Saturday 25 October 2008

Busy Little Tree

Littletree has been keeping me pretty busy lately too. She's recently started going to a weekly art class with some other homeschooled kids, which she really enjoys (though the kids tend to do more playing than art ;) )

96 art class

Littletree announced that she wants to get a telescope so she can look at stars. It seems astronomy has taken over dinosaurs as her newest fascination, so we've been getting books on stargazing from the library, and we downloaded Stellarium, a cool software that simulates the night sky as seen through a telescope. it's very cool; check it out.

I've also been looking into buying Littletree a telescope, so that means a lot of learning for me, since I know absolutely nothing about it!

Littletree also decided to take up violin, she's been asking me to buy her one pretty frequently lately. I think she was inspired by a friend of hers who has a violin and busks with it. Of course, the friend can't play violin at all; she just screeches the bow over the strings, but being a cute little girl, manages to pull in a fair amount of money in a short time.

Now, I'm all for encouraging children's interests, but I'm not quite ready to take the plunge into the whole 'tortured cat' kinda instruments. Seems she just wants to make money, so we're going to take her guitar out and try busking a bit :)

Since we've been doing so much house hunting, Littletree said she wants to help pay for it (all the places we really love are out of our budget). She insisted if we buy her a violin, she'll busk and make a million dollars to buy a castle made of diamonds!

I love that unschooling gives us the freedom to live gently and follow our interests as they flow :)

10 comments:

  1. I love that.. castle made of diamonds. Kids are so sweet... my son is always offering to help pay for stuff by selling his "magic beans," which he gets from the green bean vines in our garden..

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  2. Try the violin! DS has been "playing" since he was about 19 months. We got him a 1/16th size for $25 when is obsession began and we haven't regretted it a bit. There was very little screeching, amazingly. LT might need a 1/8th size, but we found a 1/4 for just $50 (we had to upgrade after DS played a full size one and fell in love with the "big sound").

    Happy house hunting! May you find a perfect match soon!

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  3. F@#$ you are beautiful!

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  4. With Littletrees lovely smile and wonderful enthusiasm it wont be long before you're in your new twinkly home xXx

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  5. Whoa, I just realized that I haven't commented in forever!

    LittleTree is so cute.....I remember being that age and I was so into volcanos. I wanted to learn EVERYTHING about them!!!

    And I too, always wanted to play violin. I still do actually. But my mom still won't let me because:

    1. Violins cost too much.
    2. Lessons cost too much,
    3. I'm already doing way too much, lol.

    You have to keep us posted if LT gets her violin or not! And photographic evidence :)

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  6. Can I live in the diamond castle too?

    Little Tree is such an amazing child. Sprinkle her with sparkles and give her a kiss for me.

    Love Genie, Breeze, Skye and Aiden

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  7. 1. I would love to come visit your castle made of diamonds, please. 3 sons and no daughter has left me woefully diamond-castleless.
    2. Unschooling IS the most freeing part of my life, even here in a big city.
    3. I watched "The Golden Compass" last night and the little girl looked an awful lot like your LittleTree, though slightly older. Her name is Dakota Blue Richards.
    4. Have I already told you this is Stinkerbell from MDC??

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  8. eeeeeek newbie violin... run the other way!!! My little sister started violin in 6th grade and drove the house batty. Seriously, to me (and even as a music teacher) the absolute worst sound to my ears is beginning violin. Recorders come in second. I guess the screeching payed off because sis does play professional in a symphony now ;) IMO first piano and second guitar are great beginning instruments because they are a springboard for any other instrument after that.

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  9. I agree Erin :)

    stinkerbell, you're very welcome in our diamond castle. you too genie :)

    stella, great to see you're blogging regularly again.

    and thanks everyone for your lovely comments :D

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  10. mf, Lily also offers to busk to make money for our family. Like LT her performance is a mixture of recorder or tin whistle and dance. :)

    Im & Ab both play violin and seriously it was only painful for such a short time. The smaller instruments can often be picked up cheap. Our half size was $20 from a violin teacher and we bought a new bow for it. We are about to upgrade to 2 new violins, ouch! $$ Lil will get the half size one and the other is on loan from their current teacher.

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Thanks for your lovely words, witty banter and entertaining discussion :)