Andy Warhol

Jake is doing some creative work in the style of Andy Warhol, designing soup tins, shoes and a BMW M1 - all on paper though, which he thinks is not doing justice to Andy's (and Jake's) genius. He would actually likus to paint the car but his parents are less adventurous than he is.

Signposts

 

We have been talking a lot about road signs lately. Why many of them feature red and white, why many tell you what not to do rather what to do. Sophie who is just learning to read realized she usually doesn't need to 'read' at all when she sees a road sign. We took a walk in the city, Jake taking photographs, Sophie walking around wide-eyed realizing how much she can 'read' already. 'Look, Mummy, there is a payphone! And there is a hotel close by... We are not supposed to take photographs here', et cetera. We even discovered ancient signs, carved in marble about hundreds of years ago when Venice ruled Verona and spread its icon, the winged lion of Saint Mark, all over the place.

Back to Italy

I have been away for a week, visiting some good old friends of mine in Canada. As rewarding as educating the children at home can be, I so much needed a break to take in fresh air and spend some time in an environment that is free of demands
While I was away, Sophie's and Jake's dad took over. His approach is very different from mine, and that is a good thing. I guess his way of doing things is a lot more structured than mine and the children seemed to like that. I browsed through the algebra Jake had written down while I had been away and realized they had worked a lot. It is great to have other people sharing the effort to school your own because they bring in fresh air, doing things differently, presenting the children with alternative ways to think, create and communicate. And even though no one said so, it must have been great for the kids too to have a break from me... I am happy to be back!

The classroom by the river

Italy's great weather sometimes seems to be a myth without foundation. In Verona it has been raining for three consecutive days. The Adige river is getting bigger and bigger by the minute. The fact that we live close by the river has prompted the kids to go and check, most importantly to report on how the trees are doing. The trees live on the banks of the river, but are now flooded so that you can only see their tops. You can tell that the waters of the Adige have come all the way down from the Alps and that it must have rained a lot there too.
One day in early fall we went up all the way to the Alto Adige into the Val Venosta where the Adige is little more than a stream. Oh, how much I like being able to take these strolls to the river front, to stand there with the kids in pouring rain, discussing rivers and streams, wondering if the water will uproot the trees, why it actually rains at all, and why eventually the Adige's waters will end up in the sea - oh, and why sea water is salty, of course. It's nasty weather and those few people who happen to pass by do so in a hurry. And tomorrow, finally, there's going to be some sun, so the weather forecast tells me.