My son, Nick, and I have been following the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" show on Nickelodeon since it first started showing. I love the show. It is beautiful and moving, funny and suspenseful, and all over wonderful. I love the message it sends of finding peace through non-killing ways. I wouldn't say nonviolent because Aang, the Avatar, must still fight in order to stay alive and save people from the Fire Nation, but he has a rule that he lives by and that is not to kill.
So when we heard about the live action movie coming out (probably due in part to their awards and nominations for the cartoon), Nick and I were so very excited. We wondered how they would throw three seasons worth of material into a couple of hours and pondered the idea that they may break it up into separate movies so they would be able to truly tell the story (which is what they did).
We had been counting the days until it came out. Finally July 1 arrived and we all (our whole adopted family) decided to go this weekend. We were so excited to finally be able to see it on the big screen.
Horrible. That's all I can say.
What a huge disappointment! I can't imagine the writers for the TV show were involved at all in the movie because it had none of the personality that made the show so wonderful. I highly doubt the writers or director of this movie ever saw the series. The characters were not well developed. They didn't even pronounce the characters names the same way they did in the show. The plot and scenes were all out of order. Some of the very important characters were not in it at all and some of the most important parts (like the ending scene of the movie) were completely fabricated (and very badly at that).
There were parts of the movie where, if you had not followed the series like Nick and I did, you would not have known what was going on. There were other parts where, if you did follow the series, you would have said, "What the ...? Where did that come from?" Even as a follower of the show, I was lost in some parts.
And the pace was just gut wrenching. It was so dull and slow at the beginning. I felt for sure it was going to pick up and we'd have our wonderful story, but it never did. It just kept going on and on and on.
And the humor from the show was just tossed out. The thing that made the show so wonderful was its full range of emotion. Aang, the main character, is just a goofy kid and Sokka, the Southern Water Tribe warrior, was comic relief throughout the show. But in the movie, everything was serious and there was no fun at all. I recall about three humorous parts in the whole movie. That's it.
I'm not difficult to entertain
I'm no movie critic. I'm not that picky when it comes to movies, so it is really bad when I decide about 20 or so minutes into it that I want to leave. I had this huge hope that it would get better, but it didn't. The final scene (the totally fabricated one) had some decent special effects, but still wasn't worth the money I paid to see it.
We were all very disappointed. Those of us who followed the show felt it could have been so much better. Everything was already written for a screen, so it wasn't like they had to make it all up. The scenery and everything was already laid out for them, but they clearly paid no attention to the actual show when producing this film. I understand some embellishment here and there, but they took a beautiful idea and destroyed it.
And for those of our group who did not follow the series, they were a bit confused and bored. They were more impressed by the special effects because they didn't realize it wasn't supposed to be that way.
Don't go
I know the temptation to go see something even when everyone else it saying it's horrible. You have to see for yourself. Maybe your tastes are different. Well, I will remind you that bad movies like this come out on DVD quickly so they can recoup their losses as quickly as possible. If you must see it, wait until then and rent it. Otherwise, save yourself the money and heartache. I was so saddened that they ruined the beauty of the show like they did. If you are a follower of the show, don't see it. It will disgust you too.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Thankful for my baby
I just heard from a friend who had lost her baby. She and her husband were so excited, but that all came crashing down a week and a half ago.
I feel thankful that I had no complications when I was pregnant and everything went as planned. Nick, so named when I was 4 months along in pregnancy, was bouncy on the inside and still bouncy now 12 years later.
No matter what kind of complications we have now with his education, personality and just growing up, I thank God every day I have him.
We should all be thankful for what we have.
I feel thankful that I had no complications when I was pregnant and everything went as planned. Nick, so named when I was 4 months along in pregnancy, was bouncy on the inside and still bouncy now 12 years later.
No matter what kind of complications we have now with his education, personality and just growing up, I thank God every day I have him.
We should all be thankful for what we have.
Teaching him to be the best he can be
When I had my son tested for dyslexia, they did several tests on him to gain an idea of his overall intelligence and abilities.
After all the testing, we discovered that my suspicions of dyslexia were true. But we also discovered that his IQ is really high, but only because it was skewed by one score in particular. All the other areas he was tested in, he scored in the average range, but in an area called perceptual reasoning he scored off the charts (literally).
I asked what "perceptual reasoning" meant and I was told it probably meant he was good at LEGOs and would probably do well in engineering in the future.
Flashback
When I was in high school all the kids had to take an assessment that was going to let us know what career would suit us. I was a good student and I learned easily, so I did well on the test on all parts. It was decided I'd be good in the engineering field.
No one really explained what that meant to me and I decided it must have something to do with math and I despise math. So, I got a degree in Literature and work in graphic arts. I decided being creative appealed to me a lot more than math.
If someone had taken the time to explain exactly what engineering really meant, especially the part where you get to be incredibly creative AND you get paid more, then my life would have taken a drastically different turn.
I do appreciate my education in art and literature, but maybe the grass is greener on the other side? Oh well, c'est la vie.
In the here and now
So, back to the situation at hand. I still don't know exactly what the high score in "perceptual reasoning" means to my son.
I started thinking: How do I use this information to his advantage? How do I turn him into the best engineer he could be? How do I find out what he would be really good at AND enjoy? Most importantly, how do I go about teaching him?
He was already fascinated by architecture and I had already gotten him a book on famous buildings in the world. He really does love his Legos. He loves building, and has shown an incredible interest in video games that have build levels.
Well, I think I just answered many of my questions. The thing I really needed to do was just let him discover on his own what he'd like to do. However, while letting him explore on his own, I watched and shared in his fascinations. That helped me steer him along his path.
