The kids and I went to see the Oregon Ballet perform A Midsummer Night's Dream yesterday. The costumes were beautiful and I really enjoyed the dancing. Samuel enjoyed the story and dancing quite a bit and was able to follow it while I narrated some. He said he was up for trying out the Nutcracker again this year. Maybe we can make it to Act II this year!

We tried reading the original Mary Poppins recently and finally stopped and sent it back to the library. I have to admit that we all prefer Disney's Mary Poppins to the original, much to my surprise. The nanny in the book is very gruff, sniffing at everyone and quite sarcastic. It is interesting because the little girl Jane in the book is quite a bit more like the character of Mary Poppins in the movie. It is like they took a bit of some of the characters to make her more extraordinary. Mary Poppins in the book does have access to quite a bit of magic and magic adventures but she is also very coercive and even rude! We trudged on a bit and finally Samuel opted one night to skip it and move onto our old standby, Paddington, who I believe is a good example of unschooling. (Of course we read quite a bit before I made the connection!) Sure, the Browns' children are off at boarding school, but Paddington gets to do his bear-led learning at home with much support and freedom for his adventures. We are really enjoying the books, made even more fun because they were mine when I was a little older than Samuel. I remember getting my first Paddington Bear when I was 8, almost 9, from Santa Claus!

Now we are reading The Secret Garden and enjoying it very much.