A Lazy Sunday at Home

This video is embedded from Facebook....you might have to be a FB friend to see it...(which is great, just ask me)....so that is an experiment. I love lazy no school days...the kids learn so much. Gabriel spent hours at the sewing machine...Isaaiah practiced a piece on the piano that she learned yesterday.

Isaaiah also designed a barbie skirt and sewed it today..and I relearned how to put a snap into clothing. I haven't done that since the kids were babies and I sewed their clothing. Well the Barbie skirt turned out very stylish. Now Isaaiah is learning Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...on the piano......

Dreaming Good Things

Ever since watching Jalon play football, Isaaiah has been wanting to play football. I have taught her about the secret power of visualization and she has always been good at making things happen.
She also loves the Voetburg family, making friends with lots of good hearted people and enjoying music. So it wasn't until I was home again in Portland that I realized that Isaaiah and Gabriel created 2 days of magnificent football with the Voetburg family in the beautiful fall weather underneath the magnificent oak trees.

Gabriel seems to be visualizing amazing things as well. His musicality has improved so much over the last year that many people can hardly believe that this is the same kid. Gabriel is putting alot of excellence and heart into his music..and seems to be willing to make it all his own. He has been practicing completely on his own for more than a year now and is really maturing in his discipline and willingness to take responsibility for his music and his studies....and it is showing.
His fiddle scores were so high at this Red Bluff contest that even though he had a 20 point deduction for time...he still won the Jr. Jr. division at this competitive and well attended contest. There were 27 9-12 year olds who were very respectable musicians in this division this year.
I hope that the astounding musicality of the music he and Isaaiah played is apparent in the videos that I will eventually post...

here is a video and photo montage that I made tonight...This includes pictures of friends, Teacher Eileen and Jeff...award pictures...and pictures from stopping to look at Castle Crags and Mount Shasta on the way home...





Here are some videos....my camcorder is getting older and sometimes it doesn't record...it seems that I missed Isaaiah's first round...oops...This is Gabriel's first round...after all of the excitement of the falling microphone etc...the round restarted and this is where that video starts..but you can see Jeff Walters break a string on the guitar on the last tune and back away. Gabriel played solid as a rock...

Here he is playing Shuckin the Bush, Crying Waltz (you really have to commit to those high harmonics..it takes skill to land them sweetly and in tune), Runaway Fiddle



Here is a short compilation of the green room practice just before going on stage...and the slow start by the accompaniests, and the slow attack of the microphone...kind of funny..





Here is a short clip of Isaaiah in the Green room before her Round 2. This is Isaaiah first time in the Jr. Jr. division ages 9-12. She has been 9 for 6 and 7 days.....so she is barely old enough for this division. Pretty cute and she did a great job.






Here is Isaaiah's second round! YEAH Zayah!
Here she is playing Shuckin the Bush, Blue Valley Waltz (boy this is hard waltz people), Runaway Fiddle




Isaaiah's first round was great too...She played Soppin the Gravy, Velvet's Waltz and Crafton's Blues

Here is another Green Room video of Gabriel's second round. The Green room is the bathroom next to the stage (great acoustics)...The second round of the Jr. Jr.s was later in the day Friday...one day after a 9 hour drive...and then the kids were on stage earlier that day in Round 1...they spent most of the day playing football and catching frogs. Then about an hour before round 2 (We were excited that we even made the second round)....Gabriel forgets how to play Fidudulin..

This is where Mommy is the stage and kid manager and realizes that this has nothing to do with music and everything to do with chocolate chip mint ice cream cones and half a cup of chai tea. So we put the violins away and got ice cream QUICK!...a half an hour later....it was time to go on stage..and Gabriel remembered Fiddudulin again...

In the green room Gabriel is assuring himself he remembers this tune and the Guitarists are working out where and when they are going to play and stop...all very last minute..




And here is Round 2 for Gabriel...the magnificent Gabriel Man.



A little later after this round...Eileen (one of the 5 judges) told me that Gabriel played great but that she thought that he went over time....she just heard a snippet of talk. So I decided to tell GAbriel so he would have enough time to digest it before the awards. (Which I thought that I filmed)....arrrg.....He was alright with the news, he knew that he played his best was happy with whatever was going to happen. Isaaiah was very happy with third, and by then Gabriel knew that the time deduction didn't knock him below Isaaiah....He was very straight faced as Eliot got second...and the MC asked him why he didn't have a medal yet,....and he said...."I must have won first." ...and he did win first. I was so happy for him....and so was Isaaiah....Eileen and Jeff were so happy for him too...

