Unschool Rules

Regular readers and friends will know right away that when it comes to heroes, Ashar thinks they don’t come any better than James Bond.

So when it came time to join the iHomeschool Network’s celebration of March birthdays, when Ashar spotted not one but two Bond actors, she said we absolutely had to honor both Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton, born March 2 and March 21 respectively, in a post!

Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton as James Bond

All about Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig was born March 2, 1968, in Cheshire, England. He started acting at age 6, and by the time he was 16, he’d left school after being accepted into the National Youth Theater.

In addition to his well-known role as James Bond in four movies so far, Daniel Craig also had roles in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Golden Compass, Road to Perdition, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Cowboys and Aliens, to name a few! He’s also done several historical movies; keep reading for a review of one of our favorites later in this post!

Disclosure: This post has some affiliate links. I only link to things we legitimately use and recommend, so if you see such a link, it's because we really do believe in the book or item!

Daniel Craig is married to actress Rachel Weisz. He has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage, and Weisz has a young son.

Interestingly, Daniel Craig is the first actor to portray Bond who was born both after the film franchise started and after the death of writer Ian Fleming. And when he was first signed to be Bond, people asked him if he wanted to die his hair, because the idea of a “blonde Bond” was so unpopular!

A final fun fact: In a way that’s kind of, I don’t know, anti-Bond, the United Nations appointed Daniel Craig the first global advocate for the elimination of mines and explosive hazards, a role to which he was named in April 2015. (Ashar points out that maybe this is VERY Bond, as the poor character comes close to getting blown up startlingly often.)

Ashar’s side fact: Daniel Craig’s favorite soccer team is Liverpool F.C. in the Premier League. Ashar’s is Manchester United, but she loves her favorite Bond anyway.

All about Timothy Dalton

Timothy Dalton was born March 21 in Wales, but the year is a matter of some debate – either 1944 or 1946. (I feel like we should be able to get that pinned down, right?) He decided he wanted to be an actor when he saw a production of Macbeth when he was 16 and, like Daniel Craig, actually left school to tour with the National Youth Theater.

Much of his early work was on stage; Dalton is a classically trained Shakespearean actor. He was originally approached to play Bond in 1968, for the movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (the role that went to George Lazenby), but he turned it down, saying he was too young, and following that up in later interviews by saying he really didn’t want to take over from Sean Connery. He also turned down the role around 1980, but in 1986, after Roger Moore retired, and since Pierce Brosnan was still under contract to shoot the TV show Remington Steele, Dalton finally saw himself as Bond, first in The Living Daylights and later in Licence to Kill. He was originally supposed to make a third, but legal problems with the studio cancelled it, and by the time GoldenEye came out, he was no longer interested and the role then went to Brosnan.

Dalton is said to have been the actor to play Bond the most seriously. He took the role seriously, too, doing most of his own stunts.

More recently, Dalton was the voice of Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3, and stars in a Showtime series called Penny Dreadful. He had also appeared on several episodes of Chuck, and in the movie Hot Fuzz. He has one son, Alexander.

Ashar’s side fact, part 2: Apparently Timothy Dalton’s favorite soccer team is Manchester City. Ashar says that’s even worse than Liverpool.

James Bond movies starring Timothy Dalton (in order)

James Bond movies starring Daniel Craig (in order)

A bonus Daniel Craig movie recommendation

You should definitely check out Defiance, a World War II movie based on a true story about the Bielski Brothers, which also stars Daniel Craig. Ashar absolutely fell in love with this movie and with the Bielskis’ story.

Ideas for discussion

Books vs. movies: This is just a huge area of interest for our family. From Harry Potter to the aforementioned Bielski Brothers to, of course, James Bond, we almost always both read and watch. Fun fact: Some James Bond movies share their titles with Ian Fleming books, but not their plots. Some share a title and plot. And some – including most of Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig’s – are NOT Ian Fleming titles at all. (Of the ones listed? Only Casino Royale was a book, and the plot is fairly similar in the movie as the novel.) What are your family’s thoughts on book/movie pairs? What are your favorites? Are you i the “watch first” or “read first” camp?
Violence in movies: One thing that’s a little funny – and sad – is that Timothy Dalton himself claimed not to be the best James Bond. One of his criticisms: He said his movies were too violent. (And yet, probably not as violent as a lot of stuff out today.) What are your thoughts – and what are your kids’ thoughts – on movie violence? Have we hit the point of “too much,” or are there times it really adds to the plot?
Bond – hero or not? In an interview, Daniel Craig says really, there’s nothing for us to learn from Bond that would help us in our daily lives. I get where he’s coming from… but I definitely see a resourcefulness, a willingness to listen and to take risks, that I find admirable. The womanizing, though, not so much. So what do you think – is James Bond a hero?

More James Bond birthdays on Unschool Rules

Oct. 14, 1927: Roger Moore
May 28, 1908: Ian Fleming

Join the birthday party

If you’re interested, there are many more cool “March birthday” lessons from my fellow iHomeschool Network bloggers. Click the image below to check them out!

And thanks for stopping by to help me wish Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton a happy birthday!

You can check out more posts in our Learning Party series here!

Welcome to February! In January we… survived a blizzard (30+ inches of snow), celebrated Kaitlyn’s 29th birthday, went to tea, went to many bookstores, talked about politics, adopted a cat, learned about stomach ulcers (the hard way) and fed some stingrays. Just to name a few things. If there was ever a normal month for unschooling, I guess this would be it – we just lived life and did cool stuff.

