Here, There and Everywhere

*1*

What a busy, crazy fun week.

Of course, there was work, music lessons, math - the usual. 

And a trip to the Capital to hear Franklin Graham speak. Loved joining hands and faith with 3000 other Territorians to pray for our state, country and leaders. 

 *2*

Cub has made armor on his own in the past. Because, you know, Gear. This year, I brought him a "Warfare by Duct Tape" book and this was the result:

Pretty awesome! He has big plans to invest in the rest of the series. 

*3*

CC Parent Practicum- this year, History. Great stuff! And Challenge B training. 

Challenge B, baby. Classical Conversations Challenge program is the.best. Coming right up:

Mock Trial, Science Fair, Short Story Anthologies, Science Time-line, Latin and LOGIC. 

Woohoo!

If you love education or kids, get to a CC Parent Practicum. Fun times. 

*4*

After a week of everyone going to work and friends and different cities and generally in many different directions, we all met back at home to play games, eat and do laundry. 

Ticket to Ride is always fun. 

This is Feeche's, "I am strategizing to win" face,

And yes, he did win, but I gave him a serious run for his money. 

*5*

And then we watched, "Heart of the Sea" because the Practicum Speaker mentioned it. 

A great story, well depicted with amazing graphics about the tragedy of the whaleship Essex and the inspiration of Moby Dick. Thought provoking on many levels to the point that we all looked up more info on the Essex and the story today.

Last week we watched Ken Davis' "Fully Alive" - excellent and ohsofunny! Part sermon, part comedy routine, totally inspiring! 

*6*

You do expect Baby-spam, right? Just over a week old. My kids have collectively decided that the shape of Mr. Samwise's head takes after his Italian side and that he needs a Fedora and suit.

*7*

There is clover everywhere; a carpet of fragrant loveliness. Which is a vast improvement over the wormwood and thistles that were choking our property when we first moved here.
Of course, we have bouquets of it inside, too, because, you know, Flower. 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Franklin Graham at the Capital

Dr.Dh, Cub and I trekked to the Capital this week to hear Franklin Graham on his 

Decision America Tour. Just under 3000 came out, in the middle of the week. It was gorgeous weather and an enthusiastic crowd.

It was great to be part of a huge crowd praying for our state and country, but I wish Franklin's message had been more relevant to what our current issues and challenges are. 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Another week

And that about sums it up, right?!

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Grandson #1 (and more!)

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Best Event of the week. 

KB and Mr. V welcomed little Samwise to the family! 

*2*

Lots going on in the blogsphere

Interview with a Homeschool Mom

School Year in Review

5 Common Topics 

Map Memory and 5 Common Topics

Check out more articles on Classical Ed at Trivium Tuesdays

*3*

The Garden. It's straw bale this year because Flower got obsessed passionate about a book. Then, Dr.Dh stepped in and crafted a watering system. We're calling it our Mission to Mars look. It's pretty amazing. Stay tuned for a step-by-step post about the straw bale thing. 

*4*

Beside the garden, Flower is obsessed passionate about sculpting. Here is part of her "heart" collection. Some are "gardens"- some are themes- like the water lilies at 12 o'clock and the dolphin at 6 o'clock. The picture does not capture just how lovely and detailed they are! 

*5*

The kids got their scripts for Shakespeare Camp, happening in July this year. Commence memorizing! This year it's Much Ado About Nothing. 

Between now and then we have 2 practicums, 2 more conventions and the beach. A different one this year, but for those of us landlocked deep in the heart of the Territories, practically any beach will do. We heard about Airbnb from friends of ours who are hosts and as a result we are renting a house for way cheaper than hotel rooms. Haven't heard of it? Use my link HERE and we BOTH get travel credits! Win/Win!

*6*

Feeche is "home" for the summer and working, taking classes, writing, spending time with a certain girlfriend and generally here to eat and sleep.Cub is busy with piano (Math is Motion -a recently released Classical Conversations music theory curriculum- really spoke to him!), karate, reading everything he can get his hands on, Geometry and spending hours and hours and hours outdoors. We super love summer!!

Oh, and have I mentioned Studio C? Good, clean fun!!