The next days was mostly free, just round one Twin in the morning...again we didn't expect to make the second round of twin...so I let them play football and frogs all day. The Voetburg Mom after watching me trying to nap in the grass, invited to take the kids under her care for a few hours while I got to go to the hotel and take a nap...I went back to the hotel and was hard asleep for two hours....it was great. The kids loved pretending that they were part of giant functional family.







Spaghetti Rag and Princess of Wales has been good to the kids...they won Oregon State Twin Fiddle (all ages ) with it, played it on the Weiser Stage, and the tunes were still solid for this contest as well.




So it seems that I also didn't film Isaaiah's Jukebox performance ( more therapy for her when she is older I suppose)....She dressed up as an old time servant girl and sang and played the fiddle breaks to MockingBird...it was cute...You can find a video of Isaaiah and Summer singing this together at the Cider Squeeze on the first Cider Squeeze post.... Isaaiah got a nice second place medal for this trophy and some of the adorable older crowd fell into great consternation and controversy about how she should have had first....Isaaiah didn't care...this way she got a medal of each color.

Hey Waddya know....I found the missing videos.....
Technology is great....mysterious....but wonderful....So my camcorder when I load the pictures onto my computer...will put large chunks of video...more or less in chronologically order...I notice that if I load the videos into my extra sketchy, crash phillic, software that came with the camera...that the software will "find" videos for me...it puts them in actual complete chronological order (then after 3 or 4 seconds...the computer goes black and unresponsive). So this time the computer resurrected itself bravely after this insult and I was able to see the missing videos. ..............I just had to share all that...........thanks for listening.

So here is Isaaiah's first round!



and here she is singing and playing in the Jukebox division:





and here are the Jr. Jr. awards.....I was to excited to hold the camera still and in focus to get a close up of Gabriel's face when he won...but it is still priceless to see him win first place.

The Grandparents visit and the kids LOVED it!

Here is a movie maker video I made with the pictures and video from the Grandparent Birthday Party for Isaaiah yesterday. My adorable nephews also came. Zion and Gabriel enjoyed playing MonsterPocalypse for most of the time. Zion sure is a fine young man. Zeke played with Isaaiah and had a lot of fun scaring Grandpa John with the ribbon on Isaaiah's present. Higgens rode around in a puppy sling for part of the party to ensure that he had a successful party experience...and then later in the party Higgens fell in love with Grandpa John... Later when Grandpa John sat in a different chair, Higgens was unsure whether he was friendly or not again. Gabriel and Isaaiah were so excited to show Grandma Janet their Italian lessons and they learned a new word from her in their dictionary. Later the kids showed Grandpa John and Grandma Shelly their laptop studying and even signed up to play Chess with Grandpa. Thankyou everyone for fun time!

That's Cuz Your Awesome!

It was our first girl sleepover at our house, there was pizza and a movie. We watched Annie! In the morning the girls had croissants and yogurt with granola and sparkling cider. They played dolls and we did a fabric painting craft. The girls painted pillowcases...and I painted their jeans (and mine with white flowers)...so we all matched. Thankyou Summer and Isaaiah for being awesome!

More great Cider Squeeze Moments

I took so many cute pictures at the Cider Squeeze and the music was great so I am going mix the pictures and video....The first one is Gabriel, Bryce and Isaaiah playing Cousin's Reel together ...with pictures spliced in.

Here is a video mix of most of the kids, sorry if I missed anybody....everyone sounded great!



Here is a video of Isaaiah playing Crafton's Blues...spliced with many cool pictures...taken by MOI....and then Gabriel playing Crying Waltz....again with great pics.

Zebra Danio Reports

So it sounds so simple, heck I'll just throw up a few of these photos on the blog and....well....it just took much longer than I thought...I'll stop complaining now.

We have been setting up our aquarium to support a small tropical community...and have been getting the water tested...to see when the water was healthy enough to take fish home. I used old gravel hoping that the bacteria that digest ammonia and nitrites would still be there and would rehydrate and flourish....and I guess I learned that 8 years in various hot attics might be to much for those bacteria to survive. At the first water test....we had high nitrites...which meant that the bacteria weren't thriving enough to absorb the impact of the plant that died in the tank the week before (our photosynthesis plant...died of stress and high expectations)... So we did a partial water change and added supportive bacteria.

On the second water test, our ammonia levels were high....this is a mystery...something was urinating in the tank....no plants, no fish....science just doesn't behave itself with explainable outcomes sometimes...

But the pet store did send us home with some optimistic looking zebra danio fish who are reportedly very hardy. So we added more friendly bacteria...and the fish were freed after a temperature equalizing stage. One of the fish promptly died...and had decomposed at least 2 days worth in two hours. Again...difficult to explain....

