Losing My Marbles

... but in a good way!

I posted on the (not just) Daddy Day Camp blog about the "Marble Jar". totally NOT my idea! I got it from Let's Explore.

I've got a big bucket of marbles and a small galss canning jar. The boys (Andy & Ryan - Colin tried to eat the marbles) get to take marbles out of the bucket and put them in the jar when praise is in order. The amout of marbles is up to us and depends on what they did and how hard they try.

We used to use a system of pennies. Each kid had a jar and we had a jar. They lost pennies for mis-behaving, but could earn them back. It became focused on the negative behavior, not the positive and really just backfired, so we abandoned it.

The marbles are strictly POSITIVE reinforcement. It forces us to remember to give them plenty of praise and it is a form of praise that they can see and touch. They share a jar, so, they BOTH have to behave to get the reward. We've had issues of one instigating just to get the other in trouble (they both do it).

Once the jar is full, they will earn their reward - a trip to the book store and $15 to spend - each. Now, that could have just as easily been a trip to the Public Library - and it almost was. BUT Andy is reading the Andrew Lost series and is on his last book. We would be buying him more anyway... Ryan and I are reading The Magic Tree House on loan from his cousin, but I want him to get something he can read on his own. He has been reading to Colin, which is great, but he is reading "baby" books that are well below his abilities.

While we are on the topic of kid books, Barnes & Noble is having a summer reading program for school-aged kids. they read 8 books, fill out a "reading Journal" and bring it in to the store and get a coupon for a FREE BOOK! SInce my kids are required to keep summer reading journals anyway, this one is a no-brainer!

It's a Classic

A friend of mine was comparing jury duty to Waiting for Godot. I've read Godot. I hated it. Some guy waiting for another idiot who never shows up. (which does sound a lot like jury selection.) What was the point? Yeah.. supposed to be a great work of literature. OK. Thanks for wasting my time.

I really don't get why something should be enjoyed or even considered good simply because it is a "classic". Another point would be Great Expectations. It fell far short of my expectations. I'd rather gouge out my eyes with a rusty spoon than read the Iliad or the Odyssey ever again.

Don't get me wrong, I do like some of the classics. Shakespeare, Poe, Yeats... love them... and others. I just feel obligated to enjoy anything labeled as a "classic", even if I don't really like it.

Now that I'm thinking about it, it really isn't limited to the classics. I tend to avoid anything that "everyone" seems to be reading and enjoying. I feel obligated to enjoy a book simply because it is a best seller, so I don't read it. I almost missed out on The Perfect Storm and the Harry Potter books for this reason. I am glad I didn't because they really were fantastic - far better than the movies. I still haven't read The Da Vinci Code. I need to get on that.

Give me Stephen King over Homer any day! Hmm.. guess I'm not a book snob.. oh well.. I like what I like.

The End of a Journey

Author's note: Do not read the following blog post unless you have finished reading all 7 Harry Potter books. If you aren't planning on it, then, well, you should! If you are just waiting for the movies- SHAME ON YOU! read the books because you are missing at least half of the story.

I spent most of the weekend reading, but I made it to the end of Harry's journey. I was quickly sucked in to this boo as well - from Bill and Fleur's wedding to Gimauld Place and the break in at the Minisrty. I was amazed by the doe patronus (and I guessed SO wrong! I thought it was Ginny!) I was enthralled with the battle of Hogwarts.

I was, however a bit disappointed in a few loose ends that weren't tied up. How raised Teddy? I assumed it would have been Harry and Ginny since Harry was his Godfather. I like to think that it was Bill and Fleur since Teddy was part warewolf and Bill had been bitten by one. We know Neville became a teacher, but what about the rest of them? what did they do? I had Hermionie pegged for a teacher. What became of Kreacher fter the secret of Gimauld place got out?

yes, I know it is only a book (or seven), but what seperates a good story from a great epic is the author's ability to spin a yarn that can take the reader on a journey that transcends the line between fact and fiction. JK Rowling can spin wiht the best of them!

I am finding myself with the same sense of let down that I was after finishing the Dark Tower. I know what is at the top of the Tower. I know how Roland got there. I thuroughly enjoyed both journeys so much that I was sad to see each of them end. Fortunately, Stephen King is such a prolific and talented writer, that we can still read the tales of those who cross their paths with Roland along the way. King, in fact, is so talented that his tales not only transcend that line between reality and fantasy, he blurs it. how many novleists put a fictionalized version of them selves into their work? genius! I sincerely hope Rowling plans on telling us more about some of the people we've met along Harry's journey. What about the House Elves' version of the story? I'd love to read the last story from the perspective of the students who did show up for school at Hogwarts that last year. or what about a prequel? about James, Lily, Sirius, Lupin and even Snape at Hogwarts - or the original Order who fought Voldemort ending with his failed attempt at murdering Harry. Or was she setting us up for "the next generation" by sending the kids off to Hogwarts at the end.

While I was doing all of this reading, I knocked off a lot of stockinette in the round and finished Ryan's mittens. I went to take an FO picture this morning and realized that the mittens are on his hands on the way to school - D'oh!