We’ve been watching Falcon and the Winter Soldier. No spoilers, I promise. My daughter is having a really hard time following it, which is interesting on its own, considering she had no issues with WandaVision.
Her biggest problem, besides the sheer quantity of military, political, and racism language; is figuring out who the bad characters are.
Television, books, and movies normally have very well defined good and bad characters. She understands the twist baddie, but this show’s characters are all so ambiguously bad that it’s hard to tell.
Even the main characters do some bad and dumb things.
I’ve been trying to explain to her that in real life, bad or good isn’t what you are, but what you do. We’ll get to how it can be hard to tell the difference later, but right now she needs to understand that its not an innate state of being. No one is Good and no one is Bad. We are defined by our actions.
It’s important to me that my kids understand the difference both for themselves and for others. Because once you decide people are one way or another you put them in a box and start to paint their actions based off of your preconceptions. It leads to hero worship and accepting bad things because someone is good.
It’s a hard concept, but we have a lifetime to discuss it.
The story relies on the speed of changing scenes and action to distract the viewer from the absurdity. I love silly movies and I remember loving this one and thinking it was super clever. It’s not. It’s obvious and derivative with no idea how technology, romance, or combat works.
Score: 0
Characters
The characters are sacrificed to the alter of plot convenience and need for action. The love stories are shallow and uncompleted. Then then there’s the rampant racism (seen through black/brown face, yellow face) transphobic dialogue, and for a movie that is supposed to be about female empowerment, it doesn’t hesitate to slutshame and use it’s main characters.
Score: 0
Dialogue
This movie revels in it’s own cheese and then doubles down. It also take it to a level that makes no sense. The dialogue is terrible and only the caliber of the actors manages to make it palatable.
Score: 0
Visuals and Music
The action is passable and the special effects are good if convoluted. The scenery is lovely and the women have lovely if completely impractical clothing.
The music is a lot of fun, if a little heavy on the angel references.
Score: 1
Fun
There are some really fun action scenes, but overall the movie made me very upset. Did they really not know how a server works? The music was good.
Score: 0.5
Overall
This is a movie aimed at men, with the man’s gaze, that pretends to be about “strong women”. It is awkwardly racist, transphobic, and sexist. The action and awesome actors doesn’t make up for the lack of depth or plot.
My kids are so freaking cute. Seriously look at this:
I’m not boasting, I’m trying to remind myself.
Pegasus is teething his second set of molars so that means more wake-ups and lots of screaming. Dragon is not dealing well with the lack of routine during March break… Basically the two of them have been screaming and being difficult.
I have a headache, Jen has a headache, the kids ache, and I think we’re all looking forward to getting back to a “regular” routine. Normally, I’d have taken them to the park or shopping or maybe even to a museum but *shrugs* Covid.
Next week, I turn back on my work computer, Dragon and Jen go back to doing school and Pegasus goes back to climbing me and trying to help with my work. It sounds soothing and exausting.
This will pass, every day Pegasus starts to talk more and by Christmas we’ll have mini sentences. Dragon is learning more and more words, letters, and sounds. I wouldn’t be surprised if by this time next year she’s reading. That’ll be nice.
My kids are loud, they are very touchy, and those are things I’ll miss, but sometimes it’s all a little too much. It’s important to remember that they are adorable and I love them lots and lots.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano
Crochet
The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
In download materials
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –in download materials
Addition and pattern – worksheet in download materials
Storytime
Activity
Make a movie – write script, storyboard script, write out text (if any) Make a soot sprite – link to activity
Dragon had a rough morning this week in virtual school. The teachers asked everyone to speak one sentence aloud in French, and one student said multiple and Dragon got completely overwhelmed. Then she was called on next and she froze and wasn’t able to say anything at all.
They learned the letter K, which she was excited about. (because her name starts with a K) They had the kids make a K out of playdough…which seems to be a stumbling block for her for some reason. Then they had them write K words, which Dragon very much enjoys.
After lunch, they did math (subtraction). Dragon did extremely well and thoroughly enjoyed the lesson.
Piano: she practiced her finger exercises every day this week. They started with finger exercises during her lesson, and the practice is showing. Then they did lesson 3 for the last time. Lessons 4 and 5 both went very well. Clapping and counting is going much better. Then Dragon played chopsticks at speed!
We have a French playlist that I can play through the Google, with a variety of artists.
Crochet
She did not do any crochet this week.
Basic Information
We are working on yesterday (hier) and tomorrow (demain) around any given day. The months of the year is going well. We’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
The saisons de l’année are all memorized. We’re working on how each of them feel and the types of things we can do during each of them.
When I ask her “combien” for any of the above, she now responds in complete sentences.
Printing words
Printing went very well this week.
Counting objects/math-type activities
She had no problems with the counting worksheet. She has been counting to 72 out loud. I have started using a counting book to show her what the numbers look like, and she counts to 100 while looking at it, with a small amount of assistance in the 70s and 90s. We continued counting by tens. She is still having trouble remembering 80, but once she gets that one, she’s fine for 90. It’s a work in progress that’s getting easier each week. Something I find interesting – she forgets 75 and 95, when she used to forget 16. (say them in French, and you’ll see why I think it’s interesting)
Math went very well this week. She is really grasping concepts. However, there was a bit of an issue with drawing a star for the pattern, so that is not in the picture.