Four hours later another Danio had kicked the bucket and volunteered himself for dissection.

The kids began work immediately collecting information on this type of fish and creating outlines...Then today they wrote their first draft report...I posted their first drafts here. Dead Danio Dude spent the night uncovered in the fridge and thus was easy to handle, but he was a little too dry. It was still fun to cut him open, but his organs must have dessicated into oblivion...or else he was a robot fish posing as an organic being. So if we have any more dissection volunteers we will dissect them wet....stay tuned.

Below is Gabriel's report...read gently dear reader...Gabriel has a great flow of ideas and enjoys writing....grammer and spelling are usually not part of the creative process for him...but hopefully this is improving.





































































Here is Isaaiah's report....again, I have not corrected these...and I am working with their Allprep teacher to have him correct their writing, because I think they will work more diligently if they think he is reading the report , rather ...than if it is me...


Below are the oral reports that the children gave after writing and reading their reports on camera

I had to answer the phone...the rest of his report is below...



and here is the dissection report:

Moments from the Cider Squeeze

The fall Cider Squeeze is at Foster Phillip Farm 5 miles north of Estacada. This farm (640 acres then) was purchased in 1847 by Phillip Foster, one of Oregon's earliest settlers. Phillip developed this farm for the arrival of immigrants traveling the Barlow road...click HERE for a link to more fascinating history.

The Cider Squeeze is a festival that includes the making of alot of cider, there are many historical exhibits, crafters.....and yes .....kids playing old time music and fiddle.

Eileen's fiddle kids have a concert here each year...I have alot of great videos which I will be posting. I thought I would edit the videos together, but there are to many great ones to edit anything out...so we'll just get started with Summer and Isaaiah playing the Flat Mountain Girl version of "Say Darlin' Say" which they learned by ear from the recording...and practiced together with friends and family in front of the fireplace at Summer's House.

Gabriel the Magnificent Gabriel Man

I was using that phrase, because I noticed that he wrote something like that on his essay book ...that he writes his writing assignments in. Here is Gabriel in Fencing class.

Some of the pictures are from the foam saber free for all at the end...in which the kids have black foam sabers...and fully gear on...and they go to town on eachother mob style...the kids love this.

In the fencing video, the kids are fencing to 5 touches...with certain moves like 4th Parry and some other ones .....made illegal...to lessen their dependence on them and to increase their creativity with other defensive and offensive techniques.

More Fun At OMSI

I still can't believe how cool this class is....I have so many folders full of unpublished coolness (pictures and video)....I don't know how I am going to catch up. Just yesterday I got great photos of Gabriel fencing...so hopefully that will be here soon. We had a great day at the Cider Squeeze performing and playing with friends....so hopefully that will show up here soon. The kids are learning Italian, and every day is filled with more Italian words. Todays word is Peche...fish....we are setting up our aquarium again and are hoping that the water will soon pass the nitrate test.

So ....so many cool things going on...Chess Club started up again...Mr. Malone has dynamic new developments in the organization of the 40 or more kids that we are teaching to play great chess. The kids are excited to be a part of the advanced chess team which is allowed to participate as Captains in helping the younger kids learn. Developing more of a team effort as a club, and building confidence and new leadership skills in all of the Captains.

Gabriel's In the Wild Class is learning outdoor survival skills, there will be a planetarium exihibit for him and Isaaiah through this class. Isaaiah is enjoying international dance...her teacher requires alot of writing in this class which Isaaiah feels delightfully adept at completing with satisfaction.

Isaaiah is starting Tae Kwon Do with a new instructor...and I am joining in as a beginner...I am feeling stiff and sore right now, but excited to be trying something new!!!Yeah for me!

Isaaiah's Birthday is coming up and she is hosting a sleepover with two friends...Summer and Charlotte combining different social circles...we have some crafts and a movie planned with some pizza. My friend Angie has served as my consultant in undertaking this activity....thankyou Angie!!!

So!.....so many things are going on!!!!

We are getting ready to travel to Red Bluff California, so the kids can compete in the Western Open. This is Isaaiah's first time in Jr. Jr. . Last year...(we didn't go) and fabulous fiddler Matthew placed 14th out of 30....So I am hoping that each kids will have a great time and not worry about making the next round...enjoy the fall leaves and the drive...and jamming... Oh the new thing in this contest is that GAbriel and Isaaiah will be joining in the junior picking division...each have a fiddle tune that they can flat pick on the guitar....and it is nice to approach this with no expectation of anything except stage experience...

So.....things are wild and crazy...and I better get my makeup on....

But before you go...check out my video of OMSI....and the cool people that work and play there...

