The boy has talent

The boy has been drumming a lot. I must get around to sorting out some private lessons for him...in the meant time, he does African drumming with Manchester Music Service twice a week and seems to be pretty bloody good. So one of his teachers suggested he try out for the Chorlton young Musician of the Year. He did, and got through to the semi finals, which were last night. And now he is through to the finals, which will be in May. And while he did really well, and I heard lots of people talking about how good he was ... he was the only percussionist in a competition where somebody is chosen from each instrumental group. :-)

Autonomous learning in action

Ok, so this autonomous education thing sometimes still bewilders me. I
don't mean that I don't believe in it, or that I am not 100% confident
in my children's ability to learn. It is just that sometimes, things are
a bit odd. like the role The Simpsons has played in their education.
The Simpsons is how they learned about puffer fish, and what started
C on his Edgar Allen Poe kick.
So, this morning over breakfast, C was asking me what the 2s meant
in things like H2O and CO2. So we had a little chat about hydrogen,
carbon and oxygen molecules. Then I thought I would show him the
periodic table of elements, just to see if he was interested. He has a
great memory. So great in fact that he already knew about the periodic
table, and could rattle off the first 8 elements in order. Why? Not
because he has been secretly studying it. But because of the Dan le
Sac/ Scroobius Pip song, Development. So we are off to listen to music
now...