Knight camp #4
Here is a great little video my Uncle made of Cassius’ most recent Knight Camp performance. Cassius really enjoyed himself this time, and commented that he could tell that all his hard work was paying off. He felt pretty good about defeating two of his teachers also.
Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
Cassius was in the Saint Patrick’s Day parade this Sunday with Academie Duello. It was pouring rain and then snowing. He was freezing waiting in the cold for four hours, but had fun swordfighting down Georgia Street.
The Return of the Blueberry Ninja!
Cassius needed to make a puppet for his animation class and he decided to make it of the Blueberry Ninja cartoon he greated a few years ago. He worked sooooo hard on this. The work was very detailed and he had a challange figuring out how to cut along the line. Making the joints was very tricky.
I sat beside him all day as he figured it out. Sometimes I would do it at the same time as him and explain exactly what I was doing. This really seemed to help. I found it difficult to figure out myself, since I had never done it before. It was really fun solving our problems together. After working all day he figured out that the arms couldn’t reach the weapons because the were on the back. I moved then to the front for him. He really did make the puppet himself though!
They spent the class making an animation with the Blueberry Ninja as the hero.
BBC planet earth
At Cassius’ request Rosalind lent us the BBC planet earth series. It’s five DVD’s with three episodes on each one. Cassius says, “It”s quite good and interesting!” He enjoys the information about the animals most of all.
We talk about our thoughts as we watch it. We talk as much about the surprising information as we do about the film making. We’ve noticed that there is more of a focus on the visual images, which are amazing, than information. We also noticed the techniques they use to build dramatic tension. We both would prefer if they didn’t do this. For example they use scary music when a lion is hunting but happy music when a dolphin is hunting. Cassius thought it would be funny if they switched the music around. He also noted that if you’re cute when your hunting you get the happy music. He is considering becoming a vegetarian – I can’t believe it’s taken this long!
The Chase Part II
I wanted to share my latest stop-motion with everyone. Can you find Cleopatra?
“The much anticipated sequel to The Chase. A Stop Motion non-stop Thrill Ride that will leave you wanting more. Part 2 of 8 year old Cassius’ Trilogy. **Contains Violence, viewer discretion is advised.**”
Those Pesky Magnets
Here is a stop motion of Cassius trying to get some rare earth magnets off the fridge – Buster Keaton style.
Free UC Berkeley Lectures
The University of California Berkeley has put entire course lectures
on YouTube. You can watch all of the lectures from several different
courses for free. They are also planning on expanding the available
courses.
Why not to let toddlers watch “Flushed Away”
I found the following items stuck up my toilet drain last night:
1/2 a pencil
1 nail brush
1 contact lens case
3 tooth brushes
and last but not least:
A bottle of contact lens solution (120 ml)
The funny thing is the toothbrushes went missing a week ago, and the toilet was working fine until last night! Both Paris and Kaia informed us that they were “down toilet” with gleeful giggles, but the toilet flushed, so I thought the brushes were either long gone or somewhere else.
After a week I really wanted to brush my teeth so I put on a rubber glove and stuck my hand down the toilet. Just joking! I actually spent $65 (really $65 ugh!) on new toothbrushes and toothpaste the day before. I thought the electric ones would be harder to loose.
My question is what did they actually manage to flush away? Is that where Tyler’s cell phone went?
A Homeschool Family
“Oh, the misconceptions and realities of homeschool life, from comedian (and homeschool dad) Tim Hawkins. Tim plays the dad in the video and his wife, Heather, plays the mom. Half of the kids are theirs – the rest are friends”
Rome
Rome is another BBC/ HBO series that we really enjoyed. We watched two seasons in two weeks! Cassius is totally into Rome now and is going to be a Roman Centurion for Halloween. The week after we finished watching the series we had a no TV week and Cassius spent all his time reading about Rome in his 
Usborne History Encyclopedia.
The series is extremely well written. It really shows what the day to day life of a Roman would have been like. The story is also much more accurate than many past stories about Rome which have been portrayed on Film. Of course, I think they did take many dramatic liberties. And I wouldn’t recommend it for every kid; there’s lots of swearing, violence and sex in it. I love history, and a good story always inspires to me to go find out what really happened!
Walking with Dinosaurs
Cassius really enjoyed the BBC Series Walking with Dinosaurs. He was never into dinosaurs before, but after watching this show he read his whole dinosaur handbook . I was surprised by how many names he remembered ( I didn’t remember any). He discovered a velociraptor in his bedroom which has become one of his prized possessions. He was disappointed when he found out that scientists now believe that velociraptors had feathers. They do look funny with feathers. BBC is presently doing an international Walking with Dinosaurs Live show!
The Chase Part 1
This stop-motion film is made up of about 60 pictures and took Cassius and his dad two hours to make.
Cavemen
Cassius is very interested in cavemen right now. His dad rented the DVD Quest for Fire. “Haven’t you seen that?” I said, “Cassius is going to be board to death.” But I was wrong – again – he loved it! He asked a lot of questions and really wanted to understand the cavemen’ s behaviour and experience.
We watched the BBC series Walking with Cavemen last night and really enjoyed it.
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Professor Robert Winston meets Lucy, the first upright ape, and follows her ancestors on the three-million-year journey to civilisation. Broadcast in 2003, Walking with Cavemen combined special effects with the latest scientific theories, to show us what it really means to be human.
Cassius & Paris 