A Walking Tour of Portland with AllPrep and Early College Academy

I love Portland and I know that its history is incredibly interesting...So I was excited to be able to go on this walking tour offered with the kids' online charter school.

I took notes as quickly as I could...as the guide was very amiable, informative...and a fast walker.

The kids knew that Pioneer Courthouse Square is known as Portland's Living Room...and so Gabriel was able to proudly raise his hand and offer the knowledge when the guide asked for other names for the Square. But we didn't know that the history of the Square included Portland's Central School principled by Principle Terwilliger, the school opened in 1858. Above is a picture of the school. Later a fancy hotel was built on the square and I was delighted when the guide told us that during the 61 years that the hotel was there, every sitting president stayed in that hotel and passed through its entrance gate, which still stands in the Square! That hotel cost 1 million dollars to build in 1888!




You can click on the picture of the schoolhouse (at the top of page) to go a historical site about the square.

Click HERE to go to a site that has many old photos of Portland Schools including Central School.

We also learned that on the S.E. corner in front of the Hotel as it faced the river. Was a mansion belonging to Mrs. Corbett...who kept a cow on site for daily fresh milk. So you can picture the contrast between the 8 story presidential hotel and the waiting limosine...and the cow in the front yard of Mrs. Corbett's mansion.

Then the square was a parking lot ( I can remember this)...and then in 1984 the Pioneer Courthouse Square was built.

Here is a slide show of the pictures that I took as we walked, and talked about art and sculpture, Portland's philosophy of "clean vistas", our street and building design and our recognition of many types of transportation.



We also learned that the Portlandia statue is the second largest hammered copper statue in the world. The largest is the Statue of Liberty. Portlandia is not green because the artist wants her to be waxed regularly. Portland officials learned that this has a benefit in making the statue to slippery for bird to roost on, thus now many of Portland's statues are also waxed. Above is the City Seal, on which the Portlandia Statue is based artistically. Click on the photo to go a wikipedia file about the City Seal.




The "Elk" Statue was a popular tourist destination for many years because of the uproar that it caused in that it looks very little like an elk. The Elk's club for whom it was commissioned was not pleased to say the least and this statue became and still is Portland's most controversial statue.

Some of the titles of my photos didn't fit in the final product of the slideshow so there are some incomplete sentences there.

Another fascinating fact that I didn't know...is that until 1967 the grassy riverfront of the Willamette was covered by a freeway...

There are too many interesting things to summarize them here...I would like to find some more old photos and facts. I think that Gabriel and Isaaiah had a great time taking photographs on the tour and making friends. They did store some interesting facts away and will look at Portland with more interest from this point on...

The kids were on the News!

Marilyn Deutsch called me and asked me if Fox 12 could film the kids on Sunday morning. It worked out perfect to film outside (though I had stayed up late the night before cleaning the house with my beloved bleary eyed husband). Oh Well...now we have a clean house. The kids had a great time talking with Marilyn about music and popular culture, and watching the camera lady. I love the editing job they ended up with!!! Yeah !!!!

Here are some pictures that I took while they were at our house...here is Isaaiah getting mic'd. Marilyn Deutsch is sitting on the ground there chatting with them. Here is the link to the news video:Fox 12 link

And here is the camera lady's Analog camera....its still analog...I had to ask...

The Oregon Symphony with Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Chris Thine and Zakir Hussein

The City of Portland Community Music Center gifted Gabriel and Isaaiah with tickets to this fabulous concert of the Oregon Symphony...they had great seats, in the third row of the director's circle. Mark and I have waited in the lobby before so that the kids could go to an event...so we were prepared to do that again. We realized though that we wouldn't be allowed in the lobby, so we window shopped, got some Starbucks...and went back at intermission to make sure that the kids didn't come out side.

The kids were having a great time! and really enjoying the show. Isaaiah was amazed that her violin teacher was in the first violins and Isaaiah thought her music looked very difficult. Both kids were impressed with Chris Thile on Mandolin, and Edgar Myer on Bass, Bela Fleck on banjo and Zukir Hussein on drums with a special name (I don't know what it is..)

Mark and I were fine outside, the weather was great, and we had a great conversation with a well traveled usher. Eventually some people that we knew came out and gave us their tickets...as the four greatest musicians in their field were going to play/jam after the Orchestra went home...so Mark and I got to go in and hear that...it is nice to hear fabulous folk musicians so well recognized and cherished by Portland.

The kids had had a huge day, Isaaiah coming home from the 32 girl sleep over the night before, getting dressed and performing at the Cider Squeeze (pictures and video are still to come), then eating dinner and going to this fabulous concert. After this huge day the kids were still animated and excited about the music.