*7*

Cause, ya' know... 

KB says, "He has your lips." One of my best features! Can't wait to snuggle this little guy! 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Putting Last Year's Homeschool to Bed

School is ovah! We had a great year, learned a ton, made great friends, have amazing memories, read the best books and wrote some amazing papers! Commence summer schedule, baby!

But before you move on to next year do a WRAP-UP from last year.

1) Evaluate how the year went.

• How did the Curriculum work for you? Did you love it, like it, tolerate it, hate it? 
• How did it work for the kids? Did it actually get used regularly enough to be beneficial?
• Were the extra-curriculars you were involved in too time-consuming, too rigorous, too expensive or a waste of time? Did they add or detract from your overall plan?
• Did social events provide healthy social interaction?
• Co-ops, on-line classes and  other outsourced programs- how did they work? Did they deliver what you expected? Were they worth the time, money, planning and effort it took to participate?
• What programs, events, activities, sports are you going to continue and which are you going to change or get rid of?

2) Sort and Organize

Sort through papers, notebooks, curriculums, books, DVD's, etc and purge. Books and curriculum you are done with- donate, sell or compost (yes, you read that right, CrunchyMomma here).
The stuff you are keeping? Clean it up and put it back on the bookshelves. The memories you want to keep? Make a scrapbook, a yearbook (Peekaboo) or blog about it.
Go through clothes, shoes and winter gear while you are at it. The kids grew at the speed of sound this year!

3) Teacher Training

Plan on a Homeschool Conference, Convention or Parent Practicum. Teacher Training Y'all. Determine an area you want to build your own copiousness in this year and make a plan for actually doing it.For me, it will continue to be Latina and Logic (Memoria Press and Jim Nance to the rescue!).Read some great books, start a book or Schole club. Don't forget to add in some fun and a break from your regularly scheduled programming so that you are refreshed and ready for what's next!

4) Look Ahead 

Make a list of curriculum and supplies you need to check out and purchase.
Overplan your coming year and then Go with the flow.

We've come to appreaciate the value of having beginning and end dates to our school year. Year-round schooling left us all feeling like we were on a never ending hamster wheel, never getting that that deeply satisfying feeling of accomplishment. These days we set a yearly academic schedule of 30 weeks, plan in breaks (Christmas/ stay or vacation, and summer school. We get more done, feel better about what we have done and look forward to what's ahead.

 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Cutie Pie!

The days are long, the years are short. 

I look at my husband and ask, "Are we this old?" and he says, confidently, "Yes.' 

Thankful to God for this new season of welcoming the next generation! 

 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Baby V!

So, this little guy showed up last night. 

Baby, Momma (and Daddy) are all doing well! 

 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Interview with a Homeschool Mom

Check out my blogger buddy, Jenny Morris' series, Interview with a Homeschool Mom. 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

2015-16 School Year in Review

We finished 30 weeks of Challenge a few weeks ago. Last week we sorted our Challenge books and notebooks and got on some sort of summer mode.

What did I like about the 30 week program? It was intense and unrelenting. But, with that the kids had to buckle down, push hard, get extremely focused; manage well and get the stuff done; and they did.

The Projects were phenomenal. The Community was a blast. The program was not much different than much of what we've done in the past, but the discussions and tools that the kids learned by having a Lead Learner and directed classical community were terrific.
We worked super hard for 30 weeks, were done at the end of April and have about 16 weeks before we hit it again. This fall my fellow Challenge Directors and I are starting earlier in the year and taking more intentional breaks throughout, still ending the last week of April.

What all did we get done this year?

Cub- 10th Grade
Finished Alg I, began Geometry
Finished 1/3 of Henle 1and really developed a love of Latin.