I hope you’ll read more about all the things we’ve been busy with.

For Kaitlyn’s 29th birthday, Ashar got him a stuffed-animal version of our new cat, Mr. Angelino. His name is AJ.

(If this is your first time catching our month-in-review posts, welcome! Check out our archive of previous wrapups here for some more info on why we take this approach to documenting some of our unschooling learning adventures.)

Unschooling in January 2016: One of the big highlights this month was a visit to a local fish and pet store that has its own stingray tank. On the weekends, they have stingray feedings, and here, Ashar got to help!

One of the big highlights this month was a visit to a local fish and pet store that has its own stingray tank. On the weekends, they have stingray feedings, and here, Ashar got to help!

Books

Disclosure: This post has some affiliate links. I only link to things we legitimately use and recommend, so if you see such a link, it's because we really do believe in the book or item!

Q-Space – This is the first in a three-part series of Star Trek: The Next Generation fiction. Ashar has all three and has gotten almost three-quarters of the way through this one.
Lonely Planet The World: A Traveller’s Guide to the Planet – This was a Christmas gift and Ashar and Chris have been reading pieces of it and planning how they’d like to take a tour of Europe.

Unschooling in January 2016: Speaking of Mr. Angelino, here he is. He's got an adorable nose. And is very cute. He hides in the hole in our cat tree most of the time, has a silly meow, and is soft and nice.

Speaking of Mr. Angelino, here he is. He’s got an adorable nose. And is very cute. He hides in the hole in our cat tree most of the time, has a silly meow, and is soft and nice.

Movies and TV

Cool Runnings

Unschooling in January 2016: This is my favorite stuffed penguin, Pink (or pengin, as well call them). Ashar got Pink her own blankie and wrapped her up tight. When Sarah's anxiety bothers her, hanging out with our stuffed friends is a huge help.

This is my favorite stuffed penguin, Pink (or pengin, as well call them). Ashar got Pink her own blankie and wrapped her up tight. When Ashar’s anxiety bothers her, hanging out with our stuffed friends is a huge help.

Harry Potter 1, 2 and 3 – Ashar had already seen all the movies, but I’m reading the books and we’re rewatching them as I go. As I recovered from a nasty stomach situation earlier this month, they were great for keeping me amused and laying down.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Ashar saw this for the third time this month, this time in D-Box.
Friends – Ashar and Chris watch this almost every night before bed. They’re in Season 7 now.
Parks and Recreation and The I.T. Crowd – Ashar and my mom watch an episode of each of these each day when Ashar gets up. As of the end of January, they had neared the end, and actually, as I write this on February 10, they’ve finished! I don’t love Parks and Rec, but Ashar loves it. But The I.T. Crowd is great.
Total Recall – Because of course, Schwarzenegger.
Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights – Because of course, Jackie Chan. We had some really cool conversations while watching these; they’re fun and funny and give you a lot of chances to talk about real history vs. the movies.

Unschooling in January 2016: This is a good example of the snow from our blizzard. Coby, by the way, is a very large dog - a golden retriever and standard poodle mix. The snow was taller than him!

This is a good example of the snow from our blizzard. Coby, by the way, is a very large dog – a golden retriever and standard poodle mix. The snow was taller than him!

Places, projects and odds and ends

On January 1, our whole family of five went to tea at our favorite local tearoom. We had been collecting “Good Things” in a jar all year for 2015, and on the first day of 2016, at the tea, we opened the jar and read them all aloud. It was great! (We’re doing it again this year, and I’d love to do a post on the whole project sometime soon.)
We went to some bookstores. Our favorite local one, the York Emporium, plus chains 2nd & Charles and Barnes & Noble, plus The Comic Store in Lancaster.
At 4-H, Ashar gave an oral presentation on the report on bats she worked on in December, and she had the first meeting for a new dog project she is hoping to take on with our aging dog, Coby. We are just hoping the poor 13-year-old dog holds out.

Here’s Ashar presenting on bats to the York County 4-H Wildlife Watchers Club.

We’ve talked a ton about the presidential race. Ashar is incredibly interested and has a favorite candidate based on the issues that matter most to her. We’ve been watching debates, reading about all the candidates and their views and backgrounds, following primaries, etc. This has been a huge part of our month and will be for months to come, I can tell.
We adopted a new cat named Mr. Angelino! This took some work (we’d been trying since Thanksgiving) but now he’s all ours.
We learned about stomach ulcers. Because I went to the hospital with complications from them. In an ambulance. In the blizzard. And got stuck at the hospital and was facing two days of sleeping in their lobby until a friend who lives 3 blocks from the ER miraculously found me in the waiting room and took me to his family’s house, where I got to camp out in the room of his 8-year-old daughter. Miracles are real. Sleeping in a bed was one. THANK YOU JASON AND FAMILY!
We played Sort the Books in Ashar’s room to see what she might want to read next.
Ashar fed stingrays and decided her next pet will be a betta fish during a long visit to a huge pet store, That Fish Place/That Pet Place, near us. This is a serious Pennsylvania field trip destination, local families. It’s as good as some zoos, but free.
I started my courses for my master’s degree in homeland security with a public health preparedness concentration. As I’ve been working, I’ve been sharing the things I’m reading and learning with Ashar, and we’ve had a bunch of conversations about homeland security issues and the Constitution and more.