We arrived home at 11:30 and Mark and I worked together to clean the house, for the FOX 12 NEWS crew that was arriving at 9:00 in the morning the next morning....but that is another post.

Alberta Street ....Last Thursday!

This was an extra fun Alberta Street Fair, because the kid's friend Jalon came along with us...and my cousin Ryan drove up from Salem to join in the fun.

There was something for everyone, bike jousting, dancing, fire dancing...tap dancing saxaphonists, dancing stilt people, African drumming and dancing, Native American drumming, new electric car technology, a beautiful moon, ice cream cones, hula hoop dancing, great paintings...a picture with Obama...many people having a great time in crazy costumes

Village Home Slumber Party

Here is a picture of Isaaiah and some of the 32 girls that attended the annual Village Home Slumber Party...there were 5 chaperone Mom's...Isaaiah knew two of the girls and made many many more friends...made crafts, watched a movie...and stayed up late.

OMSI Chemistry Lab!!!

Wow! I guess this class was offered last year too...and I feel so lucky that we get to take it this year...all because we could afford fast internet (fast internet lead to being able to participate in All Prep Academy, which lead to $500 tuition vouchers for each child to take class offered by Village Home) Yeah Village Home (its a homeschooling coop which operates like a mini university for kids.

Friday, Isaaiah is taking International Dance, and a PE class..Both Kids are taking a Math for fun class and Gabriel is excited to take a Drawing Class and Survivor Class.

Here is a video that the computer made showing bits of the Chemistry Lab class...
All of the experiments were great, at the end the teacher demonstrated some experiments using color indicators and another experiment burning sugar with oxygen acceleration molecules...(as if the sugar had unlimited oxygen to burn)...then she burned cookies, M&M's, and corn starch....the sugar burning videos are a minute long on Facebook (ahem....Beth....ahem Shelly....)...anyone else want to join me on Facebook..(I know the controversy, but I like it so far for keeping in touch daily with friends)

Isaaiah's lesson with Clarisse this week

Isaaiah and Clarisse also work on scales with increasing speed, Intermediate Positions (shifting), Double Stops, bowholds, sight reading (duets)...G minor 2nd movement...shown here...and G minor 3rd Mov...and the next book 5 piece called Country Dance. Isaaiah says that it is more difficult than the Bach double...

This video was supposed to be full length...like 4 minutes with loads of pictures, but it just wouldn't upload right....so I guess I just go with it as it is...

Clarrise is such a gentle and friendly teacher...Isaaiah really likes her as a person and as a teacher...








In other news....school is starting and my schedule is packed...AAuugh...what have I done? Orchestra is starting next week with Cindy Petty fabulous director. TKD and fencing are starting...new classes at Village are starting (drawing, international dance, math, science and chemistry lab and sports)...did I forget anything...Oh the new online charter is starting this week and next. I am hoping that our "academic" time investment is going to remain at around 3 hours a day....I might have signed up for to much, but we'll see. Already Gabriel is building a model of a cell, and Isaaiah is trying to wrap her mind around photosynthesis. Us humans tend to get to big a sense of our amazingness....I just think that we should take a moment and realize that ....we can't photosynthesize. Plants can live with out us (volcanos make CO2) but we can't live without plants. Gabriel has constructed the cell membrane part of the cell and my head is swirling with the amazing depth in which I can elaborate on just the cell membrane...Na+K+ ion pumps anyone? I could keep the kid busy on just the cell membrane for a month.

Today we went to Jalon's football game...great weather and I got to sit next to Jalon's mom Yolanda and chat and learn about the game. Jalon's team won..and Jalon got the quarterback on a play. Lots of fun to watch...Gabriel even said that he thought it looked like fun....Isaaiah wants to try flag football. Yolanda says that The Boys and Girls Club offers it....I don't think anything else is going to fit in our schedule...but at least the kids are inspired.

Grandma and Grandpa's House and the Oregon State Fair!

It's lucky that the kids play fiddle and that Lew Holt and the Old Time Fiddler's were at the State Fair on Tuesday. We love playing fiddle with them....and we needed the free entrance to the fair. So we came down the night before and stayed with Grandpa John and Grandma Shelly and Ryan...and we got to meet their sweet dogs...Sunshine and Angel....who were very loving and respectful to the kids.

I made a slideshow, with video shorts of some of the pictures...




I have to post this video seperately, it is Fred and Isaaiah singing Kansas City Kitty. The kids are a little rusty on this tune...and Fred knows more lyrics than Isaaiah, but it was still very cute...The Old Time Fiddlers are so friendly that the kids feel safe to try new things even on stage.... I eventually want to help Isaaiah learn all of the words...and have her and Fred share a microphone on a real stage....Can you imagine it?