Physical Science with Lab; wrote and presented a 15 page research paper on "Mars."
Read 20 books for school and at least that many for fun- wrote 8 persuasive essays.
Participated in 2 Policy Debates: Immigration Reform and Military Draft

Performed 2 memorized IE's: Song from Tolkien (which he sang) and Patrick Henry's Speech
Government and Econ- completed texts, workbooks, tests and completed Cost of Living Project and Stock Market Analysis Project
Studied Taming of the Shrew and God's Plan for Marriage (Ravi Zacharia)

Math in Motion (music theory)

Listened to Old Western Culture The Greeks and 1/2 of The Romans
TeenPact Alumni State Class and Survival
Ballroom Dancing 1-2 times a month

Tantara Festival of One Act Plays
Shakespeare Camp
Spring Dinner Dance

Spring Protocol Event- dinner out and the symphony
Karate/ self defense
Youth Group

Flower 7th Grade
Finished Saxon 8/7
Finished 1/3 of Henle 1

Wrote and illustrated 16 papers on natural science topics and then learned to draw and label 9 body systems

Read 10 books for school and 5 more for fun -wrote 9 Persuasive Essays
Read It Couldn't Just Happen and the Fallacy Detective- wrote a 6 page Apologetics Paper on Comparative Religions
Learned to draw 600 points on the world map from memory, including countries, capitals, features.
Listened to Old Western Culture The Greeks and 1/2 of The Romans
TeenPact State Class

Ballroom Dancing twice a month
Tantara Festival of One Act Plays

Shakespeare Camp
Karate/ Self defense
Violin

What's up for summer? Cub will finish reading The History of the Renaissance World and the History of Science and finish Geometry, piano lessons and karate.
Flower has taken on the garden, has lots of reading and swimming and art projects planned, violin and karate. Have I mentioned Minecraft yet? All the kids still love it and play it
Plus vacation (got to love Airbnb! Grandson #1, due in a few short weeks (or sooner), Shakespeare Camp, a few more conferences, CCPracticum and Latin Camp, Teen Nights...the summer will fly by for sure.

Linking up with Trivium Tuesdays at Living and Learning at Home and Classically Homeschooling!

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

What's the Big Deal about the 5 Common Topics?

This past year, Directing Challenge A, was a blast. Wait,  have I mentioned that before? The big win for me this year, besides Latin, was the 5 Common Topics and the 5 Cannons of Rhetoric, but I'm going to focus this post on the 5 Common Topics.

Who's ever heard of the 5 Common Topics and who cares? 
They started way back in Aristotle's time and are a great way to organize, plan, implement, overcome, understand and approach the world. In other words, the 5 CT's are tools for the person who is interested in learning, thinking well and gaining a deep understanding of the world.

What are the 5 Common Topics? 
Definition- How do I define X? Naming was one of the first tasks of man and brings clarity and vision.
Compare & Contrast- What is it I defined and how does it compare to something else. What are the similarities and differences between X and other things.
Circumstance- What is going on in the world during the time of X?
Relationship- What causes X? What precedes or follows X? What are the effects of X?
Authority -What have others said about X?

Why Care? 
From a classical pov, the 5 CT's allow us to think widely and deeply about any subject area.
From a irl pov, the 5 CT's allow us a starting point of understanding.

I made a poster for my class and referred to the 5 Common Topics in almost every seminar throughout the year. For instance, I had a Math Discussion sheet, based on the 5 Common topics- that allowed us to talk about Math problems, across 4 math curriculum and with kids in math programs varying from Saxon7/6 through Algebra. They might not have known how to do the Math itself, but they all knew how to dissect the math problem, understand what they did know and deduce solutions from there. They were often surprised at how much information they knew, even while being unfamiliar with the actual problem itself. We coupled this with really memorizing for understanding (long term vs short term) the definitions for Math Laws and Formulas and all became math stronger as a result.

How to Implement?
If you are not familiar with the 5 CT's, write them out and put them where you'll see them every day. I wrote them on the large chalkboard in my kitchen. I also made laminated bookmarks for my students to use. I asked them to bring them to class and we referred to them often. We also, as I've mentioned before, wrote 5 & 5 on the whiteboard at the beginning of our Community Day every week.
Use them in your discussions with your students. I make a point of talking about historical anachronism with my students every year especially in light of Circumstance, Comparing & Contrasting and Authority. One of my pet peeves as a writer, reader and intelligent person is when the past is presented or vilified based on our current pc times (case in point- the smear campaigns against Columbus, the Founding Fathers along with how women or marriage in past times are often portrayed to reflect the current climate). The important lessons are trivialized and we are left with a weak, watered down scorn for those who went before us.
Apply them yourself as you write, teach, read, discuss, think.I often stop those who I discuss things with- especially when it's say, politics, or religion or education, and ask for definitions.