Storytime
We read stories from the teacher’s outline that was sent to us on Monday. She enjoyed that, and we will continue to do it next week.
We watched Vampirina in French on Disney Plus, one episode a day. Dragon is enjoying it immensely, and is even recognizing some words! We’re done the second season and have to wait until season 3 airs on Disney+. Until then, we’re going to watch Raiponce (Rapunzel series).
Activity
Make a fairy door – We glued the door together, painted and sparkled it, and then glued on a doorknob. We did not add any other decorations because Dragon didn’t want to cover up her painting.
Make a hair clip – Dragon chose to do the third style of hair clip, the bow. We cut up some material and glued it, and then sewed it to the clip. Dragon did a bunch of the pinning and sewing.
Make a miniature room – Rather than make a full room, we just made a bed. The bed itself is made out of cardboard, and the pillow is made from scrap fabric. Dragon did all the sewing on the inside edges and stuffed it, and I did the hidden seam.
I read today that Ontario has administered over 3 million vaccines, but that there were barely over 300,000 people fully vaccinated. I get the plan is to get everyone one dose as soon as possible, but that number is still depressingly low. At this point, the science is unclear on if this is a good idea (WHO, CDC, and vaccine manufacturers seem to think it’s not good). The lack of available vaccine is the problem and I really hope this isn’t going to bite us in the ass.
I see the numbers and I see my older relatives getting vaccinated and I’m happy for them while still being worried that they might have to take a third dose for effectiveness.
I should be heartened, the politicians are patting themselves on the back saying everyone will have one dose by end of summer. Everyone but children and teens of course. Those studies should be mostly done by Christmas, and if we’re lucky, roll-out should happen by next summer. (All three approved vaccines in Canada are in trials for kids and all are showing great promise. Moderna had a 100% effectiveness rating with 12-16 year olds.)
The mistakes we make now will seriously impact the availability and roll-out for kids. I understand that kids aren’t a priority. They aren’t hit in the same way as adults and that’s great. There have still been deaths (approx 200) and there have been multiple studies showing long term effects on kids. Overall they are rare, but if I can avoid the risk completely, I will. My wife and I are lucky that we can afford to; most people can’t and that frustrates me.
If I could get my vaccine later and give it to my kids I would, but that’s not how it works. Hopefully things will continue to accelerate.
I keep reading that the magic number is 70% of the population vaccinated. We can barely hit that without including teens and kids. We won’t because of the over-abundance of vaccine hesitance and anti-vaxxers.
I’m just feeling a pessimistic. I know it’s pandemic anxiety and I really hope I’m wrong and everything goes smoothly. As it stands, I have at least a year, probably two, before I can get a coffee with friends, go to the theatre, or walk by someone on the street without panicking.
Plenty of action and plenty of intrigue, but very little plot. The story is mostly just a vehicle for the next location and mini-story.
There are a few tiny twists, but overall it’s overly simple.
Score: 0
Character
The two main characters had a little depth but the rest of them were pretty cookie cutter (pun intended.)
I liked the brother-sister relationship, but the interactions felt shoehorned and not given enough time to truly develop.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
There were a few clever bits and the banter was acceptable but there wasn’t anything particularly interesting or exciting.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The visuals were all over the place. You’d have sworn that some of it was from a different movie. The locations were gorgeous but the characters bland and derivative.
The music was acceptable but not particularly interesting.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I enjoyed the nods to the fairy tales and to other movies in the same genre, it was pretty, and there was some fun action. The kids loved it.
Score: 1
Overall
Despite being derivative and predictable, the movie was beautiful and a lot of fun. Not great, but inoffensive with a few laughs along the way.
The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.
It’s a fan voted award in the vein of the Hugo’s, but with way more awesome people.
You’ll have to join the CSFFA for a pittance of $10 before you can nominate anyone. Once you’ve paid, you can nominate 5 works in each category. You can nominate works from now until May 18th.
The extra bonus of joining the CSFFA is you’ll get a voters package that includes most of the works that make the ballot. That’s 8-10 novels plus a bunch of other awesome stuff.
This comes a couple weeks later than the end of second semester, but I have an empty week here, and I don’t have one earlier, so here we are.
This post was originally set for the March Break, but as that got moved to April, so did this.
I am extremely pleased with how well homeschooling went this semester. There were a couple weeks that we were not able to complete all the activities, but overall, we had a lot of fun and Dragon didn’t miss the activities that we didn’t do.
The worksheets were a great success, and I won’t be changing how they worked. Dragon loves the math worksheets especially. If I could remove one, I’d get rid of the counting worksheet, but since that’s her favourite, I won’t be.
The biggest struggle we’ve got is convincing Dragon to speak French. She seems convinced that she can’t do it. Although she knows individual words, but can’t seem to pick them out when people are talking to her, and she doesn’t try to meld them into sentences on her own either. We’re just continuing to soldier on.
