Of Dragons and Boys

From The Lion's Den

We've had a great January in school. It is making up for the false starts and detours of earlier this year (school year). We've been reading from the bookA cavalcade of dragons which is a collection of dragons stories put together by Roger Lancelyn Green. They've been wonderful! Some familiar, some not. We've discovered dragons good and kind and those of a lesser good, those as toxic of the poison and fire that spews from their mouth. We even watched the movie Outlander, which is a cross between a sci-fi and a Viking movie. It was a decent movie, not great, but certainly tied into our study for the week, all by happenstance.

We've also talked a lot in the last few weeks, about everything from algebra to philosophy and a few things in between. Talking seems to be an essential part of our schooling and it's not just me. In fact I feel like a guide as the conversations meander down the road. Z has always been a good listener. Not that he has always obeyed, but he has good comprehension of whatever ideas I present. But Z has always liked to talk. He was in private school for prek and Kindergarten, he got in trouble for talking, a lot. In fact it was one of the points the teacher brought up in our parent teacher conferences. "Z prefers to talk instead of doing his work." You might not know the first time you meet him. He's quiet, he's an observer, or as noted in the Mark Twain biography we started this week, he's a noticer. I'm not surprised he likes to talk, it's partially genetic. Tigger likes to talk, my mother likes to talk. Put the three of them together and my dad and I, the quiet ones, just sit and watch.

Fast forward to now and talking in class is required. He's never at a loss for words. Sometimes I reign it in, like the comment the other day during algebra class "What would you do if your hip was recalled?" Obviously an offshoot from a commercial. Amazing since he rarely watches TV. But I almost laughed wondering how in the world that thought popped into his head while conquering an equation with a variable. Are the wealth of algebra memories stored in the same place as commercials? (probably not, I hope not!)

January was a good month. We accomplished a lot, except getting a pet dragon. Z asked, I suggested we settle with the one we own, the one in the above picture. It eats less and besides he is one of those good and kind dragons, unless he is eating a Hot Wheel.