What's the Benefit? 
The ability to think logically; to present an argument with fluidity and with nuance of meaning. It brings width and depth to what you do, what you are creating, what you are engaged in.

For even more info, check this out: Aristotle's Common Topics in detail

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Happy Mother's Day- What Really Matters

~ Happy Mother's Day~

...to all of those Momnas who have quietly sacrificed and made decisions to love their families in a world that encourages us to sacrifice them at birth, institutionalize them young and provide them with every worldly thing (screaming, "neglect" if we don't) but ignore their soul; to all the Mommas  who longed for years for children, to those who raised children who came at 'inconvenient" times, to those who took a neglected, cast-away child and raised them as their own-  don't forget what really matters. Because Motherhood is terrifically challenging and a Divine gift.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS

This is a quote from Hudson Taylor – missionary to China in the 1800′s. In a world enamored with position, promotion, celebrity and shameless self exaltation this is what REALLY matters.

“If God has called you to be really like Jesus in your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put on you such demands of obedience that He will not allow you to follow other Christians; and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things that He will not let you do. Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires and work schemes to carry out their schemes, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent. Others may brag on themselves, on their work, on their success, on their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing; and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, but it is likely that God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, and that is helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege (the right) of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury. The Lord will let others be honoured and put forward, and keep you hidden away in obscurity, because He wants some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory which can only be produced in the shade. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will let you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work you have done, and this will make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.

The Holy Spirit will put a watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, over which other Christians never seem distressed. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has the right to do as He pleases with His own, and He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. He will take you at your word and if you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things which He will not let you say or do.

Settle it for ever that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not deal with others. Now when you are so possessed with the Living God, that you are in your secret heart pleased and delighted over the peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven.”

Hudson Taylor

 @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Map Memory and the 5 Common Topics

Challenge A is complete and Flower rocked the Map memory-work. In two hours she labeled countries, capitals, rivers, mountains, oceans and other features, along with all of her classmates. It was hard work. But at the end of the 30 weeks, ten 12 and 13 year olds could draw the world by heart and define at least 200-600 points on a map.

Definition, baby. Naming is defining. One of the 5 Common Topics.
And Authority. We used actual Atlas' as we drew our maps; atlas' that used accurate, up to date information taken from navigational charts, satellites and other scientific data. The kids were learning the physical world, based on physical fact.

Now that Challenge A is over, and regular map work is not required, Flower noticing maps every where we go. Yesterday, in the Verizon store, she spent most of the 45 minutes we were there checking out a historic map. She's been talking about it ever since from an analytical point of view; what placement was off, what areas where mis-named, what islands were missing, etc. She was Comparing and Contrasting the map she had just drawn to the map that she discovered in the store.
Which led us to a discussion about when the map might have been created. We decided it had to be a map from either the 1700 or 1800's; Relationship, what else is going on in the world at the time of the map's creation? In the past they relied on navigational tools, exploration, accurate record keeping. Now we rely on satellite and computer data and photographs from space.
Circumstance, right there.
We played several review games in class, including one where I would give the kids clues about a place or feature and they would have to locate and name it on the map. It amazed me how well the kids could deduce accurately what place the clues were naming. Again, Relationship.

The 5 Common Topics are very useful tools. Training our kids classically allows them to work through the 5 Common Topics, whether they are doing if formally, or not, enriching their educational experience and creating learning pegs.

Just like with memorizing a Timeline, memorizing a Map is great stuff. Memorizing the first 160 points on a timeline and the first 200 places on a map are hard work. But then you just start filling in the gaps without even realizing it. Pretty soon, you've memorized another 160 points on a timeline, and you have another 200 places on a map defined. Memory is the Mother of Learning. When you've memorized something, you own it. This is the kind of education that empowers our kids and creates educational synergy.
Check out more great posts on classical ed at Trivium Tuesdays:

 @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!