Busy day...
May. 19th, 2011 08:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiberaddictLet's see...yesterday Himself and I walked 2 miles for PE. We hiked up to the local gas station for ice cream, then back again. Good walk - and I'm not all that sore this AM. We're gonna try to do a slightly shorter walk today...we'll see. Looks like rain.
Got the Jeep last night....$260 for a new battery and oil change. $113 was the battery....the majority of it was the diagnostic charge. :sigh: At least it's back, and it's running well.
Today we have the exterminator coming out, the new phone service installer coming out, and the dryer repair man coming out. BUSY.
Rosa actually ate her breakfast this AM and asked for more - so she's getting better. We got almost a full strip-cup of milk - also good.
We're doing a Unit on Literature Terms today, so Himself is prepared for book reports. That should be fun....
I read "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" this week. It's......wow. I do NOT agree with her philosophy AT ALL. Yes, Western parents do tend to coddle their kids (I don't); yes, a lot of Western parents pay their kids for good grades (Nope. Not here.) However......
I do NOT demand straight A's....or perfect scores every time. I do demand that they do their best- which, right now, IS straight A's. If they don't get A's, I do NOT drill them on the subject for hours on end. (She does. :boggle:)
And....I believe in music classes. I do. EVERYBODY should know the rudiments of music theory, and should be able to play an instrument. BUT. She started her girls at 3 on the piano (I think that's a little too young, but whatever)...only she insisted on at least an hour practice PER DAY. AT 3. :NO:
And she forced her youngest daughter to play violin.....and insisted on 6 hour practice sessions. She (who is NOT musical, by her own admission) would go to the lessons (minimum 2/week) and take notes...then leave her daughter NOTES - some TYPED - about what to practice. (She included some of the notes. Insane! - We're talking about technique, we're talking about intonation...from a person who really has little clue. You might be able to parrot what the teacher says, but if you don't have a clue you're not HELPING.)
OK. *I* play violin. I had natural talent for it.....but I wasn't pushed. I had fun - and THAT'S what it should be about. I got pissed at the author's repeatedly saying that her kids were "prodigies". Ummm....no. Not with that type of practice schedule. Practicing 6 hours per day, 7 days a week will give you technical brilliance...NOT prodigy. ANYONE would play fantastic with that kind of pressure.....(and she did the same with her oldest daughter and the piano. At one point, her daughter GNAWED on the piano from stress.)
She also describes a "violinist's hickey"...which I had NEVER heard of. Supposedly ALL violinists get it....I never did. And I was *GOOD*....my favorite tutor was a Julliard professor on sabbatical. She interviewed ME before agreeing to take our money for lessons......and she was brilliant. I learned SO much from her....yet, I never got calluses on my fingers, or a "hickey" on my neck....because I wasn't forced to practice for hours on end. :sigh: I practiced when I wanted...and yes, sometimes it was for 2 or 3 hours, but I was having FUN......:bangs head:
The book was interesting...but also sad. I feel for her kids.....they didn't have any sort of childhood. (I don't care about the "no sleep-overs" or "no playdates"....we do that, too. It was the forced practicing that I disagreed with the most - she even made them practice on VACATION, for pity's sake - even overseas.)
Gotta skitter...
Got the Jeep last night....$260 for a new battery and oil change. $113 was the battery....the majority of it was the diagnostic charge. :sigh: At least it's back, and it's running well.
Today we have the exterminator coming out, the new phone service installer coming out, and the dryer repair man coming out. BUSY.
Rosa actually ate her breakfast this AM and asked for more - so she's getting better. We got almost a full strip-cup of milk - also good.
We're doing a Unit on Literature Terms today, so Himself is prepared for book reports. That should be fun....
I read "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" this week. It's......wow. I do NOT agree with her philosophy AT ALL. Yes, Western parents do tend to coddle their kids (I don't); yes, a lot of Western parents pay their kids for good grades (Nope. Not here.) However......
I do NOT demand straight A's....or perfect scores every time. I do demand that they do their best- which, right now, IS straight A's. If they don't get A's, I do NOT drill them on the subject for hours on end. (She does. :boggle:)
And....I believe in music classes. I do. EVERYBODY should know the rudiments of music theory, and should be able to play an instrument. BUT. She started her girls at 3 on the piano (I think that's a little too young, but whatever)...only she insisted on at least an hour practice PER DAY. AT 3. :NO:
And she forced her youngest daughter to play violin.....and insisted on 6 hour practice sessions. She (who is NOT musical, by her own admission) would go to the lessons (minimum 2/week) and take notes...then leave her daughter NOTES - some TYPED - about what to practice. (She included some of the notes. Insane! - We're talking about technique, we're talking about intonation...from a person who really has little clue. You might be able to parrot what the teacher says, but if you don't have a clue you're not HELPING.)
OK. *I* play violin. I had natural talent for it.....but I wasn't pushed. I had fun - and THAT'S what it should be about. I got pissed at the author's repeatedly saying that her kids were "prodigies". Ummm....no. Not with that type of practice schedule. Practicing 6 hours per day, 7 days a week will give you technical brilliance...NOT prodigy. ANYONE would play fantastic with that kind of pressure.....(and she did the same with her oldest daughter and the piano. At one point, her daughter GNAWED on the piano from stress.)
She also describes a "violinist's hickey"...which I had NEVER heard of. Supposedly ALL violinists get it....I never did. And I was *GOOD*....my favorite tutor was a Julliard professor on sabbatical. She interviewed ME before agreeing to take our money for lessons......and she was brilliant. I learned SO much from her....yet, I never got calluses on my fingers, or a "hickey" on my neck....because I wasn't forced to practice for hours on end. :sigh: I practiced when I wanted...and yes, sometimes it was for 2 or 3 hours, but I was having FUN......:bangs head:
The book was interesting...but also sad. I feel for her kids.....they didn't have any sort of childhood. (I don't care about the "no sleep-overs" or "no playdates"....we do that, too. It was the forced practicing that I disagreed with the most - she even made them practice on VACATION, for pity's sake - even overseas.)
Gotta skitter...