No schedule for us
I couldn't have done that though with a regular school schedule. (Yes, this is another shameless plug for unschooling.)
In public school they spend the first month or so of every new school year reteaching the things they feel certain the children must have forgotten over the summer. Then instead of going on to new areas of study, they just "enhance" upon the same old information taught the year before.
In the two years I had put my son back in public school (after having him out for a few years), they taught him all the same math skills, all the same literary skills, all the same history information, etc. In his second year of math it was addition again for the first six weeks. They increased the number of digits he had to add, but really once you teach a kid to carry over the excess really good, it doesn't matter how many digits you have.
I put him back in public school thinking I could get help with his dyslexia. Boy was I wrong. I knew we were going to be better off going back to home schooling.
Off on tangents
When I first started homeschooling, I created a curriculum and tried my best to stick to it. But as I was working with my son, we would go off on tangents. He really likes to talk about what he's learning and really likes to express himself and his ideas. I'm NOT about to put a stop to that. NO WAY! So I started letting him explore.
I didn't realize I was unschooling at the time (I didn't know the term for it). But I know it's right for us now.
I would suggest unschooling to anyone who doesn't like to squeeze into a schedule. First of all, you don't feel any pressure to get a certain worksheet done or get a certain writing project out of the way.
Secondly, when your children do want to explore something, you can let them. Why in the world would you put a limit on a child's desire to learn something? That's why I love unschooling. I love, love, love to learn new things, but I only learned to love learning when I got into college and got to choose what I wanted to learn.
So I decided to let my son learn the college lifestyle now and learn what he wants to learn. He's still gets a healthy dose of math, writing, literature, history, science, art and more. It's all included; it's just a part of everyday life. And the whole goal of an education is to gets kids ready for living life, right?
•••
I don't know if it was the LEGOs that made my son smarter, or if it was because he was smart that he was so good with them. Every year for birthdays and Christmas, he begs for more LEGOs. I figure if they are helping him learn more about being an engineer, then why not! One of the co-founders of Google made a printer out of LEGOs when he was in college. Must be great toys!
After all the testing, we discovered that my suspicions of dyslexia were true. But we also discovered that his IQ is really high, but only because it was skewed by one score in particular. All the other areas he was tested in, he scored in the average range, but in an area called perceptual reasoning he scored off the charts (literally).
I asked what "perceptual reasoning" meant and I was told it probably meant he was good at LEGOs and would probably do well in engineering in the future.Flashback
When I was in high school all the kids had to take an assessment that was going to let us know what career would suit us. I was a good student and I learned easily, so I did well on the test on all parts. It was decided I'd be good in the engineering field.
No one really explained what that meant to me and I decided it must have something to do with math and I despise math. So, I got a degree in Literature and work in graphic arts. I decided being creative appealed to me a lot more than math.
If someone had taken the time to explain exactly what engineering really meant, especially the part where you get to be incredibly creative AND you get paid more, then my life would have taken a drastically different turn.
I do appreciate my education in art and literature, but maybe the grass is greener on the other side? Oh well, c'est la vie.
In the here and now
So, back to the situation at hand. I still don't know exactly what the high score in "perceptual reasoning" means to my son.
I started thinking: How do I use this information to his advantage? How do I turn him into the best engineer he could be? How do I find out what he would be really good at AND enjoy? Most importantly, how do I go about teaching him?
He was already fascinated by architecture and I had already gotten him a book on famous buildings in the world. He really does love his Legos. He loves building, and has shown an incredible interest in video games that have build levels.
Well, I think I just answered many of my questions. The thing I really needed to do was just let him discover on his own what he'd like to do. However, while letting him explore on his own, I watched and shared in his fascinations. That helped me steer him along his path.
No schedule for us
I couldn't have done that though with a regular school schedule. (Yes, this is another shameless plug for unschooling.)
In public school they spend the first month or so of every new school year reteaching the things they feel certain the children must have forgotten over the summer. Then instead of going on to new areas of study, they just "enhance" upon the same old information taught the year before.
In the two years I had put my son back in public school (after having him out for a few years), they taught him all the same math skills, all the same literary skills, all the same history information, etc. In his second year of math it was addition again for the first six weeks. They increased the number of digits he had to add, but really once you teach a kid to carry over the excess really good, it doesn't matter how many digits you have.
I put him back in public school thinking I could get help with his dyslexia. Boy was I wrong. I knew we were going to be better off going back to home schooling.
Off on tangents
When I first started homeschooling, I created a curriculum and tried my best to stick to it. But as I was working with my son, we would go off on tangents. He really likes to talk about what he's learning and really likes to express himself and his ideas. I'm NOT about to put a stop to that. NO WAY! So I started letting him explore.
I didn't realize I was unschooling at the time (I didn't know the term for it). But I know it's right for us now.
I would suggest unschooling to anyone who doesn't like to squeeze into a schedule. First of all, you don't feel any pressure to get a certain worksheet done or get a certain writing project out of the way.
Secondly, when your children do want to explore something, you can let them. Why in the world would you put a limit on a child's desire to learn something? That's why I love unschooling. I love, love, love to learn new things, but I only learned to love learning when I got into college and got to choose what I wanted to learn.
So I decided to let my son learn the college lifestyle now and learn what he wants to learn. He's still gets a healthy dose of math, writing, literature, history, science, art and more. It's all included; it's just a part of everyday life. And the whole goal of an education is to gets kids ready for living life, right?
I don't know if it was the LEGOs that made my son smarter, or if it was because he was smart that he was so good with them. Every year for birthdays and Christmas, he begs for more LEGOs. I figure if they are helping him learn more about being an engineer, then why not! One of the co-founders of Google made a printer out of LEGOs when he was in college. Must be great toys!
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