Monday, February 12, 2007

Squid Who Study

As traditionally educated Squid, Papa and I have a fairly low opinion of the math curriculum in the schools that the Squidlings attend. We are of the "drill and kill" school of thought -- the attitude that repetition is necessary to make the basics automatic.

To that end, Papa Squid (by license, a teacher of Mathematics) procured two sets of math books from a well regarded company. Most nights he yells "math books" and the squidlings come out of their rooms and dutifully attend to their math. Tonight a new rule was instituted. Not only do the squidlings have to do their math, but the parental Squid also have to study.

Now Papa Squid is always reading non-fiction and educating himself. I, too, tend toward self-education but my areas tend to be a bit more soft-core, according to himself. Knitting, weaving, and crafts in general were ruled out. A suggestion of "New York City History" was met with laughter. And so this evening I found myself reimmersed in Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. Before you all start telling off Papa Squid you must realize that I do want to read this book but tend to put it aside in favor of pretty much any decent novel. There are several other books on tap that I have intended to read so this daily 20 minute study period will force me to focus for a change. That said, I did manage to prop the book open and knit a bit on Little Squid's scarf while I read. And yes, I did absorb what I was reading and even kept on reading when time was up, until I reached the end of my section.

Now for some serious fair isle knitting!

2 comments:

Cookie said...

Ya'll are so cute.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I shouldn't tell you this, but The God Delusion is available as a documentary on YouTube in two parts (maybe now "was" since Google bought You Tube). Good book--I've only read parts of it in the bookstore. But I'll admit I love Dawkins--he is so fiesty!