Kansas City Kitty video


Here is a video of Les Tucker singing, Les is a dynamo...he plays guitar and fiddle...and he is able to figure out the key and the chords to a tune that he hasn't heard before on about one hearing....He came out into the audience and invited ladies to dance with him...while the others played on....and when he started singing this tune, I had to record it ...and I'm glad I did....

Les Tucker

Suzuki Moms Unite

The purpose of this post is mostly to document and explain how to modify the Suzuki Method to accommodate our adorable non-linear learners.

First I would like to introduce the concept of the wet cement....
When a child first learns a new tune or piece...it is as if the child, parent and teacher are starting out with clean, freshly laid wet cement. Schinichi Suzuki rightfully uses listening to imprint the cement with the knowledge of the piece that comes from listening...and the recording never makes a mistake....there are no wrong steps in the cement.

When I started my non-linear learner (Isaaiah) on a new piece when she was little. I made sure that we didn't make ANY wrong steps in the cement. We sang the notation with the correct note sounds in the car. I would sing the first two lines or so in the car...asking them to sing along...but I was singing louder than they were....I would sing at least 10 times through....then I would start to drop out on a few letters to see if the kids were on track (asking them to sing loud)...After that I would sing with one child and then with the other. Eventually I would ask each child to sing the begining on their own, then we would sing it together, and then the other child would sing on their own, then we would sing together. I would sing the correct note loudly if they went off track...and we wouldn't speak of any mistakes. Do not call attention to mistakes (it deepens the mark in the cement)

After I had each child confidently singing the first line or so by themself...We would pretend to play the correct fingers on our INVISIBLE VIOLINS. Invisible violins do not wreck the cement. Of course I did this in the car, and couldn't see if they were correct on their invisible violins, but their errors are not glaring and they improve with finger accuracy if you are singing slowly enough.

Sometimes we wouldn't pick up the real violin, or work on the new tune, until I felt that I had an 89% chance of having no errors. Then as this video will show...I would sing the note and the notation before Isaaiah could make a mistake. This video is after she played this tune for a while....she is playing faster, but still struggling with what comes next.

If the child plays a wrong note...sing the correct note...louder than they are playing it...and go forward...do not call attention to the error.




If a non-linear style learning child has gotten hopelessly entangled in errors in a song....it is better to leave it....and do a better job of preventing problems on the next song. Note order, and remembering section orders is an ongoing challenge...having problems with this is normal for any child. A linear learner will use cognitive clues to figure out what to do next...and Non-linear learner will play along with the music in their head...which has hopefully been laid cleanly down.

When I talked to teachers about a child's learning style, I mostly got blank stares...when I talked about the cement....I got blank stares. If I had let the teacher TEACH my child....we would have had a disaster...I always hurried to prepare my child enough so that the teacher wouldn't cause damage to the cement during the lesson. It was a little nerve racking.

Here are some Suzuki play through videos showing Lorita having fun with the kids in Book 1.


In the previous video, Lorita is helping the children remember to lift the bow, by associating it with a happy thought...the parents stand up and clap on the lift...and the children feel in control ....GENIUS!!

In the next video, Loretta is leading the children a world tour with Aunt Rhody, they go to Egypt (low ones), Antartica....and some other places, changing the style of Aunt Rhody to match the geography or custom. In Antartica...Aunt Rhody is freezing that is why the children are playing like shivering....



Lorita did many other amazing things with music, now I wish I had documented them all. I'll try to remember more or find more video.

The Oregonian

The article in the Oregonian came out this morning!!!!!...(I was starting to wonder if they had forgotten about us)...it was such a well written and pleasing article that I called Kristi Turnquist right away to compliment her on the writing and presentation....well I left a message...
So this video is pretty cute....

Isaaiah Ruby Jean Baltzell plays the fiddle

Hold onto Your Socks.....

The kids are learning their new fiddle tunes for the upcoming year and beyond. Both kids have learned 2 new hoedowns, 3 new waltzes, and they already had new tunes of choices ...Runaway Fiddle and Fiddudulin....So you are going to love these new tunes, and they are difficult. Blue Valley Waltz is really beautiful. Gabriel has taken his tunes to a whole new level. He was so ready to lay the old tunes down and get some new ones....he sounds like a much more mature fiddler on his new waltzes...especially his favorite: "Crying Waltz" Scott Esty has been working with him on music skills that have universal application, but are originating in Fiddle. Eileen is teaching and editing the kids on the tunes, and Scott is helping Gabriel emmensely with the artistry. I wish I had a video of Gabriel playing Crying Waltz...and you will see why old tunes need to be shed like a snake skin, so the new shiney tunes can come out.

