Back to School 09

Classes start tomorrow at WFU and HPU, so we've designated it as b-t-s day for Stratford Grammar School too. The schedule is still sort of in flux, but Dagfari is auditing an art history class at WFU this semester, and he'll go to the first class tomorrow. He's very excited about it, if a little apprehensive. I'm very happy that he'll have access to someone who knows more than he does about art history.

The WFU class meets MWF, so we aren't scheduling too many other classes until we get a feel for how much time the reading will take. Of course, D will still get at least one Albanian lesson per week by default. And we're hoping our lit tutor can fit us in again this semester. We're also going to force D to keep doing Teaching Textbooks Math 7, preferably with one of his homeschool friends.

Dagfari has been doing a lot of art again lately. This week it's been pastel chalk still lifes of pottery vases. They're quite nice, IMO, but of course the artist is unsatisfied with most of them.

Suleyman at the Siege of Rhodes

Upon Being Asked to Clean His Room...

Dagfari wrote a little essay, from which this is excerpted:

"The creation of art and literature are not to be countered by rules of cleanliness. The current home-school environment is not to be used as an excuse for the unlawful destruction of artistic or educational work-spaces. This should allow the student to move with complete freedom from one certified work-space to another. In other words, the education and enrichment of the members of this household is of greater importance than the enforcement of arbitrary rules of cleanliness.

Therefore, in the course of cleaning, this enrichment is still to be respected. The process of tidying should enhance it. The cleaning experience should be educational. This is the responsibility of the government, to step away from the current approach to sanitary enforcement. "

And so on. And he wonders why I give him the "just wait until you have kids of your own" speech at least once per week.

American Art, Ballet Blues

Summer camp season came to an abrupt end last week, as Dagfari bailed on NCSA ballet camp after two days. Five solid hours of nothing but dancing was not his cup of tea, and it didn't help that he was once again the only boy there. NCSA is a pre-professional program, and, as D put it, "They make you feel like ballet has to be the most important thing in your life." Which is does, if you want to be a professional dancer. But Dagfari doesn't. D's teacher from last year told us we really needed to put him in the ballet prep program, but I think it's clear that this would not be a good fit.

Everyone says that it's great to be a boy in ballet, since boys are scarce. I guess this is true if you're a boy who is very serious about ballet. But the downside, we've found, is that a boy who's even mildly talented will find it hard to pursue a casual interest. If Dagfari were a girl, no one would be pushing him ahead into advanced classes or mentioning a professional career!

At any rate, he now wants to take a break from ballet this fall. I hate to see him quit completely, but I can understand why he feels the way he does.

The July Writing Adventures camp at Reynolda House Musem was more successful. Dagfari didn't love every aspect (especially not the group writing activities-- can't blame him!), but ended up having a good experience. The teachers were good and the museum staff were happy to have a kid who was so intensely interested in art. Many of the Reynolda House staff know him on sight now, which he hopes will serve him well when he goes looking for an internship in a few years.

ProfDad and I are hurtling toward the fall semester now, and there are some interesting things in the works for Stratford Grammar School too!