While we were in Poland, we took a train ride on a relatively old-fashioned train.
general
Uncommon Core
Imagine forty-some states all adopt new standards that involve drastic realignment of what and how all English teachers runs their classes. Imagine that the standards have such a different focus on instruction that most existing state standardized testing would have to be radically changed. Imagine that the standards are in fact so different that you suspect that early and fairly complete implementation of the standards in anticipation of the changes but before the new tests are put into place (i.e., old tests taken by students taught to new standards) would result in a noticeable decrease in overall test scores. And then imagine that perhaps there are rumors swirling that it is all for naught, that it will all be rescinded. If that’s true, think of the time wasted, the tax dollars wasted, the work wasted.
Only rumors? Does it really matter?
Explaining in Poland
I've only now been getting around to the videos from Poland.
Clearing Out
"I've outgrown them," L explained as she packed up her Barbie odds and ends -- including her beloved Barbie Camper -- to be taken down to the basement for storage until an eventual yard sale or something similar.
But the Boy is into vehicles, and he spotted the camper, and he took it out of the box for a spin.
Saturday
Saturday is usually a day of hustle and bustle in our house, a day of constant movement and seemingly unending motion.
Yard work, repairs, cleaning, cooking, child care, soccer games, shopping -- it makes the day pass in a flash. And I never really notice just how busy we usually are until we aren't. With both kids a bit sick, today became a stay-at-home day.
And except for some cleaning and a bit of cooking, with some grading squeezed in here and there (40 out of 50 complete) and the Girl's Polish schooling, it was an uneventful day.
It's hardly something to complain about, though. Nothing on occasion is just fine.
Transformations
Forty years before this version was recorded, Led Zepplin was the epitome of hard rock bands. Drugs, women, private jets, utterly destroyed hotel rooms: they made the mold of 1970s rock star. With the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, becoming so inebriated he choked to death on his own vomit in the middle of the night, the band collapsed.
And around thirty years after that, Plant teamed up with Alison Krauss, the greatest voice in bluegrass today (or any other genre), and among other things, resurrected some Zepplin classics, completely re-imagining them. Both the songs and the man, transformed.
Silly Story
A bug named Rose lived in a hut made of Roses. Rose is a good bug. Rose has a tub full of mud. Rose likes to play in the mud. Rose is awesome.
A story by the Girl.
Riu Riu Chiu
Playing Solo