So anyway when I get a video of Gabriel playing this I'll post it...

But I did get a video of Isaaiah playing Crafton's Blues for the first time for Eileen and Jeff today. Gabriel is learning this tune too, it is challenging because there is no music....no written music....and Isaaiah and Gabriel hardly get any time with their fiddle teacher...they share an hour 2x a month. So they need to learn this from the recording...and I also have a video of Eileen playing it. So Isaaiah said that it is pretty difficult to learn from a recording or video when the speed is so fast. She had to push herself to learn a small chunk everyday from the video, by playing the video...and then humming the part she needed to learn next. Then she said she kept humming it while she felt around for the notes...then she played it over and over again until she wouldn't forget it anymore...and only learned one new chunk each day. Well she finished it..(its been a month)...and she ended up creating a new version. It sounded great...but Eileen wanted to make sure that she didn't take to much artistic liscence and change it so much that it wouldn't follow the chord structure that it needs to adhere to. So we called Jeff Walters in from the Garage where he was building bicycles to play it with Isaaiah this first time...check it out.

Listen to these Duets!

Isaaiah's new teacher Clarisse Atcherson introduced these easyish duets as a sight reading exercise for Isaaiah. Isaaiah shares her scales, Intermediate Position Studies, and Double Stop studies with Gabriel, and Gabriel helps her with her sight reading and theory (rhythm mostly). So Gabriel learned the other half of the duets that Isaaiah was learning, and the kids have been having a great time playing the duets.

It is a tribute to their character, that they have worked these duets up individually and together with no help from grownups. The kids' ability to work together is amazingly professional....after years of carefully preserving and setting rules about how to work together and reinforcing the rules.....the kids have great skills in working musically together. The more that I stay out of the way...the more fun they have.

I have been hearing these duets around the house for sometime and found the time to videotape them today before the kids had their lessons at CMC.

Festival March



Minuet in G...Abraham and Ezra probably recognize this one!

The Boys have Gone..but we still have pictures...

We took the boys to the train, and sent them off with hugs and snacks. They are starting school next week, and Kevin was excited to see his new drum set that he ordered and had sent to Santa Maria. He wanted the drum set for a while and he made it happen by earning his own money this summer. Despite dismal employment statistic, and his lack of experience...Kevin made us very proud working for NBH. NBH was impressed with Kevin's willingness to work hard and try new things and are holding a job for him to claim when he comes back to Portland. The boys also worked this summer at The Bite with their successful entrepreneur and fantastic chef Uncle Mike who created and runs "Adam's Ribs" in Salem. Jason was reputed to be an astonishingly willing and helpful worker, and Kevin and Markie made their Uncle and their Dad proud and had a great time. Here are pictures from this summer...some that I might not have posted yet. I tried to photograph the skateboarding...it is difficult to do...Markie knows some great tricks and he and Jason were teaching Gabriel some of the begining parts of tricks. Kevin is pictured creatively enjoying the tinfoil that previously covered the front door (during the scorching heat wave).


We miss the boys already and hope that they have a great school year in Santa Maria.

Isaaiah's first TKD Belt Test

This is a video from earlier...her first sparring and first learning of the form...but it is in celebration of her white belt yellow stripe. Great Job Zayah!
This video isn't working, but the reason is mysterious so I am going to post it anyway and hope that it begins to work in the near future. Isaaiah has made several TKD friends, but her main little friend (don't know her name..she isn't pictured or filmed here)...is so tiny and cute...and she looks exactly like Uncle Tony's TKD instructor of decades ago...only miniturized into a girl age 7 or so.....but both girls are very serious about TKD

A few more animations....

Here is an animation that Kevin made when he was about 12....Kevin ...immediately grasped the continuity of the animation story, and he worked up three different backgrounds, and his character changed shape many times. None of these possibilities had been presented to him, he thought of all of them naturally...by himself....



Here is one that Gabriel made when he was quite young, 6 or 7...he was drawing pictures on the computer using the paint programs that comes with windows...and he drew and changed these photos...saving along the way...



I am uploading all of the animations that Jason made when he was little. He was the most eager animator, and prolific....he always had a new idea for animation...I had forgotten this until I had trouble finding his animations on my hard drive....then I remembered his sweet enthusiasm...I could barely keep finding the time to edit the photos of his artwork, and to arrange the animations. I wish I still had the energy that I did to mine their creativity that I did when they were smaller.

Hey, I got the animations uploaded...here is one of Jasons from around 2004. I think these animations were inspired by wrestling...and boystuff like that. This one plays a little faster than I remember...oh well..






Here is an animation I did, using some digital artwork that I found lying around..and a photo of Isaaiah. It is about 7 or 8 frames long..

