's not too much to ask.

Today I made reservations for Walter, Ollie, and I to see Lois Lowry at Collegiate School next week. We are going to reread _Number the Stars_ for our co-op this Monday, since we haven't really spent time with our group talking about the Holocaust or concentration camps. It is a good corollary to _Hitler's Canary_, which is also about the Danish resistance and moving people to Sweden. We also made plans to go see the Tuskegee Airmen on Tuesday morning at the Virginia Aviation Museum. I really have been so pleased with our whole WWII study this month--lots of good experiences both in and out of co-op, with writing opportunities, chances to generation questions to ask other people, guest speakers, fiction to flesh things out, and oral reports.

Tomorrow the boys are going to an Institute for Excellence in Writing seminar. I have mixed feelings about this approach and curriculum, but I think it will be a good opportunity to have some information we've already covered to be reiterated by someone else. I'm then going to an all day workshop on Saturday about teaching writing using this program. I figure I can't totally knock it if I don't know as much as I can about it. And I don't think it's evil...just perhaps not the best way to go about doing things. But in the homeschool world, it's kind of gospel to think this is the best, so having more experience with it to perhaps teach in the future isn't a bad idea.

I've wondered for the past few weeks if we shouldn't be doing something a little more or different with the book part of our "school." Things are getting done really quickly, and I feel like maybe there's just not enough challenge or interesting stuff. The reason it started to matter is that Walter was crying and saying he hates "school," and that's totally not the outcome I was looking for. It's hard to listen to someone weeping and gnashing his teeth about the woes of school when he's only doing anything even remotely looking like "school" for 45 minutes a day; my sympathy wasn't totally aroused. But it does seem a sign to me to look at what we're doing and determine whether it's really working for them. There's nothing forcing us to keep doing what we're doing if it's making everyone miserable. So I've been sitting down with them and getting their input about what they like and what they don't. For now, I'm pulling in some new resources, especially the bunch of Critical Thinking Company books I picked up last spring and this fall. I can't say that they've entirely embraced the new stuff, but I'm liking the group learning aspect of them so far. We have done some of the _Editor in Chief_ passages, where you have to look for various errors in a paragraph, including errors in factual information as well as the grammar/punctuation/capitalization issues. And this morning we did some of the Reading Detective pre-tests, and they produced great discussion and it was actually fun, and the dog story ended up getting referred to several times later in the day. I was also happy that Walter truly enjoys the science books we've been using, which I originally had some doubts about. I chose them with him in mind, and sure enough, they're just the kind of thing he likes and just his level and scope.

Flute and trumpet are going well. This was Ollie's third week of flute lessons, and not only is he getting out sound now, which is a big deal, but he knows three notes and is playing "Hot Cross Buns" with Walter. He has made remarkable progress in a short time. I had second thoughts about whether flute was the best choice, but obviously it was a perfectly wonderful one. Ollie is eager to catch up so he can be in the intermediate band with Walter.

Less lovely was Cub Scouts, where I feel like the worst Scouting parent ever. I have totally dropped the ball. I need _Cub Scouts: The Missing Manual_ to get myself back up to speed on the when and wherefore of everything. My poor kids aren't going to get their Webelos badges on time with the rest of their den because I dropped the ball so badly. I didn't realize that they wouldn't get their badge (or that anyone even was getting a badge this Sunday...or even entirely that there was a badge coming at all...) if they didn't do the faith portion of materials. I don't even have the book yet, and they have to meet with a religious leader of some sort to talk about material. We were the only ones who weren't able to make it to the three-Sunday series to help them work through the material; you had to attend all three if you were going to attend any, and Ollie was also booked with a diving clinic one Sunday and then the other two the boys had birthday parties for good friends that we had already RSVP'ed to. Sigh. Anyway, I would have taken the bull by the horns and done the work with them before now if I knew that it stood between them and a badge. Meanwhile, Ollie has only completed one of the three requirements they need otherwise for the badge, and I confused the Athletics sequence with the Fitness one, so we did the wrong thing, and we can't do both at the same time for this Webelos badge becasue they are both in the same category or some such. Like I said...I need the missing manual. I'm lost. We spent a long time today working on requirements, but alas, we didn't entirely finish the right ones, if any of them. Walter has done a lot of scattered work on his own, but when I was on the spot having to tell what they had finished so they could get pins tonight, I was a stammering fool. They're very close on several, but not a lot of cigars, I'm sad to say.

What was good is that we had a lot of fun doing the requirements for athletics. They did pull-ups and competed with Frances, which is a bad idea for anyone. Ollie did 8, more or less correctly. Walter could barely do one and had to try three different grips. And Frances stopped at 10 perfect ones and made it look effortless. Then they all did standing broad jumps, and Ollie was our leader. All of them worked at it for a long time, figuring out better techniques. The goal is to improve over 30 days. I think it has lit a small fitness fire under everyone.

Tonight we talked about a lot of the Family badge topics. Who knows, maybe they will actually end up doing some of the money-saving ideas they came up with and some of the chores they put on the chart. I believe. I really do.

My throat is really scratchy and miserable now. I'm glad it's not the flu, but still, I'm about ready for this to either progress on to a fullblown cold or back off and go away. It has left me irritible and is making it hard to sleep because of the post-nasal drip. Winter is getting old very fast.