Category Archives: family

Chinese Cherry Blossoms

By david.humphrey | Published: January 24, 2011
Our girls are taking piano lessons, and really enjoying it, in no small part because their teacher is so good.  Her approach, which favours understanding over memorization and a reasonable learning pace over a standards approach, means that they are much more willing to experiment beyond the sheet music they’ve learned.  I wasn’t taught this [...]
Also posted in Digital Swag, Home School | Comments closed

In 2010

By david.humphrey | Published: December 31, 2010
I don’t typically feel the need to write New Year’s reflections, or make predictions about the future.  Not usually.  However, I have been thinking about 2010 over the holidays, and trying to distill for myself some of what was significant. My blog’s readership increased by a factor of 10 in 2010, thanks in no small part [...]
Also posted in Idea Factory | Comments closed

“First, I’d like to make a forest”

By david.humphrey | Published: October 11, 2010
If you’re a parent of children between the ages of 4 and 8, you are perhaps familiar with the stuffed animals called Webkinz.  These are small toys–dogs, cats, sheep, birds, etc–and every purchase also brings with it an access code for a 1 year membership to the online Webkinz World.  Registering on the site allows [...]
Also posted in Come on!, Digital Swag, Home School, Idea Factory | Comments closed

Sustenance

By david.humphrey | Published: September 14, 2010
On Sunday the girls and I made an apple pie.  My wife handed us a bowl full of apples and told us to make something delicious.  “Dad, we’re going to have to make a pie, and do it from scratch.”  I let the girls do almost every step by themselves, with the exception of peeling [...]
Also posted in Baking, Home School | Comments closed

On the small gathering

By david.humphrey | Published: September 4, 2010
Nephew: “Where are you going tonight?” Me: “To see a movie.  Have you ever gone to see a movie at a theater?” Nephew: “Yes.  I’ve seen Curious George, and I didn’t like it at all.” Me: “Did you not like the movie, or the experience of the theater?” Nephew: “The theater.  It was me sitting with a bunch of [...]
Also posted in Introversion | Comments closed

Fruit

By david.humphrey | Published: August 9, 2010
Our weekend was punctuated with experiences related to fruit.  It began with the most enjoyable visit to our local farmer’s market I’ve had, since we were all four able to ride the 10Km on bicycle.  Tricycles, training wheels, and now rails to trails–the girls are at an amazing stage. When we got to the market we [...]
Also posted in Food, Home School, Nature | Comments closed

Two Experiences with the Local

By david.humphrey | Published: June 26, 2010
1) I’ve been amazed this year at the amount of Canola planted in the fields in our county. I’m used to seeing a lot of soy beans, corn, and winter wheat. But the shock of Canola visually, a bright, beautiful, electric yellow, never ceases to give me pause. And this year it’s [...]
Also posted in Nature | Comments closed

Great Horned Owl

By david.humphrey | Published: June 13, 2010
One of the things I look for is the Great Horned Owl. When I was a small child I saw my first. It had been killed (by a car as I recall) and my uncle, a taxidermist, was going to stuff it. He brought my brothers and I to see it, and [...]
Also posted in Nature | Comments closed

Questions about books after dinner

By david.humphrey | Published: June 9, 2010
“Dad, do you know the Odyssey?” I do. “How do you know it?” I’ve read it in English many times, and fought with it in Greek, too. “Tell me something about it.” I leave you in Browning’s hands for a more complete account of a similar exchange.  Allow me to quote “Development” at length: MY FATHER was a scholar and knew [...]
Also posted in Home School, Reading | Comments closed

On Distinction

By david.humphrey | Published: June 6, 2010
The other night Luke and I were out for coffee, and our conversation, as it always does, turned to teaching, reading, and thinking.  He was telling me a story about a friend of his, who is struggling through the life of the junior academic.  “I don’t have time to read,” complained the friend, who spends [...]
Also posted in Home School | Comments closed