Ancient Animation Festival

This animation is made from pictures that I took of Gabriel and Isaaiah playing in a cardboard airplane that I made...as you can see they have a map...and Isaaiah has a bike pump which she is using to make mid-air repairs...with her safety helmet on of course. I used Paint Shop Pro to erase the background of the original photo of them playing in the house...then I created my background..and I moved the digital photo with the erased background slowly across...the background...saving the photos as I went.

These animations are posted in honor of friend Bryce Hanson....I love making these animations. These are made with Paint Shop Pro 7 animation. I searched for free animation software...and I think there are some..I just didn't finish my search.


So here is another animation I made after the airplane was painted and on this day beloved friend Trinity came to play..so all of the kids went for a flight together over Union Station.



So you know that after you upload a gif to photobucket...that you must complete the end tag....it should make you feel like an html geek anyway...

Here is another animation I made...Chess is the subject...I saw a chess animation loop that inspired me to improve the concept by having the queen and the knight playing an animation loop. I drew this picture, put it in Paint Shop Pro...and erased and redrew parts of the picture digitally...saving it as I went. Then used the animation wizard to produce the GIF



Here is an early animation created and produced by Gabriel in 2004...so he was 6. I had met my husband Mark, and was sharing the animation concept with all of the kids to their amazement...so I'll be finding more kid examples of animation...polish sausage...

(never miss a chance to say "polish sausage")




This is an oil pastel painting that has been digitally altered and changed photo by photo...it was a valentine's animation..


There are many more animations that I made, but this one is the most complex digitally....Using Paint Shop Pro...I used many layers to change the texture and color slowly of this pink lady (I took the photo at Last Thursday on Alberta)...the little metal creatures are something that I created from a digital photo,...turning it metallic and taking the photo apart so that I could make the legs move on each little one, and change its size...in each frame. I'll post the frames in a slideshow eventually.

Oaks Park and Our Song Writing Contest

Well, about the songwriting contest first. Jason and Isaaiah won our first songwriting contest with their captivating..."Leisure Gulch". There was a little 4th grade humor on that video..so I was hesitant to share it. But this is our second Songwriting Contest..and at this writing we are still waiting for Gabriel to submit his entry...However, the Judges feel confident in awarding Jason Adams the "They Must Be Giant John Prine Award"...for his great song; "Trapped In A Box". Jason carries on the fine tradition of tongue in cheek songwriting...and self depreciating humor...Jason also made great use of the classic guitar chord turnaround!!Great Job Jason! (I am not sure why the video is so dark, it happened as it uploaded...)




Isaaiah wins the "Most Thought Provoking" Songwriting award, with her ballad " I want to Try Life" Which included nice song phrasing and ambitious poetry.



Here is Gabriel's Songwriting entry, Gabriel wins the WindhamCeltFest Songwriting award. Congratulations Gabriel!



Kevin wrote some nice music for this contest, naturally I had trouble filming and uploading it...so I might get a chunk of it up pretty soon. He is working on lyrics so hopefully we'll see that pretty soon.

The video will be here...when I get it....this video includes the second half of Kevin's music...the first half was lost into data oblivion...but it was cool


I also finally got a video of Markie's music...he had an audio recording on his aiptek, and was willing to do a reinactment of actually playing the music...Atanos Thilnoom


Its "buy on get one ride bracelet free day" at Oaks Parks every Tuesday. Kevin wasn't with us...but he was having a blast on a 5 hour each way road trip with his dad to go and fix a machine that Mark has never seen before. The people with the machine paid $500 just to pay for Mark's transportation to the site. Kevin and Mark got to stay in a nice hotel that even had a swimming pool. So don't worry they were having fun while we went to Oaks Park.

Markie, Jason and Isaaiah like to ride rides that make me dizzy to watch. Gabriel joined them on some of the medium crazy rides...and Gabriel also rode the bumper cars so many times that he became skilled at steering bumper cars.

Chalkboard Mural Art

Kid Art on the chalkboard wall that I painted recently. I painted Isaaiah's practice room quickly because the Oregonian was coming to take pictures and video...so I hurried up and made the room look better...and the kids had a great time coloring all over it...

I even started an oil pastel drawing...on black paper..


Markie drew the aliens around Mt. Hood, Jay drew the underwater scene, Gabriel drew the Shuttle in several stages of take of and eventually drew the space station many decades from now, Isaaiah drew buildings and roads, and Kevin drew the Moon...to which Gabriel later added a Moon Colony...Higgens didn't draw anything because he doesn't have opposable digits....but I guess Higgens gets the last laugh...because I don't know how to spell opposable...